Isn't it Ironic
September 27, 2006 09:10 AM | General
September 27, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Alanis Morissette once sang “Isn’t it Ironic?” This week is certainly ironic for first-year men’s soccer coach Marlon LeBlanc. Only a month and a half ago LeBlanc was an assistant coach preparing preseason No. 5 Penn State for the upcoming season. Tonight, he returns to State College, Pa., as head coach of his own top 10 team when No. 8 West Virginia squares off against the Nittany Lions at Jeffrey Field.
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| A couple of months ago Marlon LeBlanc was helping Penn State win another Big Ten title. Tonight he's trying to beat his former team.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
LeBlanc, who was hired by WVU on August 8, describes what a whirlwind transition it has been, being hired as a head coach literally as preseason practice began.
“I got here on the ninth of August. I basically got here just in time for the first practice. The entire personal life was put on hold. I left my wife and daughter behind and lived in a hotel for about a month. That was the hard part but soccer was the easy part,” LeBlanc said.
When a new coach is brought in, you can usually expect some growing pains. It takes time for the players to pick up the new schemes and philosophies. In LeBlanc’s case, that couldn’t be further from the truth. WVU is off to a 7-1-2 start and has put the Big East and the nation on notice that they are a team to be reckoned with this fall. LeBlanc credits the attitude and resiliency of his players with making the transition a smooth one.
“The players were ready to move on,” LeBlanc said. “It could have been any coach that came in. They just wanted to get things moving and keep the ball rolling. My guys made it very easy because they came out and worked hard from the second I walked on that field. All the credit goes to them for believing in my system and the program and sticking with it.”
His system is an attacking style of soccer that always puts pressure on the opponent. That is a major change in philosophy from last season.
“We were a very defensive-oriented team a year ago and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem I saw is that we were just trying to be too defensive. We backed so many people up that we were never able to get forward. We saw that in the beginning of this year. We would get a lead and we would just kind of back up. We are still working to break that habit,” LeBlanc said.
The new-found aggressive style has the Mountaineers scoring in bunches so far this season. In a recent win against nationally ranked Seton Hall, the Mountaineers were able to find the net five times against the Pirates. LeBlanc explains some of the finer points of his philosophy.
“We’re not always having two guys marking one. We have one guy marking one in the back. My system is based a lot on individual responsibility,” LeBlanc said. “As a team I want us to move forward and score goals and we’re doing that at a higher rate than we ever have before. At the end of the day, defense wins championships. We’ve got a solid defensive foundation but we have to put balls in the back of the net to play with the elite teams in the country and that is the difference between us now and a year ago.”
LeBlanc also credits team unity and a competitive culture in practice for the early success of his team.
“We have just had an incredible amount of chemistry within our squad. We have a bunch of guys battling for positions and starting spots which keeps the competition fierce in practice. We have to believe we can beat anyone in the country and that is what we are rolling with right now,” LeBlanc said.
As for the trip to Penn State, LeBlanc is trying to prepare for it like any other game.
“I know their team very well. I recruited just about every player on their roster, but the key is to not overload our guys with so much information on their team that they forget about what is most important which is playing to our strengths. We are approaching this game exactly the same way we have approached the first 10,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc contends that for his program, the match against the Nittany Lions isn’t even the most important game the Mountaineers will play this week.
“I’m not looking past Penn State at all, but the most important game coming up on our schedule is going up to UConn on Saturday and getting a result up there. Big East games take on a higher priority,” LeBlanc said.
Despite the business-like approach, LeBlanc concedes he is looking forward to coaching against his former charges.
“It will be fun and that is about it. It is going to be nice to go back to Jeffrey Field. It will be a little strange sitting on the other bench but overall I just want us to win. It is no different than going down to Virginia or playing Cal-State Northridge here. It is a big-time game against a big-time program,” LeBlanc said.
The Nittany Lions have struggled so far this season, tallying a 3-6-1 record to this point. Having started the season in the nation’s top five, their slow start has been a bit surprising. LeBlanc points out that injuries have plagued them so far this season and with limited scholarships in men’s soccer, a few key players going down is all it takes to spoil a promising season.
“They have had a couple big injuries to key players. In the men’s collegiate game if you lose one or two players from your starting group it is a big loss in a sport where there are only 9.9 scholarships per team; 9.9 for 11 starters doesn’t exactly add up so when you lose one or two key starters it hurts your program,” LeBlanc said.
Most Mountaineer fans recall the bitter football rivalry that used to be waged against the Nittany Lions every year. For all those WVU fans whose blood is set to boil anytime anyone mentions Penn State, LeBlanc says the Mountaineers will be ready when the ball is kicked off Wednesday night.
“I’m not concerned about what they do well. I am more concerned with what we do well. That is a change in philosophy. Don’t worry about them. Let’s impose our style on the game. Let’s impose our will on the game. That is what my guys have bought into. We are going to play to our strengths and put the pressure on them all night,” LeBlanc said.
As the season reaches its halfway point, LeBlanc reflects on what he considered when he decided to take the WVU job.
“I knew that they had a good team. I knew it was somewhere I could win. The cupboard was left pretty full and there were good players before I got here. From my perspective I thought it was somewhere I could go and take this team to the next level,” LeBlanc said.
In just a month and a half on the job, that is precisely what Marlon LeBlanc has done.
Now isn’t that ironic?
