After signing on to GCU Club Sports’ newest team this past February, Brian Tice heads into his second full year at the helm of the GCU Women’s Flag Football team. While it’s his first stab at coaching on the college level, he’s about to celebrate a quarter-century of coaching experience, which began at the tender age of 19. Tice began the new millennium and his coaching career with the North Valley and West Valley Pop Warner Football Associations, where he spent seven years coaching everything from Pee-Wee tackle football on up as a head coach and offensive coordinator. He then got a chance to move to the high school level, coaching at his alma mater, Alhambra High School in west Phoenix, as a wide receivers’ coach.
During his one-year stint coaching the Lions, his youngest daughter, Amiaya, told him she wanted to play football. She was in 1st grade at the time, so he decided to take on his first coaching job in women’s flag football as part of Christ’s Church of the Valley’s young and growing STARS program. Both father and daughter excelled as Tice led her team to winning seasons in each of the next six year, and when Amiaya was ready for the next level, so was Brian as they joined the club team Playmakers Lady Ghost – she as a player, and Brian as an offensive coordinator. Tice has helped lead the program to a regional title and even a national championship over the last three years. Now Tice hopes to bring the same culture and winning attitude to the Lopes’ burgeoning program.
Away from the field, Tice has also spent over 20 years working for the City of Phoenix as a water services technician and specialist. Tice also continues to be a devoted father to both 14-year-old Amiaya and her older sister, 17-year-old Amerie.
