How Soccer Star Mertz Exceeded Expectations to Win Big Ten's Top Award
5/1/2019 12:22:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Robbie Mertz highly valued and deeply appreciated the confidence University of Michigan soccer coaches conveyed while recruiting him, but that didn't stop him from questioning whether he could live up to their expectations.
While completing a form for the Big Ten's highest individual honor, he recalled his beginnings here and wrote: "I had so many doubts about my ability to succeed at such a large, prestigious school like Michigan."
Mertz had been overlooked by big-time programs because he was a pint-sized over-achiever, who, even when he filled out, leaves college at 5-foot-6, 155 pounds – small even for a soccer player.
However, the talented center midfielder who made All-Big Ten first team and was a two-time captain on a pair of NCAA Tournament-qualifying teams that won the program's first Big Ten championship, also departs with the Big Ten's Medal of Honor. It is awarded to one male and one female in every school's graduating class, and is considered the conference's "highest honor" because it requires considerable athletic, academic and community impact.
"To be honored in this way is amazing," Mertz said. "What the award represents is the greatest honor you can receive at the University of Michigan as a student-athlete. If you'd told me four years ago that I'd be winning it, I'd have literally told you that you were dreaming. But I put a lot of hard work into it, and I'm truly grateful that it worked out.
"Siobhan Haughey, who won the women's Medal of Honor for Michigan, has been in the Olympics (as a swimmer). I mean, she's incredible and her resume probably trumps mine, but it's incredible to be in that company. I also know some of the guys on the men's side who were nominated and they were great guys who also accomplished a lot at Michigan."
Mertz, now playing professionally for his hometown Pittsburgh Riverhounds, is a business administration major graduating from the Ross School of Business and volunteered in so many ways for so many organizations that you have to wonder whether his clock has more hours than the standard 24.
He was vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council as a senior, and helped plan and execute a leadership summit for underclassmen called Leaders for Life. Mertz also traveled to Vietnam in the spring of 2017 with the Let's Go Do International Experience team through the school's Leadership Development program, and traveled China last summer with Ross' Global Immersion program.
From left: Peter Brown (soccer), Maggie Bettez (field hockey) and Mertz during a 2017 trip to Vietnam
"We went to a Buddhist temple in Vietnam where they did rehabilitation for people with HIV," said Mertz. "I spoke with a monk there and asked questions. We went to a place where children who suffer from birth defects as a result of Agent Orange were in school. We met kids with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy who had such great attitudes, and they gave you such great joy. Some of what we did could get pretty emotional.
"The year before, we did field work in China. We visited a lot of companies there and learned about the regulatory environment, the innovation and how rapidly their economy is growing. That was spectacular."
He's also a member of the Delta Sigma Pi professional business fraternity and the local Athletes in Action chapter, which he wrote "aims to connect student-athletes with the gospel of Jesus Christ," and promoted soccer with that group at initiatives such as Kids Camps, Victors' Day and Operation Christian Child.
Mertz also combined with soccer teammates to adopt Aiden Hansen of Ann Arbor as the program's Team Impact teammate.
"He has a pretty severe form of autism where he's non-verbal and so his mom's with him every step of the way every day," said Mertz. "We got to know Aiden and his mom, Kelly, pretty well and they came to all of our games and practices. We hung out with Aiden, going bowling or swimming, to a car show in Detroit."
"I got to meet some incredible people along the way. They are people who will be friends for a long time to come. What motivated me to do so many things was the great joy I got out of meeting all these different people working on great things. I threw myself into it as much as I could."
Mertz also took the Wolverines to unprecedented heights as a driven leader who scored 30 points during his career with nine goals and eight assists, twice making the all-conference team.
"It gives me chills and I still get emotional when I think about the incredible road I took all the way back to high school," said Mertz, who helped lead Upper St. Clair High to state championships in 2012 and 2013 and was Pennsylvania's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015. "I might have been the big fish around (Pittsburgh), but I knew that I was not very highly recruited coming out of high school.
"But when Michigan came calling, I absolutely fell in love with the place. I had a pretty good relationship with my coaches (head coach Chaka Daley and assistant coach Tommy McMenemy) right off the bat. They were definitely the biggest program to contact me to that point, and (McMenemy) said, 'We wouldn't have you here if we didn't want you.' And so even when I went in as a freshman, when my expectations weren't super high, I knew I was going to work as hard as I could and try to make my way.
"But I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Still, that comment really stuck with me. It let me know they had confidence in me and what I was doing. They were great all the way through, constantly encouraging me and letting me know that what I was doing was positive. And I've always worked as hard as I can out of competitive spirit. I hate to lose more than anything."
Mertz said he decided to go to Michigan despite his initial doubts "because it was the greatest challenge I'd ever face" and he trusted that it was where God wanted him. He grew significantly and became the first men's soccer player to win the conference's highest individual honor.
"It's pretty humbling," noted Mertz.
And so the little dynamo persevered and excelled.
"Of all the sports," said Mertz, "soccer is the one that most accommodates smaller players. The best player of all-time is Lionel Messi and he's 5-foot-6."
Mertz chuckled and noted that he "was in no way comparing myself to Messi" but wanted to make that point. He strove to show his toughness right from the start and didn't shy away from "doing the dirty work" to help develop a winning team. He became better with his left foot and at ball striking. Though, he noted that his strengths became the "technical side" of the game and "ball skills" honed in practices.
"I really can't say enough about my relationship with Coach Daley," said Mertz. "More than being a soccer coach to me, he's been a mentor. He's really devoted to growing men, and is as good as it gets in building Michigan men. I still call him all the time. It took him a while to gain trust in me on the field, but once he did, we never looked back."
The Wolverines were 4-11-4 in his sophomore season, and Mertz and classmate Ivo Cerda were selected captains as juniors and seniors. They won the conference title in 2017 and became the second Michigan team to qualify for consecutive NCAA tourneys in 2018, posting 12-6-2 and 12-5-4 records the last two seasons.
"We had to create a new culture," said Mertz. "That was a necessity and the support of everyone on that team our junior year was incredible. We started to win and everything started to click. We became Big Ten champions and it was incredible. Everything had turned around. So, we felt really confident in our abilities to lead going into our senior years. We didn't win a ring again, but it was a fantastic season.
Mertz wrote in his Medal of Honor application:
"My senior year, I realized that another part of my purpose at Michigan was that people looked to me to lead. Tom Brady said that being named team captain at Michigan (in football) was the greatest honor he ever received. I understand that feeling now. I used to get the chills on the field in our games from time to time. Sometimes I'd get them from the sound of the crowd when we scored a goal, just because the environment was so exciting.
"But other times I'd get them just from the feeling of being a leader. I know that sounds crazy and, truthfully, it's hard to explain, but it came when I'd look into the eyes of my teammate or coach and feel the trust that they placed in me, the responsibility that I carried on my shoulders to be our fiercest competitor and best representative. These moments pushed me to a completely new level of focus and performance. They pushed me to go through the pain of training and the grind of studying because being a Michigan man meant excellence in everything you do. I thank my teammates and coaches for these moments; I truly love those guys, and it is my greatest hope that I've impacted them positively during my time here."
Mertz became an extra coach on the field.
"They (the coaches) allowed me the freedom and gave me the responsibility to understand the tactics and the game plans," said Mertz. "I always checked over my shoulder on the field to know where people were so I could communicate to others on the team. As a captain, I needed to know all that. So, the technical side was where I improved the most."
Mertz said "it was a little bit surreal" when he was named to the Big Ten's first team after his senior season.
The Mertz family (from left): Ryan, Kelly, Landy, Robbie, Leah and Rob
The ambition that Daley saw in Mertz as both a player and student paved his way to lofty honors. Mertz said his faith in God and his parents sparked that desire to succeed, and he always felt "competitive" in all endeavors. His father, Charles Robbins Mertz Sr., known as Rob, is a successful businessman just like Robbie's grandfather, Ched Mertz, and mother Kelly Mertz works at the University of Pittsburgh.
"God has blessed me greatly," said Charles Robbins Mertz Jr., who became Robbie. "And I became a better athlete, a better student and a better person at Michigan."
Robbie was asked for the source of his motivation on the Big Ten Medal of Honor application form.
"During my time at Michigan," he wrote, "I experienced both great victories and crushing defeats, both of which brought me to tears. It's this worthy cause that motivates me to be the best I can be."
He proved he could do so much more than even he envisioned, and set the standard for Michigan male student-athletes in a class that included numerous worthy candidates. Those choosing him for the Medal of Honor fell in love with him as surely as Daley and McMenemy did while recruiting him.
Robbie Mertz will win you over, plain and simple.
