Although Scot Etling is not originally from Portage County, he has grown accustomed to the gritty nature that is Portage County soccer over his 25 years as a soccer coach. After a two-year stint as the Crestwood Red Devils boys’ soccer coach, Etling is returning to take over as the new girls’ soccer coach as publicly announced on April 21.
“I have not met the team or met anybody yet,” Etling said. “It is nice in the aspect that we had a lot of success the last time I was here, so I am hoping to carry that over to the girls.”
Etling previously served as the boys’ head coach from 2018-2019, leading the Red Devils to a Portage Trail Conference County Division banner in 2018 and also as the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Warren district runners-up. Etling was also named the PTC County Division Coach of the Year, the Portage County Coach of the Year and the Greater Akron Area Soccer Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
“We had an exceptional amount of players and the really meaningful part of it was that we only had 14 players but those 14 players played really well together and they were able to do some things that I don’t even think they thought they were capable of doing,” the first-year coach noted. “We had a great goalie at the time and some great offense.”
It is the first high school head coaching job that Etling has since last serving as the Ravenna Ravens girls’ soccer coach for the 2019 season. While serving as a girls’ varsity assistant coach at Norton, Etling coached youth soccer in Cuyahoga Falls and also coached travel soccer during that span. He acknowledged that during his time in Summit County, he began to miss being a high school soccer coach.
According to Etling, when he learned from former girls’ Coach Eric Sway that he was leaving the program, he decided to apply for the girls’ head coaching job. In the course of his 25-year coaching career, Etling has become accustomed to coaching both boys and girls.
In fact, the former Crestwood boys’ coach acknowledged that he developed an affinity for coaching girls’ soccer more than boys’ because of how the female athletes had a more tactical approach to the game.
“They want to know every detail of why they have to do what they have to do but that is a good thing,” he noted. “I would always have somebody ask me a lot of questions and trying to learn.”
Etling inherits a girls’ soccer program that will have a lot of holes to fill in the wake of graduating a big senior class. He said that the team’s depth may be tested at the beginning of the 2025 campaign but is embracing the challenge of reigniting the program.
“The kids are encouraged and enthusiastic about coming out and playing, learning and developing,” he said. “I was looking for something specific and Crestwood already fit the bill for me and like I said, I already had some familiarity and some success with them.”
Originally from Stow, Etling began competing in soccer when he was old enough to kick a soccer ball and was a three-year varsity starter in high school. His coaching career did not begin until his daughter developed an interest in soccer and he coached her as part of a recreation league for six years.
Etling’s first high school coaching job came in Portage County when he became the Ravenna boys’ soccer coach, where he spent six seasons. Following his tenure with the Ravens, he moved onto coach girls’ soccer at Akron Firestone High School for a year, then jumped over to coach the Cuyahoga Falls girls’ soccer program for three seasons.
He then moved on to Crestwood in 2017 and enjoyed great success with the Red Devil boys. Although Etling split time between Summit and Portage County soccer, he said he appreciated the hustle that Portage County soccer brought.
Having now returned to Mantua, Etling said that he is looking forward to setting foot in Jack Lambert Stadium again.
“The older you get, you miss being under the lights and playing soccer because it brings back all of my high school memories,” he said. “That is one of the things that I would really like to relay to the kids somehow, appreciate this while you have it because you only get 64 games your whole high school career minimally and they go by fast.”
