It’ll be a while before Bill Pfeifer convenes his first practice of the season for the Moon Area High School girls soccer team.
But a man of Pfeifer’s stature can make the headlines even in the off-season.
That was the case last month when Pfeifer – the winningest girls high school soccer coach in the state’s history — was inducted into the Robert “Tick” Cloherty Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Moon Area girls soccer coach Bill Pfeifer is now a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame “Tick Cloherty” Western Chapter.
The state organization is divided into four regions, and the Western Chapter is one of six affiliates in the Western Region. More than 700 people have been inducted into the Western Chapter, including 10 who were enshrined during last month’s festivities.
Also inducted last month was Dick Cetrone, the former standout Sto-Rox basketball coach who also last month was feted by the Athletes of Action nonprofit scholarship booster organization.
Pfeifer, in his second go-round as Moon’s coach, said he was humbled and surprised to receive the Hall of Fame recognition.
“I was excited when I heard I was getting nominated,” he said recently. “Knowing some of the people in there, just to be nominated and to be mentioned in the same breath as them is an honor.
“It’s pretty special.”
He was named national coach of the year in 2022 when his unbeaten team went 24-0-0 and was ranked No. 2 nationally. His 2017 team, which finished 26-0-0, wound up ranked No. 4. On two different occasions his teams have put together win streaks of more than 50 games. He’s coached a team to at least one WPIAL title in each of the last four decades and he’s also had a team play in at least one PIAA state title game in each of the past three decades.
Pfeifer attributed much of his success to the people from whom he learned the game, mentioning three in particular in Gene Klein, John Kowalski and Jim Perry. All three are enshrined in the same Hall of Fame in which Pfeifer now has a spot.
Klein, a fixture at Quaker Valley High School for many years, won more than 500 games as a boys high school soccer coach and also coached the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Kowalski was the first Riverhounds coach and a longtime coach at Robert Morris University. Perry made his mark as the boys coach at Fox Chapel High School and was inducted to the western chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
Pfeifer said he spent plenty of time with all three men when he was just learning the game. “I was the youngest guy in the room,” he said. “I listened. I watched. I learned. Those guys had time for me.”
Pfeifer said he met all three through a connection he made with the late Bill Piper, who ran what is now Sewickley Sports Arena. “He took a chance on me and introduced me to a lot of these people who were at the time mentors but became my friends.”
Pfeifer grew up in Springdale, came up through the club soccer ranks for Harmarville and then played at high school and St. Vincent College. He got involved in local coaching in the mid-1990s, starting at Center High School. He remained there for three years before leaving for Seneca Valley, where he stayed for two years before moving to Moon.
Pfeifer coached at Moon from 2001-2017. From there, he went to Hopewell, where he spent two seasons, then coached at Central Valley for one season before going back to Moon for the 2021 season. Some health issues that befell him and a family member played a role in some of those moves.
Now, though, all is well with the 59-year-old Pfeifer, who shows no signs of slowing down.
“I’m closer to the end than I am the beginning, but I still enjoy it,” he said. “I still like going to practice. I’m the first one there and the last one to leave. That’s the way I was brought up.
“When I get to the point where I don’t like going to practice or showing up on a Saturday morning for a 9 a.m. training session or show up for the Thursday night session, then it’ll be time to go.”
Pfeifer, a longtime special education teacher at South Fayette, said he enjoys the training and teaching aspects of coach. “I like seeing the kids grow and learn – sometimes more than going to the games,” he said.
Pfeifer said the game – and those who play it – have changed since he first got involved in coaching.
“The kids are a little more skilled – and maybe not as physical,” he said. “We still have some kids who are aggressive, but when we grew up, if someone (made you mad), you just kicked them. It was more aggressive.”
Pfeifer said the game is more possession-based these days “where before it was very direct. I’ve had to change. I’ve had to adapt as needed. I still believe in culture, in the program, but you have to be willing to change when needed.
“Not just change for the same of change. But I’ve had good assistant coaches and I’m open for suggestions. You can’t try to jam a square peg into a round hole. You can’t do it.”
Equally important as being open to change is being authentic, Pfeifer said.
“You have to be yourself,” he said. “If you’re not, kids can see through a phony. They can see if you’re fake or if you care about them. Kids aren’t dumb.”
Alan Alcalde, Moon Area’s athletic director, said the Hall of Fame nod certainly is well-deserved.
“He’s had a tremendous impact on girls soccer locally, regionally and at the state level,” Alcalde said of Pfeifer. “He’s been a fixture at Moon for many years but his impact goes beyond that. He’s built incredibly competitive teams and seen a number of players earn honors at the WPIAL and PIAA levels.
“He holds a high standard of training and playing for his players, which has shown to be a catalyst for the success they’ve achieved. To do this over so many years is not an easy feat.”
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