It was announced late last week Vierling would take over the position as the new men’s soccer coach at Arlington Baptist University.
Vierling had announced this was his last year leading the Aledo Bearcats soccer program after 31 years and more than 600 wins in his career as he was looking to a comfortable life of retirement.
“Everyone was asking me what I was going to do,” Vierling said. “I told them, I’m not going to do anything. Just going to chill. Just to have a response, I’d say, I’ll see what happens.”
Then this job offer came out of nowhere.
“They asked me if I was interested, I decided to check it out,” Vierling said. “I toured the campus, they asked me to fill out some paperwork and set up an interview. I set it up for April 27 and they offered me the job the next day.”
Vierling had always been curious about coaching at the college level, but knew it would come with a pay decrease. That and his continued commitment to a program he helped build into what it is today kept him happy and fulfilled.
“When this opportunity arose I decided to jump on it,” Vierling said. “It is a nice supplement to my retirement. Money is not an issue now.”
Vierling knows he has his work cut out for him. Recruiting players is an aspect Vierling is not too familiar with and the window has been open for a while already. Most of his players were a part last year’s Pioneers club that went 5-11-1 last season.
Still, Vierling is going into the situation with an open mind. Not just having decades of success behind him, but also surviving a blood disorder a couple of years ago, he’s got nothing to lose at this point in his life.
The good news is, the new job won’t force Vierling or his wife to move out of Aledo, which was another perk for the job. He still feels a close to the community he’s worked with for more than two decades. Despite no longer leading the Bearcats, he still has plenty of support around him in this next phase.
“My son went through here first through high school and I got to coach him four years,” Vierling said. “I coached almost 250-something alumni and I still talk to them all the time. When the news broke about this job, I started getting calls and text messages from guys I coached in the early 2000s, with some of them saying they had a couple of years left of eligibility. I’ve so enjoyed this community, this school and this athletics program. It’s been a really special place.”
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