Q&A: South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer coach Tony Annan

It'll be the first time Annan has been on the field with his new squad against another opponent since taking the job this offseason. Before he does that, Annan sat down with GamecockCentral for a one-on-one interview to talk about his transition here, what he wants to see from his team, his time at Atlanta United and how recruiting has gone so far.

This is part one of two, with part two scheduled to come out later this week.

GC: What are some of your earlier memories of South Carolina and what sold you on coming here as the next head coach?

TA: “I’ve known Mark for 20 years and always had huge respect for Mark and huge respect for what he did here…I want to carry on that tradition at the school. I don’t want to throw away the tradition to the side. That’s a big thing for me. Number two, I’ve played seven to eight players here over the last 20 years and always remember thinking it’s a good place to send my players with the location, facility, coaching, environment. Then obviously the third part of why I came here: I wanted a new challenge in my career, wanted a new challenge in my life.

I wasn’t going to go anywhere except the place I knew I could be supported and given the chance to sink or swim. I’ve said it before but the people. The day I set foot on campus I felt very welcome. I felt very, very part of the family very quickly. That’s uncommon when you walk into somewhere and feel it right away. Everybody I met was so supportive since I’ve been here. Everything I‘ve asked for I’ve been able to get. I think that’s really important when you’re a new coach at a new program. You want success but the program wants success as well. It’s all a good fit. I’m loving life in Columbia.”

GC: What did you learn during your time with Atlanta United from a club-building perspective you can bring to the collegiate level?

“I had a two year masters on the field but I also had a two-year masters off the field in technical director, management. Paul McDonough, a good friend of mine, has unbelievable knowledge of the league and how to build a program and build a team. He worked for USC years ago under Mark. With his knowledge of how to put together a team and construct a team rubbed off on me. And the way he coached it from a budgetary standpoint can be applied scholastically here for how many scholarships you give.

"It’s all great knowledge I didn’t skip, and I think it really applies to what I’m doing here. The salary cap in MLS, which I have a good understanding of now, almost applies like the scholastic layout here with the part of giving out scholarships. There are a lot of similarities even though people won’t believe it, but I’m starting to look at my squad and build my squad in the same sort of way.”

GC: Tactically, how do you want your teams to play?

TA: “I did my masters with (former ATL head coach Gerardo) Tata (Martino). I did a two-and-a-half year masters with one of the best coaches in the world. I learned a whole lot for him. It’s identity more than tactics. If someone comes to watch south Carolina play, they know what to expect. They know what the game’s going to look like and know how exciting we’re going to be because of our identity. It’s not all tactics. You can talk starting positions, you talk blocks and you can talk it all day long but it’s all about the identity of the team. That’s the most important part.

When you say how I like to play, I like a 4-3-3 but it can vary as a 4-3-2-1, it can very as a 4-(5)-1. I’ll flip flop through formations. We’ll never really be in a rotation because of our rotations and movements and starting positions. It’ll be a lot of rotations so you can’t really say what formation. People get caught up in formations. It’s all about the identity of the team and the identity of your players and the mindset of your team of how you put the product out there for the fans, which is what it’s really about.”

GC: In evaluating what you have with this year's squad, how close are you to being able to run what you want?

TA: “I’ve watched multiple games the other guys played. What I can say is we have a very good group of guys. We have a group of guys who want as much as you can give them. We have a group of guys who some may end up playing a different position for me because I see something different in them than maybe someone else didn’t see in them. That’s where I felt I’ve been strong in my career, recognizing where I can put a player where they can be the most successful they can be.

Overall I’m happy with the squad. It’s a good squad. We added a couple freshmen who some are my guys and some we re-recruited. I think we’ll have a good run of it as far as forming an identity with this squad. I’m not pessimistic or disappointed in the squad I’m inheriting at all. I’m excited about them.”

GC: You brought in assistants Alec Purdie and Will Lukowski, what do you think they'll add to your staff?

TA: “I don’t want people like me around me. I want different folks around me who will give me a different view, a different look and a different opinion. I don’t want a bunch of yes men who will agree with everything I say or think my way is the only right way. I want people who can give variation, give different opinions and approach different situations different ways. I can’t bring in an Olympic swim coach, which I would if I could…Will’s a goal keepers coach and I needed somebody specific for goal keeping. Obviously goal keeping is a huge part of the team. He was actually a volunteer assistant…I needed guys who had been in the game and knew the ins and outs of college soccer because off the field there are a lot of differences and on the field not as much.

I’m trying to build a staff of different characters, different opinions, different looks on the game. but there’s got to be a synchronicity between us, an agreement of how we’re going to work. I don’t want people like me around me. I’ve tried to do that ove the course of my career, bring in people smarter than me who are smarter in different ways. I think that really helps. The old saying birds of a feather flock together is very common but we’re trying to avoid that at all costs if you want to be successful.”

GC: Outside of wins and losses, how would you define success in year one?

TA: “Anybody who knows me knows I’m massively competitive. I’ll claw tooth and nail to win. It’s almost a curse at times because my patience level is sometimes way off base. I think success and I go back to the identity. If we can establish an identity, establish a culture, establish a mentality in this stadium with our fans, that’s success for me this season. Obviously we’re playing to win.

Obviously we’re tying to do the best we can on the pitch. That’s the unwritten. Making this a special place to be, a special place to be and the fans being into this will be success for me in year one. Other than anything else, that’s success for me.”

GC: Soccer has grown rapidly in the United States over the last few decades and South Carolina's been able to draw some big crowds year in and year out. How much will you bring that up during recruiting?

TA: “Absolutely. Who doesn’t want to play in front of 5,000 people? You come from playing academy soccer where you get a couple hundred sometimes to playing in front of 5,000? It’s as good as being a pro. You have the facilities here that match any pro league in the country, and Europe. You have a lovely stadium where we’re going to make it even more intimate, more connected.

I have some really good ideas for that. The upgrades the university is going to make to the stadium are making it an even better environment. We’re going to push for that. It’s really important to prepare kids to be a professional where they’re playing in front of four or five thousand fans as many times as we can. Hopefully we put a product on the pitch where fans want to say and watch the game and come back out and can’t wait for the next game."