Troy Michael Dayak (born January 29, 1971) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as central defender. He spent his entire

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

career with the San Jose Clash/Earthquakes and nearly all of his professional career playing for

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

teams.

Club career

San Francisco Bay Blackhawks

Dayak (nicknamed ''

Cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

'') grew up in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

and attended

Livermore High School Founded in 1891, Livermore Union High School is a public high school located in the city of Livermore, California, United States. It is part of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District. In 2007, it was chosen as one in four schools i ...

. In 1989, he attended the University of San Francisco for one year and then signed with the

San Francisco Bay Blackhawks San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interr ...

of the

Western Soccer League Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

(WSL). Seventeen years old at the time, he was the youngest player to sign with the WSL or its successor leagues, the APSL and A-League. In 1990, the WSL merged with the American Soccer League to form the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

(APSL). In 1991, the Blackhawks won the APSL championship and Dayak was named a first team All Star. In 1993, the Blackhawks owner moved the team to the lower division USISL and renamed the team the San Jose Hawks. Despite going to the 1993 Sizzlin' Six tournament, the team folded at the end of the season.

Indoor soccer

In 1993, Troy signed with the

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch are an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio competing in as a charter member of the Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS). The rebranded Crunch returned to indoor play as a member of the MASL 2 i ...

of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), helping lead them to the 1993–1994 NPSL title. In 1995, he signed with the

San Jose Grizzlies The San Jose Grizzlies were a professional indoor soccer team based in San Jose, California. The team was founded on November 24, 1993, and played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). After playing in the 1994 and 1995 CISL seasons, th ...

of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

(CISL).

MLS

In 1996, he was selected by MetroStars in second round of the Inaugural MLS Draft (19th overall). Troy, who had strong roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, refused to sign with the league and move his family to the New York area. Therefore, he was traded by the MetroStars to the San Jose Clash (later to be named the Earthquakes) in exchange for

Rhett Harty Rhett Stowe Harty (born March 8, 1970 in Pasadena, California) is an American former soccer defender who spent one season in the Western Soccer League, one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, one in the USISL and three with the MetroStar ...

and first round pick in 1996 College Draft. He was a solid starter for the Clash until, in August 1997, he suffered a violent collision snapping his head backwards. Troy's neck was already aggravated due to two previous neck injuries, and he was very close to becoming paralyzed. Troy was told that he would never play again. Nonetheless, in October 1997, he underwent surgery that fused a piece of bone from Troy's hip onto his 5th and 6th vertebrae. After a long march to recovery, he rejoined the Clash in 1998, going on loan to the San Francisco Bay Seals for one game, only to be waived at the end of the season. In 1999 Dayak signed with the San Francisco Bay Seals of the A-League. Early in the 1999 season, Dayak suffered a major knee injury damaging his

medial collateral ligament The medial collateral ligament (MCL), or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the four major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint in humans and other primates. Its primary function is to resist out ...

(MCF) and

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the medial cond ...

(PCL). After a difficult recovery complicated by infection, Troy rejoined the Seals for the 2000 campaign as a player and coach. He was honored that season when he made the A League all stars. In 2001 Troy was signed by

Frank Yallop Frank Walter Yallop (born 4 April 1964) is a British-Canadian professional soccer coach. Yallop is currently the head coach and sporting director of USL Championship side Monterey Bay FC. He played 13 years in England for Ipswich, including the ...

, new head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes. When not suffering from a multitude of injuries (upper back sprain, shoulder sprain, neck sprain, abdominal strain, sports hernia, food poisoning), Troy has been a solid starter for the Quakes, helping lead the team to two

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

s in 2001 and 2003. Dayak earned the

MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award MLS Comeback Player of the Year is a Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The ...

in 2001. Dayak has scored eight goals and added seven assists in his seven years in the league.

International career

Dayak had a notable youth soccer career playing in the U-16, U-20 and U-23 United States national soccer teams. He was part of the U-20 team to place fourth in the World Youth Championship in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. He also represented the U.S. in 1992 Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He also earned 9

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the senior national team. His earned his first cap on September 15, 1990 in a 3–0 win over

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. He entered the game in the 65th minute for Steve Pittman. His last game came on March 16, 1991 in the

1991 NAFC Championship The North American Nations Cup was the association football (soccer) championship for the CONCACAF's North American Zone. Overview The tournament was seen as a disappointment, with promoters complaining that the Mexico Football Federation's decis ...

, a 2–0 victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Coaching

Troy has announced that he would retire after the 2005 MLS season. Even before his retirement became official, he was named

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

expansion franchise, the

California Cougars The California Cougars were an indoor soccer team, founded in 2004. The team was a charter member of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro), the first division of arena (indoor) soccer in North America. They played their home matches a ...

, who are based in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

Post-retirement

June 2, 2005, Dayak was the Technical Director of the Livermore Youth Soccer League in Livermore, California. He is now the Founder and Director of Coaching for West Coast Soccer Club which is rapidly becoming one of the most dominant youth soccer clubs in the country. He holds a National "A" coaching license and in 2007 earned his NSCAA Director of Coaching Certification. Troy owns a retail soccer store in

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

, as well as an

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

farm. Married to wife Karen, they have two children, daughter Adaurie and son T.J. He also provided color analysis for

CSN Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquart ...

and

CSN California NBC Sports California (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS California) is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regio ...

broadcasts of

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

games for the 2008 and 2009

seasons.

References

External links

Troy Dayak's soccer shop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayak, Troy 1971 births Living people American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches American soccer players Cleveland Crunch (NPSL) players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Association football commentators Association football defenders Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Olympic soccer players of the United States Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players San Francisco Seals (soccer) players San Jose Earthquakes players San Jose Grizzlies players San Jose Hawks players Soccer players from California San Francisco Soccer Football League players United States men's international soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players USISL players Western Soccer League players People from Tracy, California Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players American people of Croatian descent