Pitt women's soccer coach Randy Waldrum leads Team Nigeria into Olympic Games

Randy Waldrum is well aware of the challenges his Nigerian women’s soccer team will confront in Bordeaux, France, when the Olympic Games get underway Thursday.

“We don’t have the resources that the U.S. team has,” said Waldrum, who also has coached Pitt’s women’s team since 2018. “We don’t have the technology (including the widely used GPS monitoring system that tracks an athlete’s workload).

“We’re kind of like old-time journalists with pencil and paper where everybody else is using I-pads.”

But he’s pleased with what the Nigerians have accomplished, qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

“I’m really proud of this accomplishment, whatever happens with the games,” he said, speaking to TribLive from Bordeaux. “I know what the U.S. has. I know the staffing they have is unbelievable in numbers, and there are three of us. But to see how well these players have responded is a big credit to them.”

Waldrum has helped place Nigerian soccer back on the world stage. But how did Pitt’s coach find a connection to the most populous nation in Africa (218.5 million people)?

The answer speaks to his reputation in the soccer community. He was head coach at Tulsa and Baylor before leading Notre Dame to 292 victories and two national championships in 14 years (2004, ’10). He also has coached professional athletes with the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League.

One day, when he was between jobs, he received a call from the president of U.S. Soccer, who asked if Waldrum would be interested in an opportunity in Nigeria. Somehow, news leaked that he was hired for the job while, in fact, he had no formal offer.

“My phone started blowing up, people congratulating me for being named coach of the Nigerian National Team,” he said. “These articles were coming out of Nigeria. I had not once heard from Nigeria at that time. I kept trying to reach them for a couple months. I didn’t hear anything. That’s why I came to Pitt.”

Two years later, the Nigerian team finally got around to hiring him, and he suddenly had two jobs.

He’s in Nigeria four or five times a year, he said, and in his absence, he hands off Pitt responsibilities to his son, Ben, the Panthers’ associate head coach.

“I probably wouldn’t have taken this on if it weren’t for him,” he said. “Anytime I leave, I know (Pitt’s team) is in good hands. Honestly, I couldn’t do this without (Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke) seeing the benefits that it brings to Pitt and the university in general and our sport. She was very good about being open about this and allowing me to do it.”

At Pitt, Waldrum took a team that was 3-12-3 and winless in the ACC the season before he arrived and turned it into one of the nation’s best. His team set a school record for victories (11) in 2020, and either matched or bettered that total in each subsequent season, reaching the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in ’22 (14-5-3) and Elite 8 in ’23 (17-6-1). He will enter the 2024 season with 461 career victories at four schools.

Plus, he was able to build a pipeline of talent from Nigeria. Olympian Deborah Abiodun, a Nigerian native, started 19 games for Pitt last season, scoring six goals, with three assists, as a freshman. Also, Waldrum has recruited Nigerian Celine Ottah, who is out with a knee injury.

“Part of it, selfishly, helps me open up doors in that country,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun watching Debbie grow as a person. She handled the adjustment really well. I expect her to have a really big part (in the Olympics). I think she is going to open up a lot of eyes around the world with her play.”

If he was forced to pick, Waldrum considers Spain the favorite to win the gold medal, but the U.S. is not far behind, he said.

“If you ask people in the U.S., they’ll say the U.S. will be favored to win it.”

Nigeria will compete in a group Waldrum believes — and it would be hard to argue — is the most difficult in the tournament. The team opens Thursday against Brazil, the South American champion. Others in the four-team group are Spain, the No. 1 team in the world, and Japan, the Asian champ. All three are ranked in the FIFA Top 10.

Because soccer is staged in Bordeaux, nearly six hours from Paris, the teams will not be part of the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night. But that’s a small price to pay for Waldrum and his team, one of only 12 in the world to qualify for the Olympics. The big news is the national pride the team has created in Nigeria.

“They were ecstatic when we finally qualified,” he said.

Here is a list of men and women with Pitt connections who will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, France, in a variety of positions:

• Deborah Abiodun, women’s soccer. Abiodun is a rising sophomore at Pitt. She started in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup playing for the Nigerian National Team under Pitt coach Randy Waldrum and played at the U20 World Cup in 2022.

• Kathryn Nesbitt, soccer match official. Nesbitt earned a doctorate in chemistry from Pitt in 2015. She was among the first handful of women referees who worked at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and the Women’s World Cup Final in 2023.

• Jayla Pina, a swimmer, will represent the African island nation of Cape Verde. A junior at Pitt, she will make her second appearance at the Olympic Games after competing in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She will compete in the 200 IM on Aug. 2 at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris. Born in the U.S., she has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Cape Verde.

• Mercedes Walker will represent the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan in women’s 3-x-3 basketball. Walker played basketball at Pitt from 2004-08 and is the school’s all-time leading rebounder (1,162) and sixth all-time scorer (1,870 points).

• Ashley Koto, physical therapist and athletic trainer for USA gymnastics, earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Pitt in 2006.

• Christie-Lee Coad, co-head athletic trainer for U.S. track and field, attended Pitt from 2008-10, earned a master’s degree in sports medicine and was a graduate assistant for athletic training. She was at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

• Ed Strapp, a volunteer medical provider for Team USA, graduated from Pitt in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in exercise and sports medicine with a specialization in athletic training. He is a Maryland state trooper and flight paramedic.

• Jack Reynolds, who has been the technical director for the Men’s and Women’s World Cups and directs ACC Network games, graduated from Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in 2021.

• Josh Feldman will be running playback for ESPN. He graduated from the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in 2023.