In 2012, men’s soccer coach Jon Lowery came to St. Thomas after winning a Division-I national championship as an assistant coach. In 2013, he led the Tommies to their most MIAC wins in a season in 10 years.

Now, Lowery and his team are in the hunt for a MIAC championship.

Lowery played collegiate soccer as a goalkeeper at Ohio State before going on to play professionally. From there, he coached as an assistant at Wake Forest, where he helped the Demon Deacons win a Division-I national championship in 2007.

Lowery was also an assistant coach at Ohio State before he coached at Wake Forest. After finishing his collegiate career at Ohio State, Lowery spent four years in Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League with the Minnesota Thunder.

“I’m just real thankful to have been at those places to find my own recipe that we can fine tune here at St. Thomas and hopefully succeed with,” Lowery said. “They’re all different, they’re all unique, and they’re all great … I got to take two programs and kind of compare them to each other and take what I really liked and tried to make my own.”

Lowery changed the structure of the soccer program at St. Thomas, bringing in a new style and mentality for the players. The players said they now focus on how to improve in the offseason.

“Coach Lowery definitely transitioned the entire program to a much more disciplined, sophisticated program during the season and during the offseason in the weight room,” midfielder Michael Eigenmann said. “Everything basically … just upped the energy level.”

He credited much of his success at St. Thomas to learning from great coaches.

“(I was) just fortunate to be around some good mentors and good players,” Lowery said. “(After my playing career), I was really focused on becoming the best coach I could.”

The Tommies have an 8-5-1 record this season, and Lowery said he is fortunate to be coaching at St. Thomas.

“I’ve said it before, but it’s inspiring to work with some of the coaches in the building with success they’ve had and teams that they’ve had, so being here is great,” he said.

Jordan Kruger can be reached at krug6172@stthomas.edu.