Don?t think Greg Paynter isn?t excited about taking the job as Towson women?s soccer coach. Just hours after Towson made the announcement, the former James Madison associate head coach had changed his voice mail to his new identifier.
“Professionally I think it?s going to be a real exciting move,” Paynter said by phone from the JMU soccer office. “I think [James Madison coach Dave Lombardo] prepared me. He?s given me the experience to run all the facets of a Division I program.”
Lombardo, who has won the sixth-most games in Division I women?s soccer, thinks that Paynter is ready, too.
“Towson made a tremendous hire because Greg is energetic, knowledgeable and very personable,” Lombardo said. “He is also bright and creative and a very strong recruiter. Last year, we promoted him to associate head coach because he was already thinking and acting like a head coach.”
The toughest part of the move for Paynter will be uprooting his family ? his wife Amy and infant son Tripp ? from their Shenandoah Valley home. As of Friday, he and his family had yet to find a home in the Baltimore area, and he?ll spend the next week wrapping up his duties in Virginia.
The real work lies ahead. Towson went 5-11-2 overall last fall, including a 1-9-1 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play. The Tigers? last place standing is a far cry from the middle of the CAA pack, where James Madison finished last season with a 5-4-2 conference mark.
“I met with the team [Thursday] and told them there?s nowhere to go but up,” Paynter said. “But that?s not why I took the job. I took the job because there have been a lot of moves made in the right direction by the athletic department.”
Paynter said he defines success not by finishing in the middle of the conference pack, but by winning the conference and qualifying for the NCAA tournament ? just as the Towson men?s program did in 2006.
Paynter replaces Leslie Wray, who stepped down in December after seven seasons with the Tigers.
