Donigan develops young team through influence of UConn coach, while players out for year work to return to field

BY JOSH BAKANASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

R utgers head men’s soccer coach Dan Donigan noticed one of his players incorrectlyangle a header pass in the air two weeks ago in practice.

He dealt with it by running over to where it happened, scolding the player, asking someoneelse to deliver that same pass, then jumping to angle his header in the intended direction.

His players might have been more amazed if they were not so used to the scene.It includes Donigan in cleats and a different-colored pinny than the players relishing his

time when he is not forced to the sideline during games.“I would think [Rutgers head wrestling coach] Scott Goodale gets in there and wrestles his

kids,” Donigan said. “[Rutgers head men’s basketball coach] Mike Rice, I’m sure he gets inthere sometimes and just messes around a little bit — maybe not to the degree I do.”

SEE TEAM ON SPOTLIGHT PAGE 4

DAILYGRIND

CONOR ALWELL, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

OCTOBER 24, 2012 SPOTLIGHT PAGE 2

BY JOSH BAKANASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Rutgers assistant men’s soccercoach Mike Romeo has only beenaround for this season, but he hasalready made a difference for theScarlet Knights’ goalies and haseven affected recruiting.

“Some programs, they havevolunteer guys, whatever, butmaybe they’re not there every dayof the week or they’re not there onthe road games,” said head coachDan Donigan. “To have Mike hereevery day, every game throughoutthe year, it is very, very importantfor just the psyche of the players.”

Romeo is the only Rutgerscoach with goalie experience,playing the position at Keanand 12 years semi-pro in theGarden State Soccer Leaguefrom 1984-1995.

He deals with an array of expe-rience levels, with two seniors andtwo freshmen on the roster.Practice has been the only timethis year that senior Sean Matteoand freshmen Ryan Baird andRyan Szemple have all faced shots.

They share reps in goal withsenior Kevin McMullen, who islikely to be the first goalie inDonigan’s three-year tenure onthe Banks to play every minute ofa season.

“He’s singlehandedly helpedus stay in games and win games,”Donigan said. “I have nothing butpositive things to say about Kevin.In reality, there were maybe only acouple of goals that we could sayhe might have had a blunder ormistake on.”

Rutgers is set to return moretalent next year than it did this sea-son, likely welcoming back all buttwo starters. Sophomore forwardJ.P. Correa and senior defender JoeSetchell return, as well, as bothcome off season-ending injuries.

McMullen and senior defenderDragan Naumoski will be gone,which leaves two holes on thedefense, including an especiallyimportant one in goal.

That gives Baird, Szemple andlikely an undisclosed recruit whohas yet to officially commit — whoDonigan said Romeo helped sway— the chance to compete for thestarting job.

Baird and Szemple get a head start.

“It’s an ongoing competition,”Baird said. “You have to proveyourself in the practices to get intothe game, so every practice isbasically a competition.”

The goalies spend most ofpractice attempting to save shotsfrom Romeo and assistant coachBrian Grazier.

Donigan does not like to iso-late his goalies, but he feels it ismore productive for them to getbombarded with shots ratherthan wait in scrimmages for play-ers to get to them while they havedefenders in front.

That gives the goalies much-needed individual attention.

“It’s really nice being catered to,”McMullen said. “They tend to …injuries and everything. … Theycater everything based on myneeds, and most of the time trainingisn’t training. It’s just maintenance.”

Baird was supposed to pushMcMullen at the beginning of theyear in competition for the start-ing job, but he had knee surgerylast summer.

Baird is currently the frontrun-ner for the starting job next year,Donigan said, even thoughSzemple gained some groundafter walking on while Baird recov-ered from surgery.

With Romeo’s attention, thecoaches’ shots and experiencethrough scrimmages,McMullen gets his reps andBaird and Szemple can keeptheir mind on starting.

“It makes for a great situation forthe goalkeepers that are in our pro-gram,” Donigan said. “Not everyprogram has a goalkeeper coach,but we’re fortunate to have that.”

Senior goalie Kevin McMullen traps a shot two weeks ago inthe Rutgers practice bubble during an intrasquad scrimmage.ENRICO CABREDO

Goalies in starter chase receive close attention

Injured players keep rehabilitation lightheartedBY JOSH BAKAN

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Senior defender Joe Setchell and junior midfielderTodd Webb spent each weekday morning with a cus-tomized lifting regimen thatstrength and conditioningcoach Kyle Murray createseach day.

On the back of a piece ofpaper, Setchell and Webb markthe “negativity list” to keeptrack of how many remarks oractions they deem unconstruc-tive during their sessions.

“Any complaining, any ‘I cants’,any ‘I don’t want to’s,’ you get atick,” Webb said.

Setchell and Webb are out forthe season. While the Rutgersmen’s soccer team practices atthe E Field, Setchell and Webbspend their time in the trainingroom and weight room of theHale Center.

The negativity list is one of sev-eral ways they maintain a positiveattitude despite their situations.

Sometimes sophomore for-ward J.P. Correa, who often reha-bilitates at a separate facility afterundergoing hip surgery, gets

involved. He holds the recordwith 68 negative ticks in one day,Webb said.

They have fun with it by beingliberal with the tallies — Webbeven gave Setchell one for walk-ing across the weight room to goto the water fountain.

All three will redshirt. Setchellwas the first after injuring his hipAug. 31 in the second game of theseason, also opting for surgery.

“It took a while to be fair, butstraight after the surgery like withJ.P., just in bed and stuff, that’swhen it’s hard,” Setchell said ofgetting used to the situation.

“When you come back in, it’s finebut a month after surgery is pret-ty rough.”

Their day begins in the train-ing room, where they meet withteam trainer Chris D’Andrea.

Webb is waiting to get rightankle surgery after aggravating itSept. 14 against College ofCharleston, so only Setchellworks out in the training room.

Webb, meanwhile, watchesSetchell through the process,both supporting him and jokinglyheckling him.

D’Andrea then proceeds topractice on an ATV with extra

Senior defender Joe Setchell lifts in the Hale Center weight room with strength and conditioning coach Kyle Murray behind him,as well as junior midfielder Todd Webb. Setchell and Webb have a required regimen every weekday. ENRICO CABREDO

water, treating players who evenmildly hurt themselves in prac-tice. He is also on the sidelines ifneeded during games.

He has much of a say inwhether injured ScarletKnights can play, and that deci-sion has become a little easierin recent years.

“I think we understand thebody a little bit better and howthe body reacts to injury dur-ing specific timeframes,”D’Andrea said. “Just like anytechnology, [injury evaluation]gets a little bit faster, it gets alittle bit smarter, a little bitmore refined.”

The hardest part for theinjured players is the games,especially the road matches theystay home for.

They watch the road gamestogether either on RVision orviewing the live stats, but some-times the live stats freeze.

They were left in the mostsuspense Sept. 22, when Rutgersheld a scoreless tie with No. 6Georgetown in Washington,D.C., at the end of regulation, andthe stats froze before overtime.

“[Viewing] the Georgetowngame was awful,” Webb said. “Iwas checking on Twitter likemad, trying to find a gametrackeror somewhere that could tell mewhat was going on.”

Webb and Setchell are happythey get another chance to playafter redshirting.

Setchell could have felt downabout now having to graduate asemester later than planned, buthe, Webb and Correa frown uponthat type of negativity.

“You have to look at it as achance to better yourself ratherthan a time to fall behind theteam, by lifting, by coming andgetting fit,” Setchell said.

SPOTLIGHT PAGE 3 OCTOBER 24, 2012

BY JOSH BAKANASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Head men’s basketball coachJim Calhoun and head women’sbasketball coach Geno Auriemmaare notorious figureheads ofConnecticut athletics, but the dis-cussion does not end there for themost accomplished coach inUConn history.

One of the best Huskies coach-es never coached at Harry A.Gampel Pavilion, but he held hisown court a half mile down StadiumRoad in Mansfield, Conn.

His name can be seen whenyou look up at Joseph J.Morrone Stadium.

Rutgers head men’s soccercoach Dan Donigan was honored to play for Morronefrom 1985-1988, and finding acomparison to Morrone opens

up a discussion greater thanUConn coaches.

“Maybe a Bobby Bowden?”Donigan said of which coach of amore well-known sport than col-lege soccer compares toMorrone, referring to the all-time winningest coach inDivision-I football history.“That’s too tough of a questionfor me because I love the guy somuch. I don’t have another guythat I put there.”

Morrone coachedConnecticut starting in 1969,owning a 422-199-64 record with anational championship and threeFinal Four appearances.

His legacy is lifting the unac-complished UConn program headopted to a national power-house, but his influence lastsfar longer than when he retiredin 1996.

Historic coach shapes Donigan’s careerFreshman defender Mitchell Taintor found out about head coach Dan Donigan through his grandfather, Joe Morrone, who coached Donigan at UConn. Morronecoached the Huskies from 1969-1996, molding a relatively unknown program into one of the model programs in the nation. CONOR ALWELL, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Head coach Dan Donigan huddles with players to evaluatepractice. Donigan credits his coach at UConn for his influence.CONOR ALWELL, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Morrone had two sons, Joe Jr.and Bill Morrone, who played ayear for the New York Cosmos.

Joe Morrone, Jr. won the 1980Hermann Trophy at UConn forthe top collegiate player. Heplayed in the North AmericanSoccer League and was part of the1980 U.S. Olympic team that didnot participate in the Soviet gamesfor political reasons.

Morrone has two players heconsiders the best in his tenure.

“There were two players [Icoached] that made the All-American team three times,” JoeMorrone said. “One was my son Joe… and Dan Donigan. … So Dannyin mind ranks — with Joe, the two ofthem were the highest-rated playersthat we had in my tenure.”

Donigan said he entered UConnwith dreams of becoming a profes-sional soccer player and little con-cern with schoolwork.

Donigan’s father, Pat, coachedhis son in soccer, baseball, footballand basketball and assisted himwith wrestling.

Pat Donigan was there tohelp his son make the decisionto join UConn.

“It’s four hours away fromhome,” said Dan Donigan, aHamilton, N.J., native. “I’d neverreally been to Connecticut a wholelot before, and my dad was like,‘This is what you need, and here’swhy: [UConn will] instill some dis-cipline in you. [Morrone is] goingto take care of [you] academically.’”

Morrone said he taught his play-ers there was more to life than soc-cer and earning a college degreewas vital to becoming successful.

Dan Donigan was more con-cerned with going pro, falling fourcredits short when he left UConnbefore playing professionally.

That inspired Dan Donigan toreturn to Connecticut as an assis-tant coach in 1994, when he fin-

ished his undergraduate degreeand again took in valuable lessonsoutside the classroom.

Morrone allowed Dan Doniganto run an assortment of the team’sfunctions, including offseason andfitness programs.

“I let him — over the course ofthe three years that he was with me— all of those things, be in chargeof all of those things for him to getexperience,” Morrone said. “I wastrying to help him become a totalcoach and not just a coach thatknew x’s and o’s.”

Dan Donigan soaked in thoselessons before leaving for SaintLouis, eventually taking over ashead coach from 1997-2001.

He then returned to his homestate to coach Rutgers in 2010, andtook in freshman defender MitchellTaintor, Joe Morrone’s grandson,two years later.

Joe Morrone took out plenty oftime to develop Taintor’s gamefrom an early age. Because of theheight in the family, Joe Morronewas determined to teach Taintorhow to head, offering him a dollarwhenever he could juggle the ballfive times in a row on his head.

Taintor is the third generation ofthe Morrone family involved in soc-cer, along with his two uncles andhis mother, Missy, who was an All-American at UConn. Taintor’s father,Rob, ran track for the Huskies.

“Neither of [the] sons of minepracticed on their own as much asMitchell did,” Joe Morrone said.“Mitchell has a love for the gamethat not very many young peopleI’ve come across has.”

Dan Donigan thinks MitchellTaintor will play professional soccerbecause of his physical attributesand technical skills. Actualizing thatpotential is the least Dan Donigancan do for Joe Morrone.

Mitchell Taintor is also gratefulfor Joe Morrone.

“He’s been pretty much the rea-son why I was playing soccer sinceI was like 2 years old, kicking a ballto me,” Taintor said. “He taught mehow to read the game and every-thing. He’s a big part of why I amwhat I am now.”

While the Morrone family hasexpanded, Dan Donigan lost animportant member of his family,his father.

Pat Donigan passed away in2009 unexpectedly in his sleep, afew months before Dan Doniganwas going to visit him and intro-duce him to his then-1-year-old son.

It was also a year before DanDonigan took over the ScarletKnights, who he since led to theSweet 16 in 2011.

Dan Donigan inherited aRutgers program that houses threeFinal Four appearances and leg-endary players including AlexiLalas, the first American player toscore in Serie A, Italy’s premier soc-cer league.

But those days are long behindRutgers, which has made theNCAA Tournament only four timesin 11 years.

Dan Donigan said he learned alot about how to make a model pro-gram from Morrone and hopes toinstill that with the Knights. He andMorrone have not spoken for morethan a couple minutes since DanDonigan joined Rutgers, butMorrone said he is proud of whathe has done.

Dan Donigan thinks his fatherwould be, too.

“He would have been on top ofthe world if he knew that I made themove to Rutgers and helped themturn this thing around,” he said. “Ithink he’d be very proud, and itmakes me feel good knowing that.”

For updates on the Rutgers men’ssoccer team, follow Josh Bakan onTwitter @JBakanTargum.

SPOTLIGHT PAGE 4

Donigan is likely right aboutbeing more involved than othercoaches, as his participationstems from more than only tak-ing practice shots on an open netas his players run around E Field.

Through Donigan’s play inpractice, the 46-year-old has thepower to coach by demonstrat-ing and sometimes, at the sametime, humiliating.

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Donigan, 46, involveshimself in scrimmage,keeps pace with RU

TEAM

CONTINUED FROM COVER

Head coach Dan Donigan plays with freshman defender Kieren Kemmerer. Donigan wears a different-colored pinny to separate himself as a player on both teams.Junior midfielder Mike Soboff, right, and his team play in orange while Kemmerer’s group plays in its practice jerseys. CONOR ALWELL, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior goalie Kevin McMullensaid he feels it when Doniganscores on him.

“We have young guys that arepowerful and can strike a ball up to80 miles per hour, and then there’sDonigan, who is so experiencedand so calm and composed,”McMullen said. “He can place theball wherever he wants.”

Donigan’s pinpoint accuracyalso allows him to display histechnique to shooters. He some-times competes when the ScarletKnights play a game in whichthey try to hit the goalpost, andsometimes he shows up even theKnights’ most accurate shooters.

“He can probably hit thepost the majority of the time

from like outside the 18,” saidjunior forward Kene Eze, wholeads Rutgers with a .182shooting percentage amongthose with more than five shotsthis year.

Donigan scrimmages with theteam as an impartial member, sohe is involved in ball movementwith both sides but does not haveto defend.

His strength is on the offen-sive end, where he keeps up withhis players, although he tries notto be intrusive.

He sees more there than hehas ever seen on the sidelines.

“[Playing] the game, you cankind of tell like, ‘You know what,maybe that wasn’t something

that was feasible or possible to do,’ so you kind of take it witha grain of salt,” Donigan said.“On the sideline, you can maybeget a false impression of thegame sometimes.”

Donigan views himself as aplayer, and McMullen wouldlike to see shooters like him onthe field.

Donigan does not think he cancompete with college athletes athis age, but McMullen thinksDonigan’s soccer IQ and accurateshooting stroke could get himsomewhere.

“I think he could definitelyplay,” McMullen said. “I wishwe could put him in sometimesbecause I honestly believe that

he would probably be one of theleading scorers in the Big Eastright now. He’s so simple andclean and composed, and hejust does all the easy things theright way.”

Donigan ties up his cleatslike all his players do everymorning before practice, and hevalues every day he can playsoccer with the Knights and befit enough to aid instead of hin-der them.

“It’s right behind my family —my wife and my kids. It’s rightthere,” Donigan said of playingsoccer. “It’s my career, it’s my job,so without the game, I don’t knowwhat I would have, to be honest. Ilove it.”