Cougar Soccer Welcomes Chris Citowicki’s Hyper-Competitive Culture

In 2017, Chris Citowicki – an associate head coach at North Dakota – interviewed for his first potential Division-I head coaching position at Montana. The sports information director Joel Carlson asked him, "Do you think you can take what you did at Division-III, flip a program and apply that here at Montana?"

Without hesitation, a 34-year-old Citowicki said, "Of course I can."

"I think it's just going to be really hard and really different. We'll see if you can pull it off," Carlson replied.

In his first season, the Griz experienced growing pains under their new head coach. Injuries derailed them throughout the season, and they were 4-8-6 heading into postseason, but they managed to sneak into the Big Sky Championships on the last day of the season.

Even though they were on the brink of not even making the playoffs, Citowicki led Montana to a Big Sky Championship win over Northern Colorado and a automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Montana traveled to Washington State for the first round of the NCAA Tournament where the Cougs came out on top 5-1. Through the postseason run, Citowicki took what he accomplished and used it as proof for his vision.

"That 2018 moment of making playoffs, seeing everything come together triggered all of what happened from that point on," Citowicki said.

Citowicki finished his eight seasons at Montana with a 79-39-32 record and led the Griz to 8-straight Big Sky Championships and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

"I think what Joel misunderstood was that it's not the same tactics because it's a different level of athlete – it's a different level of team, and a different conference, but it's the same idea of shaping teams and creating high functioning individuals that if you apply to any setting you get a successful business," Citowicki said.

Getting the most out of his student-athletes over the years came down to one thing – they need to have fun. Everything else falls into place when his team is having fun.

Ashlyn Sandow is a junior transfer from Montana and has played under Citowicki for two seasons. Sandow loves to compete and finds herself giving more effort in practice because of the hyper-competitive environment – with her favorite part of practice being Coug Day.

Coach Citowicki high fives Ashlyn Sandow during a stoppage of a spring game

Coug Day is a weekly competition that started in Montana, then it was Bear Day. Coug Day takes basic juggling or possession drills and raises the stakes. The prize – a miniature Coug statue and bragging rights for the week.

Citowicki and his staff have Coug Day down to a science. The whole coaching staff tracks everyone's Coug Day stats including wins, goals, assists and even shutouts for goalies. Sandow said Citowicki will even make "cheap" calls during scrimmages to rile up the team.

"It's the most fun day of the week because we're just at each other's throats," Sandow said.

Ashlyn Dvorak is a fifth-year goalkeeper and one of the 10 Montana transfers that followed Coach Citowicki from Montana.

Citowicki started the tradition her freshman season, and Dvorak said it has not taken long for WSU returners and newcomers to catch on to their tradition.

"It took maybe two days for everyone to realize, 'Oh this is the day when everyone goes all out,'" Dvorak said. "It's high emotional days – like if you're winning – you're treating that like you just won a regular game."

Having fun has always been at the forefront of soccer for Citowicki. Growing up watching Arsenal, he loved the way they played. When Citowicki played, he had dreams of putting on a show for the fans. Naturally, he adopted a similar philosophy when he started coaching.

Citowicki deploys an aggressive style of play on the field. He expects a lot from his defense because he encourages his wingers and forwards to take risks. Risks are not punished – they are encouraged.

"The biggest thing for us is to take risks," Citowicki said. "The perfectionist doesn't thrive in this sport because we are a sport of mistakes. There are a ton of turnovers in soccer so it's taking advantage of other people's mistakes."

In a recent scrimmage against Eastern Washington this spring, Citowicki said postgame someone from the stands came up to him and said they could not believe how much fun they had watching his team. That is exactly what he wanted to hear.

This philosophy also resonates with his team. For Sandow, the relationship she has built with soccer under Citowicki served as the driving factor in following him to the Palouse.

"I love soccer with Chris and I know it's going to be the same as it was in Montana that it's going to be at Washington State," Sandow said. "I decided to go with him because I was just loving it and I didn't want to not love soccer anymore."

Washington State University Athletics

Cougar Soccer Welcomes Chris Citowicki’s Hyper-Competitive Culture

Related News

Players Mentioned

Ashlyn Dvorak

Ashlyn Sandow

Related Videos