PHILADELPHIA- Joe Coyle has been named the new head varsity soccer coach at St. Joseph’s Prep, announced Prep Athletic Director Dennis Hart. Coyle, who spent this past season as Associate Head Coach, replaces legendary coach Jim Murray, who retired at the end of this season after 50 years of coaching, the last 46 at the Prep. Coyle is just the second coach in program history; Murray started the program in 1971.

Coyle, a member of the Prep’s English Department, has an outstanding coaching history in his own right. As head girls coach at Episcopal Academy (2007-10) and Lower Merion (2000-03), he accumulated a record of 116-38. At Episcopal, he won back-to-back Inter-Ac Championships, the first in program history, and was named Coach of the Year by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of the Fame, the Main Line Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has also been on the staff at Merion Mercy and Friends Central in addition to coaching at many nationally-renown camps and the freshman team at the Prep.

“With Joe on our staff this year, I got the chance to see the kind of program he will run,” says Hart. “His work ethic and soccer knowledge, as well as his attention to detail, are exactly what I want for the future of this program.”

“Having worked at the Prep for almost 20 years, I know the kind of young men that are here,” says Coyle. “Working with them on the soccer field has given me even more respect for our student-athletes and motivates me to bring out the best in them. I thank our President Father John Swope, Principal Jason Zazyczny, and Athletic Director Dennis Hart for giving me this opportunity. This truly is my dream job.”