by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
Only 27 teams in the nation are ranked ahead of the Lobo men's soccer team, and head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he is ready to live up to expectations.
The team is used to high expectations after last year's preseason national ranking. They finished last season with a heartbreaking loss in the 2003 mountain west conference championship games to San Jose State.
With the 15th-best recruiting class in the nation this year, according to College Soccer News, Fishbein has turned UNM men's soccer into a nationally renowned program. He took the reins two seasons ago from the all-time winningest coach in Lobo men's soccer history, Klaus Weber.
With a constantly cool demeanor, he has embraced his role as coach and understands what he needs to demand from his players to succeed.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"We want people that are committed to excellence both off and on the field," Fishbein said. "We demand our players to be hard-working and to be representatives of the University, the program and our state."
Despite a list of accolades that include a conference championship and a conference coach of the year award, he isn't resting on his laurels. As the father of two children and the head coach of a top Division I program, Fishbein knows comfort is not only hard to come by, but a weakness.
"A lot of being successful in this profession is hard work," Fishbein said. "It's never feeling like you know everything. It's always seeking out knowledge and trying to get better every day. I've encountered a lot more challenges over the last three-and-a-half years since I have had children. It's difficult to balance things between a family and coaching. But by not being comfortable, you never end up falling behind."
Athletics were a focal point of Fishbein's childhood and teenage years. An athlete from a very young age, he took a liking to soccer when he played in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, where cultural diversity was part of the neighborhood.
"I grew up in a neighborhood where there were a lot of international people," he said. "I was introduced to the game of soccer at an early age."
After playing at the University of Richmond and the University of Cincinnati, Fishbein has taken an unpredictable path toward coaching.
"When I got out of school, I wanted to stay in athletics," Fishbein said. "But me becoming a coach was somewhat by luck. I was given an opportunity to be the assistant coach at Fort Lewis College. I took the job not with the intended purpose of coaching for a long time. But I took that job, and it just kept growing, and now it's turned into a career."
As the head of the 28th-ranked team in the country and the preseason pick for conference champion, it looks like Fishbein's luck is far from running out.
