Sandon alluded to Mike Brizendine potentially being on the hot seat due to the Hokie's under performing yet again this season. Any others that come to mind?
Here's a few more besides Brizendine, who hasn't had a winning season in 5 years as Tech's head coach. Tim McClements, Southern Methodist. The only prominent D-I program in Texas should be and once was a jewel of college soccer. Now it's a mess. And with its former coach now unemployed, don't be at all surprised if Schellas goes back to his old job. Regardless of what Hyndman does, McClements needs to go. Joe Luxbacher, Pittsburgh. Currently winless. Four goals scored all season (That is not a misprint.). No winning season since Clinton was president. Erik Visser, San Francisco. Some out west disagree, but this once-proud program has had losing season upon losing season the past few years. Surely a team with the Bay area at its disposal could do better. Ed Kelly, Boston College They aren't bad, but they just seemed mired in mediocrity the past few years and can't seem to break that cycle. Hard not to wonder if a new coach could infuse some new energy and direction to get them over the hump. Lev Kirshner, San Diego State. Seriously, how do you not win in San Diego? I know they don't have the athletic budget of other "real" Pac-12 teams, but come on, it's San Diego!!!! Between the talent, the weather and the cost of tuition, plus a heritage of very good US players, this should be a much better program but has been meh, at best, the past decade or so. John Bluem, Ohio State. This guy is living off his run to the 07 finals. He has the Crew academy in his backyard, the biggest athletic department in college sports, a good conference and he's in last place and doesn't seem like he inspires the kind of kids who want to go there and turn it around.
So a couple people PMed me asking why I thought Brizendine should be replaced. Below are Tech’s recent records. Obviously Ollie Weiss took them to another level but the perception that they didn’t win before Weiss isn’t quite accurate. As the record shows, in the decade before Weiss they had 7 winnings seasons. Combined with the 5 Weiss had in 7 years and that’s 12 winning seasons in the 17 seasons before Brizendine and none in the 5 years under him. What should be most disheartening is they can’t seem to win in the ACC. Granted, it’s a tough conference, but it’s also not unreasonable to expect more than 1 win a year, on average, which is what the Hokies are averaging in conference play under Brizendine. In fairness, they’ve had fewer losses, which is arguably a sign a progress, but that’s negated by losses outside of the conference to Davidson, Navy and Fordham and tying Pitt. Those aren’t the results of a team that is making progress. That, and there only conference win this year is over Syracuse, which is in its first year in the conference and still finding its way. Topping this, Tech’s two most valuable players this year, GK Kyle Renfro and leading scorer Robert Alberti, are both seniors. Has Tech recruited and developed adequate replacements? --- Mike Brizendine 2013 - 4-6-5 – 1-3-5 – ACC (2 conference games remaining) 2012 - 7-10-3 – 0-7-1 – ACC 2011 - 4-13-2 – 1-6-1 – ACC 2010 - 5-13-1 – 1-6-1 – ACC 2009 - 5-12-2 – 2-6-0 – ACC --- Oliver Weiss 2008 - 5-13-1 – 0-8-0 – ACC 2007 - 14-4-5 – 3-1-4 – ACC - Final Four 2006 - 11-8-1 – 2-5-1 – ACC , NCAA Tournament 2005 - 10-5-5 – 3-2-3 – ACC, NCAA Tournament 2004 - 9-10-1 – 2-5-0 – ACC 2003 - 14-5-3 – 7-3-0 – Big East, NCAA Tournament 2002 - 10-7-1 – 5-5-0 – Big East --- Jerry Cheynet (head coach from 1974 to 01) 2001 - 11-6-2 – 4-4-2 – Big East 2000 - 8-9-2 – NA 1999 - 11-8-0 – 7-4-0 – Atlantic 10 1998 - 11-9-1 – 7-3-1 – Atlantic 10 1997 - 14-5-1 – 8-2-1 – Atlantic 10 1996 - 12-8-0 – 7-4-0 – Atlantic 10 1995 - 8-10-2 – 5-3-2 – Atlantic 10 1994 - 7-12-0 – NA 1993 - 10-8-1 – NA 1992 - 10-7-2 – NA To be clear, none of this is personal. I’m sure Briz is a good guy and trying his best. I also acknowledge he inherited a mess that would have challenged a lot of good coaches. But he’s had 5 years and the program hasn’t turned a corner. Players constantly transfer out and the level of player who stays is, for the most part, not at the same level as what the competitive programs in the ACC get. In short, it’s hard to believe Tech couldn’t do better since the record shows they have done better.
I will add that Ohio State has not won a Big 10 game since October 30, 2011. That's right. It is the TWO year anniversary of the last Big 10 win. Brother, Come on!
It's not like Kirshner doesn't have local competition - USD is an obvious D1 alternative for San Diego high school player/club players, plus UCSD and Point Loma Nazarene in D2, and CSU San Marcos in NAIA. Most of the highest-rated players go elsewhere (UCLA and Notre Dame are recent examples), with Jose Altamirano the notable Aztec exception. In my view, more likely to depart is Seamus McFadden of USD, not because of anything bad happening there, but because he is in his 36th season at USD and retirement would not be a surprise. As a plus, he has local favorite Brian Quinn sitting as his assistant and obvious successor.
Not buying it. It's Southern California, the best recruiting area in the country. It's San frikkin' Diego, one of the most desirable places to live in the country. It's the Pac-12, the best conference in the west. And it's the Cal State system, so you don't have to be a great student to get in plus the tuition is reasonable so what your scholarship doesn't cover is manageable. And sorry. all the non D-I schools in the area are just red herrings. The kind of talent SDSU should be getting isn't the level of talent that's going to Point Loma Nazarene (with the exception of Steven Lehnart). The Aztecs aren't struggling because they're losing talent to Cal State San Marcos. And if you can't get the best players to stay home, that's part of the problem that needs to be addressed, ergo, hot seat. And if all the best talent does leave, you should still be able to lure good talent to San Diego for all the aforementioned reasons. Does Quinn have a degree? Does USD require its head coaches to have one? To the best of my knowledge, Boston College's Ed Kelly is the only current head coach in D-I that doesn't have a degree.
Not sure I entirely agree with this. Tuition in the Cal State system has gone crazy in recent years, and even before that, you already had a player like Joe Corona drop out of school because he couldn't afford it. With that said, SDSU has to be extremely disappointed with its 2013 season. With a strong 10-man senior class plus a few foreign additions, they needed to do better than they've done. A couple more names that I think belong on the hot list are Hylton Dayes, Cincinnati - Last place in the AAC, hasn't reached double figures in wins since 2006 Craig Blazer, DePaul - Last place in the Big East, four straight years in double figures in losses. Between the two coaches above and Foti, Schellscheidt, Reasso, Luxbacher, and probably others who don't spring to mind, the old Big East had so many awful programs that they effectively lowered the bar for one another. But with conference realignment, I suspect that the holdovers from that era are going to find life a lot more difficult.
When I attended SDSU in the 70's, my half-time tuition cost less than my parking sticker. One thing that might help (or hinder, who can tell?) Kirshner's position is SDSU's flirting around with every conference in the country. At one point, they were schizophrenically scheduled to play football in the Big East and most other sports in the Big West, but I think that has evaporated. It looks to me that the Aztec AD has bigger things to worry about than a coach with a losing season. Closer to home, I have hard rumblings (a rumbling is less credible than a rumor) that the new Davis AD has finally gotten his feet on the ground and is looking to clean house. I don't know if Coach Shaffer's position directing the best team on the country with a losing record is being noted, or which way.
Rumor has it that SMU, San Francisco will both be looking for a new HC in the off-season. UC Davis might be the best team in the country with a losing record but they are also one of the standard bearers of all that we don't love about college soccer...super aggressive, American football mentality, and the HC has a poor rep with his peers. But if they were winning, then we would not really care I think....
After 4 years exposure to UC Davis soccer, I think the last way I would describe it is "super aggressive, American football mentality". What do you mean by that?
To be completely honest I am basing my quote on sources...I am in Texas...I will defer to your more informed eye.
Sources? Tell me more. What I have observed is an attempt to play possession soccer, with calm passing around the back until an opening is found. The most common Davis result this year has been a 1-goal loss where they outshot their opponents as much as 2 to 1 (236 to 177 for the season), and held control of the ball accordingly. An unsophisticated analysis - I usually sit with the parents, and I often hear complaints from them about how we pass back too much and don't shoot enough. Their kids have been playing for 10 or 15 years by now, so you might think they would know better.
While both coaches deserve to be replaced on merit. I'll still be surprised if their ADs actually pull the trigger.
It wouldn't be shocking if USF were willing to continue with the status quo, but McClements has gotten things so spectacularly wrong at SMU that I don't think he can be allowed to continue. Here's a story that casts him in a pretty unfavorable light. http://www.northjersey.com/sports/1...lenofsky_feels_right_at_home_at_Monmouth.html For Klenofsky's part, he has gone on to win the Monmouth starting job as a freshman and has posted a record of 7-0-2, allowing only two goals in the process.
Not really hot seat, but more potential coaching carousel news.......................... http://www.bigdsoccer.com/2013-coac...02/new-mexico-coach-interviews-with-fc-dallas Fishbein of New Mexico has interviewed for the FC Dallas job.
This isn't about a hot seat yet, but James Madison's Tom Martin had the worst season of his 37 years as a college head coach. He was 6-10-1 and finished dead last in a weak CAA. When you stock your roster with a dozen players from abroad and still can't win, it may be time to hang 'em up.
I have been mulling over factors that might be considered when a college is grading a coach's performance - Overall win-loss record Record against key rivals Ability to recruit good players Legacy (did the coach have a notable playing record here?) Disciplinary issues (coach and team members) Players' attitudes toward and opinion of the coach Unrestricted fund-raising ability Auxiliary fund-raining ability (for facilities and improvements, full coaching staff, full travel and recruiting budget, etc) Anything else to consider?
If i were the AD i would also take into consideration the graduation rates of the players also or at least progress toward completion of their degree but again that is just me.
This should be a given. Coaches in non-revenue sports who treat high graduation rates (for players who play four years) like something special remind me of the Chris Rock chestnut about some people "wanting credit for shit they supposed to do. 'I take care of my kids!' Dammit, you supposed to take care of your kids. What do you want, a cookie, ya low-expectation having motherf*****er!"
You can summarize it by the ability to build a program while graduating players and keeping them out of trouble. If you can do that, people will will want you - especially now that ADs are seeing that soccer can get some traction. Conversely if you start doing the opposite those same ADs will fire you. The ones that stay for a long time are those in places with no real program who graduate players and keep them out of trouble. Building a program consists of getting good players and promoting them to the community.
In his fifth season at Oregon State, and a record there of 33-45-10, is Steve Simmons one to retain? I think his contract is up this year. To have the Pac-12 Conference as your competition is tough, but he does not seem to be able to draw and retain many quality players. Are 2 ties against UCLA this year but no wins in the Pac-12 in 15 games enough to keep him there?
I feel bad for Simmons, in particular because of the injury to Khiry Shelton, but watching his team on Friday, they seemed to have quit on him. Will be interesting to see what they decide to do.
Simmons is a class act. He made it a point seek out my son as an outgoing UCLA senior and congratulate him on his four year college career as it was the last time they would compete against each other. I know my son was taken aback having an opposing coach approach him and making such a kind gesture.