Motivated? Check. Loves the university? Check. Winning pedigree? Check. When you’re Georgetown Director of Athletics Bernard Muir, you can’t help but think you have tabbed the perfect man to fill the shoes of the Hoyas’ winningest men’s soccer coach in school history. For the first time in 22 years, a new field general will be roaming the sideline, as Brian Wiese was named the 13th head coach in 52 seasons of men’s soccer on the Hilltop on March 1.
“Brian Wiese is one of the top young coaches in the country and we’re thrilled to have him join the Georgetown family,” Muir said. “He has a proven track record of success and he’ll be a tremendous leader for our program.”
“It was very exciting when I received the news,” Wiese said, mirroring Muir’s comments. “I feel that Georgetown is a place that has unlimited potential. It’s a place with bright, self-motivated kids that I feel comfortable recruiting to and the opportunity to work with Bernard Muir is really exciting. He’s got the ship really going full steam ahead.”
For 15 years, Wiese’s collegiate career as a player at Dartmouth and through coaching stints at Stanford and Notre Dame had been tied to the legendary Bobby Clark. Wiese first met Clark when the current Notre Dame coach headed a team in Albuquerque in 1986. When Wiese was ready to attend college, Clark recruited the goalkeeper to Dartmouth, where he starred as a three-time All-Ivy league selection, two-time Academic All-Ivy honoree and was named the team’s most valuable player in 1993.
Clark left the Big Green after Wiese’s junior season to coach in New Zealand, but returned to the States soon after to take the helm at Stanford, where he hired Wiese as a graduate assistant. For five years at Stanford and five at Notre Dame, Clark’s teams posted 136 wins and advanced to nine consecutive NCAA tournaments. Under Clark, Wiese has tutored 11 All-Americans and four players who were candidates for the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, the Heisman Trophy of collegiate soccer.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my progression in that I had a really good mentor,” Wiese said. “Bobby Clark is one of the foremost coaches in the game at all levels … [and] he gives you a framework and a confidence in how to set up a program and get it running.”
Wiese, 32, replaces longtime coach Keith Tabatznik, a two-time Big East Coach of the Year, who stepped down last spring after compiling a .538 winning percentage in 22 years. Despite that apparent success, Tabatznik’s teams only managed two NCAA Tournament appearances in those 22 seasons, a number that Wiese definitely expects to improve upon.
“[Coach Wiese and Coach Tabatznik] have different styles of coaching,” senior captain Ricky Schramm said. “Wiese is more concerned with ourselves and there is not as much scouting as we did in the past, which I personally like. He teaches his system and that’s it and doesn’t change much in terms of our opponents.”
On a team that returns nine starters, experience is a key for the Hoyas, who were picked to finish sixth in the Big East’s Blue Division. Back are senior co-captain Schramm, tied for sixth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 29 goals, and fifth-year senior Benjamin Jefferson-Dow, the team’s offensive player of the year last season after earning All-Big East Honorable Mention accolades.
The 2006 Hoyas admittedly took on the character they now possess during the month after Tabatznik resigned on February 10 before their new coach was hired. Without any real guidance, the team essentially ran itself and produced the most positive culture coming out of the summer that Schramm has seen since he’s been at Georgetown.
“The coaching change was a little difficult in the beginning,” he said. “There was a good month where we were without a coach when we were starting spring training, but it worked out for the better. Leadership positions were filled and now everyone knows their role.”
This leadership is something that Wiese sees as a definite advantage in starting his new program. A captain himself during his senior season at Dartmouth, the Hoyas’ new coach is firm in his belief that a successful soccer framework cannot operate solely based upon the coaches; player accountability is key.
“If players take ownership of the team it has a powerful influence on everything,” Wiese said. “If it comes from the coaches and not from the players then at some point it’s going to break down.”
After three exhibition matches, where the Hoyas went 0-1-2, featuring a scoreless tie with last year’s national champion Maryland, they look to capitalize on their offseason success this weekend in the D.C. College Cup at American University. Georgetown plays George Washington tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
But most importantly, the game isn’t just a start to the season, but the start to a new career for a coach who admits, “The sky is the limit.” The most interesting thing about the humble man who has had so much success already at so many levels, earning himself a spot on College Soccer News.com’s Top Assistant Coaches List in 2001 and twice on the Big East Coaching Staff of the Year, is the fact that he simply enjoys what he does, deflecting the pressure that comes with landing a Big East coaching job.
“Coaching is something I liked doing even in high school and college,” he said. “I was always popping out and helping younger teams. I like being in the environment. I made no conscious effort to coach as a profession. I don’t consider it to be a job.”
