Derrick Davis | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta State women's soccer coach Stephen Andrew speaks at an introductory press conference at the Student Union Theater on Tuesday.

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State athletic director Herb Reinhardt wanted to find a coach who would not only be the best fit for the Blazers’ soccer program, but would be the best fit for the Valdosta community.

Reinhardt found his man in a Falkirk, Scotland native coaching a soccer program 80 miles north of Atlanta.

The VSU athletics department announced the hire of Stephen Andrew on Monday, and Tuesday, the former Piedmont College coach spoke about the allure of the taking over as the head coach of the Blazers’ soccer program.

“I think it’s just the success you can have here,” Andrew said Tuesday at an introductory press conference in the Student Union Theater at Valdosta State. “It’s a very young program. They had a lot of success early, and they also didn’t have a great year last year.

“But I think there’s tons of potential here… I think the potential’s here to go and be competitive in the Gulf South and be competitive nationally… I just think there’s massive potential here to be one of the best programs around.”

Andrew has spent his last nine years at the helm of the Piedmont College women’s soccer program in Demorest, where he won 136 games against just 42 losses and eight ties.

In 2011, Andrew’s fourth season as Piedmont’s head coach, he directed the most successful season in the program’s history to that point. A 17-3-1 record, a Great South Athletic Conference tournament championship and the program’s first appearance in the NCAA National Tournament resulted in Andrew winning the 2011 GSAC Coach of the Year award (his second) and fueled his induction into the Piedmont College Hall of Fame.

In all, the Lions won four conference championships under Andrew’s guidance, including the past two in the USA South Conference, and they’ve appeared in the NCAA Division III National Tournament four times during that span.

Andrew never won fewer than 13 games as head coach at Piedmont College, sporting a winning percentage of .650 or above in each of his nine seasons with the Lions.

It was the consistency of the women’s soccer program at Piedmont under Andrew which boosted him from one of many deserving candidates to the top of Reinhardt’s wish-list.

“His record was impressive, so that go him from Stack A to Stack B…” Reinhardt said. “I’ve been aware of Stephen and what he’s been doing at Piedmont, and I had been impressed with the sustained success.

“It was the fact that there wasn’t peaks and valleys and rebuilding years, that they were successful year-in-and-year-out for literally nine years, and then this last six-year period they’ve had tremendous success.”

Valdosta State’s soccer program, on the other hand, is trending backwards in recent seasons after getting the program off to a strong start upon its inception in 2011.

The Blazers went 11-6-2 in its inaugural season, securing a spot in the Gulf South Conference championship game with a win against a West Florida team that finished the season 12-2-2. VSU rode the momentum to a 13-5-2 record in 2012 and its first appearance in the Division II National Tournament.

VSU reached its zenith in 2014 under first-year coach Rebecca Nolin, compiling a 12-7-2 record, the first GSC championship in program history and advancing to the second round of the Division II National Tournament before falling 1-0 against a Rollins team that would finish as championship runners-up.

But since graduating 12 seniors after that 2014 season, the Blazers have gone 5-21-8 in the past two years, leading to Nolin’s resignation in November.

Once the search for a new coach began, Reinhardt had close to 100 applicants for the position, which he narrowed to just about 20 impressive candidates, each with a strong acumen for soccer. In the final process of elimination, Reinhardt turned his scope to which candidate would be the best fit in the Valdosta community.

Andrew’s role as a pillar in the community at Piedmont College made him an ideal candidate for Reinhardt, but it was also why the VSU athletic director knew it’d require a great situation to get him to leave.

“I consider, and I think Stephen considers, the move to Valdosta to be a step up (in job), but I wasn’t exactly sure that we were going to be able to get him here,” Reinhardt said. “Because what he means to that community, the fact that he was a student-athlete there and all, the fact that he’s leaving Piedmont to come to Valdosta State says a tremendous amount because he wants to be here, and that’s important.”

Andrew competed on the U-17 Scottish National Team before coming to the states and becoming the closest thing to a living legend as a student-athlete at Piedmont College.

A four-time All-American, Andrew still holds the Lions’ all-time career record for goals — his career total of 114 makes him one of three players in NCAA Division III history with more than 100 goals — and he notched a school-record 33 goals as a senior in 2003, tops in the nation, while leading Piedmont College to its first NCAA postseason victories in any sport.

Andrew led the Lions to GSAC championships in three of his four seasons as a student-athlete, earning the conference’s Player of the Year award in each of his four seasons and NCCAA South Region Player of the Year honors four times.

After completing his undergrad, Andrew served three seasons as the assistant coach of both Piedmont College’s men’s and women’s soccer programs before receiving an offer to begin his career as a head coach at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Huntingdon women went 4-13-1 under Andrew in 2007 — a marked improvement from the combined record of 3-34 in the 2006 and 2008 seasons sandwiching his lone season with the Hawks — but his heart was still with Piedmont, and he returned to the Lions a year later to begin his reign with the women’s program.

“The one year away made me appreciate what I had at Piedmont,” Andrew said. “It was one of those things where you get a little complacent and don’t you appreciate what you have. I went away for a year and realized the grass isn’t always greener on the other side…”

Andrew has spent 15 of his 16 years in the United States at Piedmont College. As evidenced by his return after his stint at Huntingdon, it’d take a special job for Andrew to leave his comfort zone to pursue.

Valdosta State just happened to be a perfect fit.

“I think it speaks volumes as to what he has learned about the institution, but also what the folks he trust have told him about the institution and the athletic department,” Reinhard said.

Coach Andrew Year-by-Year Coaching Record (2007-Present)

SEASON SCHOOL WON LOST TIED WIN%

2007 Huntingdon College 4 13 1 0.235

2008 Piedmont College 13 6 0 0.684

2009 Piedmont College 14 4 0 0.778

2010 Piedmont College 13 7 0 0.650

2011 Piedmont College 17 3 1 0.850

2012 Piedmont College 13 6 1 0.684

2013 Piedmont College 17 3 2 0.850

2014 Piedmont College 14 4 2 0.778

2015 Piedmont College 20 2 1 0.909

2016 Piedmont College 15 7 1 0.674

10 Seasons Two Schools 140 55 9 0.686

 

Valdosta State Year-by-Year Coaching Record (2011-Present)

SEASON SCHOOL WON LOST TIED WIN%

2011 Valdosta State 11 6 2 0.632

2012 Valdosta State 13 5 2 0.700

2013 Valdosta State 9 5 3 0.618

2014 Valdosta State 12 7 2 0.619

2015 Valdosta State 4 10 3 0.324

2016 Valdosta State 1 11 5 0.206

Six seasons 50 44 17 0.450

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.