Head Coach Bill Elliott lead his team to an 18-2-0 record last season.

July 2, 2008

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The University of West Florida Men's Soccer Coach Bill Elliott had another successful season, winning the Gulf South Conference Championship last November, while being ranked as high as 3rd in the nation. The Argonauts were the defending conference champions, and they kept the trophy in Pensacola on the way to a record setting 18-2-0 season. Coach Elliott was honored with the Conference Coach of the Year award, and then also earned the South Region Coach of the Year award.

"The awards are tributes to the players and all their hard work," Elliott said. "Players win games and coaches get awards." However, Elliott is no stranger to awards, and has earned more coach of the year awards than any other soccer coach in the conference. Elliott also has a unique accomplishment, of winning the conference title for both men's and women's soccer. That accomplishment, which happened in 1998, may never be matched, as almost all schools now have separate coaches for the two sports.

While Elliott may credit the players for success, he has developed a skill that allows him to change his coaching style based on the talents and strengths of his players. He's open to changing his style with each season if need be, and this seems to be working wonders. "I like to play attackingly minded," Elliott said. "Playing with an attacking mindset starts with a good defense. When the opportunity to win the ball back comes, you have to have a good defense before you can even get your offense started."

Last years' team was very experienced compared to this upcoming season which will feature a freshmen heavy recruiting class, so Elliott doesn't compare them to one another. The recruiting class looks very strong though, as most of the new recruits have almost as many awards as Elliott. Along with his style sometimes changing, his goals have changed a little bit this year for his team too. "I want the team to improve with each week," Elliott said. "This year, our focus is going to be more on having our team trained and able to compete at the end of the season, and not so much on wins and loses."

As pre-season play for the Argos hasn't even started yet, Elliott says it's too early to say who will play and contribute for the team, regarding the recruits. "We have to get through pre-season and some practices before I decide who will play what, but right now it's too early to decide," Elliott said. If history repeats itself like it tends to do, the men's soccer Argonauts should have nothing to worry about when the season starts, as UWF has one of the strongest soccer programs around. Last season featured an 18 match win streak, two All-American honors in Juan Garcia and Jimmy McHenry. Elliot even had a player, Keith Savage, make it to the Major League Soccer stage after last season.

After 13 seasons as the Head Coach for the Argos, Elliott has piled up a career total of 156 victories, and will carry his new young team into the future on the heels of back to back conference championships. The 2008 season will kick off on August 29th on the road, while the home opener is September 5th vs. Saint Leo. The Argos schedule can be found on the Men's Soccer page at www.goargos.com.