Inductees

The whole plan was never to coach soccer, just to take a detour to a Midwest mid-major in order to earn an MBA after losing out on three New York City advertising jobs to folks holding MBAs.

Bryan Blitz tells this story proudly. As he should. Because back in 1990, after serving two years as a graduate assistant of the Butler University men’s soccer team, he realized the importance of happiness in a career.

“I didn’t want to go back to the real world,” Blitz said. “I said, ‘This is fun. This what I want to do.’”

That job led coaching the new Butler women’s team and finally to an interview in 1996 in the office of then-University of Missouri Athletic Director Joe Castiglione (MSHOF 2015). That’s where Blitz pitched ideas on ways to build the department’s newest program, women’s soccer.

And now look. He’s still the Tigers’ coach – and highly successful at that. Which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Blitz with the Class of 2021.

After all, the 2021 season will be Blitz’s 26^th as head coach of the Mizzou women’s soccer program, and he is 252-214-38 since its inception in 1996.

Overall, including five seasons guiding the Butler women’s program in the early 1990s, he has coached 30 seasons, with a record of 297-258-46. The 297 wins rank him 28th nationally among active head coaches, while his 252 Mizzou wins are fourth among Southeastern Conference coaches at their current institutions.

Blitz has guided the Tigers to seven NCAA Tournaments – they first reached it in only their fourth season, and advanced to the second round four times. Since transitioning to the SEC, the Tigers have qualified for the SEC Tournament in all but one season as a member and have never lost an SEC opener.

It certainly was a long, winding road to get here. When he interviewed with Castiglione, it had been a busy 15 years.

Following high school, he played at Richland Junior College in Dallas, spent a year in England playing at Ealing College and then three seasons (1984-1986) for University of Tulsa soccer, earning varsity letters every year. He then stayed as a graduate assistant for Tulsa’s  new women’s soccer program before playing professionally  two seasons in Dallas and New York.

Blitz gave New York a try, working the next two years in advertising. But, realizing he needed an MBA to further his career, joined Butler as a graduate assistant coach.

That’s when life changed. From 1991 to 1995, he coached the start-up Butler’s women’s soccer program, with his last team finished undefeated in conference play and Blitz was the conference Coach of the Year.

Castiglione then came calling and, in the interview, Blitz pointed out all the Missouri high school talent that had left the state.

“That first year, I took half the club team at Mizzou and had to get a team together within six months,” Blitz said. “My goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament by the end of the third year.”

The Tigers were close, as the last team left out of the 1998 selection process.

“That was a good thing for our program. It was perfect,” Blitz said. “It was a great lesson for our players that life’s not fair.”

The near-miss actually gave Mizzou much-needed credibility with top club coaches in St. Louis and Kansas City. With ties to Dallas and Tulsa, too, recruiting took off.

Two St. Louis players helped fuel the rise. Nikki Thole earned NCAA All-American in 1999, when she also was voted First Team All-Big 12 Conference. Jackie Adamec, a transfer from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, earned all-conference as a goalkeeper in 1998.

Blitz recruited over-achievers.

“I was a blue-collar player. That’s what we were always going to base everything off of,” Blitz said. “We’re going to slide for a ball out of bounds, be physical.”

His 2008 team won the Big 12 Tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2009 team won the Big 12 regular season. Additionally, 61 players earned all-conference honors, and 24 assistants became head coaches.

Blitz is a three-time Coach of the Year – SEC (2015), Big 12 Conference (2007, 2009).

All of the success, he emphasized, is due to the support of his wife, Alie. They are parents to Madison, Connor, Abigail and Oliver.

“Working with young people, they inspire me,” Blitz said. “It’s been an honor to help be a part of young people’s life journeys.”