MONTICELLO –– Todd Diuguid, a multi-sport athlete at Monticello High School (Class of 1987), has made quite a name for himself in the state of West Virginia.

As a Panther, Diuguid played soccer, golf and was on the ski team. He also did karate in his youth.

Diuguid, now 51, went on to play soccer at Division I Marshall University for the entirety of his college career. He lettered all four years as a central defender/forward and graduated with a Bachelors-of-Arts in Criminal Justice.

Diuguid went on to officiate scholastic and collegiate soccer in West Virginia and Kentucky before beginning his coaching career as an assistant for the boys’ team at South Charleston HS for one season in 1995. Diuguid took over the head coaching position at Hurricane HS on the girl’s side, and was there from 1996-1998 (Girls Soccer wasn’t even a high school sport in the state of West Virginia until the late 90s).

Near the start of the new century, Diuguid took the boys’ soccer coaching position at Nitro HS. Diuguid received Regional Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1999 and 2000 while at Nitro HS. Diuguid has also led nine different West Virginia club soccer teams to the West Virginia State Championships.

In 2006, Coach Diuguid’s U13 girls became the first girls’ team in state history to advance to the regional semifinals in the US Youth National Championships.

Soon after, Diuguid applied for the women’s soccer coach opening at the University of Charleston (West Virginia), which was a part-time position. When he wasn’t coaching, Diuguid was also a full-time social worker.

He eventually took a full-time position as director of the college’s fitness center while remaining women’s soccer coach. He did that until being promoted to assistant (and now associate) athletic director.

This fall marks 21 years that Diuguid has been at the helm of the Golden Eagles’ women soccer program. They finished the 2019-20 season with a 9-9-1 overall record with a 7-6-1 Mountain East Conference record. They made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2015 and 2016.

The latter year was also one where they recorded the most wins in program history and were listed in the top 10 nationally in statistical categories for: goals against average and save percentage. The team swept the Player-of-the-Year honors, five players received D2CCA and NSCAA All-Region accolades and the Golden Eagles placed nine players on the Mountain East All Conference teams as well as two All-tournament team players.

Diuguid has previously been named the 2010 WVIAC Coach-of-the-Year. Under his tutelege, the program had the distinction of receiving the inaugural WVIAC Sportsmanship award in 2008 and has received the NSCAA Team Academic Award the past twelve academic years, 2007-present. Several players have been named to the WVIAC and MEC All-Conference teams, NSCAA Atlantic All-Region teams, Daktronics All-Region teams, Freshmen-of-the-Year, Players-of-the-Year, Academic All-Americans and UC’s Outstanding Student-Athlete have all played under Coach Diuguid over the years.

“I love the player interaction and development,” said Diuguid on coaching. “I’ve watched these young ladies grow into the young women they’ve become. It’s very rewarding.”

Diuguid has been married for 25 years, and looks forward to the upcoming season, the first full one in two years, after an abbreviated 2020-2021 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had a successful shortened season, going 5-2-2.

He remains driven by his competitiveness, something that drew him to the game of soccer. “I love to win,” he said.

Reflecting on his time in Monticello, Diuguid has fond memories.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was a great town to grow up in. It’s culturally diverse and there were a lot of opportunities for us young people to be involved in extracurricular activities.” 

To keep tabs on Diuguid’s teams, visit ucgoldeneagles.com/sports/womens-soccer.