Nevada didn't even have a women's soccer team last season.

	Pibulvech twice led Colorado College to the NCAA final before launching programs at Washington, Texas and Nevada.

And yet, the Wolf Pack have one of college soccer's greatest coaching icons leading the way this fall.

Dang Pibulvech, who led Colorado College to the NCAA title game in 1986 and 1989 and once served as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's national team, is one-third of the way through the inaugural season at Nevada, where the women's soccer team is off to a 2-5 start.

Although the Wolf Pack are currently riding a two-game losing streak and has been outscored 19-9 in their young season, Pibulvech welcomes the challenge of launching a new program.

"I have always considered myself a teacher and a coach," said Pibulvech, who brought a 186-96-21 all-time record to Nevada. "It doesn't matter if I'm building a new program, I just look forward to teaching kids to play soccer the right way."

Starting from scratch is old hat for Pibulvech. After leading Colorado College to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, Pibulvech headed to Seattle, where he headed up Washington's inaugural class in 1991. In three seasons under Pibulvech, the Huskies played some of the toughest schedules in the country, and at one point reached No. 8 in the national polls.

Pibulvech left UW after the 1993 season to help start the program at Texas, where he spent five seasons (1994-98) before resigning.

Pibulvech's résumé extends internationally as well. After spending several years as a coach within the Olympic Development program, he was eventually named head coach for Region IV, which encompasses the 14 western states. Pibulvech also had a couple stints as an assistant coach for the women's national team when Anson Dorrance was the U.S. coach.

Still, Pibulvech is perhaps best known for his collegiate success at Colorado College, where he was hired for his first head coaching job after three seasons as an assistant at Central Florida. In 1983, five years after Colorado College's program attained varsity status -- and just two seasons after scholarships were first allocated -- Pibulvech took over the Tigers, and quickly produced an unbeaten season as CC went 14-0-2.

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A year later, the Tigers earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Colorado College placed second in 1986 and 1989, suffering 2-0 losses to perennial powerhouse North Carolina in both finals.

Does Pibulvech miss those days?

"I miss them in terms of the quality of the teams and taking them to the Final Four, but there are a lot of coaches out there who are chasing something I've already caught," he said. "Getting back to the Final Four is important to me, but I'm also patient enough to wait for my time to come around again, to build this program and to build it properly go get back there.

"And at the same time, having been there has humbled me. Not too many people have done it, and it has humbled me to know the reality of coaching on that level of success."

But while there have been many highlights, Pibulvech has survived some bumps along the road as well. After leaving the Longhorns, a disheartened Pibulvech "stopped watching the game" for some time. It wasn't until after spending last season at Colorado, where he assisted longtime friend Austin Daniels, that the coaching bug struck again.

"Spending time at CU was a big plus for me," said Pibulvech, who helped the Buffaloes win the Big 12 championship last season. "The group of players there inspired me to continue."

So far, the season is young at Nevada, but Pibulvech sees progress. For now, the Wolf Pack are a "50-50 mix" of scholarship players and walk-ons.

"We have some very good, quality people, and it's nothing that time and recruiting won't heal. It's just a matter of process right now," said Pibulvech, who has been allocated 12 scholarships. "If you ask me if we play good, effective and attractive soccer, I'd say we're about 50 percent there.

"But the good part is that I'm blessed with people who want to learn,"

The best part, Pibulvech said, is that he enjoys every step of the way.

"I come to work happy every day, and I leave work even happier," he said. "Starting some of these programs has made me a stronger and better coach. The challenge is there. And in the end, the rewards are much stronger."

"And I'm able to build this team the way I see it needs to be done from all my past experiences. I have a good group of kids here, and for what it's worth, they're working hard."

Tigers burn bright against Tar Heels
Since 1994, when the Clemson women's soccer program first launched, Ray and Tracey Leone have been side by side. Although Tracey served as the team's head coach with her husband as an assistant for the first five years of the program, the Leones were co-head coaches in 1999.

It was just unfortunate timing then that Tracey was thousands of miles away when the Tigers posted one of their most historic wins in program history last week.

Tracey, who is taking a leave of absence to serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team, didn't find out about Clemson's 2-1 upset of No. 1 North Carolina on Wednesday until hours after the game was over.

"Tracey has been setting her alarm at 2 in the morning to call us from Sydney," Ray Leone said. "When she found out (about the win), she cried. She was just going crazy. It was such an emotional thing."

Indeed. Only one team had ever been able to beat the perennial powerhouse Tar Heels in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and UNC had won 37 consecutive ACC matches since a 3-2 loss to Duke on Oct. 19, 1994.

Better yet, Clemson is off to a school-best 8-0 start after Sunday's 4-0 win over Western Carolina.

Still, Ray Leone says Clemson is just gearing up.

"I don't feel like we've hit our stride yet. Every game we feel like we can do better than that," he said. "Obviously we're trying to find a way to win while still developing our team's style, but I don't' think we've completely found it yet.

"But for this team, for these girls, this is as big as it gets. It's sad that Tracey didn't see it."

Melanie Jackson is the college sports editor at ESPN.com.