As AU embarks on another winter season it's time to close the book on field hockey and men's soccer.
Both programs accomplished feats that would be difficult at most smaller schools in weaker conferences. And the brains behind the success belong to coaches Steve Jennings and Todd West - two coaches dedicated to a competitive tradition with or without the competitive budget.
Before the completion of the Jacobs Recreation Complex, field hockey never really had home field advantage. AU took trips to College Park, Md., every morning for practice before the sun rose. It's just one of a few disadvantages the team faced. But Jennings still found the right players and used early mornings to bond them.
The struggles produced back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances where Jennings' Eagles didn't exactly role over to the big name competition. AU defeated some of the top field hockey programs in the nation, including a 2004 beating of their rival Maryland in the regular season.
West, on the other hand, has consistently won with less-tested talent. This season West guided 12 freshman and only two seniors to a Patriot League regular-season championship at 5-2. And they came up one game short in the PL tournament from clinching their fourth NCAA tournament trip in five years. That's an accomplishment celebrated in any conference.
As a former student at Michigan State, I know winning can be challenging anywhere. Big conferences often involve big money, boosters, unlimited resources, access to top recruits, television coverage and extravagant facilities. Resources make it easier on coaches to prepare their teams. It's but a small microcosm of the way most systems work in this world.
Yet, without those resources, Jennings and West still prepared their players to compete on a high level. The focus might be different from larger schools, but Jennings and West still transformed mere Patriot League players into higher-level teams. I have a name for that type of success: fundamental coaching.
Watching West yell at his inexperienced midfielders throughout the season to "organize," I can only assume he agrees with me. It's not easy to get teams to play together. The message is almost as important at any talent level. And while the experience was lacking, his message was always right on the money.
West encouraged his team to play together, move the ball and communicate. The team had trouble on the road, but improved and won as the season moved toward its end.
It's not easy to find the right coach for a program. At AU where most athletes major in something different from their sport, it's even harder. So, everyone can now understand how lucky AU is to have these two coaches.
Field hockey and soccer might be low-profile sports in the grand scheme of college athletics, but there's nothing large about AU. Here we celebrate academic excellence over athletic dominance, and those values translate onto our playing fields. Our teams strive to stick together and understand the fundamentals of a game. You see it in a player's body language, you see when the team responds to the media regardless of the outcome, and you see it in the success.
I want to thank the dynamic duo of Jennings and West for a great year. Amid the high of a win or low of a defeat, AU owes your guidance and candor. And though the cold air has replaced the warm yells of fans at "The Jake" and Reeves Field, the memories band across campus reminding us of the great things to come.
