Amherst College Athletics

Derek Shea joined the Amherst's men's soccer staff in 2015 after a varied club and high school coaching career in the Pioneer Valley.

Shea has played an integral role in helping Amherst win two national titles, capturing the NCAA Division III Championship in 2015 and 2024, and three NESCAC Championships. On the heels of the Mammoths’ latest national championship win, Shea and the Amherst coaching staff were co-winners of the United Soccer Coaches Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year award.

In Shea’s first nine seasons at Amherst, the team appeared in five national championship games and set a new school record with 19 wins during the 2019 season.

A former volunteer assistant at the University of Massachusetts, Shea has served as a coach with the Western United club team, while also working with boys and girls' high school programs in Amherst. Helping to run numerous local clinics, including the UMass camps, he holds a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National Diploma.

A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Shea earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from North Adams State College (currently MCLA) in 1992. While at North Adams, Shea earned All-New England recognition on three occasions, twice being named to the first team. A two-year captain, he helped North Adams earn a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and is a member of the school's Hall of Fame. After playing professionally for the Albany Alleycats of the USL, he earned a master's in education from UMass before working for several area schools. Currently the principal at Crocker Farm Elementary School, Shea resides in Amherst with his wife Natalie. His two children, Aidan and Maddie, were both accomplished collegiate distance runners. Aidan competed for the University of New Hampshire and is now a graduate assistant coach at Bryant University, while Maddie ran at Springfield College.