Bridgemen Head Soccer Coach Steps Down After 15 Years

Bob Ciccone has decided now is the time to leave his role as the head coach of the Fort Lee Bridgemen soccer team, and he went out on a very high note, becoming the winningest soccer coach in Fort Lee school history.

Ciccone, whose overall soccer coaching record in Fort Lee was 161-97-15, was named Big North Coach of the Year this season, and his team won the Big North American Division title. It was a great way for Ciccone to end his coaching career, as he has given so much to the school on both the academic and coaching level.

The Bridgemen soccer team was lucky enough to have Ciccone’s services for 23 years on the soccer staff, with 15 of those years being served as head coach. Ciccone is also in his 28th year of teaching in the Fort Lee School district, now coaching physical education at the elementary school level. There have been many memorable moments for Ciccone, who was born and raised in Fort Lee.

 “The most memorable moments have been getting to know the athletes on my teams and working with the coaches in the league and in other schools,” Ciccone said. “Winning the first league title in the school's history in 1998 will be an unforgettable experience. The teams from 1998-2000 turned things around for Fort Lee Soccer. We won our first league title in 1998 and our second title in 2000. We won 17 games in each of those three years. In 1999 we finished second. One goal against us in the fourth game of that year cost us the league title. We tied that game instead of winning.”

Coaching is a very rewarding occupation, and Ciccone says he wouldn’t trade in his years of hard work for anything.

“The most rewarding part of coaching is definitely the players,” Ciccone said. “Right now I have two former players as assistant coaches, Demba Mane and Greg Tavoularis. During the summer, former players always come back and work with us. We also have an alumni game and former players always come back to play in it. It is such a great feeling when players come back to watch the games or just seeing them around town and having them ask how soccer is going.”

Ciccone began his coaching journey in 1980, when he was an assistant basketball coach at Elmwood Park High School and has coached golf, soccer, wrestling, baseball and basketball during his career. He has also recorded over 100 career wins in soccer, basketball and golf.

Receiving the League Coach of the Year Award has also been a constant for Ciccone having won twice as a basketball coach, twice as a soccer coach and once as a golf coach. He also received the Bergen County Coach of the Year award for golf in 2009.  

Fort Lee has benefitted from Ciccone, and vice versa.

“I have been very fortunate to be able to coach at Fort Lee for so long," he said. "I was able to come along when the soccer program was just turning around. The in town youth soccer program was starting to build up and grow and send better prepared players to the high school.”

Ciccone said he loved strategizing for games and the teaching that comes along with the job. It was a journey that began in 1980 and ended in 2011. He will not soon forget his coaching days, and what he has done for Fort Lee high school soccer will not soon be forgotten either.