Tony Romano

Coach Romano moved to Colorado from the Chicago area in 2005. He has worked at Legacy since.

Education

Coach Romano attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, for his undergraduate education where he received a Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology with additional concentrations in Education and Mathematics. He remained at Trinity to earn a Master's of Arts in Teaching in 1997. He later received a Master's of Science in School Counseling from the University of Phoenix in 2008.

Coaching Education

His formal training as a coach began in the spring of his freshman year in college while playing under coach and mentor, Paul McGinlay. The majority of his formal coaching education has been with the United States Soccer Federation and the United Soccer Coaches (formerly National Soccer Coaches Association of America). He was one of the youngest people in the county to receive his Advanced National Diploma from the NSCAA in 1998 at the age of 24. He has also completed additional training with many other organizations including the Colorado High School Coaches' Association, the Positive Coaching Alliance, the U.S. Center for SafeSport, Heads Up Concussion in Youth Sports, and the National Outdoor Leadership School.

Coaching Experience

He has been coaching many levels of youth soccer since 1993 including boys and girls club and high school soccer in Texas, Illinois, and Colorado. While in Colorado he has coached youth boys clubs teams for both Colorado Storm North and FC Boulder. He coached both the girls and boys programs at Legacy from 2005 to 2008, but switched solely to coaching the Legacy boys team in 2009 after the birth of his son. In that time the Legacy boys teams have set program records for depth of playoffs (Quarterfinals in 2011), consecutive playoff appearances (Sweet 16 in each of 2015, 2016, 2017), and won a conference championship (2007 - assistant). He was named the MetroNews All-Region Coach of the Year in 2011 and the BoCoPreps All-Region Coach of the Year in 2018.

Playing

Romano grew up playing in many places, but mostly in the Chicago area. He played his high school soccer in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he was fortunate enough to compete in the Class L high school state championship match twice and the club state championship once. He also played on the state's Olympic Development Program team. He was also fortunate enough to win multiple awards including multiple all-state honors and being named to the Twin State Lions Cup team. During this time he was also an all-state track and field athlete including hurdles, jumping events, and the decathlon. After high school he played for the Latin American Soccer Association's semi-pro team out of the Boston area before going to college. He played at Trinity University under now-legendary coach Paul McGinlay where he won numerous accolades include becoming the program's first four-year all-conference winner (SCAC-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference).

Teaching

Coach Romano taught high school mathematics for eight years before arriving at Legacy where he taught for three more years. After eleven years in the classroom he moved to working as a school counselor at Legacy in 2008 and has been in that position since.

Coaching Philosophy

Helping to raise young men who learn about independence, responsibility, commitment, teamwork, and self-advocacy is every bit as important as transforming them into better soccer players and teaching them to be competitors.