After the departure of five-year assistant coach Shigeyoshi "Sugar" Shinohara in the Spring, Sun Devil women's soccer coach Graham Winkworth was left with the task of finding someone to fill his shoes. Winkworth did this by doing something he didn't expect: hiring from within the program.
Ross Alexander had been the volunteer assistant of the team for three years and is now Winkworth's chosen assistant coach.
"Ross is a very likable, honest, and loyal type of person that I completely trust," Winkworth said. "I am excited to be able to bring him into a larger role with the team."
Alexander grew up in Falkirk, Scotland where soccer is woven into the fabric of daily life. He was introduced to the game at a very young age.
“My hometown club team, Falkirk Football Club, made the 1997 Scottish Cup Final,” said Alexander. “My parents took me to the game and I was only 3 years old at the time. It was my first soccer experience and I fell asleep at halftime. After that, I started going to games every week and I was hooked.”
Alexander's interest in soccer started when he was just five-years-old. His babysitter’s father was running a local team in Falkirk and brought him out to play. This forever changed the trajectory of Alexander's life.
"All I wanted to do was play soccer," Alexander said. "Every birthday and Christmas I would ask for a soccer ball. I had posters of my favorite players all over the walls of my room. My life was soccer all day, every day.”
Alexander began his playing career as a Pro Academy player for Falkirk Football Club, where he was a six-time captain. After one year with the Pro Academy team, Alexander got a taste of professional soccer.
Following two short stints with other Scottish Premier League teams, Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa came calling for Alexander.
During his time with the Grand View University Vikings, Alexander was a four-year starter and the captain of the team for three years. Even with all his success, including winning conference player of the year in 2014, Alexander struggled at first.
“My first year as captain we were terrible,” Alexander said. “It was our worst year as a team and it hit me hard. I was thrown into the deep end and had to learn as the season went on."
Following his playing career with the Vikings, Alexander returned to his high school in Falkirk, Graeme High School, to start his coaching career as a volunteer where it had started a performance school for the best players in the region.
“The kids would work with national team coaches at the time,” said Alexander. “Being exposed to that level of youth soccer and coaching was massive for a young coach like me.”
Alexander returned to Grand View in 2015 as a graduate assistant with the men’s soccer program. He had to balance his friendship with former teammates while also doing his job as a coach which made this transition difficult at first.
“The players would come to me with concerns and question everything," Alexander said. 'I was the middleman at the time. However, I was on the coaching side so I had to back what the coaches were doing and support the head coach which was a tough learning experience for me.”
At the same time, Alexander was getting his first experience coaching a professional women's team as an assistant coach for the Des Moines Menace of the WPSL.
After his time with the Menace and Grand View University, Alexander moved to Arizona in February 2018 to work with Phoenix Rising FC Youth Soccer Club.
Having been in the college game for so long, Alexander, who was pursuing a master's degree at ASU, wanted to stay involved and reached out to Winkworth.
“Graham opened the door for me,” said Alexander. “He told me to come down and chat with him. He told me what they were trying to do and if he thought I could help in any way. The entire coaching staff took me in and looked after me from then on out.”
Alexander spent the next three years as a volunteer assistant for the team, helping whenever and wherever he could.
Once Shinohara left the program to join USC, Winkworth began the search for a new assistant coach.
“We had a search committee involved in finding candidates for the assistant coach position which included a few players,” said Winkworth. “He (Ross) was a candidate but the committee had never considered that I might promote from within. Once they knew I had chosen Ross they were excited.”
Not only was the committee pleased, but so was the team.
“We were super happy when we found out the Ross was hired," said senior defender Lieske Carleer. “He had been on the sideline for three years and we were ready for him to finally be able to coach us. He fits right into our culture of not only being a team, but also a family."
Edited by Kathryn Field, Logan Stanley and Kristen Apolline Castillo.
Reach the reporter at bsilvyn@asu.edu and follow @BSilvyn on Twitter.
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Bennett Silvyn is a reporter for the sports desk at The State Press. He has previously worked for Walter Cronkite Sports Network and FC Tucson.
