Collegiate Times

A new era of Virginia Tech men's soccer started on June 11 when the Department of Athletics promoted Michael Brizendine to the team's head coach position.

The fourth head coach in the program's history, Brizendine spent the past five and a half seasons as an assistant head coach for the Hokies. Since joining the program in 2004, he has received praise from coaches and players alike, and was recognized as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007.

Brizendine takes over for Oliver Weiss, who resigned on June 2 after spending the past six seasons as the Hokies' head coach. Weiss guided the program to its most successful campaign in 2007 during which the team produced a 14-4-5 record and a trip to the Final Four.

The team did not see similar results last season and finished 5-13-1 and 0-8-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Most recently, the athletics department self-reported NCAA recruitment violations within the men's soccer 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Since the change, Brizendine's players have already begun to respond well to their new coach on the field.

"Everything is very structured with coach Brizendine," senior defender Alexander Baden said. "We know what we're going to do before practice and everyone knows all their roles. I like coach Brizendine's approach more with the players. With Coach Weiss, it was more like he was the top dog and everyone else was below him."

Others go as far as to say the coaching move was necessary for the team's success.

"I think getting sort of a new atmosphere for us is a great way to change and to step it up from the year before," senior goalkeeper Brendan Dunn said. "After last season ended, everyone was very down and I think the team was a bit segregated. Coach Brizendine has definitely tried to bring in that type of group atmosphere."

Brizendine keeps his coaching philosophy simple. He does not try to create a revolutionary way of playing the game. Instead, he toils with what has been proven to work.

"In terms of coaching, I take little bits and pieces from other places and people you meet," Brizendine said. "But you always put your own spin on whatever you absorb. You've seen it before but you might not be able to place it because my spin is on it."

Despite being only 32 years old, becoming the head coach of a collegiate soccer program is not new to Brizendine.

After becoming an assistant at Bridgewater College in 2000, Brizendine was subsequently promoted to the head coach position, filling the role for three seasons while leading the then-historically poor program to its two most successful seasons in 2002 and 2003. Following the team's 12-6 mark in 2003, Brizendine was named Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year by his peers.

Such success in the Division III ranks led Brizendine to join Weiss' staff for the 2004 season. Years later, the new head coach affirms that his experience at Bridgewater has prepared him for his new role with the Hokies.

"I've been a head coach before so you grow back into that role naturally," Brizendine said. "As an assistant, you're doing your job but you're always thinking, 'alright, when I get my own program, here are some things I'll do differently.' You obviously want to get a head coaching position and those are the type of questions you're going to have to answer. So now that I'm in this position, I kind of already know in which direction I want to head."

Brizendine's confidence is also bolstered by his two assistant coaches, Patrick McSorely and Kevin Doyle, who joined the program in the offseason. McSorely is a former teammate of Brizendine, as the two played together at James Madison University in the latter part of the '90s.

"I've been very fortunate with the staff I have. Both of my assistants are older than me so they've helped me in certain areas and have definitely given me inside wisdom to things."