Consett's Max Aken-Tyers is now an Assistant Men's Soccer Coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU), an NCAA Division I programme just outside New York City.
Max got in touch with Consett Magazine to share how a journey that started at home in Consett led to coaching college soccer in America.
"I'm still extremely proud of being from Consett and the North East," he says. "It's quite surreal looking back at where the journey started and now finding myself coaching Division I soccer just outside New York City."
From player to coach
Max first moved to America as a player before building his coaching career through high school and prep school soccer. From there he worked his way into the college game. Last year he coached at Williams College, one of America's leading liberal arts colleges, where the men's soccer team reached the No. 1 national ranking and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
That experience helped him make the jump to NCAA Division I with Fairleigh Dickinson, where he is heavily involved in recruiting, opposition scouting and the day-to-day development of the programme.
A flying start
When Max wrote to us in early September, FDU had started the 2026 season unbeaten, had just beaten Big East side Villanova 1-0 away from home, and were sitting in the top three of the national RPI rankings alongside some of the biggest programmes in the country, including Clemson and Ohio State.
"That's particularly significant for a university like FDU," Max says. "We don't have anything close to the resources of those major athletic programmes, so to be competing alongside them nationally has been a brilliant start to the season."
For Max, it is the latest step in a journey that began back home. "I thought it might be a story that people back home would enjoy."
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