One of the most revered high school coaches in North Texas, Charlie DeLong has served as the head varsity coach of soccer at Jesuit Dallas since 1981. Following the completion of the 2021 season in which the Rangers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the UIL state championship tournament for the fourth time in 10 years, Coach DeLong stands as the seventh-winningest active head coach in the nation and is the third-winningest coach in the history of Texas boys’ high school soccer.
During his long and accolade-filled career, DeLong has won 87 percent of the games he has coached and is a 17-time state champion across the Texas Christian Interscholastic League (TCIL) and University Interscholastic League (UIL). On Feb. 5, 2020, DeLong led the Rangers to a 1-0 victory over Plano Senior H.S., becoming just the 19th head coach in the history of high school soccer to reach the 600-win plateau.
DeLong has earned two consensus Texas Coach of the Year honors (2010, 2017) since Jesuit joined the UIL in 2004 and is a four-time Dallas Metroplex Coach of the Year (1988, 2006, 2010, 2017). In addition to earning the 1991 Region III High School Coach of the Year honor, DeLong helped the Rangers capture 15 TCIL state titles and a pair of UIL titles in 2010 and 2017. From 1988-1991, Jesuit Dallas established a state-record, 72-game unbeaten streak (69-0-3), a record that still stands.
In 2010, Jesuit Dallas soccer was ranked No. 1 in the nation according to ESPN and the NSCAA, and finished the year 25-0-0 to become the first private school in UIL history to capture a state crown in any sport. The Rangers have been mainstays in the national rankings for the majority of DeLong’s tenure.
Throughout his time at the helm of the Jesuit soccer program, DeLong has mentored several professional athletes and 11 Jesuit Dallas Hall of Famers, including former Gatorade Texas Player of the Year Christopher Dean ’91, Puerto Rico national team member Scott Jones ’02, U.S. National Team member and MLS All-Star Kenny Cooper ’03, and MLS alumni, Ian Kalis ’08 and Kingsley Bryce ’11.
