Mike Avery

Mike Avery (born September 19, 1968) is an American athletic director, soccer coach, and former player who played as a midfielder or forward. He is the head coach and sporting director of USL League Two club Fort Wayne FC.

A native of San Jose, California, Avery played collegiately at Westmont College. The Warriors won four Golden State Athletic Conference titles during his time at the school and thrice qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament. After graduating, he spent four years at the senior level, split between Real Santa Barbara and Askims IK. Avery also had a spell as a player-coach with Indiana Invaders.

Avery went into coaching in 1994, spending three years as the men's head coach at Bethel and being named the first head coach in the history of the Pilots' women's program. He spent three years as the director of soccer at Cal State San Bernardino, coaching both the men's and women's teams at times during that spell. Avery was then an NCAA Division I assistant for the next seven years, spending six years at Notre Dame and one at Louisville. In 2007, Avery was named as the head coach at Valparaiso. He is the all-time winningest head coach in Crusader history, spending 13 years in the position before the program was discontinued by the university. After leaving Valpo, Avery moved to the senior level for the first time and was named as the inaugural head coach in Fort Wayne FC history.