Head Coach Mike Taylor Makes IHSA History with 600th Career Win
Providence Catholic High School Head Boys and Girls Soccer Coach Mike Taylor has made Illinois high school soccer history, earning his 600th career victory and becoming the sole member of the IHSA’s 600-win club in boys soccer.
Taylor reached the milestone this week with a career record of 600-292-120, adding another remarkable achievement to a coaching career that has spanned decades and impacted generations of student-athletes.
He has 806 total coaching wins across both boys and girls soccer, which puts him in the top five in total combined wins throughout the state.
For Taylor, however, the number represents far more than wins on a soccer field.
“It’s something I love to do, and it keeps me young,” Taylor said. “I have had and do have great players who make it easy to achieve milestones like this. I found one of my passions in life and am enjoying every minute of it.”
Taylor joined Providence Catholic in January 2023, bringing with him one of the most accomplished coaching résumés in Illinois high school soccer. A graduate of MacMurray College, Taylor began his head coaching career at Glenbard South before continuing at Fenton and Saint Viator and eventually bringing his experience to Providence Catholic.
Since taking over the Celtics’ boys and girls soccer programs, Taylor has continued that tradition of success. In just three seasons, Providence Catholic soccer teams have combined for five conference championships or co-championships, five IHSA Regional Championships, two IHSA Sectional Championships and an IHSA Elite Eight Super-Sectional appearance.
During the 2023-24 school year, the girls captured the GCAC White Division Championship, an IHSA Regional Championship and an IHSA Sectional Championship before advancing to the Elite Eight and an IHSA Super-Sectional appearance. That fall, the boys finished as CCL White Division Co-Champions and captured an IHSA Regional Championship.
The success continued in 2024-25, when the boys again earned a share of the CCL White Division title and won an IHSA Regional Championship before advancing to the Sectional. The girls won the GCAC White Division Championship for the second consecutive year and added both Regional and Sectional titles. In 2025-26, the girls made it three straight GCAC White Division Championships and captured another IHSA Regional title.
Those accomplishments add to a career that already includes two state championships and 13 state trophies, along with recognition in the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame, East Suburban Catholic Conference Hall of Fame and Saint Viator High School Hall of Fame. Most recently, he was named CCL White Division Coach of the Year for 2024-2025.
His impact, however, has never been measured solely by trophies or victories.
Throughout his career, Taylor has emphasized using soccer as an opportunity to develop young people and give back to the community. He has organized efforts benefiting women’s and children’s shelters, facilitated equipment donations to Chicago Public Schools soccer programs, collected uniforms and shoes for students to distribute during mission trips to Africa, and led student-athletes on international trips that allowed them to experience different cultures while playing the sport they love.
That philosophy has remained at the heart of Taylor’s coaching throughout his career.
When Taylor arrived at Providence Catholic, he described soccer as “an avenue to teach kids, to uplift people,” a belief that continues to guide him as he leads the Celtics.
Reaching 600 victories places Taylor in a category all his own in Illinois boys high school soccer. Yet even after 600 wins, countless seasons and decades on the sidelines, Taylor’s enthusiasm for the game – and for the student-athletes he coaches – remains unchanged.
For Taylor, the milestone is both a celebration of an extraordinary career and a reflection of all the players who helped make it possible.
