In Giffard’s second year, expectations are high for men’s soccer

Adam Stern
Executive Editor
Commonwealth Times Sports’ Twitter

When a coach is hired in athletics, it’s usually because the coach before him was either doing so well he moved up the coaching ladder, or so badly he was fired. And if men’s soccer head coach Dave Giffard had been hired because of the former, perhaps he could have left the squad as is without overhauling it.

But he wasn’t.

So as Giffard enters his second season at the helm of a program that’s less than a decade removed from a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament, but only a handful of years removed from the nose-dive it took thereafter, he does so with a squad that’s undergone such a serious facelift the past two years, only four players out of 32 remain from his predecessor’s era.

“Normally when you come into a new position, there’s a reason why you’re there,” Giffard said. “Either the last coach was very successful, left a good team and went on to what they deemed to be a better place … or the other way you get a job is, well, for whatever reason, it hasn’t been very good.

“That was more the situation when we got here.”

Because of that, eighteen new players were brought in last year. This season, sixteen fresh faces welcome themselves to the VCU campus.

Yet expectations are high. Before coming to Richmond for his first shot as a head coach, Giffard’s previous stop was as an assistant at Akron. The Ohio school is now the bon a fide blueprint for college soccer after transitioning from a run-of-the-mill mid-major school to a national champion through the work of the coaching staff in which Giffard was a key cog.

Clearly, he’s hoping to do the same thing here.

Last season, VCU finished second in the CAA. This season, they’ve been picked to finish in that same slot.

All early indications point to a continuing rise in the standard of VCU men’s soccer.

“When I got back (after the summer), I thought the standard was much better than when I came here last year,” senior right back Nick Rich said.

“Just of the guys that coach brought in … the standard was definitely better than it was the season before, so I was pleased with that and ready to get started.”

Indeed, the Rams got their season started in fine fashion with a 4-1 thrashing of Navy Friday at Sportsbackers Stadium. Junior striker Yoram Mwila scored two goals while sophomore striker—and Jamaican international—Jason Johnson notched his first tally of the season as well.

Johnson is one of a handful of Rams who spent a portion of the off-season representing their respective countries. The only one who hasn’t returned yet is sophomore midfielder Jose Carlos Castillo, who spent the summer preparing for and playing in the U-20 World Cup for Guatemala. He currently is training with the full Guatemalan national team and will miss the next two games before returning to Richmond.

Theoretically, the international experience he’s been getting should help pay dividends for VCU once he returns to the school. And the fact that VCU already has multiple players that Giffard recruited playing on the international level is certainly a good sign.

“I think he’s going in the right direction in terms of recruiting; I know he’s looking at the top notch players. He’s trying to make VCU competitive with the UNC’s (and other proverbial powerhouses),” said J.R. Eskilson, Goal.com’s college soccer expert. “He’s looking at the top talent from the U.S., top talent from international teams; it’s all positive signs for the future.”

And if it begs any repeating, here it is: expectations are high.

“Everyone knows you’re not coming in to a crappy program, we’re here for a reason. Even the younger boys, they’re not here to go through the motions and think ‘maybe next year,’” Rich said. “It’s about this year, we’re here for a reason, and we’re going to step it up. It’s time.”

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Photo by: Chris Conway