One-On-One With Twinsburg Girls Soccer's New Head Coach

A few weeks ago Twinsburg High School athletic director Alex Popovich announced the hiring of Chris Gentille as new head coach of the Tigers' girls soccer team. Twinsburg Patch had a chance to catch up with Gentille.

Twinsburg Patch: Tell us a little bit about your soccer coaching experience.

Chris Gentille: In 2000, I was the girls junior varsity head coach at Aurora, and then in 2002 I took over as the boys head coach Ravenna. In 2005 I came back to Aurora to be my father’s assistant at the junior varsity level due to family health issues for two years, and then from 2007 to 2010 I was the girls head coach at Ravenna.

TP: Why did you take the job at Twinsburg?

CG: I wanted to be at a better program overall. Having good players come through the program starting at the travel level with Twinsburg AC was a plus, and Twinsburg has a better schedule. It was very appealing. 

TP: Why do you like coaching soccer?

CG: I like being around the kids. I have a two-year-old son myself, and hopefully he’s interested in it when he gets a little older. Its always been in my blood and I enjoy the competitiveness in the sport. It’s a fast paced game; you don’t get timeouts, you get one chance to make an adjustment and that’s at halftime. I like that challenge as a coach and I did as a player.

TP: Where did you play your college soccer?

CG: I graduated from Aurora as a four-year starter, all-district and all-conference. I had collegiate offers from various Division II and III schools, but I ended up playing club soccer at Kent State. It was a great four years, and I was able to coach while I was still in college too.

TP: What was your most memorable moment while coaching?

CG: When I was with the boys at Ravenna, we had a good team. Notre Dame Cathedral Latin was seventh in the state that year, and we beat them 3-1. It was a good win for the program.

With the girls at Ravenna, we won two conference titles in four years. One of our bigger wins was in 2008 when we beat Hudson 3-2. We went 44-19-9 in four years at Ravenna in Division I.

TP: What excites you the most about this season?

CG: I like the fact that its going to be a young group. They played six freshmen last year on varsity, the team is going to be young, but experienced. I'll be glad to have a youthful roster. Its a good situation to walk into and the girls are excited for a fresh start. 

TP: What about this program will you change?

CG: I don’t know if I want to change anything, but I want to make things better. I want to retool a little bit and make things as comfortable as possible during the transition. I would like to change our mentality -- I want everybody to be challenged and work hard all the time. 

TP: What are your expectations for this season?

CG: We moved up a division in the conference, so the schedule is going to be a little harder, but our goal is to win our conference. We want to have the best record we can and have as many home games as we can in the tournament. Our first challenge and goal is to win our conference and then get as many wins as we can in the state tournament.