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In the 2000 NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) championship, Middlebury battled Williams College through four overtimes when Dezotell assisted the game-winning goal to Reed Gahagen. After the goal, Dezotell looked over at the sideline and saw his coach in tears about 20 yards away from the rest of the team, trying to compose himself.
“When you see a coach have a reaction like that, it’s great to see how much they care,” Dezotell said. “You can see how much he cares about the team, about Middlebury, and about the profession.”
This is a big year for Saward and the men’s soccer team at Middlebury. It’s the 50th season for the program, and it is Saward’s 20th season as head coach. On October 9th, 400-500 ex-players are expected to show up for the homecoming game against Amherst College and attend a celebration afterwards, according to Mike Hamm, who is an assistant coach and former player for Saward and is also organizing the alumni event.
“It should be full of, as Bruce Springsteen calls it, ‘Glory Days’ stories,” Saward, 51, joked.
But Saward (pronounced “say-word”) won’t be able to talk about the “Glory Days” with everyone. Like Dezotell, who is the new head coach at Johnson State College in Vermont, a growing number of his players have become college coaches and they cannot make the celebration because they have their own games to play that weekend.
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Bill Sampaio (left) is hoping to share his love for Futsal to kids throughout New England |
“It’s awful because I want to go very badly,” Dezotell said. “It’s definitely bittersweet.”
Missing Middlebury’s celebration could be the best compliment these former players offer Saward.
“He’s the reason I’m coaching,” said Josh Shapiro, who played for Saward from 1993 to 1997 and is now an assistant coach at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Shapiro added that he is “crushed” that he can’t make the alumni celebration.
But before any of these men went on to coach other programs, even before they put on the Middlebury uniform, they made the decision to play at Middlebury. And for former players like Brendan Donahue and Dezotell, Middlebury soccer translates into two words: tradition and winning.
“Going to Middlebury, you always know you’re going to win 10 games a year,” Dezotell said. “The winning mentality is always present.”
Donahue, who is an assistant coach at Northeastern University in Boston and played for Middlebury from 1990 to 1993, chose Middlebury because the team was a proven winner.
“The draw of Middlebury is we’re able to attract good athletes,” Saward said. Saward, who is from Southeast London, England, is a former goalkeeper who played at the collegiate and semi-professional level.
Saward, who was an assistant at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for two years, has been a consistent winner since he started coaching Middlebury in 1985. His lifetime record is 201-68-30, and he has led the Panthers to 16 postseason appearances, including ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) championships in 1986 and 1990, as well as the NESCAC championship in 2000. He has been named coach of the year in Division III in 1985, 1986, 1996 and 1998.
But Saward is another link in the chain of winning coaches at Middlebury. Joe Morrone, who is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, coached Middlebury from 1958 to 1968 and led the 1965 team to the co-championship of the University Division of the New England Soccer League. After Middlebury, Morrone went on to coach the University of Connecticut to national recognition.
After Morrone, Tom Lawson coached the team from 1969 to 1975, where he led his team to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1972 and 1973. Then Ron McEachen, who coached Middlebury from 1976 to 1984, went on to coach at the University of Vermont and the New England Revolution.
But Saward’s wins and losses don’t tell the whole story of why former players have become coaches. Chris Parsons, who is the head coach at the United States Coast Guard Academy, said it’s Saward’s interest in what his players are doing off the field that makes him such a great coach.
“Coaching to him is more than coaching soccer,” said Parsons, who played under McEachen and Saward from 1983 to 1986. He added that both men left an impact on his decision to become a coach.
“I think you grow a passion for the game when you play for him [Saward],” said Parsons, who was the captain his senior year. He added that Saward tries to make his players better people by teaching ethics and leadership.
“I think that’s what his vision is of playing…where is this going to take you down the road,” Parsons said.
But Saward won’t take any direct credit for the path of these coaches. Saward said that Middlebury students are “well-balanced,” and the people at Middlebury have a strong sense of community and loyalty.
“A true picture of what college athletes should be all about,” he said, referring to his player’s as not only athletes, but also students who take their class work seriously. But if any of his players do get a little obnoxious, Saward has what he calls “the power of the bench,” and will bench a player if he doesn’t like what he sees.
“It has to do with the coaches,” said Mike Noonan, the head coach at Brown University. “They’re educators.”
Although Noonan played for McEachen, he said he was “elated” when he found out that Saward was going to be the head coach, because he would continue driving the program in the right direction. Noonan said being an athlete at Middlebury was a great experience in his life that helps explains why he is a coach.
“A lot of us decided that our classroom was going to be the football field,” he said.
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Mike Noonan |
On the field, Devin O’Neill said Saward created an environment where players wanted to come to practice.
O’Neill is now the head coach at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and he said Saward had a big influence on his decision to become a coach. O’Neill recalled that after graduating in 1991, he told Saward he couldn’t give up soccer, so Saward told him to coach.
“I just wanted to be involved on a daily basis,” he said. O’Neill said he respected his former coach because he was a “fierce competitor,” but also a “first class gentleman.”
Scott Wiercinski, the assistant coach at Brown University, said Saward’s real skill is creating an atmosphere of excitement during practices and games.
“Somehow it ends up fun and that’s a unique skill,” said Wiercinski, who is an assistant for Coach Mike Nooonan.
All of these coaches recognized something they thought was special in Saward, and it made them want to play harder. It also gave them a deeper love for the game. Now these players are taking what they have learned and are trying to pass it on to their own college players.
Donahue said he is trying to be the first one on the field at Northeastern so he can ask the players about their classes and interests - a lesson he learned from Saward.
“He knew what you’re interests were outside of the team,” Donahue said.
Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects to the strong ties among the Middlebury soccer team is the fact that Saward is making them stronger – with his alumni. Saward has set up an e-mail list and updates his former players on how the team is doing. He said sometimes people whom he hasn’t heard from in years will reply back.
“I’m interested in how they’re doing in their careers and their lives,” Saward said.
“I consider him a very close friend,” said Parsons, who added that he calls once every ten days during the season to talk. Parsons head coaching jobs for the Middlebury players who are now assistants is “a matter of time.”
“I think one thing with Dave...it’s hard to have a bad word about him,” said Donahue, who invited Saward to his wedding this past summer.
“I don’t think in 22 years there wasn’t a player I didn’t get along with,” Saward said.
Now as 20 years have passed, Saward said he would like to keep coaching.
“I feel like I’m part of the furniture,” Saward joked. “I’m very lucky I get paid to do something I love.”
When Saward decides to step down, Shapiro from Lafayette said there will be 30 Middlebury alumni lining up for the position – and he said he would take the job “in a second.”
“It’s going to be in good hands when he passes the torch,” he said.
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