Bramble Brings Postseason Experience in Move to Tuscaloosa
8/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Aug. 12, 2008
By Scott LattaUA Media Relations
When Todd Bramble made the decision to leave Clemson University after seven years as its head women's soccer coach and accept the position at Alabama, there was one aspect of the transition that was making his wife Cindy wary of the move two states away to Tuscaloosa.
It had nothing to do with new jobs or new friends. It was something even bigger than building a new house or learning a new city.
It was something a little more dangerous.
"Probably my wife's one biggest fear in life is tornadoes." Bramble said. "And she pulled into town her first night here and that night we had our first tornado warning, like a get-out-of-the-house tornado warning. I thought she was going to kill me."
Central Alabama's weather notwithstanding, Bramble is quick to say that the transition from ACC to SEC has been relatively smooth as he heads into his first fall season as the Alabama coach. But while it may yet take some time to determine the talent level of the roster he has inherited, the decision to make the move depended not as much on Alabama's talent, but on the willingness of his family to make such a major career move.
With 13 years' worth of relationships in Clemson, as well as two young children in his family, it seems like the decision to cross conferences and accept a drastically different coaching challenge could be painstaking.
According to Bramble, however, it all boiled down to one thing.
"That was probably the biggest part of the decision - to make sure that it was right for my family," he said. "We had a pretty good thing going at Clemson, but the more we took a look at the opportunities that were here we felt like it was just the right move at the right time. For me professionally and for my family, Tuscaloosa offers more to do than Clemson did, so that's healthy.
"We had been at Clemson for 13 years. That's a long time to be in a small college town, so while it wasn't easy to leave some of the relationships we had there, we also felt like if we hadn't made this move now, we could end up there another 13 years. Sometimes change is good."
From a career standpoint, Bramble's move to Alabama marks a major change in his coaching responsibilities; with one switch, he leaves behind a program in the midst of a seven-year-long NCAA Tournament run for a program looking to rebound from dropping eight of its last nine games in a losing season. After inheriting a top-20 caliber program at Clemson, he now inherits an Alabama program searching for its identity after failing to record a winning season since 2003.
After competing in the soccer-rich ACC, he now finds a home in the SEC - a conference looking to gain strength in the national collegiate soccer picture.
"We're coming in to a different situation here, where we're getting to start over and lay a foundation and see what we get to build, and I'm really excited about that," Bramble said. "Some of the consideration was maybe the willingness to take one step backward to take two steps forward. I think it's just a matter of time before the SEC is nipping at the heels of the ACC. I'm hoping once we find some success here and move up the ranks of the RPI then we'll strengthen the conference as a whole. I'm convinced we can be every bit as good."
A native of Atlanta, Bramble's knowledge of the Alabama sports landscape prior to his move to Tuscaloosa came primarily from years of exposure to SEC football while growing up in the football-hungry Peach State. Additionally, before taking over Clemson's women's soccer program from coach Tracey Leone, Bramble coached in the men's game for 10 years, including five as an assistant at Clemson.
The decision to switch to the women's game was predicated on a return to Clemson, after Bramble had served one year as the head men's coach at Butler University. It also meant a change in his approach to the game--while the fundamentals and training aspects of soccer remained the same, the psychological aspect, he said, was totally different.
"I had to do a lot of soul searching," he said. "That's a big change and it's one you don't flip flop back and forth from. Once you make that change you're pretty much committing yourself to doing that forever."
At Alabama, Bramble's biggest challenge may be trying to figure out how to turn fast starts into solid finishes. After starting out 8-2-1 last year, the Tide finished 9-10-1. In 2006, Alabama dropped 10 of its last 11, including its final six conference games, to finish 5-14-0. In 2005, after opening the season 6-1, the Tide lost seven of its last 10 to finish 8-8-2.
To correct Alabama's playing on the field may mean approaching the game from the sidelines a little differently than Alabama's players may be used to.
"The times where I'm going to be more animated and emotional will be during training sessions," he said. "Soccer is a player's game and it can become an unhealthy distraction for the players if, during the heat of a game, they're also trying to listen to what I'm telling them to do. It's just not set up that way. We'll do all our intense training and they'll hear a lot more of my voice in training than in games."
Bramble credits his wife Cindy for helping keep his family of four, including his two kids Cole, 7, and Morgan, 5, together during the move. And it was after the family had settled in Alabama that he was able to show her just how grateful he was to her family leadership during the transition.
On the couple's first wedding anniversary in Alabama, Todd Bramble gave his wife something he knew would mean a great deal to her - something that would help make the new city feel just a little more like home.
"I bought her a weather radio," he said. "The romantic in me went out and bought her an emergency weather radio. That's the first thing that jumps out at me about living in Alabama - tornado awareness for the sanity of my wife."
