It didn’t take long for Idaho to fill its women’s tennis coaching vacancy. Just weeks after former coach Dan Pollock left for a position at BYU, Idaho tapped Myriam Sopel as its next coach.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Idaho coach Myriam Sopel observes practice Thursday on the Kibbie Dome tennis courts. Sopel, originally an Idaho recruit, was recently hired as the women’s tennis coach.
The only thing that took long was the distance she traveled to accept the position — 3,000 miles from New York City after one semester in charge of the program at Wagner College.
Originally hailing from France, the 23-year old Sopel played collegiately at Indiana, but almost played at Idaho.
“(Director of Tennis) Jeff Beaman reached out to me, said if I was interested in looking at the job I’d be a good candidate so I applied for it,” Sopel said. “I knew Jeff from before, he tried to recruit me five years ago when I came to the U.S. from France.”
The entire process took little more than a week in early December, and even though she spurned the Vandals five years ago, she’s right at home in Palouse.
“I feel pretty settled. I have this ability to adapt pretty quickly wherever I go and feel like home so Moscow feels like home here and this community is really helpful,” she said.
Her experiences in the greater Palouse area began when her brother played tennis at Lewis-Clark State College, parlaying that into a coaching career at Gonzaga, where she would visit him in Spokane often.
“I came to visit here this summer and I really loved it,” Sopel said.
That and other visits to the area left her no doubts she would feel comfortable in the Palouse.
“I had no reservations or apprehension, I was really confident that I could adapt really well, and fit in…and get integrated in to the Moscow community really well,” she said.
Sopel is actually the second coach in as many years to come to Idaho from Wagner. Swim and dive coach Mark Sowa also came to Idaho from the school. She said it made it easier on her to be able to reach out to Sowa when inquiring about the position.
Early in her tennis career she had dreams of playing professionally, though when those doors didn’t quite open for her she gladly embraced her next path of playing collegiately.
“I really wanted to combine my tennis and my studies, I took the journalism path and majored in Journalism and Spanish,” she said. “Learning the language and immersing in a new community in a new country I couldn’t have found a better experience.”
From there Wagner College gave her the ability to go for her Master’s degree and get a start in coaching.
“(When) I got this opportunity at Wagner to start my MBA and coach I kind of fell in to that,” she said. “I had a past in coaching but really in collegiate athletics I really fell in love and it’s something I really enjoy, I want to make a career out of it.”
Her previous experience stems from coaching occasionally during summers in high school.
Her role model in the profession? Her brother, Mickael, who was recently hired as an assistant men’s and women’s coach at Youngstown State, after spending a year at Gonzaga.
The advantage and allure she had for Idaho is being international — being tri-lingual didn’t quite hurt her chances either. Sopel studied Journalism and Communications along with Spanish at Indiana, something she said will help her on the recruiting trail.
Idaho already recruits internationally in tennis, with players on the women’s roster from Mexico, Spain and Australia — countries in which Sopel speaks the language. Sopel said being tri-lingual gives her an ability to recruit in Europe, French Canada and even parts of Africa.
In her spare time Sopel said she likes to keep herself active in athletics, running, swimming, rollerblading, anything.
“I know we have a climbing wall here so I know I’m going to try that.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]