A great team, in my opinion, has a combination of talent (players that all bring something special to the team), chemistry, great leadership, great work ethic with each player having an understanding of team goals, motivation, direction, and confidence.
It also helps when your team has some experiences to draw from, creates a little luck through their work ethic, and stays healthy.
How important is team bonding?
Being together as a unit and feeling close as a team is very important for every team. It is important that the team crosses the white line entering the pitch and battles for each other. This is developed through a respect for each other and a selfless attitude. Getting to know each other, doing things together, finding common interests, or simply respecting what your team mate likes, creates better chemistry for the team.
How do you inspire your players?
We have tried many ways to inspire players over the years and each coaching situation that I have been involved in requires different demands and different motivation. We try and challenge the players every day in training, teaching new ideas, inspiring good habits, and providing good examples. Anything we can use to inspire our team we attempt to use.
Most of the teams that I have coached at the college level required building or rebuilding the program. I have been a head coach at the college level for 22 years and each program has either not had a soccer program or the program was in a difficult situation before I came in so the each program had to be restructured. Each situation required different motivation. In the early years of some of these programs, we set goals that were more realistic for teams so they were motivated and focused.
At this time with our program I try to find "soccer rats" (players that eat, sleep, and live the game always wanting to get better), good students, and good people. Those players tend to be more motivated, more mature, and better prepared for what they are going to face once they get to us. We demand quite a bit out of them and they demand quite a bit out of themselves.
How do you select your new players for UC Irvine?
We look for people that have soccer talent for voids that we have on our team (many areas - technical, tactical, physical, mental, leadership), good students, good people, willing to do community service, team players, "soccer rats" (love the game), selfless, confident, go-getters, team guys, and goal-oriented.
Recommendations for youth soccer development:
I am not sure if you have enough room in your column for this one. I did an international study on my own of the training and development of youth soccer players around the world and went to many clubs to watch what they do such as; Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Celtic, South American clubs, American clubs, and Asian clubs. Through those experiences I feel we need development in certain areas with our players here in the United States.
I have thoughts about ODP, Developmental Academy, High School, Club, AYSO etc. I think the most important aspect of all of youth soccer is it’s too watered down, too many different directions, too many clubs, too many tournaments, too many academies, and too many camps that preach other countries’ methods of training players. We need better leadership from the top of youth soccer state and national levels. We need to have our own direction while learning from the best. I find it funny over the years that people are so enamored by coaches from other countries when we have some very good ones in this country, including many former and current U.S. National Team players that would be happy to be involved in youth development.
If we can focus on more real centers of excellence or training, and important playing opportunities for our players, our overall youth development will be better served.
What is your favorite non American team?
Barcelona
How important is winning?
At the youth level I am totally for development of players. The winning is secondary to the development of the person/player.
Unfortunately, at the college level we are judged by wins and losses although we sometimes have little control over some things. With the programs I have been involved in, we do our best to bite off small chunks (small goals) and not worry about only winning. We focus on what we need to do to obtain our goals and demand quite a bit of each player. The winning has usually occurred after all the hard work and preparation has been done. Each coach and each player at this level would be kidding you if they didn’t tell you they didn’t like to win.
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