University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina Athletics
Rice Athletics Ctr - 1304 Heyward St Columbia, SC 29208

Division 1 South Carolina Southeast

Public Very Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Tony Annan

Tony Annan was named the head men’s soccer coach at the University of South Carolina on April 22, 2021. He is the second head coach in the history of Gamecock men’s soccer.

Annan (pronounced Ann-in) came to Columbia after a six-year stint at Atlanta United of Major League Soccer. He was hired as the fifth employee in 2015 in the club’s young existence and built the development academy from scratch. Most recently, he was appointed to interim head coach for Atlanta United 2, the reserve team of MLS’s Atlanta United on July 27, 2020, and also serves as academy director.

As Atlanta United became the first MLS Academy to launch before its First Team, Annan oversaw one of the most successful seasons for any academy across the board during the 2016-17 United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) season. Serving as head coach of the U-17s, Annan won the club’s first piece of hardware, claiming the national championship in 2016. In addition, the U-19s also won the Southeast Division and finished the season as the No. 1 overall national seed.

Atlanta United’s academy has sustained success across all levels under his guidance as the U-19s and U-17s have combined to win four Southeast Division titles in addition to qualifying for the playoffs in each season. The U-14s won the 2019 Nexen Manchester City Cup, a 24-team tournament featuring clubs throughout the world where Atlanta defeated CF Monterrey 3-2 in the final. His academy teams have also won Generation adidas East Region qualifying twice.

A true developer of talent and skills, six of his players have gone on to sign professional deals after college and more than 80 of Annan’s former players have earned college scholarships. Ten of his players from Atlanta United have signed professional contracts during his tenure. 45 of his players have earned Youth National Team call ups with eight different countries represented.

Bringing 25 years of coaching experience with him to Stone Stadium, Annan is the only coach to complete the USSF Academy directors license and the FFF Elite formation license at the same time in 2017. In 2018, he became the youngest coach to be inducted into the Georgia Soccer Hall of Fame.

Annan was appointed Director at Concorde Fire in 1997 and quickly built up the program from 350 players to 2,400 by the time he left in 2005. Later that year, he was named executive director over Norcross Soccer with 600 players in the organization. By 2009, there were 1,600 players within the program and eventually oversaw the program’s growth to more than 6,800 players.

During this time, he also built Norcross Nike Cup, now known as the Generation adidas Cup. The tournament started with 180 teams and eventually grew to 640 in just five years as he managed 120 staff coaches.

In 2010, Annan helped form Georgia United, an alliance of four metro Atlanta club teams that joined together to share resources to allow them to provide a high-level training environment with excellent competition. Under his leadership, Georgia United finished as a semifinalist at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy national championship in 2014. It is the only time a non-MLS academy reached the semifinal game of the U.S. Development Academy Championship.

Annan showed his ability to coach all levels of soccer when as an assistant he helped the U.S. Soccer Men’s Paralympic Team qualify for the World Championships for the first time in 2015.

A native of Newcastle, England, Annan is joined in Columbia by his wife, Elizabeth, his son, Jax, and daughter, Ella. Annan started his playing career at West Bromwich Albion in 1991, a soccer club in England that currently competes in Premier League. He played his college soccer at Life University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in nutrition and dietetics in 1998.

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Alec Purdie

Alec Purdie was named an assistant coach for the Gamecocks in May of 2021.

Purdie spent the past two seasons at Wofford after previously spending two years as an assistant coach at Belmont.

A four-year letter winner at Indiana University, Purdie made 63 match appearances with 35 starts. As a senior, Purdie earned First Team All-Big Ten honors after tallying eight goals and five assists. He graduated in 2011 with a degree in sports communications and broadcasting.

After a successful collegiate career, he took part in the 2012 Major League Soccer Player Combine and was selected 22nd overall in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft by the New England Revolution. After playing for the New England Revolution for the 2012 season, Purdie played in Sweden before shifting his focus to coaching.

A native of Elkhart, Ind., Purdie, and his wife, Lynlee, were married in 2016 and have a daughter, Satcher Kay. Lynlee is notably an alumna of the University of South Carolina.

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Nathan Smith

Nathan Smith was named assistant coach men’s soccer coach on July 17, 2023. Smith joined Carolina with over 20 years of experience developing and mentoring amateur and professional athletes, having served as head coach, academy director, and technical director during his career.

In his 19 months as academy manager at Atlanta United FC of the MLS, Smith designed and implemented a homegrown development program to transition top academy prospects into professional and collegiate teams. He has an excellent reputation for dedication to the long-term athletic and character development of his athletes, with a history of producing collegiate and professional talent.

With vast experience in the soccer community, Smith’s previous stops include academy director in the United States Soccer Development Academy, assistant coach in both the USL League Two and National Premier Soccer League, assistant coach at the collegiate level, as well as technical director and head coach for elite youth academies.

Having lived and played in the United States, England and Italy, Smith has a great understanding of American and European soccer systems. Additionally, he has a strong international perspective and multicultural understanding after living in South Africa, Botswana, the United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong, Italy, and the United States.

He has earned top-level coaching credentials, including the United States Soccer Federation Academy Director License and the United States Soccer Federation National ‘A’ License. He is currently in the process of completing the UEFA coaching pathway.

Smith graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Superior with a bachelor’s degree in sports science while minoring in coaching dynamics.

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Will Lukowski

Will Lukowski was named an assistant coach on June 24, 2021.

Lukowski (pronounced Lu-cow-ski) spent two seasons at Missouri State and worked with the program’s goalkeepers. Lukowski and the MSU coaches were named the Missouri Valley Conference Coaching Staff of the Year in 2019 and 2020-21 as the Bears won back-to-back MVC regular-season titles and an MVC Tournament championship.

During the spring 2021 campaign, Lukowski helped the Bears’ goalkeepers to post six shutouts and allow just 10 goals on the year. His coaching was rewarded with a second straight all-conference selection for keeper Michael Creek.

In his first season with the Bears in 2019, Lukowski was instrumental in guiding the MSU keepers to post a 0.630 goals against average and nine shutouts, which led to a MVC Goalkeeper of the Year nod for Creek.

Lukowski came to Springfield after two years at University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., where he handled international recruiting, travel and assisted with the program’s day-to-day-operations. He earned his masters of science in March of 2019 from Cumberlands.

A native of Greenwood, Mo., he earned his undergraduate degree with honors from Wright State in 2016, majoring in organizational leadership after finishing the last two seasons of his soccer career for coach Bryan Davis. He allowed just one goal his senior season for the Raiders in 2016 and was named to the Horizon League Honor Roll each of his last two campaigns.

He began his Division I collegiate career at Indiana University, where he redshirted during the 2014 season. He played the previous two years at Iowa Western Community College, where he led his club to the 2013 national championship with a 25-0 record. He was named an NSCAA and NJAA All-American both seasons. Lukowski led the nation in goals against average (0.44) as a freshman and posted a 0.31 GAA as a sophomore with 22 wins and 16 shutouts. He finished his junior college career with a record of 42-0-1 in goal and was named first-team Academic All-Region both years.

Prior to college, Lukowski was a standout at Lee’s Summit High School. He holds NSCAA Level I and Level II Goal Keeping diplomas and has worked with outstanding soccer organizations such as Sporting Springfield, Club Ohio and Excel Goalkeeping.