The Penn State men's soccer team will be without head coach Barry Gorman for the next month.

Gorman, who underwent surgery yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, will not be on the sidelines until the beginning of November.

While no one in the organization is saying exactly what the surgery was for, coaches and players said that it was for a number of ailments.

Penn State men's soccer assistant coach Marlon LeBlanc said that the coaches and the captains have known that Gorman would be undergoing surgery since late August.

Gorman has been a fixture in Penn State soccer.

He has been the coach for 15 years and has more wins than any other soccer coach in Penn State history.

He is a member of the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and just a few weeks ago passed the 200-win plateau with a victory against Michigan.

So the question going into this weekend's matches is this:

How will the players react without Gorman on the sidelines?

"The directive and objective are still the same," LeBlanc said. "We are not going to change things."

LeBlanc and assistant coach Scott Black will lead the team throughout October and possibly into November.

LeBlanc said that while he hasn't spoken directly to Gorman, he has spoken to his wife, Brenda, who said that Gorman is doing very well.

The players and coaches agree that the absence of Gorman will not have a huge impact on how the team plays, now that the Big Ten schedule is in full swing.

"It might be a little bit more of a relaxed atmosphere, but our problem isn't coaching," senior captain Brent Jacquette said.

A lot of the talent on this year's squad comes from freshmen and sophomores, and everyone is waiting to see how the younger players react not having Gorman around.

"It's going to be different with him not around, but now it's time to show Gorman what we're made of," sophomore midfielder Mike Lindemann said.

But LeBlanc doesn't necessarily agree with Lindemann.

"Coach Gorman never would have left if he knew it would affect them," LeBlanc said. "Players win games, not coaches."

Although Gorman would have preferred to wait until the end of the entire soccer season to undergo the surgery, his doctors recommended that he should have the surgery now, LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc went on to say that they will not use Gorman's absence as a means for motivating the players (i.e. win one for the Gipper).

"We need to win for ourselves," LeBlanc said. "For ourselves and for Penn State."