Courtesy: Jeff Harwell-Zips Sports Photography

With the start of the men's soccer season less than a month away, GoZips.com sat down with UA head coach Caleb Porter, the 2007 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, on the dawn of his third season at the helm of an Akron program that has rapidly become a legitimate national contender under his watch. The Zips swept both the MAC regular season and tournament championships last fall and with six returning starters, including five all-conference first-teamers and the '07 newcomer of the year, coupled with another top-5 recruiting class, it's panning out to be another exciting year at Lee Jackson Field.

Your 2007 club captured both the MAC regular season and tournament championships, an amazing accomplishment in many respects, yet at the end of the season you said you were disappointed. What does that say about the level of success and the expectations that are now inherent of the Akron soccer program?

At the University of Akron, we will never be completely satisfied unless we achieve our ultimate goal of winning a national championship. My vision has been to take the Akron program and its a strong tradition and elevate it to new heights. With this in mind, we have set out to build the program for consistent long-term success as one of the nation's top college soccer programs. And in order to do that we have to raise the bar even higher so that our standards and expectations are in line with our goals.

At the same time, this type of evolution doesn’t happen overnight and we felt last year was a very productive season and a positive step in the right direction. I have been very pleased with our progress over the last two years and although I felt we were capable of going further in the NCAA Tournament, our program has transformed into a realistic contender for a national championship. Of course we will always have other program goals and winning the conference and getting a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament was quite an accomplishment and a positive indication of what the future holds.

As you head into your third season as the head coach at UA, you now have the benefit of familiarity in a sense that the players know you and know what to expect. On the flip side, you and your staff have also had time to truly get to know your players and their strengths and limitations. How big of an advantage is that now relative to your first two years?

When a new coaching staff takes over a program it takes time for them to put their stamp on things. However, we have worked very hard to make the transition as seamless as possible. Fortunately, the cupboard wasn’t bare and I was blessed with kids of great character who were willing to buy into our mission. As we carefully evaluated the players and developed a relationship with them we also gradually implemented a new system of play and overall identity for Akron soccer.

We felt it was necessary to play a brand of soccer that allows us to go head-to-head with the best teams in the country while not hoping to win, but expecting to win. It has been very rewarding to see the transformation take shape and for the players to witness first hand how effective our style can be. Having a thorough understanding of the players and knowing that everyone is on the same page makes a huge difference.

I feel very good about our team culture and, now that we have developed a strong sense of trust and belief in each other, it will allow us to get the most out of our players and team as a whole as we continue to move forward.

Last season, you had the luxury of mixing in a host of impact freshmen with a solid core of veteran performers and still win. This year, the team has lost six seniors – including the league’s player of the year – but is also bringing in another outstanding group of newcomers. Do you envision the same type of mix of youth and experience on the field in ’07? Also, how unique is the advantage of breaking in such talented first-year players while still continuing to win championships?

One of the keys to our success last year was having six seniors with experience and the leadership qualities to help integrate a very talented freshmen class. However, I think we have a very similar situation this year with four very experienced seniors still in the mix. We expect the new crop to make an immediate impact but with the leadership of our upperclassmen and sophomore class having a year under their belts, we are confident that our team chemistry will again be a cornerstone of the '08 group.

It also helps to bring in freshmen that are mature beyond their years. Players like Blair Gavin, Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Steve Zakuani from last year's class and Kofi Sarkodie, Darlington Nagbe and Teal Bunbury in this next class bring a wealth of experience at the highest levels domestically and internationally. This experience and overall confidence helps them transition to college play and make an immediate impact quicker than typical high school freshmen.

Since 2005, Akron has produced the best winning percentage in the nation with a record of 45-10-7 (.782) despite playing elite competition (RPI of 10 in ’07 and 46 in ’06). Talk about that amazing accomplishment.

Our winning percentage is something that we are very proud of. At Akron we preach to our players about possessing the heart of a champion and that it’s important to find a way to win. We approach each and every game with that mindset. Our players take the field wearing the Akron uniform with pride – not hoping to win, but expecting to win. At the same time, a win against weak competition accomplishes nothing.

To be the best you have to play the best and we are not afraid to play anyone. In order to realistically measure ourselves we need to find out how we stack up against the elite programs. Last year, we faltered in a few games against top programs but getting exposed forced us to get better and we grew stronger and more confident by playing those games. In the long run, that means more than the wins. But the goal is always to play games against the top programs in the country and settle for nothing less than victory.

Last season, the strength of the team was its defense – posting 12 shutouts, including six straight games and holding the league scoreless in the regular season. But you’ve lost three key players from the unit. How do you deal with this challenge?

Sound individual and collective defending will always be a staple of an Akron team. We take pride in being organized, disciplined and honest on the defensive side of the ball. I believe in an aggressive, high-pressing defensive philosophy and our players must be very fit and have a high level of work rate and transition in order for that to work. It’s something we ingrain in our players everyday.

With the loss of three starters in the back, one of our challenges will be to maintain the right balance and we will certainly be focused on this in the pre-season. However, we do return two senior central defenders and a senior goalkeeper, which helps us keep some continuity and stability in the backbone of our team. With the addition of several talented newcomers, I remain confident that this will continue to be one of our edges on the competition.

Talk some more about the importance of having not only a veteran, but an elite goalkeeper in Evan Bush between the pipes when shuffling new players into the backfield.

Evan Bush is without question one of the best goalkeepers in the country. Because we defend well as a program, Evan doesn’t always garner the credit he deserves because he often times is not put in the position to make many saves. However, I have all the confidence in the world with him in goal and it is comforting to know he is there to bail us out if need be.

You never want to rely on your goalkeeper to win you games but he might be called upon to make some key plays in the early going as we find our cohesiveness defensively. His leadership will also be a crucial component as one of our three team co-captains.

Steve Zakuani and Anthony Ampaipitakwong proved to be two of the top freshmen in the country last season – earning all-freshmen team honors by College Soccer News. Talk about that one-two punch, their progression and what they mean to the team.

Steve Zakuani and Anthony Ampaipitakwong are special players and it was no surprise when they made their presence felt immediately as freshmen. To come into a senior team and make such an impact is a testament to just how talented these young men are. Because of their flair, creativity and attacking instincts they will continue to spearhead our attack as two of our key playmakers.

At the same time I expect them to play an even larger role as sophomores and they have worked very hard in the offseason to be more dangerous in the final third. They have made great strides and their maturation should correlate to increased goal production next fall.

You added another challenging non-conference schedule for the fall, highlighted by elite match-ups against Indiana, Notre Dame, New Mexico and others. Talk about your schedule.

The '08 schedule is a very challenging but exciting one. We will certainly see how good we are right out of the gates, facing some of the top programs early on. Our scheduling philosophy is based on an aggressive approach of playing the best programs we can find so that we can put ourselves in the strongest position for postseason success. We do not schedule for wins but to be battle-tested so that our chances of garnering a seed and ultimately making a run in the tournament is greater.

It is my belief that in order to reach our potential as a team, we need to face the toughest competition possible. This will bring the best out of our individual players and our group collectively and should give us a realistic measurement of where we stack up. With this type of schedule, it’s very important that we keep our perspective on the big picture during the potential peaks and valleys of the season.

Our players have to be mentally tough and understand the experience they gain by subjecting themselves to very challenging situations. If that means losing a few games and making adjustments then so be it. However, once we get past the first three weekends, we should be gaining confidence and momentum as we head into the rest of our non-conference games. By the time we start conference play we should be hitting our stride and the goal is to be at our best at the most important time as we head into postseason. I have confidence that this team can stack up with anyone in the country and this schedule should provide an incredible opportunity to accomplish our season goals.

The 2008 UA men's soccer season kicks off on Fri., Aug. 29 at the Indiana Classic in Bloomington, Ind. when the Zips take on Notre Dame at 5 p.m.