Gerardo Alvarez is heading into his third season as a member of Rich Nassif’s coaching staff, having joined as an assistant prior to the 2012 season. He has had a huge impact on the program since his arrival, as he's primarily involved in team training and conditioning, match preparation, and game film analysis.
“I have known Gerardo since our freshman year at Northwestern, and I have never seen a person who reads the game on the level he is able to,” says Nassif. “His direct style of coaching is something the players absolutely respond to. We are very lucky to have a soccer mind like Gerardo on staff, as he always brings a different perspective and challenges both the players and coaching staff to look at the game from every angle.”
In his two years at Benedictine, Alvarez has helped guide the Eagles from middle of the conference finishes to a regular season NACC Championship in 2013. Alvarez oversees the development of Benedictine’s student-athletes, as the program has had a combined seven players named to the All-NACC Teams and three to the NACC All-Freshman Team during the 2012 & 2013 seasons.
A native of Argentina and a graduate of nearby Marmion Academy in Aurora, Alvarez joined the staff after spending two years as an assistant for conference foe, Aurora University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, where he and Nassif were teammates. There, Alvarez racked up 28 goals, 24 assists, and 80 points in his college career, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and All-Big Ten Second Team accolades twice. He also led the Big Ten in scoring as a sophomore, and accumulated four goals as a senior captain in Northwestern’s run to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. Alvarez then participated in the 2007 MLS Combine before beginning his professional career with the Cleveland City Stars of the United Soccer League.
A Communications major at Northwestern, Alvarez currently works for Chase Bank in the west suburbs. He and his wife Megan reside in Aurora and have one daughter, Luciana, who was born in July of 2014.
