Georgia Gwinnett College Men's Soccer

DeCou, who owns a 173-108-21 record overall as a head coach, has been extraordinarily successful in his three years in charge in Lawrenceville, racking up 52 victories to just 16 losses and six ties. In that time, hes been recognized as the NSCAA Independent Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014. Last season, the Grizzlies tallied double-digit wins for the fourth season in-a-row, capturing 10 victories.  The Grizzlies featured another stingy defense in 2015, yielding just 1.4 goals per game on the season. Lewis Sharpe was stellar in net all season long, helping secure five shutouts for GGC. The junior goalkeeper finished the season with 68 saves to close in on the 200 mark for his GGC career. The Grizzlies surrendered fewer than two goals in 10 games on the year, as countless contests would come down to the wire all season. Not only were three ties a new program high for GGC, but of the remaining 16 games during the year, 10 were decided by just one goal.  Offensively, 10 different Grizzlies found the back of the net on the year as GGC outscored its opponents in total, 38-26. In 2014, the Grizzlies continued to progress on a national level, including a program-best No. 7 national ranking during the regular season before ultimately ending the year at No. 19, marking the second consecutive season that GGC culminated with a top 20 NAIA ranking. With wins over a pair of top 15 opponents during the regular season, the focus once again turned to the A.I.I. Championship, which would take place in a frigid Clinton, Iowa. Battling temperatures that often dropped below 10 degrees, the Grizzlies beat No. 25 Cal State San Marcos in the semifinal on an Ibrahima Sissoko goal just moments shy of the whistle in the second overtime, and returned a day later to pick up a snowy 2-1 win over Houston-Victoria to become the first A.I.I. program to hoist the league trophy in back-to-back seasons since 2010. Following the match, GGC hosted its first-ever NAIA Opening Round for mens soccer, where the season would end with a loss against eventual national semifinalist Northwestern Ohio. In 2013, the A.I.I. Championship wasnt quite as dramatic as it was eye-opening. After dispatching CSUSM in the semis, the Grizzlies ran rampant  over third-ranked Ashford in the final, winning 3-0 to claim the schools first-ever trophy in dominating fashion. Georgia Gwinnetts A.I.I. title sent the squad to the NAIA Opening Round, where a second-half penalty by host and 13th-ranked Embry-Riddle ended GGCs season in a 1-0 loss. In his first year guiding the Grizzlies program in 2012, DeCou led GGC to a fantastic season in its inaugural campaign. The team posted a stellar 15-2-1 record, while going 7-1-1 at home in Lawrenceville. With less than eight months to recruit and field a team, create a schedule and launch his program, DeCous success surpassed expectations in year one as GGC dominated its opponents with a 93-9 scoring advantage. Senior goalkeeper Greg Hartley, a former NAIA All-American who chose to play his final collegiate season for DeCou after spending 2011 with him at Belhaven University, allowed just eight goals all year in over 1,200 minutes for the Grizzlies. The GGC defense posted 11 shutouts (including a string of five straight) and did not allow more than two goals in a game. DeCou also guided senior forward Tom Butler to a season that wont soon be repeated. Butler scored 28 goals and piled up 65 points to establish his name in the Grizzly record books. Five different Grizzlies posted 20 or more points on the season while 13 separate players tallied a goal. The squad posted a 12-0 victory over Tennessee Temple on Opening Day on Aug. 25, and remained in charge all season long, reaching six and five-game winning streaks on the year. The Grizzlies lone home defeat came to #1-rated MRPI team Auburn Montgomery, as GGC battled AUM to a hard-fought 1-0 loss Oct. 6. The team opened its beautiful new synthetic turf field in the tussle, a place it would win its final four games of the year.  Since joining GGC, DeCou has coached 18 All-A.I.I. honorees, 11 NSCAA All-Region performers and two NAIA All-Americans. DeCou came to GGC from Belhaven (Jackson, Miss.), where for the previous five years the Blazers were a national power. During his tenure at Belhaven, DeCou posted five consecutive winning seasons (66-23-7 overall), and he led the Blazers to the top 25 finishes in the final NAIA poll from 2009-11, while the 2010 and 2011 teams ranked in the top 10. DeCou coached his teams to the Round of 16 in the NAIA National Tournament for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Six players were selected as NAIA All-Americans, 10 players were named Academic All-Americans, 22 players were All-Conference selections, one was awarded the 2010 SSAC Newcomer of the Year and one was named the 2011 SSAC Defensive Player of the Year. Prior to his time at Belhaven, DeCou spent 2004-06 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, where he led the Trolls to a 27-28-4 record. His three-year stint was highlighted by a 13-8-2 season in 2005 that saw Trinity Christian College selected to the National Christian College Athletic Association Tournament. From 2000-03, DeCou served as head coach of Huntington College in Huntington, Indiana, guiding the Foresters to their first winning campaign in eight years in 2001. DeCou was the Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2010, following a 16-2-3 season, the 2008 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, following a 14-4-1 campaign and the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, following a 13-8-2 season. In addition to his involvement with NAIA soccer, DeCou spent three summers coaching in the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League, serving as an assistant in 2006 and 2007 with the Chicago Fire Premier and as head coach of the Mississippi Brilla FC in 2008. DeCou is a graduate of Tennessee Temple University, where he played soccer and earned his bachelors degree in physical education. He holds a masters in sports medicine from the United States Sports Academy. He holds a USSF A license and earned the NSCAA Premier Diploma in January 2014. He has served as president of the NAIA Mens Soccer Association Executive Committee and is a member of the NAIA Ratings Oversight Committee, NAIA National Tournament Selection Committee and NAIA National Tournament Games Committee. The move to Georgia Gwinnett brought DeCou closer to family as his wife, Amy, is originally from Georgia, and his parents are located in Charleston, S.C. DeCou and Amy are proud parents of their daughter, Sadie Jane.   After more than a decade of head coaching experience, Georgia Gwinnett named Steve DeCou its first-ever head mens soccer coach in January of 2012, and in the years since, hes developed the Grizzlies into one of the nations top teams, highlighted by back-to-back A.I.I. championships and NAIA tournament berths in the first two years of the programs eligibility. DeCou, who owns a 173-108-21 record overall as a head coach, has been extraordinarily successful in his three years in charge in Lawrenceville, racking up 52 victories to just 16 losses and six ties. In that time, hes been recognized as the NSCAA Independent Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014. Last season, the Grizzlies tallied double-digit wins for the fourth season in-a-row, capturing 10 victories.  The Grizzlies featured another stingy defense in 2015, yielding just 1.4 goals per game on the season. Lewis Sharpe was stellar in net all season long, helping secure five shutouts for GGC. The junior goalkeeper finished the season with 68 saves to close in on the 200 mark for his GGC career. The Grizzlies surrendered fewer than two goals in 10 games on the year, as countless contests would come down to the wire all season. Not only were three ties a new program high for GGC, but of the remaining 16 games during the year, 10 were decided by just one goal.  Offensively, 10 different Grizzlies found the back of the net on the year as GGC outscored its opponents in total, 38-26. In 2014, the Grizzlies continued to progress on a national level, including a program-best No. 7 national ranking during the regular season before ultimately ending the year at No. 19, marking the second consecutive season that GGC culminated with a top 20 NAIA ranking. With wins over a pair of top 15 opponents during the regular season, the focus once again turned to the A.I.I. Championship, which would take place in a frigid Clinton, Iowa. Battling temperatures that often dropped below 10 degrees, the Grizzlies beat No. 25 Cal State San Marcos in the semifinal on an Ibrahima Sissoko goal just moments shy of the whistle in the second overtime, and returned a day later to pick up a snowy 2-1 win over Houston-Victoria to become the first A.I.I. program to hoist the league trophy in back-to-back seasons since 2010. Following the match, GGC hosted its first-ever NAIA Opening Round for mens soccer, where the season would end with a loss against eventual national semifinalist Northwestern Ohio. In 2013, the A.I.I. Championship wasnt quite as dramatic as it was eye-opening. After dispatching CSUSM in the semis, the Grizzlies ran rampant  over third-ranked Ashford in the final, winning 3-0 to claim the schools first-ever trophy in dominating fashion. Georgia Gwinnetts A.I.I. title sent the squad to the NAIA Opening Round, where a second-half penalty by host and 13th-ranked Embry-Riddle ended GGCs season in a 1-0 loss. In his first year guiding the Grizzlies program in 2012, DeCou led GGC to a fantastic season in its inaugural campaign. The team posted a stellar 15-2-1 record, while going 7-1-1 at home in Lawrenceville. With less than eight months to recruit and field a team, create a schedule and launch his program, DeCous success surpassed expectations in year one as GGC dominated its opponents with a 93-9 scoring advantage. Senior goalkeeper Greg Hartley, a former NAIA All-American who chose to play his final collegiate season for DeCou after spending 2011 with him at Belhaven University, allowed just eight goals all year in over 1,200 minutes for the Grizzlies. The GGC defense posted 11 shutouts (including a string of five straight) and did not allow more than two goals in a game. DeCou also guided senior forward Tom Butler to a season that wont soon be repeated. Butler scored 28 goals and piled up 65 points to establish his name in the Grizzly record books. Five different Grizzlies posted 20 or more points on the season while 13 separate players tallied a goal. The squad posted a 12-0 victory over Tennessee Temple on Opening Day on Aug. 25, and remained in charge all season long, reaching six and five-game winning streaks on the year. The Grizzlies lone home defeat came to #1-rated MRPI team Auburn Montgomery, as GGC battled AUM to a hard-fought 1-0 loss Oct. 6. The team opened its beautiful new synthetic turf field in the tussle, a place it would win its final four games of the year.  Since joining GGC, DeCou has coached 18 All-A.I.I. honorees, 11 NSCAA All-Region performers and two NAIA All-Americans. DeCou came to GGC from Belhaven (Jackson, Miss.), where for the previous five years the Blazers were a national power. During his tenure at Belhaven, DeCou posted five consecutive winning seasons (66-23-7 overall), and he led the Blazers to the top 25 finishes in the final NAIA poll from 2009-11, while the 2010 and 2011 teams ranked in the top 10. DeCou coached his teams to the Round of 16 in the NAIA National Tournament for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Six players were selected as NAIA All-Americans, 10 players were named Academic All-Americans, 22 players were All-Conference selections, one was awarded the 2010 SSAC Newcomer of the Year and one was named the 2011 SSAC Defensive Player of the Year. Prior to his time at Belhaven, DeCou spent 2004-06 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, where he led the Trolls to a 27-28-4 record. His three-year stint was highlighted by a 13-8-2 season in 2005 that saw Trinity Christian College selected to the National Christian College Athletic Association Tournament. From 2000-03, DeCou served as head coach of Huntington College in Huntington, Indiana, guiding the Foresters to their first winning campaign in eight years in 2001. DeCou was the Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2010, following a 16-2-3 season, the 2008 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, following a 14-4-1 campaign and the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, following a 13-8-2 season. In addition to his involvement with NAIA soccer, DeCou spent three summers coaching in the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League, serving as an assistant in 2006 and 2007 with the Chicago Fire Premier and as head coach of the Mississippi Brilla FC in 2008. DeCou is a graduate of Tennessee Temple University, where he played soccer and earned his bachelors degree in physical education. He holds a masters in sports medicine from the United States Sports Academy. He holds a USSF A license and earned the NSCAA Premier Diploma in January 2014. He has served as president of the NAIA Mens Soccer Association Executive Committee and is a member of the NAIA Ratings Oversight Committee, NAIA National Tournament Selection Committee and NAIA National Tournament Games Committee. The move to Georgia Gwinnett brought DeCou closer to family as his wife, Amy, is originally from Georgia, and his parents are located in Charleston, S.C. DeCou and Amy are proud parents of their daughter, Sadie Jane.

Stephen Magennis enters his fifth season in 2017 as the Assistant Men's Soccer Coach at Georgia Gwinnett College. With the Grizzlies, Magennis' responsibilities include recruiting, coaching, training and supporting head coach [Steve DeCou](http://www.grizzlyathletics.com/roster/3/4/176.php) in the day-to-day operation of the men's soccer program. Magennis helped lead the Grizzlies to their third Association of Independent Institutions championship title in 2016, his first year with the program. The Grizzlies went 13-4-3 on the year and played in the NAIA national tournament for the third time in four seasons. Magennis joined the Grizzlies after serving as the assistant coach for the Lander University (S.C.) men's soccer program for three seasons.  During his coaching tenure with the NCAA Division II Bearcats, Magennis helped guide Lander to the regular season Peach Belt Conference Championship in 2012.  Prior to coaching at Lander, Magennis was a member of the Bearcats' soccer team, where he was an integral part of Lander's 2009 Peach Belt Tournament Championship squad. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Magennis spent his first two collegiate seasons at Darton State College (Ga.). He earned a bachelor of arts in exercise science from Lander in December 2009. Coupled with his collegiate coaching experiences, Magennis spent time with the New Orleans Jesters of the National Premier Soccer League as their first assistant coach and director of operations (2009-2010). Magennis holds a USSF A License, NSCAA Premier Diploma, and Football Association of Ireland Level 1 and 2 coaching certificates.