North Point soccer makes coaching changes
DeCook now boys head coach after 8 seasons as girls head coach, girls assistant Webb now head coach
Doug DeCook remembers when he took over the North Point girls soccer team in 2008. He remembers the in-county battles and when striving for conference titles every season.
After eight seasons as the program’s head coach, DeCook can now look back on an accomplished feat at the helm, leading the Eagles to two Southern Maryland Athletic Conference titles with a combined overall record of 82-30-5 (.722 winning percentage) and a conference mark of 71-21-4 (.760 winning percentage).
However, DeCook isn’t going anywhere. He was recently hired as the Eagles’ new head boys soccer coach, replacing former frontman Don Moss, who was at the helm for three seasons.
Kiante Webb, who was the assistant coach under DeCook for the last two seasons, was named the girls head coach.
“I always imagined myself becoming a teacher and coaching the boys soccer program,” said DeCook, who was hired in May. “I wouldn’t take back coaching the girls team, but the position opened up four years ago when [former head coach Gary Lesko] left. I didn’t feel it was the right time to leave the girls program at the time. Now that the job has opened up again, I talked to my wife, family and friends and decided that I would regret not applying for the position this time around.”
DeCook is excited to take over an Eagles boys team that finished with a 6-7 overall, 5-1 in the SMAC Potomac Division, in 2015.
“I will bring in a similar philosophy,” DeCook said. “Our goal is to make each player better both on the field and off the field. The end goal is to get our players to the next level and help them learn and to respect the game. It will be hard work, but championships are built on
a solid foundation and hard work by all members in the program. We of course have goals to become a SMAC contender and then have a good showing in the 4A regional playoffs.”
DeCook guided North Point’s girls program to 10 or more wins in five of his eight seasons. The other three were all nine-win campaigns.
While DeCook and the Eagles established themselves as the team to beat in Charles County in recent years, they also made noise within the SMAC ranks, peppered with perennial state tournament teams such as Calvert, Huntingtown and Leonardtown.
The program’s best season came in 2014 when they finished a perfect 12-0 during the regular season and claimed the SMAC title, but North Point was upset by Anne Arundel County’s South River in the Class 4A East Region playoffs in penalty kicks. In 2012, the Eagles won a share of the SMAC crown with Calvert, Huntingtown and Leonardtown.
2015 saw the Eagles girls finish 11-6 overall, falling to Leonardtown in the SMAC title game and 4A East section final, and claim the SMAC Potomac Division title with a 6-0 record.
“It’s tough to give away something that you help built and saw rise from no senior class to being SMAC champions and excelling in the regional playoffs,” DeCook said, “but Kiante Webb has been in our girls program for the past [two] seasons and he will do a fine job with the program. Knowing that it’s going to someone who cares about the girls and the program makes it a much easier process.”
Webb, a longtime coach in club soccer in Calvert County and a native of Charles County, was elated to now take over the girls program for his first-ever coaching position.
“This has been my dream job to coach in Charles County,” he said. “The goals won’t change, me and Doug have a great relationship. The only difference is that everything is going to run through me. Our motto is, ‘One family, one unit.’” Webb’s relationship with the girls is already strong. “Most of these girls I’ve coached since they were freshmen,” he said. “‘I just want to be able to change the culture within the county and help the Southern Maryland community grow in soccer. I want to be the voice. The main goal is to ball out. The girls already know how to play soccer, I’m just there to give them extra motivation.”