Ones to watch: Randy Waldrum

From Pittsburgh to Nigeria, the Pitt women’s soccer coach is headed to Paris and he’s taking another Panther with him.

Along with his role at Pitt, Randy Waldrum is the head coach for the Nigeria women’s national team.

“I do almost feel like I’m blessed to have kind of almost a second home, a second nation,” Waldrum told Channel 11.

A few years ago, Deborah Abiodun was playing for Nigeria’s U20 team when she caught Waldrum’s eye, but before Waldrum could recruit her, she beat him to the punch.

“Deb came to me and said ‘Will you take me to your school? I want to go to college, and I want to get an education.’”

Making Abiodun a Pitt Panther was that simple.

She and Waldrum are in the middle of a career year together that included Nigeria’s appearance in the Round of 16 during the 2023 World Cup and Pitt advancing to the Elite 8 in the fall.

This past spring, Nigeria qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

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