Berbary adjusts to role as Hoosiers head coach

Since the IU women’s soccer team reached the round of 16 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers have not finished higher than eighth in the Big Ten.

Four months ago, Ohio State snuffed out the Hoosiers’ opportunity to earn a Big Ten Tournament berth with a 5-0 victory on Senior Night. About a month later, on Nov. 28, IU Coach Mick Lyon announced his retirement.

On Feb. 6, 69 days later, IU announced the hiring of Amy Berbary, the former Auburn associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. She said she received an overwhelming amount of text messages and phone calls welcoming her to Indiana from the staff and the people she met at the interview.

“Looking at Indiana as a university and the athletic tradition that they have, I thought with the people that I had met and the resources that are available, I thought it was in a great place,” she said. “Some of the best soccer players in the country play in the Midwest.”

Berbary said she met with the team informally for the first time Feb. 7.

“I got to know them a little bit,” Berbary said. “They asked me a ton of questions just to get to know me. It has been absolutely outstanding. I couldn’t have asked for more of a welcoming reception since I’ve arrived.”

Athletic Director Fred Glass lamented how many days elapsed before they hired Lyon’s successor.

“It took way longer than I wanted it to take,” Glass said. “On the one hand, I don’t think it’s defensible, because it was just too long. On the other hand, there was a lot of things that came together to conspire against getting it done more quickly.”

Glass attributed the hiring dealy to the success of the men’s soccer team, the holidays and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention Jan. 16-20 in Indianapolis.

“That was a really useful place to meet with a lot of candidates and referrers of candidates,” Glass said. “We, frankly, extended our search beyond that because that was a convenient time to meet everybody.

“But I’d rather get it right than get it fast.”

Berbary said she likes the resources IU has to help the program reestablish its prominence.

“We really try to live the ’24 Sports, One Team,’” Glass said. “We were willing to invest a little bit more in the program in terms of the head coach’s salary, in terms of her assistant coaches’ pool, to show that we’re serious about building a good women’s program here. We ought to be good in women’s soccer. We’re prepared to make the investments we need to make to make that happen.”

Last season, IU defeated Purdue 3-0 to reclaim the Golden Boot. The victory was Lyon’s 200th career win and the first win in the series since IU won the inaugural contest in 1999.

“We’ve got to make that a priority,” Berbary said. “To keep it.”

As far as how she plans to follow through with that goal, Berbary said she will have to evaluate the players she inherited before deciding on the system of play.

“What we’re going to do is work very hard this spring,” Berbary said. “Get to know the
players, their attributes, and then select a system. My style of play is going to be very much a possession-oriented, high-energy, attacking-minded style of play.”

Berbary said a significant focus during the spring season is to get very fit.

“If we’re fit, and we can defend, that puts us in a position to have a chance to win any
game,” she said.