Now that the shock of Tom Fitzgerald’s departure has
dissipated, members of the UCLA men’s soccer team are looking
for signs of stability atop the program.
Consequently, many current and former players have thrown their
support behind third-year assistant coach Jorge Salcedo.
“Jorge has a great soccer mind,” senior forward Matt
Taylor said. “The guys all like him. I would be really
pleased if he got the job.”
Salcedo, a four-year starter at UCLA from 1990 to 1993, said
Monday that he has expressed interest in the job indirectly to
Associate Athletic Director Betsy Stephenson. Although he is still
awaiting a response, Salcedo is hopeful he will hear from
Stephenson by the week’s end.
“She knows my intentions,” Salcedo said.
“Without a doubt, I’m interested in the job. Becoming
the head coach at UCLA would be a dream come true.”
For a program that was badly shaken when Fitzgerald announced
Friday that he would return to the University of Tampa, hiring
Salcedo might help ease the transition. He apparently is well-liked
among the current players, and obviously is familiar with the
incoming recruits.
Salcedo’s connection to the UCLA program dates back
roughly two decades. He served as a ball boy for the Bruins’
1985 championship team, and has followed the team closely since
boyhood.
What Salcedo lacks in head coaching experience, Taylor believes
he makes up for with his familiarity with the program.
“He has lived UCLA his whole life,” Taylor said.
“He has personal relationships with all the guys on the team,
and he’s recruited a lot of them himself. If we pull in
someone foreign, that person wouldn’t know the team as
well.”
Salcedo is optimistic that UCLA will keep the search within the
program, instead of making it nationwide. The previous two
men’s soccer coaches Stephenson has hired ““ Fitzgerald
in 2001 and Todd Saldaña in 1999 ““ were not Bruin
alumni, although Saldaña was previously the coach of the UCLA
women’s team and an assistant coach for the Bruin men.
“If it becomes a national search, there are some big names
who probably will be interested,” Salcedo said.
“Selfishly, I hope she doesn’t do that.”
Taylor said that several players have already approached the
UCLA administration in support of Salcedo, and that he was planning
to do so later in the week. He was hopeful that Stephenson and
Athletic Director Dan Guerrero would take the team’s opinion
into account during the hiring process.
“They should listen to us. The guys are the ones who have
to play for the new coach,” Taylor said.
Fitzgerald likely will have some say in who is hired. The
ex-Bruin coach said Monday that Stephenson and Guerrero told him
they would welcome his help in narrowing the search. Right now,
Fitzgerald’s advice appears favorable to Salcedo.
“I’ve known Jorge for a long time, and I think he
would do a great job,” Fitzgerald said. “I hope they at
least have a conversation with him. He would be a good choice and a
smooth transition.”
Stephenson, who returned late Monday night from a meeting of the
NCAA Management Council in Nashville, Tenn., did not immediately
return phone calls Tuesday afternoon, but according to Taylor, a
number of prominent national coaches have already sent their
applications.
For right now, Salcedo is content to sit and wait, albeit with
the knowledge that if another coach is hired, he may not be asked
to return to the UCLA staff.
“I have confidence in Betsy, and I know she’ll make
a good decision,” Salcedo said. “When the time comes,
if she’d like to talk to me, she will.”