Trevor Fuccio has been named the new head coach of the Ankeny boys’ soccer team.
Fuccio previously served as an assistant coach under Marcus Varnum, who left to become a full-time assistant for the men’s soccer program at Simpson College.
“I’m super excited,” said Fuccio. “I’m glad to be able to continue working with the boys. I’m hoping to have a good year this spring.”
Fuccio, a Marshalltown native, was a four-year starter for the Bobcats in high school. He went on to play at Simpson, where he was a four-year starter and a three-year captain.
Fuccio has been coaching for about four years, primarily at Vision Soccer Academy in Waukee. He joined the Ankeny staff two years ago, coaching the junior varsity and helping out with the varsity’s back line.
“I’m super close with Marcus,” Fuccio said. “We both went to Simpson, and he kind of pulled me onto the staff. I expressed an interest whenever he moved on to something else to know what it takes (to take over). I used him as a mentor the last couple of years. I was super excited when the opportunity arose, because I had been approaching it like it would be my program whenever he left. I’m glad that it worked out the way we planned.”
Varnum was promoted to Ankeny’s head coach in 2019. His first season in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Varnum then guided the Hawks to a 34-18 record over the next three years, including a 19-2 mark in 2022.
“As an Ankeny alum and a coach that has been a part of this great program for the past eight years, it was an extremely hard decision for me to step down from my current role,” Varnum said. “The group of players that we have are such a talented and dedicated bunch that have so much pride in what they do for their school. When I accepted my new role at Simpson, I wanted to be sure to leave the program in the hands of someone that would be able to provide the time and energy that the players deserved. Trevor is that guy. As a coach and leader, he will be able to develop and grow this program to another level, and I have all the faith in the world in him as a the head coach for the Ankeny Hawks for next year and the years to come.”
Ankeny will be looking to bounce back from a 4-10 season in 2023, but Fuccio said the rebuilding process has already started.
“We had a large graduating class the year before, and we had a lot of freshmen who had to step up last year,” he said. “When you’re playing in the CIML and you have to play a lot of freshmen, it’s kind of a baptism by fire. I think we have a lot of quality and a lot of experience coming back. I think things are moving in the right direction. We want to raise the standard for where Ankeny should be playing at and the results we should be getting.”
Fuccio said he doesn’t plan to make a lot of changes.
“We’ll be doing more film analysis than we’ve been doing in the past, but a lot of the foundation that was there–it was successful two years ago,” he said. “We just want to avoid these gap years where we lose a bunch of players and don’t have enough guys who are ready to step in. So we definitely want to build some depth in the program.”