Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 17, 1995 TAG: 9507180138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What the Roanoke Valley needs is an indoor soccer team in winter. Then, Ed McMichael really would be a man for all seasons.
As it is, McMichael spends his springs coaching at Patrick Henry High School, and August through October as an assistant to Roanoke College men's coach Scott Allison.
This summer, McMichael has added another job. He was the second head coach in Roanoke RiverDawgs history only three weeks into their inaugural U.S. Interregional Soccer League season.
Does this sound like a guy who once quit coaching because he felt consumed by the sport?
``I was kind of burned out,'' said McMichael, who at the time was trying to coach and recruit as the boss of men's and women's programs at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala. ``I had worked really hard to get where I was, and then it got to a pace I wasn't desirous of at all.''
So, McMichael moved to the Roanoke Valley, a place he knew. The native of suburban Philadelphia had played in the successful program at Lynchburg College, where he graduated in 1975.
``I decided I wanted to go back to teaching in high school, because that's what I enjoyed most,'' McMichael said. ``You get to know kids in high school. The focus is more on teaching and on working with kids than anything else.''
Oh, yes. Besides his soccer work, McMichael teaches a full load - five classes daily - of biology at PH. He was a soccer assistant coach for four years, and has spent the past four years as the Patriots' head coach.
He's about to begin his third season as a Maroons assistant, after he finishes what has become a long season for the RiverDawgs (4-11), a job he took with some trepidation after Sam Okpodu was fired in May.
``We spun our wheels for the first two or three weeks after I joined them,'' McMichael said of the 'Dawgs. ``The players had to get to know me, and I had to identify myself and earn their respect that I could help make them better.
``I feel like I kind of shortchanged them because of those first weeks. The first few days, I found myself just watching them. They were so fast, so strong and incredibly skilled compared to the players I'd worked with before. I just enjoyed watching them play.
``Then I had to tell myself, `I can handle that.'
``These are really good soccer players. They're upper-level players. We have players here who really could play in any leagues. I just had to realize that they all have weaknesses, as well. They're just at a higher level than I'm used to teaching.''
McMichael, 41, also works three weeks of soccer camp at North Cross and both weeks of Allison's camp at Roanoke College. If he's asked, he said, it's likely he would return next season to coach the RiverDawgs, whose first USISL season ends July 29, the only home date remaining.
That's a decision he has reached only recently.
``Initially, I didn't want to do it this year when I was asked,'' McMichael said. ``The time constraints, with family, I thought would be difficult and it has been to some extent. You don't go camping on weekends because you have a game.''
McMichael, who also was an assistant coach on the Division I level at Northeast Louisiana, also was involved with three U.S. Olympic Festivals as a soccer administrator.
It's doubtful anyone in the Roanoke Valley has seen the sport from more levels than McMichael. Not that he expected to be on so many sidelines.
``It's been 20-plus years now that I've been involved with soccer, and I certainly didn't expect to do it as a living,'' he said. ``It was fun. Then I started not enjoying my job.
``So, I changed jobs. I'm a teacher. Coaching soccer is something else I enjoy and I do now. Teaching in the classroom and soccer aren't that different.
``It isn't so much the management of the classroom and dealing with pupils, but it's breaking down the concept into smaller pieces to teach it. That's what you do in biology. In soccer, it's similar. It's all teaching.
``What I enjoy is being involved with young people, and seeing their enthusiasm. I love biology. I love soccer. Working with the RiverDawgs has given me a chance to teach at a level I'd never tried before.''
by CNB