After 200 Wins, Mooney Reflects on Growth, Relationships at UWS

First UWS soccer coach to reach 200 victories

SUPERIOR, Wis.- Joe Mooney has now won over 200 wins as the UW-Superior men’s soccer coach. Considering that no other Yellow Jackets soccer coach has even reached 100 wins, this is a milestone worth celebrating.

“In the last 16 years, there’s a lot of special moments, and none of it happens without (the) group that I’ve been so lucky to be a part of.” Not only has the UWS soccer program grown since his hiring, but so has Mooney on a personal level. “I look at the 24-year-old that I started out as. You know, I still think I’m still kind of a knucklehead, but hopefully not as severe as I was back then.”

As a former soccer player that played for UWS before beginning his coaching career, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s embraced by his players. “We all call him more of a people’s coach,” says William Maanstroem.  “He knows all of his players, he knows what he wants us to do, and he’s direct and he shows us clear what he wants us to do on the field and off the field.”

Maanstroem, a native of Sweden, is one of many international players who chose to leave their home country to play for Coach Mooney. “The way (Coach) Mooney convinced me to come here and the way he showed me how he wanted to play and what this program meant to him…It really persuaded me into coming here.”

Mooney has also earned the respect of local players like Alex Hansen, a graduate of Superior High School. “We can all connect with him so well, and he’s always there for us no matter what.”

Along with his personal growth, Mooney says his philosophy as a head coach has also changed — perhaps for the better — during his tenure with the Yellow Jackets. “I think that when I first started, there were personal goals that I wanted to achieve, obviously, just like everyone does, but I think the focus has really become much more on really getting a sort of sense of what our players want to achieve and then just being any kind of a guidance or mentor or just a part of their story as they work towards their goals.”

Coach Mooney and the Yellow Jackets will look to add to his career win total on Wednesday when they face Northwestern (Minn.) on Wednesday in St. Paul.