Whit Coolbaugh says his success in soccer at Barton College was simply a matter of “being in the right place at the right time.”

“I wasn’t the fastest, I wasn’t the one with all the cool little moves. … But I was able to read the game and be in those positions to tip a ball in the goal at the end,” he says.

People sometimes want to translate “right place, right time” as lucky, but Coolbaugh didn’t become the leading goal scorer and point producer in the school’s NCAA Division II history simply on good fortune.

There are many shooters and few scorers in soccer. And understanding how to complete that final step is the difference between winning and losing.

“The thing about Whit that was so unmistakable as a soccer player is – and this sounds simple to say – he was a true finisher,” says his former coach, Gary Hall. “If he was in the penalty area and received a ball passed or served to him and there was an opportunity to take that ball and put it in the back of the net, he had the knack for knowing how to do that.”

In his four years as a Bulldog, Coolbaugh scored 53 goals, five more than 2009 Barton Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Todd Bailess, and collected 142 points, 19 more than recent BC standout Erik Pajunk.

He also knew how to create opportunities for teammates, handing out 36 career assists, second only to Pajunk’s 39 in the school’s DII era.

One of the things Coolbaugh remembers most about his Barton experience, he says, is “the last-minute scoring of a goal.”

“That’s that natural high that I would always strive for. Even if it wasn’t me scoring, it was just that natural high of hearing that ripple of the net with the ball going in the back.”

He recalls a couple of goals in particular, including a penalty kick that would tie him with Bailess for the single-season scoring record of 18.

“We were at an away game. Todd coached the women’s team and they traveled with us, so they were watching. He goes up behind the goalie up on the hill. As if the pressure weren’t already there enough. … I scored it, and he joked afterwards that he was trying to tell the goalie which way to go.”

The memories that Coolbaugh cherish most, however, are about relationships.

“The best times I can think of were on the soccer field,” he said. “Between soccer and fraternity, those were the things that stand out. And you can sort of blend them together, because for a lot of that time, they were one and the same. The team trips, the championships, the opportunities to win championships, the tournaments, the sweaty bus rides back and people getting cramps – those were the best times.”

When Coolbaugh arrived at Barton after a standout high school career at Raleigh’s Millbrook High School under the direction of Barton Hall of Famer Danny Wilkins, he said he was surprised to see how exceptionally well everyone on the team got along. He soon learned why.

“We’re going to cookouts and hanging out as a team, and then I realized that most of them were in the same fraternity. I said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me. You guys get along. This isn’t the stereotype. This isn’t the buy your friends and 50 brothers and all of that.’ So that really made me enjoy Barton even more. I ended up joining a fraternity (Alpha Sigma Phi) and it was part of the team dynamic, part of the cohesiveness we had that really added to the experience as well.”

In fact, he noted, some felt the fraternity was a crucial part of the success.

“We found out we did well when we hung out as a team, whether that was just grilling out, going to a party together, whatever it was,” he said. “We hung out as a team, usually, the night before a game. Whether we were breaking curfew or not, we were all together. “We were going on a 12- or 13-game winning streak and we were staying in line with hanging out before the game. We were just blowing people out of the water until this one game, it was against Francis Marion. I think it was part of regionals or something. And we said, guys, we need to take this seriously. Everyone get to bed early. And of course, we got it handed to us.

“The coaches will probably disagree, but the team that parties together, wins together. I don’t know, but it happened to work for us.”

Whatever the reason, no one can argue with the results.

His freshman season, Barton earned a league championship with a 9-1-1 mark and produced the best winning percentage in school history (77.5 percent) with a 15-4-1 overall record. And over Coolbaugh’s four seasons, the Bulldogs went 45-26-4, the best such stretch in the DII era.

“Whit came in and made a tremendous difference and contribution to our soccer program here,” Hall said. “He was a significant contributor to our championship team as a freshman, and went on to have three more brilliant seasons as a goal-scorer and assist-maker for the program. … Whit always played hard, and to me he was a lot of fun to coach and watch play.”

Coolbaugh continued to contribute to Barton beyond his playing days. He served for a number of years on the school’s Alumni Board, including a term as president that also included a seat on the Board of Trustees.

“It was really interesting to see that side of the school where I attended,” he said. “We were looking at the operations, the financials and what makes it tick, what needs to be worked on and improved. That was a very eye-opening experience, but it was an honor to be on those boards. A lot of very smart and very passionate people give to the school of their time and energy, not just money. It was an honor to stand next to many of them in meetings and discuss important decisions that had to happen.”

Since then, he has been involved with the school’s Business Leadership Initiative, a mentoring program supported by his employer, BB&T.

“I’m seeing different angles of the school that I hadn’t been involved with, but I’ve still got that passion to give back,” Coolbaugh said.