“Yeah, we objected to that,” he said.
In turn though, she laughs at his stick-in-the mud stance on tattoos.
And she admitted to being surprised the first time she heard him cuss. When she was growing up she’d never heard such utterance from him. But now that they’re together on the college soccer field and she’s seen him get upset, she’s heard a profane word or two slip out.
“I just went, ‘Wow!’ ” she grinned. “I kind of had to open my up my eyes. It was like, ‘Oh yeah!’ ”
University of Dayton women’s soccer coach Mike Tucker and sophomore midfielder/forward Sidney LeRoy from Mansfield, Texas have learned plenty about each other the past two Flyers seasons.
While you wouldn’t necessarily call them The Odd Couple (he’s 66 and she’s 19, but they are alike in many ways), their union certainly is unusual when it comes to college athletics.
And that’s why tonight in Philadelphia, Tucker will have someone special there with whom to share a major milestone should his Flyers defeat LaSalle and give him his 300th coaching victory at UD.
“I love the fact that Sidney’s here,” Tucker said. “I’m maybe one of the only coaches ever to have coached his daughter and his granddaughter on the college soccer field. That’s pretty cool.”
Tucker’s daughter, Lori, played for the Flyers from 1989-1991 and that last season he served as an assistant to then-UD head coach Tom Schindler.
Four years later Tucker took over the Dayton program and in the 21 seasons since, he has built the women’s soccer program at UD into a perennial power in the Atlantic 10 Conference and a regular in the NCAA Tournament.
Tucker has been named the A-10 coach of the year five times. His teams have won 11 A-10 regular-season titles, nine conference tournaments and been to the NCAA Tournament nine times and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2001.
He’s never had a losing season and has compiled a 299-113-29 record.
The past two seasons Lori’s daughter Sidney has played for her granddad.
Last year she missed all but six games due to a serious concussion and then a broken foot.
When it comes to this season — which began with an uncharacteristic 0-5 start, now stands at 5-8 and shows signs of righting itself, especially with a 3-1 conference record — they are of the same mindset.
A rash of injuries and some disjointed play hamstrung the Flyers early, but things are looking better now.
“It’s been disappointing, we expected better results early, but with only three conference weekends remaining, our main goals are still right there for us,” Tucker said.
“Win the league, win the conference tournament, play in the NCAA Tournament, that’s what it’s really all about.”
There have been some bright spots along the way this season and Sidney, even though she plays less than she’d like, has been part of them.
When the Flyers beat Rice on the road, she had two goals and an assist. When they topped Davidson, she had another score.
Asked if he experiences special joy when he sees his granddaughter score, Tucker shrugged and quietly admitted:
“I try not to show it, but I know it does. I remember last spring when we played in Indiana. It was a friendly game, but I really wanted to win because that’s where my two former assistants are now. And we were able to come back on them.
‘Sidney scored the second goal to tie it and then the third goal to win it. I didn’t know I did this, but one of my assistants said, ‘You must have jumped four feet in the air when she scored that third goal.’ ”
Tucker’s reluctance when it comes to Sidney has to do with ensuring team chemistry and protecting her:
“I don’t know for sure, but quite honestly there was probably a tad bit of resentment from a couple of kids until they knew she was a good player.
“I was concerned how the girls on the team would accept her, how it would play out from a chemistry standpoint. But I think it helped that Sidney works hard and doesn’t want any special treatment.”
Lori said she stressed that point with her daughter before she left Texas:
“She had to remember she wasn’t going up there to play for Grandpa, she was going to play for Coach. Grandpa would have to come at a different time.
“Just like any incoming freshman, she had to prove herself. And it wouldn’t be fair to anybody else if she came in and had expectations because of who her grandfather is.”
Sidney understood that: “My goal from Day One was to prove that I should be here.”
She wanted to show she was just another player and she’s done that in ways she never expected.
“Here’s a funny story,” she said. “Before she got here, one of the girls in my class told her mom she wanted a nose ring. But her mom told her, ‘I don’t think the coaches will like that.’
“Then I walked in with a nose ring and she goes, ‘Look, the coach’s granddaughter has a nose ring!’ And less than two weeks later she had one, too.”
A devastating blow
After excelling in high school and at the elite club level, Sidney drew interest from schools like Stephen F. Austin (SFA), Oklahoma and Kansas State
Meanwhile, Tucker didn’t push UD on her and even took her on a recruiting visit to Florida International University.
“I knew she knew enough about Dayton and our program already,” he said.
From the time she was 8 or 9, Sidney said she’d come to Dayton each summer to take part in the Flyers soccer camps.
She admitted she loved SFA and considered going there until the coaches “ended up transferring to a different school — I kind of saw it as a sign God wanted me to come to Dayton.”
Once here, though, things didn’t go as planned.
Early last season she suffered a severe concussion — her fourth following three in high school — when a teammate accidentally kicked a line drive ball off her head in practice.
The effect was devastating.
“I was out of school three weeks,” Sidney said. “I stayed in a dark room and there was no phone, no laptop, no TV. Honestly, the only time I woke up was when I needed to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. The headache was right behind my eyes, so I kept my eyes shut.
“That first week I was in a different world. I was zoned out. I couldn’t see, couldn’t think, couldn’t accomplish anything.”
When she finally returned, she played three games and provided the assist on the Flyers’ winning goal in overtime against Saint Louis.
“The next morning she stepped out of bed and started screaming because her foot was hurting,” Tucker said.
She had broken it earlier in the game when she collided with the opposing goalie.
“After that she’d played on adrenaline,” Tucker said.
‘Learning experience’
She calls her grandfather “Pop” and he calls her “Sid.”
She lives in an apartment complex on the edge of the Student Ghetto and Tucker and his wife Chris live in Kettering.
And it is on weekly trips to grandparents’ house that the familial side of life returns. She tries to eat with them once a week and relishes the tilapia Pop makes on the grill. Her Nana, as she calls Chris, often does her laundry.
“Neither one knew how this was going to work out,” Lori said by phone from Texas. “It was definitely an eye-opening, leaning experience for both of them. But I think they’ve done a good job separating the worlds and figuring everything out.”
In the process. Tucker and some of the other players have had fun teasing Sidney about the way she talks.
“They get on me about my Texas accent,” she laughed.
“She uses a lot of y’alls,” he laughed. “Everything is y’all this and y’all that.”
She shook her head: “I’ve lost most of that now. But if I get mad, the country comes right back out!”
And then there are those tattoos, which really are just inspirational messages.
On her side she has “God is greater than your ups and downs.” On her back, along with a cross, she has “Count your blessings, not your heartaches.”
In light of what may happen tonight, it was suggested she certainly had room for one more.
She said: “My dad called me up and said, ‘Remember this could be your Pops’ 300th win. If it happens be sure and go up and congratulate him. Let him know how special is.’”
With that in mind, how about if she got a big likeness of him inked on her back?
She and her Pops both looked at each other and shook their heads.
“Don’t give her any ideas,” Tucker snapped.
“I don’t think my parents want me getting any more tattoos,” Sidney said.
No Odd Couple here.
These two finally are in perfect harmony.
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