In June, football coach and trailblazer Michael Patterson will be calling plays from the sidelines of Canada’s Commonwealth Stadium as a coach for Team USA for the 2024 U20 World Junior Football Championship.
Patterson has been coaching football for the past 20 years. He coached Brophy for 10 years and for the past three seasons, he has been coaching Xavier College Prep’s flag football team. Beyond high school football, Patterson co-runs a non-profit football association he founded for women and youth in Mexico.
For the upcoming championship in Canada, he will serve as the team’s defensive back (DB) coach.
“Representing your country is the ultimate prize or reward in any sport,” Patterson said.
Of course, none of this could have been done without his team, which consists of the Xavier and Brophy communities, his players, and his family who supported and encouraged him to apply for the coaching position.
One of his players on Xavier flag football, Gigi Bulkley ‘26 described him as humble about attaining this achievement.
As a coach, Patterson always strives for the best and pushes it out of his players. “He strives for excellence and the best at all costs. No matter how hard the situation is, no matter how many points we’re down in a game, he’ll always push us and we’ve come back (in games) because of it,” Bulkley said.
Bulkley believes that Patterson will bring a similar mentality to the World Championship sidelines.
In this year’s championship, Team USA will have the opportunity to play for a gold medal in the World Junior Football Championship as the team keeps pushing to the 2028 Olympics.
He spoke about the importance of this game and confidently called this year’s games and the Olympics to come, “Our Olympics,” while also sharing his excitement that flag football will be featured in the 2028 Olympic games.
He thanks both Brophy and Xavier for supporting him throughout his coaching career. “My connection with the community and both schools really helped [in achieving this goal],” as well as his family who he says has always encouraged him.
“I’m really proud of him and happy that my coach is one of the coaches for the National Team and I can’t wait to see what he brings to the table,” shared Bulkley.
Michael Patterson ♦ Apr 26, 2024 at 7:05 am
Great Article! Thank you! – – Coach P