California women’s soccer coach Neil McGuire has resumed his coaching duties following a short departure from the team due to ‘personal business.’

As reported by the Daily Californian, McGuire made an impromptu resignation following his team’s 1-0 loss to Sacramento State on Friday – apparently so upset after the game that he told his squad in the locker room he was done.

While McGuire declined to go into details Tuesday, he did admit to making a mistake and said only time will tell how his time away from the team affects the future.

“There were some profoundly difficult personal challenges that made life a little difficult and made it tougher to do my duties professionally,” McGuire told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “It was a perfect storm of situations and I’m sorry and apologize for putting the players in that situation.

 

“Hopefully in time the anger and hurt (from the players) will subside. I’m very motivated to be the coach of this team. I love this job and it’s a tremendous team.”

California released a statement announcing the return of McGuire with Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour stating: “Neil McGuire is the right coach of our program. I felt that more than two years ago when I hired him and feel that today.”

In the absence of McGuire, assistant volunteer coach Kelly Lindsey was forced to take over the program during Sunday’s 1-1 double overtime tie with Santa Clara. But apparently after some discussion with the school’s administration, McGuire returned to his post at the start of the week.

In his third year at the helm, McGuire is 31-17-3 overall and the Golden Bears are 6-3-1 this season. Currently 24th in TopDrawerSoccer’s women’s ranking, the program already has its share of challenges while dealing with injuries and competing in one of the top conferences in the country.

“This is going to test our character,” McGuire said. “Only time will tell.”