STARKVILLE — The memory remains fresh in Tom Anagnost’s mind nearly 31 years later.
When Anagnost was around 12 years old, he recalls attending a camp run by former Michigan State men’s basketball coach Jud Heathcoat. In addition to learning about shooting, dribbling, and passing, Anagnost remembers a subtler lesson that outweighed the others. It didn’t have anything to do with a tangible skill Anagnost could take back to his hometown in Saginaw, Michigan, and use to dazzle his friends and teammates. Instead, the lesson focused on the intangible notion of competitiveness.
“I learned a different level of trying your hardest,” Anagnost said. “(Coach Heathcoat) worked this guy out, who was an All-American, in front of us and he did this repetitive jumping. It was unbelievable. It showed how high he did in the beginning and how high he was jumping at the end. It stuck with me.”
Anagnost went on to beat a two-time reigning champion in a one-on-one battle in front of the rest of the camp. The lesson, the victory, and the words of his mother, Olga, who always told him he could do anything he set his mind to, and his father, Christ, helped formed a philosophy and a mind-set that has helped Anagnost build a successful career as a college soccer coach.
The former head coach at Miami and Central Michigan will use the lessons he learned as a child and the ones he used in previous coaching stops to help transform the Mississippi State women’s soccer program.
Last week, Anagnost celebrated the one-month anniversary of being hired to replace Aaron Gordon by talking about his plans to transform a program that went 6-12 (1-10 in the Southeastern Conference) this past season and 17-52-3 in the last four. The six wins were the most since the 2012 team won nine games.
Unfortunately, history isn’t on Anagnost’s side. In 22 seasons, MSU has had only five winning seasons. Three of them happened in 2001 or earlier. Prior to Gordon, Neal Macdonald went 58-103-14 in nine years at MSU.
Anagnost said that history is why he left North Carolina State, where he spent last season as an assistant coach on a team that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, to come to MSU.
“I love the challenge. I embrace it,” Anagnost said. “That is a motivator for me. It is a process. It is a day-to-day thing that you just have to see progress. You have to instill the mind-set. You have to instill the day-to-day goal-setting to change who they are.”
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.
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.
Anagnost said “an unshakeable faith” in what he believes in has helped him at each school. He said his goal is to get players to “buy in” or to adopt his mind-set to help transform the program’s fortunes.
“The philosophy I have had and the motto and at my core and what we try to instill in all our players is commitment and to get better every day,” Anagnost said. “I was blessed at a younger age and I was taught maybe a different level of working hard, so being able to get more out of the student-athletes I have had is a constant. Being able to constantly record and measure those things and have them see it and be accountable for it on a daily basis, reminds them they can do anything if they put their mind to it.”
While Anagnost will use new methods to connect with his players and to get more out of them, he admits the structure of NCAA Division I soccer won’t make the “rebuilding” effort any easier. He said MSU already is recruiting in the Class of 2019, so many of the players he might have hoped to recruit to Starkville already have decided on their schools. Plus, the quick turnaround from summer to the beginning of practice to the start of the season in August coupled with the layover from the end of the season in November and December until the following spring adds to the challenge of staying connected with your players to make sure they are staying fit and improving their skills.
Anagnost said those factors make it even more important for coaches to find the right players for their systems and philosophies.
“We’re going to get better today at this and this and this,” Anagnost said. “That is the agenda for the day. That is what I want our kids to start think about and to be about. When you have every individual thinking about that and being about that and constantly ascending, it is a pretty powerful thing. When you train and you practice and you prepare, what happens is you gain what most women struggle with and that is confidence, so it is the belief.”
Anagnost said he wants his players to feel a sense of confidence and calm because they have done everything within their power to be prepared. He said the MSU’s history doesn’t mean anything because it can’t be changed. His goal is to change each day moving forward.
On Dec. 14, the day he was introduced in Starkville, Anagnost said he and his coaches will measure and record as many variables as possible to give the players tangible evidence their hard work is paying off. In turn, Anagnost said those numbers will help build confidence and competition.
“You can change today, though, and you can change tomorrow,” Anagnost said. “You can change what this is. … What we’re going to do is test your willingness to do that. What we measure is not soccer. It is their character. Persistence, perseverance, dedication, determination. They are all traits of winners. If you rank the highest in these traits, you’re going to do extraordinarily well for yourself and this team. But, more importantly than that, when you’re done and older and not even plying professional soccer, you’re going to be able to handle anything that comes your way because of who you are, and that is the most important thing.”
Anagnost said the Bulldogs will move on without forward Kennedi Carbin, goalkeeper Tanya de Souza, and midfielder Johanna Hamblett, and defender/midfielder Carly English. As of last week, Anagnost expected all of the players from 2016 who returned to school to be with the team when it gets back together for its spring season. He said he expected to have his first recruit in Friday to start the process of bringing new Bulldogs into the fold.
“I want them to understand they can always give more and be better,” Anagnost said. “The more they do that the more valuable they will be to what they’re doing.
“The biggest reason I do what I do is to help them as people. Obviously I am a soccer coach, but for me it is a much deeper thing. Soccer, for me, is the vehicle I use to teach them about themselves and to make them better.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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