I was driving a rented U haul with all of my worldly possessions piled into it and the rest of my family trailing behind in an Isuzu Trooper. I had served 4 years in the USAF and was headed back as a sub-professor in Economics at VMI.  As I drove past the sign entering Rockbridge County a wave of emotion hit me, tears of joy and excitement, totally unexpected but certainly a hint of the depth of my desire to make a difference in something that truly had meant a lot to me.

                Getting settled into an old farm house that was sadly neglected took a bit but with lots of help from family and friends when August rolled around I had the time I needed to help out a bit with VMI soccer. I had met Doug Bartlett ( Head Coach) a few weeks before and in one day of riding around Lexington with him I knew he was a special person. There wasn’t a person he met that didn’t light up and want some of his time; I remember thinking to myself that he had impacted the community in a huge way in a very short time.  My memories of August training sessions and the team make me smile as I reflect. The training conditions were awful. The parade grounds were home and there was little grass to speak of. We dodged parades and everything else for training and matches and yet I don’t remember the players ever bitching too much.  The team had changed quite a bit in the four years since I had graduated. Most of the scholarship money had been removed and after a few weeks it was easy to see that team priorities had changed from what I had known them to be as a player . Things had gone from wanting and believing that we could win to an attitude of  we will work hard but we don’t expect to win much, and if we get a chance to party some we’ll take it!

                Gus Schuster and Spud  were two of the upperclassmen leading the team and colorful is certainly one word to describe those 2 and the rest of the team. There was a significant amount of talent as well and in particular I can remember Jimmy Cottrell scoring a few amazing goals and blowing away some pretty good athletes with amazing bursts. The wins were not frequent but I learned quickly that even though the focus had changed somewhat  for the  players the heart and desire was still there. Coach B and I worked them hard, McCown and Leonard kept it real while the Schnock brothers and the rest of the team tried to figure out their new coaches, we all grew a lot in that year. I think I learned more from them than they learned from me….I especially learned not to attempt demonstrations that I was not capable of executing! I know a few of you remember that bicycle kick fiasco!   Suffice it to say I never repeated that one! I also learned that rides home after wins could be painful. Thanks  Jon Gates!

 I truly loved being back out on the field with the guys, working hard to be better, going up against the odds. I knew though that the scholarship support and overall funding had to change if the program was going to survive. The team scholarship budget at the time would not allow for even one full scholarship and the offers going out would never have brought in the level of players it was going to take to make VMI soccer a winning program. That was 1987and now over 20 years ago….. A lot has changed in that period of time and VMI soccer players are still working hard to succeed on and off the field. The facilities are much better, scholarships are much better, and the operating budget is much better. Yet, there are still so many needs if the team is going to have that break out season. Improvements have kept the team alive but there is never going to be anything that will take the place of former players getting involved. Let’s start that all here now and please email me some of your memories…I will post and share them as I see fit so we can all enjoy! I look forward to touching base with many of you. Please get your former teammates involved by sending links to this site.