Wisconsin Soccer Central

When Peter Dermody considered applying for the boys soccer coaching opening at Madison West High School, he approached it from his perspective as an alum of one of state's most storied programs rather than as a soccer coach.

After all, Chris Vasquez had overseen the Regents for the past 21 seasons, leading them to 352 wins, eight Big Eight Conference titles and five WIAA state tournament berths before his sudden death after suffering a stroke in February.

"I went into the interview process thinking, 'All right, I'm just making sure that I'm the worst-case scenario. If they find someone better than me, that's great,' " Dermody said. "I basically viewed it more as a safety valve. I would love doing it, I would be really excited if I get the opportunity to do it, but if I don't, I'm not going to be bummed, because it means they found a great person, someone who I'm going to feel good about as an alum.

"The most important thing to me was to keep the program in the hands of someone they felt could do a good job with it."

In the end, that person turned out to be Dermody.

The 2002 West graduate, who has been the school's girls soccer coach for the past six seasons, will succeed the late Vasquez next fall. To take the position, Dermody had to step down from his role as the Regents girls tennis coach after eight years.

Replacing his former coach and leaving the tennis program weren't in Dermody's immediate plans until Vasquez passed away.

"You sit around and think, 'Oh, you know, when Chris retires maybe I'd consider applying for the position,' but I never saw it as a foregone conclusion. Mostly because I really enjoyed the girls' tennis program," said Dermody, who owns The Tennis Shop retail store in Madison.

"Even when Chris first passed, it wasn't my first thought. I had people asking early on, 'Do you think you'll apply for it?' I honestly didn't know for sure. I mean, it's something that I've always thought about, but truthfully, no. I thought I'd coach the girls tennis team for 20 years."

Instead, he will be at the helm of both of the school's soccer programs once the West boys start practice for the 2014 season on Aug. 11. And he knows some of the challenges ahead.

"It's going to be a fine line to walk," said Dermody, whose team opens the season Aug. 22 at the Waunakee Invitational. "It's always harder when a new coach comes in. Especially (replacing) a coach that has been there for a long time – I found that out when I took over the girls program."

In 2009, Dermody succeeded Donal Kaehler, like Vasquez a very popular coach who guided the Regents to two WIAA state championships, seven state appearances and seven Big Eight titles in his 14-year tenure.

"You don't want to make huge, drastic decisions," said Dermody, who has a 74-42-10 record with the West girls – a mark that includes winning the 2012 Division 1 state title. "It's just going to be kind of uncharted waters. No one really knows what it's going to be like. You try to find the right mix of transitioning and honoring Chris. And for the kids, it's a huge roller coaster."

Dermody played one season on the West varsity team under Vasquez, as a senior in fall 2001. He said his former coach instilled one vital thing in him.

"The biggest influence that Chris had on me was something that I realized as I was coaching on the girls program," Dermody said. "Not so much a soccer thing or a strategic thing, it was this idea of being part of something bigger, a tradition. The moment you came into the program, especially when you played for him directly, the feeling was you were part of something a lot bigger than yourself. You're part of this tradition of this program at this school that goes back many years."

Dermody and assistant Pat Bauch, another West alum who serves in the same role in the girls program, take over a Regents team that went 18-5-1 overall last fall and lost to Green Bay Preble 2-1 in the Division 1 state semifinals. However, that side featured 10 seniors, including the team's top three scorers in Woo Jin Jeon, Ghedi Omar and Luke Miller – Jeon and Omar were honorable mention all-state selections.

"That's a couple of really good guys. In a way, that makes the transition a little bit easier, because everyone's coming in this year fighting for positions anyway," said Dermody, whose only other experience coaching boys soccer was a two-year stint with a Madison United club team eight years ago. "West is one of the schools in the area where you graduate 10, but you know there's going to be 10 good, strong players coming in. It's exciting to see who's going to be coming in."

• Elsewhere in the Big Eight, Chris Mitchell is the new coach at Sun Prairie after coaching at The Blake School in Minneapolis for the past decade. Mitchell was an assistant for the school's girls team for seven years and was the boys coach the past three years – the Bears were ranked fourth in the final Minnesota State High School Soccer Coaches Association Class A state poll last fall and went 9-0-0 to win the Tri-Metro Conference. The Cardinals were 15-5-2 overall and finished fourth in the Big Eight with a 6-3-0 record last season under Will Wayland.

Do you know of other prep coaching changes for the 2014 boys season or the 2015 girls season? Let us know at wisconsinsoccercentral@gmail.com