Behind Enemy Lines: Brown men's soccer coach Patrick Laughlin

This weekend, the Ivy League-leading Penn men's soccer team (6-7-1, 3-0-1 Ivy) aims to keep its undefeated conference record alive against Brown (5-6-3, 1-1-2). We got to talk to Bears coach Patrick Laughlin to get an idea of what to expect when his squad tussles with the Quakers on Saturday.

Daily Pennsylvanian: What have you learned in the past four years coaching at Brown?

Patrick Laughlin: When I came here in 2009 to be an assistant coach at Brown, I knew about the Ivy League from competing against teams in the league when I was a person outside the league. But I’ve learned a lot about how important athletics are to the people in this league and what a great league the Ivy League is and especially men’s soccer, it's outstanding and really competitive.

DP: How would you say your previous jobs impacted how you coach at Brown (Laughlin has experience coaching at Maine and Dean)?

PL: I think all experiences help guide you going forward and give you a chance to learn and change as a coach, all of the different places that I’ve worked have made me the coach that I am today. The good experiences and the bad experiences and the things that have been positive and the things that have been negative have all really shaped me as a coach and put me in a place where I can work at an incredible institution like Brown University.

DP: How is the Ivy League different from other leagues?

PL: The Ivy League is very different with no postseason tournament and I think there’s a lot of the athletes in the Ivy League [that] know each other and they compete against each other over four years and there aren’t a lot of transfers that come in or go out of the Ivy League, so you end up competing against a lot of people for multiple years and you have relationships with them off the field and on the field and its an incredible league in that on any weekend, anything can happen.

DP: In talking about the unpredictability and how close all the teams are, how do you account for all the significant shifts year to year, because [being] on top of the league one year really doesn’t mean that you are favored to win the next year?

PL: I think that, in soccer especially, there are moments in games that define those games and if you are on the right side of those moments, then all of a sudden, you are in a place to win the league and I think all the coaches in the league are all striving to be on the right side of those moments. A lot of times, you don’t have control over that. But you know, because of that and because there are just seven games, it’s really an intense situation.

DP: With things changing so quickly and three games left, do you see a surprise coming?

PL: Oh yeah. I think the league isn’t done twisting yet. There are still a few more twists to come and I think this weekend, you know we’ve had some weekends in the league this year where all four games went to overtime you know, and when everything is so tight almost every game is a one-goal game and I think there will be more twists and the league table as it stands today will not look like that at the end of the year.