Saint Mary’s University Begins Search for New Men’s Head Soccer Coach
Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota posted a statement on their website Monday that Athletic Director Nikki Fennern has released Chris Dembiec from his position as men’s head soccer coach.
“I’m thankful for Chris Dembiec’s five years of service to Saint Mary’s University and to the Cardinal men’s soccer program,” said Fennern. “We wish him nothing but the best.”
Dembiec, who is also involved with CRUSA Soccer Club in La Crosse Wisc., came to St. Mary’s after coaching the Prairie School in Racine, Wisc. where he had compiled a 298-121-24 record working with both boys and girls programs.
Dembiec found things a bit tougher with the Cardinals. This past season his team went 0-10-0 in conference play after going 1-8-1 in 2009. In his five years at St. Mary’s he compiled a 6-50-2 MIAC record and a 18-58-4 overall record.
Fennern stated that a national search for Dembiec’s replacement will begin immediately.
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St. Mary’s has made a serious mistake. This is a great coach that has had little support.
In my humble opinion this was absolutely the right decision. With results like…
2010 MIAC: 0-10-0
2009 MIAC: 1-8-1
2006-2010 MIAC: 6-50-2
2006-2010 Overall: 18-58-4
…its hard to keep a job. There is no sign of improvement as the years go on.
Surely, SMU faces a tough task recruiting players as the school is so far away from MPLS but that difficultly is certainly compounded by having a terrible record.
Bart, not sure what you mean by not recieving support…perhaps you can elaborate? Didnt SMU just build a turf stadium recently (within the last 2-3 years)?
Bart, as a current player with the university you are completely right. No one really understands the behind the scenes part.
He was a great guy and a great coach who had to deal with the skill level he was handed in players.
Handohenry- before you look at our past records, why not look at the MIAC website and see what our awful athletic director has done in record wise with other sports. Men’s soccer isnt the only struggling sports team at SMU. Every team struggles, so if Saint Mary’s wants to take a bigger step, why not fire the athletic director and her supporting cast? Again this is from a current student men’s soccer player at SMU. A turf stadium doesn’t help a team get better, so i’m not sure what kind of sports enthusiast you are but did the new stadium in Dallas help the cowboys become an undeafeted team? No. The only reason the field got built was because of our alumn. I’d love to hear your response to this.
While I have not seen SMU play, I can attest to the quality of D-III men’s play in the MIAC after seeing several games over the past 2 years. I applaud SMU for trying to improve their success rate, however painful that may be. And I encourage other IMS readers to get out and catch a MIAC match or two next fall.
@SMU PLAYER
1. “He was a great guy and a great coach who had to deal with the skill level he was handed in players.”
not sure what you mean by this (i’m assuming your passing the blame to the former coaching staff and they players they recruited?). IF the players recruited by the previous coaching regime were not up to par than why did Dembiec replace them with higher caliber recruits of his own?
2. “before you look at our past records, why not look at the MIAC website and see what our awful athletic director has done in record wise with other sports. Men’s soccer isnt the only struggling sports team at SMU. Every team struggles, so if Saint Mary’s wants to take a bigger step, why not fire the athletic director and her supporting cast? Again this is from a current student men’s soccer player at SMU”
perhaps that is the case. I don’t know anything about SMU athletics outside of their soccer programs (m and w) but Im not commenting on a story about SMU athletics as a whole, Im commenting on the release of a coach with an unbelievably poor record. Also, you freely admit the soccer program is a struggling team, normally coaches of struggling teams are let go…
3. “A turf stadium doesn’t help a team get better, so i’m not sure what kind of sports enthusiast you are but did the new stadium in Dallas help the cowboys become an undeafeted team? No. The only reason the field got built was because of our alumn. I’d love to hear your response to this.”
true, in and of itself a turf stadium will not increase a teams ability or bring instant success…however, good facilities (ie: new turf stadium) can a very valuable tool when it comes to recruiting higher caliber player, thus bringing success in time. Also in the MIAC, where there are only 2 other turf fields, a team with a home turf field should have an advantage (augs and mac are hard to beat at home, no?)
And I’m not much of a sports enthusiast, i tend to only follow the beautiful game…but if we are talking about the Cowboys, didnt Wade Phillip’s get fired for going 1-7? (thats one more win that you had in the MIAC last season in 2 fewer games…but who’s counting?)
I brought up the stadium issue in response to Bart’s proclamation that Dembiec received no/little support during his tenure. Although your alumni may have footed all or much of the bill for the new stadium, the athletic department, board of trustees, and school administration would have had to approve of the project, thus giving support to the athletic programs.
good luck gettting to double digit MIAC wins by the time you graduate…
IF the players recruited by the previous coaching regime were not up to par than why did Dembiec replace them with higher caliber recruits of his own?
didn’t****
Hey I’ve got an idea during this season of giving…..let’s pound on fired coaches and college students!!
@ Tom; ill send ‘em a gift card.
That seems a bit generous HandoHenry…