The University of Akron Athletics
College Soccer News Spotlight: Caleb Porter
September 21 | Men's Soccer
College Soccer News recently wrote a feature story about
University of Akron men's soccer head coach Caleb Porter. Porter,
who is currently in his fourth season at the helm, has guided the
Zips to a perfect 6-0-0 record thus far in 2009 and a No. 1
designation nationally.
CALEB PORTER AND AKRON SOCCER
By Adam Zundell, Courtesy of College Soccer News
Consistency.
That's what coaches strive for. They want players to train hard, consistently. They want their program to compete for championships, consistently. They want to produce professionals, consistently.
(You get the point.)
Caleb Porter wants to do all of these things at Akron, and there is every indication that he has built the Zips into a program that will compete perennially for championships.
The consistency of Porter's demeanor and his own message is genuine and evident to his team. When players were asked to provide one-word descriptions of their fourth-year head coach, instead of a wide array of terms, the players (independent of each other) simply gave synonyms for passionate. Without the benefit of hearing their thoughts, Porter described himself nearly exactly the same way.
That may seem like a small coincidence, but the value and impact of players and a coach seeing something the same way, especially something that could have many different opinions like a person's personality is not small, and is not a coincidence.
Caleb Porter knows who he is and what he stands for. His players know it as well.
Coaching was likely always in his DNA. Jerry Yeagley identified him as a natural leader while the Hoosiers were churning out Big Ten titles and College Cup appearances, and when his professional career was cut short by a knee injury, coaching was the logical move. He returned to Indiana and was a part of a couple of national championships. He was winning, was an integral piece to the staff, and was at his alma mater. He was comfortable. Caleb Porter does not do comfortable very well.
"I was happy. I was at IU for 12 years," Porter says. "I think I got too happy and comfortable, and I was looking for a new challenge. I had learned an incredible amount and I started to get the itch and feel like I was ready and I yearned to lead my own program. But I wasn't going to leave for just any program, though, it had to be an opportunity where I felt like I could accomplish the same things as we did at IU."
The Akron program was almost ripe. Ken Lolla had the Zips on the national radar before he left for Louisville, a new soccer field was recently built and the community embraced and wanted soccer success. Even with those significant pieces in place, Porter recognized there was still work to be done to make the Zips a consistent winner. Akron knew what it wanted, but wasn't exactly sure how to get there. He knew how to get there.
"They asked me, 'What do we need to win a national championship?'" Porter says. "I was able to learn from the blueprint that IU had. I've tweaked it a little bit and made it my own."
Porter's blueprint is essentially three-pronged: recruit talented players, be tactically sound and cutivate the team environment that leads to a winning culture. Of course, this isn't a ground breaking blueprint, but it's the sound execution of all three phases that separates Porter from the back.
"College coaching is so diverse," he says. "You could be a great recruiter and not be successful. You can be a great tactician and not be succesful. You could be a great leader, team-builder, and not be successful."
Porter's assesment is true for all college coaches in any sport. You hear year after year about a top five recruiting class for a school, but it never equates to wins on the field. Or about a genius in a designated area that gets promoted to head coach, but can't seem to translate the same success as the leader of the entire operation. You have players that would run through a wall for a coach, but they're just not as talented or prepared as the opposition.
Of course, it all starts with talent. Porter operates with the assumption that he is going to get the max out of a player, so the more potential individual players have, the more collective potential the team has. Long recognized as a skilled recruiter, players indicate that his personal touch in the recruiting process made a big difference to them.
"His interests were in me," says Anthony Ampaipitakwong, who was a member of Porter's first recruiting class. "When I visited other programs, the coach would briefly talk to me about the program, but they didn't seem to be strictly interested in me. When I visited Akron, I was with him constantly and he was talking about my strengths, how I fit his style of play and how I could improve."
"I committed after only about a month of him recruiting me," freshman Zarek Valentin says. "I had played with [junior captain] Blair Gavin before, but when I saw him play again and his improvement while at Akron, I was blown away.
"At other schools, I wasn't sure if there was a tight bond on the team," Valentin continues. "Here, though, I knew it was a tight team. I definitely could feel that when I got here."
"There's no magic formula or secret," Porter says. "The best thing you can do is develop a connection with that player that is more meaningful than he feels from any of the other coaches. When we're recruiting, I'm involved in every single process. When a young man comes to campus, I'm with him. I want to get to know him and want him to get to know me."
It's easy to point to Porter's success in recruiting as the magic bullet in winning games, but that would be selling his tactical acumen and strategy short.
"His knowledge of the game is very high, and you can see that as soon as you walk on the field," Ampaipitakwong says. "Practices are exactly what we need. Every day we work on things that will help us improve, and the next day we move on to something new. The players respect him and we work hard."
Porter believes that you can win at a high level in college soccer while playing attractive, attacking soccer - not necessarily a common strategy employed by other programs across the country.
"You can maybe pinch results here and there, but I want to play the game in a way that I'm proud of, that's going to grow the game and develop players individually for the next level," Porter says. "I just don't buy into the fact that you can't win and play attractive soccer."
The winning has come, but of course, Porter wants more and is driven to get there. But, that doesn't mean he's sleeping in his office and spending every waking minute breaking down film like Joe Gibbs used to, although he admits he has to fight that urge. His wife, Andrea, a former soccer player herself, understands all that goes with running a college soccer program. And while his young son has brought joy and responsibilities away from the soccer field, Porter feels as though the time away sharpens him when he gets back.
"I think finding that balance has been one of my biggest weaknesses," he admits. "Those first couple of years I was really grinding, but I find time to spend with my family and re-charge. One of the things I've learned over the past year [since the birth of Colin] is that I've been a better coach because I've been forced to get away sometimes. I'm energized when I come back and I'm more focused."
The life balance is another piece of the puzzle that Porter emphasizes with his players in regards to their classroom responsibilities. And again, that message has come through crystal clear as the team GPA is well over 3.0.
Caleb Porter seemingly has it all right there for Akron. While there are no guarantees in soccer, and certainly no guarantees as far as titles and championships, the Zips will be one of the teams in the hunt. Consistently. And that's about all you can ask for.
E-mail Adam Zundell at azundell@yahoo.com.
