By Eric Trent
On an early spring afternoon, the sun beams down upon Peninsula College’s soccer field, showering the turf in the luminance of a fresh season and era. Newly hired men’s coach, Cale Rodriguez stands beside the field, soaking in his new surroundings.
Rodriguez hails from Redlands, California where he was the assistant soccer coach at the University of Redlands from 2012 to 2015 and played soccer there, graduating with a Master’s degree in Higher Education. Rodriguez was also the assistant coach at the University of Nevada from 2011 to 2012.
“It’s a great opportunity to take over a program that’s had a great history of success. Coach Chapman and Coach Anderson have done a tremendous job of winning championships and moving players on to four-year universities, so it’s definitely my goal to continue that trend.” Rodriguez said.
“I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity of working with the guys and bringing in a very solid recruiting class to help replace the players that we lost and looking forward to 2015 and seeing what we can do.” Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez was also the Recruiting Coordinator at Redlands. “I see myself as a great recruiter. I think that’s why they brought me here.” Rodriguez said.
“My goal is to use the relationships and resources that I have, to be able to bring in players that are going to do very well here. Tap into some of those resources and pipelines that maybe don’t exist currently. We’ve already been working on that for almost two months now. I think what we’re looking at can be a special group for next year.” Rodriguez said.
“I think the overlying goal is to be able to move players on, or help facilitate that process. If I’m able to do that, with the majority of the guys that are leaving the program, then that means everything else is falling into place.” Rodriguez concluded.
