Keith Tozer

Infobox Football biography
playername= Keith Tozer
fullname =
nickname =


dateofbirth =
cityofbirth = Grosse Pointe, Michigan
countryofbirth = United States
height =
position = Forward / Defender
youthyears = 1975-1978
youthclubs = Oneonta State
years = 1978-1979
1979
1979-1981
1981-1984
1984-1987
1989-1990
clubs = Cincinnati Kids ("indoor")
Pennsylvania Stoners
Hartford Hellions ("indoor")
Pittsburgh Spirit ("indoor")
Louisville Thunder ("indoor")
Atlanta Attack ("indoor")
caps(goals) = 23 (4)
48 (9)
85 (8)
manageryears = 1984-1987
1987-1989
1989-1992
1992-
1996-1998
1998-
managerclubs = Louisville Thunder
Los Angeles Lazers
Atlanta/Kansas City Attack
Milwaukee Wave
U.S. Futsal "(interim/assistant)"
U.S. Futsal
pcupdate = 7 december 2006
ntupdate = 7 december 2006

Keith Tozer is a retired soccer player who coaches the Milwaukee Wave of Major Indoor Soccer League.

College

Tozer grew up in upstate New York. After graduating from high school, he attended Oneonta State from 1975 to 1979 where he played as a forward on the men’s soccer team. He finished his four seasons at Oneonta with the school’s all time points record of 117 off 50 goals and 17 assists.

Playing career

In 1978, the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) was preparing for its first season. When they held their first college draft, the Cincinnati Kids selected Tozer as the league’s first draft pick. He played a single season with the Kids, as the team folded at the end of the 1978-1979 season.

When the Kids folded, Tozer moved outdoors to the Pennsylvania Stoners for the 1979 American Soccer League season. The Stoners made it to the league’s playoff semifinals before being eliminated by the Columbus Magic.

Tozer moved back to the MISL where he played for the Hartford Hellions for two seasons. At the end of the 1980-1981 season, Hartford moved to Memphis. Tozer did not move with the team, but joined the Pittsburgh Spirit. Tozer spent the next three seasons with the Spirit. While with the Spirit, Tozer spent time assisting with a summer soccer camp. That experience gave Tozer a taste for coaching which he would use in later years.

In 1984, Tozer left both the Spirit and MISL when he moved to the Louisville Thunder of the American Indoor Soccer Association AISA). The AISA was formed in March 1984 as a rival to MISL. Tozer played nearly 100 games with the Thunder over three seasons, but more significantly, he was the team’s head coach. In his first two seasons with the Thunder, Tozer saw his team fall in the championship series to the Canton Invaders. In his third season with the team, Tozer and the Thunder finally mastered the Invaders, winning their first AISA championship. Tozer left the Thunder in 1987 to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Lazers (MISL), having coached the Thunder to a 70-37 record, three championship series and one AISA title.

Coaching

In 1987, Tozer became the head coach of the Lazers. Over the next two seasons, Tozer coached the team to a 62-70 record. In 1989 the Lazers folded and Tozer moved back to the AISA where he became a player/coach for the Atlanta Attack. He played only one season with the Attack, 1989-1990. At the end of the season, he retired from playing professionally, becoming a dedicated head coach for the Attack. He remained with the team when it moved to Kansas City in 1991 to become the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) Kansas City Attack. When Tozer left the team at the end of the 1991-1992 season, he had led the team to a 74-46 record.

Tozer joined the Milwaukee Wave in 1992 and continues to coach the team today. In 1997-1998 he took the Wave to their first NPSL championship, and since then Tozer and the Wave won the NPSL title two more times, in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. In 2001, the NPSL became the second incarnation of Major Indoor Soccer League. Tozer and the Wave continued their winning way, taking the MISL championship in 2004-2005.

Futsal

Tozer’s success as a professional indoor coach has led to his selection as the interim U.S. Futsal team coach in 1996. He took the U.S. to the 1983 CONCACAF Futsal championship that year. Despite that success, he remained and interim/assistant coach until 1998 when he was hired as the team’s head coach. That year he took the U.S. to third, its best finish ever, at the 1998 Futsal World Cup. In 2000, the U.S. took third at the CONCACAF championship before winning the tournament in 2004. ^{[http://soccerhalloffame.org/news/FutsalCONCACAF_Gold_812004.htm]}

Since 1984 Tozer has become one of the most successful coaches in U.S. soccer history, with over 500 wins, and four championships. He also owns a motivational company, Teamwork Concepts

In 2002, Oneonta State inducted Tozer into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

External links

* [http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/athletics/HALLOFFAME/2002/tozer.pdf Oneonta College Bio]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20020412/ai_n10777408 2002 newspaper article on Tozer]