Steve Sampson, former USMNT and LA Galaxy head coach hired at Cal Poly

A former national team coach, Steve Sampson instantly becomes the highest profile coach in the Cal Poly athletic department. By Owen Main

Cal Poly athletics made a big splash on Thursday afternoon, when they announced the signing of former United States Men’s National Team and LA Galaxy head coach, Steve Sampson, to be their men’s soccer coach.

In a press conference held in the President’s Suite at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Director of Athletics Don Oberhelman announced Sampson in front of media, fans, and a group of players from this past season’s Cal Poly team.

“I absolutely am so excited,” said Sampson. “I can’t emphasize that enough. Everything you see with respect to the Mustang Way — all those things I stand for. All those things I want to help to grow and develop at Cal Poly… . ”

For his players, he will have a high expectation coming out of the gate.

“We have an incredible group of young men coming back,” said Sampson. “We expect to raise the standards”

Sampson, who has spent the last few years directing the Steve Sampson Soccer Academy at the Global Sports Institute in Southern California, said that it wasn’t a decision that required a ton of consternation.

“When I was approached with the opportunity of coaching here at Cal Poly, I think it took about five seconds for me to respond with my high level of interest,” said Sampson.

Sampson last coached in 2006 in MLS. His LA Galaxy won both the MLS Cup and the US Open cup in 2005. His influence in the soccer world since then has been felt mostly through his academy but his connection to Cal Poly is an easy one to dissect. Paul Holocher, who resigned as Cal Poly’s coach just days prior to the start of last season’s training camp, played on Sampson’s 1989 co-national champion team at Santa Clara, where Sampson coached for eight years before becoming a national team assistant and eventually the head coach.

Cal Poly has other connections. Google “Steve Sampson Cal Poly” and you’ll find that Sampson played a role in Chase Minter’s decision to come to Cal Poly. GSI, which his academy was a part of, has a local component, including holding sessions in Arroyo Grande. Matt LaGrassa and many other players on the team have trained together at his academy during past off-seasons as well, so there is a definite familiarity and the move for Sampson to San Luis Obispo might not be quite as drastic as some would think.

He told the story on Thursday about how his son graduated from the school of architecture at Cal Poly, and of how he fell in love with the area years ago.

“During his junior year, when we were going around and visiting schools, we came to Cal Poly,” said Sampson

“We actually came to Cal Poly on WOW week, and I thought, ‘WOW,’ what does that mean?… We actually had the opportunity to sit-in on a speech by the then-president of the university. The president spoke, students spoke, and he turned to me and said ‘I love this place, this is where I want to be.’ … We fell in love over those six years of following my son and his progress here at the Univeristy. We fell in love with the school. We fell in love with the student body. We fell in love with the soccer program. We fell in love with the community.”

Don Oberhelman recognized a number of people in the athletic department for their role in search for a new coach and eventual decision to hire Sampson, but also included a number of past players in his opening remarks including former Mustangs Mackenzie Pridham, George Malki, Patrick Siegler, and Anthony Grillo.

“It is clear, in my opinion, that we have some of the best soccer fans in the United States,” said Oberhelman. “So, why shouldn’t we have one of the most accomplished head coaches in the history of the United States lead our program?”

Sampson has big goals when it comes to continuing to raise interest in the program not just on-campus, but around the community as well.

“We have some of the best fan base in the country,” said Sampson. “We’re not only going to try to get 11,000 [fans] here for the Santa Barbara game. We’re going to work with the community to get lots of people out here — not just from the student body, but we’re going to dive into that community. We’re going to embrace the Hispanic community, we’re going to embrace the soccer community, the Anglo community, and we’re going to make them know what this soccer program is all about. We want to embrace them such that they come out and support this team all throughout the Fall season.”

Details of Sampson’s contract were not disclosed pending final review.

“It’s more than a year,” quipped the coach. “More than two years.”

On the field over the past few seasons, Cal Poly has expressed an emphasis on a controlled, possession-oriented style of play. While they’ve been successful at establishing their style and scoring more goals overall, success in the Big West Conference has not come as easily. Last season, Cal Poly failed to make the conference tournament, finishing in last place in the Big West’s northern division.

Sampson talked about the possibility of being a little more direct and La Grassa concurred.

“I think all three coaches have been slightly different, maybe, on styles of play and that kind of thing, but for the most part they all want to play good socccer  and they’re smart enough coaches to know that your style of play should enhance your players and the type of players we have are built for a possession-type game. I think it will be interesting, there will definitely be changes, but it’s exciting.”

La Grassa anticipates training sessions ramping up in the presence of their new coach as well.

“Any coaching change is going to bring a lot of new energy, spots are open, training sessions are intense,” said LaGrassa. “But then to have somebody of his quality… I think knowing that if you can impress Steve on a daily basis and he thinks you’re a professional player, then you’ve got a really good shot of becoming a professional player, and that’s what we all aspire to be. That’s really something special that brings a different type of life to a training session.”

Sampson seems to have some energy after his hiatus from being a coach.

Sampson’s coaching experience has led him to a pair of national championships — one with UCLA as an assistant and one at Santa Clara as a head coach.

“When you’ve done it all, you want to do it again,” he said. “It’s quite a challenge. I would love to [win a national title] on three different campuses. There is so much opportunity here and like I said earlier, I love nothing more than being on that soccer player with these players.”

“I took a little bit of time off after I left the Galaxy. To be honest, my president passed away for the LA Galaxy and that was very difficult for me, and I took a little bit of time off and I wanted to reconnect with family and reconnect with the community. But I have this incredible, burning desire right now to get on that field and start winning.”

Ed. Note – The entirety of the comments from Sampson and players Matt LaGrassa and Kip Colvey following the press conference will be available via a podcast, scheduled to post on Friday. 

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   […] Poly soccer fans have been waiting. Since Steve Sampson was announced as the team’s new head coach, there hasn’t been a ton of fanfare or news during the […]