As a bit of a history and stats buff/nerd, a little while ago I rated the top college men's soccer programs of all time. My criteria was based completely on post-season success, how well teams did in the NCAA championship tournament. The tournament started with only 8 teams back in 1959, evolving over time to the 48 team tournament we have today. As there are many more teams playing today and winning a championship is more difficult, I weighted success as the sport and tournament grew. Not only did I come up with an overall list but broke it down by both decade and by tournament size eras. Rather than just sharing all the information at once, I thought it would be more fun for people to take a guess at the results or offer their own rankings. I'll post updates every couple days. Decades: 1959-1969, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010's By era: 8 team, 1959-1962; 16 team, 1963-1967; 24 team, 1968-1988*, 28 team, 1989-1992; 32 team, 1993-2000; 48 team, 2001-present *tournament participant #s varied from 219-24, most seasons had 24 teams. First reveal will be the decade of 1959-1969 plus the 8 team and 16 team eras. Second reveal will be the 1970s Third reveal will be the 1980s and the 24 team era Fourth reveal will be the 1990s and the 28 team era Fifth reveal will be the 2000s and the 32 team era 6th reveal will be the 2010s, the 48 team era and the overall rankings. Have at it and I'll post the first one in a day or two.
Will be showing the top ten for each. Reveal One: Best teams, Decade of 1959-1969 Place Team Championships 1 St. Louis 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967(T), 1969 2 Michigan St. 1967(T), 1968 3 Maryland 4 San Francisco 1966 5 Navy 1964 6 Westchester 1961 7 Army 8 Bridgeport 9 San Jose St. 10 LIU Brooklyn 8 Team Era, 1959-1962 Place Team Championships 1 St. Louis 1959, 1960, 1962 2 Maryland 3 Westchester State 1961 4 Bridgeport 5 Rutgers 6 USF 7t UConn 7t Michigan State 7t Springfield 7t CCNY 16 Team Era, 1963-1967 Place Team Championships 1 St. Louis 1963, 1965, 1967(T) 2 Navy 1964 3 Michigan St. 1967(T) 4 Army 5 San Francisco 1966 6 Long Island 7 Bridgeport 8 San Jose St. 9 Trinity 10 Maryland
Overall, with bias slanting towards the present as recent success harder than in the 60s and 70s because of far more competition. 1. Indiana, 8 national titles, last in 2012. Also last College Cup 2. Virginia - 7 national titles, last in 2014. Also last College Cup 3. UCLA - 4 national titles, last in 2002; last College Cup in 2014 4. Saint Louis - 10 national titles, last in 73; last College Cup in 97 5. Maryland - 3 national titles, last in 2008; last College Cup in 2013 6. Clemson - 2 national titles, last in 1987. Runners-up in 2015 7. Connecticut - 2 national titles, last in 2000. Also last College Cup 8. North Carolina - 2 national titles, last in 2011. Last College Cup in 2016. 9. Stanford - 2 national titles, last in 2016. 10. San Francisco - 4 national titles (plus one stripped), last in 1980. Also last college Cup.
That's pretty good Sandon. I will say only one team in your list is pretty far off from what the numbers say. And my overall will be the last reveal.
Bhoys, thanks for the background and you make an excellent point. I should rename the title to greatest program of the NCAA era. Unfortunately, my methodology has no way of incorporating non-tournament based winners so I will leave this as the greatest teams of the NCAA era, 1959 onwards. And this brings us to reveal #2, the 1970s. The decade brought us bell-bottoms, Pink Floyd, the Ford Pinto, Watergate, the Terrible Towel and, a statistical tie for the top team of collegiate soccer. The St. Louis Billikens managed to remain on top but were joined by the San Francisco Dons. 1970-1979 Place Team Championships 1 San Francisco 1975, 1976, 1978 1T St. Louis 1970, 1972, 1973 3 SIU Edwardsville 1979 4 UCLA 5 Hartwick 1977 5 Howard 1971, 1974 7 Clemson 8 Brown 9 Philadelphia 10 Indiana
Reveal # 3, the 1980s and the 24 Team Era. "24" is a bit of a misnomer as the # of participants varied from 19 to 24 over the period of 1968-1988. The 1980s brought us Day-glo, New Wave music, Reagonomics and a new team out of the mid-west at the top. Strikingly, former consecutive #1 St. Louis didn't even make the top 10. 1980-1989 Place Team Championships 1 Indiana 1982, 1983, 1988 2 UConn 1981 3 Virginia 1989 4 UCLA 1985 5 Duke 1986 6T Hartwick 6T Clemson 1984, 1987 8 San Francisco 1980 9T SMU 9T Alabama A&M 24 Team, 1968-1988 Place Team Championships 1 San Francisco 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980 2 St. Louis 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973 3 Indiana 1982, 1983, 1988 4 Hartwick 1977 5 UCLA 1985 6 Clemson 1984, 1987 7 SIU Edwardsville 1979 8T UConn 1981 8T Howard 1971, 1974 10 Philadelphia
The blindness of statistics. Interesting comparing Clemson and Hartwick. Clemson of course had the two championships but missed the tournament all-together three years and was knocked out first round a couple others. Hartwick had three final fours, an elite 8 and three sweet 16s. Results were identical scores. Could be that championships should be given a higher score... On to the 90s. Seattle gave us grunge while Virginia gave us the Cavaliers. 1990-1999 Place Team Championships 1 Virginia 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 2 Indiana 1998, 1999 3 UCLA 1990, 1997 4 Santa Clara 5 SMU 6 St. Louis 7 St. John's 1996 8 Rutgers 9 Creighton 10 Duke Wisconsin won the 1995 championship but made it as far as the Elite 8 only one other time and didn't crack the top 10. 28 Team Era, 1989-1992 The NCAA went to 28 teams for just four seasons before bumping up to 32 teams. Place Team Championships 1 Virginia 1989, 1991, 1992, 2 UCLA 1990 3T Indiana 3T Santa Clara 5 Rutgers 6 SMU 6 NC State 8 St. Louis 9 San Diego 10 Evansville
And we move to the next millennium with the 2000s and the best of the 32 team era. 2000-2009 Place Team Championships 1 Indiana 2003, 2004 2 Maryland 2005, 2008 3 Wake Forest 2007 4 UCLA 2002 5 North Carolina 2001 6 Virginia 2009 7 St. John's 8 Creighton 9 UCSB 2006 10 UConn 2000 32 Team Era, 1993-2000 Place Team Championships 1T Indiana 1998, 1999 1T Virginia 1993, 1994 3 UCLA 1997 4 Creighton 5 St. John's 1996 6 SMU 7 Santa Clara 8T Duke 8T South Carolina 10T Maryland 10T Brown
Reveal # 6 brings us our current decade and current era. 2010-2016 Place Team Championships 1 North Carolina 2011 2 Maryland 3 Akron 2010 4 UCLA 5t Creighton 5t Stanford 2015, 2016 5t Indiana 2012 8t Virginia 2014 8t Louisville 10 Notre Dame 2013 48 Team, 2001-2016 Place Team Championships 1 Maryland 2005, 2008 2 Indiana 2003, 2004, 2012 3 North Carolina 2001, 2011 4 UCLA 2002 5 Wake Forest 2007 6 Virginia 2009, 2014 7 Creighton 8 Akron 2010 9 Notre Dame 2013 10 UCSB 2006
Last series of reveals. Ranking only covers teams that have managed to make it into the tournament, does not include teams that have never qualified. Will list team, championships (if any) and their point total. Today, 101-190, none of whom have won a championship. Rank Team Points 102, Bucknell, 19.0 102, UNLV, 19.0 104, Oakland, 18.0 104, LMU, 18.0 106, UMass, 17.0 107, Hofstra, 16.0 107, George Washington, 16.0 109, Colgate, 15.0 110, Drake, 14.0 110, Winthrop, 14.0 110, Monmouth, 14.0 110, E. Illinois, 14.0 110, Xavier, 14.0 115, Lafayette, 13.0 115, E. Strousburgh, 13.0 117, Marquette, 12.5 117, Lehigh, 12.5 119, Delaware, 12.0 119, Ohio, 12.0 119, Elon, 12.0 119, UCF, 12.0 119, W. Illinois, 12.0 124, Davidson, 11.5 124, CCNY, 11.5 126, Northern Illinois, 11.0 127, Loyola (Illinois), 10.0 127, Florida GC, 10.0 127, Seattle, 10.0 127, St. Mary's, 10.0 127, Brockport St., 10.0 127, Appalacian St., 10.0 127, Cortland State, 10.0 127, Towson, 10.0 135, Rider, 9.0 135, Fordham, 9.0 135, Drexel, 9.0 135, NYU, 9.0 135, Colorado College, 9.0 140, Jacksonville, 8.5 140, Cal Poly, 8.5 142, Stony Brook, 8.0 142, UMKC, 8.0 142, Fairfield, 8.0 142, St. Peters, 8.0 142, Northeastern, 8.0 142, Sacramento State, 8.0 142, UNC Wilmington, 8.0 142, Oregon State, 8.0 150, Buffalo State, 7.5 151, Pittsburgh, 7.0 151, St. Joesephs, 7.0 151, Robert Morris, 7.0 151, Oneonta State, 7.0 151, Williams, 7.0 151, Missouri State, 7.0 157, Richmond, 6.5 157, Cincinatti, 6.5 159, Binghampton, 6.0 159, Gardner-Webb, 6.0 159, Central Connecticutt State, 6.0 159, Springfield, 6.0 159, Chico State, 6. 0 159, Loyola (MD), 6.0 159, ETSU, 6.0 159, Dayton, 6.0 159, Albany, 6.0 159, UC Davis, 6.0 159, SIUE, 6.0 170, Middlebury, 5.0 171, Memphis, 4.5 172, Central Florida, 4.0 172, Marist, 4.0 172, Pacific, 4.0 172, Stetson, 4.0 172, Wisconsin Green Bay, 4.0 172, Radford, 4.0 172, Gonzaga, 4.0 172, Mercer, 4.0 172, S. Connecticutt St., 4.0 172, Liberty, 4.0 182, North Texas, 3.0 182, Ithaca, 3.0 182, Franklin & Marshall, 3.0 182, Baltimore, 3.0 186, Charleston Southern, 2.5 186, New Hampshire, 2.5 186, IUPUI, 2.5 186, Detroit, 2.5 190, North Florida, 2.0 190, Georgia State, 2.0 190, Western Michigan, 2.0 190, La Salle, 2.0 190, Montclair St., 2.0 190, Rennselear, 2.0 190, Quinnipiac, 2.0 190, WPI, 2.0 190, Illinois State, 2.0 190, Niagra, 2.0 190, Wofford, 2.0 190, Holy Cross, 2.0 190, DePaul, 2.0 190, Villanova, 2.0 190, Campbell, 2.0 190, CS Bakersfield, 2.0 190, Utah Valley, 2.0
And today brings us 51-100 #60 Westchester won the 1961 tournament and # 65 Wisconsin won the 1995 tournament. Rank, Team, Points, Championships 51, Boston U., 49.5 52, Tulsa, 48.0 53, NC State, 46.0 53, Georgetown, 46.0 55, Bridgeport, 45.5 56, American, 44.5 60, Westchester, 43.5, (1, 1961) 57, Providence, 42.0 59, Northwestern, 42.0 61, Evansville, 41.0 61, W. Virginia, 41.0 63, UNC Greensboro, 40.5 64, James Madison, 39.5 65, Wisconsin 38.5, (1, 1995) 65, Cal State Fullerton, 38.5 67, Seton Hall, 38.0 68, Air Force, 37.5 69, Penn, 37.0 70, Furman, 36.0 70, FIU, 36.0 72, Cornell, 35.0 73, George Mason, 34.5 73, SDSU, 34.5 75, Rhode Island, 33.0 75, Michigan, 33.0 77, Alabama A&M, 32.5 78, Cleveland St., 32.0 79, VCU, 31.5 80, Syracuse, 31.0 81, Princeton, 30.0 82, Vermont, 29.5 83, Denver, 29.0 83, Virginia Tech, 29.0 85, UAB, 28.0 86, Adelphi, 27.0 86, UIC, 27.0 88, UC Irvine, 26.0 88, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 26.0 90, UMBC, 25.5 90, Butler, 25.5 92, Kentucky, 25.0 93, Bradley, 24.5 94, Temple, 22.5 95, CSUN, 22.0 96, Yale, 21.5 97, St. Francis, 21.0 98, College of Charleston, 20.0 99, Trinity, 19.5 99, Hartford, 19.5 99, Bowling Green, 19.5
Second to last reveal, 11-50: Many in this part of the list have won at least one championship, years won listed in parenthesis. Rank, Team, Points, Championships 11, Creighton, 151.5 12, Akron, 143.5, (1, 2010) 13t, Penn State, 137.0 13t, Hartwick, 137.0, (1, 1977) 15t, Brown, 132.5 15t, Wake Forest, 132.5, (1, 2007) 17, Duke, 129.0. (1, 1986) 18, Santa Clara, 123.0, (1, 1989(t)) 19, St. John's, 121.0 (1; 1996) 20, Stanford, 118.0 (2; 2015, 2016) 21, Michigan State, 112.0 (2; 1967(t), 1968(t)) 22, Notre Dame, 105.5, (1, 2013) 23, Howard, 96.0, (2; 1971, 1974) 24, SIU Edwardsville, 94.0, (1, 1979) 25, South Carolina, 92.5 26, Rutgers, 89.0 27, Washington, 87.0 28, UCSB, 85.0 (1, 2006) 29, Harvard, 83.0 30, Cal, 79.5 31, Philadelphia, 75.0 32, South Florida, 74.0 33, New Mexico, 66.0 34, Portland, 64.0 35, San Diego, 63.5 36, LIU-Brooklyn, 63.0 37t, Dartmouth, 62.0 37t, Navy, 62.0, (1, 1964) 39, San Jose State, 60.0 40, William & Mary, 59.0 41, Farleigh Dickinson, 58.0 42, Boston College, 57.5 43, Louisville, 57.0 44, Fresno State, 55.5 45, Columbia, 55.0 46, Army, 53.5 46, UNC Charlotte, 53.5 48, Coastal Carolina, 52.5 49, Ohio State, 51.5 50, Old Dominion, 50.0
Last reveal, the Top Ten Rank, Team, Points, Championships 1, Indiana, 376.5, (8; 1982, 1983, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2012) 2, St. Louis, 333.5, (10; 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973) 3, UCLA, 324.5, (4; 1985, 1990, 1997, 2002) 4, Virginia, 294.5, (7; 1989(t), 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2009, 2014) 5, Maryland, 253.0, (3; 1968(t), 2005, 2008) 6, San Francisco, 204.0, (5; 1966, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980) 7, UConn, 197.0, (2; 1981, 2000) 8, Clemson, 194.0, (2; 1984, 1987) 9, North Carolina, 174.5, (2; 2001, 2011) 10, SMU, 153.0 SMU is an anomaly ranking so high without a single championship or even a single runner-up. The've only made the Final 4 twice. However, they've consistently made it to the Elite 8 and Sweet 16. They rank higher than three schools that have won two championships, Stanford, Howard and Michigan St. If ranked only by championships won it would be: 1. St. Louis, 10 2. Indiana, 8 3. Virginia, 7 4. San Francisco, 5 5. UCLA, 4 6. Maryland, 3 7. UConn, UNC, Clemson, Stanford, Howard, Michigan St; 2 each
The weight varied based on the number of teams participating. Here is the scale used I wasn't anal about being perfectly linear on the ratio of # participants to the points value
Interesting. I suppose any method will have some degree of contrivance. A few opinions - Every tournament entry should get at least something to distinguish it from schools that do not qualify, every game won should get some points, and the champion should get the most points that year. All kinds of variable suggest themselves - should all the champion get the same number of points? If not how should the points awarded be scaled (perhaps by number in the tournament, or number of schools playing the sport that year)? Many years ago, when my kids were just starting to play competitive youth soccer, and by coincidence the internet was just becoming available with too much information, I tried to grade the local youth clubs by giving a point for every team the club had playing at the lowest level (called AA-C at that time, or some color (Red, Blue, Green, etc) for the U9 groups), successively doubling the points for for each higher level (AA-B -> 2 points, AA-A -> 4, AAA ->8 and Premier ->16), and doubling the score of circuit champions.