Rod Garcia didn’t even know about a job opening at Allan Hancock College, until he started getting the calls.
“A lot of folks over there had been kind enough to let me know about it,” he said, “and they told me maybe I should take the job.”
So he did. Rod is now the new women’s soccer coach at Hancock, stepping into the cleats left vacant by departing coach Cherif Maghni.
Rod played for Stanford, where he was named an all-American honorable mention and was selected to play in the North American Soccer League by the San Jose Earthquakes.
Stepping into the new job, Rod admitted that he has some challenges ahead of him. The Hancock girl’s soccer team has struggled in recent years—with their numbers, with injuries, and with recruitment. Rod is still struggling to field a team.
As of now, he said he has about nine girls committed to playing this season, but he wants at least a dozen. But if he has a small team this year, he said, he’ll just have to make it work.
“I think it’s going to start slow,” he said. “Next year will be bigger, once people have learned how much fun it is to play soccer for me.”
If that happens, it won’t be the first time word of mouth worked in Rod’s favor. As boys’ tennis coach for the Santa Maria High School Saints, Rod said he was able to double the number of boys interested in the sport after one season.
“Sports have to be fun,” he said. “Otherwise, why would we play?”
But the emphasis on enjoyment doesn’t mean Rod doesn’t want to win. He would like to improve on the program and the team’s record. Last season, the Bulldogs went 3-2-15 for the season. Two of those losses were forfeits.
“I know there’s been problems in the past, fielding women’s teams,” said Kim Ensing, associate dean of Physical Education, Health, and Athletics.
The best women’s players are leaving the Santa Maria Valley, Rod theorized. They’re departing to either play for four-year schools or for Santa Barbara Junior College or Cuesta College. Word on the street is that Hancock doesn’t have a great women’s program, Rod said—and that’s about to change.
With help from the school and his brother (Hancock men’s soccer coach Al Garcia), Rod has been able to secure the help of two talented athletes: Katie Dwyer and Jennifer Crump. These local soccer stars will be his assistant coaches, and, hopefully, will lead the girls by example.
“We notoriously lose girls to other schools like Santa Barbara and Cuesta,” Al said.
That’s because girls who don’t go straight to playing for a four-year school want the best coaches available, as well as the best program, Al said, because they haven’t given up on moving on with their career.
With the additions of Rod, Dwyer, and Crump, Hancock now has the best coaches available, Al said.
“Coaching here is going to be just as strong as anywhere I can imagine,” he said.
Al coached both Dwyer and Crump at Righetti High School. Dwyer went away to U.C. Santa Barbara to play soccer after graduating, and Crump headed off to Oregon State, both Division I schools.
Now that they’re back in town, Rod is hoping that having the girls on board will bring in more girls who want to play soccer for Hancock. After all, if anyone wants to play for a four-year, who better to learn from than those who’ve already done it?
Rod wants to learn, too. He wants to learn how and why past teams have failed so that it won’t happen again.
“I’m looking forward, and I’m looking backwards,” Rod said. “I’m trying to get a handle on the past, and if there were mistakes made, then I don’t want to repeat those mistakes.”
Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien looks side to side. Contact her at sthien@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 21-28, 2008.