Assistant coach brings IU talent

Brian Maisonneuve, IU men’s soccer assistant coach, has played at the highest levels of collegiate and professional soccer.

Now he is back where it all started 20 years ago: Indiana.

Maisonneuve joined the Hoosiers as an assistant in January 2010. He left the same position with Louisville to join the staff of former college teammate Todd Yeagley.

Since his final game in 1994 for the Hoosiers, Maisonneuve has played in the 1996 Olympics, the 1998 World Cup and for the Columbus Crew of the MLS from 1996 to 2004

Following two years at Louisville, Maisonneuve was presented with an opportunity to join Yeagley’s staff and help shape the next crop of Indiana teams. He was quickly accepted.

“Louisville is a great place,” Maisonneuve said. “I really enjoyed it. (Louisville soccer Coach) Ken Lolla is a great coach and a fantastic individual. To come back home to Indiana and work with Coach Yeagley and Coach (Ernie) Yarborough was a slam dunk.”

Yeagley said because of Maisonneuve’s success professionally, he knows what it takes to be successful in the Indiana soccer program.

“He has an understanding of what IU soccer is all about,” Yeagley said. “He’s been around some different coaches uniquely through his time with U.S. soccer and I thought that would be very positive.”

Maisonneuve’s experience has allowed him to have a unique perspective that a lot of coaches would not be able to give to younger players, sophomore defender Matt McKain said.

“The fact that he has been in our shoes definitely helps out,” McKain said. “I guess we respect his input a little bit more than somebody that has not had as much
experience.”

Maisonneuve’s final game of his Indiana playing career was a loss in the 1994 National Championship game to Virginia. It was a loss shared by Yeagley and Yarborough.

“We had some very good teams in my four years here, and we came close so many times, and it still haunts me to this day,” Maisonneuve said.

Coming back to Indiana takes Maisonneuve back to when he first started to really understand how to play soccer at a high level, he said.

“Indiana really helped me achieve what I wanted to achieve in soccer, and I will be forever grateful and forever thankful to be a part of this tradition,” Maisonneuve said. “To be able to come back and be able to coach here it means a lot to me.”