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Media Credit: RYAN MINK [Click to enlarge]

About a month ago, Sasho Cirovski was late to his own practice for the first time this season.

The 15-year Terrapin men's soccer coach wasn't caught in Route 1 traffic or busy tending to his children. He was at his other job.

Cirovski was busy wrapping up a two-hour conversation with senior Athletics Department executives about building a new premier soccer facility.

He never grows tired of discussing his program's future. Cirovski said he visits Director of Athletics Deborah Yow regularly and sometimes stops by the athletics offices three or four times a day, although his supervisor of two years, Shawn Flynn, said Cirovski may be exaggerating a bit.

"Sasho's a passionate guy," Flynn, associate athletics director, said with a laugh. "He's not shy. He knows what he wants."

"I've always been more interested in building a program than winning a championship," Cirovski said. "I know we'll get our championship. I don't know when - I hope it's this year - but I'm more interested in building a program that can stand the test of time."

Cirovski has already made significant steps in that direction. In early September, he finished an eight-month process he called a full-time job to broker a television deal between National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Fox Soccer Channel and 12 Division I men's soccer programs. The television deal, of course, prominently features his team.

Cirovski is responsible for the bleachers behind both nets at Ludwig Field, which now houses the rowdy soccer fans dubbed "The Crew." He shells out money for The Crew to go to away games, including this weekend's ACC tournament in Cary, N.C.

Now he wants his own facility complete with a locker room, restrooms, permanent concession stands, better lighting and a press box. Yow said she is in the process of trying to borrow money for the project, but that it will be several months before the department knows if it will be able to pay it back.

Flynn is used to hearing Cirovski's daily pitches. If it doesn't work the first time, Cirovski comes back the next day, and then the next.

"He always has this saying, 'No is just a temporary obstacle for me,'" Flynn said.

There was no more evidence of Cirovski's work than Oct. 29 against arch rival Indiana, when a record 6,203 fans stacked the standing-room-only section three rows deep. Upon watching tapes of the highly anticipated game, senior forward Jason Garey saw fans pushing so hard against the fences surrounding the field that the advertising signs almost fell off.

"It was just electric," Garey said. "Especially when we scored the goals, the place just went nuts."

Garey remembered coming to the university as a recruit, sitting among the 75 to 100 fans present when the Terps took on Wake Forest. Then came a 2003 summer contest against UCLA, which until this season's Indiana game, held the previous attendance record.

That marked the beginning of a relationship that Cirovski now describes as a "love affair with the student body." Cirovski's players love the attention and dole their thanks out after each game, shaking and slapping the hands of fans standing along the field's fences.

"I remember walking off that field thinking, 'This is what a college basketball field must feel like," Cirovski said. "Kids are performers. They want to be on a stage and we've created a stage that's as good as anywhere."

Major League Soccer coaches, collegiate coaches from across the country and even Indiana coach Mike Freitag agreed. Parents at Cirovski's children's recreational league games the next day said it was unlike anything they had ever seen at a soccer game.

The then No. 5-ranked Hoosiers ended up tying this season's game when they agonizingly scored with five seconds remaining after the Terps squandered a three-goal second half lead.

Cirovski simply said, "It's disappointing, but there's no finality to it."

That's where Cirovski stands apart from many other coaches, of all sports. While his peers think in terms of wins and losses, Cirovski measures his program's success with a far different stick.

"I want to grow. I want to build. That's what I like to do," he said. "I want to leave a legacy both here at Maryland and nationally that signifies you're part of something bigger than yourself.

"I think that's what drives me a lot. I want to make this program the envy of all others and I want to make soccer a significant sport in the college landscape."

Oh, and by the way, did I mention Cirovski coached the Terps to three-straight national semifinals and was named the ACC Coach of the Year earlier this week? In about a 20 minute conversation, Cirovski never mentioned those accomplishments.

He has much bigger things on his mind.

Contact sports editor Ryan Mink at sports@dbk.umd.edu.

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