Andreas Lindberg Is Doing It All, And Loving It

In the late afternoon on April 17 in Washington D.C., Andreas Lindberg was celebrating the biggest win of his nearly two decades as a soccer coach, after his Seton Hall Pirates men’s team defeated No. 2 ranked defending NCAA Division I champion Georgetown, 2-1, in the Big East Championship. It marked the first time the Pirates had won the Big East title since 1991.

Less than 24 hours and 300 miles later, he was standing on a grass field in Westhampton Beach, overseeing a bunch of 3- and 4-year-olds taking their first crack at the game as part of the Southampton Soccer Club’s “Little Feet” Sunday clinics.

What Lindberg has done in just his third season as head coach at Seton Hall has been impressive, to say the least. He’s taken a Pirates team with a proud history that was largely languishing in more recent years — including a winless season as recently as 2015 — and turned them into a nationally-ranked powerhouse. After winning the Big East crown, the Pirates, ranked sixth in the country, earned a bye into the second round of the NCAA tournament, then defeated Air Force, 2-1, advancing to the round of 16. On May 6, they stayed alive with their most thrilling performance of the year, a 7-6 win in a penalty kick shootout over Virginia Tech, who they played to a 2-2 draw after a come-from-behind effort. Seton Hall’s dream season came to an end on May 10, after a hard-fought 2-0 loss to Indiana University.

Lindberg and his coaching staff were named Coaching Staff of the Year for the Big East, and earned that distinction for the entire east region as well. They are also in the running for National Coaching Staff of the Year.

Most coaches do not make an Elite Eight appearance in just their third season at the Division I level. And it’s hard to imagine any coach of such a high-profile program achieving that degree of success while also managing a 100-mile commute to continue serving as executive director of one of the fastest growing youth soccer organizations on Long Island. But that’s exactly what Lindberg — who lives with his wife and two young children in the quiet hamlet of East Quogue — has done over the last few years. Against the odds, he’s seen nothing but success in both ventures, proving himself to be a master multi-tasker.

When Lindberg resigned his position as head coach of Division II powerhouse LIU-Post University to take the job at Seton Hall, he was making a big leap, both in terms of the level of competition and the commitment it would require. A head coaching position at a Division I school competing in one of the toughest conferences in the country amounted to a dream job for Lindberg, a native of Sweden who came to the states in 1998 to play soccer for Ed Goodhines at Southampton College. Embracing that dream would require plenty of sacrifices, Lindberg knew, but there were some he was not willing to make. Moving away from the East End with his wife, Lina Lindberg, and their young sons, Blake, 7, and Maxime, 3, was one, and then there was the other “baby” he was not willing to give up: the Southampton Soccer Club, known these days as Southampton Town United. Lindberg became involved with the grassroots, parents-founded youth soccer club in 2007, when it had just 50 players and a handful of teams. Under his guidance as executive director, the club has seen exponential growth over the years and now includes more than 800 players from ages 3 to 19, and no less than 29 teams playing in the Long Island Junior Soccer League and a select few in even more elite divisions and tournaments.

Coaching a Division I team in South Orange, New Jersey, while simultaneously overseeing a 500-player-plus soccer club based 100 miles east of there might seem like a recipe for burnout. For Lindberg, it’s the opposite.

“I have the best job in the world,” Lindberg said in an interview just days before his team’s epic win over Virginia Tech. “I love soccer. I go to clinics any time I can with the club, and I just get so much joy out of coaching. The winning is important at Seton Hall, but I love just being around the game.”

Lindberg’s unwavering love for soccer has been a theme for his entire life.

He started playing at the age of 7 for a local club in his Swedish hometown. Before long, he had aspirations of professional stardom, dreaming of playing for the Italian club AC Milan. He had plenty of skill, enough to advance to the higher levels of the Malmo FF, Sweden’s top professional team, but by the time he was 18, Lindberg realized he was “good, but not really good enough” to make it, and so he decided to cross the Atlantic to see if playing for an American college team could help advance his career. Lindberg said he initially didn’t plan on staying at Southampton College for more than a year, but he was unexpectedly enamored with Southampton and the East End, falling in love with the beach, and enjoying the close proximity to New York City. He was a standout player for the Colonials, and when Goodhines left to coach at a college upstate after Lindberg’s senior season, athletic director Mary Topping asked him if he would assume the coaching mantel, even though he was just 24 years old and still technically a student, pursuing his final year of coursework.

It was a risk hiring someone that young, who was still a student himself, Ms. Topping said, but it paid off. The team had a winning record during his short tenure, which lasted until 2004, when the school closed.

“I took a chance on Andreas, and he rose to the occasion,” Ms. Topping recalled in a recent interview, while bursting with pride over his current success at Seton Hall, calling herself one of his biggest cheerleaders. “I had some naysayers, people saying he was too young and wondering how he’d be able to break away from being one of the boys to being a leader, and I said, ‘He will.’”

Goodhines has been closely following his former player’s progress with the same level of enthusiasm as Topping. He agreed with her assessment of Lindberg’s magnetic personality, remembering how Lindberg would drum up support for the team at the school cafeteria, and how before long, the men’s soccer games were the most well-attended events on campus. He added that Lindberg’s charisma has always been matched by his soccer smarts as well.

“He was always in the right place at the right time, and remembered whatever was on the scouting report,” Goodhines said. “And he just has such a love for the game. He just has that ‘it’ factor.”

According to Ms. Topping and others who know Lindberg best, he has always had a unique ability to walk the fine line between being serious as a coach, while also maintaining a peer-like friendship with his players, not an easy feat. It’s a tricky balancing act, and many coaches don’t attempt it, but Lindberg has the kind of personality that would almost make it impossible for him not to. He’s earned the nickname “The Big Swede” not just for his stature, but for his fun-loving, life-of-the-party vibe, his habit of telling a bad “dad” joke before big games and practices, and an ever-present smile.

“He’s just got this magnetic enthusiasm that just pulls everybody along with him,” Ms. Topping said.

Lindberg poured that energy into the youth soccer club in earnest starting in 2007, after Southampton College closed and he was suddenly out of a coaching job, until taking over at LIU-Post in 2009. He started his own business, Colonial Sports Group, recruiting talent from across the country and overseas to form a professional soccer training company that makes up the coaching infrastructure for Southampton Town United. Lindberg’s business savvy and another one of the traits he regularly draws praise for — his ability to identify, recruit and hire top-level talent — have served him well in both his job at Seton Hall and as executive director of the club. Lindberg insists that a big part of his success comes from surrounding himself with the right people.

“I don’t think coaching soccer is any different than running a business or being the principal of a school,” he said. “It’s about people and managing and picking the right people.”

Creating the right kind of culture goes hand in hand with that mentality, Lindberg said, especially on a team that includes players from 12 different countries.

“I know it can be a buzzword, but creating a family culture is something we’ve been working on from day one,” he added. “We try to bring in players that have a desire to win and be competitive, but they’re also good people.”

That’s a process that can take awhile, Lindberg said, but it all came together for the Pirates this year, and it’s paying off the same way it has for the soccer club.

Seton Hall assistant coach Jeff Matteo said what Lindberg has accomplished at Seton Hall has been nothing short of remarkable, and his opinion carries considerable weight. Matteo was a standout player at rival Big East powerhouse St. John’s University, and played professionally in MLS and overseas in Europe for several years before returning to his alma mater to serve as an associate head coach from 2008 to 2017, and then joining Lindberg’s staff.

“What he’s done with this team has been incredible,” Matteo said. “And we’ve done it in a way where it’s not just work, work, work. It’s fun. They compete and they want to win for each other.

“I’ve been on teams that have been very successful, and I can say I’ve never been on a team where every single player is on the same page like this one,” Matteo added.

Strong team chemistry isn’t the only thing appealing about what Lindberg has created at Seton Hall. For standout striker C.J. Tibbling, the way Lindberg treats his players was a breath of fresh air. Tibbling came to Seton Hall after a suffering through a run of bad luck trying to launch his professional career. His talent was clear early on, earning him an offer from San Diego State University, which he ultimately turned down after a professional club in France made a spot for him. But before he could suit up for that team, it was relegated, leaving him with no other option but to return to his home country of Sweden and re-join his youth club team, even though talent-wise he was overqualified. That run of tough luck included injury, illness, and an unproductive relationship with one coach. The chance to play at Seton Hall came about “last minute,” according to Tibbling, but it’s been mutually beneficial, providing him with the break he was waiting for, while giving the Pirates a lethal scorer. Playing for Lindberg has brought out his best, Tibbling said.

“He really makes you feel like you can connect with him from the start.”

Sharing a common language has been an added bonus, Tibbling said, and he appreciates the way Lindberg keeps things light — even as he admits, with a laugh, that the pre-game jokes usually don’t merit more than a “sympathy laugh.” (Like the one about restaurants on the moon: they’re good, but not the best because they have no atmosphere).

“It’s good to have someone that’s like your friend but also your coach,” he said. “Football is all about confidence, and if you have a coach that believes in you, it makes a huge difference.”

Gary Easlick is the director of player development for Southampton Town United and one of Lindberg’s closest friends. Lindberg recruited Easlick out of his native Portsmouth, England, to play for Southampton College in 2004, which ultimately was the last season for the school, and they’ve remained close ever since. Easlick said he’s not surprised that Lindberg has stayed deeply involved with the club since taking over at Seton Hall, and the success he’s had in a short period of time hasn’t come as a shock either, praising the coaching staff Lindberg assembled that includes Matteo, a Big East veteran, and Ali Simmons, who has a knack for international recruiting.

“He’s not one to let go of where he first tasted success,” Easlick said, explaining how Lindberg parlayed his success coaching at the youth level into his second college coaching job at LIU-Post. “He has a loyal personality and he’s proud. The club is his baby.”

Lindberg’s dedication to that “baby,” as well as his own children, has left Easlick impressed as well.

“He’s a master at time management,” he said. “And he’s more than willing to sacrifice extra hours of sleep to make sure he can be in both places. He and Lena have created a soccer-loving culture in their family, and now both of their boys know Seton Hall as a second home. They’ve got 30-plus older brothers, and when they walk into that locker room, they’re welcomed with open arms.”

It’s the same kind of welcome Lindberg receives these days when he’s home. At the Sunday clinic on April 18, he was, not surprisingly, the most popular guy on the field, receiving high-fives and words of congratulations from parents and friends as he carried around his 3-year-old son Maxime, who was decked out in a Swedish national team jersey and shorts. His older son, Blake, was running circles nearby, kicking a soccer ball around, while Easlick’s oldest daughter, Penelope, chased after a ball under the direction of a Colonial Sports Group coach nearby.

Lindberg, sporting a wide grin and working on less than four hours of sleep, couldn’t have been happier.