Quintero family grows stronger as Nicolet girls soccer coaches

Nicolet girls soccer a family affair for Tony Quintero

The last two decades, the Quintero name has been synonymous with the Nicolet girls soccer program.

GLENDALE, Wis. - On the pitch is where Tony Quintero makes his mark.

He's been the head coach for the Nicolet girls soccer team the last 24 years and that's what he does best.

"Just the ability to see them grow, love the game and make friendships, be competitive," said Quintero. "I really like being a very, very small part of the journey that they're making."

At the start of his career little did Quintero know how much his Nicolet family would go hand in hand with his own family.

It all began to mesh 15 years ago.

"I thought it would be natural to give these girls the gift of someone of a bigger perspective and that was my dad," said Quintero.

Tony brought on his dad, Hernan, who came with a wealth of knowledge.

After all, he was a soccer player in Colombia before coming to Milwaukee in 1966 during its golden era of soccer.

"At that time, everything related to soccer in this country was ethnic," said Hernan. "It was very, very hard to find an American that would play soccer."

"The beauty of it is the fact that you have these cultures mixing in a fun and competitive environment," said Tony. "The Brazilians are uber-creative, the Germans are very disciplined. It's something that we use the stories from that golden era, saying here this is how they'd play and it's given them a little more breadth of experience than just the club that they play for."

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Hernan now coaches the junior varsity girls team.

"It was the best decision I ever made related to soccer," Hernan said.

And he still loves it more than ever.

"Once I started coaching high school soccer, I started to enjoy it more and more because it's good to work with young people, especially in my case where I played this game for more than 20 years of my life," said Hernan.

It also helps that the younger Quinteros, Marco and Matteo, Tony's two sons, are in the Nicolet program too.

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And yes, they both coach as well.

"It's pretty great," said Marco. "I'm not going to lie. I get to learn from my grandpa growing up as well as my dad and then to coach alongside with my brother too it's a lot of fun."

"The last couple of years, me and my brother have really helped out a lot so I mean it's cool just to be a part of something special like that," said Matteo.

Now, three generations of Quinteros coach these Knights.

"When I first started and accepted this job, that was never part of the plan so I never saw it coming, but I'm thankful," said Tony. "To see my sons follow my footsteps, to follow my dad's footsteps and for us to have a shared passion and shared love of the game, it helps connect us."

The last two decades, the Quintero name has been synonymous with the Nicolet girls soccer program.

"It's a family experience that youn we're going to help you become the best version of yourself," said Tony.

And now it has a chance to last even longer.

The three generations of Quinteros will be back on the pitch to coach the Nicolet girls next spring.

The Knights finished 8-7 and third in the North Shore Conference this past season, behind only Homestead and state champion Whitefish Bay.

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