When Ron Newman came to the United States from his native England in 1967 to, in his own words, “advance the game,” he had little idea what the future held.

“The seed for soccer had been planted in the United States,” Newman said in 1980 shortly after joining the San Diego Sockers as head coach. “But it wasn’t going to grow on its own. There were a number of us eager to come over and provide a push.”

One of his former players, Brian Quinn, said Newman “always felt coming to the United States was like a calling. He came here to build soccer, but I don’t think he ever saw where the path would take him.”

In his case, Newman went from being an outdoor player and coach to being the greatest coach of the indoor hybrid that became popular during the 1980s and 1990s. Led by their innovative coach, the Sockers won 10 indoor championships in a span of 11 seasons beginning in 1981-82.


Newman, who was inducted into the American National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992 and is a member of San Diego’s Breitbard Hall of Fame, died Monday morning in Tampa, Fla.. after a long illness. He was 82.

Newman served as coach of both the outdoor and indoor teams fielded by the Sockers. His outdoor team advanced to the North American Soccer League semifinals in 1982. He was the NASL Coach of the Year three times and led the Dallas Tornado to the league’s outdoor title in 1975 as a player-head coach.

But it was in the indoor game, introduced during the late 1970s, where Newman excelled while many of his counterparts reluctantly participated as the NASL’s outdoor play waned and ceased after the 1984 season.

“Ron embraced the indoor game,” said Quinn, now the men’s soccer coach at University of San Diego. “He came to really like it. He realized very early that the coach of an indoor team has a lot more influence during a game than an outdoor coach has. He loved being involved.


“And he loved that the fans were right on top of the action and involved.”

During the early days of indoor professional soccer, most NASL teams simply played an outdoor-style game indoors. Newman did not.

He admitted getting pointers from watching National Hockey League games on television. He was among the first indoor soccer coaches to deploy players on shorter shifts. He contoured his lineups for power plays and brought his goaltenders forward as extra attackers. He substituted by having players coming off the field exit through one gate while the replacements came off the field through the one closest to the opposing goal.

“Every shift change, we’d have a power play for a second or two,” Newman once said. “If we make 40 lineup changes in a game, that’s like 80 extra seconds with an extra attacker in their zone.”


As an indoor coach, Newman saw the value in speed, athletic goaltenders and defenders who could play offense. He loved sending wings downfield chasing long passes.

“Ron surrounded himself with players whose skills fit the indoor game and he knew how to use them,” said Quinn. “He got the best out of his teams. And he dealt with a lot of strong personalities. Ron was a champion of traditional outdoor soccer first. But he really took to the indoor game.”

Newman became the coach of the Sockers in 1980 when the team only played outdoors in the NASL. They started playing a short indoor season after the 1980 season before starting to play full indoor and outdoor seasons starting in 1981.

The Sockers won NASL indoor titles in 1981-82 and 1983-84 and MISL titles in 1982-83 and seven of the next eight seasons, missing out only in 1986-87.


Newman was born on Jan. 19, 1936, in Fareham, England. After playing soccer in England for 13 years, he came to the United States in 1967 to play for the Atlanta Chiefs of the NASL. He became the player coach of the Dallas Tornado in 1969.

Newman coached professional soccer teams for three decades in the United States and was the first coach hired by Major League Soccer (in Kansas City). He retired from coaching in 1999.

Newman was the NASL coach of the year three times — 1971, 1977 and 1984. Ironically he was voted coach of the year only once in the MISL (in 1985-86). His won-loss record in the U.S. pro ranks — including outdoor and indoor games — is listed as 753-296-27.

“I didn’t know anything about indoor soccer when the NASL first headed in that direction,” Newman said during the 1983 MISL finals, where the Sockers routed reigning MISL power Baltimore to change the course of the hybrid.


“Most coaches were reluctant,” Newman said of the first overtures into indoor soccer. “I plunged into the idea. I became fascinated with the possibilities. I quickly came to the conclusion this could be exciting, that it could be successful.”

Details of Newman’s death were limited. He and his wife, Olive, had been living with his daughter Tracy and her family in Land O’Lakes, Fla. The Newmans also had a son, Guy, who played for the Sockers.


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Center is a freelance writer.

UPDATES:


9 a.m.: This article was updated with quotes.

3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with more information and quotes.