A familiar face will grace the Bluejay sideline starting in 2015, as former men’s soccer player Ross Paule has been named the coach of the women’s soccer team, Director of Athletics Bruce Rasmussen announced on Monday.
“He knows Creighton, and Creighton knows him,” Rasmussen said. “We’re excited about having him.
“I think his background will make him an outstanding coach at Creighton.”
A member of the Creighton Athletic Hall of Fame, Paule will look to bring prominence to a team that has gone a combined 4-11-3 in its first two seasons in the Big East.
In his three years at Creighton from 1994-96, Paule earned a number of accolades before being drafted by the Colorado Rapids in the second round of the 1997 Major League Soccer draft.
In each of his three seasons, he earned recognition as a member of the First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference, the only Bluejay player to do so in his first three seasons.
Paule was named to the MVC All-Centennial team in 2006, 10 years after leading Creighton to its first College Cup appearance.
During that 1996 season, Paule scored 11 goals and added seven helpers to finish second on the team in points. He took home the honors for MVC Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy.
The Bluejays went 17-5-2 (5-0-0 MVC) on their way to their fifth consecutive MVC regular-season title.
Paule also earned MVC Freshman of the Year and MVC Tournament MVP during his Creighton career.
To this day, he ranks fifth all-time in multi-goal games with six, ninth in goals scored with 28 and 10th in points, notching 77 in the course of his three years.
“My memories of being at Creighton were critical to my acceptance of the position because I know what Creighton offers and provides the student-athlete,” Paule said.
“For me, in the classroom and on the soccer field, there was a clear commitment to providing the student athlete a caring and instructive environment. That provided me a great foundation; that helped me in my life after I left Creighton and has fortunately given me this great opportunity to return.”
Paule played for the Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew and NY/NJ MetroStars during his nine-year MLS career.
He was the team MVP for the Rapids and the Crew in 1998 and 2003, respectively.
He also was named to two MLS All-Star teams during his career.
Since his retirement in 2005, Paule has been staying active in soccer, working at multiple levels.
The majority of his past nine years have been spent in his home state of Tennessee, developing young talent. He expressed gratitude at the chance to coach at his alma mater.
“My goal is to have our CU student-athletes have the all-around experience that I enjoyed when here,” Paule said.
“We will do what it takes to help each individual leave the university a better soccer player and a better person than when they first arrived. My goal is also to ensure our CU women are engaged in the community, serve the community and build a base of people who will love to support what they are trying accomplish on the field and off the field.
“As it relates specifically to soccer, we will have a hard-working, well-organized team defensively, and a team that possesses the ball with purpose and is not afraid to attack with speed and creativity.
“We will not set our goals low. Ultimately, we want to build our program to be a consistently successful team in the Big East, competing for a national championship.”
Paule’s hire came less than one month after the resignation of Bruce Erickson. Erickson was the winningest coach in program history, sporting a 163-125-32 record over 16 seasons at Creighton.