New Pine-Richland boys soccer coach Wiegand prepares for season

By: Kevin Lohman
Friday, August 2, 2019 | 6:32 PM

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Jordan Wiegand spent his high school years playing soccer for North Hills, and now he will lead one of his alma mater’s biggest rivals as he is preparing to enter his first season at the helm of the Pine-Richland boys soccer team.

Wiegand replaces longtime Rams coach Jon Connor, who stepped down after spending nearly 20 seasons across two separate stints as coach.

The former Indians athlete enjoyed success as coach of Deer Lakes and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic before taking over the Deer Lakes program again.

Last season, he helped lead the Lancers to a 21-2-1 record, including their first section title and PIAA tournament appearance.

Now, he will look to replicate that success at Pine-Richland.

“With any place that I’ve coached at thus far, you build strong relationships and invest a lot of time into it, and the kids do, too. It was pretty hard to leave after the year we had last year at Deer Lakes,” Wiegand said.

“But with that being said, coaching at Pine-Richland has always been a goal for me. It’s always been a model program, and I wanted to be challenged at that next level. The opportunity came along, and jobs like this don’t open up very often. With the support system, the school, the players and the boosters, it just felt like to right move to take on this challenge.”

Wiegand will lead the Rams in a competitive Section 1-AAAA that features typically strong programs such as Central Catholic, Fox Chapel, North Allegheny and Seneca Valley.

Pine-Richland is coming off of a season in which it finished second in the section with a 9-2-3 mark and an 11-5-3 overall record before bowing out of the WPIAL playoffs in the quarterfinals. Since then, the program lost 16 players to graduation. Still, Wiegand said he is eager to mold the program and take it to the next level.

“The words I always use with the team is that I want this to be a program with a dedicated and committed culture. I’m focused on where the program is now, and the imprint I want to put on the program will be different,” Wiegand said.

“I’m very excited to do that and create the culture that I’d like to see as we focus on boosting the program to new heights. Individually, I want these kids to develop and have success, and I want to see some of these kids move on and keep playing at the collegiate level.”

Tags: Pine-Richland