New women’s soccer assistant Kate Dylag has a penchant for picking songs. In fact, at her previous job at Central Michigan, her players counted on her.
“At Central, the girls would come to me because they would know every Tuesday new music comes out,” Dylag said. “And they’d ask what I was listening to.”
Matter-of-factly, Dylag explains why.
“I make really good CDs,” she said.
She keeps it in perspective, though, admitting her affinity for iTunes is an “unhealthy obsession.” It’s one that’s helped her relate to players, though.
“[It] definitely was a nice little bridge between us because it was something that I might listen to some of the stuff that they listened to, and they can’t believe that,” Dylag said. “Or I’d name a group and they wouldn’t know who they were, and then I’d feel old.”
Dylag spent her college playing days at UNC-Greensboro before spending the past four seasons as an assistant with the Chippewas. Now that she’s back in the South, she said she’s faced some music troubles on her radio.
“I can’t get away from the country. I’m trying to,” she said. “I can’t find a station that doesn’t have it.”
Music aside, Dylag is glad to be back in the state where she went to college. She grew up in Strongsville, Ohio, where her parents still live, but she said she grew to love the South while spending her college years in the region.
Even as an assistant coach at Central Michigan, she still pondered how she one day wanted to come back to the South.
“Whenever I would come back down for the Raleigh Shootout or anything like that, any type of recruiting event, I was like, ‘I’ve got to get back down there. I’ve got to get back down there,'” Dylag said.
When she came to Raleigh, she left behind Chippewas head coach Tony DiTucci, who she had worked with for four seasons. DiTucci said he will miss her, but that he supports her decision as she grows as a coach.
“We’re sad to see her go, but we wish her all the best,” DiTucci said. “We’ll be watching and cheering for her this fall.”
Dylag said that while DiTucci was a good mentor and friend for her, it wasn’t a tough decision to come to State.
“I don’t think it’s leaving, so it wasn’t tough necessarily because I know we’ll keep in touch. I know I’ll call him after a game and be like, ‘Hey, this is what happened’ – talk to my friend,” she said. “If it was [like] I’d never see him again, that’s a different story, but I know that we’ll cross paths recruiting and that we’ll cross paths at conventions.”
She added those who know her know she’s where she wants to be.
“I don’t think anyone was really floored,” Dylag said. “Even my players at CMU now are still like, ‘You must be happy to be back down South.'”
Now that she is in her new job, she said a period of adjustment lies ahead.
“Pre-season will be a pre-season for me as well because you’ve got to get used to the staff and find your niche and where you can help develop players,” Dylag said.
But she will have company as the team has 12 freshmen this coming season. That high number of new players is something she said could help her transition.
“It’s just kind of that nice timing for me to come in with a large group of freshmen that I’ll be able to experience it all with at the same time and have all of our returners kind of get to know me as well,” Dylag said.
But if she has any choice in pre-game music for the team, it’s hard to know what the music-appreciating coach might pick.
“Anything that has a good beat and kind of just gets you really going,” Dylag said of her pre-game preferences. “I’m not into the cheesy ‘Eye of the Tiger’ stuff or anything like that.”
