Terry

Michler

Terry Michler is the most prolific high school soccer coach in American history, and he built that record almost entirely at one school, in one city, over the course of five decades. He came up through CBC as a student in the early 1960s, left for Rockhurst and a brief professional stint with the Kansas City Spurs, coached two seasons at Bishop Hogan High School in Kansas City — and then came back to St. Louis in 1971 to take the CBC job. He didn't leave for 52 years.

What he built at CBC became a national landmark. Nine Missouri state championships. Over 1,070 career wins — a record no high school boys soccer coach in the country has matched. He never had a losing season. He sent players into college programs and professional careers across multiple generations, and turned a Jesuit high school in St. Louis into a name that coaches around the country recognized. Throughout his career, he was recognized with national coach of the year awards eight times and in 2021 he was inducted into the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame, the sport's highest honor at the scholastic level.

The 2023 season nearly ended everything. Michler was hospitalized in July with a severe infection that progressed to sepsis; in late September, his left leg was amputated. He was 76 years old. He came back anyway. For the 2024 season he coached from a motorized wheelchair with a prosthetic leg, and CBC reached the postseason again.

In March 2025, CBC let him go after 52 seasons. The circumstances drew wide attention — a coach with more wins than anyone else in the country, fired the year after returning from a leg amputation. He landed quickly: St. Dominic High School announced him as a team consultant within weeks, and a newly created high school invitational tournament was named the Terry Michler Championship Cup in his honor.

Michler's connection to St. Louis soccer is not just one of longevity. He represented a particular tradition — the idea that elite soccer could be built and sustained in a city, through a school, without chasing money or prestige elsewhere. He was given that tradition by the coaches who came before him at CBC and in the St. Louis soccer community, and he gave it back multiplied.