Leaney Field Project
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Leaney Field Project
An endowment was established by Becca Van Dyck ‘91 and Erik Thomsen ‘91 to honor former Macalester soccer coach John Leaney. Their gift ensures that his legacy lives on at Macalester and his name will forever be a part of Macalester athletics.
From August 2-16 the college conducted a mini-campaign to raise awareness of this project and to get closer to the final $2 million goal. The project has a total of over 250 donors who have given a total of $673,000. We are 33% of the way to our final goal. Thank you to those who have already given to support Leaney Field.
Continue the Mac Athletics Legacy
The college hopes to raise $2 million to fully fund this endowment, which will allow Macalester to have a state-of-the-art playing surface for our athletes and the community. The endowment will be used to replace the turf field roughly every ten years.
Coach Leaney’s Success
Coach Leaney came to Macalester as head men’s soccer coach in 1986 and two years later also took control of the women’s program, which went on to win the NCAA Division III national championship in 1998 and finished second the following year. He retired from coaching as one of the most accomplished winners in Division III history.
- 489 combined victories
- Seventeen MIAC championships
- Twenty-two national playoff berths
- Thirteen time MIAC Coach of the Year
- Coached nineteen All-Americans and fourteen MIAC Players of the Year
Honoring Coach Leaney
The field will be dedicated and renamed the John Leaney Field in fall of 2023 as part of the 25th anniversary celebrating the 1998 National Championship for women’s soccer.
Questions?
For more information about this project please contact Tony Jennison, associate director of philanthropic giving, Athletics, at 651-696-6269 or [email protected].