soccerNM.com

“For me, I’d always wanted to play and I always thought in the back of my mind, I would coach when I was done,” he said. “Getting hurt so often, I turned to coaching sooner than I would have wanted, but I couldn’t be enjoying myself more.”

Rowland got his feet wet last season as a volunteer assistant at Harvard, renewing acquaintances with Clark and another former UNM assistant in Crimson head coach Carl Junot.

And when Clark took the head job at Creighton, Rowland headed back west as a full-fledged assistant.

“I loved the way it was run at UNM through Jeremy Fishbein and Jamie Clark and Carl Junot,” Rowland said. “I had such a wonderful experience there so coaching when I was done playing was always the progression.”

Having the transition season as a volunteer has helped Rowland because Clark and Junot did not hesitate to share the responsibilities.

“I felt like it was a relatively smooth transition,” Rowland said. “At first, you’re not willing to step in to make point, but once you gain confidence, you get more comfortable, just as when you’re playing games. The more you do it the more the comfortable you get.

Although NCAA rules did not permit him to get directly involved in the recruiting process, he helped where he could, gaining valuable experience in that area.

“I learned about the whole college process and the whole recruiting process,” Rowland said. “I couldn’t have learned more from Jamie and Carl both.”

One of the biggest hurdles was gaining the trust of the athletes.

“At first, getting the respect was important,” he said. “You have the gain the respect of the players and make them confident that you know what you’re talking about. When you go into a new setting as a coach, you have to gain the respect of the players.”

Now, of course, he also has to identify players that will help build and sustain the Creighton program.

“I’ll be very involved in the recruiting,” Rowland said. “I’m really excited about the whole college process and identifying players. Jamie’s challenged me so much. He’s expected me to get better and I wanted to get better. I think it’s a lot of fun. You get to go watch a ton of games and evaluate a ton of players and finding players that I’d like to play for me.”

And the regionals was a chance to see some old teammates like Brandon Moss, now a volunteer assistant at UNM, and Michael Graczyk, who’s filled the Lobos void at Harvard.

“UNM is spreading like wildfire,” Rowland said with a chuckle.

Having Rowland on staff was coup that Clark appreciates.

“I feel very fortunate to bring Jeff along with me,” Clark said. “He was the reason for our attacking success at Harvard last year, working with National Player of the Year runner-up Andre Akpan. We will look to have that same attacking success with him working with our forward and wide players here.”

That’s the role where Rowland feels like he can have the most success.

“First and foremost, Jamie likes me working with the strikers, naturally, since I played there,” he said. “I fall in best working with the offense.”

Still, he feels comfortable explaining how to play when the ball is on the other side of the field.

“I feel I can coach both offense and defense after playing under such great coaches,” Rowland said. “I probably can’t do the defdensive stuff myself, but I can teach it.”

As for his ill-fated attempts to play in Major League Soccer, well, it was a dream unrealized but at least he gave it every attempt possible.

“I felt like I’d get fit and I’d get hurt,” Rowland said of a series of knee injuries that ruined his chances. “It was one of those unfortunate things that happens to certain players. That’s why that experience has been good for me for coaching college players. ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.’ The reality is, it’s not always going to be there. I’m glad I had an education to fall back on.”

There is, however, just the smallest bit of regret.

“That’s one of the biggest things in my career,” Rowland recalled. “I always wanted to step on the field and I never got a chance to. I wanted to see what would happen if I just got the chance to play.”