Distinguished Service Awardee - Jamie McGroarty, Past President

Coach Jamie McGroarty from Eastern High School has as impressive of a soccer resume as both a player and a coach that I have ever seen. After a standout playing career, he has amassed over 560 career wins as a head coach, 4 soccer state titles and has been inducted into 5 different Hall of Fames. He has coached some of the best players the state has ever produced including his daughter Kelli, who just completed her college playing career at the University of Iowa and is a former New Jersey High School State player of the year.

As impressive as his coaching resume is, today we are here to recognize Coach McGroarty with our Distinguished Service award for his contributions to the New Jersey Girls Soccer Coaches Association. For 10 years he served as this association’s president, which included the difficult pandemic years. To put it simply, without his efforts, the association would have folded years ago and the state’s best players would not have the opportunity to be recognized as regional and national All Americans by United Soccer Coaches. When I got back involved with the association, and I would ask who handles certain responsibilities, the answer was always the same, “Oh Jamie handles that.” Although he was the president, he wore many hats because he did the jobs that nobody else wanted to do. Despite his personal successes, his goal for the association was always the same, for there to be equitable recognition for all deserving players throughout the state. I can’t even begin to imagine the number of hours he put in behind the scenes to realize this goal and to make sure things ran smoothly.

While we are here to congratulate Coach McGroarty on being recognized as this year’s Distinguished Service Award Winner, I believe we also really should be thanking him for making this event all that it is today.