After 13 years as the boys varsity soccer head coach, Jeff Katz announced that he will not be returning next season to coach in Brookline as he was offered a permanent assistant coaching position with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology girls soccer team.

This year, Katz said he juggled between being a part-time assistant coach at MIT and the head coach for Brookline. He had hoped to continue balancing the two positions next year, but in his end-of-season evaluation at MIT, he soon faced a difficult decision.

“The head coach basically said to me, ‘You need to make a decision,’” Katz said. “‘If you want to be a college coach, you’re going to need to do this full time.’”

Katz said he was torn by the dilemma and dreaded leaving his Brookline team behind. When he broke the news to the athletes, he was met with mixed emotions.

“They responded the way you would expect them to respond,” Katz said. “They were disappointed; part of it is my relationship with them and part of it is that they didn’t see it coming. They are comfortable with the way things are right now, and that’s really hard.”

Katz said that his aspirations to become a college head coach were a part of his decision to transition into full time at MIT. Although he said he is devastated to be leaving the high school’s team, he also said he is excited to join a nationally ranked program that has made the NCAA Tournament for the last four years.

“My dream scenario is that BHS soccer is in the spring, and MIT soccer is in the fall,” Katz said. “The hardest part about leaving is the players. You are torn between wanting to take the next step in your career and not disappointing people. Unfortunately, you can’t have both.”

Former assistant coach Jeremy Ward, who has coached with Katz for 14 years, said he had been anticipating Katz’s transition to college coaching for years.

“I’ve been asking him for years when he’ll make the move,” Ward said. “I know he’ll do really well at that level, and it’s just a matter of time before he’s got a head coaching job in college. As for now, MIT has an amazing assistant coach on their hands.”

Junior Elijah Elmore, who was selected as one of next year’s captains along with juniors Max Rae Chu and Edmund Geschickter, said that Katz certainly left his mark on the program.

“The culture of success is something people look forward to when they join the team and something they expect from the team, and that has a lot to do with coach Katz,” Elmore said. “It’s become an expectation.”

Katz said that despite the fact the team lost several key players to private schools and graduation last year, the team continued to be successful and made it to the regional semifinals.

“There may have been some self-doubt, or some doubt from the outside about what this group could do, but they maximized the season in terms of the experience,” Katz said. “They had the confidence, going into the State Tournament, that they could beat anyone.”

Katz and Elmore said that with former assistant coaches Ward and Kyle Williams, as well as current assistant coach Chad Pelton, an unparalleled culture of success and tradition was created. The perennial preseason Cape Cod trip, a memorable Kicks for Cancer event and a spring three-on-three tournament with Brookline’s youth are just part of the legacy that Katz leaves behind.

Ward said that whoever replaces Katz has huge shoes to fill because Katz influenced every aspect of the program.

“He’s done a lot to build up not only the level of soccer played at BHS, but connections between the BHS soccer program and Brookline youth soccer as well,” Ward said.

According to Elmore, the team is uncertain who will be the head coach next year. Currently, there is a committee that will begin taking applications for the position.

Katz said he is looking forward to the new opportunities and responsibilities that come with being a college coach, but will forever be grateful for the years he spent coaching in Brookline.

“It takes a village, as they say, to raise a soccer program,” Katz said. “I’ve been really, really lucky to work with such great coaches, and there’s nothing like the Brookline players. I really believe that we are different than these other teams in the league, in terms of the types of kids that we have here in Brookline. It kills me because I get to hang out with these kids for six days a week for three and a half months, and I am going to miss that.”

Noa Dalzell can be contacted at [email protected]