A former Brookland-Cayce soccer star is taking the top coaching job for a Major League Soccer team. 

D.C. United announced Jan. 10 the club gave Troy Lesesne a three-year deal to become the next head coach. Lesesne, a West Columbia native, has 19 years of coaching experience and is now in charge of a team he grew up watching. 

“I grew up in South Carolina, and this was, outside of the Charleston Battery, which is a club that I played for, DC United was the highest level,” Lesesne said during his introductory press conference. “I think it’s very important to me to reconnect with the players that have come here before and had so much success and created so much tradition in this club.”

Lesesne attended Brookland-Cayce High School from 1997-2001 and was a four-year varsity soccer player. He ended his career as the team’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points. 

The Bearcats advanced to the 2001 state championship game in Lesesne’s senior season after he set single-season records in goals and assists. Brookland-Cayce eventually lost the title game 1-0 to Riverside. 

Lesesne returned to Brookland-Cayce in 2005 when his No. 4 jersey became the first to be retired in program history. In 2012, he became the first Bearcat soccer player to be enshrined into the Brookland-Cayce Athletic Hall of Fame.

After high school, Lesesne went on to play at the collegiate level for the College of Charleston from 2001-04 and jumped into coaching as an assistant for the Cougars in 2005. He coached at the College of Charleston for nine years before jumping to professional coaching. 

The USL’s Charleston Battery hired Lesesne as an assistant in 2014. The Charlotte Independence brought him on in their inaugural season in 2015 where he served as an assistant until 2018. 

Lesesne got his first promotion in 2018 when New Mexico United hired him as their first-ever head coach. In three years, the club went 34-29-25 with two playoff appearances in 2019 and 2020. The team won its first playoff game in 2020, the same year Lesesne was named USL Co-Coach of the Year.

In 2021, Lesesne declined a contract extension to become an assistant for the MLS’ New York Red Bulls. He served as the team’s interim head coach in 2023 and was let go in November, but his experience helped secure him the D.C. job.

“We were thoroughly impressed with Troy during the course of the interview process,” said Ally Mackay, the D.C. United General Manager and Chief Soccer Officer. “Troy has an impressive pedigree in American soccer and has worked at all levels of the soccer pyramid in this country. We believe his high-pressing tactical approach and player-first managerial style make him the best candidate to lead this club in a new and exciting direction.”

The D.C. job comes with its share of challenges. The Club has had four consecutive losing seasons and no MLS playoff success since 2015. But back in the late 90’s the team had a dynasty, winning three MLS cups in 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Lesesne is not discouraged by the club’s recent struggles. He said he is committed to building a culture to get the organization back to the success it achieved when he was still just a kid in West Columbia. 

“I think that an identity is what everyone wants, so I think there’s opportunity there,” Lesesne said. “We’re going to build off of those values, and those aren’t going to be words that you see at the beginning of the year, and then you never hear from them again. This is what’s going to shape us every single day and really drive a lot of our decision-making.”