While driving northward from Florida to Long Island recently, Gerry Lucey’s anticipation could not have been greater.
“I was excited when I was driving back up from Florida, and finally saw the sign for New York,” he said. “Once I crossed the bridges into Staten Island, and obviously in Brooklyn, you know, my smile got bigger. It definitely felt like I was returning home.”
Lucey’s new home will include the Long Island Rough Riders, as he has been named the head coach of the women’s team for the 2026 USL W League season.
He will replace Matt Lannon, who stepped down after a successful 2025 campaign in which the squad secured the Metropolitan Division title and qualified for the playoffs. The Rough Riders (7-4) were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals, dropping a 2-0 decision to the Indianapolis Blues.
A former Rough Riders midfielder (1998-2000), Lucey said that he was prepared for the challenge.
“I’ve been following both teams over the years, and I’ve been back and forth to the island a few times since 2015 from Florida,” he said.
Lucey was approached by the team’s management.
“It just seemed like a good fit,” he said. “It’s a project that I’m obviously excited about. I’m trying to follow in the footsteps of many quality coaches.”
There is little doubt the 59-year-old Lucey is a winner.
In 15 seasons as a head coach at LIU Post, West Chester University, University Tampa, Utah Tech and Florida Southern, Lucey’s teams have won almost 70 percent of their games. His all-time record is 188-72-35, a winning percentage of .697. He also has been an associate women’s head coach at Hofstra University.
That’s pretty impressive.
“Winning is always fun, but pretty much every school besides Hofstra is an underfunded program, so it’s always kind of been an uphill battle,” Lucey said. “To be successful, it gives a lot of joy as well, to take a lot of pride in helping programs get better. I’m delighted with how my career has gone so far and hopefully can continue on for a few more years.”
He also has been an assistant coach at Hofstra University.
Lucey’s goals with the Rough Riders?
“I don’t start out with saying that we want to win a national championship,” he said. “It’s more. We want to be very competitive. We want to win our division and then go as far as you can in the playoffs, hopefully and longer-term appointments to bring in the players I feel like that can help us achieve success over the years, and not just a one-hit wonder. Yes, we’d love to go all the way. I think it takes a little bit of time to pull together
the squad like that. It’s a short season. There is obviously a lot of movement between the seasons of the college players and some more seasoned players float in and out. So, hopefully they get a little bit more stability to the program to be there about each and every year.”
Like every W League team, Long Island will need to rebuild because many of the college age players have graduated and moved onto to other teams and commitments. For example, talented forward Gianna Paul of Huntington Station, N.Y. earned fourth-team All-American honors while starring for the University of Alabama and has signed with the Kansas City Current (National Women’s Soccer League).
“I haven’t been given the roster from last year yet and I know there are several players that would like to return,” Lucey said. “It’s just kind of touching base with them, making sure that they’re able to fulfill the training and the game schedule. And then touching base with all my contacts through the years, and trying to bring in some new faces as well, to replace the likes of, well, probably irreplaceable Gianna Paul, but to try to bring in quality players and to build a new squad, and obviously try to bring players I feel will fit in the way I’d like to play.”
Lucey’s coaching philosophy is simple. It’s to keep his ideals but ready to change with the times.
“You have to change to what’s in front of you, to new generations,” he said. “For me, it’s just trying to connect, trying to try to get a great connection with the players, get my playing style philosophy across to them, and hopefully get them on board. I think in terms of my personality. I’m pretty easy going and pretty relaxed. When I was a player, I tried to have a laugh and a joke, but obviously very serious about what I do. So, trying to get the players to let loose a little bit, to not be so uptight
“I want to play good and attacking soccer. That’s not always the case, depending on the players that you have. My idea behind the game is to play something which is pleasing as a player and a coach. For the spectators, I want to be willing to engage so that they want to come back to games that they want to enjoy. It’s the same as when I was a player, I always wanted to enjoy myself, always wanted to enjoy practice. I think it is very important to design practices to challenge the players, but to allow them to enjoy themselves while keeping focus as well.”
It’s funny how life works out.
When Lucey ventured from his native Ireland in 1990, he thought he would stay for four years. He attended New York Institute of Technology for a year before transferring to C.W. Post.
“I was looking at it as a four-year stint coming out here, after I’d get my education play and then head back to Europe,” he said. “Actually, I was in Denmark before I came out to came out to the states. My plan was to work in Denmark.”
But there was something about New York and Long Island that lured Lucey then and now.
“I had a lot of family there living in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn,” he said. “It just felt very comfortable once I actually arrived here and was playing. I got a lot of friends as well through those years. Towards the end of my education, I wanted to just extend the stay here. So did the extra year. Then I decided to do my master’s [in international marketing]. … This is definitely home for me now. Ireland’s obviously where I grew up, but this is where I call home. I absolutely love Long Island, living this close to the city.
“This is somewhere where my wife and I would love to bring up our kids. We are finally settling down and putting down the roots and somewhere where I want to call home pretty much the rest of my life.”