PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria City is looking to move to the “next level” in the club’s third season.
In an event Thursday at Industry Brewing, the club announced multiple new hires. Former Bradley soccer head coach Jim Derose is the new President and General Manager, Bobby Parker of Bradley University was announced as the new CEO, and NAIA Clarke University men’s soccer head coach Mike Paye was named as the head coach of the Carp.
Parker serves as Bradley’s Associate Athletic Director for Event and Facility Operations. He previously served as Sports Information Director, and oversaw changes to the university’s athletic website and audio and video broadcasting programs.
He says the hires announced on Thursday shows there’s a full-time commitment to growing Peoria City in central Illinois.
“We have an opportunity to work on this franchise 365 days a year, and really grow it in that, and not every club has it,” Parker said.
Parker says one of the ways to grow the club is more initiatives to draw fans to matches, including a newly announced kids club called “School of Carp.”
Derose says the moves aim to put the club in a position of strong growth, especially with increased attention and money from the FIFA World Cup coming in 2026, which helped create and grow Major League Soccer in the mid-90’s.
“This is going to be times that, because we’re going across Mexico, Canada, and the U.S,” Derose said. “So really, we’d love to be in a space when that comes, with that excitement and the fanbases, and you can see the types of people that are getting invested in soccer, that might, for us, be the time that we can hope to see where we can take it.”
Derose is hopeful that with enough growth, Peoria City could move up to USL 1 or the USL Championship and field professional teams.
Paye was praised by Peoria City management as a coach capable of turning around programs. At Clarke, Paye took what, he describes, one of the worst NAIA programs into a top 25 team in the three years he’s led them.
He says the biggest task from now until the start of the season is finding the right players for the team.
“You want to look for talented, and kids that will be involved in the community,” Paye said. “Kinds that will be selfless, kids that will be role models. Those are the kids that we will need to bring here to help this neighborhood and this program grow.”
Paye says it won’t be too hard to convince players to come to Peoria, with the ownership group and facilities being used in his pitches. He says the playoffs are a goal for the end of the year, but the ultimate goal is winning.
USL 2 also announced the 2024 season schedule on Thursday. Peoria City will play 12 USL 2 games, home and away matches against each Heartland Division rival in a round-robin format.
- May 11th – Des Moines Menace (A)
- May 18th – Chicago Dutch Lions FC (H)
- May 22nd – Chicago Dutch Lions FC (A)
- May 29th – Sueno FC (H)
- June 6th – River Light FC (A)
- June 15th – River Light FC (H)
- June 22nd – St. Charles FC (H)
- June 26th – Chicago City SC (A)
- June 29th – St. Charles FC (A)
- July 2nd – Chicago City SC (H)
- July 6th – Des Moines Menace (H)
- July 13th – Sueno FC (A)
Peoria City will also begin a new regional rivalry with Springfield FC in the Lincoln Cup. The home-and-away series will take place in Peoria on June 1st and in Riverton on June 11th. The cup winner will be the team who has the most goals in both matches.
🔐LOCKED IN🔐 Meet our 2024 coaching staff! https://t.co/3D5IXaBrdm
— Peoria City Soccer (@PeoriaCityUSL2) February 15, 2024
ITS HERE AND ITS BEAUTIFUL! Lincoln Cup, River Cities Cup and 7 home games make Shea Stadium the place to be! ⚽️ @USLLeagueTwo https://t.co/bDDkXLCCx4 pic.twitter.com/Pli1ByvXOo
— Peoria City Soccer (@PeoriaCityUSL2) February 15, 2024
Comments