Aug. 28, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, NC. - The Missouri Tigers are set to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels tomorrow, but there will be no ill-will present on the sidelines. Despite the tough competition, Missouri head coach Bryan Blitz looks at Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance as his mentor.
"He helped to change the Mizzou program from a solid program to an elite program," head coach Bryan Blitz says, "Carolina's results speak for itself, and I think ours speak for themselves over the last few years as well. Of course we want to aspire to UNC's level."
Those aspirations are what drew Blitz to Chapel Hill for a few pointers from Dorrance. With 21 National Championships under his belt, Dorrance must be doing something right.
"Our system is not a very popular system," Dorrance said, "but he [Blitz] was interested in being an outlier like us and doing something different that would make the other teams adjust to him.
Dorrance has no problem sharing information about his program. North Carolina is known for playing a high-pressure system called the semi flat-back 1-3-4-3, which focuses on a quick offensive attack and a doubling mentality on defense taking the goalkeeper position to a higher level.
"Bryan started playing our system and it was really cool because he started having success with it," Dorrance remembered. "He even won the Big 12 Regular Season title with it. The system made his team more competitive and I thought it was really cool to see that."
Blitz was skeptical of the aggressive system in the beginning, and changing his program would require a huge leap of faith.
"Anson was very supportive, and everything that he told me about the style happened just as he said it would. At first, I didn't really know if it was going to come true, but I gave it a shot and the system has been a perfect fit for our program and the university's personality."
With a high-risk system like the semi flat-back 1-3-4-3, there are many issues that can arise. The two coaches continue to tweak the formation in ways that work for their respective programs, and they don't hesitate to discuss the details with each other.
"He [Blitz] would call with questions and ideas about tweaking the system, and we would chat about different issues," Dorrance said. "This style of play requires certain ideas to play with it successfully."
When the Tigers and the Tar Heels go head-to-head tomorrow, the stakes will be high.
"My guess is that it will be like the shootout at the O.K. Corral," Dorrance predicts. "Both systems are virtually the same and very aggressive, so tomorrow could be a very high-scoring game."
No matter the outcome, the two coaches share no hard feelings.
"I have always liked Bryan, he is one of the few coaches that doesn't seem to have that iron animosity," says Dorrance. "I enjoy his company and I have absolutely enjoyed his success."
The Tigers and the Tar Heels take the field at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow in Chapel Hill, NC.
