Women’s soccer over time through the eyes of legendary coach: mike Stehlik
Mike Stehlik has been the head women’s soccer coach at Gustavus for the past 21 years. As a four-year letter winner in soccer at DePauw University, coach Stehlik earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology. He then went on to earn a master's degree in physical education at Springfield College. He was an assistant soccer coach at DePauw from 1986-89 before coming to Gustavus. Through the 21 years of his coaching, Stehlik recorded an overall record of 212-114-29 and a MIAC record of 121-68-16. He is the 23rd winningest active coach in Division III women’s soccer, and in 1993 was named MIAC coach of the year.
After talking with Mike Stehlik about his 21 years of coaching at Gustavus, and also after being involved with Gustavus Athletics, he seemed very proud to be apart of this program. As a coach, he has had a variety of seasons, from going to Nationals to being eleventh in the MIAC but has persevered through it all and continues to love everyday of his job. Coach Stehlik noted many changes that have happened through the progression and development of women’s soccer that he believes has changed the style and success of the different MIAC teams. For him the most notable difference from when Gustavus women’s soccer started to now is the position of the goalie. “The skill of the goalie position can change the game. There weren’t that many to go around and as years went on, goalkeepers were coming in with more experience and it really help with the success of the team”.
On top of that, coach Stehlik notes many other changes that he believes have changed the way of the game. First he points out the overall change of competition. “Competition level has increased, and simply the overall skill level of players have gone up”. He gives a lot of credit to the way in which the players have been brought up and developed as athletes. “High schools have developed kids to be more skilled as well as club teams and summer teams”. The MIAC has become a very competitive conference now in women’s soccer and in any given day, any team can win. “There is no mental rest anymore. All MIAC games are competitive and you never know who will win”, say Stehlik.
As time has passed, the style of women’s soccer has changed. As coach of the Gustavus women’s soccer team for 21 years, Mike Stehlik has experienced many aspects of the game and continues to embrace the changes it brings.
With the rise of new technology also came better competition. Being that Stehlik has been coaching for many years, he notes of that being a very big reason why competition has increased. “There was no recruiting, no film, and simply no technology. You were lucky to even have a functioning clock”. Along with that, you need to take into account the commitment of the coaches. When women’s soccer was first developing, most coaches were only part-time coaches. If a team had a full-time coach, they most likely were a better team. Stehlik says, “When I first started coaching St. Mary’s had a full-time coach, and they were the best”.
