Pincince takes over at Mount
Former Brown coach replaces Wolny
Former Brown soccer coach to helm girls’ squad
WOONSOCKET – Phil Pincince spent part of his Wednesday getting to know the 10 seniors on the high school soccer team he’ll be coaching starting this fall. Wait a second. Didn’t Pincince retire from coaching in 2015 after 39 seasons as the primary overseer of the Brown University women’s soccer program? Wasn’t the Woonsocket native and Cumberland resident going to finally have a chance to enjoy some much-deserved downtime after carving out a stellar career. Once a coach, always a coach. To Pincince, it truly doesn’t matter the level. Pincince’s sabbatical from coaching soccer lasted only two seasons, as he takes over as the new girls’ soccer head coach at Mount St. Charles. It’s a transaction that came together as recently as this past week after Pincince learned that Mount was still in the market for a
coach with the official startup date for practice rapidly approaching. After meeting for two hours with MSC Athletic Director Ray Leveille and then sitting down in the same room as Leveille and school president Alan Tenreiro, Pincince felt comfortable with ending his coaching hiatus. “I think I was just born to coach,” Pincince said when reached Wednesday night. “I still have a passion and I’m very fond of Mount St. Charles. My wife (Janet) taught there for 30 years and my daughter (Stephanie) and son (Brian) also attended Mount and were student-athletes.” The groundwork for the Mount girls soccer job was laid earlier this summer when Pincince was grouped in the same foursome as Leveille at a charity golf outing. At that point, Pincince did express modest interest in the position, as Leveille at that point was already interviewing potential replacements to replace former coach Marek Wolny. “At the time, I told Ray he probably had some great candidates and left it at that,” Pincince said. Six weeks later, Pincince was still receiving emails about Mount and its ongoing quest to find a girls soccer coach. That was enough for Pincince to make his move. “Sitting down with Ray and Alan, I enjoyed hearing about their vision for Mount,” Pincince said. “I like people who think outside the box and are high risk takers. When you have high risk, you have big rewards. It was enticing and made me think that, ‘Wow, I could be part of this and back coaching girls’ soccer.’” On the surface, it would appear Pincince is entering uncharted territory after coaching college soccer for many years. He may not have high school coaching experience per say, but he did coach high schoolaged girls at the club soccer level (New England Wave). “I will be patient, but I’m also going to have a lot of fun,” Pincince said. “My goal is to make these young ladies better.” Pincince brings a wealth of success to his new soccer post at Mount. For nearly four decades, he was the driving force behind a Brown program that during his lengthy tenure qualified for six NCAA Tournaments and compiled over 300 wins on the pitch. Just as noteworthy, Pincince coached nine All-Americans, six Ivy League Players of the Year, and three Academic All-Americans. Before hanging up his whistle at Brown, the school rewarded him with an appropriate title (coach emeritus). The college also attached Pincince’s name to its soccer and lacrosse field, renaming it as Steven- son-Pincince Field. “Those were two of the highlightsb of my career at Brown,” Pincince said. Pincince may have called it ab coaching career at Brown, yet he wasn’t done working for the Ivy League school. A graduate of Woonsocket High School, Pincince in 2016 served in an administrative role as an assistant to the Bears’ director of athletics, Jack Hayes. Pincince was tasked with visiting colleges located in the Northeast and getting to know the important people in each athletic department. He then presented his findings to Hayes in a power-point presentation. “It was a great project and I was glad that Jack trusted me enough to do it,” Pincince said, “but after putting 40 years in at Brown, it was the right time to step away.” Pincince met with the Mount seniors for close to four hours on Wednesday, a group that finished 5-7-4 in Division II last season. Naturally, the girls had plenty of questions for their new coach, but Pincince called the meeting a step in the right direction with practice set to begin next Monday. “I explained my vision to the young ladies and didn’t hold back,” Pincince said. “I feel energized and can’t wait for Monday morning.”