By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The first opportunity to be a soccer coach came just months after he had graduated from Stonehill College.
Brendan Adams was hired as an assistant coach of the women's team at what was then known as Bridgewater State College in 1996.
He stayed in that role under Tom McGuiness for two years before heading to western Massachusetts for graduate school and a head coaching job.
While attending Springfield College, Adams was hired to coach the boys soccer team at Smith Academy in Hatfield, holding his first practice hours after getting the job.
"It was the smallest public high school in the state with 31 students in the graduating class," remembers Adams. "It was fun. It was very similar to (the movie) Hoosiers, except it was soccer.
"There were corn fields and a small, prideful town. There were good rivalries. I loved it. I thought I was going to be there for a long time."
After two years, Adams had finished graduate school but was unable to land a full-time job in that area. So he returned to eastern Massachusetts and went back to Bridgewater State.
This time, Adams was the assistant to men's soccer head coach Lou Verrochi in the 2001 season. And when Verrochi stepped down after one year, Adams took over as the head coach of the Bears in 2002.
More than two decades later, Adams remains in charge of the Bridgewater State University program, and on Wednesday night, he reached a significant milestone.
Adams became just the fifth coach at Bridgewater State to reach 200 wins when the Bears defeated Salve Regina University, 1-0, at Mazzaferro Field.
He joins retired baseball coach Rick Smith (550 wins from 1994-2018), retired men's basketball coach Joe Farroba (402 wins from 1992-2021), current women's basketball coach Bridgett Casey (392 wins starting in 1997) and retired volleyball coach Ken Duarte (269 wins from 1994-2005) in the BSU 200-win club.
Now in his 23rd season, Adams is 200-166-43, including 93-39-17 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference games.
"It's a nice accomplishment, but it just means I've been around for a long time," said Adams. "Is 200 great? It is, but at the end of the day, I love to win the championship. It creates a bond with one another.
"We have an alumni game (this month). When the guys come back, that group over there won in 2007 or that group over there won in 2009. It's good to see the relationships they've created over the years."
Adams' teams have won six MASCAC tournament championship and four regular-season titles, earning both crowns in 2023 to reach the NCAA Division 3 tournament for the sixth time under his guidance.
A five-time MASCAC coach of the year, Adams is BSU's home events coordinator and teaches in the Department of Movement Arts.
At Stonehill, Adams wanted to play baseball but twice did not make the team, so the Sherborn, Mass., native turned back to soccer.
"I had played soccer and loved it, but I was a baseball guy," said Adams. "After I was cut from the team twice, luckily Stonehill had a javyee team that I could get on and get my touch back.
"I had a good year and got moved up to the varsity. My junior year, I worked myself up to the team MVP by the end of the year and was captain my senior year."
So soccer was the path Adams would take, starting as an assistant at Bridgewater State, then the head coach at Smith Academy while earning a Master's in physical education at Springfield.
The Bears have been a consistent program under Adams, starting with his first season when they reached the MASCAC finals, then won their first conference regular-season title since 1994 the next season and reached the NCAAs for the first time since 1990 in his third year.
Asked about his favorite teams, Adams thinks back to those early years.
"I guess I've got to go with those first couple of teams," he said. "I was a similar age as the guys. I think I was the same age as one of our captains. I still keep in contact with them and played in men's leagues with them.
"They are the ones who laid the foundation for the success we have here. They had a great attitude. They didn't have to listen to me, but they responded well and it snowballed. The championship teams came from that."
Adams is always looking to incorporate the lessons he learned while playing at Stonehill in his coaching career.
"I always wanted to be there for my teammates, whether it be off the field and on the field," said Adams. "You want to have that type of attitude and see the guys have responsibility on the field that they want to be that guy. Some of our better teams, we have that attitude from our leaders, which is great.
"I've got to be the educator and hopefully I can teach them the right way. Everyone is going to learn differently. My constant struggle is learning how each person learns or how I can communicate with them to be successful."
BSU's men's soccer team has a bit of a "family atmosphere" feel, according to Adams.
When the 2023 MASCAC championship was won last fall, former players were on hand to help celebrate the latest trip to the NCAAs.
"You get the ups and downs. You have very good teams, you have some tough teams," said Adams. "But I've been pretty lucky with the players who have gone through here. I've been very fortunate with the players who have come and gone.
"We try to make sure we have a little bit of a family atmosphere. Every once in a while there might be an issue here and there, but for the most part, the guys do a good job of policing the locker room.
"Hopefully you don't run into too many issues. As long as guys are doing their work, there'll be successes."
Now, Brendan Adams is part of the BSU 200-win club with plenty of great memories that have been made along the way.
The 2023 championship team included seniors who were part of a 5-13-2 squad as freshmen, but they stuck with it and went out on top.
"We had a terrible freshman year and then junior year, we lost on penalty kicks (in the MASCAC tourney)," said Adams. "To finally win it as seniors, guys were really emotional after that.
"For me, I've been there. We've won it before. But to see guys with tears in their eyes, maybe it's the first time they've ever won anything, that is always special to see."