Willms Steps Down From Men's Soccer Coaching Position After 10 Seasons
After a decade in charge of the Men's Soccer program at CMU, Russell Willms has announced that he will be stepping down from the position to focus more specifically on his role as Athletics Director.
Willms led the Blazers to MCAC Conference Championship Finals in 2008, 2009 and 2015. Men's Soccer topped all teams in the 2015 regular season, when they finished with a record of 7-1-2. On the futsal court, Willms had his greatest coaching success when he lead CMU to a Copa de la Paz Championship in 2015.
"It is certainly difficult to step away from something that has been such a big part of my life for the past ten years, but I think it is the right time for both me and the program," said Willms, "during my time as the head coach here, I have been fortunate to work with some incredible people both players and support coaches that have helped me with the CMU program."
During his tenure, Willms has witnessed the arrival of new MCAC varsity soccer programs at Assiniboine Community College, Brandon University and Red River College and the coming and going of the men's program at the University of Winnipeg in both the MCAC and USports. "The MCAC has really changed and established itself in the soccer community during my ten years. It has developed into a very competitive and elite conference that is able to now apply to compete in Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association, and I think we are very close to acheiving that goal. The conference continues to add top premier youth players, premier division senior men's players and talented internationals at an increasing rate every season. I can only see the years ahead getting even brighter."
Perhaps Willms' greatest acheivement was sharing his vision for Futsal with Manitoba and the MCAC with the berth the Copa de la Paz Futsal Championship. With humble beginnings as a four-team weekend tournament sport in 2012, the MCAC unanimously voted it into a full-league sport in 2016. It is now the only post-secondary conference in Canada to offer futsal as as league sport and is also the only MSA-sanctioned futsal league in Manitoba.
For more information on the vacant Men's Soccer Head Coaching position, follow this link to Job Opportunities at CMU:
https://www.cmu.ca/employment/82
The application deadline is July 6 or until position is filled.
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