After guiding Cal Poly Pomona to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001 this past season, Isabelle Harvey is leaving the Broncos staff to head the women’s program at CCAA rival Cal State Los Angeles.

It is a definite blow, especially this late in the school year. Athletic director Brian Swanson now begins the process of finding a replacement, possibly an interim coach if the search doesn’t move quickly. And they rarely do.

During Harvey’s seven years at CPP, the Broncos compiled marks of 59-55-17 overall while going 41-51-14 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.

It won’t be unfamiliar territory for Harvey, who began her coaching career at Cal State L.A. as interim head coach in 2002 for the men’s and women’s soccer teams before holding the top assistant position for both programs in the 2003 and 2004 campaigns.

Harvey, a native of Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Canada, had an outstanding playing career, both at the collegiate level and internationally. She played at USC from 1996 through 2000 and is the only player in the program’s history to earn All-America honors all four seasons. She led the Trojans to the NCAA playoffs three times in those four years.

As a member of the Canadian National Team at the 1999 Women’s World Cup, Harvey started all three games for Canada and registered two assists. She currently ranks 13th in Canadian history with 44 international caps and most recently represented Canada at the 2004 Four Nations Tournament in China.

It will be interesting what happens when a coach at a new a school is playing against the one they left and the players they recruited. Awkward, no doubt. But coaches moving on is just part of the game.

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