The last few months have brought a
lot of changes to Idaho State Athletics.
Among them the hiring of a new head
soccer coach, Dustin Downey. Athletic Director Pauline Thiros announced Downey
as the new head coach on January 3rd. In
the 2021 season, the Bengals finished 9th
out of 10 in the Big Sky Conference and
took last in the Big Sky 3 of the 4 previous
seasons. The hope is that the new head
coach will be able to turn the program
around and see some success in future
years.
Downey has been playing soccer since
he was a young boy. He had a successful high school career in which he was
named part of the honorary All American Team and went through the Olympic
Development Program before playing
Division 1 soccer at Western Kentucky
University. He then transferred to Northern Kentucky University where he helped
lead them to the national semi-finals.
Downey turned to coaching after finishing his playing career. He began at the
high school level, but quickly was offered
a position as an assistant at Western Kentucky. After 7 seasons he was promoted to
interim head coach.
After being asked what drew him to
Idaho State, Downey responded that the
friendly people here were a huge draw.
He admired that University Athletics
has a plan and goals. He said, “Pauline
is very progressive in making updates
and changes…for her vision of what ISU
Athletics can be” He pointed out that
this could be seen in the new facilities of
Davis Field, the new training room and
even the planned renovations of Holt Arena. He also commented on the support
of the community in Pocatello. He said
this spirit goes beyond administrators
Downey noted, “[there is] a passion behind the school…there is a lot of support
from the community.”For these reasons
he believes that the Idaho State Soccer
program can compete in the Big Sky Conference and be successful.
As far as any immediate changes to be
made Coach Downey responded he is getting to know the girls and communicate
his philosophy as far as attack, defense
and training mentality. This spring he
plans to encompass a strong team culture. Downey said, “I want to create a
healthy, competitive environment.” The
new team wants to lay this strong foundation this spring, to be able to succeed
in competition.
He strongly portrayed that the players
are going to be the most important part
of this program. In his association people
will always come first. He thinks it is important that every player feels welcome
and heard. Downey was also very adamant that the community is part of the
team. He wants his team to be a part of
campus and part of Pocatello. One of the
aspects he wants to bring to the field is including the community to create a bigger
team of friends, family, fans, and community. He wants kids to come to the game
and aspire to be a future womens soccer
player at ISU.
An interesting aspect in Collegiate
sports is the aspect of recruiting. It can
make a huge difference to a program.
Downey has experience as part of the recruiting team in his previous jobs. In the
interview Downey said the coaches are already scheduled for heavy recruiting this spring. In his experience it is important to be seen, noting that Idaho State Soccer is working to be known throughout the country. Currently the staff is working hard to bring the program up to a championship level.
Downey is excited and ambitious in his new position as the Idaho State Soccer head coach. Perhaps we will see a turnaround for our lady Bengals on the field.