Coaching Tree is a Point of Pride for Coach Berson

Grooming student-athletes and young assistant coaches for the next phase of their lives is one of many areas a college head coach can consider himself a success. South Carolina men’s soccer coach Mark Berson also takes a lot of pride in the number of former players and assistant coaches who have gone on to become head coaches.

“It’s very rewarding to see guys go on that way in the game,” Berson said. “It’s a real credit to the University of South Carolina because at each of these other institutions, their credentials had to be of good quality to be named as the head coach. So, that’s a real reflection on the University of South Carolina.”

Now entering his 42nd year as the head coach at South Carolina, Berson counts 14 former players or assistant coaches who have become head coaches at the collegiate or Major League Soccer level. Many more have become assistant coaches or high school head coaches. 

“Somewhere along the way, each of these coaches had a spark that got them excited about being a coach,” Berson said. “Sometimes it’s because they were in an environment where they saw everything done the right way, and sometimes they probably thought, ‘I can improve on that,’ or ‘I would do some things differently.’

“All coaches beg, borrow, and steal from their experiences. You take the good from your experiences and then you add your own twist to it. You evolve as you go along. You’re not the same coach as you were at the beginning. Somewhere along the way, each one of these guys was inspired to be a head coach, and then their own personality came forward and they fell in love with doing this. It’s not a job; it’s a career.”

Joey  Worthen & Mark  Berson

Doug Allison (1984-87) and Joey Worthen (1998-2001) are former players who were also assistant coaches under Berson, and both are now head coaches on teams the Gamecocks face often. Allison, who ranks among the top 20 active winningest coaches in NCAA Division I men’s soccer, is in his 25th year as the head coach at Furman and brings the Paladins to Stone Stadium on September 18. Worthen is in his third year as the head coach at Conference USA rival Florida Atlantic and returns to Columbia on October 20.

“It’s a special time for us to go there to ‘The Graveyard,” Allison said. “There are so many great memories there. The importance of getting a degree, serving people, and doing the right thing; he (Berson) established that in every one of us. He always did, and he still does. He will not cut a corner. He does things the right way. He’s a great man.

“I came here in 1984 from England, and he was a really good father figure for me. He helped me grow up a little bit. I thought I knew a lot of stuff, and he helped me realize there are a lot of things I don’t know.”

“It’s surreal going back after having played and coached there and be on the opposite side,” Worthen said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever become used to that. It’s always weird going against Coach (Berson).

“I came to South Carolina as a high school kid from Utah and played there because I wanted to be at a big program. Then I played pro and decided to come back to South Carolina, finish my degree and get into the coaching side of things. That led me here to where I am now.  Coach has had a hand in my entire career as a player and as a coach, and I’ve been influenced by him in a lot of ways.”

Berson keeps up with a lot of his former players and assistants, regardless of which career path they take, and coaching against them isn’t always easy.

“It’s not comfortable at all playing against your former players or assistant coaches when they’re the head coach,” Berson said. “You have a strong feeling for them and their family. It’s difficult, but at the same time, in the historical part of things, it’s rewarding, too.”

“There are a lot of people that see him and want to follow his example.”
– Joey  Worthen

Becoming a college head coach isn’t easy, and Berson said that in many cases he’s not surprised at the success of his former pupils, including Allison and Josh Wolff, who is the head coach of Major League Soccer’s Austin FC.

“I would say that Josh Wolff and Doug Allison were two of the ones that I was absolutely certain were going to be a head coaches,” Berson said. “Josh was certainly going to be a pro player and an international player first. He’s had a great career, but you could also see that he would be an excellent coach.

“Joey Worthen really wanted to be a head coach. You could tell that’s that was going to be the direction for all three of them.”

“I learned a lot from Coach,” Worthen said. “Even now as a new head coach, I can see how he has evolved and developed over the years and how much his experience comes into play. He’s very detailed oriented and organized with everything. I tried to emulate that in my program here as well.”

“I couldn’t believe how many hours he put into his work,” Allison said. “He was meticulous. Discipline and time management are huge components of his preparation for a game.”

Former player David Masur (1980), who is now the head coach at St. Johns, ranks in the top ten for career wins among active NCAA Division I head coaches. Additionally, former player Warren Lipka (1982-85), who is the head coach at Morehead State, has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year three times.

When it’s all said and done, Berson is proud to see each of those head coaches find success and is always willing to pass along any advice for young aspiring coaches.

“The first advice I would give is that you have to be a sponge,” Berson said. “You have to take everything in all the time. You’ll keep some things, and you will release some things. I think the biggest mistake a coach can make is trying to be somebody else. You need to be you because when the pressure comes on and you try to be somebody else, it doesn’t work.

“The most difficult thing is that you spend a lot of time away from your personal family.”

“His longevity to coach as long as he has, to do it at the same school, and to do it at a high level; I think this is one of the biggest stories in national sports,” Worthen said. “You look at the turnover in athletics for head coaches, and people don’t last very long! It truly is remarkable, and I think that tells you a lot about him and the type of person that he is and the type of coach that he is. It says a lot about his character. He is so likable, and he’s a stand-up guy. It’s important for him to bring those types of guys into his program. There are a lot of people that see him and want to follow his example.”

“There has to be a statue somewhere coming for him,” Allison said. “He’s remarkable. The keys for him have been recruiting, and that he’s just a genuine, good person. That’s what I hope to emulate when I’m bringing kids in and telling their parents that I’m going to look after their sons for them. He does that!

“He stresses family a lot, which is big for me, too. He knows all about my kids, and I know all about him and his family. His wife, Shauna, is just a gem. She was always like a mom to us as players.”

While coaches are often judged only by wins and losses, Berson said there’s a lot more to it than that.

“You’re going to make right decisions, and you’re going to make wrong decisions along the way,” Berson said. “I would hope that when they were here, they felt like we treated them the best that we could. I’m sure all of these guys that are head coaches have treated all of their players in the right way. That’s big for me.

“Coaching is an immensely rewarding profession, and it’s because of things like this. It’s because of the players and the guys who have gone on to do well after. Whether it’s becoming a rock star like Jimmy Sonefeld (Hootie & the Blowfish), or Greg Reece, who’s a dentist, or (former assistant coach) Alex Maslow went on to be an assistant district attorney, it’s a tremendously rewarding profession to intersect with their lives and see them go on to a lot of great things. When they choose to go into coaching, then it’s really neat.”

Mark Berson’s College/MLS Head Coaching Tree
Trevor Adair^ – former head coach at Brown and Clemson
Doug Allison*^ – current head coach at Furman
Mike Babst^ – current head coach at Davidson
Bryan Cunningham^ – current head coach at Mary Washington
Roy Dunshee* – current head coach at Washington College 
David Golan*^ – former head coach at Appalachian State and Evansville
Warren Lipka* – current head coach at Morehead State 
Dr. Davis Masur* – current head coach at St. Johns
Tony McCall* – current head coach at Regis College
Paul McDonough^ – Sporting Director of Miami FC (MLS)
George Purgavie^ – former head coach at Bates College
Tom Reilly* – current women’s soccer head coach at Washington College
Josh Wolff* – current head coach of Austin FC (MLS)
Joey Worthen*^ – current head coach at Florida Atlantic

* – indicates former South Carolina student-athlete under Mark Berson
^ – indicates former assistant coach under Mark Berson