At the Top of Their Game
September 06, 2006 03:17 PM | General
September 6, 2006
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| Izzo-Brown | LeBlanc | Rodriguez |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Being that Marlon LeBlanc has been West Virginia’s men’s soccer coach now for less than a month, the last thing in the world he wanted was for his team to have a target on its back. Guess what? LeBlanc’s team now has a target on its back.
This week the Mountaineers cracked the Top 10 for the first time ever in the NSCAA (soccer coaches) poll. West Virginia’s 2-1 upset of Cal-Northridge last Saturday was just the third time since 2004 that the Mountaineers have downed a nationally ranked team. The men are ranked No. 21 by Soccer Times, No. 23 by Soccer America and No. 25 by College Soccer News.com.
“We would have liked to have flown under the radar for one more week,” LeBlanc admitted. “But that part is done -- I don’t think we’re going to sneak up on anybody now. The goal now is to just keep it going and keep winning games and get ourselves into a position that by the end of the season we’re right on the doorstep of an NCAA bid.”
WVU Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong says LeBlanc’s background with championship teams at Penn State and his easy going nature were natural fits at West Virginia.
“I remember walking down to his first practice and talking to him and watching his team perform,” Pastilong said. “When I walked back to my car I felt like he had been coaching them all year.”
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Men’s soccer joins the No. 5-rated Mountaineer football team and the No. 9-ranked WVU women’s soccer team in the Top 10, making West Virginia one of just two schools in the country to have Top 10 teams in those three sports (Notre Dame is the other).
Women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, who has seen her Mountaineer team in 43 of the last 45 women’s soccer polls, says nationally ranked teams are becoming part of the culture inside the WVU athletic department today.
“There are so many programs here at West Virginia competing on a national level and are doing things to make the University and the state proud,” she said.
Football coach Rich Rodriguez embraces his program’s high national ranking. His Mountaineer teams have been in 31 of the last 38 polls, finishing last year No. 5 after beating Georgia 38-35 in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
“All the hype and stuff they get, that doesn’t bother me as long as it doesn’t change who they are and how they work,” Rodriguez said. “If it does change them, then we have issues.”
Izzo-Brown takes the same approach with her women’s program.
“The one thing I don’t want my team to feel is that when they step out on the field that just because you’re ranked you don’t have to work hard,” she said. “That’s my biggest thing with these rankings. Yeah, everyone is giving you respect but by them respecting you it makes you work harder. You’ve got to prove day in and day out that you deserve the rankings you’re getting.
“By no means do I ever want them to get complacent or just because you put on a West Virginia uniform that you’re going to win a game,” she said.
Izzo-Brown remembers what it was like a few years ago when her young program was still searching for respect.
“Once you start getting nationally ranked, teams respect you and they start playing you differently. We used to do the same things to teams that were ranked,” she said. “Now we’re the one so every day we have to prepare knowing that teams want what we have. Teams are going to compete with you on every level whether it’s a physical level or a technical level.”
Ed Pastilong has always strived for a well-rounded, nationally recognized athletic program. Today, the department is the strongest it has ever been from top to bottom.
Craig Turnbull and Linda Burdette have built nationally recognized programs in wrestling and women’s gymnastics, John Beilein has taken men’s basketball to a pair of NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” appearances, and Mike Carey has had a good deal of success revitalizing women’s basketball with post-season trips in two of the last three years.
Sergio Lopez is a rising star in college swimming and Jeff Huntoon has had Top 20 teams in the past in both women’s track and cross country.
“I like having those targets on our backs,” Pastilong said.
LeBlanc says getting into the rankings means a few more soccer recruits will take his phone calls now, and a team or two that was unwilling to play in Morgantown may reconsider.
“When it comes time to get a return game from Penn State I’m going to play a little hardball and say, ‘Hey, we’re in the Top 25 and you need to come down here and play us from now on,’” he joked.
“I guess we’re keeping up with the other good programs here,” LeBlanc added. “If anything, I hope it means more people will show up to watch us play.”
Pastilong is enjoying his department’s success for other reasons.
“Now I can sleep well at night,” he laughed.
