Boys soccer: Midview JV coach Kyle Milner excited for chance to be main man

Kyle Milner won't need much time to get to know his new team. In fact, he's already been coaching most of them. Milner, who was approved last week by the board of education as Midview's boys soccer coach, has been the program's junior varsity coach the last two seasons. "It truly means a lot that the Midview board and administration believe in me to take over the program," Milner said. Milner replaces Dalton Joyce, who left the Middies to coach Buckeye, his alma mater. "I am thrilled that Coach Kyle has agreed to take over the reins of the Midview boys soccer program," Midview athletic director Dan May said in a statement. "He has a great educational-based athletics mindset and good rapport with the boys, making him the perfect person to build upon our recent success." Milner was an All-Lorain County goalkeeper at North Ridgeville prior to graduating in 2017. He then spent four years at Bowling Green State University, where he was a student-manager and then a student assistant coach with the men's soccer program. He returned home to Lorain County after graduation to take a sixth-grade coaching position at Midview East Intermediate School. "I find the Midview and North Ridgeville programs to be very similar," Milner said. "They both come from hard-working communities and you see that in their athletics. Both communities have people who come together to make things happen. "The past six years I've been able to learn a lot both from the Bowling Green staff and now from my colleagues in the area. It's been a fantastic six years to prepare myself for the next step." Milner also coaches club soccer for Team Challenger North FC. He was named Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022 by the Greater Cleveland Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association. "My vision moving forward is to take this culture back to its roots and develop a culture of players who work for what they have," Milner said. "I want that to run down all the way through the youth programs." The Middies finished 8-7-4 last year, falling to St. Ignatius in the district semifinals. Milner's junior varsity team went 3-7-5 but held seven of their last 11 opponents to one goal or less. Milner said he feels ready to leave his mark on the Middies program as a head coach, a position he's been working toward since his playing days with the Rangers. "I'm extremely excited," he said. "This is something I dreamt about as a kid and have been striving for for a long time. To be able to do it where I was hired as a teacher really means a lot," he said. "I would say it was the educators in my life that made me interested in coaching. Educators made me the person I am today and I see coaching as a medium that I can help guide this next generation to reach their goals in life." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.