2017 Hot Seat

Discussion in 'Women's College' started by StevenLa, Mar 10, 2017.

  1. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    French hasn't been a college head coach, so how that works out is yet to be determined. The most difficult challenge is not that, but rather is to re-build a program that has a storied past but a recent steep descent. It will take time, but I'm not worried, she was one of my three top choices.

    Those who think the Youth National Team program is about winning youth championships aren't happy with her for her work with the U20s. Others, like me, think the program is about -- and really, only about -- producing 1 to 2 players per year to step into senior Women's National Team roster spots. In terms of doing that job, these players have come from the U20s during the three years she was their head coach: Lindsay Horan, Mallory Pugh, Andi Sullivan, Rose Lavelle, Jane Campbell, and the very young Ashley Sanchez.
     
    StrikerMom repped this.
  2. PoetryInMotion

    Feb 7, 2015
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Northwestern State has filled. Expect an announcement early part of this coming week.
     
  3. Lensois

    Lensois Member

    May 19, 2004
    Just a simple little 8 hour through the Badlands down to SD....
     
  4. SoccerTrustee

    SoccerTrustee Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
  5. sec123

    sec123 Member

    Feb 25, 2014
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Please - a pylon could have been coaching those girls and they still would have made it through to the next level and gotten looks / time with the full national team. To think that spending a couple of years with one coach for about 8-10 weeks a year got them to where they are discounts the hard work of those kids.
     
  6. Midfielder Maestro

    Oct 27, 2014
    22 Opened / 8 Filled.
    Missing Any?

    Army - Adrian Blewitt (UALR Head Coach)
    Youngstown State - Brian Shrum (Duquesne Associate HC)
    Portland - Micehlle French (USWNT Asst Coach)
    UConn
    William & Mary - Julie Cunningham Shackford (FC Virginia DA Director)
    Pitt
    UMass
    UALR
    Miami, OH - Courtney Sirmans (Rice Assistant Coach)
    East Carolina - Jason Hamilton (Mississippi State Associate HC)
    Richmond
    Towson
    Austin Peay
    Northwestern State
    South Dakota - Michael Thomas (Cal State Fullerton Associate HC)
    New Mexico State
    Marist
    Incarnate Word - Emma Wright-Cates (Owner, Pass & Move LLC)
    Prairie View A&M
    UMBC
    Fairfield
    North Dakota State
     
  7. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    :) You're right. A coach with those limitations can do a very little, but not a much. So, given the limitations, why are people complaining about French in relation to the U20s? Given your position, I assume you aren't.
     
  8. devad

    devad Member

    Nov 18, 2012
    I didn't see anyone "complaining" about French. There are some questions that are legit. It is a hire that is risky. She has very very little experience as a college coach at all. Zero as a head coach and maybe a year or 2 at all in college. Some of that as a volunteer. Can she coach? Can she recruit? Both legitimate questions. We will find out. Portland is stuck in the 90s. Hiring someone with ties to the school was much more important to them than hiring someone with experience. Will it work? We will see.
     
  9. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    I think the lack of head coaching experience could hinder her from a leader standpoint but she has national team experience so who knows. Surely the knowledge of national pool kids will help her get one or two. The recruiting landscape isn’t that hard to figure out so she should be able to identify quality athletes it will just be a question of can she sell them which every school has to do. I don’t know if this hire is a slam dunk but if someone Coaches with the national team they surely can’t be a terrible coach. And if they can either hire a good recruiter or figure out the recruiting landscape then French should be fine.
     
  10. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew

    I’m still shocked by the Incarnate Word hire. Cannot believe there weren’t better candidates.
     
  11. Holmes12

    Holmes12 Member

    May 15, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester City FC
    She is powerless at Portland, no 21st century industry money. The naivete to take that job.
     
  12. PlaySimple

    PlaySimple Member

    Sep 22, 2016
    Chicagoland
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    She seems like a good hire. One of her priorities should be to put more of an effort into recruiting talent from the nearby talent-rich areas of Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Cleveland/Akron. The previous coaching staff largely ignored those areas and, hence, the bulk of the talent went to P5s and mid-majors or other MAC schools. It has been better in more recent years but there were times that Miami didn't roster a single Ohioan.
     
  13. SoccerTrustee

    SoccerTrustee Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    #913 SoccerTrustee, Dec 19, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2017
    I am also interested to see how Frenchie does at Portland. First time head coaches have a big learning curve on how to manage a program and recruiting, especially someone with as little college coaching experience as her. Will see how quickly she picks that up and who she hires for her staff to help with that. She knows the talent out there in National pools, but it is one thing to know the pool and it’s a completely different thing to actually get 1-2 of those kids to commit to your program.

    As the U20 coach she was underwhelming. No real style to their play in both cycles. She had no limit on funding, facilities, or whom to pick across the country. And lost in the quarterfinals and then finished in fourth place. Yes Germany, France, and North Korea are good competition but would expect more from a USA team than those two finishes. And being a National Team coach doesn’t mean you are good, all it means is that you are a female who knows April Heinrichs. Bit of a joke if that is the only qualification but that is the reality.

    She will be in a much different situation now as the underdog. Catching Pepperdine and Santa Clara won’t happen anytime soon. Right now she is taking a program that finished tied for last with Pacific and needs to catch San Francisco and Gonzaga before Portland can think of being relevant again. I won’t judge her as a college coach until 2020 and 2021 as that program will need to take time to build especially given how early the recruiting cycle is now. If she gets it done earlier than that (which could happen with internationals or transfers) then she will pan out as a very successful hire for the Pilots.
     
  14. Tracer

    Tracer Member

    Apr 22, 2016
    New York
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sorry if this has already been reported but I see Dani Foxhoven is out as head coach at Purdue Northwest (D2). She had a dismal record there.
     
  15. Eddie K

    Eddie K Member+

    May 5, 2007
    I like most of your take but this is a pretty snarky comment. She was a 4-year college star, made a pro roster, and earned over a dozen caps, meanwhile, she earns an "A" license. Who the hell else would you expect the USSF to hire? I don't disagree with the criticism of the team performance either but are we going to now say that Greg Ryan and Tom Sermanni both failed because they're dudes? They got the job because they know Sunil? You see how dumb that sounds.
    Agree there's some risk for sure but that we judge her on the merits in a few years, as with any coach.
     
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  16. oneofnine

    oneofnine Member

    Nov 21, 2011
    Don't disagree with the hiring of Michelle French as HC. As mentioned, on paper it would be difficult to turn her down. Especially considering the fact that administrators hire coaches - coaches don't hire coaches. Having said that, if someone can quantify a consistently causal relationship between being a college star and pro and thus a successful college coach, then that aspect of her resume has merit. I bet no one can however.....therefore who cares if she was a pro.

    In terms of Ryan and Sermanni, the argument could at least be made they had prior success. She has not. I think that is why there are some questions.
     
  17. Soccerhunter

    Soccerhunter Member+

    Sep 12, 2009
    Great post.

    I'd only add that a few years may be too soon to judge, especially when a program has been in decline over some years. Given the recruiting lead times common to day, 5 or 6 years should be the minimum to judge progress.

    For example,Teresa Romagnolo has completed 4 years at Notre Dame. In my view, it will be her 5th year where this next year's recruiting class will be her first class that is completely of her own making. (In other words, talent that she would have otherwise pursued was spoken for of was already well along in the process with other coaches --each year to a lesser degree, until the 2018 class.) And for the record, the incoming class for Notre Dame next fall is very respectable.
     
  18. upprv

    upprv Member

    Aug 4, 2004
    A good coach can make any program competitive. Like we've seen....a good coach can win anywhere...bad weather, subpar facilities, mediocre conference, etc.
    I am interested in how French will do. I am sure she will lean heavily on her US connections in recruiting ("you will get a look at the national team pools here" which is horrific to me and ridiculously hypocritical but anyways). I am sure she knows the game and the landscape of soccer in america. Will be interesting.
    It is odd that her style is SO NOT PORTLAND. They have always been so crafty and break you down with technical, small passes and beautiful soccer. Yet with the U20's she had some technical magicians and played direct donkey ball. Maybe Portland powers that be don't know or care, which is fair enough. I had hoped Portland would return back to that style that was fun to watch. We will see.

    I think the criticism of the April/Jill/French/etc is valid. Most of those coaches are brought in because of who they know...not because they have gone out and won at any level. It's not like French killed it at ANY level as a head coach and was brought in based on her coaching resume. BJ was average at UCLA of all places, then used that average UCLA career to launch himself into a national team job, then has been average with each national team post and keeps getting reassigned. French was mediocre with the U20's then gets reassigned to full team. Then gets a head college job. What in the actual hell? At what point if they do poorly do they, like, actually lose their job?

    The USWNT has all these "scouts" and "advisors" sprinkled throughout the college game. A lot of them are women who are head coaches who have mediocre records, play bad soccer or a combo of both. When does US Soccer start ignoring who knows who and start hiring and firing based on merit?

    I think THAT's the frustration and the root of the head scratching.
     
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  19. Eddie K

    Eddie K Member+

    May 5, 2007
    Wow, some nice discussion. I'm not betting on anyone, and yes, good coaches keep coaching, poor coaches try something else! but oneofnine, this one really gets me....Answer = how about a 80-90% correlation. Who would you rather become a soccer coach? Someone who was a crap player or played tennis, or a pretty good soccer player?? There are always exceptions but I'd bet the vast majority of full-time paid soccer coaches at every level in the US were at least decent soccer players. Some will be poor coaches, but if you want to stay involved in the game, you coach. Look at all the MLS player/coaches (ben olsen should prob come back and play!)

    Would anyone make the same argument for Tab Ramos? Would he be a good pick for Portland? or NC State where he played?
     
  20. MAGA DTS!

    MAGA DTS! New Member

    Jan 12, 2017
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Randy Waldrum Named Pitt Women’s Soccer Head Coach #H2P

    : bit.ly/2BebPOu
     
  21. StevenLa

    StevenLa Member

    Jan 27, 2010
    Atlanta
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    So Holmes, no one wanted the Pitt job?
     
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  22. staffstaff

    staffstaff Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Sep 12, 2016
    Chula Vista, CA
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  23. WACySOCCERWORLD

    Jan 28, 2014

    3 straight AWFUL decisions by the AD on hires there. Even looked at all their other sports and they are not good!
     
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  24. Holmes12

    Holmes12 Member

    May 15, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester City FC
    #925 Holmes12, Dec 19, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2017
    except those who are named Dr. Ted Flogaites or currently working part-time in a poorly funded foreign backh2o (and lucky to be paid pennies on the dollar if at all) and/or unemployed. I should have qualified it.
     

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