The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530878
TRACKING THE PACK 14 ■ THE WOLFPACKER When Marc Hubbard was hired last December to coach the men's soccer team at NC State, he found himself in a familiar position. He took over a team that had gone 6-9-3 in 2023, similar to his first season at New Hampshire, where the pre- vious squad was 6-10-1 upon his arrival. Hubbard was able to turn the Wildcats into NCAA Tour- nament fixtures, with seven postseason appearances and four America East Tournament titles in his nine years at the school. Given his history, a rebuild wasn't anything new for Hubbard, and he expected to turn the Wolfpack around in one year. That's just what he did. Hubbard helped build NC State into a consistent win- ner in his first season. The campaign included a marquee victory over then-No. 10 SMU on Senior Night, with the Wolfpack prevailing, 5-1, at the Dail Soccer Field on Oct. 19. The Pack hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since the 2019 campaign, but Hubbard was able to steer his team to the pinnacle of college soccer within his first 12 months on campus. NC State went 10-5-5 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament be- fore it ultimately lost to No. 13 Marshall, 2-1. The Pack had not won multiple NCAA matches in the same season since the 1991 campaign when legendary coach George Tar- antini was roaming the side- line. Now, Hubbard has the Pack on a trajectory not seen since Tarantini ran the program. Here are the highlights of a recent Q&A with Hubbard: When did you realize you were going to be able to change the dynamic of the program in your first year at NC State? "In the spring, our resiliency and our guys being able to buy into a new system and work hard to do what they did [showed the potential]. … Getting through the team roster changes at the end of the spring and then how the new guys integrated [was important]. "I think it's been an ongoing growth pattern that natu- rally had some change based on a few things. It's not like guys have been here for two years and you were able to build a base. It's kind of been some unknowns. It's such a new group all the time, you haven't had much time to take a deep breath." How do you try to build success in the first year at a new program? "You've got to build the belief, which I think we did, and prove to yourselves and others that we belong and we can do it. We definitely had the belief that we could go into the NCAA Tournament and beat anyone. That's a good thing, and that stems from what we did in the spring and building some resiliency early in the year with some last-10-min- u te w i n s. We p e rseve re d through some really good ties on the road in the middle of the season. Obviously, there have been some disappoint- ing losses here or there, but we were in all these games right until the end, creating really good chances and just not falling. "The message is that with all this adversity and the things we've gone through, you continue to build strength and it puts us in a good po- sition with the chips on the table to really go after it, be- cause we have that belief and confidence in each other." How important was it to make the NCAA Tourna- ment in Year 1 of a rebuild to continue this climb into the future? "It's vital, because it feeds into recruiting. I think there will be another sort of turnover and change within the pro- gram for Year 2, giving us the opportunity to take advantage of that to build the foundation for the future, while at the same time keeping this trajectory going. Going from where we were to where we are right now is a lot easier than going from where we are right now to the top 10 consistently. "I think after this year and making those incremental changes to get from the top 30 to top 10, you have to build that depth and have similar personalities playing with one another for a good amount of time. You can't have a change- over every six months. That's not going to lead to the long- term success that you want." — Noah Fleischman SITTING DOWN WITH: NC State Men's Soccer Coach Marc Hubbard In his debut season in Raleigh, Hubbard guided NC State to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2019. The Pack beat Charlotte and Georgetown in the first two rounds to reach the Sweet 16. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS