I don't know if there is another college soccer coach who has higher expectations than Virginia's George Gelnovatch.
Following in the footsteps of Bruce Arena at the University of Virginia leaves lofty expectations and pretty stiff demands on college soccer's flag-ship program.
Frank Giase of The Newark Star Ledger tells Gelnovatch's story of perseverance.
When Arena left to coach D.C. United in the first year of Major League Soccer in 1996, Gelnovatch got the call.
“I was 31 at the time and probably too young and naive to think much about it,” he said. “People expect you to win, and when you don’t they want to know what was the matter.”
Gelnovatch reached the NCAA final in just his second year but lost to UCLA, 2-0.
“There’s a big difference in perception,” he said. “You make it to the final and lose and nobody remembers, but you win it and you’re a conquering hero.”
This year Virginia conquered with defense — 12 shutouts in the final 13 games — to finish 19-3-3 and raise Gelnovatch’s 14-year record to 214-79-25.
“When you come into a program that’s won five national championships, the four ACC titles that you win or all the College Cups that you get to, winning a national championship of your own allows all those other accomplishments to be put into place with that,” Gelnovatch said. “Around mid-October we started to turn the corner a little bit and by the ACC Tournament we started firing. We kept getting better toward the end of the season.”
http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/12/wall_product_george_gelnovatch.html
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