Today at 1:15 a.m.
by Tom Rackers
When Chuck Register announced he was stepping down as head girls soccer coach at Father Tolton after ths season, he knew he wasn’t done with the sport.
“I thought I would ask around and see if I could help someone as an assistant coach or train some players,” Register said. “I was going to be in the background, just trying to help where I could.
“This is a bigger step than I was thinking I was going to take.”
This big step is a familiar one for Register, who is returning this fall to be the head coach again the boys program at Helias.
“It’s great to be back at Helias, it’s great I can stay at a Catholic school,” Register said.
Register was the first head coach for both the Helias boys and girls soccer programs, starting in the late 1990s, before leaving in 2012 for Father Tolton.
It wasn’t an immediate “yes” to come back to Helias.
“It took some time, I wanted to make sure it was not only good for me, but for my family,” Register said. “My kids said I belong on the soccer field and I should go ahead and do it.
“I think leaving and going to Tolton taught me a lot. I had the chance to step back and think about a lot of things in how I wanted to coach.”
Register will replace Jon DeSha as the boys coach. DeSha, who has been the boys coach the past two seasons, wanted the opportunity to work more with youth players on club teams in the summer and fall.
“As I look at my role in the community and what I do with and for soccer, I felt like I needed to make some adjustments,” said DeSha, who will remain head coach of the Helias girls program. “Adjustments with the younger kids, because that’s where I will have the biggest impact.
“My role is to make the program stronger, it doesn’t say how, just make it stronger. In my opinion, the addition of Chuck and separating the boys and girls positions to not spread myself extremely thin, I felt like it was a win-win for Chuck, I and the program to bring him on board.”
DeSha was the first person to approach Register about the job.
“Jon reached out and said he had a proposition for me,” Register said. “He asked if I was interested in taking over and I thought ‘Oh my gosh.’”
“If Chuck didn’t take it, I was not going to do it,” DeSha said. “I wanted it to be somebody I could work with and it needed to be somebody who could take the program and continue its upward momentum.”
Register has led teams to 11 Final Four appearances in his coaching career, including a state championship last season with Tolton girls.
“That team just came together for a dream season,” Register said. “It was great to win a state championship, that’s an ultimate goal.
“But that’s not why I coach. I enjoy working with kids, not only to make them better soccer players, but better people. You’re developing kids who are going to do big things in life.”
Register’s style hasn’t changed all that much since he started coaching — start with the defense and work your way forward.
“As we go through preseason stuff and practices, I hope the kids will start to buy in and realize that it works,” Register said. “It will be different, but I hope they have open minds with defense first because if nobody scores on you, you can’t lose.”
Helias believes it got a win with Register’s return.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Coach Register home to Helias Catholic and confident our student-athletes will benefit greatly from his leadership and knowledge of the game,” Helias assistant principal and director of activities/athletics Dwayne Clingman said in a release from the school.
Register, who will turn 59 this summer, is excited for the fresh start.
“I can see myself doing this for a while,” he said. “If I wasn’t going to commit myself 100 percent to this program, I wouldn’t have accepted this job.
“I’m excited for this opportunity and the chance to see where this program can go. There’s a lot of things going through my head, but I think once I get settled in again and get on the field, it’s going to be awesome.”
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