RIVALRY EDITION

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN x OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

GET HYPE BY 
SNAGGING A COPY OF 
THE RIVALRY EDITION
BEGINNING 11.26.19

8 — Friday, November 22, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Hallahan’s winding road to Michigan stardom

Watching 
Jack 
Hallahan 
roam the soccer pitch is, simply 
put, mesmerizing. 
He dances through opposing 
defenses, weaving in and out of 
crevices not usually traversed. 
His feet control the ball so 
smoothly the defense might 
as well be on ice, gliding left 
with one foot then dragging 
back across with the other. 
Give him an inch of separation 
and he’ll rifle in crosses that 
find teammates with magnetic 
precision.
When it’s all said and done, 
Hallahan will go down in 
history as one of the best to 
ever wear the Michigan soccer 
uniform. How did he get to this 
point? To best understand his 
brilliance, one ought to retrace 
the steps of his winding soccer 
journey. 
It’s a story that all starts 
with a five-year-old blonde boy 
across the pond. 
***
Redditch, England, is crazed 
for soccer — it’s no different 
than any other English town in 
that sense. Most of its 110,000 
residents live and breathe the 
sport they call “football.” By the 
time he turned five, Hallahan 
was one of them. 
“It’s not like in America 
where you have a choice to 
play ice hockey, basketball or 
American football,” Hallahan 
said. “It’s more just like that’s 
where you go to meet people, 
to make friends. It’s the main 
sport, so it’s a social thing.”
Hallahan’s entry into soccer 
may 
have 
been 
for 
social 
purposes, but the game soon 
grew 
to 
encompass 
much 
more. Like any other child, 
Hallahan fantasized over his 
boyhood idols, reading books on 
Liverpool star Steven Gerrard 
off the pitch and attempting to 
emulate Gerrard’s play at center 
midfield on it. 
Not 
every 
soccer-playing 
English schoolboy, though, is 
scouted by Aston Villa at the age 
of eight. 
“That was just the first 
indication that I was pretty 
good,” Hallahan said. “That I 
could really compete.”
While 
an 
opportunity 
at 
Aston Villa never materialized, 
it didn’t take long for other 
clubs to catch on to Hallahan’s 
talent. West Bromwich Albion 
discovered Hallahan a few years 
later and, freshly into double-
digits, 
11-year-old 
Hallahan 
aced his tryout, signing with the 
academy team. 
In his first game against 
Cardiff City, Hallahan scored a 
goal. For the first time, he felt 
established as a soccer player. 
Hallahan would play in West 
Brom’s 
youth 
academy 
for 
seven years, receiving his first 
taste of a professional soccer 
environment. 
“It was massive,” Hallahan 
said. 
“You’re 
around 
really 
talented players. There’s a lot 
of competition going on, so that 
really brought out the best in 

you. It was both challenging 
and fun at the same time.”
The stint at West Brom 
gave 
Hallahan’s 
raw 
talent 
a 
formidable 
avenue 
for 
development. 
What 
came 
calling next, though, really 
proved that he had the potential 
to be special. 
***
Hallahan’s mother, Michelle, 
is English. His father, Will, is 
Irish. 
When 
it 
came 
to 
the 
possibility of representing a 
national team, only one country 
beckoned. 
“I never got a call from 
England, 
but 
I 
just 
kept 
playing,” Hallahan said. “But 
then Ireland called me up and 
I was like, ‘Wow, it’s a great 
opportunity. I have to go for it.’ 
”
Despite 
being 
raised 
in 
England, Hallahan had always 
been proud of his Irish heritage. 
Playing for the U-18 and U-19 
national teams allowed him to, 
for the first time, fully embrace 
it. 
“Me playing for Ireland, it 
really brought together two 
sides of the family,” Hallahan 
said. “I have a lot of family out 
there, and it was brilliant to be 
able to represent them.”
In 2014, Hallahan debuted 
for the U-18 team, playing two 
friendlies against the Czech 
Republic and scoring a goal in 
the second one. As a member 
of the U-19 squad, he notched 
two goals in two games against 
Azerbaijan and also appeared in 
other international friendlies 
against Sweden and Mexico. 
In 
the 
UEFA 
Euro 
U-19 
qualifiers, Hallahan’s play was 
instrumental in the team’s run 
into the knockout rounds. 
International 
experience 
provided Hallahan a global 
perspective 
on 
the 
sport, 
broadening his horizons beyond 
the English playing field. 
“Ireland, they’re grinders,” 
Hallahan 
said. 
“There’s 
probably 
less 
talent 
than 
England’s national team, but 
there’s 
some 
real 
grinding 
lads who put in a lot of hard 
work. It certainly brought out a 
different side of my game, more 
of a team effort than a bunch of 
individuals.”
***
Michigan 
associate 
coach 
Tommy McMenemy first caught 
wind of Jack Hallahan thanks to 
a tip from a connection he had in 
England. The colleague reached 
out to McMenemy to tell him 
about a talented soccer player 
who was seeking a different 
opportunity, someone eager for 
a fresh start after years in the 
grueling English soccer system. 
McMenemy, 
serving 
as 
Michigan’s 
recruiting 
coordinator 
at 
the 
time, 
proceeded as he normally did 
when tipped off on a recruit — 
he watched game film and did 
some research on Hallahan’s 
make-up 
and 
academic 
intentions. 
Immediately, he was sold. 
He 
booked 
a 
flight 
to 
England to watch Hallahan 

play in person. He still recalls 
the potential he saw. The 
game just came naturally to 
Hallahan. Yet what impressed 
McMenemy more than his skill 
was his play style — his grit, his 
determination, his drive. 
“College soccer sometimes 
isn’t very friendly to talented 
players 
who 
want 
to 
be 
comfortable,” McMenemy said. 
“But when I watched Jack play, 
he had a very competitive edge 
underneath the skull that I 
thought would hold him well in 
the college game.”
McMenemy, 
of 
course, 
speaks from experience. Fifteen 
years earlier, he had been in 
Hallahan’s 
shoes 
himself, 
daring to test the collegiate 
soccer waters at Columbia while 
leaving 
behind 
his 
English 
career and his hometown of 
Southampton. 
McMenemy 
recognized 
that 
Hallahan 
possessed the persona and work 
ethic imperative to flourish on 
the college scene.
“He just had an appreciation 
for what America could offer 
him,” McMenemy said. “He’s 
from a very hardworking family. 
When I went over to recruit 
him, actually he was working a 
shift at the local pub. So I knew 
he wasn’t afraid to put the work 
in, to have some humility about 
him.”
At 
the 
time, 
Hallahan 
was 
considering 
numerous 
big time soccer programs in 
America. Michigan’s wealth of 
opportunities beyond athletics 
made Ann Arbor the prohibitive 
favorite as a landing spot. 
“It was just a great school 
academically, and the football 
program was on the rise,” 
Hallahan said. “I had a great 
relationship 
with 
(Michigan 
coach Chaka Daley) and Tommy, 
they were very personable. It 
felt like a good place to call 
home for the next four years.”
In general, leaving a soccer 
hotbed like England to come 
play 
in 
the 
United 
States, 
where soccer is less culturally-
ingrained, might appear to be 
an odd move. But in England, 
Hallahan’s career was at a 
crossroads, 
and 
collegiate 
soccer presented itself as the 
best window to grow both as a 
player and person. 
It 
didn’t 
take 
long 
for 
Hallahan to realize that he 
made the right decision. 
“At first, I didn’t really have 
the bigger picture of what the 
soccer would be like,” Hallahan 
said. “But when I came in, I was 
pleasantly surprised by how 
good a lot of the players were, 
how accomplished a lot of 
my teammates were. It was 
a nice fit, honestly straight 
away.”
***
Though 
he 
received 
significant 
playing 
time 
as a freshman, Hallahan’s 
ascension 
into 
collegiate 
stardom 
truly 
began 
his 
sophomore season. Over his last 
three seasons, Hallahan has 
been one of the most prolific 
players in the Big Ten and the 
lynchpin of Michigan’s success.

“You’ve seen a young lad, 
you know, maybe lacking some 
confidence, turn into a young 
man that wants the ball in 
big moments and big games,” 
McMenemy said. “And that’s all 
you can ask from a young player 
in his junior, senior year.”
Hallahan is set to end his 
Michigan career as one of 
the 
most-decorated 
players 
in school history. He is the 
first Wolverine to win first-
team All-Big Ten honors in 
three consecutive seasons, and 
captured Big Ten Offensive 
Player of the Year as a junior in 
2018. With 73 career points, he 
holds the second-highest point-
total in Michigan men’s soccer 
history. 
Hallahan, 
though, 
doesn’t 
spend too much time focusing 
on his personal accolades. 
“If we’re losing or he’s not 
having a good day, you can see 
Jack kind of roll up his sleeves 
and get a look in his eye,” 
McMenemy said. “He wants to 
win, he wants to win now and he 
wants to play his best football. 
When that’s not happening, 
you can see him go through 
the gears to make it 
happen. 
He’s 
got a real 

winning 
mentality.”
It should be no surprise, then, 
that Hallahan considers his 
proudest moment at Michigan 
to be when the team won the 
Big Ten his sophomore season. 
Or that his favorite goal is not 
his flashiest, but rather one in a 
game last year against Maryland 
that helped seal the team’s 
NCAA Tournament berth. 
“I just love helping the team 
accomplish 
the 
things 
we 
deserve,” he said. 
***
Hallahan isn’t exactly sure 
what he wants to do with his life 
post-college — he only knows he 
has a steadfast desire for soccer 
to be a part of it. 
Whatever 
direction 
he 
goes in, McMenemy knows 
Hallahan will be well-prepared. 
Rebuking a common stereotype 
of a student-athlete, Hallahan 
— an economics major with a 
piqued interest in psychology 

— is well-devoted to his studies. 
“He’s just really embraced 
the academic side of Michigan,” 
McMenemy said. “It’s never 

been an issue with him. He’s 
taken advantage of all the 
opportunities 
Michigan 
has 
to offer. Just a great example 
of what we want in a student-
athlete.”
For now, though, Hallahan’s 
time as an athlete at Michigan 
is 
winding 
down 
toward 
its 
inevitable 
end. 
The 
Wolverines open play in the 
NCAA Tournament on Sunday 
against 
Wright 
State, 
each 
game possibly Hallahan’s last 
donning the maize and blue. 
When the time ultimately 
comes, Hallahan will leave his 
legacy at Michigan behind and 
move on to the next step of his 
soccer journey. Michigan, 
though, is a stop he will 
not soon forget. 
“I’ve 
loved 
it,” 
Hallahan said. “It’s 
an 
experience 
I’ll 
remember 
forever.”

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

Miles Macklin / Daily

