11

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”

