Bill Solberg Chat Wrap
11/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Nov. 21, 2002
Bill Solberg: Good morning!
I will do my best this morning to answer as many questions as possible within my time limit. So lets get started I guess!
Chris (Sugar Land): Coach, do you feel like the program is where you want it, development wise?
And, How tough is it to deal with a program in it's infancy?
Bill Solberg: I feel each year we are taking the right steps development wise to get our team playing the type of soccer that will continue to help us win more and more games. We are still going through some growing pains of building a program. We graduated 10 student-athletes last year which is difficult to replace the experience of 10 seniors. We continue to get more competitive in games and practices and are learning to keep better possession of the ball and play better soccer, so I feel development wise we continue to improve on our long term goals.
Paul: How do you compare UH's soccer facility with others in CUSA?
Bill Solberg: Our soccer facilities here at UH are top class. Teams that come to Robertson Stadium and play think that Robertson is the best soccer venue in the nation. Our practice field is unbelievable. Compared to other teams in C-USA, we definitely rank at the top in terms of top-notch facilities!
Dave (League City): My daughter, who plays soccer for her junior high and wants to pursue a collegiate career after high school, and I went to most of your home games this past season and really enjoyed watching the Cougars. Despite being a young team, what do you anticipate in the next season or so for your Cougars? What part of the team are you looking to strengthen?
Bill Solberg: I can't tell you how excited I am for next year already! I anticipate finishing in the top of the Conference. We were able to get our seven freshmen some great experience at the Division I level which is only going to help improve our team. We have some great leaders on this team that are already training and pushing the team in talks of a C-USA championship next year. With the new experience of this years freshmen class, more experienced upper-classmen and our new recruiting class for next year, look for the Coogs to make a run at the championship in 2003! The second part of your question -- we are always looking to stregthen every part of this team. The better players we get at every position only makes it more competitive in practice and in games. To me that makes a team better and better.
Mike(Houston): You mentioned keeping better possesion of the ball earlier. I watched the Coogs play a game in the spring and it looked like to go for size and strength rather than speed. Do these type of players work better for the possesion style game?
Bill Solberg: I think that it is a mentality and style of play. Looking at the last world cup, Brazil would keep possesion for a long period of time and yet the players on their team are not big players. But then you look at Germany and the United States who defintiely had more size than Brazil but still were able to keep possesion of the ball. I played against a player Tony Sanneh all through college and he was huge, yet a great possesion player. Again I think it goes back to a mentality of possesion and keeping the ball and what the coaches style and philosophy is.
Candice (Houston): What is the biggest overall improvement and positive you have taken from this past season?
Bill Solberg: I think as the season went on we gained experience. The younger players found out what it takes every day to compete for spots. As the season went on the team found ways to win. Sometimes it wasn't very pretty but in the long run they competed and found ways to get results which is a sign of more experience.
Mike, Houston: Bill,
On recruiting. I know a local high school senior that is has been on the state ODP team, snickers state champ team, high school state champ team, was all state, ect. She was recruited by dozens of Div. 1 schools including 3 that are currently in the Sweet 16, yet she never even got a letter from UH.
Do you think you spend too much time looking for talent outside the area and out of state rather than going after local talent?
Bill Solberg: We always want to keep Texas student athletes in Texas without a doubt. Every year we have more and more kids writing us showing interest in our program, then we also are on the recruiting trail looking at as many players as we think can help the program. There are over 30,000 female soccer players in Houston alone and we do our very best to see as many as we can. We also have hundreds of players on our list to go and watch. We do our best to see all these players on more than one occasion and give them a fair evaluation. Sometimes we watch teams compete, and players have bad games. Other times we go to watch teams ,and players that we want to watch missed that game for whatever reasons. I hate to hear that one slipped through the cracks on us. I guess I wonder if that student athlete you are talking about showed any interest in UH. We really want to keep Texas kids in Texas but at the same point if an out-of-state player shows interest and is on a Regional or National team we are going to go after that player as well. As our program continues to get better and better the more student athletes write us and interest builds. We will continue to do our best to keep local talent local and continue to better this team!
Tony (Richmond): Have you selected your captains for next year and if so, could you please tell us their strengths?
Bill Solberg: Actually the team just voted on captains a couple days ago and I would feel wrong telling everybody without first telling the team. I will say however, we have several outstanding leaders. They know how to lead by example and motivate the team. Its hard to choose just three captains for next season because I think we have numerous players that can bring captain leadership to this team. The captains chosen for next year will lead by example and will make their work rate on the field contagious!
Bill Solberg: Thanks for all the great questions and continued support of women's soccer!
Go Coogs!