Himes eyes area soccer players as Adrian coach

ADRIAN, Mich. -- Wanted: Some good high school soccer players from the Youngstown area with good grades who would like to play collegiate soccer on the NCAA Division III level for Adrian College in Michigan.
That's the recruitment message coming from Evan Himes, a native of Vienna and a former Mathews High soccer player who recently was named Adrian's first full-time men's soccer coach.
Himes, who graduated from Mathews in 1999 and Hiram College in 2003, came to Adrian in December from Washington and Jefferson College, where he was an assistant women's soccer coach for the past two seasons.
"I have been visiting high schools in Michigan lately. That's my primary area. But I am looking to do more recruiting in Ohio and Youngstown," said Himes, who believes Youngstown-area players are being overlooked.
Will seek area players
"A lot of the colleges will [recruit in] the Cleveland and Columbus areas because larger cities have more schools that have done well on a statewide basis, but being from the [Youngstown][ area and having played against a lot of area players, I know that they definitely get overlooked."
Himes said Adrian, a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also hired its first full-time women's soccer coach, and that all previous soccer coaches worked on a part-time basis.
Because of that, they tended to confine their recruiting to primarily Michigan, he said, but now he would like to expand into Ohio and Indiana.
"I am looking for the best quality guys I can get," said Himes, who served as an admissions counselor at Hiram for one year before shifting to W & amp;J. "There are a lot of players who may not be good enough for Division I but who would rather go to a smaller school.
"They will be able to get some scholarship money if they have good grades. I like to have students that have high GPAs. They ideally are the ones I am going after, but I will go after anyone who can qualify."
Eyes close ties to coaches
Himes would like to develop close ties with high school coaches.
"I find that coaches are as much a key as anyone in recruiting players and helping athletes search for colleges," said Himes. "I am looking to establish relationships with coaches. It makes my job a lot easier.
"I sent out 871 letters to high school coaches in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, and inquired if they had any juniors or seniors interested in college and want to play on the next level," said Himes.
He wants to have a substantial number of players on the roster.
"We have 14-15 guys coming back so I am looking at 10 recruits in this recruiting class, and to have 25 or 30 on the roster," said Himes, who has coached both boys and girls high school soccer but not men's college soccer until now.
Coached at Niles, Mathews
He helped his former Mathews coach, Dan Reigle, to coach the Niles girls soccer team. And he helped Al Conti coach the Mathews team that was a mix of both boys and girls.
But Himes said coaching women was great preparation for coaching men.
"Coaching women actually has made me a better coach," said Himes. "There is a lot of difference coaching girls and boys. You have to relate more with the girls and be understanding and sympathetic and explain things more to them. You can't yell at them. You have to talk to them."
While at Mathews, Himes won four soccer letters and two baseball letters.
At Hiram, he played soccer his first three years and became the No. 3-ranked goalie on the Terriers' all-time saves list.
He played baseball at Hiram his senior year as a starting outfielder.
Himes encourages high school coaches and players interested in attending Adrian and playing soccer there to contact him at (517) 264-3990 or ehimes@adrian.edu.
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