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SPORTS
[ Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 ]

Gorman passes record looking for league title

Collegian Staff Writer

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds wasn't the only Barry to enter the record books over the weekend.

Penn State men's soccer head coach Barry Gorman became the school's all-time winningest coach with a 2-0 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday. The win was Gorman's 186th at Penn State, surpassing the previous mark of 185 held by Walter Bahr since 1987.

While certainly an outstanding achievement, the breaking of the record didn't have a great deal of importance to this Barry.

"Somebody will break it some other day," Gorman said after the victory. "You're always just glad to get the wins for the kids."

That's it? No proclamations of "I'm going to Disney World?"

"Barry doesn't really look at records, he just wants (the team) to play well and that's much more important to him," Gorman's wife, Brenda, said. "I don't think he even kept track of (the record). I didn't keep track of it, because it's not that important."

Still, Gorman had the admiration of his players and peers after reaching the milestone. He was even congratulated by Bahr, the former record-holder whom Gorman replaced as head coach following Bahr's retirement 14 years ago.

"It's certainly well-deserved," Bahr said. "Barry's teams have played well, they've played hard, and that's a reflection of him."

Bahr earned a 185-66-22 record over 13 seasons as the Nittany Lions' head coach. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1979 and is a member of the NSCAA Hall of Fame.

Gorman served as an assistant under Bahr for two seasons before taking over the head coaching reigns in early 1988. Bahr said that he recognized Gorman's talent back then, but didn't know the young coach would someday become a record-holder.

"It would have been a little far-fetched to think he'd most likely take my place in the record books, or even that I'd have a record, for that matter," Bahr said.

Gorman, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, is 186-91-19 with Penn State. He has led his teams to six NCAA Tournament bids and one Big Ten Championship. This year's squad, currently No. 17 in the nation, hopes to add a national championship to Gorman's resume.

"We have some high goals to go pretty far this year, and to get him the record along the way is pretty special," said freshman midfielder Trevor Gorman, who is also Barry's son.

The younger Gorman has earned limited playing time this year and was on the field for his father's record-breaking victory. His mother, Brenda, said it has been enjoyable to see father and son together in blue and white this season.

"It's very special, and it's all Trevor's ever wanted to do," Brenda said. "He could have went to other colleges and he just said, 'I want to play for Penn State.' He wanted to play for his dad."

Brenda also said that while breaking the record is nice, her husband has higher aspirations for this season.

"He wants to win," Brenda said. "He wants to win the Big Ten and the Final Four, and he's got the kids to do it. He just has to put the right combination together, and he thinks he can do it."


Men's soccer
 



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