STARKVILLE — Tom Anagnost loves the process.
A self-described “day-to-day person,” Anagnost enjoys evaluating student-athletes every day to test their competitive and tactical skills as soccer players. The veteran assistant coach and head coach has used that process to have success motivating players and pushing his teams to the NCAA tournament.
On Wednesday, Anagnost said he plans to use the same process to help transform the Mississippi State women’s soccer program as its fifth head coach.
“I am real big into the day and winning the day,” said Anagnost, who was hired last week and officially introduced in a news conference in the Babe McCarthy Media Room in Humphrey Coliseum. “Our motto is commitment to getting better every day. It is my job to teach our players a deep understanding of what that means.”
Anagnost spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach, first with Michigan in 2015 before joining North Carolina State this past season.
Prior to working as an assistant coach, Anagnost was head coach at Miami from 2011-12. He led the Hurricanes to a 19-15-5 record and two NCAA tournament appearances, including the program’s first trip to the second round in 2011. The Hurricanes also qualified for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in 2012, and earned two wins against top-10 teams for the first time in school history.
Anagnost also was head coach at Central Michigan from 2009-10 after earning the job as an interim head coach in 2008 following his successful stint as an assistant with the club in 2007. He guided teams to a 45-12-7 record in three seasons, including two NCAA tournament appearances. Anagnost was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2009. In the MAC, Anagnost’s teams were 31-4-6.
Anagnost replaces Aaron Gordon, who was relieved of his coaching duties and reassigned in the athletic department Nov. 3, according to an announcement by then-MSU Interim Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee. Gordon led MSU to a 17-52-3 record in four seasons. In 2016, MSU was 6-12 and 1-10 in the Southeastern Conference. It was a one-win improvement from 2015. The Bulldogs lost eight games by one goal.
In 22 seasons, MSU has had only five winning seasons. Three of them happened 2001 or earlier.
Prior to Gordon, Neal Macdonald went 58-103-14 in nine years at MSU.
But Anagnost has had success transforming programs in a short amount of time. At Central Michigan, the Chippewas finished 10th in the MAC before Anagnost took over. In his three years at the school, the Chippewas finished first in the league twice and second once. Miami hasn’t advanced to the postseason since Anagnost left the school.
MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen referenced Anagnost’s success Wednesday and said it was a big day for the school’s soccer program and the athletic department. He said senior associate athletic directors Scott Wetherbee, Jared Benko, and Mike Nemeth spent a great deal of time researching a pool of candidates that stretched from coast to coast. He said MSU wanted a new coach who has the best interests of the student-athletes in mind, somebody who wants to be a part of an overall athletic department, and someone who is “very capable of turning around a program in a short amount of time.” He said it quickly became apparent Anagnost was that person. He said conversations with people like Florida women’s soccer coach Becky Burleigh, Florida State women’s soccer coach Mark Krikorian, and other women’s soccer coaches convinced them Anagnost was the right man for the job.
“We asked them what their thoughts were about the position and our needs and the amazing thing is Tom’s name kept coming up independently in these conversations,” Cohen said. “We brought him on campus and had a chance to meet with him individually. His track record at Miami, what he did at N.C. State this year as an assistant coach, at the University of Michigan, at Central Michigan, it is pretty remarkable what he has been able to do in short stints with these programs. We’re really pleased to have him at Mississippi State. We think he is going to have an immediate impact.”
Anagnost said reading books by longtime North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance “changed” him as a coach and as a person and helped him develop the framework for a coaching philosophy he has molded into his style. He said he measures and ranks the commitment level, competitive level, and character traits of his players every day to give them tangible evidence of improvement to create competition within the program. He said all of the things he measures are controllable and trainable. He said past results have shown him that progress is a motivator for the players.
“It is my belief that when you have people who are committed, persistent, persevering on a team, that is going to win you games,” Anagnost said. “This constant ascension has been the crux of my programs that have helped these student-athletes and their teams become successful, but also to help them become successful as people.”
Anagnost said he has talked with all of MSU’s domestic players who were on the team this past season. He planned to talk to one of the international players Wednesday and was still figuring out the best method of communication with the other internationals.
Anagnost also said he has two assistant coaches in mind to hire. He said he hopes to have an answer from them in the next couple of days.
Anagnost said he anticipates playing multiples styles depending on the opponent. He stressed the importance of fitness, technical ability, aggressiveness, and outworking the opponent.
Anagnost said he was “all in” from the first day he met representatives of the school He said everyone made him feel comfortable and helped him believe he could create a “home” for women’s soccer players.
“The people here at Mississippi State University are special,” Anagnost said. “That is why this is an extremely special place, and I am just blessed.
“We’re going to want the kids that want to be here, that want to embrace the challenge of making this thing something special. Those are the types of rare student-athletes we are going for.
“We’re going to have special human beings and special athletes that are going to be able to bring this thing to where it deserves and should be. We are not at the top, but I want the ones who want to bring it to the top.”
Anagnost said his last experience at North Carolina State, where he worked under coach Tim Santoro, shows what can happen when a coaching staff assembles a “special” group of players. He said he has every intention of doing the same things every day at MSU.
Gordon, a former Texas Tech associate head coach, had success in recruiting and building the talent level and the depth in the program. He also brought in several international players, including goalkeeper Tanya de Souza (France), Elva Astthorsdottir (Iceland), and Johanna Hamblett (New Zealand). Unfortunately, MSU went 4-38-2 in the SEC in his time in Starkville.
Gordon faced some of the same challenges Anagnost will encounter at MSU. One advantage Anagnost will have is he will be able to show off the women’s soccer team’s $1.8-million club house, which is located on the MSU Soccer Field, to prove to players the school is committed to building a winner. The facility, which includes a 1,000-square-foot player locker room, shower, and bathroom, a 500-foot treatment area, a 600-foot film room/lounge, a 300-foot laundry/equipment room, a 300-foot coaches locker/conference room, and a 250-foot kitchen, was completed earlier this year.
A soccer-specific facility was something that had been discussed when former coaches Neil Mcguire and McDonald worked at the school.
In 2012, former MSU women’s soccer coach Neil Macdonald had an artist’s rendering of upgrades to the MSU Soccer Field on the wall in his office in Humphrey Coliseum. When asked about the picture, Macdonald smiled and said something to the effect he hoped the rendering would come true because it was something the program needed to compete. Macdonald was re-assigned within the athletic department after the 2012 season.
Neil McGuire, who led MSU before Macdonald, said in 2012 that MSU had plans drawn up that would have added to the amenities — like a locker room on site — to the MSU Soccer Field when he was working for then-MSU Athletic Director Larry Templeton. He said those plans were shared with recruits but never materialized.
Anagnost, a native of Saginaw, Michigan, also coached for nine years at the high school level in his home state. He coached the Bay City John Glenn program (1999-02), the Saginaw Heritage program (2000-02), and the Flint Powers Catholic program (2003-07). He was named Saginaw Valley League Coach of the Year at Saginaw Heritage in 2002 after leading his club to the SVL title, while also earning two more Coach of the Year honors with Flint Powers.
As a player, Anagnost was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American at Kalamazoo College (1992-95). He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in history in 1995. He went on to earn a teaching certificate from Saginaw Valley State in 2003. In 2006, he was inducted into the Kalamazoo College Sports Hall of Fame.
Upon graduating from Kalamazoo, Anagnost played professionally for the Chicago Power of the National Professional Soccer League in 1995. He played for the Michigan Bucks of the United States Indoor Soccer League in 1996.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.