By Marc Weems
Brian Shrum, a native of Western Pennsylvania, was named Head Coach of the Youngstown State University Women’s Soccer program. Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Ron Strollo announced this back on Dec. 5. 2017.
Shrum served as an assistant coach and then associate head coach at Duquesne University from 2012-17. He becomes the seventh head coach in program history after former coach, Fabio Boateng, was let go after a 4-13-1 season.
“Brian Shrum has all of the qualities we were looking for in our next women’s soccer head coach,” Strollo said. “Coach Shrum helped build Duquesne into a successful program, he’s an energetic coach with strong regional recruiting ties and has a strong desire to be at Youngstown State.”
Shrum spent the last six seasons at Duquesne and helped the Dukes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance, Atlantic-10 Championship and a school record 12 wins in 2015. Over the last three seasons, Shrum helped Duquesne to an overall record of 34-22-7 and an 18-10-2 mark in Atlantic-10 play.
“I’m very thankful to Athletics Director Ron Strollo, Associate Athletics Director Elaine Jacobs and Assistant Athletics Director Rebecca Fink for giving me this opportunity to become the next head coach at Youngstown State University,” Shrum said. “YSU intrigued me because the program has all of the resources available to become a top tier program in the Horizon League.
“YSU has a plethora of undergraduate majors that can attract soccer student-athletes to the school, first-class soccer facilities and is an outstanding college community,” Shrum said.
Shrum has developed 13 Atlantic-10 All-Conference players, including two-time all-conference selection and 2017 Atlantic-10 Midfielder of the Year Linnea Faccenda.
Prior to Duqusene, Shrum, who has been coaching in Western Pennsylvania since 1995, served as strength and conditioning coaching intern at California University of Pennsylvania.
Simultaneously, he served as an assistant coach at St. Vincent College. Shrum helped improve the Bearcats to a school-record tying 11-win season and a berth in the school’s first Eastern College Athletic Conference South Championship tournament. He was instrumental in the development of St. Vincent’s first First-Team All-American, Elly Colvin.
As part of his duties as the new YSU women’s soccer head coach, Shrum has announced the program will host a Spring ID Camp on March 31 in the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
This camp is geared for girls in grades ninth through 12th and will cost $130 per player. Check-in at the camp is at 8 a.m.
The Youngstown State Women’s Soccer ID Camp is to provide opportunities for high-level players to develop. For prospective student-athletes aspiring to attend YSU and compete in the program, being coached and evaluated by the members of the coaching staff provides a unique and added feature.
The ID camp features elements of training, small and full-sided play, as well as question-and-answer forums with current members of the YSU Women’s Soccer program.
Attending the ID camp will provide players with an authentic representation of what it is like to train and play as a member of the program at YSU.
