July 23, 2008

Halfpop returning to Central as assistant

PELLA—Kyle Halfpop, one of the top scorers in Central College men’s soccer history, is rejoining the program as assistant coach.

He replaces Colin Kuchy, who was named Central’s head women’s soccer coach last spring.

An Urbandale native and a 2005 Central graduate, Halfpop was a three-time all-Iowa Conference selection. He was a second-team all-West Region honoree in 2004 as well as Central team MVP. Halfpop was a two-time team co-captain. He ranks third on the school’s career goals chart with 36, is third in career points with 94 and is second in career assists with 22. He moved from midfield to forward as a senior in 2004 and scored 17 goals. That stood as a school season record until it was topped by Cody Stoermer with 19 last fall.

“I’m delighted,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “Kyle is one of the best players ever to come out of our program. When he came he was a significant recruit because he was one of the top high school players in the state.  He opened the door for a lot of other good players to take a look at Central College and he followed that up with a tremendous college career.

“Kyle has great knowledge of the game and relates well to players. He’ll also do an excellent job in recruiting. He’s played here and knows our system, so what better person to give feedback to recruits about what it’s like to play at Central?”

Halfpop has served as a youth soccer coach in Urbandale, West Des Moines and Pella and was a coach for the Urbandale Soccer Club. He’ll begin working with the Pella Soccer Club this fall.

“Kyle will do good things in the local soccer community,” Laidlaw said. “I think that’s significant.”

Most recently Halfpop has served as manager of  the Abercrombie and Fitch retail store in West Des Moines.

Also on Laidlaw’s Central staff is goalkeeper coach John Milligan, who is entering his third season with the Dutch.

Central, which posted a 14-4-3 mark last fall, opens the 2008 campaign against Concordia (Wis.) at Pella Aug. 29.