New Men’s Soccer Coach Bob Jenkins is looking to make a difference at Virginia State University.
After working at colleges such as University of Virginia and American University, Jenkins wanted to get involved in making history by having the first men’s soccer team here at Virginia State University.
“I really wanted the challenge of starting a program, and I thought it would be really fun to get involved with an HBCU and see if I could have both of those,” Jenkins said.
VSU is the second HBCU to have a men’s soccer team with Howard University being the first.
“Certainly, around here there’s only us and Howard that have a men’s soccer team,” Jenkins said. “So, it was something that would be pretty novel, challenging, and fun.”
Besides being a coach, Jenkins explained that he also worked on the U.S. National teams and with the governing body U.S. Soccer.
“I’ve worked with U.S. Soccer as a coaching educator,” Jenkins said. “I was the director of coaching, and I was director of youth development.”
Here at VSU, Jenkins has plans to create a solid men’s soccer program.
“The first thing is I want to lay a really strong foundation for the program and for the university to kind of get us up and running in a proper, healthy way,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins’s interest in coaching collegiate soccer made him realize student-athletes come equipped with skills like team teaching and team building.
“I like that you have them for four years so you can build a team out of that and work on the culture of a team, building a team, and putting it together,” Jenkins said.
