One hundred wins for Fuller and still counting

One hundred wins. Two Ivy League titles. Two NCAA tournament wins.

After putting up such strong numbers in recent years, men’s soccer coach Rudy Fuller’s legacy is defined — and will continue to be defined — by those numbers.

But his players know that Fuller’s coaching prowess transcends X’s and O’s.

When they think about Fuller, they consider the trust he has in each member of the team.

In the third-to-last game of 2009, a transitional year following the departure of 10 seniors, captain Lee Rubenstein sat on the bench, recovering from a hamstring injury. He looked on, watching his team, one year removed from an Ivy title, hold a 1-0 lead on No. 20 Brown.

“With 15 minutes remaining, when we were battling to maintain the lead, [Fuller] turned to me and said that he needed me to play,” Rubenstein wrote in an email.

Fuller’s decision to put his captain into the match paid off. Rubenstein cleared a ball with five minutes remaining, ending a Brown threat and securing the victory for Penn.

“[Fuller]’s trust in me at that moment was something that I’ll never forget,” Rubenstein wrote.

His players laud his involvement in their lives.

“Everything that we do, he’s there for,” senior captain Thomas Brandt said. “And if you ever need to have a one-on-one meeting with him, all it takes is a quick text message and you’re down in his office.”

The close bond that Fuller forges with his players starts to grow before they’ve even put on their cleats.

“When we’re recruiting a kid, we say up front that the relationship you have with the head coach is the single most important relationship you have during college,” Fuller said. “You should have a relationship with your coach where you know that you have someone who will listen to you and will be there for you.”

In Fuller’s first four seasons as head coach, the results weren’t picture perfect. Finishing either last or second-to-last in Ivies each year, the program seemed stagnant.

While the results on the scoreboard showed otherwise, Fuller was quietly laying the foundation for the team’s success in the future. The following year, Fuller’s team won the Ivy League title for the first time in 22 years.

“With those first couple of teams, the strides that we made couldn’t be seen on paper,” Fuller said. “Those guys learned about showing up on time and working hard.”

Still using those same values that he employed at the start of his tenure, Fuller has compiled one of the nation’s top recruiting classes and strong senior leadership and has a team poised to compete in the league and the NCAA.

The numbers speak for themselves.

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