North Carolina State University Athletics
Springthorpe Happy With Program's Direction
4/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
RALEIGH, N.C. - Second-year women's head soccer coach Steve Springthorpe recently sat down with GoPack.com for a question-and-answer session following the club's spring season. He spoke candidly about how his team needs to get better to compete in the incredibly tough Atlantic Coast Conference, but is happy where his program stands after 16 months on the job.
Springthorpe's inaugural season at NC State saw his team post an 8-9-2 overall record. That was the fewest losses for the Wolfpack in three years, while the 2-7-1 record in the ACC was promising when you consider that the prior two seasons the Pack went winless in conference play.
Without further delay here is 10 questions with Steve Springthorpe.
1. You recently finished your spring season. As a coach what do you like to get out of the spring?
It's an opportunity for other players to get some playing time for those that maybe didn't start or play significant time (last fall). You give them a chance to prove themselves and give them an opportunity to play and evaluate the team.
The seniors move on and don't play with us in the spring so now we have the rest of the team to figure out who plays where and what we need to improve upon at each position. Moving players around, maybe sometimes playing a different style, different formations. It's really an opportunity to look at the team and the future of the team for the next year. It's a bit more laid back, you don't compete as hard because your playing games that don't matter, but we do try to get something out of it.
2. Can the spring serve as a spring board to prepare the team for the fall season?
I don't know that we use it much for a spring board, because whether we win or lose against another team it really doesn't matter a whole lot, because they are doing the same thing. There is no way of comparing our club against outside competition.
But you do want to do well. You want to show improvement in areas, you want to see certain players who are getting that opportunity to play. You want to see improvement with them, you want to visualize them playing more or playing in a different position.
Your spring team is going to be drastically different than what shows up in the fall because we don't have our freshmen. For our team, we have 10 new freshmen coming in this fall so that can drastically change the dynamic of the team.
Sometimes, you have players playing out of position because you've lost a senior or two or you have a player injured and you don't have much depth. You're moving a forward to the back or vise versa. Those kind of situations make it hard to really use the spring as a jumping off point.
3. You lost four players that started at least 18 games last season to graduation, two defenders and two midfields. How difficult is it to replace that kind of experience?
That is part of the challenge when you graduate players out of your program that played a lot of time. Not only did they start, some of them played almost every minute for us so that is a challenge. The fact that Katie Ruiz, who played literally every minute for us at center back and was a huge part of the success defensively of our team, leaves yet we don't have somebody with any experience sitting there waiting to step in for her.
You are ultimately going to miss her, yet you hope somebody develops over the course of the spring or somebody comes in and fills that role. She may not be able to play at that same level as that player, but you hope they bring whatever part of their game to the back line and help to have success again.
Having four of them is a task to replace, but that's where your younger players need to step up. Players who were coming off the bench get their opportunity to find their place on the field. Sometimes you get a player that steps in that may be better. Better than the player that left. There is a definite challenge and we had our challenges with that this spring.
4. You have 10 new student-athletes coming this fall. What can our fans expect from that group in 2010?
I think a little more athleticism. We're going to be a quicker in some areas. We'll be a little more attack orientated, because most of what we are bringing in is attacking players. You'll see a different degree of pressure we'll put on teams because of who is coming in.
I hope the style we play is a little more attack oriented. Last year was all about defending, defending, defending. We'll still defend, but I hope with the addition of these players that we'll get the opportunity to push a higher line and get more opportunities at goal.
5. You've been on the job now for about 16 months at NC State. Is the program where you thought it would be at this juncture after finishing your second spring season and heading into your second full season?
I think we've made some movement (in the right direction). I don't know that I had a timeline of ok 10 months, 12 months, 16 months. Ideally, we want to get better, we want to teach lessons, we want to provide our current players with a new vision, a new way of doing things, a new way of training. Holding them accountable for wins and losses. How you prepare for games, how you prepare at practice. I think we have been able to do some of that.
I thought we did ok in the fall. We made some positive movement. We won a couple games, did a little better in the conference, but I do think year two will be the real transition year. You come in as a coach, you take over an existing team. You are ultimately taking those players and trying to mold them the best you can. They did a good job of learning and jumping on board.
But now as your seniors graduate out and you have some attrition with players that maybe didn't play much who kind of move on, you are bringing 10 new players in and now the team dynamic has changed.
Then I think that's when the real transition begins. Now we are making decisions based on what we saw in the fall, how we played, what we need to do differently now to have more success.
Sixteen months in I'm happy what the team is doing, how we've done in recruiting as a staff and the players we were able to bring in here. I think we've done a good job of moving the program forward and ultimately getting us to a place where we want to be in the next two or three years of being much more competitive in the conference and being in the conference tournament, making the NCAA Tournament and all those major goals that this team wants to accomplish.
6. Speaking of year two, is the second year easier or harder than the first one on a coach?
It will be easier because you are established into the program. You kind of know everybody. We've had an entire year to get to know the players, develop some relationships with the players and team so there isn't that awkwardness of being the new guy.
The transition really starts again as new players come in and the new chemistry of all these players and not resting on what we did (last season). A lot of times you see huge improvements and you catch some people off guard. Our style will change, but our philosophy does not.
People will be ready for us. They know that NC State is not necessarily the team you are going to come in and always win 2-0, 3-0 against and have an easy time of it. We're gonna compete so that will make it a little harder.
7. How about the players? The returning players should have a better understanding of what you expect out of the them and what type of style you want to play right?
I do think there is some better understanding of what the expectations are on the style of play. I do think they will be surprised that the level of which we are going to push them. This is where we are at, but we are still not there and so we hit them harder. We train harder, we become fitter and we will have higher expectations.
When the fall roles around there will be some surprises, there will be some surprises in the expectation will be more, the level of training will be higher, the fitness level will have to be higher. It will be much more competitive at practice. We will have 27, 28 players and the level of which those players will play at will be higher.
8. Have you been able to install the style you want to play, both offensively and defensively?
No, the fall was not indicative to how we want to play. The style of possessing the ball and knocking it around, and combining, and all those things are what we want to do. We don't want to be a very direct kind of team, but because how we played in the formation that we played lends itself to sitting back and defending and transitioning. We certainly want to play a different formation, a little more attacking oriented. Which we tried to do in the spring, not worrying about wins and losses.
9. Looking to 2010, what does this team need to do to take the next step and make the ACC Tournament and challenge for an NCAA bid?
We have to be a little more consistent in how we play. We beat Clemson (last year) and that was good. We competed against Miami and got a tie with them. We upset a good Virginia team, but going forward in our conference, you need four of five wins to get somewhere.
We have to be able at the very least is compete with the lower half of the conference. You've got to be able to win some of those games consistently. Then you still have to pull an upset or two against some of the top-four or five teams in the conference.
I don't know that we were consistent enough (last fall). We played well at times, but we still couldn't find the win when we needed it. And the end of the year when things were right there for us to make a move and maybe make the (ACC) tournament we didn't do what we need to do.
10. Are there any new additions to the Dail Soccer Field that will make the experience better for not only our fans, but also our student-athletes, coaches and staff?
The plans are done and drawn up and things have been approved. By 2011 we expect the entire stadium to be finished. New bleachers are going in which will be great for the fans. They will be sitting in chair backs and benches appose to the concrete we have now.
The entry to the facility will be changed and new. More bathrooms for our fans. The landscaping will be much more attractive and pleasurable for someone to come watch the game.
For teams coming in to play NC State, a new building will house locker rooms at the field level.
