Posted by Don Trentham, Head Coach
Last November we lost a very important person in our program when Ally resigned her post as the assistant coach to pursue a career in counseling at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch in Billings. As anyone who knows anything about MSUB women’s soccer knows, Ally was a tremendous asset to our program for seven years --- first as a player and then as an assistant over the past three years. She is and will always be greatly missed!
Since her resignation I have been very busy looking for a new assistant coach. I began a national search for the position in December and had over 80 applicants. After a two and a half month process, I am pleased to announce the hiring of Wojtek (pronounced Voy-tech) Krakowiak as the new assistant coach for our program. I believe this is a big-time hire for our university, athletic department and especially the women’s soccer program.
Krakowiak, a native of Poland, brings a tremendous amount of experience to our program as a player and a coach. Over the past two years he has been the head coach of the women’s program at Rutgers-Newark where he went 15-20-3, and guided them to their only post-season berth in the brief ten-year history of the program in 2008 when they participated in the ECAC Metro Championship tournament.
As a player, he played at St. John’s University and Clemson University during his collegiate career. He was honored as the Soccer America Freshman of the Year at St. John’s after helping the Red Storm to the 1996 NCAA Championship. At Clemson, Krakowiak was the 1998 Hermann Trophy recipient (equivalent to the Heisman Trophy) and the ACC Player-of-the-Year as he scored 31 goals and had eight assists leading Clemson to the NCAA quarterfinals.
After his collegiate career he was drafted 15th overall in the 1999 MLS College Draft by San Jose Clash. In the 2000 MLS season he played 24 games and scored five goals for San Jose. In 2001 he was picked up by the Tampa Bay Mutiny, but injuries cut short his time there and his professional playing career came to an end.
Krakowiak, earned his Bachelor of Science in sports management from St. John’s University, and he holds several USSF and NSCAA licenses. Furthermore, he is fluent in both Polish and Russian…get those translation dictionaries out! :)
Wojtek will begin his new role on Monday, March 1, and later in the spring his wife Maggie and their 8 month old twin girls (Addison and Emilia) will make the long trek from New Jersey to Billings to join him. Yes he has twin baby girls….I know our players will be excited about that!!! I don’t think Wojtek and Maggie have to worry about babysitters while they are here.
I am very excited about Wojtek joining our program. I believe his experience of playing at such a high level, coupled with the fact he has been a head coach the past two years will certainly help our program continue to move forward in achieving our goal of winning the GNAC.
In closing, the players and I would like to welcome Wojtek to the Yellowjacket family --- we are looking forward to seeing you soon!!!
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