ASK OLE MISS: Holeman Answers Your Questions

ASK OLE MISS provides Rebel fans interactive opportunities with some of the key figures in Ole Miss athletics. The latest installment features head soccer coach Steve Holeman. Questions were sent in by fans through OleMissSports.com over the past week, and Holeman has addressed many of those in the following Q&A.

Q: How does the soccer stadium compare to others around the country? Are there enhancements that you would like to see?

A: We certainly have one of the top in the SEC, one of the best in the South and ultimately one of the top facilities in the country. Being here 13 years, I’ve had the chance to see a lot of soccer facilities around the country, and we’re right up there with the best of them. We have the perfect soccer venue because the size of our stands not too big, not too small. The playing surface is Bermuda grass. It’s immaculate. At the beginning of our season, you couldn’t ask for a better playing surface. The lighting is spectacular. The surroundings are beautiful; the landscaping matches everything on campus. It’s just a great place to play, and everyone that comes here walks away knowing they’ve just played at or seen one of the best facilities in the country.

In answer to the second part: Simply put, we have one of the best facilities, but we’d like to be the best. One of the things we are looking for is to convert our team room in the Gillom Center to a theater. That’s kind of the next big item that schools are going to. Video work is critical to the game, and as the game evolves, all the small details become even more important. Adding that theater and expanding the team room would give us a bigger space with potentially a place for a game room, as well. Another thing we’re looking to do is to tear down the big hill behind our field and make more space to create a full practice area next to the game field.

Q: Of the incoming freshmen, who do you think has the ability to spark the team and accelerate the tempo when she enters the game?

A: The first person that comes to mind is Meredith Snow. She was a high school All-American, very highly touted coming out of high school and club soccer, and she’s already made a huge impact throughout our preseason training sessions. I think people are going to take notice of her. Even though she’s a defender she’s really pushing for a starting role at center back or outside back if she plays at outside back, you’re going to notice her because of her attacking presence. She not only has the ability to shut down some of the top forwards that we will play, but also to attack out of the back and create chances for us.

Q: Looking at last year’s South Carolina game, what is the defensive solution to a player with that much speed?

A: We had a plan in that particular game. We don’t do this often, because we don’t face players like (USC forward Darcel Mollon) very often, but we marked her with Amy Gill. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into that game Amy strained a ligament in her knee when she went down in a collision. That basically put her out for over a week. But we have players on this year’s team who can also do what we asked Amy to do in that game. Otherwise, it would just have to be real organized team defending.

Q: What do you see as the difference in the 2005 squad with an 8-1-2 SEC record and the 2007 squad with a 4-4-3 record? What separates a great season from a fair season?

A: Ironically enough, it’s really just a matter of one or two goals. I think in terms of talent, we had similar talent in both years. Our 2005 team found a way to win. Any time we had a close match, we won the game. In conference play alone, we won six games by a score of 1-0. Our defense was phenomenal. Our goalkeeping was outstanding. We didn’t necessarily have a ton of goal scorers, but we were able to get one goal a game more than our opponent, which was enough. In 2007, we struggled to find that player to put us over the top by scoring that extra goal.

Q: Why are there not more home games on home football weekends?

A: First of all, the conference schedule is set by the league. You have no control over that. Our non-conference, we don’t always even have complete control over whether we can make that happen on a football weekend. For example, if we play Memphis at home, we may only have one weekend or date that works for both of us. Scheduling on a home football weekend is not really a priority for us. In fact, it can often be a distraction. If we’re playing on Friday/Sunday and the girls are going to a football game on Saturday, well we have to train on Saturday and if they’re out in the sun going to a football game, they may lose their focus. But we never intentionally schedule based on football. In fact, we schedule so far in advance that we don’t usually even see the football schedule that far down the road.

Q: If there is an obvious shortage of ballboys/ballgirls, do you want adults to volunteer?

A: I think it would be better to have adults than no one. Soccer is a free-flowing game, and we want the game to flow. Any time a ball goes out of bounds and there’s not someone to chase it down and one of the field players has to chase it down, it disrupts the rhythm. If there were a lack of ballkids, we would certainly look for an adult to help us out.

Q: Last year the defense was outstanding. Will any of the incoming freshmen provide the much needed goal scoring? If not, who are you counting on to score?

A: I think we have several freshmen that can help us in the area of scoring goals. Jenna Strother, although she may play more of a midfielder/attacking mid role, I think she has the ability to score goals. Sofia Lindell has scored many goals in her career as a youth, and I would anticipate she can score some goals at this level. Abbie Curran has amazing speed. She’s great 1 v 1. She has an ability to score goals as well. I don’t know that there’s a single freshman that will step in and score 15 goals for us, but I think the combination of the group of freshmen will chip in and score goals.

As for the returning players, Hannah Weatherly I think had an off-year last season. She created many chances for herself and her teammates, and I think this is the year where she will break though and hit double-digit in goal scoring.

Q: How would you rate the overall speed of the Ole Miss squad compared to others in the SEC?

A: First of all, comparing our speed to ourselves, this is the fastest and most athletic team we’ve ever had at Ole Miss. With that said, the SEC is a very athletic and fast conference. Florida and Tennessee are easily two of the most athletic teams in the country. I don’t know that we’re quite there, but I don’t think we’re too far behind.

Q: How do you decide on the uniforms each year, does Nike present different options to choose from? Do the players get to select their favorite number to wear on the jersey?

A: Yes, Nike does present different options, and we select what we think is best. As for the numbers, whatever numbers open up after players graduate, our incoming freshmen are offered a choice of those numbers. Sometimes they get what they want, sometimes not.

Q: Who is the most intense player on the team, the player that wants to win more then anything else?

A: It’s really hard to pinpoint one person, because we have such a competitive team and everybody wants to win. But if I had to name just one player, I would say Christine Breaux.

Q: What is the process for selecting the Captains each year? Is it a vote from each player?

A: Yes, the team votes on the captains.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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