Working up a storm: Dave Masur has fashioned St. John's soccer into an NCAA power.

COACH: What was your childhood like growing up in Newark, N.J.? How were you introduced to soccer?

MASUR: I grew up in South Orange, which is right outside of Newark. My family had a bar in downtown Newark. I was lucky enough to grow up on a street where we were able play a lot of sports.

I played football, baseball, and basketball, and then was fortunate enough to be dragged to a soccer clinic by a friend of mine. I was maybe 10 or 11 when I started to play the game. I'd play indoor soccer and basketball at the same time.

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I ended up playing varsity basketball at Columbia (NJ) High School. I even switched to lacrosse for a year, so there wasn't much that I wouldn't try to play. I just loved to compete, and soccer became my dominant sport.

I was fortunate to have a younger brother named Keith who was a year younger than I. He was also a high-school All-American, and then a teammate of mine at Rutgers. We had a good competitive upbringing, which we honed by playing against each other.

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COACH: You played soccer for Gene Chyzowych at Columbia H.S. in Maplewood, N.J., the second winningest high school coach in history. What did you learn and ascertain from this soccer pioneer?

MASUR: He was one of the first guys to run the All-American soccer camps. He developed an environment that made the sport available the year round. I learned a little about how to develop technical and tactical skills in young players and how to incorporate them in the training, So even when I was growing up doing camps and picking up technical things, I was becoming a better player and better tactician.

Chyzowych had a feeling for his teams and players that became contagious at Columbia H.S. We were fortunate enough to win the State championships my junior and senior years (1978 and 1979). And that core group of people I grew up with began competing in all the different ethnic leagues.

There wasn't all the organized soccer there is now, so to really play in an "11-a-side" game, you had to join a league that incorporated the Newark Ukrainians, the teams from Paterson, and the teams from Clifton. It offered a very good opportunity to play at a variety of different age levels.

I didn't play Under-12's. But I played Under-14's when I was 12. Under-16 when I was 14, and would sometimes play two or three games in a day. I would play my game, then hang around at the one of the fields and look for a chance to play in some of the older kids' games.

COACH: How much did Coach Chyzowych prepare you for the next level? What was his influence on you?

MASUR: He laid the kind of a foundation that matured me as a player. He gave me the tools to move forward and created an environment in which those skills could blossom. He made everything competitive. He expected us to win all the time, and I took that to heart!

COACH: Who are some of your other coaching mentors?

MASUR: I started out playing for Mark Berson at South Carolina. But I decided that I needed to come back home for personal reasons. It may have had something to do with just getting my life a little bit more organized locally.

It was through Coach Bob Reasso at Rutgers that I learned a lot about coaching. He was a stickler for organization, for preparing his teams. He was also very dedicated and had a genuine consideration for his players as well.

I played for him when the Rutgers soccer program was experiencing a turnaround. I was one of the players who helped lay the foundation for that success. Coach Reasso had a big influence on me as a player and as a person throughout my three years there.

COACH: You started playing professionally on the heels of the defunct NASL and forged a career in the MISL, NPSL, and ASL, among other leagues. What were those times like?

MASUR: I started out in the MISL with the Chicago Sting. When I graduated from Rutgers in 1984, I needed to get a job, because the NASL had kind of folded and there wasn't really a place to sign a contract, and make some money. It was unheard of to go overseas at the time. So I got a job working in New York City selling shipping space because I needed the money.

I got drafted that summer by the Sting and went to Chicago for a year. Then I came back and helped out Rutgers under Coach Reasso. Then I played for the Toledo Pride of the APSL for a year. When I came back, it was desperation time again. Luckily I found an opportunity as a part-time college coach at Montclair State in New Jersey. I coached my own team and it excited me tremendously!

I also played two years for the New Jersey Eagles of the ASL. That was a great experience because it was real major league soccer. We had all the top international players as well as the top American players on our teams. My teammates included Tab Ramos and Peter Vermes. Eric Wynalda played up in Albany. San Francisco, Colorado, and Tampa also had teams.

COACH: In 1997 you played on the back line for the New Jersey Imperials and in front of a teen phenom by the name of Tim Howard, who now plays for Manchester United and is considered Europe's elite goalkeeper. Did you have any inkling that Howard would be so good?

MASUR: We certainly knew that Timmy had great ability and I felt that he would do very well. But what he's been able to do at Man U. is just absolutely phenomenal. I'm just so proud of him in every way, shape, and form.

COACH: What kind of player were you? You have been described as feisty and tenacious?

MASUR: I was more of a technical and tactical player - extraordinarily competitive. I started out as an attacking midfielder, played defensive midfield, center back, outside back, whatever the team needed. So I was very versatile.

I relied on anticipation and technique. I wasn't the fastest guy. But I was very thorough in my thinking and was always trying to do the very, very best that I could. I had some limitations as far as speed. But that made my brain work a little quicker and helped me figure out ways in which to fit into a higher level of the game.

COACH: What have been the biggest changes in men's collegiate soccer from when you played at South Carolina and Rutgers?

MASUR: I think the fitness and strength and the speed of the players are continuing to emerge. Team organization has improved dramatically. There are more and more full-time head coaches' with full-time assistants. That's helped the overall development of coaches and the implementation of a more tactical and more competitive game.

COACH: You are a very driven, intense, and regimented person. Team practices are held at 7 a.m. and you have been known to provide a lengthy scouting report to your team prior to games. To whom or what do you attribute those traits?

MASUR: I received my Masters degree at Montclair State when I coached there and I got my Doctorate in Education Administration and Supervision and Leadership at St. John's. I just try to keep an open mind and continually adjust to what we do. That is to find a way to re-shape ourselves, elevate our standards, and make things efficient for our team.

Sometimes it's efficient to wake up early to practice and then go to class. Other times we will train at night. Sometimes it's better to let the team sleep in and practice at night, the day before the game. In short, we like to keep things very flexible, but continually elevate our standards so that everybody involved knows that the team can be successful and still enjoy what they are involved with.

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COACH: Tactically and technically, what kind of coach are you? What system do you favor: a traditional 4-4-2; a 3-5-2 where you stack the midfield; or the Dutch system, where everybody is interchangeable?

MASUR: We play a 4-4-2. We like to build everything out of possession, but we will attack wherever the opponents are vulnerable. Sometimes that means we need to build to the ball a bit more and be more patient and lure people to us. Other times it means we have to play with a little more speed and up-tempo.

COACH: You used more than 20 different lineups last season, including the postseason. Can you explain your reasoning?

MASUR: College soccer is an intense undertaking in which injuries are going to occur. We like to make our practices very competitive and will reward the players who do well by starting them in a game.

In the Finals against Indiana last season, we played someone who hadn't started a game all year. We let our players know that if they stay with it and do all the right things, they will get their chance to play.

That's why I believe in keeping an open philosophy in developing players. We also try to create an interchangeable system that will enable our players to read and adjust to the different positions.

COACH: You are widely considered one of the great soccer minds in the game today. What is your coaching approach?

MASUR: I would say it's the team first, making sure everyone understands that it's all about team needs and what the players have to do and to fit in.

You certainly can have superstars who fit that criteria, and we like the idea of having players who understand that role, have the speed of play, and can read things earlier and react quicker to situations.

I believe in developing leadership within our team--the mental and preparation sides that we talked about. It comes from empowering the leaders on your team and creating accountability beyond the coach.

COACH: How do you juggle the dual roles of head coach and assistant athletic director?

MASUR: First, I have great assistant coaches who have come through our system and are familiar with the way we do things at St. John's. I have complete confidence in them. As I mentioned, we have a system where we improve and extend the learning environment. We try to empower everybody to try to do that.

Being the assistant athletic director has allowed me to have a larger input across different sport lines and hopefully more of a macro-picture that has allowed me to have a bigger impact.

COACH: What is the status of youth soccer in this country? You obviously have your finger on the pulse because of your annual soccer camp. What impresses you the most about the young coaches of today?

MASUR: Our kids are playing around the clock in very structured and organized games. I think the coaching has gotten much better, whether it's through select teams or with different professional training environments that have been developed around the country.

It's no longer moms and dads running teams. It's usually people that you're paying--a professional. And I think it's been very good for getting kids involved and developing them widely via select teams and through the Olympic Development Programs.

COACH: MLS burst on to scene in 1996, the year you led St. John's to the National Championship over Florida International. How much progress has the league made from its early days?

MASUR: It's done a remarkable job in developing our national teams under Coach Arena, the former D.C. United head coach. Coaching has improved dramatically and the visibility of the sport, in general, has been amazing.

The only thing it may lack is the high-priced players and name identification. We're now seeing Landon Donovan and the American kids taking their place and I think that's exciting. So are all of the new stadiums. They mean so much to a team.

MLS is working on it day in and day out. As that begins to develop, you will know that the league is getting better and better.

COACH: What has been or will be the turning point in U.S. Men's soccer?

MASUR: It will be the rise in attendance on a regular basis; when soccer achieves a prominent spot on Sportscenter; when both the participants and the parents become more educated on the game.

There has to be a rise in the appreciation for and knowledge of the game on the elite level.

Most of my contemporaries are still very passionate about baseball and football because that's what they grew up with and now goes with the climate and environment of our country.

We haven't been able to translate their passion to soccer. They don't know the intricacies or have a familiarity with the game like they do with some of the other sports. Without knowledge you seldom have fan appreciation.

COACH: You own the all-time best winning percentage at Montclair State U. in New Jersey (.700 mark, 53-21-6) from 1987-1990. What did you learn about yourself as a coach at the Division III level and how did it help you prepare for Division I?

MASUR: At the Division III level you have to do everything yourself. It gives you the opportunity to experiment and try new things. It gave me the opportunity to evaluate and look back on what I did then and what I'm doing now.

I guess it gives you the room to grow, that's probably the answer. If you want to grow.

What I think is important is staying open minded, continually learning, continually implementing different ideas and strategies to make my team better and elevate the standards of the team around me. If you do that, and you are constantly re-inventing yourself, you will keep things fresh for your team.

As long as it's done within a consistent pattern, so you're constantly changing but you're not really changing the mission--the core values of what you are preaching.

COACH: Since 1992, your second season at St. John's, your program has reached the NCAA tournament 12 consecutive times, with three Final Four appearances in the last eight seasons. How has the St. John's program capitalized on last season's Final Four appearance and No. 2 national ranking?

MASUR: No matter what you do, you must maintain a program and a coaching methodology and a teaching environment that is able to establish consistency over a long period of time. I think that the more you do that, the more it intrigues people, and the more interest you get from the outside.

At St. John's, we've built a stadium on campus and very beautiful dormitories. It made us a national university with national recruiting.

If you look at our team that won the 1996 championship, most of the players were from the New York metropolitan area. The players on our last two Final Four teams came from all over the country.

Interview By Kevin Newell