Mac 2012

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but just in case here it is. Just goy back in town and read that West Virginia has joined the MAC as an affiliate member for soccer. They will begin MAC play beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year.

correct. West Virginia will play in the MAC for the next four years. But there is also a clause where if the Big 12 were to start sponsoring men's soccer during said four year commitment, then West Virginia could immediately leave without penalty.

If that day happened in the next four years it would be among the greatest days in American soccer history rivaling the '50 World Cup win, Caliguri's goal, and the round of 16 win over Mexico in '02. Don't think that we will see that.

Oliver Luck is the athletic Director at West Virginia. He was once the president of the Houston Dynamo (and GM?). He was behind the four year opt-out clause agreement. I don't think Luck pushes it across unless he feels like the Big 12 is close to starting men's soccer - maybe as a thank you to WVU for leaving the Big East.

Because I hear WVU currently only has three men's sports that the Big 12 sponsors (football, basketball and baseball). To become compliant with the conference they will need to have at least three more men's teams (for now - ultimately it will probably be just one). Since they are not likely to drop soccer anytime soon, this is where the conference steps in and add a couple of sports to sponsor. Maybe soccer and wrestling...

I highly doubt the Big 12 will hold them to that rule. WVU is the only school in the Big 12 with a men's soccer program.

If you ranked the MAC teams by fan support, how would you rank them?

My Rankings:
1. Akron
2. WVU
3. Bowling Green
4. Northern Illinois
5. Western Michigan
6. Buffalo
7. Hartwick
8. Florida Atlantic

Your list also is fairly close to how the teams will finish the regular season.

If I ranked them on how they would finish:
1. Akron
2. NIU
3. WVU
4. BGSU
5. Buffalo
6. Western Michigan
7. Florida Atlantic
8. Hartwick

Anyone see scores from the Governors Cup at SIUE on the 14th ?

We should try to figure out how to convince the powers that be at Eastern Michigan University and the other MAC schools without a men's soccer program that:
a) Hey this is the 21st century and soccer is the future
b) Soccer is what the kids are looking for (now)
c) Soccer is what distinguishes a school that is in touch with the current generation
d) The sport of football is heading for one big catastrophic failure soon (IMO) so schools should want to be positioned for the eventual collapse of college football.


Glad somebody cared enough about MAC Men's soccer to start a thread. Thanks.

A better use of your time would be to convince and help college soccer programs to become revenue generators.

Until ADs can see college soccer making money, there won't be much of a rush for athletic departments to add it.

The bottom line IS the bottom line. College football and hoops, for all their many warts, makes money for these schools. As long as they do and soccer doesn't college soccer will remain where it is.

I've read that a lot of college football teams are in the red. If revenue generation was the goal, there would be a lot less college baseball teams. Akron doesn't charge for baseball games.

Yep. College Football programs exist to perpetuate College Football programs, nothing more, and they don't even do that very well. I've seen numerous documentaries that bare this out. At the same time I read that for the first time among Americans age 16 to 24 the top two favorite sports are football and soccer. Soccer is trending up in the U.S. and it may be accellerating. MAC schools would do themselves a favor by leading in men's soccer rather than following.

I don't know if Title IX is an obstacle to overcome, but most of the MAC schools have a club team.
If club teams start getting over 500 or more people to show up for games, it would help a lot.

Here's what Akron's attendance looks like

Akron football probably averaged less than 2,000 per game last year. They base attendance on tickets sold. The University is allowed to buy tickets and has other ways to inflate the number. They do this because the NCAA has attendance requirements for the FBS level.

here's a link for EMU's club team

Oh wow. It looks like Eastern Michigan University has a natural grass field and two smaller practice fields plus an indoor practice bubble although I don't know if soccer has access to the bubble. All they would need are a few thousand seats worth of grandstands or to resurface the football field with the overlapping soccer markings. They seem tantalizingly close to adding to men's soccer as a full time sport.

NIU soccer head coach Eric Luzzi gets a contract extension thru 2015. (www.niuhuskies.com/soccer)

Former NIU player Bryan Abdallah can use all the prayers we can muster. He was apparently found by his girlfriend after suffering a seizure of some sort. He was taken to the hospital and then air lifted to a neuro specialist elsewhere. Information is sketchy at this time, but will update when available. We pray for him.

Sad to hear about the player. Grats to Luzzi, he earned it

Prayers go out. Anybody have an update on Bryan?

Bryan has been released from the hospital and is doing much better. Thank You.

The Zips eagerly await the Mountaineers 10/20/12. Only my death will prevent my attendance.

NIU starts with Alumni match at Dekalb on August 18.

But is the stadium big enough for the coaches heads to fit in?

So, do you think the Mountaineers fear the Zips ?

Fear them? You're talking about college kids.. they don't fear anything... except maybe the turtle...