Charles “Wes” Icardis is returning to the field of his high school glory.
Icardis, who was the Pahrump Valley head track coach and junior varsity soccer coach, is taking over the boys soccer varsity after the departure of Don Boulden, who retired from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and moved to Colorado.
Icard is taking over a program that lost 10 seniors to graduation and despite the huge loss, he remains optimistic even though the team was 5-15-2 overall.
“I’ve got 20-30 guys coming out for soccer,” Icard said. “I coached some club ball and worked with a lot of eighth graders. A lot of them came out.”
The coach said he will be working on having crisp touches and physical stamina.
“We should have a solid offense this year,” he said. “Adding to our talent is a couple of foreign exchange students. We will also be working on a lot of possessions, slowly working the ball forward along the edges. This is a German style of play.”
Icard is no stranger to Pahrump. He graduated in 2005 from the high school and played soccer for the Trojans under Trojans coach Chris Johnson, who coached at Pahrump from 2004 until 2008.
Under Johnson, the team went to the state semifinal game in 2004 and to the state title game in 2005. Icard played for both teams. He said he has been playing the game for 22 years.
Icard was the offensive player of the year for the Trojans in the 2004 soccer season. He followed Johnson to Humboldt State University in 2008 with hopes of playing more soccer, but injuries have kept him from playing. The coach also has some European soccer experience having lived in Germany for several years.
He said the team was OK with it, but needed to relax more and look around more.
“Part of the problem of the team stems from playing AYSO,” he said. “AYSO usually has one or two good players on the team and the good players are used to doing all the work. Now they are on a team where all the players are good and that takes some getting used to.”
Icard said he will be working on the team not blaming others when things go wrong.
“I worked with many of the kids before when they played with me on the junior varsity team so many of them know my style of play,” he said. “We will be competitive this year and we will control the game better. Our goal is to win our division.”
In his first interview with the PVT two years ago, Icard said he had no idea how long he was going to stay.
“My plans have changed,” he said. “I am staying because this is now a project for me (the soccer team) and I am having fun with it. I am dedicated to the end of this season and next.”