Mauricio Ingrassia, who built Long Beach (Calif.) City College into the top junior college womenÆs soccer program in the country, was introduced Monday as Long Beach StateÆs third womenÆs soccer coach.
Ingrassia, who has won the past two mythical national championships and the past four California state titles, takes over for Peter Reynaud, who retired after closing his 22-year career with three seasons in Long Beach.
Reynaud followed Julie Cochran, who started the program in 1998.
Ingrassia, who played collegiately at San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton, posted an 184-24-8 record in seven seasons at Long Beach City College. His teams went 95-3-0 the past four seasons and are riding a 55-game unbeaten streak, dating to 2001. Every LBCC team since 1996 has won at least 17 games, and none have won fewer than 21 nor lost more than three since 1999.
Ingrassia was chosen NSCAA JC Division III Coach of the Year last fall.
The Vikings, who previously had been coached by U.S. national team defender Joy Fawcett, won their first state championship in 1997, IngrassiaÆs third season. TheyÆve won five South Coast Conference championships and twice finished the season ranked second in the nation by the NSCAA. (California JCs do not compete in NJCAA events.)
Ingrassia coached three national JC Players of the Year, nine JC All-Americans and 13 JC All-West Region players, and his players have gone on to Arizona State, Central Florida, Louisville, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State L.A. and Metro State (Colo.).
The first Long Beach State team starred two players from LBCCÆs first state-title team: midfielder Myisha Delaney, who now plays for Ajax of Southern California in the WomenÆs Premier Soccer League, and forward Dana Crutchfield.
Ingrassia had been hired to coach LBCCÆs menÆs soccer team, as well as the women, following longtime Viking men's coach Bill FinnertyÆs retirement last December. Ingrassia's coaching career began at Orange County prep power Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School, his alma mater. (University of Utah women's coach Rich Manning formerly was girls coach at Los Alamitos.)
''All my teams display a passion for the game that IÆm looking forward to bringing here …,'' said Ingrassia, who was born in Argentina and moved to Southern California as a child. ''Everything has its order, its steps, and weÆll take one step at a time. We need to get to the final four [qualifying for the Big West Conference tournament] to have the ability to get an NCAA bid, and then weÆll take it one game at a time.''
Long Beach State returns 26 players and nine starters, including star midfielder Alison Weigand, from last year's 9-9-0 squad that narrowly missed the Big West tournament.
''Mauricio really has a passion for excellence and a passion for the game,'' Long Beach State athetics executive director Bill Shumard said following an on-campus media conference. ''That certainly came through in the interview process.''
Shumard said the search committee interviewed seven finalists among 80 candidates, and that Ingrassia was prominent on the list from the start of the search.
Long Beach State is about three miles south of LBCC's main campus.
Several Big West schools are in Southern California, home to the deepest pool of female talent in the country, and they appear positioned to assume greater prominence in college womenÆs soccer. Tapping into the talent pool is essential, and IngrassiaÆs connections with the Cal South ODP program could pay dividends.
Ingrassia is head coach of the phenomenal Cal South Girls 1987 team and assistant coach of the Girls 1986 squad. The teams feature U.S. under-19 winger Alexa Orand and backup goalkeeper Kelsey Davis, and youth national team players Brittany Klein, Amy Rodriguez, Kasey Moore, Kiki Bosio, Maryhelen Tomer, Courtney Lewis and Ashley Nick.
Ingrassia also coaches at Cerritos Regional Soccer Club in southeastern Los Angeles County.
Six of the eight Division I institutions in the California State University system have changed womenÆs soccer coaches, or have an open position, since the 2003 season.
San Diego State hired Michael Giuliano, who guided Westmont to the past three NAIA championships. Cal State Northridge added womenÆs head coaching duties to menÆs soccer head coach Terry DavilaÆs responsibilities. San Jose State hired SDSU menÆs assistant Dave Siracusa last fall. Fresno State hasnÆt announced a replacement for Stacy Welp, who resigned in March.
Karen Hanks resigned last month as coach at Sacramento State. Assistant coach Katie Poynter, who played (as Katie Sheppard) at UC Irvine and Santa Clara, was appointed interim head coach of the Hornets. Poynter, part of Santa ClaraÆs 2001 NCAA championship team, was an assistant coach at NAIA power Azusa Pacific before heading to Sacramento.
Only Big West Conference champion Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton, among CSU schools, have returning head coaches.
NCAA DIVISION I COACHING CHANGES/HIRES
(Since close of 2004 season)
Open positions
Alabama State (SWAC)
Fresno State (WAC)
Hartford (America East)
Jacksonville (Atlantic Sun)
Nicholls State (Southland)
*Sacramento State (Big Sky)
St. Francis, Pa. (Northeast)
Southern Mississippi (Conference USA)
Tennessee Tech (Ohio Valley)
* — interim head coach in place
Hires/Changes
Alabama State (SWAC) — Open; first-year program
Arkansas (SEC) — Gordon Henderson (Idaho State head coach) for Alan Kirkup (contract not renewed)
Arkansas State (Sun Belt) — Jason Wharton (Cisco JC, Texas, head coach) for Kent Hefner (fired)
Cal State Northridge (Big West) — Tony Davila (CS Northridge men's head coach; will coach both teams) for Mac Thompson (interim coach)/Allison Lee (resigned)
Central Michigan (MAC) — Tony DiTucci (Central Michigan assistant coach) for Mark Salisbury (hired at Idaho State)
Cleveland State (Horizon) — Derrek Fallor (DePaul assistant); first-year program
Colorado College (Independent) — Geoffrey Bennett (Hartwick men's assistant) for Erik Oman (interim)/Greg Ryan (hired as U.S. Soccer Region II women's staff coach)
Davidson (Southern) — Greg Ashton (Trinity, Texas, head coach) for Kevin Hundley (resigned)
Elon (Southern) — Matt Clark (Southern Mississippi head coach) for Paul Webster (hired at Elmhurst, Ill., College)
Fresno State (WAC) — Open; Stacy Welp (resigned)
George Mason (CAA) — Diane Drake (Georgetown head coach) for Jac Cicala (resigned)
Georgetown (Big East) — Dave Nolan (Georgetown assistant) for Diane Drake (hired at George Mason)
Georgia Southern (Southern) — Ashley Hart (UAB assistant) for Tom Norton (resigned)
Hartford (America East) — Open; Eva Bergsten (hired at Wesleyan, Conn., College)
Holy Cross (Patriot) — Deborah Flaherty (West Chester head coach) for Mary Curtis (resigned)
Idaho State (Big Sky) — Mark Salisbury (Central Michigan head coach) for Gordon Henderson (hired at Arkansas)
Jacksonville (Atlantic Sun) — Open; Mike Johnson (hired as Jacksonville men's coach)
Long Beach State (Big West) — Mauricio Ingrassia (Long Beach City College head coach) for Peter Reynaud (retired)
Louisiana Tech (WAC) — Jennifer Soileau (Baton Rouge, La., Bishop Sullivan HS head coach); first-year program
Mercer (Atlantic Sun) — Grant Serafy (Macon, Ga., Stratford Academy boys and girls coach) for Jodie Smith (resigned)
Minnesota (Big Ten) — Mikki Denney Wright (Missouri assistant) for Barbara Wickstrand (contract not renewed)
Montana (Big Sky) — Neil Sedgwick (USC associate head coach) for Becky Duerksen (resigned)
Morehead State (Ohio Valley) — Greg Sheen (Dayton Soccer Academy coaching director) for Leslie Faber (resigned)
Nevada (WAC) — Teri Patraw (former Arizona State head coach) for Dang Pibulvech (contract not renewed; hired as Tulsa assistant coach)
Nicholls State (Southland) — Open; Jim Zakel (resigned)
Sacramento State (Big Sky) — Katie Poynter (interim) for Karen Hanks (resigned)
St. Francis, Pa. (Northeast) — Open; Michael Coll (hired as Penn State assistant coach)
San Diego State (Mountain West) — Michael Giuliano (Westmont head coach) for Chuck Clegg (retired)
San Jose State (WAC) — Dave Siracusa (San Diego State men's assistant) for Cris Gilmore (resigned)
Southern Mississippi (Conference USA) — Open; Matt Clark (hired at Elon)
Syracuse (Big East) — Patrick Farmer (Tennessee Tech head coach) for April Kater (resigned)
Temple (Atlantic-10) — David Jones (Temple men's assistant, served as interim 2003) for Seamus McWilliams (resigned)
Tennessee Tech (Ohio Valley) — Open; Patrick Farmer (hired as Syracuse coach)
Tulsa (WAC) — Rena Richardson (Alabama assistant) for Damon Gore (resigned)
Vermont (America East) — Kerry Dziczkaniec (Maryland assistant) for Jodi Kenyon (resigned)
Youngstown State (Horizon) — Anthony James (West Virginia Wesleyan head coach) for Elizabeth Bartley (contract not renewed)