Belhaven University Athletics

Steve DeCou enters his fifth season as the head men's soccer coach and first year as the Assistant Director of Athletics at Belhaven University. This marks his 12th as a collegiate head coach. In his four seasons at the helm of the Blazers DeCou has amassed a 50-18-7 record while his career record is 105-87-15. 

The Blazers had a season to remember in 2010 placing themselves back on the national stage with a trip to the NAIA National Championship tournament for the first time since 1994. The Belhaven soccer program has a storied history with this being their seventh overall appearance in the national tournament. The Blazers finished 2010 with an overall record of 16-2-3, posted a 3-0-2 mark in the Southern States Athletic Conference West Division, and went 1-1 in the national tournament.

In 2009 Belhaven went 10-4-2 on the season and played one of the toughest schedules in the country.“Our goals as a program this year were to become a competitive force on the national stage, host a home conference tournament game, win a conference championship and get to the national tournament,” adds DeCou. “We finished the season with a 10-4-2 mark while our schedule was ranked the 14th most difficult in the country. In the final NAIA poll we ended the season ranked #23 (we were ranked as high as #19). The first two goals of the season we accomplished but the other two we missed the mark.”

Belhaven had four players named to the 2009 GCAC All-Conference Team. Seniors Alan Hannon, Jose Morales, John Kehoe, and Juan Rodriguez all had great years for the Blazers. Hannon and Rodriguez were also named as NAIA Honorable Mention All Americans. Stefan Fernandez was also named as an NAIA Academic All-American.

The 2008 season was a memorable one for the Blazers; compiling a 14-4-1 record, the Blazers went undefeated in their first thirteen matches. This start earned the team an NAIA national ranking for a number of weeks culminating in a #6 rank. In the classroom the team obtained a 3.18 gpa which earned them the NAIA Scholar Team Award. Two players (Stefan Fernandez and Craig St. John) were awarded the NAIA Scholar Athlete Award for their work in the classroom. On the field, Ricky Machel earned an Honorable Mention All-American award while Machel and five of his teammates were awarded GCAC All-Conference Awards. Coach DeCou was named co-Coach of the Year by the GCAC for his team's performance.

The 2007 campaign marked the first season under Coach DeCou as the Blazers finished the year with a very respectable 10-8-1 record. Belhaven went 2-1 in the GCAC during the regular season and included a 1-0 shutout victory over rival William Carey University. Goalkeeper Julien Henriques made 101 saves in 2007 which places him second on Belhaven's All-Time records list for saves in a season. The Blazers hope the upward trend continues in 2009 and they take that next step to competing for a National Title.

“As well as spending time on the college sidelines Coach DeCou has also been involved coaching in the PDL. In 2008 he was the head coach of Mississippi Brilla leading them to a 7-6-3 record, while in 2006 and 2007 he was an assistant coach with the Chicago Fire Premier. DeCou helped the current US men’s U-18 national team coach Mike Matkovich guide the 2006 Fire to a division championship. During his time with the PDL teams, Coach DeCou has worked with numerous players that have gone on to professional careers in MLS as well leagues all over the world.”

Coach DeCou came to Belhaven from Trinity Christian College in Chicago, IL (2004-2006).  DeCou led his 2005 team to a 13-8-2 record and the NCCAA North Central region title as well as a trip to the NCCAA national tournament.  DeCou was named the 2005 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.  Prior to his time in Chicago, DeCou was the head coach at Huntington University in Indiana (2000-2003) as well as the assistant coach at Tennessee Temple University (1997-1998).