Long Beach State women’s soccer coach hit a special milestone last week, with a 1-0 win over Cal Baptist. It was his 216th victory as the coach of the Beach, which may not seem particularly significant. But combined with Ingrassia’s 184 victories at LBCC, it was his 400th win as a college soccer coach in Long Beach, a special milestone that is unlikely to ever be rivaled.
It also demonstrates his commitment to not just succeeding, but doing it in Long Beach.
“It’s my hometown, so it has special meaning for me,” he said. “I always wanted to put Long Beach on the map, and that’s the way it was at Long Beach City, and that’s the way it’s been at Long Beach State. We’re known across the country now, and I’ve been able to be a small part of that. Obviously I’ve had some excellent staffs and some great players, but getting to do it at home, all my coaching within a five-mile radius of my house is super special. There’s a lot of meaning to it.”
Ingrassia is a foundational coach at both colleges. He coached the Vikings from 1995 through 2003, taking over as head coach shortly after completing his own collegiate playing career. Ingrassia’s Vikings won two national championships and five state titles, giving him more state titles than any other JC coach in California history. The team went 95-3-1 in his final four seasons, including a 55-game unbeaten streak to close his career out.
To give a sense of how dramatic an accomplishment that was, the Vikings had never been to the playoffs prior to his second season coaching them.
After taking over at Long Beach State, Ingrassia quickly began re-writing the record books there as well, signing the nation’s 15th-best recruiting class as his first group of freshmen. Within a few years they were in the NCAA Tournament for the first time and breaking school records by winning Big West conference championships.
The team has since made an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight run, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, and won either the Big West regular season or tournament crown nine times.
With Ingrassia in his 23rd year coaching the Beach, it’s easy to forget where the program was when he took it over–the team’s modern incarnation had never had a winning record when he was hired, and he now has the deepest NCAA Tournament run and most NCAA appearances of any coach in Big West history.
Asked to pick a few of his favorite wins, Ingrassia laughed.
“There’s a lot that are special, that Sweet 16 win in the rain at UCLA was probably on paper the most special,” he said. “But I like to say I live my life 45 minutes at a time–get to halftime then figure out the second half. Every game for me is meaningful, and there’s so many special wins here and at Long Beach City college. Our 2001 state championship there we were down 2-0 and won, some big wins here at Irvine for Big West titles. Beating Michigan at home, beating USC and UCLA back-to-back years.”
Ingrassia’s program at Long Beach State has had some big-name players like Ashley Gonzales, Nadia Link, Shawna Gordon, Lena Solano, Hayley Bolt, and Lindsey Bullock–players that won conference, regional, and national acclaim. But he said that when he looks back on his career it’s not just the athletes who went on to play professionally who stick out.
“One of my favorite moments, we started a program Hall of Honor and have inducted our first couple of classes,” he said. “There are players who get the big stats and honors, but one of my favorites was inducting Celeste Dominguez to the Hall of Honor. She didn’t get any big accolades, but she bleeds Black and Gold, she was the glue to our program in so many ways and helped us persevere and win championships.”
Ingrassia’s tenure at Long Beach State overlaps with some other foundational coaches, like the national championship winning volleyball coaches Brian Gimmillaro and Alan Knipe. Ingrassia came up at LBSU in a time when the coaches were tight-knit, and the athletic department had a family feel.
“I learned so much from Brian and Alan, and really they were motivation more than anything,” he said. “I was told if we had success around our program good things would happen, and trying to keep up with those legendary coaches was one of the most motivating things for me.”
Ingrassia has raised his children around his program and his family has been a fixture at home games at George Allen Field his entire tenure. He said maintaining that family feel has been as meaningful to him as the wins.
“Our alums come to the games, you hear Imani (McDonald) behind the goal, Shawna’s kid is playing with my kids back there,” he said. “The alumni involvement is off the charts and it’s a selling point for us–you can come be a part of something bigger than you. Seeing people come back and donate and support means a ton.”
College sports have changed dramatically in the last few years, and even more over the last two decades. Ingrassia said he doesn’t count himself among the more experienced coaches who get frustrated with the shifting landscape of transfers and NIL.
“The generations change and you’ve got to do the work to keep up,” he said. “We’ve done that–at the end of the day this is a great place to be, it’s a formative place with a priceless experience. The world is changing–there may be a few dollars here and there to make, but to be in Long Beach from 18 to 22 playing soccer in front of a crowd that cares about you at George Allen Field, I don’t think you can put a price on that. It’s a life decision. And we’ve also had two kids drafted in the last four years, so you can achieve all your goals here too.”
Ingrassia might have more years as a college coach behind him than ahead of him, but he’s not planning on stopping any time soon either.
“I’m not really thinking about any of that,” he said. “I’m just worried about the next game.”
