As John Kerr walked around campus after being named Duke's new men's head soccer coach, the former Blue Devil couldn't help but notice what's changed: new athletic facilities, construction on Science Drive and the makeover of the Bryan Center Plaza.
One thing that hasn't changed, however, is Duke's magical appeal on the 1986 Hermann trophy winner. Two decades after graduating from Duke into the professional ranks, Kerr has returned to take the coaching reins from the legendary John Rennie.
"It's an absolute honor for me to follow in the footsteps of Coach Rennie, him being my mentor in terms of coaching in the college game," Kerr said. "It was always a dream 20 years ago that one day I would love to come back and coach at Duke, and to be actually realizing that opportunity is an absolute dream come true."
Kerr, a Toronto native, comes to the Blue Devils after a successful nine-year stint at Harvard. While in Cambridge, Kerr led the Crimson to a record of 81-57-13, an Ivy League title in 2006 and NCAA tournament berths the last two seasons.
In hiring a coach from the Ivy League, Duke is replicating the formula that brought Rennie to Durham from Columbia 29 years ago.
"I always think that people who can succeed in environments that are in some ways more restrictive than ours, are always very interesting to me," said Senior Associate Director of Athletics Chris Kennedy, who headed the search for Rennie's replacement. "Somebody coming from the Ivy League is used to the much smaller recruiting pool than most places have to deal with, understands the whole of academics and athletics and obviously has to be committed to academic success."
Kerr expects to bring a more offensive mindset to the sidelines of Koskinen Stadium. His Harvard team led the nation in scoring in 2006 and finished fourth a season ago, averaging 2.39 goals per game. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, finished 18th in scoring nationally at a clip of 1.90 tallies per contest, but often struggled to finish chances in the box.
"It's going to be an ongoing process, but it's just about a philosophy that I have, and that is a very attack-minded philosophy that tries to pass the ball all over the field," Kerr said. "I'm not afraid to make mistakes in the effort to play attractive, ball-movement soccer."
Kerr emerged from a field of four major candidates that included Mike Jeffries, Duke's associate head coach the last two seasons, Mike Jacobs, a former Blue Devil assistant now the head coach at Evansville, and Mike Noonan, the head man at Brown. Only Noonan did not have prior experience at Duke.
"We didn't go into it saying we were only going to look at Duke people, and we didn't," Kennedy said. "But Duke is different from a lot of places in the experience the student-athletes have, and it's really good to have somebody who did it himself and understands [that] difference."
Kennedy added that Rennie contributed to the search "in a general way" but did not endorse a specific candidate.
Kerr certainly has big shoes to fill, as Rennie presided over the Blue Devils' evolution from an athletic aside into a national powerhouse. In his 29 seasons, Rennie led Duke to 19 NCAA tournament appearances, five ACC championships and five College Cup appearances. That's not to mention the 1986 national championship, the first-ever for Blue Devils athletics. Kerr was a senior forward on that team, putting the finishing touches on a Hall of Fame career for Duke that included 42 goals and 43 assists.
Now, Kerr gets another chance to etch his name in the Blue Devil record books and, perhaps, bring a second national championship to Durham.
"Everyone seems to be here with the right attitude and willing to work, and I'm excited about the whole spring and getting to know the players well and setting the tone for the fall," Kerr said. "It's an awesome place to be."
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