February 10, 2003
GREENVILLE -- Furman men's soccer head coach Doug Allison named former Paladin standout Paul Leese assistant coach on Monday.
Leese replaces Daniel Alvarez, who served as Furman's assistant coach during the 2002 season. Alvarez is returning to Virginia Beach, Va., where he is a member of the Virginia Beach Mariners of the A-League.
Leese was a member of Furman's 1998 and 1999 teams that combined for a 37-6-3 overall record. In his two seasons as a starting midfielder, Leese scored three goals and recorded nine assists for the Paladins. He was a member of the heralded senior class of 1999 that led the Paladins to its best ever finish, a 21-2-1 record and an NCAA Quarterfinals appearance. Leese graduated from Furman University in 2001 with a bachelors degree in business administration.
Leese returns to Furman after serving as assistant men's soccer coach at Elon University for two seasons. Leese is scheduled to earn his Masters in Business Administration from Elon in June 2003.
"I am thrilled to welcome Paul back to Furman," said Furman head coach Doug Allison. "Paul was always a tremendous student of the game and a leader during his playing career and I know he will be a huge asset to this program as an assistant coach. Plus he brings two years of experience as an assistant coach at Elon to the job."
"I am real pleased to be back at Furman," said Leese. "My years at Furman were the best years of my life and my goal is to help make the Furman experience the best years of our players lives as well. It is great to be working with Doug Allison again as well."
Leese was born in Liverpool, England and moved to Spain as a child. He graduated from Aloha College (high school) in 1991 and spent the next several years in England.
He moved to the United States in 1997 where he attended Charleston Southern University for one year. In that season, he was named Big South Rookie-of-the-Year and helped lead Charleston Southern to the NCAA Tournament by upsetting Furman 2-1 in an NCAA play-in match.
During Leese's time as a student at Furman he also worked in the University's Marketing and Public Relations Department where he designed Furman's current athletic website, www.furmanpaladins.com, which launched in the summer of 2001. Leese also served as color commentator during the Furman Sports Network's broadcast of the 2000 Southern Conference men's and women's soccer championship matches.
Since graduating from Furman, Leese has continued his soccer career as he played with the Greenville Lions in 2001 and the Greensboro Dynamo in 2002, both USL D3 teams.