Greg Sutton is Concordia Soccer’s Master Coach

Sutton Is Now Heading Up Both Concordia’s Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams

SportsElias Grigoriadis — Published October 2, 2018

Every single office is busy with preparations for a new season and along with it, new challenges. But only one office has two teams associated to his name: Greg Sutton’s.

Inside his office, two teams worth of supplies can be found anywhere that isn’t a chair or a desk. Practice equipment, balls, and jerseys take up the majority of the room.

Sutton was named head coach of the women’s soccer team July 26, just three weeks after the team had parted ways with Jorge Sanchez, who came aboard as coach in 2002. With his already existing role as the head coach of the men’s team, Sutton was announced as Concordia soccer’s “master coach.”

While the move isn’t completely unheard of, it’s surprising given the circumstances. Sutton was already going to have his hands full working with the men’s team who were coming off a disappointing season where the team earned just three wins.

Tasking him with a second struggling team in the women’s side­—that also had just three victories on the season last year—looks to complicate an already delicate rebuilding process.

Through his tenure as men’s coach, the team hasn’t made the playoffs and has failed to record a season above a .500 winning percentage. Aside from a strong run in this year’s winter season where they finished first, the team has struggled since Sutton’s arrival.

Stingers’ Director of Recreation and Athletics D’Arcy Ryan said he stands behind the decision and is confident in Sutton. He was approached when the field of potential replacements for Sanchez was not at the level the selection committee hoped for.

“Master coach was an option we had been considering for some time, especially when working with someone like Greg who has experience both as a player and a coach and is familiar with the Stingers,” said Ryan. “This isn’t some plan we whipped up out of nowhere. We carefully weighed all the options and the applicants but unfortunately none of them had what we were looking for.”

Ryan added that a few of the potential candidates ended up being granted interviews as well but they withdrew their candidacies because of other opportunities that they wanted to pursue.

While coaching one university-level team is a full-time job, heading up two teams at that level is beyond difficult to manage. That’s why, over the summer, Sutton has brought new staff members on board for both teams so he can divide his time equally.

“I told the directors that I don’t want the job if I can’t handle it,” said Sutton. “The entire support staff we brought in works extremely hard and is really devoted […] The most important thing about being able to properly manage both teams is delegating responsibilities and putting the right pieces in the right places. They’ll help out with practices and tactics and recruiting. They all have lots of experience and I trust them.”

While Sutton now oversees more of the “big picture” for both teams, another challenge will be handling the everyday growth of them through training, a responsibility that is going to fall mainly to the assistant coaches and trainers. Stingers’ forward Peter Campbell isn’t worried about the effect it could have on either of the teams.

“We had a really strong winter season and morale right now is really good,” said Campbell. “He may have to be split between two teams but he’s been to every practice and he’ll be at every game. I’m sure it’ll be the same with the women’s team too.”

“The biggest challenge is going to be managing the games in-game and having a clear mindset.” —Greg Sutton

Both of the teams will be travelling together and every game they play, save one, will be a double header.

That means that Sutton’s attendance at one team’s game over another won’t be a factor. It does, however, present a new challenge when addressing game preparation and his mindset between both matches.

“The biggest challenge is going to be managing the games in-game and having a clear mindset,” said Sutton. “If the first game goes well or poorly I have to make sure that that doesn’t change the way I approach every game. But it’s what I signed up for and I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I could more than handle it.”

Problems could arise if Sutton has to delegate more time to a struggling team.

Sutton maintained that both teams would get equal amounts of attention. But with the women’s side starting in disappointing fashion thanks to three losses and a draw, including an 8-1 beatdown from Sherbrooke in early September, adjustments are going to have to be made.

Stingers forward Sarah Humes is fully aware of Sutton’s split time but insisted the team’s performances are going to turn once the adjustment period is over.

“We haven’t had that strong of a start but morale is still good right now,” said Humes. “Greg and Jorge have pretty similar coaching styles so it’s not like there are too many growing pains.”

“There is some getting used to but everyone is working really hard and once we get going we’re really confident that we can make an impact.”

The men’s team has gotten off to a stronger start than last year, when they had to wait until mid-season to collect their first win. It is in part due to a more experienced and physical squad.

The men’s team’s early losses this season came against strong opponents in Université du Québec à Montréal and Université de Montréal having picked up points in their other two games.

The start could also raise the question of keeping a closer eye on the women’s team which is near the bottom of the table at the start of the season.

Stingers veteran and former captain Alyssa Ruscio understands the concerns but maintained Sutton has both experience and an extremely strong staff behind him.

“Double the workload also means that he has double the ressources at his disposal,” said Ruscio. “When I was playing, the staff was great, and if he brought even more people in then I don’t see that being an issue. I understand why some people might have doubts but Jorge and Greg used to work really closely together so it should work out just fine.”

If the two teams continue in their current form, handling them both while they are having drastically different seasons will be another challenge to add to a constantly increasing list.

It seems that the Stingers organization, from the players to the front office, trust the former Canadian International player with the reins to both teams. Time alone will tell if Sutton and his players are capable of operating under this new system.