Updated 10.24.06

The husband and wife team of Steve and Misty Jones are attempting to do the impossible at Houston Baptist University (Texas).  Instead of starting one soccer program, the duo are charged with building two programs - a men's and a women's team.  Follow them and players through the first season of competition. 

Diary entry #3 - October 19, 2006
Steve Jones, Men's Head Coach -
I am a bit surprised with our 7-4 record at this point. I would say we've got some good players and a good core and as long as they are healthy, it presents us with the opportunity to have that winning record. The flipside of that is having the short time to put together the team then the short time for them to jell together, then you have the yes side of it. 

It's a bit of a surprise because it could easily be the opposite. They are working hard and trying to push each other through the adversity.  I think those kinds of things are helping us out greatly. The Northwood University (Texas) game could have easily been a loss.  We've had a couple of one-goal games that could have gone the other way, and our record could be flipped just as easily.  I'm happy where we are, but if I could go back in time and say what our record would be at this point, I'd say maybe one win better. I think we are pretty much on the mark.  It's us staying healthy and doing the right things at the right time. We have to weather any storm that comes at us.  Against Northwood, we held them off a couple times, and then we got a goal and put it away.  I'm pleased with where we are.  I think both the men's and women's programs are doing well.

Pablo Avila, F, Sr -
I've been playing college sports for a longer time than the other guys because I am the lone senior on the team, and I played basketball at HBU for the past three years, so I can tell the other guys how things work around here.  Regardless of what sport you play, you can always be a leader and work hard and do everything you can to make things work.

I'm not surprised at where we are right now.  I think we could have gone undefeated.  We are very fortunate to have the talented players and a good first year. We've had some injury problems, but we have played hard and come together.  That's why I'm not surprised we are 3-1 in conference. We have a very good team, and we have always been of the mindset to take it one game at a time.

Diary entry #2- October 2, 2006
Steve Jones, Head Coach -
It's good to see the boys got some recognition for the things they have been doing.  The guys that get the Conference Player of the Week, there's always more to it.  The players behind the scenes who help the guys get the goals or assists, but the guys who got it did a good job and are certainly deserving of it.

Heading into where we are at right now, we're 4-3. We could be better than that, but we've been fighting injuries. We're trying to get healthy. We've had to juggle things around as far as personnel, who's playing where. We don't have a lot of depth right now. Our guys have to be fit and last for 90 minutes, and we've talked about that all week. I feel good about where we're heading.

Now, that we're heading into the bulk of our conference season, it's the boys being healthy, fit and feeling good about stepping onto the field.  Hopefully, having this week or nine days without games will play good for us heading into Texas College.  I hope we can remember what we did well against them in the first game and play well.

George Sangira, F, So. -
The season is so far so good.  We've had individual injuries we have overcome. We are not nearly the team we could be, but we have played well in all our games.  The boys have done well.  They are hard working and determined. When we first started, we didn't know each other, but now, we have gotten to know each other, and we have come together as a team.  This team works together really well, and we have good teamwork.

I expected anything when I came here because it is a new program, but I knew about the coaches and how good they are.  It was a little rough at first because I had to adjust to the weather since I never played in the hot weather like this before.  I came here from Florida, and it wasn't hot there like it is here.  The weather here is sunny and the time and humid, not like it is in Florida. But things have really started to come together.  I feel good.  I am ready to go, and I am ready to lead by example.

The team is playing great.  Each player is ready.  When one player can't go, another player is ready to go.  We've had a few injuries, but every player has been ready to fill in and has done a good job of it.  It hasn't been one guy doing everything; it's been everyone stepping up and playing well.

Diary entry #1 - September 15, 2006
Steve Jones, Head Coach -
We've kind of done this before in that we started up a program at another school. It's a different setting, different time frame, but every school where I've been coaching I've been under the gun to bring in kids where there hasn't been kids, so for us, it wasn't like it was brand new. It's been done before.  There were some challenges like holding tryouts.  Initially, we were trying to do things here when we were still living in the Dallas area.

I had over 100 guys try out, but trying to find the ones who were eligible was tricky.  I had a lot of foreign kids, but they all needed scholarships. Then the issue was trying to make it competitive. Out of those 100 guys, I say these are the best 20, and I go after those 20 and find out that half of them aren't eligible.  In the meantime, the guys that you passed on are going to other schools. Then you find out that you can't get this guy, but now you've lost another guy based on a decision he's made.

We had two and half weeks before that first game.  We didn't win it.  We technically outscored them, but we had a few called back. There's still a lot that we have to learn. They're all doing a great job on the progression through that.  A lot of them didn't go through a summer workout because we were trying to get them finalized, and that didn't happen until July.

We had two subs in the first game, so we relied heavy on fitness, and the guys have done a great job with that. Unfortunately, we had some goals called back. We dug ourselves a hole down 3-0. They came out in the second half with some energy. The two home games we have had, there have been great crowds, and I think they have been able to feed on that. We challenged them a bit. In the three games we have played, we have won all three second halves.  We get stronger in the second half. Now the goal is to put together two 45-minute halves and play a whole 90 minutes.  If we can go out there and do that, we win the game.  The two games we have won, they have done a better job of defending.  I think a lot of it is them getting to know each other better. We have played some solid teams.  It shows us what we need to work on heading into conference.  We have done a great job with fitness.  I am pleased with our fitness.  It's just going to take a little bit more time for them to believe in themselves as one, but I think they are getting better with it.

Click here to view the women's diary.