Good Times
August 02, 2007 04:48 PM | General
August 2, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – What a difference a year makes. Last August the West Virginia University men’s soccer team didn’t even have a coach until the first day of preseason practice. A year later, following a remarkable 15-3-3 season and the school’s first-ever Big East regular season championship, the program has earned the lofty status of being one of the nation’s elite teams.
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| Marlon LeBlanc guided West Virginia to 15 victories last season and was named national coach of the year by Soccer America.
Dale Sparks/All-Pro Photography |
Second-year coach Marlon LeBlanc describes how the program’s goals have changed in the 12 months he has been on campus.
“Last year we were just trying to compete and make the Big East tournament. Our goal now is to be Big East champions each and every year and our ultimate goal is to win the national championship,” LeBlanc said. “You either get better or you get worse. We want to win the regular season and tournament championship this year and if we don’t we will have taken a step back.”
In order to do that LeBlanc recognizes the team’s mentality must change from being the hunter to the hunted. The Mountaineers, ranked No. 14 by collegesoccernews.com, will no longer be taken lightly around the league.
“We have to work even harder than we did last year. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot every time we play,” LeBlanc said. “We’re not being looked at as an easy win on the schedule anymore. We need to adjust our approach to understand that mistakes in big games will cost us.”
Part of that adjustment will be the Mountaineers’ preparation throughout the season. LeBlanc believes that to prepare for postseason tournament play, you must play the best possible competition. That philosophy is certainly evident on the 2007 schedule where West Virginia will play Maryland, Duke, Penn State and Ohio State in addition to an always-tough Big East slate.
“That’s the best way to be prepared. Our goal now is to win a national championship and in order for us to do that we have to play the best teams,” LeBlanc said. “In soccer, going undefeated (during the regular season) isn’t going to get you to a national championship because we have a tournament to play.”
With all of the on-field success and the buzz surrounding the program, LeBlanc says he has been able to open up new doors in recruiting, already securing four highly touted commitments for the class of 2008.
“These kids now have West Virginia on the top of their lists. When we go out on the road and we look at a kid now we’re not talking about not having much of a shot to get him. As a premier team in the Big East and the country we should have a good shot at those top kids,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve gotten the kids that typically wouldn’t even come to look at West Virginia to come here and now they are falling in love (with Morgantown).”
Another byproduct of last season’s successful campaign was the growth of fan interest in men’s soccer. The Mountaineers set a single game attendance record last year when 2,153 fans packed Dick Dlesk Stadium to watch WVU knock off Notre Dame 2-1.
“It’s unique because we watched our highlight video from last year and in the beginning there were only about 400 or 500 people in the stands and by the end of the season the stands were packed,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc believes his team’s fast-paced attacking style played a major role in enticing fans to come to games.
“If you’re scoring goals people are going to come to watch you play because that’s the exciting part of soccer,” LeBlanc said. “I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we now have a fan base for men’s soccer. We’re drawing 2,000 people for home games and that is great news.”
LeBlanc also credits the blue-collar mentality of his program that Mountaineer fans can identify with as a catalyst for the soccer craze in Morgantown.
“We’re always going to go at teams and we’re going to leave it all on the field. West Virginia fans appreciate their teams and their players going out and leaving everything they have on the field every single game and that’s what our kids do,” LeBlanc said.
To duplicate last season’s success, West Virginia will have to replace a pair of standouts in goalkeeper Nick Noble and forward Jarrod Smith. Both were All-Big East and All-American selections. Noble was a four-year starter in goal and holds the WVU career record for shutouts. Smith led the team with 14 goals last season, setting a Big East single season record.
“Replacing Nick Noble is probably the biggest question mark on our roster at the moment because none of our other goalkeepers really have any playing experience,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc isn’t panicking however. He knows he has two diverse candidates with differing skill sets in redshirt freshman Zach Johnson and sophomore Ryan Chance.
“Zach is big and long at 6-5 and has more of a towering presence where Ryan Chance is 5-10 and a speedy goalkeeper,” LeBlanc said. “It’s an open race and regardless of who wins that race I think we’ll be ok.”
To replace Smith’s goal scoring, LeBlanc will look to sophomore forward Tony Lindroos as well as senior midfielder Andy Wright.
“Tony Lindroos will be a focal point of our attack. He is someone that has the potential to be a big-time goal scorer,” LeBlanc said. “Andy Wright is another guy that we will either play in the midfield or up front who has the potential to get a lot of goals for us as well.”
LeBlanc continues.
“Our midfield is our strength with Andy Wright, Dan Stratford and Gift Maworere. With those three back I feel pretty confident that we have the goal scoring threats in there and the points in there that are going to make up for Jarrod leaving,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc also welcomes three talented freshmen into the program in midfielder Tuan Doan, utility player Dan Hagey and forward Paul Paradise.
“With all three of our freshmen coming in I think we have very good players. It will be a big challenge for all three of them to try and break into our lineup,” LeBlanc said. “At the same time, all three have the potential to make an impact and help us along the way.”
Doan, a 5-7 130-pound native of Irving, Texas, was one of the most sought after attacking midfielders in the country coming out of high school.
“We all know about Tuan’s credentials which are great. With him and Paul Paradise you have proven goal scorers,” LeBlanc said. “With Paul and his ability he could be the one that steps into Jarrod’s spot.”
LeBlanc reminds WVU soccer fans not to forget about Hagey, who he hopes can do a little bit of everything for the Mountaineers this fall.
“Dan is a utility player. He can play in the back, in the midfield or up front. With that type of versatility he’s going to find himself on the field one way or another,” LeBlanc said.
Like most successful coaches, LeBlanc is always tweaking his system in the off-season to play to the strengths of his personnel. Last year, while it appeared West Virginia was playing one forward, they actually were playing three, disguising two on the outside and exploiting teams that pinched in centrally to defend the one center forward. This season LeBlanc plans to play two traditional forwards up front.
“We’re trying to get the most goal scoring output out of those two forwards, one of which will be Tony Lindroos and the other will be either Andy Wright or Paul Paradise,” LeBlanc said. “For us it will help to play two forwards because Tony Lindroos is going to play better with a partner up front.”
One of the many challenges LeBlanc has faced in building his program into a national power is battling the negative perception that potential recruits have about the state of West Virginia. LeBlanc is finding it easier to dismiss those misperceptions.
“I don’t think there is anyone that can speak about battling perception any better than me. As a minority person coming to West Virginia, I have been taken in by the state and the University,” LeBlanc says. “I have fallen in love with Morgantown and everything West Virginia has to offer.”
LeBlanc continues.
“Perception can be changed and this soccer team is doing just that. We field a diverse team. We’ve got people from all over the country and all over the world coming here to play soccer,” LeBlanc said. “We are diverse as a team, as a coaching staff and in the way that we play soccer.”
LeBlanc has improved the men’s soccer program in almost every conceivable way. He marvels at the positive changes that have occurred in his brief time at WVU.
“It’s been a neat evolution of this program over the last year. I wasn’t even here at this time last year. We’re improving things,” LeBlanc said. “We’re getting new offices. We upgraded the media guide. The stadium is getting improvements every day. We just got a new Nike deal for the program. It’s been wonderful in terms of all the progress we’ve made.”
Yes, what a difference a year makes.
