After a dominating 1-0 defeat of Michigan on Tuesday night, attention quickly turned to an even bigger announcement at the University of Akron the next day.
Jared Embick was given the reins of the Akron men’s soccer program on December 15, thanks to the departure of Caleb Porter to MLS. Embick was rumored to be the favorite for the job since Porter decided he was leaving for the pros. He would be given a three-year contract, a real commitment to Embick as a leader of the program.
Many factors went into the hiring of Embick, who inherits arguably the best program in the country. Former and current players, along with important alumni, were vocal in their support for Akron’s current associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. This was huge for Embick, knowing that these important people believed in him and felt he could do the job.
“It gives me confidence moving forward,” Embick commented. “It will be a smooth transition. We are going to keep things rolling; there won’t be a dropoff.”
Current players love Akron’s style of play and philosophy and have completely bought into the system. They knew it wouldn’t be the same with someone else. Even if that someone else was a big name in the world of soccer like Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna, Todd Yeagley, or Brian Maisonneuve.
Embick has been described to me many times as the mastermind, the intellectual behind Akron’s success on the pitch. Porter excelled in his role as the face and voice of the program, becoming one of the most successful college coaches in history. Taking this into consideration, Akron appears to be in very good hands, especially since Porter appeared to have some input into the decision.
On a practical level, Akron was very limited in who could be interviewed for the job as other universities wouldn’t allow interviews to be a distraction in the middle of their seasons. With that said, Embick still beat out dozens of applicants that wanted to be at the helm of the program.
“It’s not an easy job to get,” Embick added. “I am in a great position to succeed and can’t ask for anything more.”
The idea of promoting from within has some precedence. The most successful example is UNC’s Carlos Somoano, who won a national championship in just his first year. It was a similar situation to Embick’s, players and alumni backing an internal candidate and assistant coach in a nationwide coaching search. It wouldn’t come as a great surprise to us to see Embick lifting championship trophies as early as next year.
Critics questioned the timing of yesterday’s announcement. It is a key part of the college season, a time where Akron has dominated MAC and non-conference opponents alike. Could it be a distraction? Not really, as this team is entirely focused on their goal of a national championship. Everyone wants to send Porter off with another national championship.
The announcement also soothed potential recruits, who were weary of all the uncertainty. Waiting until December 15 was not an option as some recruits may have chosen other options for the next step of their careers. Embick handled much of the recruiting efforts under Porter anyways so the Class of 2013 should be just as strong.
“Caleb was a big part of them coming here,” Embick admitted. But players still want to play for the best. And until someone makes a serious run against the Zips, the best can be found right here in Northeast Ohio.
Embick will round out his staff sometime after Christmas, but hinted that most if not all of the existing staff will return for 2013.
Here is some local reaction from the announcement:
Matt Dagilis, Former University of Akron Defender
I am extremely happy for not only Jared, but for the men’s soccer program. With the appointment of Jared to the head coaching position, the soccer program is in very good hands. Jared is a very intelligent coach with an incredible work ethic that rubs off on the players. Promoting Jared to this position will help maintain this program’s philosophy and approach to college soccer and to playing the game how it’s supposed to be played as well as bring more championships to this university. The University of Akron made a smart choice in bringing in Caleb Porter and have made another great choice in promoting Jared Embick to head coach!
Aaron Matti, Rubber City Brigade
I think it’s great Akron was able to promote within. Embick has been an important piece of Akron’s success over the years and deserves the opportunity to be the next in charge. It will be fantastic to see the philosophy and tactics neither change much or at all. With Embick’s connections, I don’t see a drop in recruiting talent either. I look forward to seeing one of the nation’s top college soccer programs continue its success and compete at the top under Embick’s leadership. I’m sure all of Zips Nation, former players, alumni, and area soccer fans will be supporting him too.
Andy Hoggarth, Manager for AFC Cleveland (NPSL)
I am really pleased that Coach Embick was offered the chance to lead the Zips as I believe that Coach Porter could not have brought as much success to the program without the coaching staff that he had.
In the interactions I have had with Coach Embick he has always been very helpful and easy to talk to, about not only the Zips but coaching in general. I hope that with Coach Embick as head coach that here at AFC Cleveland we can continue the links that we have formed with Akron Soccer and provide the players a local option to play during the summer months.
