DETROIT (7/7/2020) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer team has watched several great players go through its program throughout its history and one of those standouts made the climb to the professional level and Major League Soccer in local product Adam Bedell '14.
Bedell became the first player in program history to be drafted into Major League Soccer when he was selected by the Columbus Crew with pick No. 45 in the third round of the 2014 MLS Superdraft. He played in 16 games with the Crew during the 2014 season, scoring two goals for the Columbus squad and starting in seven games during his first season in professional soccer.
Bedell, who finished his Titan career with 23 goals, 22 assists and 68 points -- all sixth in school history, was the 2012 Horizon League Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. He helped lead the Titans to a Horizon League regular-season championship in 2012, when the squad finished 6-1 in HL play and 10-9 overall.
Bedell was a high school standout at nearby Livonia Churchill and was two-time First Team All-Horizon League, Second Team All-Region in 2012 and the Detroit Mercy President's Award winner within the Athletic Department as a senior in 2013-14.
DetroitTitans.com talked with Adam Bedell via phone interview.
Q: To start off, tell us a little bit about where you are now and what you're up to?
Bedell: "I'm in school, I went back after my soccer career and I'm back in PT school, getting my doctorate degree in Physical Therapy. I am currently at Ohio State University down in Columbus. I'm finishing up my last year, so I'll be done next May. Wrapping it up, doing clinical rotations and things like that.
"You never really plan for what's after your playing career because you are so involved with that, but PT was always something that I thought I might be interested in, from a young age with injuries. I always had the passion to play soccer, but once my soccer career ended, when I was thinking about what do I want to do now, I kind of reverted back to the PT thing and went from there. As for Columbus, I really fell in love with the city, I really enjoyed it. I met my wife there, I put down some roots there. Ohio State was generous enough to admit me to their school for PT."
Q: Take us back to the moment when you were drafted, what that moment was like, was it something you had envisioned and what was it like overall?
Bedell: "It's funny, I think a lot of people when they make it to the professional level, they'll say that they had been dreaming about this since they were a kid. I never had any thoughts of grandeur when I was 10, 11 or 12 years old, thinking I'm going to play in the MLS or in professional sports. That kind of started in college with (Titan head coach) Nick Deren, speaking with him and really realizing that maybe I can give this a shot. When I did get drafted, it was in 2014 in January, I was actually home alone. My parents were working and I was just kind of following the draft. It was in the third round, so I was just following the draft online and I got the phone call that they were going to take me in the third round and it was a lot of fun to see my name pop up on the screen and make it a reality. I got to celebrate with myself (laughing). I still remember that moment. It was surreal and exciting."
Q: Take us through your journey as a Titan, getting on the campus, starting out as a defender and eventually moving to the front line later on in your career.
Bedell: "I did have an interesting career at Detroit Mercy, being a defender and sort of a holding midfielder most of my career, really a center back towards the end. That's how I was recruited for coach Deren and he wanted me to play there. I played there for my first two years and I think if you talk to Deren he would say that I always had an eye for the goal even as a defender. I see myself as a really good finisher, even as a defender when I started out. I just did a call with him and the current Titan team about a month or so now and we discussed my transition to playing more of an attacking mid/forward role and looking back on it, it was fortuitous for me, but I think it was just based on the team's needs at the time. We didn't really have that threat going forward and that play-making ability. We were losing games 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1. We weren't scoring enough goals, so coach Deren made the change to put me into more of an attacking mid and forward role and the rest is history.
"We did really, really well my junior year and won the league, which was really exciting. But I remember starting my junior year, I played the first two games at center back and I think we lost. I remember playing IUPUI and we lost 2-0 on the road and we didn't have many scoring opportunities. Coach said enough was enough. I was a little resistant to the move initially because I was comfortable as a center back, that's what I had been recruited for, that's what I want to excel at, but once I got over that initial resistance and things started happening. I started scoring and we were playing well, I said well maybe this can work."
Q: Can you tell us a little about your Zoom call with the current team and what were some of the messages that you shared with them?
Bedell: "It was good to talk with the current team. I think it's important to engage with the guys that are at the University. My biggest message to them was the first thing was the effort. Every time you go out on the field, whether it's practice or a game, you need to be ready to put full effort in because coach Deren isn't going to tolerate anything less than your best. Everyone is going to make mistakes on the field. I've made countless mistakes, but it's always that grit and determination to win the ball back when you lose it and making sure that you're giving 100-percent effort, to have no regrets after you step off the field after the final whistle.
"And the other thing that I talked to them about, and I think one of the things that made us so successful as a team back in my junior year (in 2012) was that everyone kind of knew their role. They played within the team and they were able to excel within that role and that made us all a better collective team. A lot of times with bad teams, you have a lot of individuals and they do their own thing. With that (2012) team in particular, we all individually were very talented, but we knew what our role was, coach Deren made it very clear, we all followed it, excelled in our roles and it made us very successful."
Q: Diving into your playing career with the Columbus Crew and in the MLS, talk a little bit about what the journey was like and talk about maybe the first time entering a game?
Bedell: "It was a short journey when you think about a typical soccer career or when you think about really successful, famous athletes. But it was a good two years playing in the MLS and abroad. As for the Crew, I really have nothing but fond memories of playing with them. Obviously, there are trials and tribulations as you go through it, with getting loaned out and playing one week and then not playing the next, but really, really good memories to look back on.
"As for my first game, I remember it was the first game of the season and I had no thoughts that I was going to travel with the team. We were away at D.C. United to start the season and I was shocked. We were getting a meal after the last training before we traveled and (head coach) Gregg Berhalter came up to me and said, 'Adam, you're going on the trip' and obviously I didn't jump up and scream like a 10-year-old, but inside I was. I was really excited to just be able to travel. I felt like I had really earned that through my work in preseason in earning a contract. I was ecstatic and able to get into the game for about five minutes at the end of the game. My brother and my dad were in the stands, they drove down to be there.
"I still remember just running onto the field for the first time. Funny story actually, before you get subbed in any match, you go over the markings and things for set pieces and where you're supposed to be and everything and I must have completely blacked out when I was going over that with one of the coaching staff. I got onto the field and I got subbed on a corner (kick) and I got there and I was like, 'oh no, who am I supposed to mark?' So I was just trying to find the nearest person that was unmarked and I was just like 'I hope they don't score, I hope they don't score.' We ended up winning the game 3-0, so glad I didn't make myself look like an idiot in my first five minutes on the field. That was my first introduction to the MLS. It was a really special moment, really special to have my family there."
Q: How about your first goal in the MLS?
Bedell: "Yeah, the first goal was incredible too. Another one of those situations where I traveled with the team and didn't really expect to play much a part in the game. But it was early in the first half, maybe 15-20 minutes in and starting center-forward at the time, Jairo Arrieta, got injured. I think he pulled his hamstring. Berhalter told me to warm up and he put me in the game and you don't really know what to expect. I think it was my first real introduction to playing extended minutes in my first season. I just tried to take all of the information and guidance that I had been getting in that first year from the coaching staff, especially from Josh Wolff, teaching me certain movement patterns and things that they wanted to see out of their center-forwards, tried to apply it and it actually resulted in a goal in the first half. I scored a nice volley against (New York Red Bulls goalkeeper) Luis Robles. It was exciting and my brother was actually in New Jersey at the time for school and he drove to Red Bull Arena and I got him a ticket to the game and he was there for my first goal. So he got to see my first minutes on the field and he got to see my first goal too, so that was pretty exciting to have my family at those things."
Q: What are some of your fondest memories that you have being a Titan and do you follow the team?
Bedell: "I have a lot of fond memories from college in general at Detroit Mercy. The team, it really is a brotherhood, like it is any team that you play on, some more than others, but with UDM especially. That junior season was just exceptional with some of the guys that were seniors that year, like Pat Lepera, Tom Allott and Mike Chiandussi and some of those other guys that I played with that were a year or two above me and really taught us about the physicality and showed us the ropes on how to play. And then being able to fit in with that team and being able to win the league, that was a lot of fun. Obviously, wish we could have won the (Horizon League) tournament to go the NCAA Tournament, but that junior year for me was probably the most exciting time.
"But I have just really good, fond memories of Detroit Mercy as a whole and having (Nicholas) Deren as a coach. I don't think he gets enough credit for what he's done for that program. I still think there's a lot of work that can be done to make it a consistent contender in the Horizon League, but I owe a lot of my success to him in developing me as a player and just managing me in a proper way that made me excel. I have fond memories of the team, but also of coach Deren as well. I feel like every time I get to talk with him, it's a blast from the past and it's really, really enjoyable."
