If leaving is hard to do, than saying goodbye to a team can be even harder – especially with two teams.

Geoff VanDeusen, head men’s and women’s soccer coach resigned March 31 to take the job as head women’s soccer coach and events coordinator at Central Missouri State University.

VanDeusen said it will be hard to leave Missouri Southern and move on.

“It’s been an emotional few days,” VanDeusen said. “The relationships I’ve had with the players here and the people that work here have been fantastic. You know it’s going to be hard to leave and hard to match.”

VanDeusen holds a record of 27-40-5 while coaching women’s soccer at Southern. He holds a 28-36-1 record at Southern with the men. In the last two academic years the men’s and women’s soccer teams were awarded with National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Awards.

VanDeusen said the players at Southern are “great kids that stay out of trouble.” He said the teams always have grade-point averages higher than 3.0. He said the teams at Southern are “busting at the seams ready to go next year.”

VanDeusen said it will be difficult to play against his old team next season, but he has to do it.

“It’s going to be tough for me, but we’ll coach it professionally,” he said.

He was named MIAA Co-Coach of the Year for women’s soccer in 2000 as Southern improved from a 1-4 league record in his first two seasons to an 8-4 record and third place in the conference.

VanDeusen left Southern for CMSU for an executive position and the experience that could lead him to possibly becoming an athletic director.

“It was an opportunity for me to coach one team, and it was an opportunity for me to get some administrative duties,” he said.

“It was an opportunity for me to further my career. I want to be an administrator some day and an athletic director, that would give me some experience with that.”

Sallie Beard, athletic director, said Southern hopes it won’t take long to hire a replacement for VanDeusen.

“Geoff was a very good coach, and I enjoyed having Geoff as a staff member,” Beard said. “He was definitely a team player and he definitely cared for Missouri Southern.”

She said she believes Southern was a place for VanDeusen to showcase his skills.

“He’ll be missed,” Beard said.

“But I hope with the new hire that we make, that we will move on and our student athletes will be just as well-coached and have as much fun and pleasure with their sport as they did with Coach VanDeusen.”

She said Southern “wishes him the best.”