March 15, 2011
SEATTLE - Washington men's soccer coach Jamie Clark has hired Jeff Rowland as an assistant coach, completing his new coaching staff. Rowland, who coached with Clark last season at Creighton, will assist the first-year head coach at UW along with second-year assistant Brandon Prideaux. "I'm really excited to come here and obviously work for a great head coach in Jamie. I've worked for him a couple places now and think he's going to do a great job and we're going to do a great job," said Rowland. "Brandon's got a great pedigree himself so I'm real excited about the staff. And of course the team--I think we can be really good in the future so it's really exciting." The Clark-Rowland connection goes back quite a while. Clark coached Rowland for four years at New Mexico, where the latter was a two-time All-American and runner up for the 2005 MAC Hermann Trophy. New Mexico finished as runner-up in the College Cup during Rowland's senior year in '05 after he broke school records for points (45) and shots (101). Rowland finished his career at New Mexico ranked second in school history in career shots (239), goals (45) and third in points (104). "I was an attacking player by nature so I think I can add an element in the attack," Rowland explains, "whereas Jamie and Brandon were defenders in their day, so kind of they know their stuff there and I think I add a bit to the attack more so." After a professional career in the MLS that was cut short by knee injuries, Rowland joined Clark's coaching staff at Harvard as a volunteer assistant for one season before following him to Creighton last year where he was hired as full-time assistant coach. "Adding Jeff to the staff is a great addition in terms of he's an attacking player who scored a lot of goals as a player and brings that mentality as a coach," Clark stated. "He understands how forwards think and run and the spacing of plays. I think for all our attacking players they're going to happy to have him around...He was a player who understood the game and that's how he shows as a coach." Rowland will help Husky offensive game that will see forwards Brent Richards and John Crenshaw return from last season. Richards, a First-Team All Pac-10 selection and the team's leader in shots and points from a year ago, is currently studying abroad in Ecuador and thus has yet to meet any of the new coaches. "I haven't seen Brent play but I hear he's great, and we've got a bunch of other guys that can definitely play and get in the attack as well," states Rowland, "but I'll be really looking forward to getting Brent here after spring break and seeing what he's all about." Rowland is no doubt looking forward to his first coaching stint with a major school in a major conference. "I see a lot of potential which is great. You've got to have potential, but it's our job to turn that potential into something, and I think we have some very, very good players and if they keep working hard we can be a great team." |
