It is less than 24 hours after an exasperating weekend for the NIU soccer team, but coach Willy Roy is all smiles.

But that is nothing unusual for Roy, who finds time for a joke anytime, anywhere.

Freshman and son Willy Roy Jr. says the humor is just part of the coach’s psychology.

“It’s one way he loosens the guys up,” the younger Roy said.

The coach must be doing something right, as it is nearly impossible to find one of his players with a negative word about him.

Sophomore Jim Corno tried to summarize the Huskies’ feelings toward Roy.

“My opinion is about the same as everyone else’s. He’s such a great guy,” Corno said. “He loves to tell stories and he always has a joke for us after practice.”

But sometimes Roy’s jokes can get personal. During the match against New Mexico last Saturday, Roy had a few choice pieces of sarcasm for his players.

“Jimmy, we’re not warming up the goalkeeper,” Roy hollered to Corno after his 35-yard shot looped softly toward the NMU goalie.

Later in the same contest, Roy picked on sophomore goalie Jeff Tweedell, freshman Mark Baltyn and senior co-captain Helge Abrahamsen.

“Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Mark, Helge,” Roy shouted as a Lobo forward nearly scored after receiving a wide-open pass.

Asked if he thought his sideline comments—Roy talks to anyone who will listen while the game is in progress—might interfere with the team’s concentration, the coach responded in typical fashion.

“The moment I don’t have to do any coaching then I know I have a great team,” he said.

oy is the consummate talker. Wherever there is an audience, the coach is ready to talk soccer.

Sophomore Mike Farnham said, “When we go on a roadtrip, people love to sit and talk with him. He’s got a great sense of humor.”

More than strictly soccer, Roy loves to talk about people.

Discussing laid-back sophomore Preben Halle, the Huskie mentor said, “I visualize him in a bikini on a beach some day.”

Senior John O’Keefe was described by Roy as being “a straight-man for a comedy team.”

Some of the players were not sure what Roy would be like having come from the Chicago Sting.

“I think we were afraid of what he might expect from us since he had been a pro coach before,” Corno said.

oy concurred, saying, “I think the players were a little afraid of me at first, but we have an open relationship now.”

During an interview, Roy stops to answer the phone.

“Joe’s Pizza, Willy Roy speaking.”

A high school prospect’s coach is on the other end of the line and Roy quickly turns from joker to public relations expert. He invites the coach to bring his whole team out to the Huskies’ next game.

“It’s a Saturday night match, we’ll have a good crowd on hand, Karl Heinz-Granitza will be here. You’ll have a great time,” Roy says.

More than just being a humorous guy who knows how to sell soccer, Roy is at his finest when he is coaching.

“He can read a game very well,” Roy Jr. said. “He can read people and say what their positive and negative points are.”

While his players agree their coach is an excellent strategist, Roy is a psychologist as well.

“You have to treat each player individually,” Roy said. “I think the biggest thing a coach has to do is be honest with his players. They don’t always have to agree with me though.”

Despite the team’s 3-4-1 record, there is still a lot of hope for improvement.

“I feel now we’re starting to have a team concept,” Roy said. “We are looking like a team.”

Willy Jr. thought the Huskies had changed their attitude since the start of the year.

“At the beginning, I thought we wouldn’t be anything,” he said. “Now we go on the road and the team feels like, ‘Hey, let’s win some games.'”

The Huskies will find out if that new attitude can be transformed to victories this weekend when they travel to Macomb for the Illinois Governor’s Cup Tournament.