Ercoli evolution guides Rhinos

Rochester's coach began his local success story as a Lancer

JAY CAPERS Pat Ercoli leads his Rhinos into their fifth title match in their six-year history Saturday. Pat Ercoli Age: 43. Hometown: Toronto. Resides: Greece. Family: Married the former Karen Dinolfo in 1981. They have four children: daughters Marybeth, 18, and Melissa, 7, and twin sons Ryan and Chris (17). As a coach: Coached at two community colleges locally before taking over the Rhinos. Rhinos' record: 107-52-6 regular season, 20-8-1 playoffs, 3-3 in title games. They reached seven out of a possible 12 title matches. As a player: Began 10-year career in 1975 with Toronto Italia. Forward for Rochester Lancers in 1978-80. Won indoor titles with Long Island (1979) and Baltimore ('84). Staying power: Ercoli's tenure is longer than any coach in MLS and second to only Minnesota's Buzz Lagos (8 years) in the A-League.

By Jeff Diveronica
Democrat and Chronicle

(Friday, October 12, 2001) -- Milwaukee Rampage soccer coach Boro Sucevic says Pat Ercoli has the most difficult coaching job in the country.

"I believe he's the only coach in America that's under pressure to deliver a championship every year," says Sucevic, whose Milwaukee club lost to the Rhinos in last week's A-League semifinals. "That's a lot of pressure."

The only coach in Rhinos history shrugs it off. "Part of the job," Ercoli says.

So is winning championships.

Ercoli's Rhinos will go for No. 4 tomorrow when they play the Hershey Wildcats in the A-League Championship Game. It's Rochester's fourth straight league title match and fifth in its decorated six-year history.

It also played in the 1996 and 1999 U.S. Open Cup championship games, winning the second time to cap an amazing run of beating four straight Major League Soccer teams.

But despite Rochester's success, Ercoli, 43, is a lightning rod for critics who think his team plays too much of a defensive style. They'd rather see the Rhinos win 4-2 than 1-0.

Yesterday, Ercoli sat down to talk about his days as a player for the old Rochester Lancers and his job as coach of the Rhinos.

Ercoli on first coming to Rochester: "February of 1978. I was in a hotel here for three days waiting to try out because of a snowstorm," he says.

Ercoli was noticed by Lancers coach Dragan Popovic while playing for the Montreal Castors.

"Everything was shut down, so I sat in the hotel and ate chocolate bars."

Ercoli played forward for the Lancers in 1978, '79 and '80 -- the team's final season in the North American Soccer League.

Ercoli on his most memorable moment playing for the Lancers: Aside from meeting his wife, the former Karen Dinolfo -- daughter of Lancers co-owner Vince Dinolofo, it was playing before 80,000 fans at Giants Stadium against the Cosmos and Franz Beckenbauer.

"It had to be 120 degrees on the field."

Ercoli on maturing as a coach since 1996: "I think I can read the game better and I have a quicker understanding of when and how to make changes. Watching the game, not focusing on

the ball, but watching what goes on around it has given me more experience. I think I knew that, but just never looked for it."

Ercoli on the Rhinos' counterattacking system: "We can sit here and say there are systems to play, you can do this or do that, but the bottom line is when you have a group of individuals who think along the same lines, no matter how you decide to play, if everyone believes in it you can be successful."

Ercoli on his most memorable moment as Rhinos coach:

"I don't know if it's any one particular game. Yeah, winning the Open Cup was rewarding and exciting, but when we can sit down and say, 'OK, this is what we want to do on the field,' and then to see it happen, that's the gratifying part. You hear people question some guys we have on this team and then to see them accomplish their goals, that's gratifying, too."

Ercoli on critics of his team's defensive style: "My responsibilities are to make sure the players are ready. I've got to do what's best for the team to win. There's always going to be a critic no matter what you do.

"If we went 28-0 you'd hear, 'Aw, they have the highest payroll in the league.' That's part of the job and I understand that, so I can't waste my time really focusing on those things. If I do, then I'm doing an injustice to the team and I'm letting that stuff influence my decisions."

Ercoli on why he thinks the team can't play high-pressure attacking soccer all the time: "The way we played in Game 2 here against Pittsburgh (a 3-0 victory), I'd love to see us play every game like that. But you can't do that three or four times a week. It's impossible. If we played once a week like MLS does, then it's different. You can have the intensity there. But three times a week? Guys will get burned out."

Ercoli on a lack of communicating roles to players: "If they look hard enough they're going to understand their role. The unfortunate thing is you get guys who have played a bigger role (previously) and it's much more difficult to accept (a lesser role). So it's easier to say, 'I don't understand where I stand.' "

Ercoli on decreasing a player's minutes as a way to punish or to motivate: "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I'm not going to do something that's going to hurt our team or our players.

"We're going to lose some games, but our decisions sometimes are because we're trying to get this guy to understand a point and if he's not understanding the picture, what do we need to do to make him understand? Neathan Gibson didn't travel with us for two weeks. Martin Nash didn't. But I knew these would be guys in the end that would get us to a championship."

Ercoli on being a candidate for MLS coaching jobs, as he was last winter in Tampa and Colorado: "For me to consider going somewhere else it's gotta be pretty good. I live here, my family is here."

Ercoli on the playoffs and pressure: "When I played, my era was Reggie (Jackson), Mr. October. My coach used to say I was a playoff guy. My level of play, my intensity picked up for the playoffs. It was just a desire to win and some of the guys we have (on the Rhinos) are the same way. I kind of feel I thrive on pressure, I enjoy it and I expect my guys to enjoy it."