What is your measuring stick for success?

If winning is your your only measure of success, and only one team wins, does that mean the rest of the teams failed?

I'm feeling very torn right now.  I am not frustrated with our college program, but I am frustrated for the players. Personally speaking, I enjoy winning a lot more than drawing or losing.  But it can't be my only point of evaluation.

We've done a lot of good things off the field in terms of setting up a program and the guys have been more than competitive and focused  on the field.  The only thing that hasn't happened is a win.  Everybody is beating each other but we haven't been on the right side of any of those scores.

I say I am not frustrated myself because I can't afford to be.  My job is to keep a steady hand and keep the guys competitive and ready to play.

But how can I be frustrated?  Things we work on in training show through in games.  We have good competition within the team for getting on the game-day roster.  The players have been second to none and attendance at training has been very good. 

Through suspensions and injuries we've had to juggle our roster and line-up and haven't skipped a beat.  Everybody has been able to step in and compete.  The coaches can try to take credit for the system but it's the players who have the attitude and willingness to embrace and support each other on the pitch.  25 players have stepped in and out of our roster and been effective.   Not many teams can make such a claim.

We do have two very specific things to address before next game and have three sessions to do that.  And I expect, again, for our next game to reflect the adjustments we made in training.

In terms of a program philosophy, we have a large number of players returning next year who understand the system and what's expected.  This year we had 6 returning players from a team I did not coach, so I have to treat it as an all first-year team learning a system.

We're generating chances, defending well, staying very even in game stats.  The guys are also learning what it will take to make the successful transition from youth soccer to competitive men's level play.

If I was to walk up to another coach and describe our level of play, attendance/intensity at training, school support, knowledge of assistant coaches, game level focus and ability to stay organized, good attitude of the players and the level of respect everybody is showing each other, they would have to correctly assume I am very happy with what I see.  Our record does not change that.

But, I can say all that for a first year.

Eventually, all of the ground work has to justify itself through our record. I am being paid to produce for Niagara College and establish a program that will make recruiting easier in the future and project success in the media.  The players need to know that while I am happy with what I see, I need to keep working toward substantial results.