Former coach, GM Gene Klein to be inducted into Hounds Hall of Fame

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC will hold a ceremony to induct former coach, general manager and television broadcaster Gene Klein into the Riverhounds Hall of Fame at halftime of their Sept. 10 game against Louisville City FC at Highmark Stadium.

Klein will become the sixth member of the team’s Hall of Fame.

Many of Klein’s former players will be in attendance. He will be introduced by Justin Evans, the Hounds Hall of Famer who played under Klein and was his successor as head coach, and Paul Child, the former Pittsburgh Spirit star and Klein’s longtime colleague as a coach and broadcaster.

Klein served as an assistant on coach John Kowalski’s original staff upon the team’s inception in 1999.

He then served as the team’s head coach from 2006-09 season. Klein’s tenure as head coach was a transformative one for the club, which did not field a team in the 2007 season while the front office reorganized.

He also held the role of general manager during that period. Under his leadership, the team found a more stable home at Chartiers Valley High School and established the Riverhounds Academy, forging a relationship with England’s Everton FC.

From 2014-19, he and longtime coaching colleague Paul Child reunited in the broadcast booth, providing analysis on telecasts.

In addition to his work with the Riverhounds, Klein is one of the most accomplished scholastic coaches in Pennsylvania history.

Klein won a record six PIAA championships and more than 500 games coaching the boys soccer team at Quaker Valley, where he taught social studies for 33 years. He is a two-time inductee to the WPIAL Hall of Fame, both as an individual and as coach of the undefeated 1996 Quakers. He also served stints as Director of Coaching for the PA West state association and as President of the PA Soccer Coaches Association.