Lexington Sporting Club is moving up a division in 2025. Now, we know who will be the coach.
Ahead of a historic 2025 season, Lexington Sporting Club has named a new head coach for its men’s team.
On Wednesday afternoon, LSC announced that Terry Boss would be the next coach of the club’s men’s team that will soon begin play in a higher division.
Boss joins LSC after most recently spending two seasons as an assistant coach with MLS team Austin FC. Additionally, Boss’ coaching resume includes time spent as the head men’s soccer coach at Oregon State.
A former professional goalkeeper who played in MLS and represented Puerto Rico internationally, Boss was an assistant coach at several men’s college soccer programs and spent time as an assistant goalkeeper coach with the United States Men’s National Team.
Boss retired from playing professionally at age 30 due to repeated concussions.
“The more I’m in this game, the more you really understand what you value and what you need to be successful. It’s always going to be about the people,” Boss told the Herald-Leader on Thursday morning. “When I met with the sporting director, when I met with the ownership group, and I see their commitment to winning and wanting to go about it in the right way. There’s an alignment.”
“There’s different ways to win,” Boss added. “Obviously, my job is to make sure that we do win. But we want to win in a certain way and when you see that vertical integration with the ownership group and how they want to go about it, it’s really clear that this was the project for me.”
While he was the head coach at Oregon State, Boss compiled a 49-23-15 (W-L-D) record over five seasons with the Beavers. Oregon State made it to the NCAA Tournament four times during Boss’ five-season run as head coach, and the Beavers were the No. 1 overall seed in the 2021 event.
“My ambitions are to coach at the highest level possible,” Boss said. “I think the best way to do that is to be a head coach. I enjoyed being a college coach. I enjoyed being an assistant with the national team. And I enjoyed being an assistant with Austin last year. But, I think, eventually, you want to continue to learn and evolve and grow as a coach. But you ultimately want to take ideas that you do learn and implement them yourself.”
“You had five years there to test ideas and grow,” Boss said, reflecting on his time with the Beavers. “I think my biggest takeaway is you have to be true to who you are.”
Lexington Sporting Club CEO Kim Shelton told the Herald-Leader that Boss will bring energy to his role as head coach.
“A proven winner,” Shelton said of Boss. “Somebody who has led and can lead a group… He brings an energy… Just the passion for what we’re doing and understanding what we’re trying to do and how to get us there.”
“This is an ambitious club,” Shelton added. “To have a match in ambition — to the ambition of what we’re doing here — bring the energy, lead the group. And every coach has it, but a desire to win.”
Boss said his ideal style of play involves players who want to possess the ball, while also working to win the ball back when out of possession.
“There is going to be a relentlessness to how we play, and how we want to compete,” Boss said. “We want to control the game with the ball and we want to eliminate control of the opposition when they have the ball.”
Boss arrives at Lexington Sporting Club during a period of great change, and realization, for the franchise.
Lexington Sporting Club spent the first two years of its existence playing in USL League One, the third-highest level of men’s professional soccer in the U.S. Starting next year, LSC will play in the USL Championship, the second-highest level of men’s pro soccer in this country and the top level offered under the USL structure. Louisville City also plays in the USL Championship.
The USL doesn’t use promotion and relegation to determine the teams in each of its leagues.
Lexington missed the playoffs in USL League One in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In USL League One action, LSC has posted a combined record of 12-25-17 over the last two seasons, with more than double the amount of losses as wins. Lexington has also lost both of the games its played in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the most prestigious knockout cup competition in American soccer.
Boss becomes the fourth-ever head coach for LSC’s men’s team. During the 2023 season, LSC was primarily managed by Sam Stockley, who currently serves as the men’s sporting director for LSC. Nacho Novo — a well-known former professional player from Spain — was LSC’s interim manager toward the end of the 2023 season.
Last season, Lexington Sporting Club’s men’s team was overseen by Darren Powell. In late October, LSC announced that Powell would be moving to a “technical leadership role” within the club.
“I think sometimes you can look back in your life and almost feel like your experiences have led you to a moment,” Boss said. “This moment, in order to build something with people that you trust, that you believe in, that are competitive, are ambitious like yourself, that’s what you’re looking for. To be able to bring it all together and have them embrace my idea of football, and it’s in line with their idea of football, you’re going ‘It’s a perfect match.’”
In addition to these on-field changes, Lexington Sporting Club’s 2024 has also been defined by another major event.
In September, the soccer-specific Lexington SC Stadium opened as the home location for LSC’s men’s team and new women’s team, which plays in the USL Super League.
The venue — which is located along Athens Boonesboro Road near Interstate 75 — can seat 7,500 fans.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 11:31 AM.
