Oct. 25, 2000
Last week Western Kentucky announced the hiring of Jason Neidell from Tulsa University as the school's first-ever women's soccer coach. On Wednesday afternoon, Neidell sat down with wkusports.com to discuss his assignment at Western.
On Coming To Western:
I have gotten fantastic support from the people of Western Kentucky. All of the coaches have been glad to lend a hand. I am real excited about working here because Western really seems like it has a real family and community atmosphere. I am from Tulsa, Okla. and although this is a change for me, I was sold right away on the atmosphere.
On Recruiting:
Our recruiting is going very well. We will have 10-15 kids on campus next week from Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. There are lots of players excited about the possibilites of starting a new program. All of our incoming players will be kids with winning backgrounds who are good students and good players.
On His Responsibilites At Western Now:
Our scheduling is almost done. We will play in the Sun Belt Conference with teams like Arkansas-Little Rock, Denver and North Texas. We will pick up more games here and there. It is shaping up to be a good schedule. One thing that we will do is schedule three pre-season exhibition matches to get used to a game atmosphere as a team before the games start counting in the standings. Our first game is shaping up to be the Sunday before Labor Day in 2001.
On His Expectation For Early Success:
Women's softball started here at Western last year and they have done a tremendous job. They have set the bar high for our program. Mine and the players expectations will be to start winning right away. That is why I am recruiting players with successful backgrounds who know how to win, and who expect to win.
On Being A Head Coach For The First Time:
I want to be a player's coach. I have been fairly well organized in my career and I want to just continue doing what I have done my entire career. I hope that my ability to be a player's coach will be a real positive for this program.
