Lamar women's soccer program closer to fruition

[KFDM COOP]

Lamar women's soccer program closer to fruition

BEAUMONT - Matthew Dillon has something to say.

It's not a long message, really; just short and to the point. To his wife, Gina, and to his son Zachary, he offers this up: thank you.

It's for all those lost weekends that Dillon, the new women's soccer coach at Lamar University, has spent in Houston or Fort Worth or some other outpost, chasing down teenage girls, convincing them to play on the school's first team.

It's for all the upcoming weekends this summer and fall, which Dillon will spend ordering shin guards and taking the team on its first set of road trips.

"They're the best," Dillon said. "It takes a lot for them, for any family, to support a coach. So I try to tell them all the time how much I appreciate it."

In two weeks, the Lamar soccer program will receive letters of intent from its first recruiting class - some from junior-college transfers, others from walk-ons already on campus, but mostly from high school seniors.

Together, they'll try to create the kind of magic that happened 280 miles west of Beaumont on Interstate 10 last fall. There, Texas-San Antonio - in its first year of competitive women's soccer - finished second in the Southland Conference standings.

It can be done, Dillon said, whether it's next season or shortly thereafter. But with the first game just seven months away, plenty of work remains.

A rundown of everything that happens from here to there:

Ã¥ Recruiting.

Regardless of sport or school, recruiting is the lifeblood of any college program, since no team wins without talented players.

For a start-up program like the one at Lamar, however, recruiting has taken almost all of Dillon's time since the coach arrived here Aug. 1.

Lamar will announce its first class of players on what is commonly referred to as national signing day, which is Feb. 7 this year. But this class will be different from any other in the Southland Conference because of sheer volume.

In programs that are already up and running, teams might sign a half-dozen athletes each year. But Dillon has to bring them all in at once - and he can't bring in an entire class of freshmen.

Dillon, who cannot talk about specific recruits because of NCAA rules, said he has about 15 commitments already, with the expectation of signing 18 to 24. Although he'd like to have a few more experienced players on the roster, Dillon said he expected about six junior-college transfers and about six students who are on campus already. The rest are freshmen.

So how do you sell recruits on something that doesn't exist?

"You've got to sell the kids, or talk to the kids, about potential," Dillon said. "Obviously at Lamar, the potential is in their education. None of these kids are coming here to become pro soccer players. There's no professional league anymore. The best they can aspire to is the national team, and it'd be great if they can get on the national team. But the bottom line is the kids come to school for education."

Ã¥ Finding an assistant coach.

Until now, Dillon has done all the heavy lifting by himself. He'll have some help soon enough.

Dillon has gotten the go-ahead to hire an assistant coach this spring, keeping in line with most of his competitors. While some Southland Conference schools have as many as three coaches, most programs have a head coach and an assistant.

The model worked at Texas-San Antonio, where the administration hired Steve Ballard in 2005 and gave him more than a year to start up the program.

"Ideally you want to have a coach on campus a year in advance of your first season," said Liz Dalton, associate athletics director and senior women's administrator at UTSA. "At first, when we added soccer we tried to play that very next year. But we ran into some problems ... and we just couldn't do it. So I think the way we did it, and the way Lamar looks like they're doing it, is the best way to go."

Dillon said Lamar will likely post the position as early as next month, with the intent to hire an assistant coach in May or June.

"Hiring an assistant is probably the biggest thing this spring," he said.

Ã¥ Equipment.

As with players, established programs only need to update and replenish some equipment from year to year.

With seven months before the regular season begins, Lamar has to buy it all. UTSA, anticipating the start of the program a year in advance, added extra money in its 2005-06 budget to buy soccer equipment. Otherwise, the soccer program wouldn't have the money until August - when the season begins.

Dillon said Lamar has not yet bought most of the equipment it needs, but that bids and purchases will begin early this summer.

He also expects that to be one of the first true logistical headaches of the program's first year.

"Equipment, I'm sure that there's going to be some fires with that when we order things in June," Dillon said. "Oh, we couldn't get those shorts we needed, or they only come in guys' sizes - that kind of stuff. But at this point, there hasn't been a big fire to put out yet."

Ã¥ Facilities.

Dillon went ahead and said it Monday afternoon: Lamar is discussing the possibility of a soccer-only facility.

For the first season, however, the team will practice and play in Cardinal Stadium - whose field is a bit smaller than the standard college soccer field (120 yards long, 75 yards wide) but within NCAA regulations.

"Cardinal Stadium will be a little bit tight on that, just because it was built for football and not for soccer," Dillon said. "But there is some talk about building a facility for us, hopefully for the '08 season, whether it be by baseball (Vincent-Beck Stadium) or even where the old football practice facility might be (behind J.B. Higgins Field House). We're not really sure yet, but the talking phase is kind of where we're at."

[Cardinal Fan]

Great article there Cooper. Sounds like the women's soccer team is in good hands. It would be great if they could have their own facility. I hadn't heard news of this before. Sounds like LU is about to pony up some money. About 20 scholarships, hire a assistant coach, new equipment and possibly a new facility in the near future. Just a suggestion, move the track facility near Vincent-Beck and make it a soccer and track complex. Then Lamar would have additional parking space near the new Shelia Umphrey Rec. Center for students going to class or using the rec center.

All this makes me wonder about the return of football at Lamar? That would be awesome.

[KFDM COOP]

Yea let's pony up some for Football. 8)

[Guest Kelly Football]

Yea in our lifetime would be nice.

[AshlyHasBeen]

I really believe you'll see Lamar spending a lot of money soon. Let's get the soccer program going, then softball, and then finally what we've been waiting for, a team that has been undefeated since 1989, LAMAR FOOTBALL!

[Guest Indian Chief]

When?

[Tiger90]

The part I question is the soccer only field?  Do other schools use their football stadiums or do they have their own field?  If they share stadiums I hope LU uses their monies wisely and builds a new fb stadium to be used with soccer as well.  They are running out of room on the current campus.