Just curious how the Penn State folks out there feel about Warming and if they're happy with where the program is? Warming has been at PSU for 7 years now. If you look at the last 6 seasons (2010 was an inherited team - he was hired in June): Year Record Conf Home Away Final RPI Big Ten Seed Big Ten Tourn NCAA 2011 9-9-4 0-6 5-3-1 1-4-3 80 #7 Final None 2012 9-5-3 3-1-2 7-2-2 2-2-1 49 #1 Semi None 2013 13-6-2 5-1 8-1-1 5-5-0 12 #1 Semi Sweet 16 2014 13-6-1 5-3 10-3 3-3-1 25 #4 Quarters Round of 32 2015 7-8-3 2-4-2 4-3-1 2-5-2 78 #9 Quarters None 2016 8-8-3 4-4 8-2-1 0-6-1 71 #5 Quarters None 2 NCAA tournaments in 6 years 3 Big Ten Tournament victories in 6 years 2 Times in the RPI top 40 .500 record in conference games 13-25-8 road record Warming has been in the game a long time. He was a celebrated hire when he came to PSU. Are these results considered positive for a program/school like PSU?
I'm a big Penn State soccer fan and have been for decades. My main focus as a fan is supporting the team and the student-athletes who works so hard to excel in all aspects of their time at Penn State, to represent the school well on the soccer pitch, to give their all, and to always be winners -- whatever the outcome of the games. (Along these lines, as Penn State head football coach James Franklin -- who seems to be a great guy, and who has actually came to several soccer games at Penn State since he arrived in Happy Valley -- recently said after Penn State lost a tough game in the Rose Bowl: "I know everybody focuses on wins and losses, but this isn't the NFL. There is a greater purpose for this. Wins and losses are a big part of that, but the greater purpose is to make sure these men leave here educated men and prepared for life ... That's what college athletics is about. It's about preparing young people, allowing them to be in situations to overcome adversity, and preparing them to go on and be successful in life. And that's what we're going to do at Penn State today, and always will.") A few other results from Bob Warming's tenure as head coach: - In 2013 and 2014, Penn State won part of two, back-to-back B1G regular season championships (missed winning a third straight B1G regular season championship in 2015 when PSU lost with about a minute left in a 2-1 double overtime defeat at Northwestern). - The soccer team has also been steadily improving its academic performance since Warming arrived, e.g., as I posted a few months ago from this article: http://gopsu.info/1Tjo5g4 ... "The men's soccer team led all Nittany Lion teams with an improvement of 26 points in their multi-year APR score from last year, going from 946 to 972 ..." Fight on State. Looking ahead, in other Penn State soccer news: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/011117aaa.html
Don't be silly. You are describing the d.3 philosophy not a power 5 philosophy. Power 5 mentality is very close to the nfl mentality. Franklin can say that because they won this year. Say it at 6-6 and his gone. Agree soccer should be better. If women can win a natty men have to do better.
The most recent national champions are Stanford, Virginia and Notre Dame - all schools with significantly higher academic standards and reputations than Penn State. So if those schools can win national titles while still dealing with their academic requirements, well, it's not unreasonable to expect a program with all the resources of Penn State to make the NCAA Tournament regularly and occasionally compete for a national title. Instead, Warming has made the NCAA Tournament just three times in seven seasons in charge of PSU, never going past the Sweet 16, which he's reached twice. Is that a reasonable expectation? In the seven seasons he's been in charge in Happy Valley, 30 teams have made the quarterfinals, meaning they've advanced further than PSU has, at least once. So it's not like it's an uber-elite clique. I mean, St. Mary's and UMBC are on it. North Carolina – 10, 11*, 12, 14, 16 Creighton – 11, 12, 14, 15 Connecticut – 11, 12, 13 Louisville – 10, 11, 12, 16 Maryland – 10, 12, 13, 15 UCLA – 10, 11, 14 Akron – 10*, 15 California – 10, 13 Clemson – 15, 16 Georgetown – 12, 14 Michigan State – 13, 14 Stanford – 15*, 16* Providence – 14, 16 Virginia – 13, 14* Wake Forest – 15, 16 Boston College – 15 Charlotte – 11 Denver – 16 Indiana – 12* Michigan – 10, New Mexico - 13 Notre Dame – 13* St. Mary’s – 11 San Diego – 12 South Florida - 11 Southern Methodist – 10 Syracuse – 15 UMBC – 14 Virginia Tech – 16 Washington - 13
Thanks for sharing those interesting personal, practical perspectives. It's nice to know that at least a few folks seem to be interested in, and perhaps even somewhat concerned with, the performance of Penn State's soccer program and its student-athletes in the classroom and on the pitch. As I sought to suggest in my earlier post in this discussion, for me sports in general, and specifically soccer as my favorite sport, are less about wins and losses. I feel this is especially true for college sports. Instead, for me these competitions are more about lessons for life, such as loyalty, commitment, thinking, toughness, teamwork, and working hard always. Indeed, it seems my favorite soccer teams in a number different competitions/leagues reflect my uppermost interest in tradition, inspiration, and dedication, instead of and over a long legacy lots of wins and championships at the highest levels. For I have for a very long time and will continue to follow and support Penn State in college soccer, Celtic in pro soccer, and the U.S. and Ireland in international football. Of course, as much as any fan, I would love to see my teams win big, often, and indeed if possible always. Along these lines, as Roy Keane once famously put it about Irish football: "They (Ireland's tremendously loyal, supportive fans) want to see the team winning – let’s not kid ourselves, we’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let's not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.” Nevertheless, I am still going to follow these teams, and hope for and look for the best each new season, and for each future season. And this is especially true for Penn State, for as long as I see the Nittany Lions teams, the coaches, and the players continuing to strive, to fight, and to work their hardest to represent themselves and their college with dedication to success with honor, I'll be a supporter. Along these lines, some lyrics from an Irish song speaking to such sentiments ... I was born in a country where people admire Their great sporting heroes and how they aspire To stand upon mountains and always be winners And never give less than their all ... I'm dreaming of Ireland in fine summer weather A crowd of young lads playing football together All hoping that someday the call they will answer To play for the place they were born On the fields, the fields of glory On the fields where boys become men May the best team win in the end
Penn State men’s soccer players Connor Maloney (Harrisburg, Pa.) and Robby Sagel (Las Vegas, Nev.) were selected in the MLS Draft Tuesday, Jan. 17 ... http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/011717aaa.html
Surprised Maloney fell that far. He's small but a good player. Sagel could be a sleeper. Prototypical MLS CB size.
Maloney: 2 things, #1) not too, too surprising - he was completely incompetent at RB. #2) determining his MLS position. He doesn't seem like a fit a wing or up top forward. Probably, withdrawn forward is his best position. Some teams don't play with 2 up top or they use an international to pull the strings. Perhaps #8, two-way MF - which isn't what he did at PSU.
Penn State spring scrimmage schedule ... http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/013117aaa.html
Connor Maloney signs with Columbus: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/022117aaa.html