|
2005 NCAA Division I Men's All-Americans
2005 NCAA Division I Women's All-Americans
Chappel takes over as Columbia coach, promising return to success.
Tabatznik resigns as coach at Georgetown after 22 years.
Porter becomes sixth Akron coach after Lolla moves to Louisville.
Hennessy hopes to end Delaware losing streak as new coach.
Columbia makes Ficken retire after 27 years as coach.
Rammel resigns at Saint Mary's to join MLS Galaxy.
|
NCAA men Wiese becomes head coach at Georgetown, ending long ties with Clark.
SoccerTimes WASHINGTON, D.C. (Monday, March 6, 2006) -- Absence might make the heart grow fonder, but for Brian Wiese it presents a new challenge. For 15 years, Wiese's collegiate career, both as a player and a coach, has been closely tied to Bobby Clark. Wiese now sets out on a course of his own, having been named men's coach at Georgetown. Wiese, 32, replaces the popular Keith Tabatznik, a two-time Big East "Coach of the Year" who stepped down after compiling a 220-187-23 (.538) record in 22 years. "It's very exciting to take over at an institution of Georgetown's caliber, with its pedigree in soccer and academics," Wiese said. "And to take over from an icon like Keith, it's also humbling at the same time." Wiese first met Clark when the current Notre Dame coach led the Strikers '73, a team of 12-year-olds in Albuquerque in 1986. When Wiese was ready to attend college, Clark recruited the goalkeeper to Dartmouth where Wiese went on to be voted the Big Green's "Most Valuable Player" in 1993 and co-captain in 1994. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in May 1995. Clark, who left Dartmouth after Wiese's junior year to coach New Zealand's national team, returned to the U.S. in 1996 to coach Stanford, where he hired Wiese as a graduate assistant. While earning a Master's degree in product design, a mechanical engineering discipline, and being promoted to full assistant in 1999, Wiese spent five years at Stanford. When Clark moved to Notre Dame in 2001, Wiese went with him as an assistant and he was given the title of associate head coach last season. Clark has "been every bit a father figure to me as my actual father," Wiese said. "You don't spend that much time with someone without (him) making a massive imprint on your life. . . I haven't spent any time away from Bobby. He's had a huge influence on me. . . because he's got that personality everyone gravitates to."
"I think the bottom line is Brian is a bright young coach who got great reviews from a lot of people around the country," said Bernard M. Muir, who became Georgetown director of athletics July 1. "Brian is someone to grow the program. We're going to add scholarships to be competitive in the Big East." According to Tabatznik, he had no scholarships his first 10 years on The Hilltop, with the number growing to the equivalent of two full scholarships by the end of his tenure. Wiese is expecting to soon have the NCAA Division I men's maximum of 9.9 scholarships. "Bernard Muir is fully committed to fully funding the program in the next couple of years," Wiese said. "With that kind of help, the program can really be successful. I have to give Keith and his staff a ton of credit for what they accomplished. They brought in a ton of talent with what they had to work with. "I think I'm inheriting a ton of talent. My job is to take that talent and get them working toward a common goal." Wiese will need to hire assistant coaches. Stanford which had a 18-33-5 (.366) record in the three seasons before Clark and Wiese arrived, improved to 71-21-12 (.740) in their five years in Palo Alto, Calif. The 1998 team advanced to the NCAA championship game before falling 3-1 to Indiana. The 2000 edition led Division I with a 0.44 goals-average and by posting shutouts in 72.7 percent of its games, while also scoring 68 goals. The Cardinal attained its first No. 1 national ranking that year before losing in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
Notre Dame posted a 65-27-13 (.681) record over the last five years. With Wiese focusing on working with the goalkeepers and defense unit, Notre Dame allowed an average of less than a goal a game in each of those five seasons in South Bend, including a 0.67 goals-against average and 13 clean sheets in 2003 when the Irish won their first Big East championship and advanced the NCAA tournament's Round of 16 for the first time. "You can see I created the monster and kept it going," said Clark, who enters his sixth year at the Notre Dame helm needing to replace both assistant coaches with Mike Avery moving to Louisville to work under former Akron coach Ken Lolla. "Everything we've done have not been my ideas. It's been a pool of ideas," Clark said. "(Wiese will) do a great job. He was a big part of putting Stanford on the map the five years we were there. When I came here (to Notre Dame), he's been part of good teams. He's a smart guy and a great coach, a great people person. The big question is what do I do? I've lost my right hand." While Wiese is now on his own, he will take with him the Clark legacy of producing stingy defensive teams. Wiese bristles at the perception their team's were one dimensional. "One of the knocks against us was we were a defensive team," said the holder of a United States Soccer Federation "A" coaching license and a Premier Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. "My answer to that was we were organized. I think there's a difference. Our teams knew what to do on both sides of the ball." Wiese said the biggest thing he learned from Clark was to maintain a clear overview of all components of his school's program, including attention to players' personal lives, the schedule, scouting, academics, alumni, travel plans and other extraneous matters, in addition to strategy and conditioning. "Bobby always brings to the table his love of the game," Wiese said. "He envisions all the aspects, all the facets of the program. How he does that, that's what I hope to take away from my time with Bobby, to take that model and apply it on my own." Both Georgetown and Notre Dame play in the Big East, always a tough league which became that much more competitive with the addition of five programs in 2005. In the fall, Georgetown travels to Notre Dame, which Wiese believes now might be the best of the teams he and Clark had coached. "It will be tough to be across the halfway stripe from Bobby," Wiese said. "Once the game starts, we'll be doing our best to beat those guys. It will be tough." In addition to meeting his new team, Wiese must move his family cross-country. He and his wife Becky, who he met when she was on the Dartmouth track team, have three children -- Morgan, 4, Teddy 3, and Maya, who was born June 5.
O'Connor, who was named NCAA Division III "National Coach of the Year" in 1996, led University of Chicago to a a 113-74-17 (.596) record in 11 seasons. In 2005, he guided the Maroons to a 14-5-1 record, a No. 18 national ranking and UC's second appearance in the Division III tournament semifinals. O'Connor, who had the most coaching victories in UC history, replaced Ed Bradley, who retired after compiling a 192-137-22 (.578) mark in 17 seasons at Rhode Island. O'Connor, who was also an associate professor in physical education at Chicago, was an assistant to Clark at Dartmouth for five seasons (1990-94). During his time, the Big Green went 40-19-7 (.659), taking Ivy League titles in 1990 and 1992 and advancing to the NCAA Division I quarterfinals both years. His wife Sheila served as the Chicago women's swimming coach. The winningest coach in URI history, Bradley oversaw a Rams program that made six NCAA tournament appearances and captured five Atlantic 10 tournament championships and five regular-season titles. Bradley led Rhode Island College to a 27-9-14 (.680) record in three seasons from 1980-82, giving him an overall coaching mark of a 219-146-36 (.591). Freakley takes over at VMI
LEXINGTON, Va. -- Ben Freakley, 26, was recently named coach of the Virginia Military men. Freakley spent the last two years leading Division II Erskine College in Due West, S.C., compiling an 11-21-2 (.353) record with the Flying Fleet, 9-7-1 in 2005. Freakley played soccer at Georgia Southern, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in public relations in 2000 and receiving a Master's degree in sports management from the school three years later. Freakley served as an assistant coach at two Division I schools -- Georgia Southern in 2001-02 and Charleston Southern in 2003. VMI was 8-10-1 last season under Stephen Ross, who ended 17 years as coach to accept an administrative position in the school's Athletic Academic Advising Office. The Keydets were 92-196-16 (.329) under Ross. He had the most coaching victories in VMI history, but the Keydets managed only two winning seasons and never had an above-.500 mark in the Big South Conference.
Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor. E-mail Gary Davidson. Do you have a comment on this story or something to say about soccer in general? Send us a letter. |
