Rue is guiding force behind Charleroi soccer
Charleroi High School girls soocer coach Jim Rue gives a high-five to the Cougars’ Shayla Watkins during the WPIAL Class A semifinal match Monday against Shady Side Academy. Rue has a 214-85-23 career record as a high school coach and has never had a losing season. Charleroi plays Greensburg Central Catholic for the WPIAL championship Saturday (10 a.m.) at Highmark Stadium.
The memories and accomplishments in soccer stretch back more than 35 years for Jim Rue.
Rue, 69, has coached Charleroi’s girls soccer program for the past six years and has the Cougars in the WPIAL Class A championship match. But Rue’s coaching career and love of the sport began on the youth soccer fields in Donora.
His passion for both was sparked by family.
Soccer was once a foreign concept to Rue. It was not one of the many sports he played growing up and his basic knowledge came from watching his daughter, Julianne, play youth soccer in Carroll Township.
He remembers those days fondly, but it was the request of her coach that changed his life forever. The coach was Jim’s wife, Karen, who brought an unbridled enthusiasm to the team of 11-year-olds, but as the girls became older, she wanted her husband’s analytical approach to take over.
“My wife said to me, ‘Look, I don’t know what I’m doing. I need some help and you need to help me,'” Rue recalled with a laugh. “I said, OK, I’ll step in and give it a try.”
Rue, who was a public school speech pathologist in the Intermediate Units at Charleroi and Ringgold, broke soccer down to its most simple principals and he used basketball to learn its intricacies. He saw formations as similar to zone and man-to-man concepts and sought every piece of literature he could find.
History shed light on how the sport was meant to be played. When Julianne played in the PA West Olympic Development Program, Rue attended her practices in Fox Chapel. He’d observe and finally, the coach approached him about helping.
“I fell in love with the game,” Rue said. “I found something that was totally new to me. Trying to help my daughter, we’d practice moves in the back yard, I’d buy videos or books. I’d watch and try to digest as much as I could.”
As Rue learned of the sport and his role grew as a coach, he could not walk away. Alan Wise, a fellow parent and coach, approached him with the idea of starting a girls soccer program at Ringgold High School in 1984. Once the district approved the program, Rue joined as an assistant for two years and became the Rams’ head coach in 1986.
In the program’s infancy, there weren’t a handful of girls with experience playing soccer at a high level, but it soon became one of the best programs in the area. Even after Julianne graduated from Ringgold following a 1988 season in which she had a team-high 18 goals, Rue continued to coach. He won two section titles in 11 seasons and led the Rams to the PIAA semifinals in 1994.
“Obviously, I cultivated a better father-daughter relationship coaching her. We spent a lot of time together, we traveled together along the East Coast, so our vacations were what she did for soccer,” Rue said. “My wife and my daughter and I traveled and learned as much as we could about the game. As my knowledge grew, that gave me more incentive to be involved.”
At the end of most seasons, Jim would tell Karen that he would stop coaching after his freshman class graduated. He couldn’t walk away. It wasn’t until after the 1996 season that he stepped away from Ringgold but only because of work commitments. He did continue to coach development teams, and in 1999 he was hired as an assistant for Washington & Jefferson College’s men’s soccer program.
Rue was named the head women’s soccer coach at Waynesburg University in 2004 and served in that role through 2009. He was hired to take over Charleroi’s girls program in 2010 and the Cougars have thrrived under his direction. The past six seasons have included back-to-back section titles and six playoff appearances. Rue’s career record as a high school coach is 214-85-23 and he has never had a losing season.
“Jim works at it. He’s relentless. He’s always with the kids and he does everything a successful coach does,” Charleroi athletic director Bill Wiltz said. “He maintains that balance of respect and comradery. He has the whole thing.”
Last March, Karen passed away two months after being diagnosed with cancer. She was only 66. Jim reflects on the days traveling with her and Julianne and learning the game of soccer together.
During almost every road trip, every win and every loss, Karen was there.
“It was devastating,” Rue said. “It was a life-changing experience. I wouldn’t have been able to do or attain what I have over the past 30 years if it wasn’t for the support of my wife and daughter.”
Soccer and family, including his players, have helped Rue through the loss.
“Coach Rue is the greatest,” Charleroi senior midfielder Kyra Watkins said, who the Cougars’ scored the game-winning goal on a penalty in the WPIAL semifinals Monday night against Shady Side Academy.
“I don’t know what I would have done in my four years without him. He’s opened so many doors for me in soccer and has helped me with my future.”
Rue will lead Charleroi against top-seeded Greensburg Central Catholic Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in the WPIAL championship game. And like every Charleroi match, his daughter and grandson will be in the stands.
“Every level that I’ve coached, I have been blessed with more positives than negatives when it comes to players, parents, friendships that are created and experiences you share with people,” Rue said. “You can’t explain it. It’s one big family and it’s been a fun trip.”