![Four of the seven Metro boys soccer coaches sunk down roots in the city in the mid '90s at Mount Mercy. The four (from left to right): J.P. Graham (Washington), John O'Connor (Jefferson), Amir Hadzic (Xavier) and Corey Brinkmeyer (Linn-Mar). Hadzic was Mount Mercy's coach and the other three played for the Mustangs. (Photo by Ken Gilchrist)](/images/resized/images/photos/metro soccer coaches_thumb200__200_112.jpg)
All in the soccer family
They came to Cedar Rapids from different parts of the globe, all with the same intent. Little did they realize how much impact they would have on the local soccer scene in a few short years.
They met at Mount Mercy. John O'Connor and Corey Brinkmeyer were the first on the scene. J.P. Graham and Amir Hadzic soon followed.
Now they are four of the seven men coaching Metro prep soccer teams -- O'Connor at Jefferson, Brinkmeyer at Linn-Mar, Graham at Washington and Hadzic at Xavier.
O’Connor, a native of Ontario, Canada, and Brinkmeyer, from Illinois, were the first to arrive in 1993 as freshman for the Mount Mercy soccer team and quickly became good friends.
Two years later, Graham, also an Illinois native, transferred to Mount Mercy as a high scoring forward from a junior college in St. Louis.
“Corey was the only person that I knew when I came to Cedar Rapids,” Graham said. “I met him in a camp in Illinois so I barely even knew him then, but he was the only person that I knew at all.”
But the Mustangs took him in. Brinkmeyer and Graham were majoring in education together and O’Connor, who was pre-med at the time, had science classes with Graham.
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