Oberlin College's Blake New named coach for Lorain County soccer team

The owners of Lorain County's proposed pro soccer team didn't have to look far to find their first head coach. Team chairman Andrew McDonnell announced Thursday that Oberlin College men's soccer coach Blake New will be the new coach for the as-yet unnamed team, which is scheduled to begin play in May at ForeFront Field in Avon. "He's kind of the perfect man for us, because of where we sit between collegiate and pro soccer," McDonnell said. "As someone who played professionally, he knows what it takes on that side, and he works with the 18-21-year-olds that will make up the bulk of the roster. "His connection to the county and history in the area represents the kind of culture we want to build." New is excited for the chance. "I feel like this is a great opportunity to showcase soccer and bring something to the people in Lorain County," he said. New won a state title playing soccer at North Olmsted High School -- "I didn't even know what soccer was until I moved to North Olmsted in the sixth grade," he says -- and was one of 11 Eagles players to play collegiately, at Cleveland State University. He played pro indoor soccer briefly, for the Cleveland Crunch and the Canton Invaders, before returning to Cleveland State for his master's degree. New was hired as Oberlin College's women's soccer coach in 1996. While there, he heard from Mike Sweeney, a former pro soccer star in Cleveland, and joined Sweeney on the Cleveland Caps, a team in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues, initially as a goalie, and then as a player-coach. He moved to coaching the Oberlin men's team in 1999, and is the longest-tenured coach at Oberlin College, receiving coach of the year honors from a variety of organizations. New will continue as Yeomen coach, noting that the 12-game USL2 season is mostly summer-oriented. It's also specifically required not to start its season until college is out. But New plans to hit the ground running. New notes that as a collegiate coach, his job is 70 percent recruiting, and that mission will remain unchanged for the USL2 team. In fact, he was reached while on a recruiting trip to Arizona. "I'll start to get the word out, talking to my contacts and trying to build a roster that will be competitive in this league," he said. "I want to start creating relationships with players that want to be here." McDonnell said voting is still open for the team's name and logo, and available online at lorainusl2.com/vote. He said 1,800 votes have already been received, and anticipates an announcement in early December. In the meantime, he described season ticket and suite sales as brisk. The soccer alignment for ForeFront Field will seat around 4,000, and McDonnell anticipates decent crowds. "I can't wait to see what the soccer field looks like when they paint it," New said. "I think it'll be a great atmosphere and the fans will be really close." Contact Vince Guerrieri at vguerrieri@chroniclet.com or (440) 329-7124, or follow him @vinceguerrieri on Twitter.