There is a version of Briana McDaniel’s story that never happens. The one where a competitive youth soccer player grows up, moves on, and never looks back at the club that helped shape her. However, that version is not the one that unfolded.
Instead, the former youth player at Blount United Rush SC in Maryville, Tennessee, decided to come back. Not just as a volunteer or a part-time helper, but as the club’s Director of Soccer Operations, pouring the same energy and commitment she once gave on the field into every corner of the organization off the pitch. It is a full-circle journey that has now earned her recognition at the highest levels of the sport she loves.
McDaniel was recently named by Tennessee State Soccer Association (TSSA) as its Soccer Village Administrator of the Year at the 2026 TSSA Annual General Meeting, honored among a class of coaches, volunteers, referees, and administrators whose collective dedication fuels youth soccer across the state. But the recognition did not stop there. Following her state honor, McDaniel was submitted as Tennessee’s nominee for the national award, and US Youth Soccer selected Briana McDaniel its National Administrator of the Year.
“It is honestly surreal,” McDaniel said. “Coming up as a competitive youth player, you never realize how many people are behind the scenes making sure you can step on the field. I am blessed to work in the sport I love, and I have my dream job. I am just extremely grateful for the opportunity, recognition, and the people around me.”
A Club That Spans Generations
To understand why this recognition resonates so deeply with McDaniel, you have to understand what Blount United Rush SC means to her. She was a player there. She learned the game there. And when she eventually returned as a staff member, she found that the culture she remembered was still very much alive, passed down through coaches and leaders across decades.
“Our club is such a special place because it has core values and leadership that spans generations,” McDaniel said. “From my coaches in the early 2000s to our current DOC, T.J. McCallum, our board, coaching staff, and even our national partner, Rush Soccer, everyone embodies and teaches the same core values: leadership, tenacity, and respect, to name a few.”
Those values, she explained, are not just words on a wall. They are the standard by which Blount United measures everything it does, from how coaches interact with players to how the club designs its programming and approaches player development.
“We hold ourselves to a high standard and expect our leaders and coaches to live by our core values,” McDaniel said. “Doing so ensures that everything we build and all our player development maintain the same standards, vision, and core values.”
That foundation, rooted in something authentic and multigenerational, is what McDaniel has been working to honor and expand since taking on her role as Director of Soccer Operations.
Service as a Way of Life
Before McDaniel returned to Blount United in a leadership capacity, she took a different kind of detour. One that speaks to who she is at her core. She joined the United States Air Force.
“I joined the Air Force because I felt called to serve,” she said. “But also because I missed the culture and values I gained while playing at Blount United.”
The connection between military service and her club experience is not incidental. Both are built on discipline, shared purpose, and a commitment to something larger than oneself, all of which are values that McDaniel has carried with her throughout her life.
Today, as she looks to complete her Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership this spring and take on a new role as a Technical Sergeant in the Air National Guard, McDaniel is in many ways still that same person who felt called to serve. Only now, her field of service is youth soccer in East Tennessee.
Building Something Special
Now in her third year as Director of Soccer Operations, McDaniel is quick to deflect personal credit and redirect it toward the team around her.
“I could go on for a while about this one,” she said when asked about the initiatives she’s most proud of over the past year. “But to summarize it all, I am most proud of the team of dedicated servant-leaders we have at Blount United Rush SC. Together, we make the operational, developmental, and community-focused aspects of our club succeed.”
And that team has been busy. Since late spring of 2024, Blount United Rush SC has developed intentional programming across virtually every corner of the game. That list includes a summer 5v5 league, a recreational adult league, goalkeeper training, skills nights, recreational winter futsal, TOPSoccer, tournaments, camps, community days, a college advisory program, girls nights, and numerous regional, national, and international player pathway opportunities through Rush Soccer.
“Without knowledgeable, hardworking, loyal, and simply amazing people on our board, leadership team, and coaching staff, we would not have the capacity to elicit the incredible organizational growth and development that has taken place at our club,” McDaniel said.
Eyes on the Horizon
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to the United States, McDaniel sees a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the sport to reach new families, new communities, and new players who might otherwise never have considered picking up a soccer ball.
“I am excited to witness the impact of the World Cup being in the United States and help create an intentional, professional, and fun place for new players to experience the game,” she said.
Looking further ahead, McDaniel is not just thinking about Blount United, but about Tennessee soccer as a whole. And about the message her story sends to the next generation.
“I still consider myself a young director, beginning my third year, so I hope to continue learning from experienced directors in my field,” she said. “I plan to continue working with our team to make Blount United Rush SC the best club it can be. I hope to collaborate with fellow Tennessee clubs and TSSA to continue building a soccer ecosystem that puts players first. Nationally, I would love to work with Rush Soccer and USYS to show young female athletes that they can be leaders, too.”
That last line may be the most important one. In a sport where behind-the-scenes leadership often goes unnoticed, McDaniel is proof that the people running clubs, building programs, and investing in communities are every bit as vital as what happens on the field. And now, with both state and national recognition to her name, she is also proof of something else: that you can come home, give back, and help create something truly incredible.
Briana McDaniel serves as Director of Soccer Operations at Blount United Rush SC in Maryville, Tennessee. Blount United Rush SC is a member club of the Tennessee State Soccer Association.
