PEABODY — Peabody High School has a new girls soccer coach.
The school has hired former Salem coach Andrew Douglass to fill the role after former head coach Dennis Desroches moved on to become Peabody’s director of health, wellness and athletics.
“It’s incredibly exciting to have this opportunity, but it’s bittersweet as well because I loved my time at Salem,” said Douglass, who played goalkeeper at Danvers High. “But this was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down and I’m excited for the challenge ahead of me.”
Douglass comes over from Salem High, where he went 20-26-4 in three seasons with state tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019. He was the first coach to take Salem to back-to-back state tournaments in 11 years. He is also the director of Aztec FC Padova.
“The growing process at Salem over the past three years has been rewarding,” said Douglass. “We started out as a very small program just trying to grow and get kids involved, and we ended up making the tournament two years in a row. But the biggest thing is that we built a great family atmosphere, and that’s something that I’d like to continue on with Peabody.”
Douglass has some large shoes to fill; Desroches did plenty of winning in his 13 1/2 seasons at the helm of the Tanners. Desroches went 197-45-29 in those 13 1/2 seasons, winning 19 playoff games, going to the North final three times and winning the 2011 Division 1 state championship. He also coached the Peabody girls lacrosse team for 13 years, going 147-80.
“There’s always a lot of pressure when you’re following a guy like Dennis, who is someone I really look up to,” said Douglass. “But it’s an exciting challenge and it’s a good thing that I’ll still have him to lean on for advice and information this year.”
With only a few weeks until the season begins, Douglass knows he has to work on an accelerated schedule.
“Things are going to start moving fast, that’s for sure,” said Douglass. “I spoke with my captains today, so once we get to meet in person and I can meet the rest of the team I think we can start getting things going.”
The Tanners have plenty of talent returning to the field in 2021. And with the advantage of having the old coach still affiliated with the school, Douglass is confident that he’ll be able to pick up right where the Tanners left off in 2020.
“We have a lot of talent returning to the field, and my goal is to pick things up right where Dennis left off,” said Douglass. “Our goal is to build off of that success and keep things going in the right direction.”
