AWSM x SBC with Erica Dambach

Written by Alexis Lubart

Listening to the inspiring story of Erica Dambach, Penn State women’s soccer head coach was such an amazing meeting for AWSM who joined the Sports Business Club. Dambach never pictured playing soccer at the professional level but halfway through medical school she was asked to be an assistant coach for Dartmouth. You can truly feel her passion for coaching, and starting at such a young age gave her even more experience into this career path. Adjusting from being a player to a head coach of a Division I school was gradual, but she ended up putting coaching on a pause and spent two years getting her MBA. She was Head Coach at Dartmouth, Harvard and now Penn State. 

Starting in 2007 the dynamic was certainly more of a family but it has evolved to a more corporate level over the years as the sports landscape constantly evolves. With millions of dollars and teams coming in through the Big Ten network getting wins hold more weight. Soccer is the fastest growing game in the world and with many players all over the world, recruiting happens through travel. Dambach said that she typically looks at club teams rather than high school programs to find the best players to come to Penn State. They often fly out to watch them play and they are allowed to recruit on June 15th, but are not allowed to talk to them until then.

NIL impacts all sports differently, but specifically with soccer it is important to educate families rather than let them listen to the media. Dambach said that she has shifted into more of a GM type of role rather than a traditional coach. For example, She is now in charge of going to donor events which was not a part of her role a few years ago. The transfer portal is so big and this is the opposite we want from a sport according to Dambach. You can now go into the portal just to make money and more money than you got going into college. She believes that at some point it will balance out but it will never go away. 

Dambach believes that there are currently not enough matches of college soccer because the season lasts about three months. Having a game every three days is a struggle for the team because there needs to be a cool down for the body but they need to get geared up again. Sometimes with freshmen sitting the bench can negatively affect their perspective on the game and can influence a decision to enter the transfer portal. Recruiting the roster every year definitely takes a lot of time and competition to get the players opposed to other schools. 

Penn State’s program has evolved since Dambach started nearly 20 years ago. The men’s and women’s soccer team will finally have its own facility right next to where they play at Jeffrey Field. Currently, their offices are housed in Rec Hall and they practice on fields behind Jeffrey Field and in Holuba Hall during the offseason. The Jeffrey Field Renovations will improve the facility and there will be a bubble for those cold weather months. This will be a life changing experience for everyone involved and will help with how the program functions.

Growing leaders, better motivators, and creating empowering students is the style of coaching Dambach and her team rely on. They had an Identity Week which includes Attitude of a Champion, Blue Collar, and United Family and training them to be “living, breathing examples of these qualities.” Dambach said that her goal is to give control of the team to the players with the three captains primarily taking over. Dambach said they need to be determined and this will help empower them for the real world. 

In 2015, Penn State won the National Championship and Dambach said that was a great example of how important strong leadership is. Rocky Rodriguez, a fan favorite of Dambach from Costa Rica was the National Player of the Year, she scored the winning goal at the National Championship, and maintained a 4.0 in college. Dambach said learning to advocate for yourself is one of the best skills you can gain in life. Communication as a team is one of the most important factors and they do not tolerate miscommunication. Coaches demand these athletes to be the best versions of themselves. 

Dambach is also a mother of two daughters and she said she has really learned to blend her coaching and parenting lives. She’s found value from having her daughters spend time around the team and being able to look up to them. Instilling skills in your daughters is so different from instilling these skills in your athletes. Being intentional when spending time with her children was always important and learning balance through being a Division 1 Coach was certainly a struggle but her children are her world. 

Dambach’s message of advice was that gaining the best experience comes from shadowing people, working check to check to gain that experience, and going out of your comfort zone is what gets you even further in life. 

Thank you to the Sports Business Club for inviting AWSM to your meeting, we learned so much!