TAMPA, FL - (Wednesday, October 28, 2009) – United Soccer Leagues recently announced that Richmond Kickers Head Coach and Director of Soccer, Leigh Cowlishaw, will be inducted as a member of the Coach category during the USL Hall of Fame Ceremony at the USL Annual General Meeting this November.
Cowlishaw will be joined by two individuals who will be inducted in the Player category, which will be announced over the next two days. The Charlotte Lady Eagles, Ottawa Fury and Thunder Bay Chill will also be recognized for completing 10 years of competition.
A former player for the Kickers, Cowlishaw assumed the role of head coach for Richmond in 2000 and has consistently been one of the winningest coaches in USL, guiding the club to the postseason in five of six seasons in the USL First Division and all four years in the USL Second Division.
During his tenure, he led the club to the USL-1 final twice (2002, 2005) and has won the USL-2 championship in 2006 and 2009.
He has yet to experience a losing season in his career as head coach, which has seen him post an overall regular season record of 138-62-46 over the first 10 years (through 2009) and a mark of 9-6-12 in the playoffs. He led the club to a regular season championship on three occasions, finishing first in 2001 in the USL First Division and winning the title back-to-back in USL-2 in 2006 and 2007.
With Cowlishaw at the helm, the Kickers have upset Major League Soccer clubs on three occasions in the US Open Cup, downing DC United (2004) and Colorado Rapids (2000) while playing in USL-1 and the LA Galaxy (2007) as a representative from USL-2.
Also successful as a professional player (1993-1998), Cowlishaw helped the Kickers win the “Double” with the U.S. Open Cup and the Premier Development League championships in 1995. His former Kickers coach Dennis Viollet, who led the Kickers to the league and cup double, was inducted posthumously in 2002.
He resides in the top 10 on the Kickers all-time goals scored list (19), all-time points list (49) and all-time assists list (11). He is the only player to play under every coach in Kickers franchise history and in September of 1999, he was honored as the first Kicker to have his number (13) retired.
At the University of Richmond, Leigh made his mark by becoming the career record holder for goals (55), assists (33) and total points (143), earning All-American honors and the CAA Player of the Year award. In January 2001, he was the first soccer player in university history to be inducted into the University of Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame.
In addition to coaching the USL-2 side, Cowlishaw serves as Director of Soccer, providing technical direction and guidance for all levels of the Kickers organization and serving on the board of the Richmond Kickers Youth Soccer Club. He works closely with the technical staff to ensure all programs uphold the club philosophy of high integrity and character building and oversees all player-personnel decision making at the professional level.
Cowlishaw is the eighth coach to be inducted into the USL Hall of Fame, joining Pat Ercoli (inducted 2002), Bob Gansler (2002), Bret Hall (2004), Buzz Lagos (2003), Bill Palladino (2003), Mark Steffens (2007) and Dennis Viollet (2002).
