Would guess the five hottest seats (among major schools at least) going into the season would be Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Oregon.
I know that spring game mean little; however the coach at Cincinnati hasn’t helped herself after falling 2-3 to local Northern Kentucky University this past weekend (moving to D1 in the A Sun conference this season)
Many, if not most, spring games are over and it is this time of the year that many colleges either notify players they might not fit with the program and or players tell the coaching staff they are moving on to "greener pastures". Any noteworthy transfers coming up ? Any colleges already cutting players ? This should be an interesting 2012 soccer season as the 2012 class of recruits is said to be among the best in years as well as the future years are said to be much weaker.
I just carried this over from the 2011 Thread and updated it for 2012. Some schools didn't make it from Warm to Hot after doing some more research and reading articles from their websites. But this short list certainly should be a good start..... HOT Iowa State Indiana Southern Miss Arizona Oregon American Stony Brook Villanova Purdue Marshall Columbia UC Santa Barbara
and what has happened to Miami of Ohio? They just lost to Wright State 5-1.......yes I know, it's just spring, but bad is bad
No KY is a good side. Spring ball is misleading. Some coaches play the players who didn't play much in the fall. That and Injuries lead to some misleading results.
No Ky (NKU) is a good side and it is only spring HOWEVER NKU is a DII (1st year in transition to DI) program that is 10 miles or so from UC … I’m not saying the UC coach should clean out her desk today … simply I think she has been on the hot seat prior to this spring and this result will not help her out much.
It won't help, BUT if UC's admins even know the team is playing I'd be surprised AND NKU was a top D2 team. These guys run around beating D1's all spring (see Colorado/No. Colorado/CC vs. RMAC scores). This result isn't all that surprising (especially if there were personnel issues for UC, i.e. injuries) in a bigger context. Clearly the folks who want the coach gone are going to jump on it and it's no advert for the program, but spring games are exhibitions.
I watched U Texas play two D2 teams in Incarnate Word and St. Edward's this spring. I believe the scores were 2-0 and 0-0. Although the score was 2-0 UIW had many chances to score. The difference in levels was not that obvious. Texas needs some fresh blood to succeed in the Big 12 next year.
I agree the Admin / AD didn’t know they were playing … I’ll give pretty good odds that those same Administrators know they lost!
Off topic but my favorite DII vs. DI story was from a few springs ago when St. Joseph's (IN) beat Ball St. and the new coach at Ball St. would not let the result get posted on the BSU website!
d.one men's soccer often play and sometimes beat MLS teams in the spring. MLS coaches are not worried. Relax.............
TEXAS couldnt beat SEU?? Maybe Texas should have hired Cowell. Maybe Cowell will give DI another chance? His teams are very well organized and very well coached. SEU always seems to schedule DI teams in the spring and they always give them a good game, or beat them. I remember watching them beat RICE a few years ago.
Waldrum may need some boxes as well since Notre Dame tied D II Grand Valley State! Coaches are criticized for playing starters/outgoing seniors but get the same heat if they play those players who wil never play but give them a chance in the spring. I give these coaches credit for playing DII, DIII, and NAIA schools. Great teams at all levels.
Agree 300%. People need to give up on Spring results....ridiculous. Coaches play everyone in the Spring and should. Who you play and how you do is absolutely irrelevant. Kudos to the coaches who put results aside and play the bottom of the roster significant minutes.
Precisely. the spring games are glorified practices against other teams where coaches take a look at players who didn't play much in the fall, or new formations etc. Of course they may not play very good seniors who are graduating but they also won't have their great new freshmen either. I bet Grand Valley was way more up for the game than Notre Dame who probably looked at it as easier than their regular practices but a chance to "kick" someone other than their team mates
Actually, instead of ignoring the obvious . . . the difference between top D1/D2/D3 programs isn't that big - and that a top 10 D2/D3 team is probably as good or better than a top 50-150 D1. That's at least one reason for these results. The quality difference in the divisions is the size of the top flight (30 or so in D1, 10 or so teams in D2, 4 or so in D3), and the amount of drop off between #10 and #100 and #200+ (which is farther and faster in D2 and than again farther and faster in D3 until you get to the very bottom where it all kind of comes together again).
Shhhh...you just let out the big secret...after the top 50 or so DI programs, the rest of college soccer is pretty damn average. Notre Dame losing or drawing a D2 any time of the year is pretty funny though...and they should get some credit for playing the smaller schools who are always a bit more motivated.
Beyond the top 30 in D1? Hmmm....okay then, Ohio State who was in the mid 50's RPI isn't really that much better than a top 10 Division 2 team. The difference in spring games is that a Div 2 team beating a Division 1 team is a great recruiting tool for the Division 2 team (understandably) and as stated earlier, the approach to the game is vastly different......that's it. It is no reflection on what teams would actually do in the fall. One of the biggest differences in the levels is not the ability of a team from division 2 competing with a quality Division 1 team in a single game.....it is the fact that at Division 2, half the games the top teams play are walkovers during the regular season. The fact of the matter is that at the Division 1 level there is always one kid on the other team who has the ability to beat you....
Either we can take something from the spring game results or we can't. It seems some want it both ways. It's all relative and most of us have no idea what the circumstances of these spring games are so it's silly to try to read much into them unless you happen to have some inside information. Last weekend I watched a DI team with an RPI in the 200s with 13 players, most of whom didn't play much the year before easily handle a top 20, Final 16 lower division team returning almost all their starters. What's that mean? I have no idea to be honest.
If you really believe in the sanctity of D1 (there's a kid on every team, ha) than whatever. But while OSU's kids may have been more highly regarded out of high school (certainly a couple of them were), do you seriously think they'd walk over GVSU (or Ft. Lewis, or St. Rose)? I think they'd have their hands full, and you just proved my point. Ask Notre Dame, I guess . . .