Former W. Hoops coach Soriero lands at Colorado College

After a decade with the Quakers, Julie Soriero will take the helm at Divison III Colorado College. This basketball season, instead of walking across Philadelphia city streets zooming with road-raged motorists, Soriero will be walking through Colorado Springs on the way to the gym as the new head women's basketball coach at Colorado College. After 10 years as the head coach at Penn, where she accumulated a 108-177 record, Soriero announced her resignation in January of this year; she finished out the Quakers' 12-14 (8-6 Ivy League) season before pursuing other job opportunities. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at the Division III Colorado College, Soriero considered going to a Top 25 program as an assistant; she was also a finalist at both William and Mary in Virginia and Stonybrook in New York. "This was an opportunity for me to explore a lot of different options," Soriero said. "The process reminded me of recruiting kids. You always tell kids about all these choices they have and that they will know when a fit is right. That was how I pursued this opportunity. When something seemed like the right thing for me I decided I was going to jump into it and take that chance." Soriero's occupational change, however, is more like a giant leap than a jump. Colorado College does not compete in a nationally recognized league like the Ivy League. In fact, Colorado College is not in a league at all -- the Tigers are independent. Colorado College is a far cry from Penn. With a student body of 1,950 students, Colorado College supports just two Division I teams -- men's ice hockey and women's soccer. In addition to the differences between the two schools' student bodies and athletic programs, Soriero will be challenged with the contrasts between the individual teams. Soriero left a program with two 20-point scorers, junior Diana Caramanico -- the Ivy League Player of the Year -- and senior Mandy West. This season Soriero will be challenged with the task of developing a strong incoming class and helping the returning players adjust to her style of coaching. She will be the third coach this year's seniors will have played for. "We are really in a rebuilding process here," Soriero said. The team struggled last year under coach Deb Hunter, who had been coaching the team for two years before Soriero accepted the position. According to Soriero, though, Hunter did an excellent job in recruiting for the upcoming season. "She was just starting to make an impact," Soriero said. Soriero will be reaping the rewards of Hunter's efforts -- a strong freshman class. Today, Soriero will have her first team meeting. Although she has met with most of her players, this will be the first meeting with everyone present. And although Soriero is facing drastically different conditions, one thing is constant. "My Penn players will be happy to know that this group is going out to do a two-mile run [after the meeting]," Soriero said. "No matter what level you are coaching, as a coach you have a certain level of expectations and you have a certain level of work you expect your team to achieve," she added. "Some things never change." Soriero's demanding workouts and strong freshman class will lay a solid foundation for the Tigers, who won just two games last season -- against the University of La Verne (Calif.) and Presentation College of Aberdeen, S.D. "I am very excited about the opportunity I have here to build a program and work for an administration that seems to be real supportive and encouraging of that goal," Soriero said. "That is not to say that Penn was not a good administration. I still have a lot of fond memories and heartfelt appreciation for everything and everybody at Penn, especially my team. "I think of them everyday." Although Soriero will put the same physical demands on her new squad as she did on the Quakers, one thing about the workouts will be different -- the Tigers will be undertaking the grueling two-mile runs at an altitude of 6,000 feet.