May 28, 2008

NEWARK, NJ - Kevin Leacock has been elevated to the position of head women's soccer coach at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan announced today.

Leacock takes over as head coach after serving three seasons as an assistant coach at NJIT, during which the team made postseason play for the first time in its final season at the Division II level (2005) and then made the transition to NCAA Division I in 2006 and became postseason eligible at the top level in 2007.

He joined the NJIT staff in 2005, serving as full-time Operations Manager for the athletic department and part-time women's soccer assistant. Leacock became full-time women's soccer assistant coach, relinquishing his operations duties, in 2006.

After two seasons as the full-time assistant coach, he led NJIT's program since late March, when the previous head coach, Alyssa Radu, resigned after four seasons to accept a similar position at UMBC.

Leacock, who combined with Radu on recruiting that in 2007 saw six freshmen start at least 10 games apiece and which adds five National Letter of Intent signees as 2008 freshmen, ran all of NJIT's practices and spring competition leading up to his being named head coach for the program, which has existed since 1996.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Leacock was a goalkeeper on that country's under-21 and under-23 national teams, where he played alongside many of the players who made international headlines for tying heavily-favored Sweden to open the 2006 World Cup.

He represented his country in the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games and in the 1994 Pan American Games before coming to the United States in 1995 as a student-athlete at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY, where he competed for four years and was a magna cum laude graduate, twice earning Northeast Conference all-academic honors.

In addition to his work at NJIT, Leacock was recognized at the national level in 2007, when he was selected as one of two assistant coaches to help the United States U16 Girls National Team during its summer training.

He holds an NSCAA national diploma, as well as the regional goalkeeping diploma and he is pursuing an advanced national diploma. He previously coached an U17 girls team in the New Jersey Region I league.

He and his wife, Shannon Evans, reside in Edison, NJ.