Elmar Bolowich coached North Carolina to a third straight College Cup last year and then unexpectedly left the prestigious job he held for 22 years to go to a school far from the sport's American hotbeds.
Turned out to be a shrewd move.
Bolowich is back in the NCAA men's semifinals, this time with Creighton, and he's on a collision course with his old team.
If the No. 2-seeded Bluejays (21-2) beat unseeded Charlotte (16-4-3) on Friday in Hoover, Ala., and the No. 1 Tar Heels (20-2-2) follow with a win over No. 13 UCLA (18-4-1), Creighton and North Carolina will play for the championship Sunday.
The 57-year-old Bolowich plays down the storyline. Maryland's Sasho Cirovski, who coached against Bolowich for 18 years in the Atlantic Coast Conference, does not.
''It speaks volumes for him to go to Creighton and get them over the hump and get them back in the College Cup,'' Cirovski said. ''For the last three years he's been to the College Cup with UNC and now he goes with a different team? That's a huge accomplishment.''
It's not as if Bolowich took over a downtrodden program with no tradition. The Bluejays have been in the NCAA tournament 19 of the last 20 years and will be making their fourth appearance in the College Cup.
Still, his move from the powerful ACC to the Missouri Valley Conference sent shock waves through the college soccer community. Bolowich was an institution on the East Coast, and he worked for a major university synonymous with soccer success on both the men's and women's sides.
Bolowich said he was drawn to Omaha because Creighton, as a university and community, has a passion for soccer. The Bluejays have ranked in the top 10 nationally in attendance eight straight years at 6,000-seat Morrison Stadium, which is regarded as one of the nation's finest soccer-specific venues.
''When you're looking in from the outside, you think, `Oh, what kind of a move is this?''' Bolowich said. ''When you're in the know about resources, facilities, history of the program and so forth, then maybe you understand.''
Bolowich explained further, pointing out that North Carolina has 28 sports, and football is the big one in the fall. Creighton, on the other hand, has 14 sports, and there is no football. Soccer is the school's athletic focus until basketball season.
''You feel more important being at a school like Creighton with a soccer program,'' he said. ''This is my profession. This is my pride and joy. I only have one career.''
At North Carolina, he had to share his facility with the men's and women's lacrosse and track teams, and the grass field was used for summer football camps. The facility was open all day every day so faculty members could run on the track.
''That was always a thorn in my eye,'' he said, ''because we were the only facility in the ACC that was not secured and locked up.''
Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen said he was surprised, but only a little bit, when Bolowich expressed interest the job. Rasmussen said he wasn't shocked because he considers Creighton to be among the top four or five soccer jobs in the nation.
The Bluejays were in the market for a coach last January after Jamie Clark left for Washington.
Rasmussen said he had a message to call Bolowich, and he figured the coach wanted to recommend one of his assistants or someone he knew.
When Bolowich said he, himself, wanted the job, Rasmussen invited Bolowich and his wife to visit campus on what turned out to be one of the coldest and snowiest weekends of the winter.
''In spite of that,'' Rasmussen said, ''he accepted the job.''
In 22 years, Bolowich coached the Tar Heels to 15 NCAA tournaments, four College Cup appearances and the 2001 national championship. His last two teams won ACC championships.
''He was running one of the best programs in the country, won a national title and was in the game with any recruit in the country at any time,'' Maryland's Cirovski said. ''He certainly was one of the bluebloods of college soccer. To see him go to another blueblood was initially a shock, but once you spoke to him, you could see where it made some sense.''
Bolowich has won over the fans with an attacking style of play on both ends of the field. The Bluejays take an 11-game win streak into the national semifinals - a place Bolowich could only imagine being at the start of the season.
''You cannot think that it will happen but you can hope it might happen,'' he said. ''It was wishful thinking on my part coming in. I figured after the spring season we would have a pretty good team. That doesn't guarantee you anything, obviously.
''The guys have been extremely good and receptive and they worked very diligently and hard. We've earned our position. It has surpassed my expectations.''
Creighton leads the NCAA with 21 wins, 18 shutouts and a .913 winning percentage. The Bluejays are the nation's top defensive team, ranking first in goals against average (0.21) and save percentage (.923).
Goalkeeper Brian Holt earned his NCAA-record 43rd career shutout in last Sunday's 1-0 overtime win over South Florida in the quarterfinals. Holt and forward Ethan Finlay are among 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy.
North Carolina hired nine-year assistant Carlos Somoano to replace Bolowich, and the Tar Heels didn't skip a beat this season.
The Tar Heels won the ACC regular-season and tournament championships and are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history.
''I'm pleased to see their success,'' Bolowich said. ''I felt all along when I left that, with the recruiting we put together, that this (Carolina) team could make another run to the College Cup for sure. I'm glad to see this has happened under Carlos' leadership now.''
Bolowich, one of 10 coaches to appear in four straight College Cups but the first to do it with two different schools, said he has no mixed feelings about a potential meeting with his former team on Sunday.
''If we do collide, we collide,'' Bolowich said. ''It's just a game. At that point it's a championship game. You're not so focused on who you're playing. The event is itself of great magnitude.''
