Sept. 16, 2004

By Ryan M. Dougherty
CollegeSports.com

The first annual Doug May Memorial Weekend in Rochester, N.Y., took place Sept. 3 and 4. Festivities included a memorial golf tournament, numerous social gatherings, and a soccer tournament.

Nazareth College and the Rochester Institute of Technology organized the weekend to honor former head coach Doug May, an icon to their communities. It was a sad and shocking day for all when he passed away this April after a sudden illness that had caused an infection in one of the valves in his heart.

May was the head coach of the Nazareth men's soccer team for the last eight years. Hia stint began in since 1997. Prior to that, he was the head coach for the RIT men's soccer team for 16 years. Over those 24 seasons, May compiled a career record of 251-120-38.

He led his teams to 11 NCAA tournaments, four Final Fours, and a national championship appearance in 1998 when his RIT team lost to UC-San Diego.

On the weekend of Sept. 3, no one was talking about records or statistics. They were reminiscing about the man himself and the influence he had on their lives.

Nazareth junior co-captains Gavin Thomas and Mike Deichmiller remembered coach May's catch phrases, which they didn't always understand.

"He used to tell us we were `running around out there like a popcorn fart in a whirlwind'," recalls Deichmiller. "We weren't quite sure what he meant by that, but we knew it wasn't good."

The teammates recounted May's passion and love for the game of soccer.

"You could always find him in his office pouring over game tapes," Thomas said. "That was why he was such a great coach. ... I spent hours in his office just going over tapes. His door was always open."

It was this open-door policy that allowed him to apply that passion and love for soccer to his players.

In 2002, Thomas and Deichmiller both came to Nazareth with the same questions and doubts that most freshman experience their first year.

Thomas, whose father was his coach in high school, can remember walking into May's office that first year and talking to him about his relationship with his father.

"I had grown up having conversations with my father about soccer and life over the dinner table, and now that I was at school I found myself really missing that," Thomas said. "After I had expressed this to coach, he immediately understood and filled the void."

Deichmiller has similar memories regarding May. The present captain wasn't even sure that he wanted to play soccer in college.

"Coach May actually came and recruited me while I was in high school," he said. "He showed a genuine interest in me and that is what attracted me to Nazareth and its soccer program."

During his sophomore year, Deichmiller and some other members of the team were caught having a party in their dorm rooms. Security wrote them up and they knew that May would find out about it sooner or later.

"We were really nervous. We knew he would find out so we decided it was best if he found out from us instead of someone else," Deichmiller explained. "We walked in and told him everything."

Afterwards, May sat them down and explained to his players where they had gone wrong.

"He told us that is was cool to blow off some steam after games, but that we should just practice moderation," he said. "We knew what was wrong and what was right and he taught us to be true to ourselves."

"He taught us to have integrity in everything we do," he said.

The word "integrity" popped up a lot when talking to people about May.

"I've never met a man with more integrity," said Bill Garno, RIT's head men's soccer coach and May's former assistant at the school. "People think he was a soccer coach and that might be one percent of what he taught us. He taught about family first, integrity and character and he didn't do it loosely. He lived it."

This is why May was able to succeed where so many other coaches these days have failed. He was able to influence his players both on and off the field of play. He realized that a college coach is not just a coach - he is also a teacher and a mentor to his players.

It is comforting to find a coach that had been so involved in his athletes' actions in an era where so many coaches are finding themselves under fire for the behavior of their athletes. It's dedication like May's that allows his integrity to live on in others.

"Every time we take that field he will be living on in every one of us," said Thomas. "We will be doing are best to spread his word."

More Division III News and Notes

Upset of the week
In a game that included eight yellow cards, unranked Kean University upset last year's NCAA runner-up, second ranked Drew. The 1-0 upset came in the finals of the annual Kean University Invitational Tournament. Kean freshman Konrad Krusek scored the first goal of his career, and the only goal of the match, to lift the Cougars past the Rangers.

The Bombers upset the Professors
Over the weekend the No. 22 Ithaca Bombers, with one of the most politically incorrect names this side of the Gettysburg Bullets, upset the No. 7 Rowan Professors, 2-1. I am basically including this game because my boss, Dave Seigerman, is a Bomber grad and I figured every little bit helps.

Arcadia slips past Eastern in a PAC showdown
The top two teams in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference squared-off to open their conference schedules. Arcadia managed to upset the No. 1 team in the conference, Eastern, 1-0 behind sophomore Matt Abate's second goal of the season. In Arcadia's last four games it is 1-0-3 and have scored just three goals.

Trinity women dominating the competition
In head coach Lance Key's first season with the Lady Tigers, they have gone 4-0, outscoring the competition 6-0. Key played for Trinity's men's team from 1996-99 and was the SCAC's 1999 Player of the Year. Upon graduation, he went on to play for Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids but returned in 2000 as an assistant coach of Trinity's men's team. Coincidentally, Trinity's men's team is also undefeated. Combined, the men and women are outscoring their opponents 31-5.

Ohio Wesleyan's women lose twice in a week
The Bishops dropped two in a row last week. The first coming at the hands of the No. 9 Washington University (Mo.), 3-2, and the second came against No. 2 Wheaton (Mass.). OWC fell to No. 7 in the most recent NSCAA poll, while Washington moved up to No. 6.

Defending national champion SUNY Oneonta is back on track
After dropping a heart breaker to Ohio Wesleyan 2-1 and tallying a draw against William Smith last weekend, sixth-ranked Oneonta defeated No. 5 Virginia Wesleyan 3-0, and Muskingum 9-0 to capture its third consecutive Mayor's Cup title. After outscoring their opponents 12-0 over the weekend, the Red Dragons fell from No. 6 to No. 8 in the latest NSCAA poll. Hmmm...it must be their RPI.

Ryan Dougherty is a researcher for CSTV. He will be writing regularly on Division III soccer this season.

Ryan's Previous Column:
Sept. 10: Chicago Awakens To Nightmare