St. Charles West girls soccer coach Andrew Reynolds recently added a new title to his coaching resume - boys coach.
Reynolds will take over for longtime SCW boys mentor Ray Stahl, who resigned his position at the school to care for his ailing mother.
"This is a very big honor," Reynolds said. "I have the girls thing and now I also have the boys. To be guiding the whole program is an exciting thing. I am looking forward to it."
In his inaugural season at West - where he succeeded Mark Olwig, who is currently the coach at Francis Howell North - Reynolds guided the girls to a 16-6 record, the Gateway Athletic Conference North Division title and a district final loss to St. Dominic.
Now, Reynolds is looking to take the boys on the same route, even if it might take a while to get things settled in with his new team.
"To be honest, we had more time (to prepare) with the girls," Reynolds said. "I got the (boys') job and they had two days left of school, so there was chaos. We had a meeting and we only had 12 boys, so we did it again the next day. More showed up, but they said a lot of them left early because it was the last day. I am looking forward to meeting with the kids and getting going with a summer camp here in the next few weeks."
Among those who should be back for Reynolds in his first season could include seniors Mark Cline (16 goals, five assists last season) and Ryan McCrum (6, 11) up front.
Last season, St. Charles West went 13-13 and fell to Duchesne in the first round of the district playoffs.
The Warriors were near the middle of the conference pack in offense and defense last season, scoring 57 goals while giving up 52.
Reynolds says he feels there is a good core group of players for him to work with in 2011.
"I haven't really had a chance to assess the boys yet, but I do think soccer is soccer," Reynolds said. "It looked like we had some goalkeeping coming back for next season. We'll figure out what we have and then play to our strengths."
West athletic director Terry Oetting said he's excited about the prospect of Reynolds guiding both the boys and girls squads this coming year.
"We are very pleased with the work Andrew has done (with the girls)," Oetting said. "He is a former player here in the boys program and has been doing a reat job for our girls in the spring and, hopefully, he can continue that with both programs. We're very excited to have him."Â
