Search for soccer coaches nears final stages

After an unexpected resignation of both the men and women’s head soccer coaches, Josh Pittman and Erin Sharpe, Tom Spicer and other members of the athletic department have been accepting and reviewing applications to fill the coaching vacancies. Both assistant coaches of the men and women’s programs, Jonny Broadhead and Jason Clare, respectively, have been appointed as interim head coaches and have both applied for the head coaching position of their respective teams.

Abigail Simpson serves as the head coach for the women’s lacrosse team at CMU and is also part of the committee of finding and selecting candidates for the women’s head coaching vacancy.

“We evaluate the candidates on coaching experience, career path, fundraising, recruiting, and camps, and we first grade them on those categories and select about five coaches from that,” Simpson said. “We then set up phone interviews to get feedback on some basic areas such as coaching philosophy, what student athletes will expect from you and what not.”

The biggest surprise came from the resignation of Josh Pittman. Pittman led the Mavericks to a 12-5-4 record and went on to win the RMAC Tournament Championship for the first time in program history last November. Broadhead immediately took over as interim head coach for the program and currently leads the team during the off-season workouts. However, last Friday, Broadhead was informed by the Athletic Department that he was no longer in consideration for the head coaching vacancy.

“They told me they were heading in a different direction,” Broadhead said. “I’m going to continue working with the team again in the assistant role and keep working with these players the way Pittman was. I have a ton of respect for all these players.”

Broadhead feels that whomever takes over the program is going to have a great group of players to work with.

“Pittman left the program in excellent shape, and I have been working hard with the recruits that he had on board before he left,” Broadhead said. “The continuity of the team already with all the players that returned is incredible, and this is just a confident group of guys we have here. I think that if the new coach comes in and establishes a good relationship with the guys, we can have this team looking better than it did last year.”

Broadhead plans to stay with the program until his contract is up at the end of this June and is hoping to get his contract renewed with the program.

Simpson said the biggest thing that President Tim Foster stresses is academics and finding a coach who puts students and their grades first.

“I think it all comes down to having good morals as a coach,” Simpson said. “Being able to teach these student athletes right from wrong is important, especially considering that the ultimate goal as a coach is to prepare his or her players for a life after college athletics and life after being a student athlete.”

Clare was informed that he is still one of the finalists for the position of women’s head coach and, because of NCAA hiring regulations, was not available for comment. However, Clare had his final meeting with the team and the administration this past weekend, and the general consensus in talking with a few of the players is nothing but positive attitudes concerning Clare.

“We all felt very optimistic after the meeting with Jason,” said Sarah Schneztler, starting goalkeeper and returning captain. “It is very promising, and I feel as though everyone on the team has already bought into his coaching philosophy and his relationship with us. It would be pretty hard for us to be this confident if the university decided to select someone else, and we hope that they really look at our consideration in all of this.”

The women’s team will have a chance to meet with both of the remaining candidates this week as the on-campus visits have been scheduled.

As the coaching search is winding down, the athletic department and all parties involved in the process feel certain the best candidate to uphold the University’s and Spicer’s tough standards will be upheld. Although there is no specific date as of yet, the university is hoping to make the decision sometime this month.

kparkhu@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

Categorised in: Sports

This post was written by critedev