Celebrating five years with soccer coach Mark Howlett
Coach Mark Howlett has been at the helm of SUNY Geneseo’s men’s soccer program since 2018, and is coming off his second-straight winning season this year. The Knights finished the 2022 season with a 9-6-3 record while earning themselves a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs. Coach Howlett attributes the success of the team to multiple outside factors, but his lifelong commitment to the game has played a major role in his team’s on-field performance as well.
Growing up in Portsmouth, England, Howlett spent most of his time on the field and described his routine as, “all day soccer.” He dreamed of one day playing professionally and soon earned himself a spot in the AFC Bournemouth development program. As he got older and more of his friends traveled to the U.S. to continue their opportunities in the game, Howlett followed suit and eventually landed in Rochester where he played for the Roberts Wesleyan College Raiders for two seasons. Howlett described the transition as somewhat easy, finding himself surrounded by many other international players at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level. He transferred to Judson University for the final two years of his collegiate career, leading the team to two NAIA tournaments while finishing out his business marketing degree.
Coach Howlett turned his focus to coaching after college as he decided that he could “be a good mentor with [his] past experiences and focus on not solely a winning culture.” His ideology surely transferred into a successful career, starting with an assistant coaching stint at Nazareth College from 2008-2010. Howlett then took over as head coach of SUNY Canton’s men’s soccer program where he proudly took part in transitioning the Kangaroos from NAIA to NCAA membership. Howlett’s final position before his current post at Geneseo came as the head coach of the Buffalo State Bengals, where he led the team past a period of middling success into a powerhouse in the SUNYAC standings. The Bengals became one of the most improved teams in all of Division III soccer during his time there, finishing with a 14-3-3 record along with an NCAA tournament appearance in 2017. Coach Howlett was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year in his final season with the team before agreeing to take over as head coach at Geneseo.
The Knights’ current back-to-back winning seasons have a lot to do with the talent that Howlett has recruited to the team, but the culture he has brought to Geneseo has also made its impact. Starting with the recruiting process, Howlett described the players he looks for as “Organized, reliable, responsible, challenging, honest, disciplined, and self-motivated people who like to work in the weight room offseason.” He went on to explain that when going to see a young player, he can tell everything he needs to know about their soccer abilities in 30 minutes, but it takes a longer process involving speaking to past coaches, families, and guidance counselors and seeing how the players deal with victory and defeat, to find out who they are as a person. As Howlett puts it, “We would rather have less talented players who have all of those surrounding pieces,” although it is important to add that you would not see any lack of talent at the team’s games.
Once the players are here at Geneseo, however, Howlett states that the environment speaks for itself. He expressed multiple times throughout our short interview how pleased he is with the experience that his players have here at the school. This all starts with the people in the front office, whether it be other coaches or faculty and staff throughout the Athletics Department and beyond who have an open-door policy for all players. Howlett described how most members of the athletics staff are on committees and show up and support each other to try and better the experience for everyone involved daily. Heading towards the end of his original five-year plan here at Geneseo, Coach Howlett expressed his pleasure with the growth he has seen in the department from the new and improved leadership series, to captain’s retreats that go over core values, to the always forward-thinking leadership.
Looking towards the next five years and beyond, Coach Howlett’s goals from a soccer standpoint are simple; get to a SUNYAC final and secure a bid for a national tournament. Off the field, however, Howlett’s goals are much more in-depth. He looks forward to sending more players abroad, helping them receive scholarships, keeping them on track to graduate on time, and helping to get them more involved on campus and in the community. Coach Howlett explained his goals for soccer and beyond as simply a “greater overall demand” for himself and his team… along with securing a much-needed indoor facility for the entire campus to enjoy.