They were more of a sleeping giant than anything else — a school with unbelievable recruiting potential, and a program that boasted one of the best facilities in the Pac-10.

The campus was attractive, and the weather was warm all year long. His only question was whether he could recruit at ASU.

“My expectations were more of what we could build,” ASU women’s soccer coach Kevin Boyd said. “I just wanted to see where we were at the time.

I truly believed, and I always thought that ASU was a sleeping giant.”

When Boyd signed on as head coach position for the soccer team three years ago, he left behind a legacy.

After 10 seasons as the head coach at California, he had built up a 130-63-20 record and led the Golden Bears to the NCAA Tournament eight times. He was leaving a team that boasted a depth of talent, one that had speed and one that had 25 viable players.

What he was gaining had yet to be determined.

“We were definitely struggling,” senior midfielder Carly Kallas said of the time before Boyd’s arrival. “We had lost almost our entire coaching staff. We didn’t really play much, we weren’t running much and we weren’t doing much of anything. We kind of just went into different games with different mentalities. When Kevin came in, he said, ‘This is how we’re going to play.’”

And that’s been the story ever since.

For Boyd, it was all about setting a foundation and creating a timeline for a team he always believed could be a national contender.

“I had a timeline of what I expected,” he said. “The timeline was that in the first two years, I thought we would struggle, but we would do the best we could with what we had. We did that, and that’s a credit to this team and this program.”

In his first year, Boyd and the Sun Devils produced a double-digit win total (10-9-1) for the first time since 2003, and in 2008, the Sun Devils just missed qualifying for the NCAA Tournament after losing six players to season-ending injuries.

Last season’s 8-8-4 record also included a win against seventh-ranked and defending national champion USC, which was the first Sun Devil win over a top-10 team since 2001. This feat suggested not only the character of the team, but the impact its new coach had made as well.

“I think Kevin is a huge part of this team,” Kallas said. “If we’re not playing 100 percent, he let’s us know we need to pick it up. He holds us accountable to hold our teammates accountable — that’s what makes this a cohesive unit. If someone’s not playing well, someone else will step up and say, ‘Hey, you need to pick it up.’ He encourages that.”

The quick transition not only built their record, but also enabled the Sun Devils to develop a winning culture. Boyd set the standard for excellence, and he was never satisfied with anything less than a team that played its best.

“I think right off the bat, we made it a basic assumption,” senior defender Liz Harkin said. “Something we always expected was heart and character. I think that [Boyd] created that as something he expected every single time, whether it was practice or anything. Whatever you’re committing to the team, you’re putting 100 percent into it. It became the standard when he came in.”

It is the willingness to work and ability to be coached that has hastened the progress of this Sun Devil team, and in just three years after stepping into the head coaching role, Boyd and the Sun Devils are able to boast a top-25 position, for just the second time in the program’s history, alongside USC, UCLA and Stanford.

“I’ve always looked at it as a place you could really create a national contender,” Boyd said. “That was my thought coming in. What I discovered right away was the character of the players was very, very good. They’re committed to being the best they can be. They’re tough in many ways, they definitely take coaching and can be pushed — those are great traits, and it’s something you can build.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.