Aces Futbol Club

In May 2012, John Hedlund was named head coach of the AFC 97 Black Girls squad, a Lake Highlands Division II team. Having established himself as one of the most prominent coaches in the Central Region, bringing John on as a coach was not a difficult decision. John is also in his 18th year at North Texas, where he has molded the UNT soccer program into one of the nation’s elite.

Hedlund has had a winning season all 17 years he has been at North Texas; only Anson Dorrance (North Carolina, 30 years) and John Daly (William & Mary, 25 years) have active streaks of more winning seasons at one school. Since 1995, Coach Hedlund has led North Texas to a 234-94-21 record, the 8th-best winning percentage among all coaches nationally at just one school.??In 2011, Hedlund led the Mean Green to its sixth overall conference championship trophy and fourth regular season title. North Texas beat Denver 1-0 on the last day of the season to clinch the Sun Belt title. Hedlund was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year for the Mean Green's 8-1-1 conference season.

Under Hedlund’s leadership, North Texas has captured four Sun Belt Conference regular season championships and two Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles. Hedlund has been named Sun Belt Coach of the Year three times (2004, 2005, 2011) and has been recognized as the North Texas Coach of the Year by the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas All Sports Association.  He was also named the Coach of the Year by the Greater Denton Sports Commission two years in a row.

In 1995, Hedlund concluded a 12-year professional playing career, in which he played defender for the United States Men's Olympic qualifying team (1983-84), the New York Express (1984-85), the Dallas Sidekicks (1986-87 and 1992-95) and the Dallas Rockets (1988-91).??In four seasons with the Sidekicks, he scored 15 goals in 78 games over four seasons, and ranks 19th in team history in shots blocked and 33rd in games played. He was a member of the 1986-87 and 1993 Sidekicks championship teams, blocking a total of 20 shots during his playoff career, the 12th-most in Sidekicks history. He scored 5 goals in the 1994 CISL playoffs for the Sidekicks, and ranks 20th in club history in playoff goals.

In the outdoor game, Hedlund played with the Richardson Rockets, who won the 1991 SISL Championship and reached the 1991 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final. Hedlund helped the Rockets reach new heights in American soccer by reaching the fourth round of the 1992 CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Dallas Rockets were one of only three United States teams to reach the fourth round of the Champions Cup in the pre-Major League Soccer era (1969-1994), but fell in the fourth round to Club America in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. He played with the United States Olympic team under Manfred Schellscheidt in the lead up to the 1984 Summer Olympics, but missed the Olympic Tournament due to injury. With the United States, Hedlund played tournaments in South Korea, Sweden, Finland and Malaysia.

A four-year letter winner at Midwestern State University, Hedlund was twice voted to the NAIA All-America team in college. He scored 26 goals and added 12 assists, playing several different positions on the pitch. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the 1983 NAIA National Tournament, as he led the Mustangs to the championship game. He is a member of Midwestern State's Athletic Hall of Honor.

The Plano native holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Midwestern State and resides in Argyle with his wife, Julie, and sons Chad, who plays football for Wake Forest, and Cole, who set the national high school football record in field goals made for Argyle High School in 2011.