Thank You Steve & Michele

The end of May will end two wonderful coaching era’s at UNC Asheville.

Steve and Michele Cornish have been the face of UNC Asheville soccer for the past 16 years. Steve was named as the Bulldogs head men’s coach in 1992, while Michele was named head women’s coach in 1994.

The duo have led Bulldog Athletics to some great moments during their careers. Steve inherited a tough situation in 1992 as the Bulldog program had been without a coach for almost six months. No recruiting being done. No spring practice. No spring season. Players left and transferred from a solid club in 1991.

Somehow Steve got the Bulldogs to win four matches that year and had them competitive in a bunch more. He led Asheville to some memorable victories. Who can forget the 2-1 upset of defending Big South champ Coastal Carolina in 1995 at Greenwood Field. There was a 2-1 victory over Evansville at home in 2001. And in 2007 with the Bulldogs in the midst of a seven-match losing streak, Asheville picked up its first ever win over an ACC foe when the Bulldogs shocked Clemson 2-1 in overtime. Patrick Tate’s goal midway through the second overtime period on a rainy day made us all forget how rainy and wet we were that day.

It didn’t take long for Michele to make an impact on Bulldog Athletics. In 1995, she guided the Bulldogs to a memorable Big South Conference championship. UNC Asheville was on fire from the start of the year and earned a trip to the its first ever Big South Conference championship game where the Bulldogs stunned nationally-ranked UNC Greensboro, 1-0 on the Lady Spartans home field. Fifteen years later I can still see Ashley Hart tapping in McKenzie’s Miller shot for the only goal of the match early in the second half. The Bulldogs won 16 matches that year, still a school record.

The next year Asheville went to another Big South title game against Greensboro and took the nationally-ranked Spartans to PK’s where the Bulldogs fell. That year had great moments, including a memorable 2-0 victory over Wake Forest at home. The Deacons were nationally-ranked and would win two games in the NCAA Tournament later that year but were denied by Cornish’s club that day.

Michele had good teams over the years but had some back luck in Big South finals. Two regular-season championship clubs fell in the tourney and in 2003 the cruelest loss of all came when the Bulldogs fell in PK’s to High Point, 3-2. Asheville led 2-0 in PK’s but couldn’t hold on for easily the toughest loss in school history.

In 2006, Michele’s team broke through and became the first women’s team at UNC Asheville to go to the NCAA Tournament. The freshmen who had suffered through that bitter loss in 2003 to High Point led the Bulldogs to an amazing tournament title. Asheville knocked off three teams that it had not beaten in the regular season and downed Liberty in PK’s 4-2. The Bulldogs got a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament and play eventual national champion UNC Chapel Hill.

Steve and Michele did a great job running their programs and did it a class way. They put Asheville soccer on the map in the area and their players did things the right way. Mike Roach, a men’s soccer player in the early part of the last decade, was a first-team Academic All-American who had a perfect 4.0 GPA, while majoring in chemistry. Michele’s teams always did well in the classroom with several of her players earning spots on the All-Region All-Academic team.

Steve and Michele leave us for a great opportunity at Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep School in Minnesota. That’s where Steve was at before he came to UNC Asheville in the spring of 1992. It shows how much a school thinks of Steve that 18 years later they still wanted him back.

An era of Bulldog soccer ends later this month but Steve and Michele will never be forgotten.

Josh Pittman Going Into Big South Hall of Fame

UNC Asheville received some great news last week when we found out that former men’s basketball player Josh Pittman was being inducted into the Big South Hall of Fame in June.

Josh enjoyed a great career for the Bulldogs from 1994-98. He helped lead UNC Asheville to its first ever Big South Conference regular-season championships in 1997 and 1998. Josh was the Big South Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998.

I have a lot of great memories from Josh’s career. I remember some of his great dunks, including one over 1997 Final Four MVP Miles Simon at Arizona his senior year. There was another at New Mexico State when the Bulldogs stunned the Aggies in his junior season.

I also remember what a class act he was on and off the court. He never got too high or too low and just went about his business. Whenever he was interviewed, Josh was always quick to praise his teammates for any accomplishments. When we inducted Josh into the UNC Asheville Hall of Fame he hadn’t changed a bit.

Josh Pittman will become the first male from UNC Asheville to be in the Big South Hall of Fame. No one is more deserving.