As the Concordia University Chicago men’s soccer team wraps up their 2017 spring season, they do so with a renewed sense of energy, passion, and leadership. Many would argue that the change of pace stems from the new face holding the reins of the program – head coach Michael Arango. Hired in late February of this year, Arango looks to “right the ship” that is the CUC men’s soccer team.
Hailing from Dearborn, MI, Arango enjoyed the game of soccer from a young age. Beginning at just five years old, he played the beautiful game throughout his childhood until his efforts shifted to running cross-country at Dearborn High School. In addition to cross-country as a high school sport, he continued to compete in soccer at the club level during his high school years.
Transitioning to college, Arango began his studies at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) before ultimately earning his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Northeastern Illinois University. He cites the opportunity to work with kids and being able to give back to the community as motivation for studying education. While attaining his degree to pursue teaching, the knowledge and skills he acquired through the process proved to be extremely relevant to his role in coaching soccer. “It turned out that along the way I picked up a few ideas of child development and was able to understand the ‘hows and whys’ of kids learning, where they were able to start picking up better information, and where the complex attitudes and ideas started coming in, so it definitely did help the soccer coaching,” he says.
Kicking off his coaching career at just 19 years of age, Arango now has an impressive résumé that features a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) “A” license and is even certified to teach the USSF national D and E courses as well. Prior to his arrival at Concordia in 2015 as an assistant coach on the women’s side, he had also been involved with the Olympic Development Program’s regional staff and is a member of the Illinois Youth Soccer Association Coaching Education Staff in addition to working as the Director of Coaching for the Wilmette (IL) Wings and for Campton United in St. Charles (IL).
Arango has a tremendous amount of coaching experience in the United States, but has some knowledge about the game on a global scale as well. Through two USSF coaching education trips, he has had the opportunity to learn from both the Spanish and Belgian national programs. In Spain, Arango had the chance to learn from two of the world’s most iconic clubs in Real Madrid and Barcelona, examining how their operations differ from clubs in the United States. “Coaches over there at those clubs are respected as true professionals…They’re given the same kind of respect that engineers, teachers, and lawyers get here in America,” he explains. “For me, the idea that these people put that much time and effort into being great at their craft means that’s what we should be doing here as coaches in this country.” He was also able to gain a better understanding of player growth and progression through the operations at these clubs. “Just learning the process of going about the development of their youngest players all the way through to their oldest players and the true facts and figures of how these players develop, at the end of the day, that Spanish thing was really a catapult to learning and opening my eyes to more of what else is going on in the world,” concludes Arango.
Using his global knowledge of the game to further soccer in the United States is just what Arango plans to do as he continues to move up the ranks in U.S. soccer. He aspires to be part of the national staff someday, perhaps teaching the “C” license course, and continues to be a student of the game even as an accomplished coach. “I think every time you go and teach a course you become better yourself because, if the people who are learning from you can’t understand it, then you’re not doing a good job teaching it. I think it really gets you back to the nuts and bolts of how you’re doing it and why you’re doing it,” he says. Through coaching, Arango sets out to create lifelong learners and instill a lifelong passion for the game. “5,6,7 years from now they’re [college students] getting married and having kids and guess what? Can they instill the love of soccer into that next generation? If we can continue to create that, you never know where the next great player is going to come from and the next passion for the game is going to be.”
Moving towards the here and now, Arango takes over a struggling CUC men’s soccer team that’s posted a 24-61-5 record over the past five seasons under former coach Micah Middendorf who spent nine years with the Cougars. For starters, Arango emphasizes importance of quality attitudes throughout the squad. “I think the overall thing with the game of soccer is that it’s not necessarily about the x’s and o’s but it’s a lot more about the attitude and willingness to do things and hopefully getting the group of guys to buy into what we’re trying to sell,” he explains. Arango hopes to promote a culture with a strong work ethic that values loyalty and the willingness to sacrifice for one another. “If we have guys that are able to keep it in perspective, still have fun, and enjoy what they’re doing, it will encourage them to want to come back to training and work a little bit harder because now, they’re having fun with the guys they’re working hard with. I think that creates a real great culture of friendship, loyalty, and lifelong friends and I think all those things can come together into changing things fairly quickly.”
Aside from a new head coach, the coaching staff will be forced to fill a void left by Assistant Coach Brendan Mullane who will be leaving the team after two years in the graduate assistant program. Prior to his two years as a graduate assistant, Mullane was an integral player for CUC having logged over 5000 minutes and recording double-digit figures in both goals and assists during his four-year career at Concordia. “Over my time at Concordia, both as a player and a coach, the CUC soccer program has helped me develop many skills from both a professional and athletic aspect. As a business professional, both playing and coaching has taught me almost every life lesson as far as being successful in the future; the teamwork, commitment factor, and learning how to prioritize your time, are just a few lessons that I have had the chance to develop over my time at Concordia,” he says. Mullane will soon wrap up his MBA with a specialization in digital marketing and plans to stay actively involved in the game of soccer through coaching. He looks to attain his next coaching certificate through USSF in the near future.
As far as what the future holds for CUC men’s soccer, Arango has been thrown into a difficult position being hired just six months before training camp in the fall, but is confident that good things are to come for the Cougars. “Brendan did a nice job of carrying the torch and getting us ready to go out and continue conversations [with recruits]. We’ve already gotten six so far to come in for next year and we’re still on the hook for a handful more.” With only 14 players set to return for the Cougars, there is plenty of room for new additions to have an instant impact. Arango notes that the opportunity to compete for playing time right away is enticing to future players and says, “There’s some players who could come out and fight for starting minutes right away next year.”
Looking ahead to the team’s spring tournament at College of DuPage on April 22, Arango and the squad hope to build on their progress from spring training. “I think the biggest thing we’ve seen so far is a change in their belief in me and their belief in each other. I’ve seen guys already starting to a buy a bit of what we’re trying to put forth and the belief that I’m going to lead them in a positive direction,” says Arango. As far as expectations for the tournament, Arango is excited to see the guys compete with a changed attitude and refreshing state of mind, “All I’m going to ask is that we compete…Guys are competing for the entire training session now. If they come in on Saturday and everyone goes and competes, the results will be what they are. But if those things happen, we will be really excited about that.”
Concordia kicks off their spring tournament on Saturday with a 10:45 a.m. match against Morton at College of DuPage.
