A visit with WPIAL champion coach Mark Perry


Background Info: Well-traveled coach Mark Perry has become synonymous with championship WPIAL soccer. Perry has only been the girls soccer coach at Seneca Valley for the past three seasons, but already had the Raiders qualify for the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs every year and won the title this season with a 2-1 overtime victory over Peters Township. In his 32 years as a head coach, he also won four other titles. In 1990 he took home the trophy with the Hampton boys, in 1991 and 1995, with the Fox Chapel boys and with the Central Valley girls in 2013.

Mark Perry on the uniqueness of coaching in the WPIAL.
I think that the quality of the programs and how big it is. There’s over 100 teams in the different classifications and it’s not the geographical area. It’s not that big, District 7, so we’ve got our own little area competing for championships and there are a lot of good teams in all classifications, so it’s a huge challenger as a coach. I’ve coached boys and girls, big school and small school, so I’ve kind of done the whole circle over the 32 years.

Mark Perry on the growth of soccer in his tenure.
It’s just developed and the number of teams has increased the level of competition and the level of play. Obviously, for us in soccer, the WPIAL high school season has become an event. Obviously having the finals at Highmark (Stadium) was the final straw instead of having the finals at a high school. The environment of having the finals at Highmark has made it something that every boy and girl in soccer is working for it. It’s a little bit like football and getting to Heinz Field or Three Rivers Stadium years ago. But the development has been great and it goes with kids playing soccer year-round with club soccer and the competition in the WPIAL makes the play better.

Mark Perry on coaching both boys and girls soccer in his career.
They’re totally different. The boys games are much more intense and much faster and the girls games are more tactical and the girls are more technical. I’ve enjoyed both because they’re two totally different games and you’re dealing with two totally different groups of people. How you can coach boys is much different than how you can coach girls, but it’s still soccer and you’re still trying to do the same things. But I don’t know if I could pick one or the other because they’re so different, but it’s made me a better coach overall having the opportunity to coach boys and girls.