While Ohio soccer coach Stacy Strauss was preparing to lead her squad into Mid-American Conference play this weekend, she took time to sit down with The Post's Jess Mosser to discuss movie stars, her cable package and our neighbors to the North.
Post: After talking with some of your players, they say a lot of your drills are extremely organized. Do you have a drill you like to do just because you like to watch people do it?
Strauss: As far as drills go, I have some I do just for fun. I really enjoy speedwalk racing. It gets them laughing, gets them loose and I don't know if you've ever watched people speedwalk but it's pretty entertaining.
Post: Paul Newman graduated from Kenyon College, your alma mater. However, he attended Ohio University before that. What's your favorite Paul Newman movie or do you even have one?
Strauss: I do like Paul Newman. I guess The Color of Money and, a more recent one, Nobody's Fool. He's the only guy, I think, in his 70s who's still sexy.
Post: This summer French soccer star Zinedine Zidane head-butted a man in the sternum during the World Cup. What's the hardest contact you've ever seen live?
Strauss: Head-to-head contact always makes you wince. As far as within an Ohio team, I've seen a player get knocked out by taking a direct kick straight to the head while she was in a wall.Post: In the U.S. especially, it's hard to watch a live soccer game on television unless you're nocturnal. What's the latest you've ever stayed up to watch a match?
Strauss: Definitely the World Cup when it was in Asia. All the games were at two, three or four in the morning so there was a lot of staying up late or getting up early. Having that tournament over the summer while we were spending a lot of time recruiting made it a little bit exhausting to be up all night watching soccer and then have to be on the fields the whole next day recruiting.
Post: Students living off campus can shell out around 90 bucks a month to get the Fox Soccer Channel on digital cable. Do you have this channel?
Strauss: I have it through Time Warner. It's on their package, which is nice. They show a lot of games in Europe and they also have one college soccer game a week. That's been fun to watch. Post: In sports or otherwise, do you have any superstitions?
Strauss: Well, as a player I'd always wear the same socks and I didn't wash them, which was kind of gross. As a coach, I buy a new pair of shoes every season and wear those just for game days.
Post: A couple players in this year's incoming freshman class, defender Rachael Goulding and forward Jasmine Merith, are from Canada. Do they get teased at all? Are there any Canadian jokes going around?
Strauss: A little bit. They say washroom instead of bathroom and a number of other words differently, like cutlery instead of silverware. I've heard the girls jawing at them a little about that.
Post: Just for the record, have you ever tried gravy on french fries?
Strauss: Uh, no.
17 Archives
Jess Mosser
