Ex-UConn star Rodriquez at the helm
STORRS — Nobody ever told Margaret Rodriguez that following a legend was going to smooth sailing.
When Rodriguez played her final game with the UConn women’s soccer program two decades ago she ranked third in points, tied for fifth in goals and fourth in assists. However, the Huskies are off to a 1-4 start with three shutout losses.
The offensive struggles certainly are understandable considering that the Huskies are playing without their top two scorers from a season ago as Vivien Beil and Kess Elmore, who combined for 11 of UConn’s 26 goals a season ago, are out for the season with knee injuries suffered in the offseason.
“In your first year you never wish injuries on anybody, we want everyone to be healthy and (for) those two kids to get injured is not ideal,” Rodriguez said. “I think handling adversity right off the bat is only going to help me and help us adapt as a group. The good thing of it is I knew prior to the season starting, so I already had a plan in mind how to build around those changes.”
Rodriguez came to UConn in the mid-1990s with her twin sister Jennifer, who is still the program’s career leader with 64 assists. While she wanted to play for as long as possible, she already was bitten by the coaching bug during her time at UConn thanks to some prodding from her father.
“He was my coach growing up, he forced my sister and I to take a coaching course when we were in college,” Rodriguez said. “We stepped into a couple of his practices and he said, ‘you are born to coach, it is just in you.’ I fought it for a little bit because you never want to do what your parents say, but as soon as I stopped playing and I looked for the next chapter, it was natural for me. I had so much passion for the teaching part of the game.
“As soon as I stepped foot here I
looked at my sister and said this is the place we want to be. If I could fast forward 25 years ago and I am back here being the head coach at a place I felt so at home with it’s a dream come true, this is where I want to be.”
Rodriguez paid her dues serving as an assistant to legendary former UConn coach Len Tsantiris for 10 years. When Tsantiris retired after 37 seasons, 570 wins, 37 NCAA tournament appearances and four trips to the NCAA Division I title game there was no guarantee that Rodriguez would be elevated to the head job even though she came with the Tsantiris’ stamp of approval.
“He kept telling me that he really wanted me to be the next coach,” Rodriguez said. “We had three ADs in the time I was there so I knew that it was nothing that was a sure thing. I had to go through an interview process just like everybody else. I had clue up to the day when I received a phone call.”
The call came from UConn director of athletics David Benedict when Rodriguez was in Oregon on vacation around Christmas. The news came with one stipulation, Rodriguez had to keep the news quiet for a couple of weeks.
“Len is UConn soccer, he paved the way,” Rodriguez said. “He is the face of the program for pretty much 37 years, all the players, all the alumni that is all we knew growing up. For me being a coach, it was always Lennie and his way so Len is the head figure of this program and he will always will be. He will always be someone I will look to.”
While Rodriguez learned so much from her mentor, no coaches had identical philosophies.
“There are similarities in Lennie and my coaching styles,” Rodriguez said. “We are both very attack minded, we like to posses and take care of the ball. the only difference is I might be a little bit more specific in my instructions and guidance to the team and get the team to play a little more opportunistic. We are going to be a transition team, we are going to get numbers back quickly and get numbers forward quickly.”
When Rodriguez was an assistant coach, she took great pride in securing commitments from the best in-state talent. Case in point, West Hartford’s Elena Santos and Stamford’s Heidi Druehl have started all five matches while Waterford’s Rachel Marchini and Alexa Casimiro have combined for three shots this season.
“If we can keep our home-grown talent here, that is my agenda,” Rodriguez said. “There should be a little bit of a sense of pride when you are playing for your state and you have a lot of local community support around the players. I have a lot of attention and we’ve always had a lot of attention on Connecticut players.”
Druehl, one of two players to start all 19 games for UConn during the 2017 season, happens to wear the same No. 12 that Rodriquez donned with great distinction at UConn. She likes what she has seen in her head coach.
“She has been leading this team and she is a really good communicator,” Druehl said. “(The playing style is) similar but I think she is stressing a lot of our transition and work ethic.”