With the start of the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) men's soccer season less than one month away, rest assured that Laurentian Voyageurs' head coach Tony Tagliafierro and his staff will spend copious amounts of time game planning for the matches ahead.

In the fall of 2010, his playing days with the very same program then behind him, there was no such game plan as Tagliafierro made the leap from on-field general to sideline commander, accepting an assistant coaching role at L.U.

"I jumped into it with Carlo (head coach Carlo Castrechino) right away," said the graduate of St Charles College. "I was more or less just looking to give him a hand because I knew how hard it was to manage the day to day by himself."

"You lean on the veteran players quite a bit."

And for as much as Tagliafierro had come to understand his role on the pitch inside and out, there was a very gradual transition that he encountered as he traded in his jersey for the more formal attire that those who sweat far less will don.

"It took me a couple of years to fully grasp how it worked," he said.

For nearly a decade, Tagliafierro was a mainstay at the side of the man who eventually guided the team for some twenty years or so. It would have been impossible for him not to contemplate the inevitability of a successor to Castrechino being required - eventually.

"I think it was something that was floating around from time to time," said coach Tags, as he is more affectionately referred to. "I knew at some point his tenure with the program would have an expiration date - but I always put it off to the side."

"I always felt that someone else would step in and I would either take on an assistant role with them or completely step away for a while. I never thought I would be the one to take over."

For the longest time, there was no sense of urgency to that discussion - until there was.

"In the years leading up to Covid, it became more of a discussion between us," said Tagliafierro. "It never became real until a couple of years after Covid - then we had more active discussions."

Yet for as much as he enjoyed having the chance to impart much of the knowledge he had gathered over time on the game he loved, the move from assistant to head coach was anything but a slam dunk (or an automatic goal on a penalty kick, to perhaps use a more sport appropriate vernacular).

"I had a very long discussion with my wife (Laura) - I had to make sure it worked for both of us," said Tagliafierro. "And I didn't know if I could take on the role and do it justice."

Blessed with the full support of the Laurentian Varsity Athletics Department, the long-time defender would jump aboard, officially accepting the post on January 1st 2022.

Just one season in, Tagliafierro believes he is a better coach. Ten plus years as an assistant could only teach him so much.

"The first thing I learned was that I cannot do it all," he said. "There's something to be said for leading from the front but having a solid team behind you."

"When I originally mapped this thing out in my head, it was a much smaller support team."

As his sophomore season at the helm draws nearer, Tagliafierro will likely have as many as six other coaches on staff, a group led by the likes of Brent Huffels, Cole Giffin, Connor Vande Weghe and Chris Atkinson.

"It's nice because they have all come through the program at various times - and they all bring a different perspective."

On Huffels: "He has been with me for a decade now, my right hand man. He's been fantastic. He definitely has a softer approach to coaching than I do. He's a great resource because he conveys the message in a different manner."

On Giffin: "His sport psychology is one of our biggest benefits, a huge recruiting tool for us. He sets up everything from rooming lists on the road to seating arrangements on the bus, strategically placing people together to give them a chance to get to know each other."

"I worked really hard at bringing in a great staff," suggested Tagliafierro. "We all kind of brainstorm to get our messages across, whatever that message is: whether it's strictly instructional, whether it's good or bad, whether it's a training session or a game plan."

"We want to make sure the concept that we are trying to deliver to them is the same, knowing it can be taught from different perspectives."

For as much as the two gentlemen share much in the way of overriding thoughts on exactly how the Beautiful Game should be played, there is no doubt that Tony Tagliafierro will offer a slightly different perspective to the players than his predecessor, Carlo Castrechino.

"We always tried to complement each other in terms of our style," acknowledged Tagliafierro. "I always thought that Carlo and I played well off each other."

"His ability to rationalize with players, to have those tough discussions with players was always something I thought that he did really well. He had a number of things that he did well."

Still, this is hardly one-stop shopping for Castrechino.

"I think I took snippets from a lot of people I have played under: Giuseppe Politi, Brian Ashton - even my coach at George Brown College kind of changed the way I could phrase different things. I used road trips to pick his brain a little."

"I have kind of cherry picked things that I like."

The Voyageurs will open the 2023 schedule on September 2nd when they play host to the Metropolitan University Bold in Sudbury.

Still with soccer news, rumours run rampant about the pending re-emergence of the Sudbury Cyclones with the nickel city expected to receive approve for a League 1 franchise in the next few days.

With the ownership team of the SWSE (Sudbury Wolves Sports & Entertainment - Dario Zulich) and the soccer management of Dayna Corelli (GM) and Connor Vande Weghe (Sporting Director) from the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club), the new franchise is expected to start play in the spring of 2024.