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John Kerr
John Kerr Highlights
Career Record: 230-162-50
Duke Record: 149-103-37
• Entering his 16th season as head coach of the Blue Devils.
• Inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 2004
• Has mentored 14 All-Americans at Duke and Andrew Wenger to the Hermann Award in 2011. In 15 seasons under Kerr, the Blue Devils have earned
14 major ACC awards and 49 All-ACC selections.
• Won the 1986 Hermann Trophy and captained the Blue Devils to the school's first NCAA Championship.
• Is the first American player to play in the English Premier League.
Blue Devil Individual Successes
Head coach John Kerr has mentored exceptional players during his time in Durham. Under Kerr’s direction, the Blue Devils have collected 14 major ACC awards and landed 49 All-ACC awards. Andrew Wenger highlights the list of Blue Devil stars, earning the ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors during his career before ultimately winning the MAC Hermann Award as the nation’s best player in 2011.
Mike Grella was the first Blue Devil under Kerr to take home an ACC award, winning the 2008 ACC Offensive Player of the Year after recording 14 goals and 36 points overall to help Duke to the NCAA Tournament. Wenger was the first Blue Devil to earn the ACC Defensive Player of the Year award in 2010, while Sebastien Ibeagha garnered the accolade two years later.
Shakur Mohammed is the latest offensive star to take home ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors, winning in 2022 while also being tabbed as a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist and All-American. Ulfarsson ended his Duke career with 19 goals and 40 points in 24 games before going to Major League Soccer.
The conference introduced a new award in ACC Midfielder of the Year in 2014 and it was Duke’s Sean Davis collecting the recognition by the league’s coaches. Peter Stroud followed Davis' legacy, becoming the first player in ACC history to be named Midfielder of the Year in back-to-back seasons, winning in 2021 and 2022. Most recently in 2022, Kamran Acito became the sixth Blue Devil all time to be named the ACC Rookie of the Year and fourth under Coach Kerr.
In all since 2008, Duke has had 14 All-Americans, 40 All-South Region picks, 49 All-ACC honorees and 21 All-ACC Freshman Team recipients.
Duke in the Pros
Duke has always had a strong history of players continuing their soccer careers at the next level. The trend only continued under Kerr. There are six former Blue Devils currently playing in Major League Soccer and others playing in Europe. In all, 14 players under Kerr’s watch have been drafted or signed homegrown contracts for Major League Soccer.
Andrew Wenger went No. 1 overall to highlight the 14 MLS picks under Kerr, while Jeremy Ebobisse was fourth in 2016 and Thorleifur Ulfarsson was fourth in 2022.
Mike Grella and Darrius Barnes were the first Blue Devils under Kerr to move on to the professional ranks. Grella elected to head overseas and signed on with Leeds United in England, while Barnes was drafted 40th overall by the New England Revolution. He went on to help the Revs to the 2014 MLS Cup final and ended his MLS career having played 129 games with 111 starts.
Grella returned stateside and signed on with New York Red Bulls in 2015. He starred for the squad in the 2015 and 2016 season, helping the Red Bulls to the 2015 Supporters’ Shield as the regular season champs. Hampered by injuries over the next two seasons, he retired following the 2018 season. In his MLS career, he played in 85 games with 66 starts and scored 17 goals and 14 assists for 48 points.
Wenger played for three teams in MLS before retiring at the end of the 2018 season. Overall, he played 181 games with 115 starts, scoring 23 goals and 15 assists.
Ebobisse, Sean Davis and Brian White have excelled with their clubs, with Ebobisse helping Portland Timbers to the MLS is Back title, before joining the San Jose Earthquakes. Davis was selected as the New York Red Bulls captain in 2020, before moving to Nashville SC in the 2022 offseason. Meanwhile, Sebastien Ibeagha dons the black and gold as a defender for Los Angeles FC.
The two newest additions to the MLS stage are Ulfarsson and Ian Murphy, who were both selected in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, becoming the second pair of first rounds picks under Kerr. Ulfarsson joined Houston Dynamo FC, while Ian Murphy was taken 14th overall by FC Cincinnati.
Duke Returns to the National Stage
After missing the NCAA Tournament for five straight seasons, the Blue Devils have returned to the national stage. The 2021 season was a standout showing for Kerr, finishing 14-5-1. The Blue Devils reached the ACC Championship final for the first time under Kerr, while advancing to the third round of the NCAA Championship.
With 14 wins, the Blue Devils delivered Kerr his most single season wins as head coach at Duke.
Duke earned the No. 6 seed in both 2017 and 2018 before falling in the third round. The No. 6 seed in 2017 was the first for the program since 2006, while the 13 wins that year were the second most at Duke under Kerr.
In 2018, Duke climbed to as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, the highest in Kerr’s tenure. The Blue Devils finished the year ranked 11th nationally, also a best for Kerr after Duke was 13th in the 2017 final poll. The top 25 rankings the past two seasons were the first for Duke since 2009.
A Bump in the Road
The Blue Devils had a tough stretch for a few seasons as they missed the NCAA Tournament from 2012-16 and again in 2019. Duke finished at or above .500 in four of the six seasons, but untimely setbacks over the course of a few of the campaigns left the Blue Devils out of postseason action.
Those seasons all churned out talented players who went on to be drafted in Major League Soccer. Sean Davis, Sebastien Ibeagha both won major awards in the time frame as the Blue Devils fell victim to close games. In 2012, all eight of Duke’s losses came by a single goal as it allowed only 11 goals all season. The 0.70 goals against average was the lowest by a Duke team since 1987, but the Blue Devils weren’t able to answer offensively and finished the year 8-8-2.
The 2015 campaign, in which Duke finished 9-9-1, was highlighted by a thrilling 2-1 win over No. 2 North Carolina. The 2019 squad had two players – Daniele Proch and Aedan Stanley – sign pro contracts with USL sides.
Early Duke Success
Kerr took over the reins in the spring of 2007 after legendary John Rennie retired after 29 seasons, which included a national championship, five College Cup appearances and a pair of runner-up trophies. Over the next four seasons, Kerr’s teams compiled 45 wins, advanced to the NCAA Tournament all four years and placed four on All-America teams.
In Kerr’s first season at Duke, the Blue Devils posted a 10-8-2 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Mike Grella captured the ACC Offensive Player of the Year award, while center back Darrius Barnes garnered all-region honors.
With one season under his belt, Kerr’s Blue Devils put together a stellar second campaign. Duke won 14 games and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16, the farthest Duke had reached since 2005. It was the first year of Andrew Wenger’s heralded career as the team featured 13 underclassmen.
The next two seasons featured 10 and 11 wins, respectively, and advanced to the NCAA second round and was topped off when Wenger took home the coveted Hermann Award in 2011.
Leading the Crimson
Following his successful professional career, Kerr jumped into the coaching ranks in 1999 when he was picked as Harvard’s 12th men’s soccer coach in program history. In his nine seasons with the Crimson, he produced 15 All-Ivy League selections, three Ivy League Rookie of the Year choices and two Ivy League Player of the Year picks. Additionally, Kerr’s 2006 Harvard squad led the nation in scoring en route to the Ivy League Championship. In his nine seasons Kerr amassed an 87-57-13 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice.
During his time in the Boston area, he also served as the coaching director of F.C. Greater Boston soccer club, where he also mentored future Blue Devil star Michael Videira.
Kerr’s Professional Path
Following graduation, Kerr went on to make history as the first American player to play in the English Premier League when he signed on with Portsmouth. After a year with the club, he returned stateside to play with the Washington Stars of the ASL. He made his way back to Europe a year later and played in England, Ireland and France. He also spent one season in Canada with the Hamilton Steelers of the Canadian Soccer League.
In addition to playing professionally, Kerr also suited up for the U.S. Men’s National Team, seeing action in 17 matches and tallying two goals from 1994-95. When Major League Soccer debuted in the states, Kerr was picked up by the Dallas Burn and ultimately finished his MLS career with New England Revolution. In 1998 and 1999, Kerr was a player and a coach for the Boston Bulldogs of the professional A-League before hanging up his cleats.
Taking Duke to the Top
As a Blue Devil player, Kerr took the program to new heights in leading the program to the University’s first NCAA Championship in 1986. The Blue Devils finished 18-5-1 that season, besting Akron in the title game in Portland, Oregon. Over the course of his four seasons in Durham, Kerr racked up nearly every award possible and etched his name all over the Duke men’s soccer records book.
He garnered All-ACC and All-America first team honors in both 1985 and 1986, took home the ACC Player of the Year his senior season and ultimately capped off his career with the Hermann Trophy, the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year, Soccer America Player of the Year and NSCAA Player of the Year awards. His name remains in the records book as he ranks tied for third in career points (127), second in career assists (43) and sixth in career goals (42). His 44 points in 1986 are tied for second all-time at Duke, while his 14 assists are seventh and 15 goals tied for eighth. He also had 14 assists in 1985. Overall for his career, he finished with 42 goals and 43 assists for 127 points.
Personal
Born March 6, 1965 in Toronto, Canada, Kerr is married to Tracy Kerr, who was a soccer standout at Virginia in the early 1990’s. The couple has twins, Cameron John and Alexandra Catherine, and another son, Drew. Drew is a freshman and Cameron is a senior on the Duke men’s soccer team and Alex is a senior for the Vanderbilt women’s soccer team.
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