PonyFans.com profile: women's soccer coach John Cossaboon

[PonyPride]

Cossaboon named women's soccer head coach at SMU
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"This truly is a great day for SMU, and specifically for the SMU women's soccer program."

With that, SMU athletic director introduced John Cossaboon as the school's new women's soccer coach. Cossaboon arrives at SMU after having spent the previous six seasons at the University of San Diego, where he led the Toreros to a record of 73-43-6) and four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (1999-2002). Cossaboon's teams enjoyed a measure of success against the top teams in the West Coast Conference, the league that includes the last two national champions: Portland (2002) and Santa Clara (2001). San Diego beat Portland twice in the last four years, and tied the eventual national champions in 2002.

"As we called around the country, referencing all of the candidates, the thing we were told was that you can't get a better coach than John," Copeland said. "He is one of the best soccer coaches -- at any level -- in the country."

Cossaboon, who accepted the job Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Dallas Wednesday (and conducted his first practive Thursday at 7 a.m.), said his longtime friendship with SMU men's soccer coach Schellas Hyndman increased his desire to come to the Hilltop.

"When I heard the job was open, I applied," Cossaboon said. "Then I called the best friend I have -- the men's coach, Schellas Hyndman -- and asked him if he thought this was something I would be interested in. He assured me that it was, and it went from there. I looked at different things that would attract me to leave San Diego for SMU, and one of those things was Schellas."

Hyndman said that Cossaboon's dedication will be the biggest asset to his performance in his new job.

"His biggest strengths are his knowledge of soccer and his commitment to soccer," Hyndman said. "He has always had a real commitment to helping, developing and nurturing players, and that will be a huge part of making the team better. He gets here yesterday and has practice this morning, but the players are going on spring break this weekend. Most coaches would have waited until they returned before getting started. He's got a house to sell in San Diego, but he didn't want to wait a couple of weeks. He wants to be here."

Cossaboon admitted that he realized he wouldn't be able to pursue his love of surfing in Dallas. Nonetheless, he was eager to get started in the job that awaits him.

"To my knowledge, there isn't a base (of local soccer talent) anywhere like this," he said of the high school and club soccer players in North Texas. I'm going to do my best to make those players want to stay here and come to SMU. Obviously, we're not going to get them all. But remember, this is a team that went to the Final Four -- there's a lot of tradition here. The tradition of this program and the strength of this institution will sell themselves."

Cossaboon said that while the DFW area boasts countless talented players, he doesn't plan to limit his recruiting efforts to North Texas.

"Of course, I also have a lot of ties on the West Coast, and I plan to supplement the talent from this area with some key West Coast players. And I've had some success recruiting internationally, like in Canada. I know there are a number of talented Canadian players on the team already, and I plan to continue recruiting there."

Cossaboon's tied to Texas were particularly impressive to Copeland. Born in Texarkana, Cossaboon served as director of coaching for the North Texas State Soccer Association friom 1982-90, and has maintained ties in the state.

"There's a humility about a Texas kid -- that's something I never forgot," he said. "Without being negative about any other group, some of the Texas players that I've recruited before have ended up being my captains. There seems to be a great work ethic here."

A 1977 graduate of State University of New York-Cortland, Cossaboon earned his master's degree from the University of North Carolina. (Copeland -- a graduate of ACC rival Virginia -- admitted that he had to overlook Cossaboon's UNC ties, although it did allow him exposure to the women's soccer program that has dominated its sport like no other program in college athletics.)

Before taking over the head coaching job at USD, he served as the women's head coach at UC-Santa Barbara, and coached a women's professional team in Japan from 1993-95. He also has held positions as the top assistant coach for the men's team at Santa Clara (1992-93), as the men's head coach at Cal State-Hayward and an assistant coach at Duke and North Carolina. He also earned his Intermediate Level Coaching Certificate from the Brazilian Football Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has studied soccer techniques in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The SMU women's team has been without a coach since the end of December, when former head coach George Van Linder stepped down to take the same position at Baylor. After training on their own for several months, the players have worked under Hyndman for the past four weeks. Midfielder/forward Kim Harvey, who will be a senior in the fall, said the team is excited to have its coach in place.

"It's been pretty hard, because it took longer than expected to find the new coach," Harvey said. "Since school started (in January), we've been training on our own. When we got out on the field with Schellas, our intensity picked up. We all know what he (Hyndman) has accomplished, and he has our total respect.

"But when he (Cossaboon) got out there with us this morning, I think our intensity picked up even more, because we know this is the guy we're going to be playing for. I was impressed with him -- I think we all were. He has a real presence about him, and it's clear that he wants to win."

Cossaboon does want to win, and he expects to. Soon.

"My expectations are going to be high for this team," he said. "My expectations are for this team to further than they did last year. For now, I think I'll leave it at that. Until we really get down to business, that's all I can say right now, until we get to know each other and get used to each other."

From the players' standpoint, the arrival of a new coach makes it almost like another freshman year for everyone on the roster.

"I think so, for everyone," Harvey said. "He doesn't know us, or what we can do. We have to show him our abilities, and earn the right to play."

After his initial glimpse of his new team, Cossaboon said he's extremely excited about the prospects for the future of SMU women's soccer.

"When we got out there this morning," he said, "it was cold and a little bumpy from the ice. But what I saw was 18 or 19 players with a lot of ability, who were willing to work very hard and who have the ability to be anything they want to be."

[PonyGirl]

Great stuff!
Sounds like a real good coach.

[PK]

Nice report...sounds like we got a good one.

[FloridaMustang]

Excellent! I feel sorry for San Diego! We really got a great coach!

[DallasDiehard]

Thanks for the story, webguys - sure beats the note in the Morning News (of course).
Great story, and he sounds like a great coach.

[Pony4Life]

Any coach who's had success against Santa Clara and Portland should do well here, too. Sounds like a good hire.

[HorsePower]

Any coach that Schellas Hyndman endorses has to be a great coach.
Congratulations to the women's soccer team. Good luck in 2003.

[WildHorse]

I talked to someone who used to play for him when he was with the NTSSA. She said he's a great coach, that the women's team couldn't have landed a better coach. She likes Coach Coss (?) a lot, and said the team will do great things under him.

A ringing endorsement, to say the least.

[Jim Rome]

I'm the first to admit I don't know JACK about soccer. But there are a million SoccerMoms out here, and a couple of them have told me Coach is the MAN in women's soccer.
I've never spent a lot of time (OK, any time) watching soccer. But sounds like a good coach anyway. Nice job, webdudes. Big ups to you on that story.