That was an endorsement. Trask got to the NCAA tournament three times at UIC. That included trips to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 with the Flames, who finished No. 10 nationally in 2007.
“If you go back further in my career, it looks like the pro teams I had,” said Trask, who coached five years as an assistant with three Major League Soccer clubs (Dallas, D.C. United, Miami).
“And if you go back to the late ’90s when I was involved at Indiana, it looks a lot like those teams that won national championships,” Trask said. “It’s about the rhythm and the pieces.”
The Badgers obviously aren’t where they need to be yet.
“We have to work harder,” Trask said, “we’ve got to be tougher and we have to be razor sharp on details because we still don’t have the breath of talent of Indiana, Michigan or Michigan State.”
Trask likes to remind skeptics that only two Big Ten schools have won national championships in soccer. Indiana has won the crown seven times. Wisconsin has won it once.
That being said, Trask — for the record — is not delusional. He’s well aware of the fact that the Badgers have not made the NCAA tournament since winning the title in 1995.
Trask just needs to find more pieces for the puzzle. “You get a stud coming into the door as a freshman,” he said. “He’s probably going to be a stud four years later.”
That’s his job — to get the talent — and he’s working on it; as fast as the process will allow.
