frankie00 said:

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frankie00 said:

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The press release (from Dec 18) on the new coaching staff says Hanif "...arrives in Aggieland in January 2026..."

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Still no players listed.

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frankie00 said:

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It is no big deal but I have to wonder.

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frankie00 said:

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I disagree. Check the roster page for each sport at 12thman.com. Each is populated except soccer. I have never seen a sport remove all of the players from the roster page, even after a coaching change, until it happened with soccer recently. I originally mentioned it only because it was so unusual.

It might take weeks or months for changes because of incoming transfers or freshmen or outgoing players to register on roster pages but existing and returning players are always there.

It is no big deal but I have to wonder.

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• It has been close to a month since I got here. It has been good but busy. We're trying to get everything organized, meet the team and build those relationships. We're getting close to getting on the field and actually playing soccer, which is exciting.
  
• It all happened pretty quickly, so I'm trying to break it all down and take it one step at a time. I was excited about the opportunity and the possibility of coaching at A&M. It then started to become real, so I had to get the staff in place right away to allow us to get organized and start meeting the players. We've attacked it one thing at a time, and my family has been great. They're so supportive, and they're excited to get here.
  
• I wasn't in a hurry to be a head coach. When I got to Florida State, Brian Pensky has been amazing through this whole process. I wanted to learn first. I wanted to learn college soccer and women's college soccer and have those experiences. I wasn't actively looking for a new job. Pensky and I talked a lot about eventually becoming a head coach, and when this opportunity opened, I thought this might be a great place for me to take that next step.
  
• I coached on the men's side when I was in Boston and playing for the New England Revolution. I was a volunteer coach when I was in Atlanta on the women's side. During my playing career, I knew I wanted to be a coach, but I wasn't sure about which age level. I had an amazing college experience with good coaches, so it felt like a natural fit to work with college players. I was never concerned with working on the men's or women's side because I just wanted to work with good players who wanted to be pros, develop and progress.
  
• The MLS has developed an incredible amount since I started in 2009. To see where it is now with the soccer-specific stadiums and all of the attention it's getting and support from the fans... It has developed a crazy amount in a short period of time, and it's a very good level of soccer.
  
• I never played against David Beckham, but I remember one of my first trips as a player to LA and going, "Wow. That's David Beckham."
  
• First, we're trying to develop trust, and those things don't happen with the snap of the finger. You have to be there and develop those relationships by having conversations. You have to be supportive. As soon as I got this job, I sat down with each player to talk with them about on-the-field and off-the-field stuff. They have to feel that you're invested in them, and that's what we're going to do with this program. We're going to invest in these kids. We're going to give them our time, our energy and our love because we want them to know they're supportive.
  
• There are four players who have enrolled early, and the roster hasn't changed much since what it was this past fall. I've watched most of the games from last season, but I've not seen any of these players play live. Everybody deserves an opportunity to put their best foot forward and see what grows.
  
• I hope we get to a place where our style is high energy and makes other teams feel uncomfortable. This is not an easy place to come and play. When I was at Florida State, we came here in 2023, and it was a really, really difficult game. We scored with a few minutes left to win 2-1. It was the first game of the year, and there was a great crowd here. I want teams to feel that when they come in here. I want them to be uncomfortable and know that we're going to be tough to break down. We're going to make things really, really hard.
  
• As soon as I took this job, I reached out to G Guerrieri to congratulate him on an amazing career at A&M. I want to continue the work that he did and continue to have this program in a successful place. He has been helpful in helping me learn this place, the people and what this program is all about. He has offered all of his support, and I truly appreciate it.
  
• I flew here right after the national championship and spent four or five days here. I told my wife about how much she's going to like this place. It's a beautiful campus, and all of that, but the people are amazing. As soon as I got here, you could feel the family atmosphere. Everyone has been so welcoming.
  
• My wife and I have a six-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. We have our hands full with those two, and they're going to be moving here soon. I'm excited for that.
  
• The two national championship teams we had at Florida State were very, very different. The makeup was different, but on both of those teams, we had older players with experience who were good communicators and upheld the standard every day. They have to show up to training every day and realize that's where the work happens. What you do in training directly translates to what happens on the field. Those teams had really good training habits. They upheld that standard every single day.
  
• I'm excited about the staff. Alyssa Bower has been an assistant for a while, and she's staying with us. She played 11 years in the NWSL and has amazing experiences to share. Our Director of Ops has been here for a long time. Curt Magnuson is remaining as well, and I can't tell you how amazing he has been through this process in helping me find my feet and stay above water. We brought in a goalkeeper coach, Ali Hanif, and he has some really good experience in women's college soccer. Then we brought in one of my friends that I played with in Minnesota, Marc Burch. He's a 15-year MLS veteran who has been working in Colorado, so again, he has amazing experiences that he's going to be able to share with our players.
  
• I'm not trying to put time frames on anything because it takes what it takes. This athletic department expects to win. We're going to go about the process the right way, and that starts with every day in showing up to training and creating really good habits. I hope it happens quickly. It could take time to get there.
  
• I felt very quickly in the first couple of Zoom calls that I had that the support would be amazing here. Texas has a lot of really good players, so all the pieces are here. It has also been done because Guerrieri was successful here for a really long time. I want to continue that success and bring my ideas to it.
  
• The state of Texas is really strong from a recruiting standpoint. We have a few kids from California, too. We want to bring in the best players from Texas and recruit nationally. Regardless of where they're from, we want players who want to be pros and want to play high-level football.

Inside Aggie Women’s Soccer practice with Leah Diaz 🎙️⚽️#GigEm pic.twitter.com/4hU1buMczF

— Texas A&M Soccer (@AggieSoccer) February 5, 2026