Thanks To Flying Coach, Portland Soccer’s First-Class

When it comes to national football powers, the University of Portland ought to be on the list.

This quiet Catholic school on “The Bluff” above the Willamette River in north Portland has not one, but two, powerful teams, and they’re both coached by Clive Charles.

No, this school doesn’t play that barbaric American football with helmets, endless huddles and all those protective pads.

This is “real” football, the kind they play in England, where Charles grew up and played professionally before moving to Portland as part of the Timbers of the old North American Soccer League.

Charles will be racking up the frequent flier miles this week. His No. 2-ranked women’s soccer team plays No. 3 Southern Methodist on Friday in the NCAA Final Four at Chapel Hill, N.C., and his 13th-ranked men’s team plays at Santa Clara on Saturday night in the NCAA quarterfinals.

If the women win, he’ll be back on a flight across the country in time to make it to Sunday’s national championship game.

Portland’s nickname, the Pilots, seems entirely appropriate for the coach who might be making four cross-country flights in four days.

“I hope I go to bed Monday a very tired and happy person,” he said.

This year, Charles’ teams have a combined 34-2-4 record. The women (19-0-1) haven’t lost since a 1-0 defeat to Notre Dame in the semifinals at last year’s Final Four, which was played at the 5,000-seat field built on the Portland campus five years ago and considered one of the best in college soccer.

The men (15-2-3) are a bigger surprise - to everyone but Charles, at least. They weren’t ranked at the start of the season but advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 victory over Butler last weekend.

The women are led by Shannon MacMillan, a three-time All-American who has 22 goals this season and 86 in her career. She scored the only goal in last weekend’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Maryland.

MacMillan marvels at how Charles can get everything done in running two teams.

“We do not know how this guy does it,” she said. “He’s out there on the field 4 hours a day in practice, and he’s in his office the rest of the time recruiting and doing everything else he does. It just shows how hard he works in the performances he gets.”

Portland, which has an enrollment of just 2,700 and is run by the same Catholic order that operates Notre Dame, had an unspectacular athletic heritage, until Charles came along.

Charles played professionally for 17 years, eight of them in the English First Division, now known as the Premier League.

Well-known in the city because of his days with the Timbers, Charles was hired as men’s coach 10 years ago. Three years later, he took over the women’s program, too.

He led the men to the NCAA Final Four in 1988 and has built two programs that lure some of the best in the sport to the Northwest.

Among the players who have come to The Bluff are Kasey Keller, a flamboyant goalkeeper from Lacey, Wash., who had 39 shutouts at Portland from 1988 to 1990 and now stars with Millwall of the English First Division.

Then there’s Tiffeny Milbrett, a three-time All-American and a member of last year’s Final Four team. Milbrett, who scored 103 goals in her four-year career at Portland, is a member of the U.S. women’s national team and is playing professionally in Japan.

Charles, 43, insists it’s no big deal coaching two teams. He even finds time to serve as an assistant coach of the U.S. men’s national team.

“I’m used to it. I don’t find that it’s that difficult now,” he said. “It’s just become a way of life. I just don’t play golf in the afternoon anymore.”

He’s careful not to treat one team any differently than the other.

“I make it very clear to my recruits and my players when they come here that I treat both teams exactly the same,” he said. “I spend the same amount of time with both teams. It’s not two programs. It’s one program.”

The players agree.

“There’s no envy at all,” MacMillan said. “We have a great relationship with the men’s team. It’s really come together in the playoffs when we’ve both been playing games at home. The men were out there for us Saturday. They had cones and were yelling and screaming for us, and we went out there Sunday and were yelling and screaming for them.”