Bill Finneyfrock

The impact of Bill Finneyfrock on soccer at every level in the Charlotte area is tangible. Known by many as “Frock,” Bill has been for a very long time a positive “force to be reckoned with.” Coach, mentor, developer, organizer, player, high school, public, private, professional, amateur, youth … his contributions have covered every conceivable form of soccer in Charlotte.

Born and raised in Lakewood, New Jersey, Bill graduated from Bricktown High School in 1975 and spent his first two years of college at Erskine College in South Carolina, where he was a goalkeeper, earning All-Conference, All-South and NAIA All-American Goalkeeper honors. After graduating from Erskine, he moved to Clemson University, where the soccer teams that he played on won the ACC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Final Four two years in a row, in 1979 and 1980. Bill graduated from Clemson with a degree in Parks and Recreation.

Upon graduation, Bill first played professionally for the Pennsylvania Stoners, which won the American Soccer League Championship in 1980, and then moved to the Carolina Lightnin’, which won the American Soccer League Championship in 1981 in its inaugural year as a team. Bill remained a player on the team during its final two years, 1982-1983. Bill’s teammates nicknamed him Barney Rubble. Lightnin’ coach Rodney Marsh said of Bill that “he has good hands and is extremely brave, a very hard worker in training and a player who does everything necessary to improve his ability.”

After ending his playing years as a professional, Bill became a teacher at St. Gabriel’s Catholic School but served at the same time as the soccer coach at nearby Charlotte Catholic High School between 1983 and 1989. The school won the conference title five times in the seven years that he coached and was the only school to win the combined 1A-2A-3A NCHSAA State Championship, doing so in 1986 and 1987.

In 1991, Bill became a teacher and the head boys’ soccer coach at Charlotte’s Providence Day School and has remained there ever since. Providence Day has won the conference crown nine times since Bill arrived. In addition Bill has led his teams to two State Semi-Finals, two State Finals and six State Championships. The team was cited by the NSCAA as #17 in the National Top Twenty-Five in 1997 and in the NSCAA South Region as #7 in 1998 and #6 in 1999.

Bill was inducted into the Charlotte Catholic Hall of Fame in 2008, into the NCSCA Field of Honor in 2011 and he was awarded the Peace Award from the Charlotte Area Peace Corps Association in 2011. In addition, he has been honored three times as the North Carolina State Coach of the Year, three times as the US Southeast Regional Coach of the Year and in 1997 as the National High School Coach of the Year. In 1999 the Charlotte Observer named Bill as the Coach of the Year.

Bill’s record as a coach is impressive, with an overall combined boys and girls record of 431 wins, 200 losses and 57 ties. With his girls’ teams, his record was 66-60-21, and with the boys, 365-140-36. In 1999, he served as the NC Amateur Sports Soccer-West Team Coach.

In 1995, Bill founded the US Regional Soccer Association, which became the Charlotte United FC in 2000 and has grown to become the largest competitive soccer organization in the greater Charlotte area. Bill serves as the organization’s Executive Director. He holds the USSF National Goalkeeping and USSF A licenses and the NSCAA coaching license and has served as a US Youth Soccer Region III Boys ODP coach for many years.

Bill married the former Jessie Mae Bowen in 1981. They have three children, Heather, Amber and William.