Off The Cuff: Jim McGirr

Nov. 1, 2019

Our CCRI faculty and staff are a diverse group with many fascinating hobbies and interests that keep them busy during their free time off campus. Welcome to Off the Cuff. Every other week, we'll profile a member of our CCRI family to find out what makes them tick. Hopefully, their stories inspire others and help us develop new connections and friendships with our CCRI colleagues.

After playing in only six games last season due to an alarming number of injuries and postponements, CCRI’s women’s soccer team is back in the postseason this year beginning with today’s Region XV/XIX championship game at Monroe College. Credit the approach and patience of third-year head coach Jim McGirr, a Smithfield, RI, resident and former collegiate standout who has made tremendous strides in rebuilding a program looking to replicate its success from the early 2000s when it appeared in two NJCAA national championship games, including a victory in 2002.

More importantly, McGirr’s teams historically succeed off the field as well. In his eight seasons as the coach at Providence College, the Friars achieved a 100% graduation rate through mandatory team study halls and weekly academic player meetings. He’s brought that same philosophy to CCRI, which is paying immediate dividends in the classroom. This week, we sat down with McGirr to get his thoughts on leading CCRI’s soccer program into the next decade, his exploits as a successful youth coach and how he found true love on the soccer field.

You brought the Knights from a 3-3 season in 2018 to a 7-3-1 finish this year. What was the biggest factor in getting this team back into the postseason?

We have had a much more committed group as a whole this season with a great balance of talent through the spine of the team.

Throughout your collegiate coaching career, your teams are as efficient in the classroom as they are on the field. What is your process for achieving academic success as a team and how big of a priority is that for you as a coach?

When student-athletes attend CCRI, they normally have to have the ability to be responsible for themselves between academics and athletics while most of them also have part-time jobs. With consistent reinforcement, we make sure they attend their Student-Athlete Academic Support Program hours and meet with our fantastic academic advisors. It’s also important that they know we, as a staff, are much more than just their coaches. We are there to assist them however they need us.

Your record as a club team coach is remarkable, including your 14-and-under girls team winning back-to-back national titles in 2018 and 2019. How rewarding is that experience as a coach?

They are quite a unique team with a great balance and blend of athleticism and talent with no superstars. That’s important. The thing we pride ourselves on is that everyone must perform, because we have no set starting lineup and we instead rotate every game. It’s all performance-based. There is great team unity and no animosity. We've been able to compete and beat teams at Nationals from all over the country, including Florida, Texas, California, Minnesota and Virginia. It’s been a tremendous opportunity to show what a small state like Rhode Island is capable of at that level!

You and your wife, Erin, are quite the athletic duo: You played soccer for Division I Rider University and she was a two-sport star in both track and soccer at Rutgers University. How did you cross paths?

Before I landed my coaching job at Providence, I was a volunteer assistant coach at Rutgers, so I actually coached my future wife during her senior year. Coincidentally, there was another talented young lady on that team named Carli Lloyd, who wound up competing for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning in 2008 and 2012, a two-time FIFA Player of the Year.

The women’s soccer program at CCRI has a strong tradition dating back to its national championship in 2002. Are you confident you can achieve similar success and what will it take to get back to that level? 

It is definitely possible to compete at the national level, but will take a lot more work to continue to attract talent similar to what we have now. We are beginning to take steps in the right direction. The Rhode Island Promise scholarship is a huge benefit, allowing student-athletes to start their academic career at CCRI while hopefully providing us with the continued growth we’ve experienced over the past three years.

We would love to hear your story, too! Email us at [email protected] if you’d like to be featured in a future edition of “Off the Cuff” or want to nominate a co-worker.

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