In the fall of 2018, Aedan Stanley knew he was headed to Durham, North Carolina, to continue his soccer career and education at Duke University. He knew he wanted to study political science and he knew the classes he had to take his freshman year to set him on a path toward achieving that degree. What he didn’t know, though, was the unfamiliar feeling ahead.
“[Education] was always important,” Stanley said “To my parents, but mostly it was driven by me. They offered a good support system, but I always took to both soccer and academics and tried my hardest in studying.”
But at Duke, things were different.
To anyone watching, it would seem he had the soccer thing figured out. Stanley played in 20 games during his rookie campaign, logging 1,921 minutes to lead the team. The defense posted seven shutouts and Stanley was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team and was an All-ACC Academic Team and Academic Honor Roll selection.
Year two came and so did 17 more matches and his first collegiate point, a game-winning assist against Furman on August 30, 2019. He would go on to post three assists that season (the same number he currently has to lead the Boys in Blue after only nine games in 2024), help the defense to six shutouts and repeat as an academic team and honor roll selection.
During that first year, Stanley took a computer science course. It didn’t work out quite as planned. He had always been successful in his studies, and looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, he still was. He was at an institution known widely for its academics and he was completing his coursework daily. But it was different at that level.
“I think Duke is a place that humbled me in terms of growing up as a soccer player,” he said. “You know you’re always the soccer player, but once you got there it was pretty eye opening because that didn’t really matter. Because there was the next brain surgeon walking next to you or robotics engineer, and they’re excelling in their field and you realize, ‘wow, what I’m doing, it matters to me, but in the grand scheme of things it’s like they’re prestigious in their own right.’ So it was a humbling experience.”
So, after two seasons as a Blue Devil, Stanley turned his attention and efforts to the professional ranks. His family was supportive, the coaching staff at Duke was very accepting of the situation and his goals and aspirations.
In 2020, a year that became a year of uncertainty for everyone, the Columbia, Illinois, native joined USL Championship side Portland Timbers 2. The numbers were there. Stanley went the distance in 16 matches and recorded a pair of assists.
But Portland announced it would forego the 2021 season and it was on to the next challenge.
Stanley was selected as the 21st pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Austin FC and was signed by the expansion side on April 16, 2021. Nine games and two starts later, he was headed to the USL Championship’s Miami FC.
The 2022 season saw Miami reach the USL Championship Eastern Conference Quarterfinals with Stanley starting 29 of 31 games played. In 2023, he was one of the most consistent players in the league as one of only eight players to eclipse 3,000 minutes during the regular season and one of nine to start all 34 regular season matches.
During that time, a familiar interest returned. The desire to achieve the educational goal he set out for in 2018. Stanley was going to complete his degree, and that’s where the USL Players’ Association came in.
Dating back to 2021, the USL Championship and Bellevue University have had a partnership that allows each team in the USL Championship to facilitate a scholarship for a deserving member of each of the United Soccer League’s Championship and League One teams.
“Bellevue University has been an incredible partner in supporting our players, coaches and front office staff members looking to continue their education and earn their degree,” said Josh Keller, USL Championship’s SVP of Corporate Development & Partnerships. “Since the start of the partnership, we have supported over 90 scholarship recipients in achieving their education goals and career goals at the same time and look forward to continuing to grow that number.”
And for Miami FC in 2022, Aedan Stanley was the recipient.
“Once I figured out about it I kind of latched onto it and reached out to Miami,” Stanley said. “They helped me along the way and I’m grateful for it.”
Indy Eleven Head Coach Sean McAuley knows the path all too well. There was a time when football really played the biggest part in everything he did. From his upbringing, football was always going to be a part of his life. However, when he looks back, he sees how necessary it was to get re-educated and prepare for his “second job.”
On the USL Championship’s efforts, “It’s fantastic, it happens across the MLS and in the UK it happens for all players age 16-18, it’s mandatory for them,” McAuley said. “Then from 18 onwards they get the opportunity to go and do any degree courses they’re going to do. I think it’s really important because a player’s second career is also vitally important. Especially players at this level.”
McAuley sees the desire in Stanley and sees this opportunity in the simplest of terms. If you want it, take it.
“The player that deserves it is the player that wants to do it. Generally, adult learning is about self-motivation. When you get into adult learning it’s about the motivation to succeed and that’s an individual preference. So, the person that gets [the scholarship] will be the one that wants to do it.
Things were different when Devon Kerr was starring at Stetson from 2002-03. Now a lead analyst for the USL Championship and a recognized voice across all levels of U.S. soccer, if you wanted to play soccer and get your degree, you stayed in school to do so.
“I left school early to chase the dream,” Kerr said. “The resources available now are very different, but I’ve never finished school. Now, I’ve been fortunate that my dream just took a different path. I had different experiences in between that led me to broadcasting.”
Stanley has completed over half of his coursework and is well on his way to a degree in computer information systems. McAuley has all the confidence in his doing so.
“[Aedan] thinks of his future, and he obviously wants to either get re-educated or educated further and it’s something that he’s obviously interested in, and it will help him in the future. We recognize that and that’s why he’s on the course.”
To Stanley, academics are an “escape”, a second passion to consume his day outside of soccer.The first time around his academics were just part of the deal. A need to complete the process.
“Going to school now is a wanting,” Stanley said. “I wanted to go to duke, but now it’s more of an activity to do outside of soccer. It’s more like a hobby that I enjoy doing. I’ve matured and learned different aspects of things and I found what I’m learning is much more applicable to life.”
Looking back, Stanley repeats the old adage, hindsight is always 20/20. He enjoyed his time at Duke, but it was somewhere you’d have to split your ambitions 50/50. The consequences of not doing so, “you’d fall behind.”
“I don’t think people really understand what it’s like to be a student-athlete, number one,” Kerr added. “And then, number two, to be a professional athlete and have the ability to still go get my degree in whatever aspect of studies that may be.
“I applaud them because being a professional athlete is a full-time job,” he continued. “The mental side of it is more demanding in my opinion than the physical side because of what you have to put yourself through. The routine, your separation from so many different things in the world that everybody gets to experience. To be able to do that and then go to school, hats off. That takes a special person.”
Stanley enjoys the routine and the professionalism of the sport, but now he’s at a level where the buy in, is all in. And so is the chance to finish what he started. He goes back to credit the players’ union for the opportunity that made him reconsider his original journey.
“The biggest reason I would change [my path] is because Bellevue and the offering of school through the union, which wasn’t around when I was at St. Louis. I think because of what the union offers, and the ability to go to school, I would probably choose [a different] route. [The union] offers the opportunities and their work is what allows us to do that and open that door.”
The Boys in Blue head to Stanley’s old stomping ground for a USL Championship Eastern Conference match-up against Miami FC Sunday. A place that gave Stanley the opportunity to not only compete professionally in a game that he loves, but also a second chance at an education.
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Founded in 1966, Bellevue University is one of the country’s top 20 online universities and has more than 60,000 graduates worldwide. In addition to providing full scholarships annually to Championship and League One clubs, Bellevue University offers tuition assistance across the entire USL ecosystem to club and league employees, as well as season ticket members and family members of staff, coaches, and players.
The United Soccer League also works with Bellevue University on coursework and curriculum integrations, providing USL guest speakers in the classroom, and exploring mentoring, and league-based internship opportunities.
For additional information on Bellevue University and course offerings, please visit www.bellevue.edu.
