Marquette University Athletics
Preseason Q&A with WSOC's Frank Pelaez
2/3/2021 11:01:00 AM | Women's Soccer
First-year head coach looks to begin his head coaching tenure with the Golden Eagles
Q: Soccer season is right around the corner with the season opener coming up this weekend. How excited are you to begin your first season as the head coach here at Marquette?
A: "It's been a real challenge. I always think of things as an opportunity, but it's one of those things where we're trying to plan the unexpected all the time. You're trying to train as normal as possible, knowing that nothing is normal. I am excited, I have been excited for a year. I've been here a year now and I still haven't played a real game in that year. So getting to know these kids in a way that's so different than normal is not easy, but we're trying to make the best out of everything. The game to me is going to be extremely exciting, but to me, every day is exciting because I get to practice with them. Last semester, it was so different trying to practice with them before we got canceled. I don't like to go too far ahead, I like to live in the day, in the moment more or less."
The fall season was canceled and your team will be playing in the spring now instead. What kind of adjustment is it going to be for the team to get used to the timing of this year, plus different weather conditions due to the different seasons?
"It's all how you sell it. When something's taken away from you in the fall when you're expecting to have some type of normalcy and now you're switching it over, it's tough. My message has constantly been to just take advantage of every day we have. Whether that's playing in a dome instead of outside in the summer. All of these are things that I tried to explain to them at every practice. You know how different things are going to be and they have a verbal grasp of it, but the physical part is different. Just yesterday, we were going into practice at 7 a.m. and there's a foot of snow outside and we're having to walk through the east parking lot into the dome with a foot of snow. No matter what I said last fall saying it is going to be winter during our preseason, that's a little walk through and you're figuring things out, but we were saying, 'oh, what a gift that we have a dome that we can do that.' It is a new normal, but to them every day is not normal."
The BIG EAST preseason poll yesterday had your team at fourth in the Midwest Division. Is that something you'll use as bulletin board material?
"Coming in new and seeing the record from the past, if you weren't just going by the stats and things like that, it is what it is. It's pretty much black and white to me, I'm not going to argue anything. I think there's some very good teams in the BIG EAST and they deserve to be where they're at. Is it bulletin board material? The (team is)Â trying to get used to me, so it's about us and we're going to try to do everything we can to make it normal. So when it comes to it being bulletin board material, I think they know where they stand and they're very driven. I think they're going to use it as bulletin board material to be honest with you."
You have a few non-conference matchups in the next few weeks before entering conference play in March. What are you hoping to see out of your team in this first month?
"I'd like to see them without a mask for the first time in a year. People forget things are not normal. When people from the outside ask me about the non-conference schedule, you have to understand that the major conferences around us are not allowing their teams to play non-conference games. I've switched the schedule probably four times already in the past three months. I had been in contact with Big Ten teams to begin with, and then a week later, they all told me, 'sorry, we can't play.' Then I went to the Horizon League and I got all of them, and then two weeks later, they said we can't play. So then I reached out to some colleagues that were allowed to have exhibitions. But that's it, they can have one exhibition or two exhibitions, and the dates fell that we have four teams playing in that dome, we're the only ones with a dome.
"So if you look at the schedule you go wait a minute, why are they playing two regular season games first and then three exhibitions at the end? The common folk would say that's just dumb, but we're trying to get games because I want to see these kids without a mask, I do want to see them play. I've never seen them compete in a real match, so to me, it was just how can we get them out there to play so I can evaluate them, teach them and be able to set a standard and how we want to play. They know that because I talk to them every day. At any minute, half my team can get hit with COVID or contact tracing, or the other team can get hit with COVID or contact tracing and things have to switch up. Do I start off with the starting lineup? If I'm smart, I can't because they could be getting knocked out, then what does that do for the other ones. So I'm trying to teach everyone to play multiple positions to just meet the standard of how we want to do things."
Your team returns a lot of experienced players from last year. How do you think that experience is going to help your team this season?
"I'm leaning on them quite a bit, not because of what they've done on the field, more so having that experience of being here three to four years, some kids even five years already. I want them to explain to the young ones that this is different and we have to be able to roll with whatever punch comes our way and still get up. So they're becoming an extension of what I'm trying to say so that's where I'm leaning on them quite a bit. On the field, I told them from the very beginning a year ago, we're starting with a clean slate. You have to prove to me that you want to be here, you have to be great ambassadors of this university, this program.
"With that said, I'm going with everyone starts with a clean slate because I think a lot of people were already earmarked for certain things at certain years. I don't believe in that right now, right now it's how can I use all of them for me to be successful. They haven't played in a year, I don't think anyone can last 90 minutes right now, that's just obvious. So people from the outside looking in are going, 'Well, Kylie Sprecher played 90 minutes (last season),' well Kylie Sprecher hasn't played in a year so it doesn't matter if they play 90 minutes or not, you want to prevent injuries as well. Because with a lot of running, injuries will happen and then you've got contact and competition. It's a lot more challenging than anything to try to make them all believe, 'hey, at any point in time, any of you have to be ready,' knowing that I can't keep somebody out there for more than 30-40 minutes."
What kind of impact will the newcomers have?
"All of the freshmen have certain qualities to them, they come from all over the country. I did not recruit any of these kids, they were already here, so to me, it was like whoa whoa, what can I get out of them, what are all of their strengths. Because they all have strengths and then you figure out how can I combine other's strengths. I'm not going to look at their weaknesses right now because that's easy to do. When a coach comes in, the first thing they do is look at everybody's weaknesses, and I told them I'm not looking at that, I'm looking at all of you, what your strengths are."
What are your overall goals for this team in the 2021 season?
"To win their trust. For them to trust the process that it's going to be. I don't believe in things happening right away. Once they have my trust and I have their trust, knowing that we're going to do things together. That to me is the biggest thing, because after that, anything we ask them, they're going to buy into and can actually believe that they're starting to get there. I want them to be attack oriented, and we're doing a lot of exercises which are attack oriented. I think a lot of kids that maybe didn't see much time in the past are being able to now. We have a lot of horses out there, and to me, I'm not going to put a saddle on a horse. It's a wild horse, run, and these kids, they're moving. It's like you took the saddle off and they're going. So to me, that's attractive, they're excited about it, the attacking part is becoming very real. The defensive part, I think they've been very defensive in the past too, so that foundation is there, we just gotta sharpen up a few things."
