 Upon Concordia's shift to NCAA DII in 2015, Birkey was the 10th all-time winningest men's soccer coach in NAIA history (27 years in NAIA, with .671 winning percentage).Birkey spent much of his youth in northern California, and moved to Washington before entering high school.He was a state championship basketball player there and multi-sport athlete, but discovered and fell in love with soccer in 1974 when saw an acquaintance juggling a soccer ball with his feet.