The longest tenured California University of Pennsylvania head coach, Dennis Laskey enters his 24th season (19th consecutive) at the helm of the men’s soccer program in 2009. He ranks 19th nationally among active head coach in NCAA Division II in career victories.
Laskey has been with the Vulcans for almost the entire 26 years of the program, dating back to the inaugural season of 1984. During his time at Cal U, he holds a 212-201-33 overall record (.512) with five appearances in the PSAC Championship Game and two berths in the NCAA Tournament.
Behind an improbable late-season surge last season, Cal U won the PSAC West title and claimed the program’s first-ever PSAC Tournament Championship. The Vulcans also garnered a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004.
In addition to his 24 years with the men’s program, Laskey was also instrumental in the creation of the women’s soccer program at Cal U. He served as the first head coach for the women’s program in 1990 and coached both the men’s and women’s soccer teams from 1991-2001.
A native of nearby Dunlevy, Pa., he has coached five players that were inducted into the Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame. Nicholas Addlery, who plays professionally in Canada, and Audrey Dawson will both be inducted as part of the 14th annual Hall of Fame Class this year.
Additionally, Laskey has been playing in the Pennsylvania West Soccer League for more than four decades and continues to compete against master’s level competition. He was also a 2007 inductee for the Mid-Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Laskey was a four-year starting defender at Alderson-Broaddus College and earned honorable mention from the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). Following his time at A-B, he joined the U.S. Navy in 1972 and continued his playing career throughout Europe for the U.S. Navy Phiblant team stationed in the Mediterranean.
Laskey, who finished his degree at Cal U after his tour of duty, entered the coaching ranks as head coach at Charleroi High School from 1978-83. He also served as the co-founder and first president of the Mon Valley Youth Soccer Association.
He moved to the collegiate game in 1983 working with the Vulcan men’s soccer team on the club level before the program moved to the NCAA level in 1984. He coached Cal U for five seasons, winning three-straight West Penn Intercollegiate Soccer conference titles (1986-88) that included NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA teams.
In 1989, he moved back to the scholastic level coaching Upper St. Clair High School to a pair of WPIAL titles before returning back to Cal U to start the women’s soccer program.
The veteran coach holds a master's degree in sport management and a post-baccalaureate degree in athletic administration from Cal U.
Laskey resides in Charleroi, Pa., with his wife Jeanne and the couple has three children, Deni Lynn, Deiter and Marissa.
