In the wake of former Men’s Soccer Head Coach Mike Washington’s retirement, the Whitman Athletic Department, with the help of student-athletes, has successfully completed a nationwide search to fill the empty post.
The hiring committee is excited to announce that Jose Cedeno will assume responsibilities as head coach of the program, which finished fifth in the NWC at 6-8 (10-10 overall) last season.
Cedeno, who was a top applicant in the eyes of the hiring committee chaired by Athletic Directors Dean Snider, brings seven years of experience as the head coach of the Hunter College Men’s Soccer Team in New York. Most recently, he served as the director for coach and player development for Belmont United SC, a premier club located in Northern California.
The Ecuadorian coach was one of approximately 80 candidates who applied to the job listing. From there, the pool was narrowed to just under a dozen prospective coaches, who completed Skype interviews with Snider and team representatives Gabe Jacobson, Park Harmon, Bridger Sellegren and Trayvon Foy.
“Under the direction of President Bridges –– and these are his words –– we put the same type of effort into the head coach search as you would put into a tenure-track search,” said Snider.
The final three were invited to visit Walla Walla in order to conduct a team training session and present on their qualifications and coaching philosophies. Of the three visitors, two coaches resonated with the team, and it was a close final vote at a team meeting.
“It went back and forth the entire time,” admitted Jacobson. “Everyone was pretty split. I think everyone would have been happy with either [candidate], but personally, I think [the hiring committee] made the right choice.”
The team’s split vote was hardly a problem for the hiring committee.
“We’ve got two candidates here that have been able to connect well and build relationships with the team in a short time, and that put us in a place to be able to make the best decision for the college, thinking who we want to select to lead the program for hopefully the next 20years,” said Snider, when he received the final vote and commentary from the team representatives.
“To get your top candidate in any search is a very significant thing, so we were very pleased to get Jose,” he also said.
In his conversations with the team, Cedeno mentioned some changes he would like to implement. The roster, which carried 35 players last fall, will be trimmed in an effort to play in a consistent formation and style. Cedeno was quite successful in his previous stint as a college coach, leading Hunter College to two postseason conference titles, a regular season conference title and two trips to the NCAA tournament. While the Whitman team hopes for similar achievements, for now they are eager to get to know their new coach.
“I think that the team is most excited by the opportunity to tackle a new challenge and become closer as a team through that experience,” said Sellegren.
Jacobson commented on the similarities between Cedeno and his former coach.
“One of the most important things we all saw in Jose was a genuineness and personableness,” said Jacobson. “This aspect was one of my favorite things about having Mike as a coach, and although he isn’t coaching us next year, there is a lot we’re going to miss about him.”
He went on, reflecting on Mike’s impact on the hiring process.
“We chose Jose with not just the issues we had with Mike as our coach in mind, but also the things we really liked about him, which are numerous. I think that shines through with our choice of Jose over the other candidates,” said Jacobson.
The team hopes to practice with Cedeno later this spring.
