about glen tourville
For more than 35 years, Glen Tourville built much of his life around coaching, teaching, leadership, and soccer.
He began playing soccer later than many of his peers, but the game eventually took him places he could never have imagined when he first stepped onto the field as a teenager.
He played collegiate soccer at Eastern Illinois University, including teams that finished third nationally in 1978 and second in 1979. His career eventually moved from playing to coaching, teaching, and leadership.
MORE THAN A CAREER
Coaching gave Glen an opportunity to work with hundreds of young people and taught him as much as he ever hoped to teach them.
Some seasons brought success. Others brought failure. There were opportunities that arrived and others that disappeared. There were decisions he remains proud of and mistakes he would handle differently today.
Through all of it, his understanding of leadership continued to evolve.
Respect wasn't something that came automatically with a title. It was earned through actions and through the way people were treated.
And success eventually became about much more than the final score.
STARTING AGAIN
Then, at 64 years old, Glen found himself beginning again.
After spending much of his adult life in athletics, he entered an entirely different profession working in facilities maintenance for the United States Marine Corps, specifically supporting Marine Corps Reserve Centers.
There was no coaching title. No team. No scoreboard.
It was an unexpected chapter—and one that forced him to confront questions about identity, purpose, success, and what happens when the life you had known changes.
Eventually, Glen moved into a management role, once again finding himself responsible for people, problems, decisions, and leadership—just in a very different setting.
That experience reinforced something he had learned repeatedly throughout his life:
An ending isn't always a failure.
Sometimes it's simply the beginning of whatever comes next.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Glen earned a B.A. in Corporate & Professional Communication from Aurora University and an M.S. in Recreation Administration from George Williams College at Aurora University.
His soccer education includes the U.S. Soccer Federation National A License, United Soccer Coaches Premier Diploma, U.S. Soccer Federation National Goalkeeping License, and United Soccer Coaches Advanced National Diploma.
His career included collegiate coaching, teaching, athletic administration, youth soccer, Olympic Development Program involvement, and work with youth national-team programs.
Those experiences provided credentials.
The people provided the education.
LIFE BEYOND THE FIELD
For all the years Glen spent pursuing goals and measuring results, his understanding of success ultimately became much simpler.
Family mattered more.
Relationships mattered more.
How people were treated mattered more.
Glen and his wife, Paula, married in 1989 and raised their family together through the many moves, career changes, victories, disappointments, and ordinary moments that make up a life.
Those experiences—and the many players, coaches, colleagues, friends, and family members who became part of his journey—form the foundation of FAILURE IS INEVITABLE — What You Do Next Matters Most.
Glen doesn't claim to have all the answers.
He has simply lived long enough to have gotten some things right, gotten plenty of things wrong, and learned something from both.
And he believes those stories are worth sharing.
