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Pompert relieved of coaching duties following team's one-win season
By Aubrey Gibert
On November 21, 2012
The Buffalo State men's soccer team closed out the season with a 4-2 loss to Nazareth on Oct.
23, and head coach Rudy Pompert has since been fired.
"It's just a time for a change of leadership given the lack of success, but the experience that the
student-athletes on the men's soccer team haven't been having over the last number of years,"
Athletics Director Jerry Boyes said.
With the loss, the Bengals finished the season 1-16-1, their worst campaign in six years. They
have won just two conference games in the past three years overall. This year was Pompert's
12th season as coach of the men's program and he had been with the school since 1997.
Prior to the team's final game, Pompert noted that this season wasn't an easy one.
"This season has definitely been my toughest year because I feel like it was a season that
never was," Pompert said. "We just never had the full healthy team out there and it sucks but
adjustments have to be made and we must move forward."
The players of the team were left in shock by the news of their coach's dismissal.
"It was a total surprise to see Coach Pompert fired and it sucks because it was my last season as
a senior and to see a coach that coached me for numerous years leaves a bad taste in my mouth,"
said senior captain Andrew Dugan.
Junior captain Brett Lanham agreed that it came as a shock.
"The blame has to go somewhere, and it came down on the coaching which definitely hurts,"
Lanham said.
Despite the Bengals winning just one game this year, there are certain factors that contributed to
the poor record.
The Bengals were hit with the injury bug and lost four starters to injury throughout the season.
They never had the starting lineup they put on the field opening day.
Injured players who missed multiple games included captains Jonathan Commisso (12 games),
Andrew Dugan (four) and other major contributors including Phil Pinzone (10), Trevor
O'Connor (nine) and Jake Lamos (three), adding up to 38 man-games missed due to injury.
"It really was disappointing for me because I didn't have much of a say in what happened this
season," Commisso said. "To not play for two thirds of the season and to see coach Pompert go
really sucks but we understand that it's about winning and we didn't do that this season."
When asked about playing for Pompert, many players voiced how they enjoyed playing for him
and how his passion for the game is what really stuck out in their minds. However, many players
also realize that this season was an underachieving one and that improvements must be made,
starting with a new head coach.
"I hope the next head coach brings the same commitment and passion for the game that coach
Pompert brought to the game of soccer and even though I may not like it at times, hopefully the
next coach is more strict on us and calls us out because as a program that is something we need
to do to get men's soccer back on track," Lanham said.
Pompert leaves Buffalo State with a career record of 80-133-19 as head coach. The team hasn't
made the playoffs since 2004 when it went 11-5-1 - Pompert's most successful season.
The search for a replacement will begin immediately and has no timetable for completion.
"The process here is a little bit long, we have to go through the process because it will be a
national search," Boyes said. "It's a wide open search. Right now we're in the process of getting
the search out there and getting it posted."
Aubrey Gibert can be reached by email at gibert.record@live.com.
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