FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution announced today Under-16 head coach Bryan Scales has been promoted to Director of Youth Development.
Scales, the former head men’s soccer coach at UMass-Lowell, is coming off his first season as the Revs’ U16 head coach in which he led the squad to the Northeast Division title this year and its first-ever appearance in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs, where they lost a tie-breaker to advance to the national finals.
For his efforts, Scales was named the Northeast Division coach of the year by U.S. Soccer following the season, while Leominster’s Diego Fagundez was named to the national U15/16 Development Academy Starting XI.
Scales will assume the day-to-day management of both the Revolution’s Under-16 and Under-18 teams, which recently completed their second seasons in U.S. Soccer’s national Development Academy and in which both teams advanced to the playoffs for the first time in program history. He will also oversee the youth development program and will work with the Revolution’s technical staff to create and implement the youth teams’ coaching curriculum and training systems. Scales replaces Karl Edmonds, who parted ways with the program earlier this month.
“Bryan has proven to be a successful coach at every level he’s coached, was instrumental in the development of our Under-16 players and the success they enjoyed last season,” Revolution Vice President of Player Personnel Michael Burns said. “We are fortunate to have him on board in a full-time capacity as our Director of Youth Development and we expect he’ll continue building on the success our youth teams realized last year in the upcoming U.S. Soccer Development Academy season.”
"It is a both a privilege and an honor to be heading up our Youth Development program,” Scales said. “We were pleased with the progress that was made last season, but we also understand that plenty of hard work is ahead as we move forward. Our goal is to remain the premier development environment for young soccer players in New England as we challenge our Academy players to continue to develop both on and off the field."
Scales joins the Revolution full-time after stepping down from his post at UMass-Lowell, which he held for two seasons, earlier in October. The Medway, Mass., native came to Lowell from Cornell, where he spent a total of 15 years – four years as an assistant coach (1994-98), followed by a successful 11-year run as head coach (1998-2008). In 2001, Scales was a finalist for national coach of the year honors after leading the Big Red to a No. 22 ranking in the polls and winning the New York region’s coach of the year.
Before moving to Cornell, Scales spent two years as an assistant at Harvard (1992-94) and one season as an assistant at Plattsburgh State (1991-92) after a stellar playing career at Hartwick College.
Scales is also an assistant coach with the U.S. Boys (Under-15) National Team. In May of 2009, Scales helped lead the U-15 boys on a 10-day tour of Moenchengladbach, Germany.
A 1991 graduate of Hartwick, Scales was a two-year starter in the midfield and defense and helped the Hawks to the 1987 and 1989 NCAA tournaments. A four-year letter winner, Scales received his bachelor's degree in political science.
Scales and his wife, Mindy, have three children: Aiden (10), Ciara (8) and Jack (6) and live in Nashua, N.H
The 2010-11 Revolution Under-16 and Under-18 teams will return to training later this fall after the conclusion of the high school season, and will participate in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s winter showcase in Phoenix in December.
