FARMVILLE, Va. -- The decision on where
Kylie Dyer was going to attend college may have seemed like a slam dunk, since her father is the head coach for the women's soccer team at Longwood.
But the sophomore midfielder for the Lancers is suiting up as much for her hometown university as she is for her father.
“Kylie is a homebody,” says her father,
Todd Dyer '93. “We have a very tight family. Even with soccer (out of the equation), I don't think she was going to go too far from home.”
Dyer grew up in Farmville and was an all-state player as a junior and senior at Prince Edward County High School. She was the District Player of the Year as a junior and also took part in cross country and swimming in high school.
Her mother, Cassie Dyer '92, played basketball and softball at Longwood and her father played soccer for the Lancers.
Kylie is one of the few Division I soccer players who has her father as a coach. The Lancers have won 10 of their first 14 matches this year and began Big South Conference play with a 5-1 record.
“She is playing some important minutes for us,” coach Dyer says. “She likes to work off the ball and make attacking runs. She is a glue person that holds things together. She is primarily an attacking midfielder. She likes to go forward.”
Is it tough to play for your father at a high level?
“I knew it would be difficult at times, but I did not think there was anyone else who could inspire me like he could,” says Dyer, who has come off the bench in 13 matches this season and has three goals, including a recent game-winner against Winthrop. “I am a pleaser. My dad and me have a special connection. I talk to him about everything.”
Despite her prep credentials, the 5-foot-5 Dyer, who overcame a torn ACL in high school, was not highly recruited by other Division I programs and Longwood was the only school she applied to.
“I knew if there was anyone to play for, he can get the best out of me. I think that trumped any question in my mind if I wanted to play at Longwood,” she adds.
The coaching staff at Division III Virginia Wesleyan knew about her since assistant coach Mario Hurdle, a 1995 Longwood graduate and a teammate of Dyer's on the Lancers' men's team. But Hurdle and Virginia Wesleyan head coach Jeff Bowers joked that they could not compete against the recruiting efforts of Kylie's own father. “They always gave me a hard time,” coach Dyer said.
These past two college seasons are not the first time Dyer has played for her father.
“The first time I played for him was on a recreational team in Farmville when I was seven,” she says. “I was playing with him my whole life until I got to travel ball.”
“I often coached her when she was young,”
Todd Dyer notes. “It was nothing but fun. We did not go overboard and make it more than it was. She grew up around the game. She was around the (Longwood) team, campus and practice fields.”
“We kept it light and had fun,” he adds. “Once she got into the club soccer, she began to take it more seriously. I never interfered with the club coach. I let them do their thing. She is not a soccer robot.”
Dyer was her coach in recreational leagues in Farmville before her mother began to make the one-hour drive so she could play for FC Richmond. “My wife did all of the driving” to Richmond, notes
Todd Dyer. “I can't take credit for that.”
Dave Amsler, the director of coaching for FC Richmond since 1985, has known
Todd Dyer for nearly 10 years and currently coaches his son and Kylie's younger brother, Devin.
Kylie Dyer was on one of Amsler's teams when she played travel soccer. He said it takes a special person to play at the Division I level for one of their parents.
“There are not too many of those. She is a special girl,” Amsler said. “She rolls with things so much easier than a lot of girls. If there was someone who could handle that, and do well, she is the type of girl that would.”
“She is very dedicated and tenacious,” adds Amsler, a member of the Campbell University Hall of Fame and a coach who has sent hundreds of players to the college ranks. “She is a good, solid player. She reads the game very well and I am sure that has a lot to do with her dad. She is a great kid. I love her to death. She was very much a leader” (for FC Richmond).
“I had a strong relationship and respect for Dave,” the elder Dyer said. “I like his club. I like the players that played for him. She spent a season with Dave and a year with Trip Ellis.”
Kylie is majoring in political science with a minor in communication studies. As a freshman, she played in 12 matches and was a Longwood Scholar-Athlete.
Coach Dyer said having an associate head coach such as Steve Brdarski helps with personnel decisions.
“We are always going to do what is best for the program,” Dyer says. “We make the wrong decisions sometimes.”
How does coach Dyer deal with playing time and his own daughter? “I don't even think twice about it. She is number 11. She is one of the 28 players we have to choose from. I know her work ethic and integrity,” he notes.
Coach Dyer appreciates the chance to coach his own daughter. “If she was going to play in college, she was going to play for me and I wanted to be the one coaching her. It is a rare opportunity to coach your kid at the Division I level. We both wanted a part of that,” he says.
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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