Rome High School has named Edison Puccio as its next head boys soccer coach.
Puccio has been coaching soccer for nearly two decades, and like a lot of soccer coaches, he started playing the game quite early.
“My mom says the moment I learned to walk I started to kick. I would kick my brother or sister or just stuff around the house, so she immediately put me in soccer,” Puccio says.
From that point on, he played soccer from recreation to travel to high school to college. After his freshman season at Cal-State Fullerton, he and a friend decided to travel to see the country.
“My roommate and I traveled the country. Neither of us knew what we wanted to do,” he says. “We were coming from the north and were headed to Florida. We ran out of gas in Georgia. I worked a few odd jobs. The plan was to go back to school and play soccer again in California.”
That plan got derailed a bit. Not so much because of soccer but crazily enough because of baseball.
“Living in California, my brother is a big Dodgers fan. Ever since I lived in California I loved the Braves. They had Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz, Andruw Jones, and Chipper Jones. I can’t remember why I started collecting their baseball cards or liked them so much, but I did,” he says. “I have jerseys and cards signed by them. I guess subconsciously I wanted to stay here. That is probably the big reason why I stayed in Georgia.”
Once he realized Georgia would be his new home, Puccio played some adult club soccer and got degrees and certifications from state schools, including the University of North Georgia, Piedmont University, and the University of West Georgia.
He started teaching and landed at Lambert where he began as a junior varsity and varsity assistant coach before taking over the junior varsity program and becoming the assistant varsity coach.
During his eight years at Lambert, the junior varsity squad won a junior varsity region championship. The varsity squad won three Class 7A State Titles and has been a consistent threat to win state each year.
“Coaching at Lambert has been amazing. I’ve learned a lot. When I became full-time assistant head coach that was a big step up,” Puccio says. “I learned a lot more about what it takes to run a program, inspired young men, and did what it takes to motivate them to succeed on and off the field.”
Now Puccio steps into the shoes of head boys soccer coach at Rome High School, and he is excited to be a part of the program.
“I want to help create a program that attracts people based on the student-athletes that are playing. I want to build something. I know Rome has a rich history from the time the schools combined,” he says. “Personally, I want to build a program that the players can be proud of, and I want the young kids coming up looking forward to playing for Rome soccer.”
When talking about his coaching style, one of the first words Puccio mentions is relationships.
“I love a personal coaching style. I love to build relationships with players and students. I want to learn about their lives and what they do outside of school,” he says. “I don’t want to know just what they do on the pitch or in the classroom or practice. I think it’s important to build relationships with students and soccer players.”
Rome’s boys have been a perennial region and playoff contender for quite a while, and Puccio says he wants to build off that success, but he wants to build something else first.
"I know everyone wants region and state championships. One of my goals is to make them better young men and better student-athletes,” Puccio says. “I believe accomplishing those two things will help us in the future to get those region and state championships.”
As for the future, Puccio is almost bouncing up and down with anticipation of being able to begin preparing his charges for the 2024-25 season.
"I’m ready to meet the boys and the returning players, sit down and have a chat with them, and get ready to get started, “ he says.