Tim Kreutz: All Business
11/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
By Matt Bontorin, MSU Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Senior Spartan forward Tim Kreutz is no stranger to success. After a record-breaking career at Lake Zurich High School, where he became the school's all-time scorer, Kreutz had numerous offers to play big-time college soccer.
"Coming out of high school, I knew I wanted to go to a big-time college," said Kreutz. "I just wanted to have that atmosphere of big classrooms and a lot of students."
Two schools stuck out during his college search. Growing up in a family full of Wisconsin alums, it was only fitting that the Badgers would be in high pursuit of the talented forward.
What shifted Kreutz's decision was the recruitment from legendary former Spartan coach Joe Baum. Baum, who racked up 320 wins as a head coach at MSU, was in the process of stepping down and becoming an assistant, but wanted to set the table for successor Damon Rensing with one of the country's top recruits.
"It was a unique situation where I had to put a lot of trust in Damon and the coaching staff," said Kreutz. "I knew that there was going to be a good coaching staff in place and they learned from one of the best in Joe Baum. It was nice that he got to stick around a little bit in my first year. I learned a lot from him."
Kreutz began his Spartan career by making an immediate impact, seeing action in 17 games and starting one. He recorded his first career goal in a 5-0 victory over Western Michigan on Oct. 13.
With a successful year of college under his belt, Kreutz took the initiative to increase his exposure overseas to help his chances of playing professionally after college.
Kreutz teamed up with Chicago's Bridge to the Pros coordinator Brett Hall. Hall took Kreutz and a number of other college soccer players across the ocean to Holland to play 11 games over 28 days against teams from around Europe.
"Going to a country in which the main language wasn't English was pretty crazy to me," said Kreutz. "I got to see a lot of new things and played against a lot of really good teams. We got it handed to us a few times, but it just showed the level I needed to strive for if I wanted to do something like that after college."
After a summer of international experience, Kreutz returned to East Lansing ready to make an impact in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, he would go down with a season-ending injury before he even played a game.
"It was pretty emotional having to go through a season-ending injury three days into preseason," said Kreutz. "There was kind of two ways I could go with it. I decided to just take the high road and get surgery right away and put as much time into the training room as I could and rehab as much as I could. I understood my role and tried to get ready for the spring and earn that starting role the following year."
Kreutz took a medical redshirt in 2011 and worked on getting ahead in the classroom while he gave himself time to recover.
 | Those big-time wins that you know you were the last guy to touch the ball are special. You see the look on everyone's face when they're running off the bench, and you're running in front of the fans, ripping your shirt off. I'm not going to forget those moments. |
"Sitting out a whole year allowed me to gauge my body and heal my injuries," said Kreutz. "Other than that, it helped a lot because I got to focus on my classes a little bit more. I started doing really well and figured out which way I wanted to go academically in the business school."
Kreutz decided to pursue a finance degree and set out to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Chicago businessman when his soccer career ends.
"I've always seen myself wearing a suit every day," said Kreutz. "It's the way I was brought up. I see my dad leave in the morning wearing a suit and come back in a suit, so hopefully soccer works out, but I've got some things set up if it doesn't."
Despite his tight schedule, working in downtown Chicago with AON, Kreutz's father has made time to come to nearly every one of his son's games over his college career.
"He's my biggest fan," said Kreutz. "He is definitely one of the biggest role models I have. Every game, he's got some sort of teaching point; win, lose or tie. He's made it to every single game this year and just missed one game last year due to being out of the country. It's a four hour drive and sometimes he has to skip work, but he's willing to do it."
After a season of easing his way back into the lineup in 2012, Kreutz was presented with an opportunity to fill in for the loss of key players up front heading into the 2013 season. With his health back at 100 percent and an open spot at forward, Kreutz took advantage and had the breakout season he and his coaches knew he was capable of having.
Kreutz scored a team high nine goals and finished second in the conference with 23 points. His impact helped the Spartans advance to the NCAA Round of Eight for the first time since 1968.
The forward's biggest moment came in the NCAA Second Round when Michigan State hosted No. 17 Louisville. After 107 minutes of scoreless play, Kreutz sent in his fourth game-winning goal of the season to advance the Spartans to the NCAA Sweet 16.
This goal and his double-overtime winner Nov. 1, 2013 at Indiana have been two of Kreutz's favorite moments wearing the green and white.
"Those big-time wins that you know you were the last guy to touch the ball are special," said Kreutz. "You see the look on everyone's face when they're running off the bench, and you're running in front of the fans, ripping your shirt off. I'm not going to forget those moments."
After spending the summer playing with Lansing United in the NPSL, Kreutz came back for his senior year with the goal in mind of making another deep tournament run.
"I think we definitely have the players to make a serious run," said Kreutz. "We know we can compete with every team, you see it every couple days because were always playing top-25 teams. Damon puts the schedule together so that we have experience heading into these tournaments. We're pretty confident in ourselves going into this last stretch."
