By Jim Richards
May 16, 2007
Coming off a winless season, the SMCC women’ soccer program could use a well-connected soccer coach and Athletic Director Chris Haines made sure she landed one.
It should be a whole new thing on the soccer field for the women with the addition of Marcos de Niza girls soccer coach Chris Carr, who will take over a program that went 0-16 in the ACCAC last season.
Carr admitted that he’s not likely to turn the program around instantly and has started several months late in the recruiting season, but he knows a lot of people and players and he’s coming off a brilliant season with Marcos de Niza, one that he led the team all the way into the Class 5A Division II state semifinals last winter.
“I’m a little bit late coming into the game and I’m hoping that my contacts from high school and club (soccer) are going to pay off,” said Carr, 28. “Hopefully, some people haven’t committed to other places yet.”
While Carr possesses the knowledge and the contacts, he’s also –like most people from England—a passionate soccer fan. So passionate, in fact, that he plans make a two-day trip all the way to London to watch his hometown Exeter City team in a lower level playoff tournament in the coming weeks.
“It’s my hometown team and I’ve been watching them play since I’ve lived in England,” said Carr, who moved to the United States in 2000. “All my buddies are going. It might be the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I’ll fly in Sunday and fly out Monday.”
When he returns he’ll have work to do and that’s fine with him.
“I want to help kids and I want to help them get to play their final two years of eligibility,” said Carr, who played soccer at Mesa Community College and at Grand Canyon University and has coached the East Valley based AZFC (age) 14-and-under club soccer team for four years. “ I’m just trying to build some stability and get a foundation that allows me to recruit better and better players.
“This year I would aim for a .500 record. If I can do that, that would be great.”
Don’t count him out.