Marquette only announced they were going D1 a couple of months ago, but they already have a stable of young coaches amassed at the School. Head Coach Joe Amplo is still a relatively young guy, but his assistants are all on the front side of 30. Stephen Brundage and John Orsen have been on board for a while, but the newest addition is giant goalkeeping human, Scott Rodgers. Scott Rodgers was a big part of the Nationals run to the MLL Finals this year, just as he was a huge part of the Notre Dame run to the finals during his Senior year in college.
Obviously, Scott Rodgerswill work with the keepers, but he will also help the team with their strength and conditioning work.
I’m interested to see if the approach of bringing in a lot of younger coaches is going to pay off for Marquette. Many of the best coaches in the game have been, or are, older guys, and they often have an assistant that is right up there in years as well. But Marquette isn’t a top team, so they just might need something different. These guys will be worked tirelessly (I’m talking about the coaches!), and being young helps with that. Recruiting, and selling the school, will be key, and again, young coaches can often relate well to current high school players.
But Scott Rodgers also brings his name and reputation to the school, and the fact that he’s a well-known goalie should help Marquette in that department big-time. They’ll need a GREAT goalie, and then another, and another, if they hope to be competitive starting out, because it takes time to build a program. But with Scott Rodgers, they just might have given themselves a head start there.
While he doesn’t have much coaching experience, Scott Rodgers is a guy who can adjust. He proved that when he made it pretty close to playing for the Minnesota Swarm… as a defenseman. If he plays again, hopefully they’ll let him play goalie. God knows Team USAIndoor could use one of those. So on it’s face, this seems like a great hire for Marquette, and a golden opportunity for a giant young goalie to make an even bigger name for himself as he looks to be the next great US goaltender.
So can Marquette see early success with these coaches? Can they see early success at all? What’ the key to winning quickly at the D1 level? And where should the focus really be, if not there?
You can check out the full press release on Marquette’s website.
