Brent Erwin Named Assistant Men's Soccer Coach

by **PonyPride** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:23 pm

From SMUMustangs.com:

Brent Erwin Named Assistant Men's Soccer Coach

April 26, 2012

DALLAS (SMU) - Former SMU head women's soccer coach and men's assistant coach Brent Erwin is returning to the men's team as an assistant coach, head men's coach Tim McClements announced today.

"I am excited to announce the addition of Brent to our staff," McClements said. "We feel very fortunate that he was interested in making the transition back to the men's game. Brent and I have worked together before, and he's a great fit for the job. He has head coaching experience, has been an assistant for the men's team, is a phenomenal recruiter and is an important part of the SMU family. I know this move will continue the strong tradition of SMU soccer."

"It has been an honor to serve as the head coach of the SMU women's soccer team for the past five years," Erwin said. "I learned a tremendous amount from working with these talented young women and will always value the time I spent with their program. When this opportunity presented itself, though, I discussed it at length with my family, and realized I was at my best professionally when I was working with the men's program here at SMU. The opportunity to work with (men's head coach) Tim (McClements) and (men's assistant coach) Kevin (Hudson) just felt right. I'm really excited to get to work with them again and can't wait to get out there. It also gives me comfort in knowing that SMU and Steve Orsini will find a tremendous leader for the women's program and will be able to continue the hard work put in over the past five seasons."

"We'd like to thank Coach Erwin for his time leading the women's program and certainly respect his decision to do what is best for him professionally," said Orsini. "I know he'll bring great insight and energy to the men's program. We have five National Coaches of the Year on the Hilltop and will immediately begin a national search to find a new leader for our women's soccer program with similar experience and achievements. We have set a top-25 standard for our programs here at SMU and women's soccer is no exception. We will continue our growth in the sport and will build a perennial BIG EAST championship contender."

Erwin has led the women's program the past five seasons (2007-2011, 45-45-7), but the majority of his coaching experience is on the men's side. He served five years (2000-2004) as an assistant under former SMU men's soccer head coach Schellas Hyndman, and during that time, the Mustangs compiled an 86-17-9 record and earned five NCAA Tournament berths. After advancing to the NCAA semifinals in 2000, the team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for 14 straight weeks and went as far as the NCAA quarterfinals in 2001. During his tenure, the recruiting classes Erwin helped compile consistently ranked among the nation's top five. He aided in the development of seven All-Americans and 20 all-conference honorees, as well as 2001 Hermann Award winner Luis "Luchi" Gonzalez.

Between his stints at SMU, Erwin served as head coach at UCF for two seasons (2005-2006), helping the Knights' men's soccer team to a 13-17-3 record and was an impressive 10-4-3 at home. In 2006, UCF made its first appearance in the Conference USA Championship, after defeating No. 17 Memphis and tying top-ranked SMU during the season.

During the summer of 2001, Erwin was invited to Sao Paulo, Brazil, by the Santos Futebol Club, Pele's club and a two-time World Club Champion. At Santos, he worked with all of the teams from Under-12 through Under-23, and observed the training of the professional squad.

Prior to his time working under Hyndman, Erwin served as assistant coach at IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He also has worked with the Under-17 Men's National Team and the Region 3 Olympic Development Program.

As a player, Erwin was a three-year starter at TCU, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in general studies. After exhausting his final year of eligibility, he spent the summer of 1997 training with Leeds United of the English Premier League then trained with the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas) organization, playing with their minor league team, the Texas Toros, for two seasons.

Erwin holds a U.S. Soccer Federation "A" Coaching License. He and his wife, Angie, have three sons, Ben, Luke and Max.

A national search for a women's head coach will begin immediately.

by **DanFreibergerForHeisman** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:30 pm

I'm honestly still in shock about this one. Talk about coming out of nowhere.

It will certainly be interesting to see who ends up in charge of the women's team. I would like to think it is still a very attractive job.

by **mustangbill67** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:06 pm

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:I'm honestly still in shock about this one. Talk about coming out of nowhere.

It will certainly be interesting to see who ends up in charge of the women's team. I would like to think it is still a very attractive job.

Going into the Big East, I would think it would be a very attractive job. Hopefully, SO will spend some time and money on getting this right.

by **ClassOf81** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:35 am

mustangbill67 wrote:
DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:I'm honestly still in shock about this one. Talk about coming out of nowhere.

It will certainly be interesting to see who ends up in charge of the women's team. I would like to think it is still a very attractive job.

Going into the Big East, I would think it would be a very attractive job. Hopefully, SO will spend some time and money on getting this right.

Hahaha â€” good one, mustangbill67! :lol:

by **soccermom** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:16 pm

AWESOME news and about time!!!!! Let's go get a REAL coach for our girls.

by **August** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:11 am

I am caught off guard by my overwhelming sense of relief that Erwin's reign of terror is over for the SMU women. Brent brought 5 years of hell on this team and finally Orsini did what should have been done after the first (of three) investigations into Brent's horrific behavior. Hopefully SteveO does a better job of filling the spot this time and doesn't bring in another one of 'his guys', as Brent called himself.

I had to laugh at the spin of the presser. Even if his salary remains the same, he's lost all his camp income and that's a significant hit financially. And I think this has been in the works for a while since neither team filled their AC openings, coupled with the lack of info coming out on the women's side, dating back to our loss in the CC.

by **Mustangsabu** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:20 pm

Thrilled with this piece if news. Though I am disgusted that he has a place on the men's coaching staff to which I cannot see him bringing anything of value.

McClements has done ok, but I was rather hoping for an upgrade there as well. Maybe SO is staggering this over a couple of seasons.

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