At the dawn of his career, Doug Allison had no idea the impact he was to make on men’s soccer in South Carolina or the country at large. 

Now in his final season at the helm of the thoroughly successful Furman men’s soccer team, he can easily be proud of his own accomplishments. However, he finds deep fulfillment in what his players have been able to accomplish beyond soccer: having families, vocational success and living virtuous lives.

Hopping the pond from England at 18, Allison didn’t know much about the United States. He wrote letters to colleges in Rhode Island, thinking it was near Hawaii, and only wrote to the University of South Carolina because he thought it was near Disney World.

The University of South Carolina gave him a chance, opening the door for Allison to both earn a degree and play soccer, which was an impossibility in England at the time. He found tremendous success there and still holds records for all-time points (158), goals scored (63) and game-winners (18).

Following college and a stint playing professionally in Ireland, Allison turned his sights to coaching. He worked as an assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then at the University of South Carolina for five years before landing somewhere quite different in 1995 — Furman University.

The program burst onto the national stage under the newcomer’s tutelage. With this newfound gaze, Allison became a hot commodity, but he knew Furman was home.

“I’ve had some offers throughout the years from other schools but realized that I was building something here that I enjoyed. People treated me really well here, and I enjoyed the smaller school,” he said.

Despite his litany of successes, including 11 Southern Conference regular season titles and 10 Southern Conference tournament championships, Allison lists having been able to coach his son on the Furman team as one of the greatest accomplishments of his tenure. 

After becoming the winningest coach in Southern Conference history and shepherding countless young men through their soccer careers, Allison revels in his pupils being able to see their own children get involved with the program.

“Eventually, the guys that I was recruiting here started becoming successful after graduation, becoming husbands and fathers and all that. And that’s important for parents to see when you’re recruiting. It’s not just a cliche,” Allison said.

Embodying this, the team dedicates a home game every year to Quinn Cronin, the daughter of a former Furman player who was born with Down syndrome.

“She’s like a princess for a day, and we’ve done this for a lot of years. And that’s an alumni daughter, which is such an important thing. As a dad, you imagine how he feels,” Allison said. “I want that tradition to continue. That was a big ask of mine.”

Despite his coming retirement, Allison has no plans of easing off the gas in his final season.

“I’m just as focused, just as intense, maybe even more so [this season] because I would like the kids that are leaving, the seniors this year, to do well in their last year with me,” he said. “I want to give it everything.”

His well-wishes for the players, though, are by no means restricted to the boundaries of the sport. 

“I just want to make them as successful as possible and prepare them for their vocations, getting married, being a father and all the stuff that we talk about with all these guys who are on the team now,” he said.

Coach Allison officially bids farewell to his post in December, but he has no plan to uproot from Greenville.

“I’m staying in the area for now,” he said. “I’ve loved doing this, at such a lovely school, with great support from my athletic director. Jason Donnelly has just done such a good job with the athletic department in the years he’s been here, and really supports the program. So I’ll miss that kind of stuff, but, you know, it’ll be someone else’s time.”

The coach’s gratitude extends to his players, coaching staff and to fans of the team.

“Having good people around you, good assistant coaches, getting quality and consistency, and having people that I like working with — [the job] doesn’t seem like work to me,” he said. “And getting quality student athletes, too. And we can trust them. That’s one of our three words that we use in our program: discipline, respect and trust.”

“For me, trust is the most important one. We trust in our guys that, when we’re not looking, they’re doing the right thing, making good decisions,” Allison said. “They’re out in the community, working with kids, working with the hospitals. And then when they leave, you hope they come back for alumni weekend and bring their wives and kids and be proud of where they studied.”

Allison’s plans for retirement involve visiting his siblings in Europe and supporting his wife, Jody, as she completes a career in teaching.

“Every weekend since I came here in ‘84 has been taken up with some kind of game or something. So that’ll be in the future, a bit more travel, you know, and I’ll be able to spend more time with my kids. But also, you know, at some point, Jody and I will end up at the beach,” said Allison.

The seventh ranked Furman men’s soccer team is off to a hot start this season, with a record of 4-1-3 (W/L/T), and has already notched a notable win against fellow nationally-ranked school Gardner-Webb University and a tie against high-powered Duke University.

They begin conference play on Oct 4 at Mercer University.