MOBILE, Ala. – After winning their third-straight Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship, Richard Moodie and the South Alabama Jaguars get ready for the 2022 season, where they look to achieve a "fourpeat". 

The Jags won the tournament championship last fall and had five players named to the All-Tournament Team - Gracie Wilson (MVP), Jaidy Gutierrez Campos, Kate Nicolson, Monique Gray and Claudia Gutierrez.  

South also came out of the 2021 season with three conference awards, with Wilson named Sun Belt Player of the Year and Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year and Ole Miss transfer Sydney Ham named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year. Four players were named to the all-conference team in 2021, three to the first team and one to the second team. 

USA returns eight from the starting 11 including SBC Player of the Year Gracie Wilson, SBC Newcomer of the Year Sydney Ham and fifth-year senior Morgan Cross.  The team returns 14 total players. 

South welcomes 11 newcomers into its squad this fall, many of who are from other countries including Panama, Mexico, Sweden and Venezuela. Transfers from Furman, Memphis and Ole Miss will also join the Jags this season. 

Head coach Richard Moodie spoke with Strategic Communications about what he looks forward to this season.


What are your thoughts on the signing class?
We went through the spring season and we were really, really good and then to add the players that we've added to the squad that we already have in place, we got better there's no doubt about it. The big question is can we recreate the culture that we've had in the locker room? I feel confident that the group that we've got, the returners, are going to make sure that the new players adjust and adapt to what we're trying to do. The signing class as a whole is a well thought out signing class. We've added a couple of major transfers that will have a huge impact, some internationals, and some true freshmen that I think will have a big impact on us. But again, I always like to talk about the players who already have to because we've returned some of the best players in the conference.

What will be the biggest adjustments this season?  
For us, it's the same issue that everyone's gonna have. It's just trying to figure out who your starting 11 is. But the hardest thing that every team will have to adjust to is the new reform of the Sun Belt and now the demands of the travel. We've got four flights now in a season where ordinarily we would have one. So, the travel will be demanding and the games have changed from Friday and Sunday to Thursday and Sunday. Another big change, not just for us, but for everybody is now the NCAA has eliminated the golden goal rules, so there could be a lot more ties. If we're playing against a team, they've got 90 minutes usually and then we play two 10-minute periods where the next team that scores wins and a lot of games have been won that way. But now we don't have that, so that will make it interesting. I think it puts a lot of pressure on coaches to get it right tactically and make adjustments inside the 90 minutes. The Sunbelt alone would have a different winner had that rule been in place last year.

What are your goals for the team this season?
We never talk about goals honestly. Our job is a program, and as players and as coaches is to leave the program better than when we got there. For us, we're trying to break records. We're trying to take a team further in the national championship than we ever have been. And I think that is the end goal for us, all the other things have to fall in place for us to get there. We talk about leagues and tournaments but we never really set that as a goal at the start. Our objective is to play good soccer and by conference play, we need to be fully fit, truly ready and firing on all cylinders, and then we can see where we're at. There's a couple of huge games in there, traveling to Texas A&M and such, where there's some amazing opportunities for us to play against some of the top teams in the country. Those are merely opportunities for us to see where we're at. After we get through the non-conference segment, then we can start talking about goals for the season, but only then. There's always pressure on this team to perform because they've won a trophy almost every year but we don't like to put the pressure on the team. They just need to come in, worry about gelling together, playing good soccer, and if we make that the focus then the rest will take care of itself later.

What are you most excited for this season?   
The team that we had in the spring was phenomenal and I'm just excited for them to get back on the field together and hopefully pick up where we left off because we had an exceptional spring. And then we've got some amazing signees and some amazing incoming players. Excited just to get back on the field with this group. They're an enjoyable group to coach and an enjoyable group to be around, but the biggest thing that excites me is they're just so competitive. We're here talking about goals for the team but I can guarantee you that they've got some big ideas themselves for what it is they want to achieve as a group and as individuals, so that's what makes us so good. We've got so many good pieces to the puzzle, they're all firing on all cylinders and I'm just excited to get back out on the field August 2 and get to work.


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