Profile Subject Options

Michael Chite

Adelphi University

Monday, April 6th

Options-
Subject 1 –

Option number one would be an acquaintance of mine from a previous course I had taken last semester, he is in the same major as me (exercise science). I had a difficult time finding many options since I am a commuter so I thought he may be a good option due to the fact that I can easily get into contact with him through instagram. He is a current soccer player at Adelphi, and he is a sophomore. I think he would be an interesting person to interview for several reasons. First off, he is from Denmark and made the transition to living here at Adelphi University which is extremely interesting and unique. On top of that, the men’s soccer team has been thriving the past few years with NE10 title wins in the regular seasons.

Not only that, he seems to have many personal awards through his time here at Adelphi and from his high school in Denmark.

• NE10 All-Conference Second Team (2018, 2019)
• ECAC All-Star First Team (2019)
• NE10 Academic All-Conference (2019)
• CoSIDA Academic All-District (2019)
• NE10 All-Rookie Team (2018)
• NE10 Academic Honor Roll – Academic Distinction (Fall ’18, Spring ’19, Fall ’19)

At Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium

• Played in the second-highest youth league in Denmark for B93 Boldklubben af 1893
• Team captain who was named Player of the Year in 2016
• Helped his team finish fifth in league for the 2017-18 season
• Won the DBU Pokalen U-17 Cup

Due to his amazing accomplishments, excellence in school, friendly characteristics, and progress within the last few years I would think he would be an excellent choice, if not my number one choice of an interviewee. I would go in depth on his transition to a new country and how he handled that adjustment, as well as how is able to succeed in soccer at such a high level continuously while achieving excellent grades every year as well. I could talk to his coach as well to see how he performed each year and the noticeable improvements. And potentially teammates who have played with him or still do play with him and evaluate his talent and future expectations for him.

Subject 2 –

Option number two for me would be the men’s basketball coach as I have already met him earlier on in the semester from the game story. I believe he is also a great candidate to talk with for numerous reasons.

A little background information from Adelphi’s website. “In his tenure at Adelphi, Duke has led a program turnaround, and has posted a pair of winning seasons after Adelphi had recorded a series of consecutive losing campaigns. In his second season, the Panthers more than tripled their wins from a season ago to finish with a 20-9 overall record – posting a 20-win season and appearing in the Northeast-10 Tournament for the first time in four years. Three players have become 1,000-point scorers under Duke’s direction, four have earned All-Met status, and Michael Coffey was named the program’s first CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2016-17 before repeating in 2017-18.”

Overall, he has brought the Adelphi Panthers basketball team to 4 playoff appearances within 5 years, which is a phenomenal turnaround considering the history of the team the years before that. I would go in depth on how he was able to turn around this program and his top strategies in doing so. This would be the main aspect of the profile as well as his plans for the future years coming, and how plans to make a further push in the playoffs and finally win a championship.

Subject 3 –

Option number three would be the men’s soccer coach as he continued improving and building winning teams. The mens soccer team had won the 2018 NE10 title and I would dive in deeply on how he was able to build such a strong team starting off in his first year as head coach and what his hardships were as being a new coach.

“After a nationwide search, Gary Book was announced as the ninth head coach of the Adelphi men’s soccer program, effective May 21, 2018. He wrapped up his second season in 2019.”

“Book’s two years have seen the Panthers pick up from where former coach Carlo Acquista left off.”

“In Book’s inaugural season (2018), Adelphi went 17-4-2 and captured an NE10 Tournament Championship, just the program’s second since joining the league back in 2009. The Panthers would earn the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and dispatched LIU Post, 2-0, in the East Region final, before falling to eventual national runner-up West Chester by a 2-0 final in the national quarterfinals.”

This is an amazing accomplish and I feel like there is a lot that can be talked about in terms of winning the ne10 and then moving on to NCAA tournament and eventually losing in the national quarterfinals.

I would also like to know his plans for keeping the soccer team at the highest level in their division and possible future goals.

“Then, in 2019, Book’s squad opened the season on an unprecedented 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1), en route to receiving the No. 1 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Division II Poll for the first time in program history. That ultimately led to Book getting his first-ever nod as the NE10 Coach of the Year. Despite bowing out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Adelphi finished the season at 15-3-1 overall and came away with its fourth-consecutive NE10 regular-season title.”

For these overall accomplishments within only two years, I would also have him in my top 3 in terms of options to interview. I would like to figure out more background information on his life playing and coaching soccer and how developed into a coach and how he plans on taking an already solid program and taking them to the next level by developing each player to the maximal skill level.

Reference – Adelphi Athletics Page