The Durango High School girls soccer program will be searching for stability once again, as head coach Jonathan Berzins took a job as athletic director at Phoenix College in his native Arizona, it was announced last week.
Berzins was the third coach in as many seasons for the Demons and led them to a spot in the first round of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A girls state soccer playoffs and an 8-6-1 overall record.
Two days after the season had come to a close, Berzins announced the news to his team after they had handed in their jerseys for the final time.
Berzins said it was a great opportunity to continue to grow as a professional and added that getting the chance to be an athletic director is a rare opportunity within the Maricopa County Community College District.
“I want to thank DHS, the administration, players parents and community for such positive support of this program,” Berzins said. “Want to wish all the seniors best of luck in their next chapter! Program has a bright future and will do big things.”
Berzins also doubled-over as the compliance director at Fort Lewis College. He first started in August 2017 and helped direct the day-to-day operations, which included managing eligibility certification, managing the national letter of intent program and monitored the recruiting, playing and practice of student-athletes. Before Fort Lewis, he was the director of operations and director of coaching at Arizona Arsenal Soccer Club, a highly-successful club program in Phoenix.
Junior midfielder Hannah Coster, who led the Demons in goals with seven this past season, said that her initial reaction when Berzins broke the news was sadness.
“At first, I was very sad because coach had built a great relationship with everybody,” Coster said. “He helped me to become a better soccer player, and the way that he coached, from his tactics to his passion, was really refreshing. He helped me become a better student, a better athlete and honestly, a better person.”
Coster, who will be one of a handful of players on next year’s team who will have had a different coach in each of her four seasons. Berzins replaced Robert Logan, and Dalon Parker, who left to coach at Multnomah University in Portland in December 2017. Parker coached DHS for six seasons.
Coster is one of four players who have stuck with the program despite knowing that every year, a coach’s formation, style and philosophy on the game would change. This past season, DHS had nine seniors, four juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen.
“It’s definitely hard having to hit the reset button every single season, but my teammates and I are well-rounded and that’s important for situations like this,” Coster said. “We’ve been trying to keep everything positive, but there are times where it’s been hard. We finally feel like we hit our stride as a unit, and we really came together this year. It’s just tough to see it happen again.”
Berzins brought in a much-admired new formation, the 4-3-3, and despite leading from the back with a relatively inexperienced defensive unit, three sophomores and one senior, the Demons held their own on numerous occasions. DHS scored 36 times, gave up just 22 goals and had a second-place finish in the 5A/4A Southwestern League. Berzins’ impressive first season led Coster to believe that if he had stayed on, it would have led to more long-term success.
“Coach always was super knowledgeable about the game, the tactics and really put a lot into everyone, whether it was the team as a whole, but especially he liked working with individual players, too,” Coster said. “While we are losing a lot of seniors, the girls who are returning are all young and super experienced. We are heading in the right direction as a program, and we’ll keep getting better. Emily Badgley and I have already started reaching out to do some summer workouts.”
While Coster knows that she can’t control who her next coach is, she and her teammates have already discussed qualities they expect to see when a fourth coach in four seasons will be announced down the road.
“If I’m being honest, I’d love a replica of a coach like Jonathan,” Coster said. “We want somebody who can talk to individuals and the team, they’re understanding, supportive, but also competitive, somebody who can push us and get the most out of all of us as a team. When we step onto the pitch or practice, we know that they’d want to win just as bad as we do. Somebody who truly knows the game and will do what’s best for the team. ... We’re going to keep growing and staying positive throughout this process; we’ll get through this.”
bploen@durangoherald.com
