U.S. Men’s Goalball Head Coach, Michael Legé, Retires

After 8 years as Head Coach of the USA Men’s Goalball team, Coach Michael Legé has retired. Legé joined the U.S. Men’s Goalball Team coaching staff in 2005 as an assistant after the death of Head Coach John Bakos. As a retired physical education teacher at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, he also served as the boy’s goalball team coach.

Before becoming Head Coach in 2009, Legé served as Assistant Coach during the 2006 IBSA World Goalball Championships, where the team won bronze, and the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, where the team finished 4^th. As Head Coach, Legé led the team to a bronze medal at the 2014 IBSA World Goalball Championships and a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

“Under Coach Legé’s tenure, the men’s goalball program was able to return to the Paralympic medal stand,” said John Potts, Goalball High Performance Director at U.S. Association of Blind Athletes which serves as the sport’s national governing body. “We will see the impact of his leadership for many years to come.”

With the development of the Goalball Center of Excellence resident program in Fort Wayne, Coach Legé recognized the need to align overall team leadership with the daily operations and training. Resident Coach, Matthew Boyle, will replace Legé as Head Coach. Boyle has been Assistant Coach for the U.S. Men’s Goalball Team since 2012 and the resident coach in Fort Wayne since 2015. Boyle, with Legé, led the team to the Paralympic podium last September.

“Coach Legé and Coach Boyle were an outstanding team during the last few years,” said Potts. “Coach Boyle’s knowledge of the sport and his unique ability to innovate have contributed immensely to where the program stands today. There is absolutely no one more qualified than Coach Boyle to take the head coach reins and I’m confident the men’s team will continue their success.”

Although he will no longer serve as Head Coach, Legé plans to remain active in the sport and pursue the passion through serving as a USABA goalball referee and eventually, an IBSA goalball official.

In retirement, when he’s not officiating goalball tournaments, Legé is looking forward to spending more time on his small farm and spending time with his wife and their family in Tennessee.

“It’s been an honor working with U.S. Association of Blind Athletes and the men’s goalball program,” said Legé. “The program is in very good hands under Coach Boyle’s and John Potts’ leadership. I’m confident that this team will continue to represent Team USA with success in future tournaments and the next Paralympic Games.”

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