Quick Facts
Biography
Gene Kenney (born May 8, 1928) is a former American wrestler, football player and soccer coach, who is best known as being the first head coach of the Michigan State Spartans men's soccer team. Kenney coached the Spartans from 1956 until 1969, where he led the Spartans to two NCAA co-championships in 1967 and 1968. Following his retirement from coaching, Kenney worked as an athletic administrator for the Michigan State athletics program from 1970 until his retirement in 1994. During his tenure in the school's athletics department, he published Soccer: Sports Techniques a book about philosophies and team strategies to approach the sport.
Football and wrestling career
Kenney's collegiate sports career began in 1946 when he was a four year member for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. Kenney never played a competitive game while part of the football team. Kenney was a four year player in high school football for the Urbana Tigers varsity football team.
Outside of football, Kenney was also an amateur wrestler, as he was a member of the Illinois Fighting Illini wrestling team. Kenney was a one year letterwinner, being a member of the 1950 wrestling team. Upon graduation in 1950, Kenney became an assistant coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels wrestling program.
Soccer career
Following an illness to then-head coach Marvin Allen, Kenney took control of the Tar Heels soccer team to close out the 1950 season. Following the season, Kenney was deployed to fight in the Korean War. While in Korea, Kenney served as a head coach for several service soccer team in addition to being an Army officer.
Upon return from Korea, Kenney was hired by Michigan State University to initially coach the wrestling team and serve as a physical education teacher in the region. In his spare time, Kenney also coached the club soccer team at Michigan State until it was upgraded to varsity status in 1956. When the program became a varsity program, MSU athletic director, Biggie Munn, named Kenney as the program's head coach.
During Kenney's time coaching the Spartans, the program experienced the most success in their history. Kenney lead the Spartans to 120-13-13 record and helped them claim two NCAA titles.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State (Independent) (1956–1969) | |||||||||
| 1956 | Michigan State | 5–0–1 | |||||||
| 1957 | Michigan State | 6–0–2 | |||||||
| 1958 | Michigan State | 8–0–0 | |||||||
| 1959 | Michigan State | 7–2–0 | |||||||
| 1960 | Michigan State | 8–1–0 | |||||||
| 1961 | Michigan State | 8–1–0 | |||||||
| 1962 | Michigan State | 9–2–0 | |||||||
| 1963 | Michigan State | 9–1–0 | NCAA First Round | ||||||
| 1964 | Michigan State | 10–1–2 | NCAA Runners-up | ||||||
| 1965 | Michigan State | 10–2–0 | NCAA Runners-up | ||||||
| 1966 | Michigan State | 10–2–0 | NCAA Semifinals | ||||||
| 1967 | Michigan State | 12–0–2 | NCAA Co-Champions | ||||||
| 1968 | Michigan State | 11–1–3 | NCAA Co-Champions | ||||||
| 1969 | Michigan State | 7–2–1 | NCAA First Round | ||||||
| Michigan State: | 120–13–13 (.866) | ||||||||
| Total: | 120–13–13 (.866) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Administrative career
In 1970, Kenney became an athletic fellow for the school's athletic department until his retirement in 1994.