Steve Picucci is the new head coach at Ferris State, as of this past summer. To make his new job harder, he hosted the NCAA Regional meet only a few months later. To make that experience memorable, his women's team qualified for the national meet out of that regional and went on to place 17th at their. Read on to find out about Coach Picucci's transition and outlook for the future.
RM: How tough was the whole transition of being an assistant coach to being named the head coach? Having to put on the NCAA Regional meet had to be quite a challenge - how did you do it? SP: It was a big change bringing a lot of responsibility, the transition was a little tough I had no idea how many little things are involved in coaching. The regional meet was a huge responsibility just trying to make sure everything was taken care of so the races could go off with out any issues and make sure everyone had a good experience coming to Ferris State University for the Regional.
RM: What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome this season - why? SP: The biggest obstacle was gaining the trust of the athletes and having them believe in my training 100%. If an athlete does not believe in their coach/training and trust him or her it is hard to for the athlete to reach their full potential.
RM: Coming into this season, what were your goals for the women's program - what made you set those goals? SP: I did not set any concrete goals for the teams this season we just needed to get the program going in the right direction and have a positive year. I knew if we trained hard and stayed focused we had a chance to be successful, I told the teams all year just work hard and the results will take care of themselves.
RM: What are your thoughts on how your women's team performed at that national meet? SP: Overall the women ran well, it was tough conditions but the girls did what they needed to do and stayed focused on the race. I thought Tina ran smart and was able to move up throughout the race and finish higher than a Ferris State women ever has before.
RM: Looking forward to indoors and outdoors, what are you most excited about with your women's team? SP: We are just trying to get our legs under us and get ready to go after some qualifying times later in the indoor season and see what we can do by the end of the track season.
RM: What challenges do you see up ahead for you as a coach in indoors and outdoors?SP: With our 3 biggest point scorers gone from last year our biggest challenge will be filling those holes without many new faces on the roster. We just need to train hard and focus on improving.
