UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman on Rob Dow heading to Penn State
Vermont athletic director Jeff Schulman spoke with local media on Thursday, Dec. 11, following the departure of men’s soccer coach Rob Dow.
The University of Vermont athletic department remains committed to keeping its men’s soccer program at a high level despite former head coach Rob Dow leaving Burlington for Penn State.
“It’s never easy to lose a great coach, colleague and leader, but Rob is a really thoughtful guy and took this decision really seriously,” Vermont athletic director Jeff Schulman said.
Brad Cole was named Dow’s successor on an interim basis.
Penn State wasn’t the first school to inquire about Dow for an open head-coaching position. According to Schulman, Penn State and Dow started having conversations around Thanksgiving. Dow and Schulman engaged in regular conversations throughout the last few weeks with the athletic director acknowledging that Dow would be a good candidate to land a higher-profile job.
“We worked really hard to make sure he felt valued by UVM and that we were committed as an institution to continue the success that we had,” Schulman said.
Dow was in the first year of a newly agreed, four-year contract with UVM. His base salary for the 2025-26 school year was $200,000, according to UVM’s online records, which was a jump from $150,000 in the prior year.
Dow was due to make $240,000 this year had he remained at UVM with supplemental compensation and a retention bonus. Dow, though, did earn bonuses for winning the America East tournament ($7,500) and earning a first-round NCAA Tournament bye ($5,000).
The men’s soccer team learned of Dow’s decision to leave on Wednesday, Dec. 10 in a team meeting. Dow, Schulman, associate athletic director Joe Gervais and Cole all spoke to the team before WCAX broke the news that Penn State and Dow were in “deep negotiations.”
The only known candidate for the job so far is Cole, who Schulman announced in the school’s press release will be getting an interview. If Cole gets the job, it would not be the first time that Vermont promoted an internal hire. Dow himself was on the Catamounts staff before getting the top job. Vermont men’s and women’s basketball head coaches John Becker and Alisa Kresge were both internal hires as well.
For the next Vermont men’s soccer coach, Schulman is looking for someone who shares the same values with the school and program.
“There’s a little bit of a secret sauce here when it comes to Vermont soccer,” Schulman said. “What allows us to be successful in Vermont is not the same as what some of the other programs that have had success at a national level has. So knowing the type of players and geographic areas we can recruit from… and getting the right North American players that fit our style.”
Schulman acknowledged that one of the main goals in this new era is retaining the talented players Vermont has on the roster and helping those players develop into professional caliber talent.
“We have done an amazing job at balancing an underdog mentality with high level elite talent,” Schulman said.
Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
