Millikin Men’s Soccer came into this season red hot after a 10-5-2 record in 2024. This was Millikin’s first positive record since 2018, when they went 8-7-1.
This is primarily attributed to the hiring of new Head Coach Charlie Ward in December 2023.
Ward had served as a coach for various teams and organizations in short stints, but his longest tenure came in 2015, when he worked as a Development Squad Goalkeeping Coach for Arsenal’s Soccer School.
“It was a learning experience, stepping up to the time I haven’t been at before, with an attention to detail I didn’t understand before,” Ward said. “Learning those types of things was crucial.”
From there, Ward would gain more experience coaching and working his way up the ranks, becoming a better version of himself as a coach.
“The way it worked was, there were jobs above what I had, and they needed someone to fill in, and they’d ask, ‘Hey, can you do this?’ and that happened three times to me in the space of four years,” he said.
All of his experience would eventually lead him to Millikin. Ward, who was coaching at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) at the time, attended a Millikin game as he had heard a hunch about a coaching job opening up.
“So I was at UIS the year we won the conference in 2023,” he said. “I knew about the job opening through the grapevine, so we had finished training on Wednesday, and I came up to watch the game against Wheaton. Millikin was at the bottom of the table. They had one win, and Wheaton needed to win to secure the conference title. Millikin won 3-1, and I was looking at the roster thinking, dang, these are the players losing, this is a group I can do something with.”
Ward would make peace with that statement, as in his first season with Millikin, the team went on to win 10 games, the highest number of wins for a Millikin coach in their first year coaching. Not only that, but he also brought the team to the CCIW tournament for the first time since 2002.
“When I came to that game, I saw that there were pieces. I thought, ‘This is how I can use this guy; this is what I can do.’ A lot of it was there, we added some great pieces ourselves, and we found some good players in that first class, but you’re grateful for what came before you and you put our little spin on it,” Ward said. “It’s great to be the first 10-win coach in my first season, but like the guys did, they won the games. It looks great to me, but they are the ones who go out and do the hard stuff.”
Millikin has been able to bring in a bunch of great players, but unlike most Schools, they have branched out of the country to pick up certain players, one player being Winger Olav Kaldahl, who originates from Norway and has been exceptional for Millikin.
Kaldahl understands that this is a huge opportunity he needs to take advantage of.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you’ve got to take it when you’ve got to take it, and I will not regret it after,” he said.
Ward is adamant that the players are the reason the team has been so successful during his tenure. He wants the team to be all bought in, adopting a mindset closely related to that of the Detroit Lions’ Dan Campbell.
“I take Dan Campbell’s introductory press conference from the Lions, cause that’s my background growing up,” he said. “If you’re gonna play us, you can win, I’m okay with that. As long as the performance is there, and that means you can swing at us, but we’re gonna swing back. And if you win against Millikin, you will earn it. We’re not this little puppy that rolls over and scratches our tummy. You’re going to be in a game. That was kind of the lightbulb moment for the guys that we can actually do this.”
Millikin is hot and ready now entering CCIW play, currently sitting on 4-4-1 with the tie coming in their first CCIW match against Carthage College. But the season’s expectations remain high.
Millikin may have four losses so far in the season, but the competition amongst those teams was no easy match. Millikin prepared for the grueling CCIW by participating in high-level competition during the pre-CCIW season. With Division I talent, Bradley is a hard match, and Midfielder Landon Welch understands this.
“I think some of the teams we played more recently, like Bradley, Rose-Hulman, and Washington University are really preparing us for the teams we are gonna play in the conference,” he said.
The CCIW is no cake walk, and the preparation for the remaining season is a grueling task. Senior Clayton Gibson was promoted to captain this year and is ready to lead the team into the conference during his final season at Millikin.
“My main goal is to make sure everyone brings 100%, to bring the best out of everyone,” he said. “I would love to go to the conference tournament this year, and I am going to do everything I can, and hopefully get the guys to do the same.”
Some players are beginning to play their last year for Millikin and are hoping to make an impact on this team before it’s over. Keeper Chase Mandra was voted CCIW player of the week and is preparing for his final season at Millikin. He has enjoyed his time at Millikin.
“It’s very tough now cause I don’t want recency bias, but playing at Bradley was a really cool experience,” he said. “We just went there and it was really cool playing against a D1 program, playing at that level, and when we were there, we were playing up to their level, which was a huge confidence boost going into the season.”
As the season continues and eventually comes to an end, Coach Ward has been adamant about the players, especially seniors, who will be graduating to give it their all and know who and what they are playing for.
“For me, it’s about making sure we develop these younger guys, who have 31 days left of collegiate soccer, that we go into every game knowing this could be the last game I play, so what am I gonna leave out there?” he said.
Not only does Ward want his players to leave their impact on the Soccer team, but he also desires to leave his own.
“One of the things I said to other coaches, in the soccer world, I would like to leave Millikin and any job I have, as the coach with the most wins in that program. That means I get to work with the best players every year. The coaching record isn’t about me; it’s about the players I get to work with, who essentially make me look good.”
Millikin Prepares to take on North Park on October 1st and is looking for their first win in the CCIW and advance to 1-0-1. Millikin Soccer hasn’t beaten North Park since 2018, and is looking to end that streak this Wednesday.
