By Ryan Vermont (@Your_Pal_Ryan ):
Simon Tobin arrived on South Campus in 2014 with an undeniable pedigree and the expectation to turn around the men’s soccer program.
He’d be the first one to say things haven’t gone quite as planned.
“It hasn’t been good enough”, Tobin said. “I feel like I’m at least a year behind where I wanted to be and there are different reasons for that.”
In his first two seasons in command, the Spartans have compiled 35 losses compared to the 16 wins and 6 draws.
The fourth year coach acknowledged the challenges of taking over any program, but said he truly believes that this team is the first one he’s had in San Jose that is capable of competing with the top teams in the west.
“I feel one of the things that is different is number one, these are all my players, so everyone here, I recruited them which is nice as a head coach to be in charge of all your own players,” Tobin said. “The second thing is 16 team players, more than half the squad is all newcomers.”
Not only is over half the team new to the program, they are young too.
There are only three seniors on the roster in defenders Joseph Kay and Carlos Valdovinos, and last season’s leading point-getter, forward Jeremy Romero. Valdovinos however, is the only one that’s been around all four years as the other two transferred in last year.
It’s only fitting they were named the three captains of the 2017 team.
“My junior year, I had a lot of guys I looked up too,” Valdovinos said. “I had Colunga, I had Ayala, Knibbs and Mahoney, they were they guys I came in with and I stuck with, now that they are gone, there are big shoes to fill.”
As for Kay, this will be his one and only season logging minutes for SJSU after a problem with eligibility last season forced him to redshirt.
While he didn’t see any game action, the Brighton, England native said the season gave him a chance to grasp Tobin’s system, positioning himself for a successful season as a player and a leader.
“I think it’s nice because we’ve been through it, we know what it takes to be here,” Kay said. “We can pass on the knowledge we know, all the advice we can give, everything we’ve learned down to the younger guys and hopefully they can take what they’ve learned and keep doing it for the next couple of years.”
Valdovinos echoed Tobin’s sentiments about the rebuilt, 2017 squad.
“Every player is unique,” Valdovinos said. “You come in fit, that’s the core and you combine that with Simon’s philosophy and you are just going to get beautiful soccer.”
While admittedly a year behind schedule, Tobin said he still has the same vision from when he first arrived.
“My ambition is, and I still stick by this, I want men’s soccer to be the biggest sport at San Jose State,” Tobin said. “When you think of San Jose State and this campus as a whole, there are endless possibilities for men’s soccer but the first thing you need to do before asking for everything else, is to win on the field, and we want to win and win in style.”