Men’s soccer coach Wolfgang Gartner is a horrible coach, role model and representative of Cal Poly.
Do you know what I experience first-hand when I sit for a Cal Poly men’s game? I hear Wolfgang yelling at the top of his lungs, I see our defenders stealing the ball then being told to “kick it upfield,” and I hear knowledgeable soccer fans disparaging Wolfgang’s coaching. My friends and I talk in disbelief at how the coach from Stuttgart (meaning he’s European, meaning he must know a lot about soccer, I guess) enforces a primitive, ugly, dirty style of soccer that quality players only remember from their childhood (those kick and chase days).
Most disturbingly, I cannot tell you how many times friends have told me that they tried, but will not play for Cal Poly because of Wolfgang. I hear constant claims that the best Division I intramural teams could beat the Cal Poly men’s team. This phenomenon should never occur in any major collegiate sport.
Now, I only go to games to watch a great opponent, because at least one team will play something that resembles possession soccer. It makes me wonder how much talent Wolfgang has wasted in the past 25 years. How is Wolfgang still the coach at Cal Poly? How does he still represent our school? I think 25 wasted years of yelling, mediocrity, poor performance, poor leadership, loss of support and wasted talent is enough. Don’t you?
Matt Bozigar
Civil engineering senior