Tiffany Roberts played on the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic women's soccer competition in Athens, Ga., and captured the 1999 Women's World Cup championship. Her husband, Tim Sahaydak, was one of the first players to enter MLS's Project-40 program.

Roberts and Sahaydak, who met while attending the University of North Carolina, will work together as co-head coaches of perennial CAA women's power Virginia Commonwealth. What makes the selection of Roberts and Sahaydak, both 29, so unusual is that neither has any significant coaching experience.

"It's a huge leap, definitely," Roberts told the Richmond Times Dispatch. "But we're excited about the challenge. We're people who like to take risks and like to attack challenges, and we don't think this is anything we can't handle. We're not going in with any trepidation."

Roberts and Sahaydak got the endorsement of former U.S. women's star Julie Foudy, who participated in the press conference announcing their selection.

Said Foudy, "I think you have to feel like VCU just won the lottery. Twice."

Sahaydak and Sahaydak replace Denise Schilte-Brown and Chris Brown, who left to take over the reins of the South Florida women's program.