The men and women’s soccer teams have a new coach following a 34-year legacy with the previous coach.
Both men and women’s soccer teams have been coached by Brian Harvey for over three decades, starting in 1986 when the men’s soccer team was formed and 1994 when the women’s soccer team was formed.
Harvey retired after last season, and Billy Martin will be taking over as head coach starting next year.
Martin is an OCU alumni and was the assistant coach to Harvey for 17 years from 1996 to 2014.
In 2014, Martin accepted a position at Rose State College where he acted as the head coach for the men’s team.
“I’m excited. I mean, to follow up Brian Harvey, obviously, is going to be a tough task since they’ve only had one coach for 34 years. The advantage I have is that I was his assistant for 17 years, so I think coming in, I kind of know all the ins and outs of OCU,” Martin said.
Martin said he played for Harvey when he attended OCU, so he knows the university well.
“It’s great to be back and working at home again,” Martin said.
Annie Bragg, sophomore defense, said she has heard great things about Martin.
“Billy Martin really changed Rose State’s program for the better, and they became ranked in a lot of states because of his experience,” Bragg said.
Bragg said the team is pretty excited to work with Martin.
“We’ve all kind of met him, he’s watched a few of our practices, but he wasn’t going to be very prevalent in our practices until after spring break. Due to everything going on, we’re not going to officially get to meet him as a coach,” Bragg said.
Bragg said she thinks Martin will be good for the program.
“Some people think change is good, but it’s also scary because we don’t know what we’re in for. He knows OCU in a way that a lot of us can’t think of, so I think he’s going to be really good for us,” Bragg said.
For updates, students can check back next semester on the OCUsports website for updates on both the men and women’s soccer teams.
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