While the MSU men’s soccer players hustled in pregame drills for Sunday’s NCAA Tournament matchup with Indiana, head coach Joe Baum nonchalantly meandered across the field.

Baum’s relaxed attitude was surprising, considering the game was bigger than any the Spartans had played since Baum was on the team 32 years ago.

But behind that calm demeanor, Baum admitted he was living up the moment.

“It was a great feeling,” he said. “I think every student-athlete and every coach’s goal is to get into the NCAA Tournament. It was great because I had never been there as a coach.”

The last time the NCAA had incorporated the Spartans into the tournament was 1969, when the team lost to Cleveland State in the first round.

The previous two years the team had earned co-champion status in the tournament but after 1969, MSU’s participation in the tournament was put to a standstill.

Scorers such as All-American forwards Guy Busch and Tony Keyes provided the offense, but for defense, the team looked to Baum.

Baum still holds the team record for average goals allowed at .70 and holds the distinction of recording 12 shutouts in 15 games in 1968.

“To be honest, that statistic is misleading because I wasn’t tested that often,” he said. “My job was just to be reliable, not to make so many saves.”

After graduating in 1969, Baum began coaching the men’s team for MSU in 1977.

And starting in 1986, he coached the women’s team for the first five years of its existence until current head coach Tom Saxton, one of Baum’s former players, took the job.

Throughout his tenure as coach, Baum has been an oddity among coaches. He has encouraged the players to play for themselves rather than wait for him to berate them into performing, senior midfielder Anders Kelto said.

“In my opinion, he sees college soccer as being more or less in the hands of the players,” he said. “He recruits players that he thinks are capable of handling themselves responsibly. He sort of sees college soccer as being focused around the players.”

With a former goalie coaching the team, it may have been surprising to see creative scorers, such as former midfielder Damon Rensing, emerge on the team.

But Rensing, now an assistant coach, said Baum has learned how to show the offensive players skills even with his defensive background.

“Most college programs will tell you that you have to have defense to win,” he said.

“But lately, I’ve been really impressed with how he’s taught the players how to move with the ball.”

Throughout Baum’s coaching career, his main goal has never changed - make the NCAA Tournament.

But it wasn’t until this year that the team was able to follow through and bring Baum to the tournament for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

MSU entered the tournament as underdogs, but gave Baum respectable results, Rensing said.

“The tournament has been a goal all year, but the kids didn’t just want to get in, they wanted to make some noise,” he said. “We were able to beat Butler, and then we lost to Indiana, which is looking like it’s going to be another Final Four caliber team.”

Now with the best season in 32 years behind him, Baum can start to examine next year.

He will lose a couple of the key midfielders, such as Kelto and senior Steve Arce.

But with many of the key defenders and forwards returning, Baum said he hopes the team can sustain or surpass this year’s success in following seasons.

“I think we’ll be competitive, but there are a lot of question marks,” he said. “We’re optimistic, but until you see it you never know.”