Interesting indeed! Tell me more about OU soccer. Wait! West Virginia no longer in the MAC (for soccer)? After one season? I swear, I cannot keep up with "conference realignment."
It could be an interesting scenario. Southeastern Ohio is not known for soccer, let alone men's soccer. There is a brand new NPSL team in the region, Zanesville Athletic FC. Outside of that, southeastern Ohio is pretty down in soccer. There is minimal success at all levels: high school, club, and college. Ohio University just made a tremendous hire on their women's side for Aaron Rodgers (no, not THE Aaron Rodgers). He's a great guy and should be a successful coach there. He's in for the long-haul with Ohio-ties. The women's team has more MAC titles than any other school, with the last coming in 2004. They have had a semi-successful men's club team in the past. I remember in 2010-11 or so, they were undefeated and ranked #1 in the college club rankings. They were the #1 seed in the college club national championship. Not too long ago, the club may have also been suspended over allegations of hazing -- not a bright spot. Most recently, they sought out to start "club" teams in some of their regional campuses -- Zanesville, Lancaster, Pickerington, Southern (Ironton), Eastern (St. Clairsville), and Chillicothe. Some of the campuses may have started them, but I haven't heard much that has actually came to fruition. The plan was to use these regional campus club teams to potentially fuel the OU club team and bring more energy to a potential revitalization of the men's soccer team -- can't find the info there, I'm having internet issues.
ThePonChat mentioned OU looking into starting up soccer in the "[near] future." I take that to mean sometime like after West Virginia's four-year contract with the MAC ends following the 2015 season.
Fueling club teams has nothing to do with starting a program. Administration would never test the waters to see if the club team has success to decide to follow up with an NCAA team. If so, Texas would have had a team long ago. I'm not buying it.
Ok. Go ahead and not buy it. There isn't much to the whole club scene, especially since the team may have been ceased since 2011 during the hazing incident. There are also a lot of club teams throughout the country at numerous institutions, and that's true...a club team does not mean an intercollegiate team. I only know what I've heard -- in regards to the club teams and OU. It wasn't too long ago that OU dropped some programs, so reviving some and adding men's soccer may not be completely out of the picture.
I have been trying to research the history of Ohio University men's soccer, it's impossible to find. I know, as of the MAC 1993, that there has been no OU men's team. I figure that has been since the MAC has sponsored men's soccer. I thought there used to be a team, but I could be mistaken. Bob Bradley actually coached at OU when he was 22. It had to be the men's team since the women's team didn't start until 1997. Ol' Bob was the coach from 1981-83. The club team did exist in 2012, went 4-6-0.
Soccer America's list goes back to 1990 and doesn't include Ohio U. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/48372/mens-soccer-dropped-for-lacrosse.html Bradley's wiki may be inaccurate. This link (among others) says that he only coached there for one year. http://sports.nyhistory.org/bob-bradley/ I also checked IU's history, and they never faced Ohio U.
Here's the only mention of Bob Bradley on their site, which says he only coached there in 81. http://www.ohiobobcats.com/genrel/012407aaa.html A few of their former soccer players are in the school's athletic Hall of Fame, although none is exactly recent. John Eastman, '66 (7) Ihor Miskewycz, '69 (7) Eddie Roberts, '73 (7) Sherman Lyle, '73 (7) https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/2013-conference-alignment.1979025/page-6#post-27763957
Minor stuff, but Bob did seem to be AT Ohio University from 1981-83, and odds are (in my opinion), he was coaching there. His US Soccer profile has him at OU for those years. He was probably a Head Coach that paid for his MA in Sports Administration. That's my guess. It makes sense for him to coach the team for a couple of seasons then get hired by Bruce Arena. http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2006/12/bob-bradley-biography.aspx Any way we look at it, I would love to see Ohio University add men's soccer. While Ohio does not need ANOTHER men's soccer program (there are 40+ four-year institutions that have men's soccer)...southeastern Ohio could benefit from it. Academics at OU are quality, so it could be nice to add a program for that.
Looks like 1981 was the last season they fielded a team. http://www.cleveland.com/worldcup/index.ssf/2010/06/us_coach_bradley_got_his_start.html
According to this Memphis PDF schedule, Temple is part of the new big east (AAC) conference. I'm sure you guys knew this, but I wasn't able to follow that one.
They moved too late for 2013, but Davidson will join the Atlantic 10 in 2014 http://www.atlantic10.com/genrel/050813aab.html
Wow, the Southern Conference is falling apart. Charleston, App. State and now Davidson. For soccer, all that leaves is Elon, Furman, Georgia Southern, Wofford and UNC-Greensboro.
Since the Sun Belt does not sponsor men's soccer, the assumption is that App State will remain in the SoCon. Maybe they consider adding Georgia State as an affiliate?
Heard a rumor that App, Ga Southern would be allowed to remain as associate members until the sun belt got men's soccer and the Ga. State was in consideration.
Also rumor is ETSU - VMI - Mercer to be added as members. It is posted on several message boards for socon
As of this post, Georgia State does not even have a schedule released yet. Are they staying in the CAA?
No App and ga southern will be extended associate membership for men's soccer and ga state is under consideration for associate membership
Various media reports are saying Elon will announce a move to the CAA as early as this afternoon. Supposedly have a 2pm press conference scheduled...
And now it's official: Elon will join the CAA on July 1, 2014. http://www.caasports.com/SplashPage.dbml?SPLASH_AD_ID=714641
Maybe the last realignment moves of this school year? The Southern Conference is adding East Tennessee State, Mercer and Virginia Military Institute on July 1, 2014. Mercer will add football and women's track and field in 2014. ETSU will revive football in 2015. http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=207996762#.UaeMkVkTkDQ.twitter
Maybe I have missed something? The C-USA web site does NOT list New Mexico as a new member. http://www.conferenceusa.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/062013aaa.html