04/11 — Mike Nugent was on the field when Red Bull New York hosted a celebrity game last Saturday, but he didn’t take part in the action. The Jets kicker left his cleats at home and put on his coaching hat, leading his team of stars to a close victory.

“We won, 3-2. We were tied, 1-1, at halftime,” Nuge said. “We played with tiny little goals, but we had a goalie. They didn’t have a goalie. Anytime one of their guys was back there, he just used his hands.”

Nugent, who makes a living with his right foot, didn’t even fire the soccer ball around in warmups. He says he will only play football on the Meadowlands FieldTurf.

“Sometimes you think that there are little things that you’d like to do and then you realize how much you love playing football,” he said. “I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.”

Nugent quietly retired from soccer many years ago. The Centerville, Ohio, native played mostly fullback until high school and then became a full-time American footballer.

“My last season was after seventh grade. Club soccer in Ohio is done by age and not grade and I was a little bit older than my class, so my team broke up because my teammates went to high school,” he said. “At that point, I was still at the junior high. In eighth grade I played football and just kind of kept in going from there.”

Nugent eventually kicked himself into the record book at The Ohio State University, but his younger bro didn’t follow in his footsteps. Kevin Nugent played striker for the Buckeyes’ soccer club. And as luck would have it, the Red Bull New York celebrity contest preceded their season opener against the Columbus Crew.

“I actually talked to some of the guys from the Crew and Kevin previously played for the Crew for maybe about a month as just like a practice squad guy,” Nuge said.

After Nugent’s coaching duties were complete, he was brought out to midfield for the coin toss. He may have given the Red Bull a little luck because they scored two goals in the opening eight minutes and cruised to a 2-0 victory.

“We stayed for the game,” he said. “We watched a little bit of it down on the field and then moved up to our seats, and it ended up being a really good game.”

The Red Bulls also donated a portion of each game ticket sold to the Worldwide Children's Foundation of New York and the Books for Kids Foundation. Nugent was more than happy to contribute to the cause even if his leg was at rest.

“The crowd was yelling at me when we were signing soccer balls, so I did punt one into the crowd,” he said. “But that was it as far as any activity.”