Benefield: A new challenge for former SRJC soccer coach

Tracy Hamm was at the happiest place on Earth, but she still describes the feeling as bittersweet.

The Santa Rosa Junior College women’s soccer head coach was offered the top soccer job at San Francisco State while she was vacationing at Disneyland on Dec. 21.

Perfect. The move from a junior college to Division II program in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with competitors like Sonoma State and Chico State was, to use a scientific term, a no-brainer.

But still.

“It’s very bittersweet,” Hamm said. “I loved Santa Rosa, I loved my department, I loved all of my student athletes.

“It was the most welcoming experience I have ever been a part of in my career,” she said of her three years with the Bear Cubs. “There is really a great energy, a winning mentality. It helped me grow as a coach, working with student athletes that come from such an eclectic background. I think it helped me really understand and mature as a coach and as a person.”

Hamm led the Bear Cubs to a 43-16-5 overall record in her three years at the helm and in that time, the Bear Cubs won the Big 8 Conference once, she was named conference coach of the year and, in a single season, the women’s soccer program sent nine athletes to four-year soccer programs.

Hamm’s coaching style is molded from years of playing soccer at the collegiate and professional level. Hamm was a Pac-10 All-Conference and All-West Region defender at the University of California at Berkeley before playing professionally.

It was Hamm’s success at SRJC as well as her deep connections within the Bay Area soccer community that caught first-year San Francisco State athletic director Charles Guthrie’s attention.

Of the estimated 200 applicants and four who school officials brought on campus for interviews, it was Hamm who presented “very specific milestones and goals for the program,” Guthrie wrote in an email.

How specific? How ambitious?

Try this: “I want a conference title that first year,” she said. “I think you have to have that mentality. I think it would be a disservice to the team if I said, ‘Well, let’s try to get third.’?”

But Hamm will have her hands full.

The Gators finished 9th in the CCAA in the fall with a 2-8-1 conference record and a paltry eight goals in conference play.

Luckily, she’s bringing some local talent from Santa Rosa to help her on her way.

Team captain Chelsea Frostick, who played her prep soccer at Montgomery, as well as Rancho Cotate grad Kayleen Belda and Taylor Halstenson, who played at Casa Grande before suiting up for the Bear Cubs, are expected to play for Hamm and the Gators in the fall.

“She is the best coach I have ever had. She changed the whole way I looked at soccer,” Halstenson said.

“She definitely makes sure everybody plays to their highest ability,” she said. “I’m excited to see what she can do with us in the next two years.”

Remarkably, Hamm will be just the second head coach in the 32-year history of the women’s soccer program. Former Gators coach Jack Hyde retired at the close of the season after leading the Gators for every season since the program’s inception.

“I want to put my own stamp on it right out of the gate,” she said. “I really want to build kind of a dynasty and make it a perennial powerhouse.”

“This team is known for working very hard and they battle. For me, that’s exciting,” she said. “Once you add more focus on the technical and tactical stuff, I think we are going to get some good wins.”

But Hamm is a realist. San Francisco State is known as a commuter school which doesn’t lend itself to selling the Division II student-athlete experience. Perhaps more importantly, the school is “at the bottom” of the CCAA conference in athletic scholarships, according to Guthrie.

“Our goal is to be in the top half of the league and we’re inching closer,” Guthrie wrote in an email.

Hamm will have the benefit of getting a full spring of training in with her squad before heading into the fall season. Practice starts Tuesday.

“There is a huge opportunity in front of Tracy to start her own legacy by achieving the goals she has stated for the program,” Guthrie said.

But closer to home, the move also leaves a pretty big hole for the Bear Cubs to fill.

“She’s a great role model for the players,” Bear Cubs athletic director Ron Myers said. “You read her comments by the players, they highly respected her.”

Faculty hiring for the 2015-2016 school year is complete, according to Myers, so any hire for the Bear Cubs soccer program will be for a part-time position - coaching and conditioning only.

“It hampers us because, some people, if it’s not full time, they aren’t going to apply,” he said.

The priority filing date for the position is Feb. 6.

Freshman Amanda Neidlinger, who played her prep soccer at Windsor High, said Hamm’s direct approach and background as a player will be missed.

“Everyone loved her because she was able to connect with us,” she said.

Hamm’s approach gave players like Neidlinger confidence, both on the field and off. Now it’s the players’ chance to cheer for the coach.

“She is a great coach,” she said. “I’m super proud of her for getting a new job. It’s a good step in the right direction for her.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com and on Twitter @benefield.