Lobo Faithful:
Struggling/challenged to put the 2015 University of New Mexico Lobo Men’s Soccer season into perspective….to rest. Last Friday, the day of the NCAA semi-finals, I attended the School of Engineering graduation ceremonies at 3:00 pm. Clemson played Syracuse at 4:00 pm in the first semi-final. Our two seniors, Josh Dye (Electrical Engineering) and Adrian Mora Delgado (Civil Engineering), both graduated Summa Cum Laude (3.9 gpa and above). Stanford played Akron at 8:00 pm in the second semi-final. Josh was chosen to give the undergraduate address at the School of Engineering graduation ceremony. 3:00 minutes was the allocated duration per the Dean. I didn’t time it, but the speech was eloquent and pretty close to 3:00 minutes. Both semi-finals went to double overtime: 110:00 minutes each. Adrian tore his ACL 10 days ago. The injury occurred in the last 10 minutes of his last practice as a Lobo.The team voluntarily trained on their own the final week of classes (last match two weeks prior) and both Adrian and Josh played to the end. This was Adrian’s second ACL tear at UNM (right and left leg). Clemson and Stanford advanced to the NCAA Final by way of penalty kicks. Adrian was offered and accepted an engineering position with a local firm, Chavez-Grieves. Adrian graduated with a 3.9 gpa and struggled with English when he arrived from Costa Rica 4.5 years ago. His first day of work is February 1st. Josh begins classes for a masters degree in Electrical Engineering on January 19th. He will also intern at Sandia Labs. Josh is getting married in May.
The past four weeks have been self-inflicted torture. “Why are you doing this to yourself” was all my wife could say in response to sporadic profanity laced outbursts as I followed every game of the NCAA Tournament….watching snippets of as many games as I could sneak in (had to hide the computer from my wife and kids as I followed various live streams from around the country). I punished myself till the bitter end, watching the Championship match Sunday afternoon in a near-empty pizza joint with my hat pulled down low. We played in the NCAA Final Four in 2013….24 months ago. We lost to South Carolina in the Conference tournament four weeks ago and didn’t receive an at-large bid to this years NCAA Tournament. The 2015 season is now officially over. Move on….focus on the positives……deep breaths……relax….be present…love your children….you are fortunate….enjoy every day….easier said than done….the life of a coach.
Our players are wonderful! Impressive young men, who are tremendous students and passionate about representing our community. They understand and embrace the responsibility of being role-models and the work required to achieve lofty expectations (personal and public). Our players come to New Mexico to compete for Championships. The bar is set high in terms of results and this year was very average. The individual feedback I received in our post-season meetings was mature, introspective, humbling and painful. Everyone held themselves accountable, pinpointed areas necessary for improvement and expressed excitement for the challenges ahead. What a unique opportunity collegiate athletics provides: learn from your experiences, make adjustments, grow as a team, love your teammates, improve daily and put in the HARD WORK. Results to follow.
Josh Dye named 1st Team Academic All-America: http://www.golobos.com/news/2015/11/23/MSOC_1123154831.aspx
Dye, Beaulieu and Wehan named to Conference-USA All-Academic Team: http://www.golobos.com/news/2015/11/10/MSOC_1110151928.aspx
UNM lands 7 on All Conference-USA Teams: http://www.golobos.com/news/2015/11/10/MSOC_1110151404.aspx
Wehan and Gurule receive NSCAA All-Region Honors: http://www.golobos.com/news/2015/12/9/MSOC_1209151722.aspx
Thanks for your never-ending support this season and every season. It is an honor and privilege to coach and play soccer at the University of New Mexico. Have a wonderful holiday season, with an exhilarating 2016 ahead!
Jeremy Fishbein
The Fish Blog: Deciphering the Season
