Bell reflects on his journey in soccer
The championship-winning coach is focused on more than just short-term results
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TCU’s women’s soccer coach will go down in university history as the man who brought the Horned Frogs to their first championship season.
The road has never been easy for Eric Bell. He has coached across the country and traveled many miles for soccer.
He arrived in Fort Worth in 2012 when he was hired as the TCU women’s soccer head coach. He is married to April Bell and has two children, Malena and Cameron.
Since he arrived, his fingerprints are all over the program’s rise. However, choosing soccer as a lifestyle was never an easy decision for the current Big 12 champion.
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Eric Bell poses as new TCU women's soccer head coach back in 2012. (TCU 360)
Eric Bell poses as new TCU women's soccer head coach back in 2012. (TCU 360)
His journey started as a skinny kid who didn’t weigh enough - under 100 pounds - to make the freshman football team in high school. Instead, Eric Bell went out for soccer and from there, he began a journey with the game that still persists.
From a young age, Bell’s approach to life has been to give 100 percent in any situation. His desire and hunger for achieving the best has been one of the key aspects that motivates himself and his players.
“Back in high school I wasn't the best player in the team at first, but I worked my butt to become the best player in the team,” Bell said.
During his high school years, his outstanding performances in the field led him to the College of Wooster in Ohio, where he was recruited to play Division III soccer.
He shone on the pitch in college. Bell guided his team to two NCAA DIII tournament appearances in 1989 and 1990, a North Coast Athletic Conference title in 1989 and was voted the team’s best offensive player after the 1991 campaign.
He knew in college that he didn't want his journey in the sport to end after graduation.
“Probably by my junior year at college I figured out I wanted to keep doing something in the sport and the only thing I could think of was coaching,” he said.
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Bell during a warm-up session prior to a game against Texas Tech. (Photo courtesy of @TCUSoccer)
Bell during a warm-up session prior to a game against Texas Tech. (Photo courtesy of @TCUSoccer)
Bell’s first coaching opportunity came after graduation. He was given the role of part-time assistant coach for the women’s team at his alma mater.
He sees coaching as an opportunity to give back to the game he loves so much.
“It’s a labor of love, it’s a passion of mine. It’s an opportunity to respect the game, get back to it and help other people be successful,” he said. “I guess I consider myself a teacher so it’s an opportunity to teach and get back.”
Bell also expressed gratitude for the people the sport has brought into his life.
“Soccer has given me so much," he said. "It has given me the opportunity to live a comfortable lifestyle, opportunities to travel and most importantly the opportunity to meet new people,” Bell said.
Those people that have come along Bell’s way have now become close friends and mentors to him.
A clear philosophy
Two of the biggest influences on Bell's coaching philosophy come from Mark Krikorian, the head coach at Florida State, and Janet Rayfield, the head coach at the University of Illinois.
“They have influenced me a lot,” he said. “I talk to Mark [Krikorian] during the week to bounce ideas back and forth so I still have a close and healthy relationship.”
With the help of mentors like Krikorian, Bell has molded a unique philosophy that guides his players on the field.
The key is for his players to always have a purpose with the ball.
“For me it’s possession with a purpose. I want my players to feel comfortable with the ball and make good decisions at the right time and score a lot,” he said. “When we defend I like to be aggressive and smart, hard on the tackle and organize defensively to make it hard for other teams to break us down.”
Another coaching figure Bell looks up to is former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
“I loved and learned from watching them play when they had players including the likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, especially in the final third of the field where it’s very hard to do,” he said.
Another key aspect of the game is handling circumstances where the pressure is extremely high, such as the recent Big 12 championship match.
Bell seemed unfazed.
“I don’t really feel the pressure. I think for me it’s handled throughout the course of the week,” he said. “If I’m prepared, my feel is that I’ve done everything possible for the team to be prepared.”
Bell said he prepares each game by “scanning teams and figuring out their tendencies, weaknesses and strengths.”
This method has worked well and came to fruition this season when the Frogs claimed their first Big 12 conference title.
The team went 8-0-1 on the season and defeated West Virginia 1-0 in the conference championship.
Goalkeeper Emily Alvarado credits the success to the hard work done by Bell with the program in recent years.
“We’ve been fighting for this in the last three or four years so it has been years in the making,” she said. “It definitely didn’t happen overnight.”
A dream realized. #Big12Champs | #GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/8nURbInn1C
— TCU Soccer (@TCUSoccer) November 7, 2020
We did it!!
— Coach EB (@CoachEricBell) November 7, 2020https://t.co/QD2HibR2DH
While it’s cool to be recognized individually, we all know that we can’t do it alone. It takes a team effort. Thanks to my team for all they did to help us achieve success pic.twitter.com/d2bwEK2JFu
— Coach EB (@CoachEricBell) November 19, 2020
Bell arrived at TCU shortly before the team's first season in the Big 12 conference. Bell is also the first African American soccer coach at TCU.
“The most challenging thing during my time here has been the process of building a program that wasn't very successful to one that is pretty successful,” Bell said.
The team had not had a winning season since 2008 when Bell arrived.
This year, they defeated three other top 10 teams.
“It speaks about the volume of this program,” Alvarado said. “Ever since I got here we’ve gone forward so beating top teams is now the standard that we [seniors] leave.”
Growing the game beyond TCU
Just as he has helped the TCU soccer program grow, Bell is helping the sport grow around the entire metroplex. He runs the Eric Bell Soccer Academy annually, which helps kids improve in areas such as technical and tactical abilities, physicality and mentality.
“We want to give back to Fort Worth,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for players to become better, which is of interest to me.”
Bell also sees the camp as a way to keep developing soccer, and its diversity, in America.
“[Soccer] has to continue to become more diverse,” he said. “We have to continue seeing people of color playing and not only playing but in administrative positions as well.”
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Bell's soccer academy attempts to develop young players for the future. (Photo courtesy of Eric Bell Soccer Academy)
Bell's soccer academy attempts to develop young players for the future. (Photo courtesy of Eric Bell Soccer Academy)
In the midst of his pursuit to leave a legacy, Bell said he’s fully committed to further developing the TCU program.
In the short term, he is focused on preparing the team for the NCAA tournament that is set to take place in the spring.
“The goal is to get as far as we can go,” he said. “The goal is to compete and to win a national championship.”
Congrats Eric Bell - Big 12 𝒞𝑜𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒴𝑒𝒶𝓇
— TCU Soccer (@TCUSoccer) November 18, 2020Led program to its first-ever conference championship
TCU is only the 10th team in league history to go undefeated en route to the title
First honor of his coaching career#GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/bQvaUGbsVo