Charlie Trout had designs on playing professional soccer in his native England.  But after playing at UIC in the program's most decorated era, he has established a career in the professional coaching ranks in his adopted hometown of Chicago.

Trout trained in the Nottingham Forest and Leed's United youth systems.  He played in the Lincoln Town Academy, and then for Kingsford Trinity, where one of his coaches introduced him to UIC's coach at the time, John Trask.  Trask recruited Trout to UIC, where he was an integral part of the Flames' Elite Eight and Sweet 16 runs in 2007 and 2008.

"Charlie was a very special player for us on some very good teams," said Sean Phillips, who was on Trask's staff when Trout started at UIC, and then became head coach for Trout's final season.  "It was obvious from the moment he started coaching with us that he had a special talent for instilling not only a love for the game, but the most important pieces of providing fundamentals to youth players."

After his playing career ended, Trout served as a student assistant on Phillips' staff in 2010.  He went on to coach the Chicago United Futbol Club and the MLS Academy with the Chicago Fire.  Recently, he and Associate Head Coach Aleksey Korol co-founded Fundamental Futbol, which provides supplemental training to club players.

"Charlie's players love the game for life, and he's already produced some coaches," Phillips continued.  "Players in Chicago have a very special resource and if someone has the opportunity to be coached by him, they should take advantage."

Trout recently appeared on the Down the Tunnel podcast.  His episode can be heard in full at this link.  His discussion of his time at UIC begins approximately at the 23:20 mark.