CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF BAYLOR SOCCER
6/7/2021 2:00:00 PM | Soccer
Program Has Won Four Big 12 Titles, Excelled in Preparing Champions for Life
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Looking back on the first 25 years of Baylor Soccer, Paul Jobson sees a program that was started during a boom period for the sport and was able to have some early success with limited resources.
"To see the growth of NCAA from that time till now, and the resources that we have and the things at our disposal," said Jobson, beginning his 14th year with the team and ninth as head coach, "it's really kind of a cool 25-year window to look into."
Through the summer, Baylor Athletics will highlight some of the program's biggest moments in the last 25 years, including four Big 12 championships, back-to-back Elite Eight appearances (2017-18), a trio of Hall of Famers, facility upgrades and midfielder Julie James becoming the program's first All-America first-team selection and first player taken in the NWSL Draft.
Building the program from scratch, Randy Waldrum led the Bears to the school's first Big 12 championship in any sport in 1998, earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. Leaving after just three seasons, Waldrum won two national championships at Notre Dame and is now in his fourth year at Pitt.
"Randy Waldrum was the perfect person to start the Baylor soccer program," Jobson said. "Some people say, 'Would Baylor have been in a different position if Randy hadn't left?' That's really hard to say. Maybe Randy had done all he could do at Baylor and took an opportunity at Notre Dame. It's hard to say that Randy made a bad move for himself, so it's hard to say that it was a bad move for Baylor."
In a combined nine seasons under Nick Cowell and George Van Linder, Baylor missed the Big 12 tournament six times and made only one other NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999.
Paul's wife, former U.S. Women's National Team player Marci Jobson, was named the head coach on Dec. 6, 2007, after a three-year run at Northern Illinois.
"For us, we saw it as an awesome opportunity to step in," said Paul, who was promoted from associate head coach to co-head coach in 2013 and then took over sole head coaching duties prior to the 2015 season.
"We talked to Randy, and he still had tremendous things to say about the Waco and Baylor community. Being so close to Dallas, Austin and Houston, just hotbeds for girls' soccer, we just felt like, 'Why can't you have success there?' To come in and be able to turn things around and quote-unquote right the ship has been a lot of fun."
In an historic 2012 season, the Bears knocked off TCU, 4-1, to win the program's first Big 12 tournament title. Ranked a then-high No. 11 in the final NSCAA poll, they also made their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie.
"You hate when a game comes down to penalty kicks, but we hit two posts in regulation and it just didn't go our way," Marci Jobson said after the game. "We played 25 games this season (19-1-5), and I have absolutely no regrets about any of them. I can look back as a coach and say we fought the good fight in every single game we played."
Even though Baylor advanced to four-straight Big 12 tournament semifinals and recorded back-to-back top-three finishes in conference play, the Bears didn't make it back to the NCAA tournament again until 2017.
"After 2012, our goal was, 'OK, we got to the Sweet 16, can we create some consistency?''' Paul said. "While that was a special year, we took a little bit of a step backwards. I think to move forward, sometimes you have to fall back a little bit to get some perspective."
The magical run in 2017 began with a golden goal by James in the first overtime period to knock off 14th-ranked Texas, 2-1, in a Big 12 Championship quarterfinal. They followed that up with a 3-0 shutout of top-seeded and 16th-ranked Oklahoma State, then beat TCU, 2-1, in OT to claim their second tournament title.
That set the stage for an even more unbelievable NCAA tournament run that included a penalty-kicks shootout win over defending national champion USC and Precious Akanyirige's golden goal to beat perennial power Notre Dame, 3-2. Five days later, the improbable run ended with a 4-0 loss to Duke in the program's first Elite Eight.
"We talked about it at the very beginning of all this. We just said, 'Hey, if you're not in this to win a national championship, we shouldn't be playing,"' Paul said after the OT win over Notre Dame.
As big a surprise as it was in 2017, the expectations were there in 2018. Baylor certainly lived up to the hype, winning a school-record 20 games (20-6-0), beating West Virginia on the road with Camryn Wendlandt's golden goal, going a perfect 13-0 at home and capturing the first Big 12 regular-season title in 20 years.
The Bears won three NCAA tournament games at home before ending the season with a 3-0 loss to fourth-ranked Georgetown on the road, one win shy of the Women's Soccer Cup.
"Nothing happens overnight," Paul said. "It was kind of a perfect storm of recruiting through that time period and kids really believing in our vision and our mission and our values. Those kids really buying into it culminated in two really special years back-to-back. But again, we look at those and go, 'OK, but can we get consistent? Can we develop that consistency where we are a contender every single year?'''
Much like the aftermath of the 2012 season, the Bears have taken a step back with a break-even record of 13-13-6 over the last two seasons. They ended a COVID-affected 2020-21 season with a 2-1 win over Oklahoma, getting goals from Taylor Moon and Ally Henderson.
"I firmly believe the gap from 2012 to 2017 is going to be a lot smaller gap this time," Paul said. "We are a lot better on paper coming back right now. Even during COVID, we're way better than we were in 2013, 2014, in comparison to the team that had success prior."
A big part of the success in 2017-18, Julie James Doyle was the program's first-ever first-team All-American in 2018. She was taken in the second round of the NWSL Draft by Sky Blue FC in January 2019 and was named to the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team later that year for a tournament in England.
"She was a program-changer," Paul said of James Doyle. "She was one of those kids that saw the success we had in 2012 and basically changed her decision. Instead of going to Kentucky, she decided to come Baylor because of the success she had seen us have and how she knew us through the grapevine.
"That's a kid that we knew if we could lock her in, it was going to be a game-changer. And she was. You get a kid like that, and then you're building on it. Then, you get an Aline De Lima and some other players that just continue to build your program. And she's going to make everyone else around her better. All the other players on that team would not have been as good if they weren't led by a player like Julie James."
As much success as the Bears have had on the field, Paul says the thing that "gets me stoked" is seeing his former players succeed off the field in their chosen professions in medicine, law, teaching and business.
"The things that they're doing in their communities now are just amazing," he said. "The thing that I'm most proud of as a coach is seeing who these young women have become as parents, as wives, as professionals. That, to me, is a way bigger deal. We talk about preparing champions for life. When you've been here as long as we have, and you actually have people out there living life, it's fun to see that taking shape."
Baylor Bear Insider
Looking back on the first 25 years of Baylor Soccer, Paul Jobson sees a program that was started during a boom period for the sport and was able to have some early success with limited resources.
"To see the growth of NCAA from that time till now, and the resources that we have and the things at our disposal," said Jobson, beginning his 14th year with the team and ninth as head coach, "it's really kind of a cool 25-year window to look into."
Through the summer, Baylor Athletics will highlight some of the program's biggest moments in the last 25 years, including four Big 12 championships, back-to-back Elite Eight appearances (2017-18), a trio of Hall of Famers, facility upgrades and midfielder Julie James becoming the program's first All-America first-team selection and first player taken in the NWSL Draft.
Building the program from scratch, Randy Waldrum led the Bears to the school's first Big 12 championship in any sport in 1998, earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. Leaving after just three seasons, Waldrum won two national championships at Notre Dame and is now in his fourth year at Pitt.
"Randy Waldrum was the perfect person to start the Baylor soccer program," Jobson said. "Some people say, 'Would Baylor have been in a different position if Randy hadn't left?' That's really hard to say. Maybe Randy had done all he could do at Baylor and took an opportunity at Notre Dame. It's hard to say that Randy made a bad move for himself, so it's hard to say that it was a bad move for Baylor."
In a combined nine seasons under Nick Cowell and George Van Linder, Baylor missed the Big 12 tournament six times and made only one other NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999.
Paul's wife, former U.S. Women's National Team player Marci Jobson, was named the head coach on Dec. 6, 2007, after a three-year run at Northern Illinois.
"For us, we saw it as an awesome opportunity to step in," said Paul, who was promoted from associate head coach to co-head coach in 2013 and then took over sole head coaching duties prior to the 2015 season.
"We talked to Randy, and he still had tremendous things to say about the Waco and Baylor community. Being so close to Dallas, Austin and Houston, just hotbeds for girls' soccer, we just felt like, 'Why can't you have success there?' To come in and be able to turn things around and quote-unquote right the ship has been a lot of fun."
In an historic 2012 season, the Bears knocked off TCU, 4-1, to win the program's first Big 12 tournament title. Ranked a then-high No. 11 in the final NSCAA poll, they also made their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie.
"You hate when a game comes down to penalty kicks, but we hit two posts in regulation and it just didn't go our way," Marci Jobson said after the game. "We played 25 games this season (19-1-5), and I have absolutely no regrets about any of them. I can look back as a coach and say we fought the good fight in every single game we played."
Even though Baylor advanced to four-straight Big 12 tournament semifinals and recorded back-to-back top-three finishes in conference play, the Bears didn't make it back to the NCAA tournament again until 2017.
"After 2012, our goal was, 'OK, we got to the Sweet 16, can we create some consistency?''' Paul said. "While that was a special year, we took a little bit of a step backwards. I think to move forward, sometimes you have to fall back a little bit to get some perspective."
The magical run in 2017 began with a golden goal by James in the first overtime period to knock off 14th-ranked Texas, 2-1, in a Big 12 Championship quarterfinal. They followed that up with a 3-0 shutout of top-seeded and 16th-ranked Oklahoma State, then beat TCU, 2-1, in OT to claim their second tournament title.
That set the stage for an even more unbelievable NCAA tournament run that included a penalty-kicks shootout win over defending national champion USC and Precious Akanyirige's golden goal to beat perennial power Notre Dame, 3-2. Five days later, the improbable run ended with a 4-0 loss to Duke in the program's first Elite Eight.
"We talked about it at the very beginning of all this. We just said, 'Hey, if you're not in this to win a national championship, we shouldn't be playing,"' Paul said after the OT win over Notre Dame.
As big a surprise as it was in 2017, the expectations were there in 2018. Baylor certainly lived up to the hype, winning a school-record 20 games (20-6-0), beating West Virginia on the road with Camryn Wendlandt's golden goal, going a perfect 13-0 at home and capturing the first Big 12 regular-season title in 20 years.
The Bears won three NCAA tournament games at home before ending the season with a 3-0 loss to fourth-ranked Georgetown on the road, one win shy of the Women's Soccer Cup.
"Nothing happens overnight," Paul said. "It was kind of a perfect storm of recruiting through that time period and kids really believing in our vision and our mission and our values. Those kids really buying into it culminated in two really special years back-to-back. But again, we look at those and go, 'OK, but can we get consistent? Can we develop that consistency where we are a contender every single year?'''
Much like the aftermath of the 2012 season, the Bears have taken a step back with a break-even record of 13-13-6 over the last two seasons. They ended a COVID-affected 2020-21 season with a 2-1 win over Oklahoma, getting goals from Taylor Moon and Ally Henderson.
"I firmly believe the gap from 2012 to 2017 is going to be a lot smaller gap this time," Paul said. "We are a lot better on paper coming back right now. Even during COVID, we're way better than we were in 2013, 2014, in comparison to the team that had success prior."
A big part of the success in 2017-18, Julie James Doyle was the program's first-ever first-team All-American in 2018. She was taken in the second round of the NWSL Draft by Sky Blue FC in January 2019 and was named to the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team later that year for a tournament in England.
"She was a program-changer," Paul said of James Doyle. "She was one of those kids that saw the success we had in 2012 and basically changed her decision. Instead of going to Kentucky, she decided to come Baylor because of the success she had seen us have and how she knew us through the grapevine.
"That's a kid that we knew if we could lock her in, it was going to be a game-changer. And she was. You get a kid like that, and then you're building on it. Then, you get an Aline De Lima and some other players that just continue to build your program. And she's going to make everyone else around her better. All the other players on that team would not have been as good if they weren't led by a player like Julie James."
As much success as the Bears have had on the field, Paul says the thing that "gets me stoked" is seeing his former players succeed off the field in their chosen professions in medicine, law, teaching and business.
"The things that they're doing in their communities now are just amazing," he said. "The thing that I'm most proud of as a coach is seeing who these young women have become as parents, as wives, as professionals. That, to me, is a way bigger deal. We talk about preparing champions for life. When you've been here as long as we have, and you actually have people out there living life, it's fun to see that taking shape."
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