TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Wes Hart doesn’t want to hear about the past.
Whether it has been as a professional player in Major League Soccer, as a club coach, or as a college assistant coach, Hart has learned that what teams accomplish on the field matters most.
On paper, the Alabama women’s soccer team hasn’t made its mark as one of the Southeastern Conference’s strongest program. While Todd Bramble made progress installing an attractive style of play, the Crimson Tide finished above .500 twice in Bramble’s seven seasons.
Hart knows the two years he spent as an assistant coach at Florida State won’t be enough to change the course of Alabama’s program, even if the Seminoles played in two Division I national title games. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to use what he learned from FSU coach Mark Krikorian to create a new tradition for Crimson Tide women’s soccer.
“What I told (the players) is I have incredibly high expectations (based on) where I have come from and what I have accomplished as a player and as a coach,” Hart said Monday in his introductory news conference. “I have high standards, and I am not going to drop them. They’re going to need to raise their level of expectations to have to coincide with my own.”
Hart arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, last Wednesday afternoon, met the team Thursday morning, and left Thursday to go to San Diego to start recruiting. He said he spent the weekend in San Diego before returning to Alabama on Monday morning, which is when he had his first training session with his new team.
Hart said it is “gold mine” at a school with a national brand and a winning tradition in the athletic department based on the success of its football, gymnastics, and softball programs, just to name a few. He said there are challenges he doesn’t know about yet, but he said the tradition of Alabama sports is “intriguing” to him.
Hart replaces Bramble, who last month became the new women’s soccer coach at George Mason. Bramble was 57-65-13 in seven seasons at Alabama. Bramble, who guided the Clemson women’s soccer team to the NCAA tournament in each of his seven seasons at the school prior to arriving at Alabama. But the former player at Mercer and with the National Professional Soccer League’s Memphis Rogues went 25-44-10 in the SEC in his tenure at Alabama. He guided the Crimson Tide to only one NCAA tournament, a first-round loss to Miami in 2011. The NCAA tournament appearance was the first since 1998, and only the second in program history.
The 2011 (10-9-3, 4-5-2 SEC) and the 2014 seasons (10-7-3, 5-4-2) were the only times Alabama finished above .500 in Bramble’s seven seasons. He had two .500 finishes in his tenure. The 2011 finish marked the program’s first winning season since 2003.
But Hart said there are “so, so many” positives to draw from at Alabama that he has to sell to recruits to convince them that his style of play and his program will deliver results. He admitted it is hard for recruits to look past the here and now and see a team’s record and have that player see another program that is ranked nationally or has a higher profile. Hart said overcoming that hurdle and changing the perception of the program will be one of the biggest challenges he and his coaching staff will face.
“It is not going to be an easy fix,” Hart said. “As competitive as I am, I want to win now, but I have to keep in mind it is a marathon and not a spring. That could be the biggest challenge for me, not getting discouraged if things aren’t going my way right away.”
Hart handled a variety of roles at FSU, including planning the offensive attack, assisting with player development and video analysis, along with other recruiting and scouting duties.
In two seasons, FSU went 47-3-4 en route to a national runner-up finish in 2013 (lost to UCLA 1-0 in overtime) and the school’s first national championship in 2014 (1-0 victory against Virginia). Hart helped develop an offense that scored 129 goals and fueled the program to back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
“Wes is an outstanding coach with a great background in the game,” FSU coach Mark Krikorian said. “He is a hard worker, and I am fully confident he will bring the Alabama program to new heights. Wes undoubtedly played an integral part in helping us win the national championship this past year.”
A native of Littleton, Colo., Hart worked from 2005-12 in a variety of roles with the Colorado Rush, one of the premier soccer clubs in the country. In his last three years with the Rush, Hart held the title of director of coaching academy, where he oversaw the girls ECNL teams and the boys U.S. Development Academy teams. During his time with the Rush, Hart was involved in four national championships, including three as an assistant and one as head coach. Hart has coached several U.S. Youth National Team players, including Lindsey Horan, who now plays for Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in France.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Hart played six seasons of professional soccer in the MLS. He was selected as the seventh overall pick in the 2000 MLS Super Draft by the Colorado Rapids. In four seasons with the Rapids (2000-03), Hart appeared in 68 regular-season games, making 60 starts. He also started seven of 10 MLS playoff games during that time. His final two seasons in the MLS came with the San Jose Earthquakes, as he appeared in 25 games making 14 starts. Hart was honored as the MLS Humanitarian of the Year in 2000 and 2001.
Hart began his playing career at Wisconsin before transferring to Washington for his final two seasons (1998-99). With the Huskies, Hart garnered third-team All-America accolades in 1998 and second-team honors in 1999. He was honored as a first team Scholar All-American by the NSCAA in 1999, was a two-time first team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) honoree and was named the MPSF Player of the Year in 1999.
Hart said winning is the key to making Alabama relevant on the national scene. He knows players look at records and past results to get a barometer of the health of programs. While he doesn’t want to dwell on Alabama’s past, he knows his program will have to get results to attract the attention of the top players in the nation.
Hart isn’t sure how the Crimson Tide will attempt to reverse the program’s fortunes. Coming from a possession-style attack at Florida State, he said he would like the team to play an attractive brand of soccer, but he said the Crimson Tide have to be realistically and play with what they have. His goal is to have a team that can adapt and play direct or physical if that’s what it takes to get those results.
Hart said he has taken something from all of the coaches he has worked with or played for in his career. He said his ability to relate to players is one of his strengths. He said that is key because coaches need to build trust with players so they can convince them to invest in the program.
Hart said professionalism, attention to detail, and organization are things he learned from Krikorian at FSU. Those qualities paid off this past season.
Hart anticipates using a similar blueprint that was used at FSU to recruit international players. He said his goal is to get the best players available, whether they are internationals or players from the United States. He said he is willing to scour the state of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana — anywhere — to find players who can help elevate the program to the level of proven powers like FSU, North Carolina, or UCLA.
“At the end of the day it is soccer,” Hart said. “Whether you’re talking about men’s or women’s, it is soccer. In the men’s game, it is faster and more physical and more athletics, but, at the end of the day, the tactics are very similar.”
Hart feels he will be able to build relationships with his players because everything he will ask them to do is realistic and he knows players will be capable of doing those things.
“I think I am a players coach,” Hart said. “I am someone who is passionate about the game and passionate about people. I care about my players, and I think they can feel that and see that. … Ultimately, I have to sell myself before I can sell the program. Alabama is a solid program, but it is not listed. People aren’t listing it when they are talking about the elite soccer schools.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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