It about that time of year !! Who's in - Who's out in college coaching !!

Let's the drama begin - Who is losing their jobs in the men's college soccer world and who is the best coach to replace them. I can name a few - Pitt, Harvard, Clemson ? UNLV ? Let me know what you think !!

TVS

More like: who should but won't.

Ohio State? Cincinnati? Virginia Tech? Gotta think they need a change

Ohio State would be an interesting one !!

Season's are ending any rumors ?

John Bluem will ride Ohio State's run to the Final Four in 2007 for as long as possible. That will likely buy him some time.

Generally, you have to look at more than one bad season. In college soccer it usually takes a pattern of 2-3 or more bad seasons to get an ADs attention to the point you get canned.

I would think Mike Brizendine at Virginia Tech would have to be sleeping poorly. Four straight last place finishes in the ACC and a lot of player transfers. You should be able to sell the ACC and Tech's academics to recruits and be competitive.

Pitt's coach, Joe Luxbacher, hasn't won in the Big East and I can't ever remember them making the NCAA Tournament and now they're heading into an even tougher conference. I don't know if the AD cares about soccer enough to make a change or if he is willing to can an alum who has been there for 30 years, but he should.

Out west, Gonzaga and San Francisco should be in the market for new coaches, though in Erik Visser's case, he has enough institutional history there that they might let him slide even though he can't compete in a weak conference.

Once again, this ain't football or basketball so keep in mind that it's a totally different standard for firing coaches. There's little to no money on the line by keeping a bad coach and hiring a new one is time-consuming and costs money. It's not a huge amount of time, but it still is time most busy people don't have so things have to be pretty bad for an AD to pull the trigger and make a change because, all things otherwise being equal, the AD would rather not deal with it.

Ohio State is a distinct possibility. Plenty of unrest within the program. Bluem relied on his senior class too much this year and the results were abysmal. Now he goes into next year with a number of kids who barely played, and a system of longball that is hardly attractive to prospective players. Those close to the program seem to think he has one foot out the door.

AD's have no spine and timelines have gotten as short as a mother's tweet .
At higher profile D1 institutions, someone like Luxbacher can ride his publications into emeritus status, because there's nothing like a CV to back one's worth in academia. I kind of think this makes some sense in the world of college "amateur" sport. Joe L. has been instructing us all how to play/train GK for decades. That alone, for a field player turned coach, is worth the price of the numerous books Prof. Luxbacher has produced.

I have to agree with Sandon on this one. Even though it is Ohio State who takes ALL their athletic programs seriously I still think he is golden for at least another losing season if not two because of the NCAA runner up year in 2007.
On the flip side, if they did let him go would Frank Speth be the new coach or would a cleaning house be in order? Hmm.

While they are bad DI programs and I'm not even sure the school cares if they win or not Florida Atlantic has been bad for as long as I can remember, Stetson is up and down and probably down more than up. A few others:
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
UNCG
Butler, only his second year but two bad years
LIU
Presbyterian
USC Upstate
Longwood
UNC Asheville, this guy never won at wolf ford and has been just as bad here but I don't think unca cares
Wright State


My last is college of charleston, I think this program could be much better if they made a change but I think he is untouchable

This one comes with a caveat I'll address below, but a coach who should be on the hot-seat, based on results, is Sam Koch at UMass. Like John Bluem, he had a run to the Final Four in 2007, but he's done absolutely nothing to build on that.

Further, the team struggles to score goals, having been shutout 39 times the past 5 seasons.

Here's the team's record since 2007:

YEAR OVERALL A10 GOALS FOR GOALS ALLOWED
2012 5-11-2 2-7-0 16 (7 SO) 32
2011 4-13-2 2-5-2 9 (11 SO) 27
2010 5-5-8 4-2-3 20 (4 SO) 20
2009 7-7-3 4-5-0 15 (8 SO) 14
2008 10-8-3 7-1-1^ 24 (9 SO) 18 - NCAA 1st round (lost to Harvard in 2 OT)

^Won A10 regular season

In the three seasons before the year they went to the Final Four, they went 8-9-2, 8-10-2 and 8-8-3. So he’s had two winning seasons in 9 years.

They haven't even made the Atlantic-10 Tournament the last four seasons, counting this one which means not only have they not built off the Final Four run, they've actually regressed.

Now for the caveat. Earlier this year Koch was diagnosed with cancer in his sinuses and he's been getting treatment for it for much of this season. I come from a family of cancer victims, both survivors and those who succumbed to it so I am very sensitive to this issue. It's kind of harsh to fire a guy while he's battling cancer.

At the same time, the team was doing poorly before his diagnosis so it's not like that can be blamed for the team's struggles. Further, the school has an obligation to the players and students to think of the program as a whole and not just the coach and if a move is better for the program then it should be made.

Perhaps a move within the athletic department would serve both needs, giving Koch a place within the university but giving the school a chance to get a coach who could improve the program.

What most of us don't know about programs like UMASS is what level of support do they get? In this case I was told from someone who was previously associated with the soccer program is that they only have 2 scholarships. If that is the case then they are very under funded compared to most DI programs.

There are a number of conferences which are in total perenial low end RPI contenders.... yet virtually all get an autobid to the big show.. How do you evaluate these programs for coaching and recruiting? and hence, how does that translate to the more recognized conferences which have a couple teams that never really achieve.. .I think of the NEC, for example, how excited are we for Quinnipiac....? or the MAAC,...and then the flip side.. Virginia Tech... who plays in a good conference, but isnt top notch.... does it rest with the coach?

What would happen if a coach like Koch moved to a school like Long Island University? et al...

I guess I'm saying you have to evaluate the coach for the race he is running.. As I've not seen one good coach in the NEC.. but none of those schools are even considered for a coaching change...

Here's an article from the NYTimes in 2007 about the UMass program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/sports/soccer/14soccer.html

It does say here that there have only 2.2 scholarships. They don't cover the whole cost of an official visit. And it was supposed to close in 1992.

That said, I suppose there are other universities in the (bottom half) of the A10 with similar levels of support. I know at least one other university that isn't fully funded with respect to scholarships--St. Joe.

Not to mention a double Big Ten Championship just three years ago.

Hmmm...not sure I would agree with that comment about NEC coaches...in fact, I think some of them do a "helluva lot more with substantially less" than many other programs who have the advantage of being at more prestigious institutions, have better funding, better facilities, etc.

McCourt at Monmouth, Roland at FDU, Barroso at Sacred Heart, and two young and up-and-coming coaches DaCosta at Quinnipiac and Casper at St. Francis--PA could probably all do a pretty good job at any of the bigger programs if given the opportunity.

Which makes UMASS run to the Final Four, the single greatest coaching achievement in the history of the contemporary NCAA Soccer. Simply incredible!

I think Wisconsin had similar scholarship support when they won it all in 1995.

And like UMass, they've done nothing since. (Though I think they're better funded now.)

Joe is right that the level of funding should be taken into account when assessing a coach's record, particularly in terms of whether he should be retained. But it also doesn't mean a program shouldn't ask if it could do better with someone else at the helm.

Bluem is probably going to lose two of his best returnees to transfer to go along with all of the guys who are graduating from a 6-9-3 team. I heard from someone near the program that he only practiced the team 2 times last week. No explanation for 3 off days. Doesn't seem like a coach fully engaged in his squad.

I knew VT has not done well under MB but had not really looked at their schedule, who they beat, who they lost to etc....

Of their 6 wins 3 were vs teams with just over .500 records. The combined record of the other 3 teams they beat is 13-39-2.

In the end I would have to put a lot of blame on the AD for hiring soemone who did not have the experience, knowledge and pedigree to coach in the ACC. Especially, taking over after the eligibilty / compliance issues that got OW fired. He had 3 years as a head coach at DIII and 2 years as an asst at DIII. He did have 5 years as the asst at VT but probably didn't learn a lot from OW about recruiting DI american players because he brought in a lot of Int'l.

Still making the case for Coach Koch. With the paltriest of funding he is still 171 in the latest RPI, with many more funded programs below him. The fact that he did so well and his scholarships remain the same since, says an awful lot his admin's outlook. (The facilities are dreadful there by the way).
No, if we are looking at underachievers I am starting with those that have.......BCS conferences, full-funded, 2 FT assistants, budgets, etc. ability to schedule predominantly home non-conference goals, those that have! (Can you tell I am voting Democrat!) From there I am moving to those conferences that are the weakest and ask why they cannot be won and lastly to the mid-majors to ask the same. Just MHO

The entire Patriot League is ranked above 171. Last time I was privy to the League status (4 years ago) two schools offer in the League offered any scholarships and I believe they offered two and if memory serves me well they were American and Lehigh.

I have a difficult time seeing 171 as an accomplishment. Yes there are schools who are doing less with more. There are schools doing more with equal.

There are many things to consider when evaluating programs. There is State / public vs private.
State universities general do not give out as much financial aid as private universities. Some private universities give out a lot of aid. In fact, some private universities can put together a better financial aid package than a state univ can do that includes financial aid and athletic aid.

Another thing to consider is does the university allow financial aid to be stacked / combined with athletic aid. If they allow stacking then the program is usually not fully funded b/c they will get close to the NCAA max b/c soccer is an equivalency sport. Or do they not allow stacking.

Is the program limited b/c of tile IX issues. Limited in scholarships and operational budget.

These are just a few