Five days after Peoria Centennial announced the hiring of Brady Rath as its girls basketball head coach, the school filled a vacancy for the same role on its boys soccer team.

Centennial athletic director Peter Jelovic announced via Twitter Wednesday that the school’s administration has hired former boys soccer assistant coach Dan ough as its head coach.

Gough was initially hired by Centennial in 2005 as an assistant under former 10-year head coach Steve Ybarra. He was brough onboard after he helped lead the Wayzata High School (Plymouth, Minn.) boys soccer team to a state title in the 2003-04 season and earned an Assistant Coach of the Year award.

“In Minnesota, I was an assistant working with one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with, Tony Pesznecker,” Gough said. “I don’t want to take credit for that championship but I did learn an awful lot from him just about the deliberation of the work, constant attention to detail, making sure practices were always competitive and challenging, lots that was mentally stimulating.

“I had never seen practices where the kids were all so engaged mentally the whole time thinking about soccer situations and solving problems on the field. That’s something I want to bring into this: return the feel-good factor, fun and want the kids be accountable and in a positive environment.”

The England native left coaching in 2006-07 season to focus on his raising his children and teaching English at the school before returning to the sidelines.

“My main motivation is just the love of the game. I’ve been gone way too long,” Gough said. “I was gone mostly for family reasons. I was looking after young kids and felt that they needed me more than anything else at that time. But as they’ve grown up, I felt like now it’s a good time to jump back into doing it.”

Gough replaces Lance Thompson who was in that role for past two seasons.

Gough is third in the team’s succession of coaches including Kyle Pooler and Thompson after Ybarra left the position in 2013.

The Coyotes have struggled since the 2006-07 when they went 12-8, producing losing records ever season since then.

Gough is embracing the rebuilding process as Centennial hasn’t won a game since the 2018-19 season in which they had a 2-15 record.

“Obviously, there’s a need right now. Our program is struggling a little bit so I’d like to try and do what I can to turn it around. I’m not the first person to try that but I’m excited to give it a go,” Gough said.

“The field is just an extension of the classroom. We’re just learning different lessons about life and character in different situations.”

In addition to Minnesota and Arizona, Gough also brings much high school and club coaching experience from time in Massachusetts.

Have tips for us? Reach the reporter at dana.scott@azcentral.com or at 480-486-4721. Follow his Twitter @iam_DanaScott.

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