- Minnesota Kicks
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Minnesota Kicks 
Full name Minnesota Kicks Nickname(s) Kicks Founded 1976 Dissolved 1981 Stadium Metropolitan Stadium
(Capacity: 45,000)League North American Soccer League 
Home colorsAway colorsMinnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The team had relocated to Minnesota after having been based in Denver, Colorado as the Denver Dynamos. A group of ten investors from Minnesota, led by Jack Crocker, bought the Denver team on November 25, 1975 and relocated to Minnesota. The name "Kicks" was selected by a name-the-team contest and announced on January 28, 1976. Freddie Goodwin was named the first coach on February 19, 1976.
Stars for the Kicks included US Soccer Hall of Famers Patrick (Ace) Ntsoelengoe and Alan Willey, the league's fifth and third league all-time leading scorers respectively. Ron Futcher, who along with Willey played all six Kicks seasons, went on to become the league's fourth all-time leading scorer.
The team began the 1976 season slowly, however by the end of its first season the team had won its division and had played host to the largest NASL crowd to date. The 1976 finished with a loss to the Toronto Metros-Croatia in the Soccer Bowl. The Kicks became the first team in the NASL to win 4 straight division titles (1976–79). The team reached the playoffs each of its six seasons, but usually lost in the early rounds. Goodwin served also as team president starting in August 1976. After the 1978 season, he step down as coach. Roy McCrohan was named coach December 1978. He coach the team for the 1979 season. After nine games into 1980 season, he was removed and Goodwin again became coach. The original ownership group sold the team on November 12, 1980 to a group led by Ralph Sweet of England. Sweet replaced Goodwin as coach early in 1981 season. Goodwin remain president of the team until June 1981.
The team's last regular season game was a home win at Met Stadium 2-1 over the Dallas Tornado on August 19, 1981. The team's last game at the Met was a 1-0 shootout playoff victory against the Tulsa Roughnecks on August 26, 1981. The team's last game was a 3-0 home playoff loss to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on September 6, 1981. The game was moved to the University of Minnesota's Memorial Stadium due to a schedule conflict with the Minnesota Twins. The Kicks folded in November 1981. The team had planned to move to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for 1982 season.
The Minnesota Kicks are remembered for the tailgating in the Metropolitan Stadium parking lot. It became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1970s, with thousands of fans arriving early to socialize and consume beverages.
Contents
Average Attendance at Met Stadium
- 1976.....23,121
- 1977.....32,775
- 1978.....30,928
- 1979.....24,580
- 1980.....18,279
- 1981.....16,605
International Friendlies
Date Visitor Score Host Venue Location Attendance May 26, 1976 Glasgow Rangers 
2-2 Minnesota Kicks 
Met Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota 11,328 July 19, 1977 Hammarby IF 
1-2 Minnesota Kicks Met Stadium Bloomington 24,032 May 23, 1979 Ipswich Town F.C. 
1-0 (shoot out) Minnesota Kicks Met Stadium Bloomington 14,960 Notable players
- Mike Bailey (1977–78) [1]
- Geoff Barnett (1976–79)
- Tony Betts (1979) [2]
- Ron Webster (1976–1981?)
- Steve Carter (1981)
- Stan Cummins (1977) [3]
- Ron Futcher (1976–81) 129 apps 73 goals
- Charlie George (1978)
- Ian Hamilton (1978–81) [4]
Steve Heighway (1981)
Tino Lettieri (1977–81)- Stewart Jump (1980–81) [5]
Patrick (Ace) Ntsoelengoe (1976–81)- Alan West (1976–79)
- Alan Willey (1976–1981)
- Frank Spraggon (1976)
- Steve Litt (1976–81)
- David Stride (1981) [6]
- Tim Twellman (1977–81)
- Jeff Solem (1976)
- Mike Flater (1976-7)
- Tony Pesznecker (1980–81)
Coaching statistics
# Number of coaches GC Games coached W Number of wins L Number of losses Win% Winning percentage # Name Term Regular season Playoffs Overall GC W L Win% GC W L Win% GC W L Win% 1 Freddie Goodwin 1976–1978 80 48 32 .600 9 4 5 .444 89 52 37 .584 2 Roy McCrohan 1979–1980 39 23 16 .590 2 0 2 .000 41 23 18 .561 1 Freddie Goodwin 1980–1981 29 17 12 .586 2 0 2 .000 31 17 14 .548 3 Geoff Barnett 1981 26 16 10 .615 4 2 2 .500 30 18 12 .600 * Total 1976-1981 174 104 70 .598 17 6 11 .353 191 110 81 .576 Year-by-year
1976 Alan Willey, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Peter Brine, Alan Merrick (Captain), Ron Webster, Mike Flater, Chaka Ngcobo, Geoff Barnett, Sam Bick, Ron Futcher, Alan West, Doug Brooks, Smith Eggleston, Nick Owcharuk, Ade Coker, Tom Howe, Jeff Solem, Steve Litt, Frank Spraggon, Peter Short. Freddie Goodwin (Coach), Gary Smith (Trainer), Dave Nowicki (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (Team Physician).
1979 Willie Morgan, Gary Vogel, Tony Want, Alan Merrick, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Alan West, Chico Hamilton, Volkmar Gross, Mark Moran, Geoff Barnett, Bjorn Nordqvist (Captain), Alan Willey, Tino Lettieri, Ricardo Alonso, Steve Litt, Greg Villa, Brian Zins, Ron Futcher, Mike McLenaghan, Tim Twellman. Roy McCrohan (Head Coach), Gary Smith (Head Trainer), Jim Mulcahy (Ass't Trainer), Dr. James Priest (Team Physician), Freddie Goodwin (President).
Year League W L T Pts Reg. Season Playoffs 1976 NASL 15 9 — 138 1st, Pacific Conference, Western Division Won Division Championship (Seattle)
Won Conference Championship (San Jose)
Lost Soccer Bowl '76 (Toronto)1977 NASL 16 10 — 137 1st, Pacific Conference, Western Division Lost Conference Championship (Seattle) 1978 NASL 17 13 — 156 1st, National Conference, Central Division Won 1st Round (Tulsa)
Lost Conference Semifinal (Cosmos)1979 NASL 21 9 — 184 1st, National Conference, Central Division Lost Conference Quarterfinal (Tulsa) 1979/80 NASL Indoor 8 4 — — 2nd, Western Division Won 1st Round (Tulsa Roughnecks)
Lost Semifinal (Memphis)1980 NASL 16 16 — 147 2nd, National Conference, Central Division Lost 1st Round (Dallas) 1980/81 NASL Indoor 12 6 — — 2nd, Central Division Lost 1st Round (Atlanta) 1981 NASL 19 13 — 163 2nd, Central Division Won 1st Round (Tulsa)
Lost Quarterfinal (Ft. Lauderdale)NASL indoor
The NASL began playing indoor soccer in the fall of 1979. The Kicks competed in 2 seasons of indoor soccer, 1979–80 and 1980-81. The team played at their home games at Met Center. The team folded in November 1981 a month before the start of the 1981-82 indoor season.
Average Attendance at Met Center (indoor seasons)
- 1979-80.....9,562
- 1980-81.....5,877
Media coverage
Radio
Frank Buetel was the original play-by-play announcer (1976-79), followed by Al Shaver in 1980 and Doug McLeod in 1981.
Television
KSTP's original announcers were Kicks' public address announcer Rod Trongard and Tom Ryther. When Ryther left KSTP in March 1978, Bob Bruce replaced him. Ralph Jon Fritz called Kicks' games on WCCO.
Records
Records of the Minnesota Kicks are available for research use. They include manager's subject files (1976–1980), staff and player files, payrolls, marketing and promotional materials, financial files, and miscellaneous records. The bulk of the records are the files of team coach and manager Freddie Goodwin, and concern the general management of the franchise.[1]
See also
- Minnesota Strikers
- 1976 Minnesota Kicks season
- 1977 Minnesota Kicks season
- 1978 Minnesota Kicks season
- 1979 Minnesota Kicks season
- 1980 Minnesota Kicks season
- 1981 Minnesota Kicks season
References
Categories:- Association football clubs established in 1976
- Association football clubs disestablished in 1981
- Soccer clubs in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
- Minnesota soccer clubs
- Defunct soccer clubs in the United States
- North American Soccer League teams
- Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States
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