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Thursday, June 22, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
PHOTO CREDIT/GATORADE
Soccer recruit Umar Farouk Osman, pictured with New York City FC’s Jack Harrison, was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Michigan soccer recruit named
Gatorade Player of the Year
Incoming
Michigan
soccer
recruit Umar Farouk Osman
earned the Gatorade National
Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year
award last week. The 5-foot-
9 midfielder scored 19 goals
and added six assists for his
Hotchkiss, Conn. squad.
Osman will be the second
member
of
the
Wolverines
from Hotchkiss as well as the
second player from Ghana, along
with junior midfielder Francis
Atuahene. The two played with
each other in high school, and
Osman is looking forward to
joining his fellow Ghanaian once
again.
“I knew him way back before
we came to the
United
States,”
Osman said. “At
Hotchkiss we had
a great bond. I
always looked up
to him and I’d go
to him for advice.
He’d tell what to
do and what not
to do.
“I can’t wait
to play with him.
He’s a very dangerous player
with a lot of pace, so I can’t
wait to play with him, connect
passes with him and run with
him.”
Last
season,
Osman
was
named the 2016
Connecticut
Soccer
Coaches
Association’s
Player
of
the
Year.
During
the
campaign,
Osman
had
a
direct
hand
in
28 of Hotchkiss’
30
goals.
For
his
career
at
Hotchkiss,
he
accumulated 63 goals and 45
assists in total.
Osman aims to attend the
Stephen M. Ross School of
Business at Michigan because
he believes it is one of the best in
the world.
Away
from
the
classroom
and on the pitch
at
U-M
Soccer
Stadium, Osman
is
excited
by
Michigan
coach
Chaka
Daley’s
style of play. He’s
also encouraged
by
the
kind
and
welcoming
atmosphere Daley has fostered
in Ann Arbor.
“I like the system he plays
with,” Osman said. “He doesn’t
just want to attack, attack and
attack. He likes to keep the ball,
play good soccer
and I really like
that a lot.”
Within
that
locker
room
though,
is
something
else
that
epitomizes
what
attracts
Osman
to
Michigan
—
a
sign
that
led
him
to
commit
to the Wolverines. It’s a sign
that combines his passion for
teamwork and friendliness.
“There’s a writing that says
‘the team, the team, the team’,
and it really speaks a lot to
me,”
Osman
said.
“Because
everything is about the team.
It’s not just about the individual.
It doesn’t matter how talented
you are. You have to put the
team ahead of you before you do
anything else.”
At Michigan, he’ll look to
take those lessons on the field
in order to help a team that
finished with just four wins last
season.
With Atuahene by his side
and Daley advising from afar,
Osman looks like he could be in
the right place.
AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
Osman scored
19 goals for
his Hotchkiss,
Conn. squad.
“It really speaks
a lot to me.
Everything is
about the team.”
Michigan adds Muckalt
as associate head coach
To say Bill Muckalt and Mel
Pearson have some shared history
would be an understatement.
With Pearson — now the head
coach of the Michigan hockey
team — as assistant
coach,
Muckalt
helped lead the
Wolverines
to
two
national
championships,
in 1996 and 1998,
as a player. Then,
after
a
lengthy
professional
hockey
career,
Muckalt
joined
Pearson’s staff at
Michigan Tech as an assistant
coach between 2011 and 2015.
Now, the pair will be reunited
once
again
after
Michigan
officially announced Muckalt’s
hiring as associate head coach
Tuesday.
“Billy has had great success
everywhere he has coached,”
Pearson said in a statement
Tuesday.
“Having
won
two
national
championships,
he
is familiar with the winning
tradition of Michigan hockey.
“Billy will be a
great addition to
our staff, and I’m
extremely excited
to be bringing him
back to Ann Arbor.
Our players will
really benefit from
his experience and
knowledge of the
game.”
Muckalt’s
rise
through
the coaching ranks has been
remarkable.
He
began
his
coaching career in 2006 as an
assistant with Eastern Michigan
University; in the next four
years,
he
would
hold
three
head coaching jobs — with the
Eagles, the Valencia Flyers of the
Western States Hockey League
and the New Mexico Mustangs
of the North American Hockey
League, respectively.
In
2011,
he
departed
the
Mustangs to become an assistant
once more — this time under
Pearson as he sought to rebuild
the Huskies.
Under Pearson and Muckalt’s
direction,
Michigan
Tech
reached
unforeseen
heights,
posting a nation-
best
29-win
season in 2014 —
its first 20-win
season in over 30
years — that also
included a No. 1
national ranking
and
an
NCAA
Tournament
berth.
Muckalt left the
Huskies in 2015 to
become a head coach once more —
this time for the Tri-City Storm
of the United States Hockey
League, where he was also named
general manager. In his first year,
the Storm won their first-ever
championship.
Muckalt’s hiring at Michigan
appears to round out Pearson’s
staff — one with a lot of familiar
faces and ties to the program.
Brian
Wiseman
and
Steve
Shields, both of whom are also
prominent alumni, will return
after
serving
as
assistant
coaches
under
former coach Red
Berenson.
“I am humbled
and
privileged
to
be
back
at
Michigan — it’s
a special place,”
Muckalt
said
in
a
statement
Tuesday.
“I’m
excited to work with Mel again
and looking forward to working
with Brian (Wiseman), Steve
(Shields) and the rest of the staff.
“I can’t wait to start getting
to know our student-athletes
and helping them develop and
help them reach their dreams
and goals. I look forward to
embracing the tradition and
enriching the future of Michigan
Hockey.”
HOCKEY
Muckalt was an assistant coach under
Pearson at Michigan Tech for four years
ORION SANG
Senior Sports Editor
“Our players
will really
benefit from his
experience”
“I am humbled
and privileged
to be back at
Michigan”