Head soccer coach Chad Jones’s expectations for the men’s upcoming season are to better than they were last year. He wants the team to strive to turn all the close games into wins. Jones said that the team has leadership this year, which is something that they lacked last year. He said that they have a good core group of boys this year; most of his team is upperclassman this year as opposed to a predominantly underclassman team like last year. Jones believes that the team will do better this year with the amount of collegiate experience under their belt.

The team currently has one win and one loss. Coach Jones is beginning to see the playing level the men need to be at. They have a tough conference this year and they need to be at their best to play the best. Jones said that “All of the teams are going to be tough and will be good competition for us.” His plans for this season are to win more games than they previously have and to get better.

Jones’ motto as a coach is to tell himself that he has to be better every day and expect the same from the players. He trains the men harder than the game setting would call for so that they are ready when the games come around. When they get into the game, this makes it is easy for them, and they can enjoy the game. Success to Jones is when the athletes return as alums and show him what they have learned about life. He said when this happens, it proves to him that he made a difference in these men’s lives, made a positive impact on them and taught them some useful facts about life. Being part of a team can give them many different life lessons.

Jones is an alumnus of Millikin. He was captain of the soccer team when he played here as well as a letterman. Coaching soccer is his dream job and he is very excited and feels fortunate to be coaching here at Millikin. He enjoys training and loves that soccer is demanding. Soccer is Jones’ passion and he loves coming to his job every day. He wants his team to be successful because success is its own reward.

Jones has coached at division one and division two schools, but Millikin was his comeback. He enjoys how competitive division three is and how challenging the conferences are. Jones has learned a lot about life by playing soccer and hopes to instill the same life lessons he learned in his own players. Jones said “you have to earn what you get.” Let’s take that to heart and go Big Blue!