Thought it was time to start this as Coach Warming announced 4 "new" additions to the team. See: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/012012aaa.html
Article about head coach Bob Warming and Penn State soccer spring training: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...f=.Txov_Ev1L94.like&fb_source=profile_oneline
A bunch of in-state players with links to the Philadelphia Union academy system have committed to Penn State: Colton Amidon (FC Delco) Shane Campbell (FC Delco) Owen Griffith (PA Classics) Christian Kaschak (PA Classics) Connor Maloney (PA Classics/Bishop McDevitt) The Union press release: http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2012/02/union-academy-sends-20-players-college-level An article from PennLive about Maloney: http://highschoolsports.pennlive.com/m/article/6108869/
This is good news. You have to keep some of your "local" kids. A lot of folks out here thought that the Sandusky scandal (I'll be d*mmed if I follow the press and put the school's name in that phrase) would hinder recruiting for all teams (but I think they were looking through Buckeye colored glasses to some extent).
Yes, because the school certainly did nothing wrong in continually allowing Sandusky on campus with children and leaving him alone to rape them despite prior warnings, reports and investigations that he was a predator.
Why do we have to discuss this on a thread dedicated to Penn State SOCCER? The soccer program has absolutely nothing to do with this, so can we stay on track please? There are more than enough message boards in internet-land on fire with discussion of this awfulness, I really don't think BigSoccer needs to be a venue for more of the same. And I understand that some are concerned about the image of the school as a whole and how that impacts recruiting in all sports, including soccer, but can we keep discussion of school administrators and American football coaches separate unless it directly pertains to soccer?
Back to incoming players, the official roster has been updated and includes these freshmen: Christian Kaschak M FR 5-5 140 York, Pa./Dallastown Area Drew Klingenberg M FR 5-9 150 Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland Shane Campbell D FR 5-11 165 York, Pa./Dallastown Area Matt Mayewski D FR 5-7 145 Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/psu-m-soccer-mtt.html
I'll just point out that you should be cautious about buying the media spin here before all the facts are out. Many if not most of the allegations did not even take place at Penn State--just the worst one (that we know of so far). Second Mile is probably even more culpable, as PSU did report the issue to them--yet you hear very little about them, because "Man Bites Dog" is a bigger story. I feel it's much more correct to call this the Sandusky Scandal or Second Mile Scandal--but that does not sell newspapers like mentioning Penn State. Unfortunately, while we do not need to rehash this whole mess here, this will come up in the discussion when we are talking about recruiting and the impact this scandal might have on that. Let's try to keep the discussion here limited to that. The interesting thing is that, aside from football (where Paterno's death, a new coach late in the process, and Urban Meyer all had an impact as well as the scandal), there doesn't seem to have been much of an impact--the basketball team is even getting recruits out of Philly, which hasn't happened in a long time. That surprised me. I thought there would be more fallout.
Yes, let's please keep the Sandusky/football stuff separate. I think we're noticing that recruiting hasn't been impacted in any sport: the men's lacrosse team has another strong recruiting class, the new ice hockey program continues to bring in several highly-touted youngsters, men's basketball landed a stud Philly recruit over traditional Big East powers, and men's soccer looks like it's doing well. So maybe for the time being we can state that the fallout of the Sandusky allegations hasn't had too much of an impact on recruiting. What might be more interesting to consider is how Bob Warming is doing on the recruiting trail. He only took the job in May of 2010, so I'm curious to see what kind of relationship he's building with PA coaches. He's not pulling in talent like Caleb Porter or Sasho Cirovski, but some of these players have nice pedigrees, such as Connor Maloney, ranked #38 among juniors by ESPN. http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school...2894/penn-state-lands-two-sport-standout#more
Fair enough. It's also a raw topic for a lot of folks for a lot of different reasons. Should it affect recruiting/soccer in some way, we can talk about it then.
It's much appreciated, thank you both. It's definitely a raw topic and I simply didn't want to see two valued contributors get sucked into the black hole that this turned into on several other boards and/or news websites. It could have a big impact on recruiting, that's a very valid concern, but considering that at least six incoming freshmen (for this season and next) have committed from Pennsylvania, plus one frosh from New Jersey and three upperclassmen transfers from other states, I think we can say, albeit guardedly, that Warming is still able to find willing recruits. Now, whether they're "able," that remains to be seen. But again, thank you Sandon and kgilbert, majors props to you both.
Here is some video of the Penn State men's soccer team dancing in front of crowd of about 16,000 who were attending the PSU "THON" -- the annual 46 hour dance marathon that is the largest student run charity in the world. Last weekend that THON raised over $10 million for the fight against pediatric cancer. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y96fzE-dprg"]THON 2012 Men's Soccer Team Performance - YouTube[/ame] In this video are various Penn State sports teams dancing at the THON ... the the soccer team is about 40 seconds in: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqUEHYmZDuM"]THON 2012 Pep Rally - YouTube[/ame]
Penn State soccer twitter page: https://twitter.com/#!/GoPSUMSoccer and Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pennstatemenssoccer
I really wish PSU would do a better job of making these games fan friendly. They're hosting the City Islanders which could draw a nice crowd, but rather than staging the event at Jeffrey Field at night, it's a mid-week 4 pm kickoff in early April? And the games will be played at Holuba Hall or the practice fields, so why bother announcing them at all if they're simply scrimmages? I know the spring season doesn't matter or draw well, but other colleges play professional teams in settings that encourage fans to attend. Why wouldn't you want to make an exhibition against a professional team a big deal? It can well prepare your team with spirited competition. I digress, but I think this is a lost opportunity on behalf of Penn State.
If I am not mistaken the soccer program shares Jeffrey Field with the lacrosse program. From what I hear generally control (use) of a field goes to the team in season. While Penn State might be missing an opportunity you might lay that at the feet of the lacrosse program or the athletic program for field assignment. Then again if you want soccer playing at Jeffrey Field in the Spring you had better be ready to see the lacrosse program tearing up the pitch in the Fall.
Just a quick PSU-related tho NSR comment. I had the lead photos for both men and women's gymnastics for yesterday's double dual meet on the PSU site this morning.
That used to be the case but PSU just opened a new lacrosse-only facility this year. It's phase one of the project, a new field-turf pitch with scoreboard, lights, and bleachers. The facility is adjacent to the indoor track facility and was placed there to free up space for the new hockey rink. Now that lacrosse has its own digs, Jeffrey Field can be a soccer-only facility and hopefully be completed (they much overdue "soccer house" with indoor lockers, restrooms, etc.).
Try http://www.gopsusports.com/view.gal?id=100841&startYear=2011 for one from this past season. Also, folks, I'd like to ask people to go over to Findagrave and vote on Bill Jeffrey's memorial. I had a long fight to get him listed as "famous", and it would be nice to have some votes. I do not think you need to be a member to vote. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57027553
This recent, interesting book has an entire chapter focused on Bill Jeffrey and his Penn State teams (and a photo of Penn State on the cover too): http://books.google.com/books?id=o0...of+Missed+Opportunities+and+Lost+Causes&hl=en
That book actually was pointed out to me on the Crew boards and was probably the reason Findagrave accepted him as "Famous".
Great book, love Wangerin's stuff. He includes lots of Pennsylvania stuff, from Bill Jeffrey and PSU to the Bethlehem Steel teams of the early 20th century. The keystone state has quite a soccer legacy.