UC Irvine Gives Longtime Men’s Soccer Coach the Boot

UC Irvine announced Tuesday it will not renew the contract of men’s soccer Coach Derek Lawther, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation co-coach of the year this season.

Irvine Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said he couldn’t go into specifics about why Lawther was let go after his 11th season because it involves a personnel decision.

“We look at every aspect of a program, not just wins and losses, and we felt that now is the appropriate time to make the change that we felt was necessary,” Guerrero said.

Lawther had a 78-130-7 record, but the Anteaters were 11-8 this season and upset then-second-ranked UCLA, 4-3, in September. UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Division I final four.

Lawther, whose part-time contract expires at the end of the month, said he doesn’t want to go into details about the firing--yet.

“It’s really very emotional,” said Lawther, who started the school’s soccer program.

He did say he disagreed with the policy of requiring players to raise $200 for the soccer program to be able to start.

“I’ve been involved with and carried the program for quite a while,” Lawther said. “I still love UCI--it’s a great university--but I don’t agree with the policy of pay to play for student athletes.”

Lawther, who also was named the Big West Conference co-coach of the year in 1991, shared the MPSF award this season with UC Santa Barbara’s Mark Arya. Lawther led Santa Ana College (now Rancho Santiago) to the State community college title in 1978.

A native of Ireland, he also coached University High and the California Surf of the North American Soccer League and played in Ireland’s First Division.