South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Mehlville boys’ soccer coach to step down; will continue coaching girls’ soccer team

After five years as Mehlville Senior High School boys’ soccer coach, Scott Jackson has decided to step down from the post to focus more on his family.

“The biggest reason I told them (Mehl-ville School District officials) that I was stepping down is for family,” Jackson told the Call. “I have one 6-year old daughter playing soccer now and a 4-year old that’s going to start playing in the fall. The only way to do that right is to be there with them.”

Despite stepping down from the boys’ head coaching position, Jackson will continue as the girls’ head soccer coach at Mehlville after taking over the program just two seasons ago.

“I’m keeping the girls’ team and believe me this was a tough decision to make,” he said. “I’m resigning from the boys’ head coaching position, but I still will help in fund-raising and or be an assistant on the varsity team.”

In his five years as the head coach of the Mehlville boys’ soccer program, he amassed an impressive record of 74-44-8.

Jackson’s first year as the Panthers’ head coach was quite impressive as he guided Mehlville to a 20-2 record overall with a perfect 7-0 mark in Suburban West Conference play. In 2003 his Panthers advanced to the state quarterfinal where they fell to Chaminade 3-1.

Yet being the head coach at Mehlville also took its toll on Jackson.

“Being the head coach for five years it went from coaching to having to deal with a lot of other things,” Jackson said. “I played there (at Mehlville), and I coached there for 10 years and have gotten tired of fighting the same battles. Our athletics director and principal have been great to work with and have voiced my concerns.

A 1989 graduate of Mehlville Senior High, Jackson went on to play at South-west Missouri State before coming back to Mehlville as the school’s head freshman soccer coach for three seasons. Jackson then served as the school’s assistant head coach on the varsity team before taking over the head coaching duties in 2000.

Jackson has coached some of the area’s top players, including graduating senior Denaldin Hamzajic who’s headed to St. Louis University this Fall. Other athletes who played for Jackson are Ryan Burke (Wisconsin-Green Bay) along with Jon and Adam Klein (Webster University).

“I’ve got no regrets,” he said. “We beat some pretty good teams over the years and there’s nothing to be disappointed about.”

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