My City June 2021

MYSPORTS

W agstaff has high praise for his fellow Bucks’ staff, as well. “Gary Parsons (Direc tor of Player Personnel) has put together a magnificent roster of talented players and the task is finding the ways each can serve the team best which is a great problem to solve,”Wag staff says. “As a coaching staff, we believe in finding the system that best fits the players we have rather than trying to fit players to a predetermined system.” Wagstaff spent most of the decade between his 16th and 26th birthdays both coaching and playing, but the long journey to his current position began at age 18 when he was not offered a contract to continue playing for Bury. Unsure of where to continue his playing career, he wound up be ing evaluated by American college coaches at a recruiting event in Eng land. Among them was Parsons, then Oakland University’s head coach, who offered Wagstaff a scholarship. During his time at Oakland (1991-94), Wagstaff was an all-region

performer, helping the squad to an appearance in the 1994 NCAA Divi sion 2 championship game. He began coaching again during his sopho more year as a youth assistant with the Bloomfield Force, now known as Liverpool Football Club. Wagstaff is currently the club’s president. After college, he played profes sionally for the Detroit Rockers and Detroit Neon and spent a season

to a pair of conference titles and an NCAA Tournament berth. He was also a University of Michigan and Oakland women’s assistant and then served a four-year stint as Saginaw Valley State head men’s coach, guiding the Cardinals to a conference title and four NCAA Division 2 Tournament appearances. His exhaustive resume also includes leading the Force girls to consecutive national titles (2007-08), a season as

“Few people realize the pressure the staff and players are under because obviously, this program is used to winning.” Coach Wagstaff

(1996) with the Bucks while continu ing to coach. He made coaching his full-time focus in the late 1990s. “I found myself pulled in two directions: trying to make it as a professional soccer player while also becoming more involved in coaching, so I had to make a decision,” he says. “I really began to love having an effect on the outcome of players’ journeys.” Wagstaff began loading up his coach ing schedule, even splitting time between the U.S. and England from 1998-2002. On this side of the Atlantic, he continued coaching with the Force and guided the Bloomfield Hills Lahser High School boys to the Divi sion 2 state championship in 1999. In England, he was an academy coach for Bolton Wanderers and Liverpool FC. Wagstaff later served two stints as an Oakland assistant, helping the team

Michigan Stars head coach and three total seasons as a Bucks assistant. Last fall,Wagstaff oversaw the creation of a Bucks USL Academy team which begins play this month under direction of Coach Ben Jones and will feature some of southeast Michigan’s top players ages 15-18 years, who will get the chance to train with the Bucks and even earn a spot on the Bucks’ roster. Flint must finish among the top three teams in the Great Lakes Divi sion to qualify for the USL 2 playoffs which begin July 16. “Our No. 1 goal is delivering an other championship for Flint, but get ting there requires a tough journey and we can’t look very far ahead,”Wagstaff says. “It’s my job to be sure the guys focus only on the next game and stay the course. Hopefully, we’ll get on a run that ends with another trophy.” x

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