The University of Memphis men’s soccer team finished its season last weekend, bowing out in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament. The Tigers, who posted a 9-7-2 record, face an important offseason with the loss of five key contributors off this year’s squad.
The Daily Helmsman caught up with coach Richard Mulrooney to get his thoughts on his first season at the helm.
DH: Well, first season is in the books, how did it go?
Mulrooney: It went well, but, obviously, disappointed we’re already out of it. In hindsight, looking back in general, there’s only one team that’s going to be happy, and that’s the team that wins it all – not just the conference but the NCAA tournament. I think that’s the feeling for a lot of teams, so I don’t think we failed. We made strides this year, and became that much better of team from last year to this year, and that’s the goal moving forward. I think there’s some things we have to improve upon like our team defense. If you look at some our losses, we gave up multiple goals, and we can’t be expected to score four or five goals every game when we gave up two or three. Our offense got better this year, but, at the same time, there’s areas we need to get better at as a team and as individuals, which we’ll work on in the spring moving on to next fall.
DH: So, relative to your expectations at the beginning of the year, how did the season play out?
Mulrooney: Obviously our expectations were to get to the conference tournament this coming weekend. We fell short of that, but it wasn't from lack of effort. I think the guys left it all on the field. I think soccer is a game where you get a bounce here or there you get a few more wins, but it works both ways we may have gotten a couple of wins we shouldn’t have as well. At the end of the day, you’re as good as your record says, and we were 9-7-2, and we need to improve upon that. That’s a little improvement from last year, but, at the same time, our expectations are higher than that, and, next year, I’m hoping we’ll be going to the conference tournament instead of watching the results online.
DH: This was your first year coaching major Division 1 soccer, what was the biggest challenge or biggest thing you learned?
Mulrooney: You know, I knew this job required you to wear nine hats. You're a soccer coach. You’re a recruiter. You’re off the field. You’re, obviously, making sure the kids go to school, and I loved every bit of it. But at the same time, it takes quite a bit of time. I’d like to say that I go out to soccer field for two, two-and-a-half hours each day and that’s all I do, but that’s far from it. That was, obviously, brought to my attention this year more so than last, but it doesn’t discourage me, and I’m happy to help the kids on the field if they have aspirations of going pro, or just getting the most out of them for their college experience, but, at the same time, making sure they make the grades and get their degree because that’s just as important, and I’m happy to be there for them for that.
DH: So, recruiting wise, what is the most important thing for you guys to address this offseason?
Mulrooney: I would just say team defending. Guys that can make our team better as a defense in total, not necessarily a goalkeeper or defenders. But guys that just put the work in to help shut other guys down. That’s a need. The other areas, if there’s a good soccer player, we can fit him in here. We’re going to go out and find soccer players that know the game and know the physical aspect of the game that mentally know how to play the game. You put those three together, they’re just good soccer players. If we can get those kids here, which we will, we’re going to become a better team from it.
DH: What’s the biggest thing you lose with the seniors graduating?
Mulrooney: You always lose that leadership. Chandler (Gagnon) and Will (Linder) were huge parts in the locker room. Guys got along with them well. While you don’t replace that, guys are just going to have to step up and fill those roles. Will started on that right midfield, very athletic, so there’s a spot open for that. Chandler started at center back for us, again another leader and good on the ball and can read the game well, so somebody is going to have to step up in that area. Fakhry (Khulfan) up top, obviously, scored some big goals for us. We don’t necessarily have anybody on the roster that fills his role, not because they can’t, but because Fakhry is a bigger guy. It’s sort of like replacing Shaquille O’Neal. You can’t just go find a center like that, but we’ll have to find somebody that can bring a presence up top that Fakhry did, and his goal-scoring touch. Benji Ciosanski started as a forward and played right back for us. He was very good going forward, very good technically. He was a pleasant surprise this year in that we just didn’t have a true right back, and he was a great fit. It’s unfortunate I didn’t have him there even sooner into the season. Guys are going to have to step up and fill that roll too, whether that’s recruiting wise or guys that are coming off the bench or somebody that was already on the starting roster shifting around in the formation looking to play that spot.
DH: Anything you would have done differently looking back on the season?
Mulrooney: Not necessarily, you know I thought we had a good feel for what we needed to do as far as practices. I thought the schedule set up well. We did a lot of traveling. I would have maybe, if I could have, taken off one trip of away games, and set up more home games because we didn’t have a lot of home games. That’s not an excuse. We would have won or lost those road games regardless. Just in terms of maybe saving the guys a little bit more, maybe change up the travel schedule just a bit. Looking back, I have no major regrets. We achieved quite a bit, but we fell short of our goals, but it wasn’t because of lack of effort. It was just how it worked out, and, hopefully, we go onto learn from those mistakes for next year.
DH: You’ve mentioned team defense a lot. Is that what you want guys to be improving upon for next season?
Mulrooney: I think so. We started teaching the basics this fall. You have to start from the ground up because some guys are further along than others. It doesn’t matter if player A is advanced this much, and player B is advanced this much. They have to be on the same page, so you just start from scratch, which we’ve done this fall, and, then going into the spring, we’ll have to take it to square B and square C and just build on that foundation. Obviously, losing Chandler, Benji and Will on the backline, new guys are going to have step up and fill those roles equally or even better than what was previously there.
DH: Are any of those guys trying to go play professionally?
Mulrooney: Possibly. It’s still early with the tournament going on, but, whether it be with scouts or the MLS (Major League Soccer) reaching out I would push them on. I think there are a couple that would have aspirations, and some that would say ‘hey, I gave it my all, and it’s time to move on,’ but I think if any of them came knocking on the door someone would listen.
DH: Where do you see the MLS going in 5 years? It really seems like it’s on the verge of exploding.
Mulrooney: It’s still going to take some time, but the foundation is there. The foundation has several different stages on it, but it’s just going to keep getting bigger. I’ve got no doubt with the players that they’re bringing over along with the Americans we’re raising on our own ground, turning into professionals and performing in the World Cup. We’ll get there. It’s still sort of fresh. It’s, obviously, not as fresh as 10 or 15 years ago when I was playing.
