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Houston, 27, the new head coach at Whitman, was a four-year starting midfielder for his collegiate team, which won a pair of conference titles and qualified for the post-season playoffs three times.
Winning also was a matter of fact for the boys and girls soccer teams he coached during the past five years at Riverside and Deer Park high schools near Spokane, Wash. Coaching the girls in the fall and the boys in the spring, Houston led the two schools and their combined soccer program to league titles in each season except one.
"They were great kids and we had some great seasons," Houston said. "My girls won 32 of 34 games over the last two years."
Houston was twice named coach-of-the-year, once with the boys team and once with the girls.
Other than hard work and commitment, there are no magic formulas for winning, Houston said.
"The single most important concept is putting forth a consistent effort from workouts to the games," he said. "I want our practice times to be just as intense as our games. That way we don't have to step it up two notches on the weekends just to get ourselves into the games. I want our guys playing at the same speed and with the same intensity at all times."
A hard-nosed competitor during his playing days, Houston finished out his final collegiate season with a cast on his broken right arm.
"When I was a player, when I was a senior in college, we had a lot of players who weren't necessarily the most talented athletes," he said. "But they had huge hearts, and we fought for everything all the time."
While Houston doesn't expect any of his players to take the field with broken limbs and reckless abandon, he does expect a spirited, all-out effort.
"Soccer isn't a game where you're allowed to get tired and let down mentally in the last 30 minutes of the game," he said. "I want our guys to play hard and consistently from minute one through minute 90. If they do that, we'll win games."
His coaching goals for his first Whitman season are to give his players a structure and system to play within, to put players into the right spots on the field, and to correct any bad habits his players may have acquired.
"After that, as I've already told them, it's up to them to play hard, and to put up or shut up. It's their season."
With an eye on the larger picture, Houston wants his players to forge a commitment to success on the soccer field and then apply that dedication to other parts of their lives. "There's no question that the principles you learn from soccer and athletics apply across the board to life in general," he said. "For this team to be successful, players must learn some life lessons from the effort they give in practice and the accomplishments they achieve as a group."
Following his graduation from Whitworth College, where he majored in journalism with a minor in sociology, Houston served as the assistant men's soccer coach for his alma mater for one season. He began a master's program in counseling that same year at Whitworth, and he hopes to complete work on that degree within the next year.
In addition to his coaching duties at Whitman, Houston is an assistant in the sports information office. He also will teach physical education classes.
"Brandt is a great addition to our coaching staff," Whitman athletic director Max Seachris said. "His background in soccer is outstanding. He played professionally after college, and he was a very successful coach at the high school level. He brings a great deal of expertise and enthusiasm to our program."
Houston's professional soccer career was a brief one. While coaching his high school team in the Spokane area, he also played for the Spokane Shadow during the 1994-95 season. The Shadow are part of the new U.S. Intercontinental Soccer League, which serves as a farm system for Major League Soccer.
"I really didn't get to play that much," Houston said. "I was coaching my high school team on the other side of Spokane, and I was missing practices with the Shadow on a regular basis. Coaching was my first priority at that time."
In joining the Whitman athletic department, Houston was reunited with longtime friend Scott Shields, who coaches the women's soccer team at the college.
"We basically grew up together (in Richland, Wash.)," Houston said. "We lived in the same neighborhood and played on a lot of the same teams, whether it was in youth leagues or on select teams. Scott is one of my best friends, so the opportunity to coach with him is a great situation for me."
Houston and Shields were soccer pioneers of sorts in Richland. "They didn't have varsity soccer at Richland High School until 1987, the year we were seniors. Scott and I and a few others had to lobby hard to get soccer into the high school."
The summer following his high school graduation, Houston and two friends started a youth soccer camp in Richland. "We ran the camp every summer while we were in college, and it turned out to be very successful," he said. "Many of the kids who came to camp had problems in other parts of their lives, so I'd take an interest and try to help them out. That's what sparked my interest in counseling."
Once he completes his master's degree in counseling, Houston hopes to combine coaching and counseling at the college level as a long-term professional career.
"Coaching is something I enjoy very much," he said. "It's almost as rewarding as playing, and the same holds true for counseling. As early as high school, friends started bringing their problems to me. I guess I'm a good listener, and I like to help."
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