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Future of men’s soccer program
What Coleman has to say about the past, present and future
By Tim Prahl
The struggles the Panthers had this season seemed to come from an inability to put the ball in the back of the net.
If the average sports fan took a look at the UW-Milwaukee men’s soccer record this season (4-10-5), they might scoff at what they saw. As is the case with most sports, there is more than meets than eye, more than just a final record.
Most of those games, regardless of the outcome, were the down-to-the-wire type matches that fans always hope for when attending a game. The No. 14-ranked team in the nation, Santa Clara scored their game-winner with barely a minute remaining in early September, to escape from those feisty Panthers. Cross-town rival Marquette suffered an onslaught UWM attack in the second half of their Milwaukee Cup matchup before squeaking in a decisive goal in their 2-0 stealing of a victory in mid-October. Call me crazy, but when No. 16-ranked Illinois-Chicago came to town in late October, they seemed a bit dejected after walking away with only a 1-0 victory, not even celebrating the lone goal they scored midway through the second half.
Basically, the record doesn’t convey just how close these games were and how much this young team actually grew throughout the season.
“We have a squad that I feel is at a good stage right now,” Head Coach Jon Coleman said. “We have a good, solid core of players. We had some young guys step up this year and play a considerable amount of minutes. I think some guys are still adjusting and adapting, and eventually will get it and become very good players. We have a committed group, a dedicated group, a focused group. We just have to do some tweaking and do as much as we can to get ready for next season.”
The struggles the Panthers had this season seemed to come from an inability to put the ball in the back of the net. After scoring seven goals in their first four conference games this season, the team didn’t score again against a Horizon League opponent until the conference tournament.
“I think preventing teams from scoring wasn’t really the ultimate kicker, but more or less the inability at times to take advantage of chances or have a ball bounce our way to get a goal to give us that edge,” Coleman said.
At times this season, grumblings had been heard around Engelmann Field about the level of play that has dropped off a bit since former coach Louis Bennett jumped across I-43 to rival Marquette. Maybe that’s just the “What have you done for me lately?” sports society we’re in these days. For all the naysayers out there, take a look around at other notable sports programs in the state.
The Packers? 4-5 without the golden arm of Brett Favre. What’s that? You say they’re better than their record shows? Sounds familiar.
The Golden Eagles? 3-10-4 with Louis Bennett at the helm. Maybe it wasn’t just his coaching that gave the Panthers nationally recognized success for nearly a decade. The Badgers football team seems to be the best comparison to the UWM squad. New coach Bret Bielema had success early on, but is now being questioned if he’s the right fit. Just like Coleman, Bielema hasn’t even had a chance to have a group of players recruited specifically for his system without having fans call for his firing. That would be like saying a pie tastes bad before it’s even been put in the oven.
“Only having nine wins in the past two seasons is disappointing. But we’ve put things in perspective and we’ve seen progress throughout the years. Has it shown in the wins and loss column? No. But eventually that is going to turn because for me, and the rest of the coaches and players, we’re tired of losing,” Coleman said. “Technically it will be three classes of players we’ve brought in and they’re starting to understand us as coaches and the style we want to play. There’s that adjustment period and that transition period and we’ve been working through that to come out on top at the end.”
Maybe those grumblers are in the fan section for a reason. They only see what happens on the field. This is a full-time job that requires full-time commitment from both players and coaches. It takes a deeper look to truly determine success.
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