Spering

SHIPPENSBURG — The first thing Jeremy Spering did was nothing.

The normal inclination after being hired as the head coach of a Division II men's soccer program would be to make an immediate mark.

But Spering, a Slippery Rock University graduate, preferred to take a different approach.

He watched silently. He assessed. He got his bearings.

"I sat down and basically observed," said Spering, who was hired as the 10th men's soccer coach in Shippensburg University history March 26. "I watched the players for three days. One of the big things I wanted to do was take a step back, see how things are now, what is good and what is bad, and then make changes as necessary."

Spering takes over a team that went 7-11-2 overall and 5-9-2 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference last season. The team graduates nine seniors.

Spering, though, comes to Ship with a wealth of coaching experience.

The 2002 SRU graduate got his start at Slippery Rock High School, where he was hired while still a student at the university.

In 2002, his first season with the Rockets, the team won the Mercer County Athletic Conference title. Spering also was the boys soccer coach at Knoch for a season before leaving for a position on the staff at James Madison.

Last year, he was an assistant women's soccer coach at Gettysburg College.

But Spering credits Slippery Rock High as the place where he cut his coaching teeth.

"They gave me an opportunity," Spering said. "I look back on it and I made some mistakes, but I did some good things, too. I learned so much.

"You can't really put a price tag on your first coaching job. What you get out of it is invaluable."