Ben McArthur

The interim tags are gone.

Hired this spring as interim men’s and women’s soccer coaches at Northwest College, Ben McArthur (men) and Aaron Miller (women) now have full-time coaching status in their respective sports.

The announcement was made last week by Brian Erickson, NWC athletic director. Both coaches were hired late in the spring and made strides in improving their programs.

“Coach Miller came into a program that hadn’t won games in two years. He started something that he will continue to build on,” said Erickson. “Coach McArthur did a wonderful job of recruiting and building a strong culture. We are excited about having them a part of our staff.”

Both the men’s and women’s programs missed out on the post-season playoffs this fall, but closed their seasons with wins in their final matches. The Trapper men (7-8-1 on the year, 5-8 in Region IX) topped Central Wyoming College 4-2 in the season finale at Riverton.    The Trapper women (4-12, 1-8 in Region IX) went into overtime to beat CWC 4-3 in their final outing at Riverton.

“It’s good,” said McArthur, of moving beyond the interim status. “Now I can focus on recruiting to build the program. Having an athletic director like Brian Erickson who believes in you and has ideas and a vision to improve” makes the college a nice place to work, McArthur said.

“My wife and I like Powell, and we want to be close to her parents, who live in Cody,” he said, adding that, “the school system is fantastic.”

Miller was equally happy about his full-time status coming out of follow-up, postseason interviews.

“I am happy to be here at the college,” he said. Now having been at NWC for roughly seven months, “I’m learning more about the college each day,” Miller said.

“The girls had a good season,” he said. “I’ve already been out recruiting heavily. I’ve been committed to it.”