Byrd honored as national soccer coach of year

O’Brien Byrd froze like a deer in the headlights when he heard his name announced at the NSCAA awards ceremony last week in Indianapolis. Byrd had just won National High School Soccer Coach of the Year, the top honor for prep soccer coaches across the nation. His mind, as they say, was blown.

“They said my name and I froze, then I look up at the screen and there’s my name,” Byrd said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The award honors a coach’s achievements throughout their career, and particularly looks at recent success. For Byrd, recent success has been coming in droves. His 100th career win came in September, another Class A state title and a perfect undefeated record came in October. Then in December he was named state and regional NSCAA Coach of the Year. Last week’s award was the icing on the cake.

While on stage accepting the award, the president of the coach’s association grabbed Byrd’s hand and told him to keep up the good work.

“He said, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing up there in Montana, but keep it up,’” Byrd recalled.

That’s the part of the award that makes him most proud. It puts the Bulldog program and more broadly, Montana on the national soccer map.

“We have game up here, too,” Byrd said. “It isn’t a California or Utah or Colorado program that won. It is Montana. I’m proud of that.”

The black-tie award ceremony was attended by 3,000 members of the national soccer community. Hall of Fame inductees and U.S. National team members were in attendance — Taylor Swift even sang the national anthem.

“It’s like the Academy Awards for soccer,” Byrd said, noting he was the only one without a tuxedo.

While in Indianapolis, Byrd attended more than 20 workshops and took about 60 pages of notes. For a coach who is already full of plans on how to boost soccer participation in Montana, his arsenal of ideas was totally reloaded after the award banquet.

“I can’t wait to share ideas and talk to other coaches,” he said. “I wish I could get the team together and hold a practice today.”

Winning the prep national coach of the year award often opens many doors for up-and-coming coaches. Byrd says it will be a great addition to his resume, but he has no plans to leave the Flathead or Whitefish anytime soon.

“The great thing is I want to live here. I want to grow old here,” he said. “I don’t want to move my kids from here.”

He will take any momentum or notoriety gathered from the achievement and put it into growing soccer throughout the state.

“I want more kids to pick up the ball and kick it around. I want to spread the game at the elementary level,” he said. “If these kids grow up to be baseball or basketball players, great, but there was a foundation of soccer there. That’s where I want to see this game go in Montana.”

Byrd said there are hundreds of people to thank for helping him become the coach he is.

“Every player I ever coached, all of my coaches in my career — I represent hundreds of people in this journey. I have a lot of people to thank, but most of all, my family and my wife, Melanie.”

While the pitch at Smith Fields remains covered in snow, Byrd will surely spend his winter scheming new ways to promote the sport he is passionate about in the place he loves and calls home.

“I’m going to keep on going,” he said. “I’m just going to keep pushing myself to be the best coach I can be.”