There are two boys’ development academies in Minnesota. A few months ago, one of them changed leadership. Shattuck-St. Mary’s Director of Boys’ Soccer Tim Carter left the school to direct Minnesota United’s development academy. He was replaced by Sean Bushey in November.
Bushey previously coached at Whitworth University and is joining Shattuck-St. Mary’s after working as the academy director at Colorado Rush. According to Greg Holker, head coach at Augsburg, Shattuck-St. Mary’s is getting a capable coach and sportsman.
“Unfortunately in our community there isn’t always the greatest of behavior between competitors,” said Holker. “With Sean, you get somebody who doesn’t subscribe to that.”
Holker said that Bushey’s teams at Whitworth tended to allow for players to express themselves within a well-defined system, making them fun to watch and fun to play in.
At Whitworth, Bushey coached the men’s soccer team to a 209-86-35 record over 17 years (1996-2013). He took the team to the DIII NCAA tournament seven times, with one trip to the elite eight and another to the final four.
Bushey simultaneously coached Whitworth’s women’s soccer team for 12 seasons (1997-2008) and their men’s tennis team for three (1997-1999), as well as worked as a faculty member in the kinesiology department.
Alongside his other duties as director at SSM, Bushey will begin coaching the Boys U19s next season. Shattuck-St. Mary’s is a mostly residential school — unlike many development academies — and Bushey said that was one of the things that initially drew him to the job.
Said Bushey: “For a normal youth club the players are going in and going out. Living at home and going to school and then they come to training with the club and then they go back. To be able to walk to dinner with a player, to be able to sit at lunch, to be able to see them in the hallway. To be able to take time with people, that’s where you make an impact.”
Bushey said that being in close proximity to Minnesota United is another benefit of working at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, saying that it lets players and coaches know what to shoot for. Bushey also seemed eager for the added competition that Minnesota United’s development academy will bring this fall.
“We’ll work off of each other and keep pushing the quality,” he said. “Iron sharpens iron.”
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