Beginning his soccer career as a young child in Hornsea, England, Texas A&M University Associate Head Coach Phil Stephenson has surely made an impact across the waters.
With soccer being the national game of England, Phil naturally ended up beginning in the game and as he spent more time playing, he began to develop before heading to Lock Haven University, where he garnered a selection as one of the top 25 players of the century for the university.
“The coach of the college was from a city near me in Northeast England,” Phil says. “I heard that he was looking for players so I called him and at first he said there was no scholarship available so I didn’t think I’d get to go that year, but that August I got a call that said they had a scholarship available and I needed to be there in one week.”
During his time at Lock Haven, Phil says at first he had no idea what his life after college soccer would look like. Through his personal passion for soccer and his appreciation for the work his coaches did, he decided to pursue a career in coaching with his first job as an assistant coach for Methodist College in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“When I initially graduated I was first a volunteer which eventually turned into an assistant coaching job,” Phil says. “It's really interesting when you convert from being a player to a coach because as a player you are focused on how you can better yourself and make your game better, but as a coach you take a step out of that and you look at all of it. The whole thing was really interesting to me, I realized there were a lot of things I did on instinct and I had to break that down to teach that.”
A little down the road, Phil ended up in Buffalo, New York as the Director of Coaching for Buffalo and western New York where he was then invited to the south region to work with a girls soccer team for the Olympic Development Program. As a coach at the program for some of the best young soccer players in the nation is where he unexpectedly got his foot in the door for the Texas A&M soccer program after meeting Coach G Guerrieri, who was in the market for a new assistant coach to help fulfill his program dreams. And thus, the legacy of coach Phil began at A&M in 1999.
“He fills a lot of blind spots for other people, the staff, myself included,” Coach G says. “ I allow him to have freedom to do the things that he does really well and because of that freedom, it allows him to be the best that he can be. His help in the program allows me to focus on the things that I do well so we don’t have to overlap."
A huge part of what makes Phil such a great addition to the program is his ability to bond with players both on and off the field through everyday interactions with the team, including ensuring that he completes his own tasks so he can spend more time with the players in the clubhouse.
“I really enjoyed getting to know my players, what makes them tick and how they learn because that will help me know how I need to coach them to make them a better player and person —and it isn't a one size fits all,” Phil says. “From a philosophical standpoint, I want players to develop, but I want them to enjoy coming to their work as much as I enjoy it.”
Players, like junior Mia Pante, say Phil has a goofy attitude and always likes to ensure that while work is getting done that everyone is also having fun and enjoying their time on the field.
“Coach Phil does a really good job of coming into our clubhouse before practices when players are in and out of the locker room getting ready for practice. He only just sits on the couch with a couple other members of staff and they just really do a good job of getting to know you from what your thoughts
on soccer are to everything in your life down to your pets,” Mia says. “Phil knows that I want to play professionally so he is always working with me to ensure that I know the steps I need to take to further my career and also working with me on how I can improve.”
Those bonds don’t end when Aggies walk across the stage, but instead players say that Phil is sure to check in via text and phone calls years down the road. Players like, now coach Alyssa Mautz says Phil has always been a friendly face who is willing to help you in every walk of life.
“He was there for me — even when I left to play professionally we stayed in touch on a monthly basis,” Alyssa says. “It was pretty easy to have relationship with Phil because he was always so open and that's one key characteristic about him is like he wants to know his players on another level and not just like, as a soccer player, but personal like he just wants to know more about you, which makes you feel more comfortable with him and makes it easy to open up to him about situations.”
As Phil begins his 25th season at Texas A&M, he and Coach G boast a record of nine conference regular-season crowns and seven league tournament titles. The Aggies have made it to the NCAA Championship 23 of his 34 seasons on staff, earned 15 Sweet Sixteen appearances, made it to the Elite Eight on seven occasions and played in the 2014 College Cup. He was also a part of the coaching staff that earned the United Soccer Coaches Southeast Region Staff of the Year recognition for 2020-21.
