With the recent announcement of Matt Fannon leaving BGSU for Iowa State, it made me wonder who are the other top Mid Major Head Coaches that should be considered for the jump to the next level? A couple others that jump to mind for me are: Shields at SLU Bimbi at Loyola Chicago Fabiano at Milwaukee What say you?
Hedlund at UNT Blankenship at FGCU Holeman at Lamar Not sure any of these are leaving their current posts, though. SH the most likely.
Simon Riddiough - Hofstra I also really like Jason Dowiak at Umass. I think it would be a few years before he bounces but I like what he's done at Umass so far
I second Simon, fantastic job over the years. Nate Lie is making miracles happen in short time at Xavier as well
Definitely agree about Turner, Riddough, Shields, Bimbi, Blankenship, Holeman, and Fabiano. Hedlund too as UNT has success but their brand of soccer is hard to watch. Also: Patrick Baker from FAU. RPI is rigged for the Power 5s yet he got a 32 this past year. Mick D’Arcy from Central Connecticut St. consistently does well in the NEC and has the biggest Tournament upset this year when they beat Rutgers in the first round. Paul Royal at La Salle. Nancy Feldman at Boston University. Carin Jennings-Gabarra at Navy. Samford, South Alabama, and Furman coaches typically do well.
Woodward at Seattle U - sustained success for a decade Rumor out here was she was headed to UW (could anyone have complained about that one?), but that has quieted
Barry has done a good job with the Ramblers but you only need to go back a few years to see that they've struggled recently. He seems to be on a good trend and appears to have the program moving in the right direction but a few more solid years are needed, IMHO. He seems to be a nice guy and if anyone would be deserving to move up some day, it would be Barry. That said, he seems to be very content in Chicagoland and may not want to move on. He does have a good gig at Loyola now. The soccer facilities suck (field about 1 mile off campus and bad turf) but there are many other good aspects of the school. Also, I would like to see Loyola have some more success vs stronger OOC competition as the Missouri Valley Conference is inconsistent and can be weak. Nate has done a good job at Xavier but he just finished up his 3rd there as HC. I would like to see him have a few more good years and with more of his own recruits before I brand him ready to move on. Another consideration with Xavier is that the conference that it is in, the Big East, is a step up from being a mid-major and a step down from a power conference. I'm not sure that Nate is ready to make a jump to what would be considered an improvement in strength of program/conference. In all seriousness, I can see him going back to Cincinnati as HC. Neil Stafford has been a bit sub par, IMHO, and I would think that he is on notice to get things turned around. I'm not sure that he will. I see Stafford being at UC maybe only one more year though I'm saying this without knowing how his contract reads. Also to consider, that middling UC program is composed of many players that are Lie's recruits. Nate had a heavy influence on the recruiting at Cincinnati when he was there. A larger program may take that into consideration when looking at Nate.
Baker appears to be a good coach. Apart from that your statement is just the opposite of the truth. The RPI is rigged against stronger conferences and in favor of weaker ones. If you check Massey's ratings, you'll get a much better picture of where teams from stronger and weaker conferences stand in relation to each other. Massey has FAU at #63, which stil is pretty good for a mid-major.
Here’s an outstanding list with a few mid major coaches to pick from! Updated NCAA WoSo CoachRank Top 30 after the 2019 season.Reminder that these are calculated over 5 seasons (2015-2019) with a minimum of 3 seasons at current club to be eligible.Factors in conference performance, conference tournament performance, NCAA Tournament performance. pic.twitter.com/NP4k34QS7w— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) December 9, 2019
Although he didn’t set the world alight at Buffalo I think Michael Thomas at South Dakota has done well. They’ve had one of the highest upswings in the country from when he took over so if you look at coaches who have made a significant impact quickly I think he has. Plus he does it in South Dakota which I wouldn’t imagine is as easy a location to recruit to as a lot of other places that coaches in this thread are spoke about.
I would say it’s no coincidence that Loyola got better when Frankie came aboard. And I will be interested to see if they go back to struggling if/when he leaves.
location for sure makes it harder to recruit. The Dakotas I would guess are maybe the least desirable states for recruits so being successful there would not be a picnic.
For mid-majors, Bill Hempen has had Colorado State improve its rankings at the rate of just under 30 positions per year since he started the program there (per Massey, #274 in 2013 to #89 in 2019, improving every year, and just about the same for the RPI). To me, that's pretty remarkable, although I think CSU will start to tail off in the improvements this year. On the other hand, would he make a top level Power 5 coach these days? He had good days at Colorado (Boulder) but they were in trouble by the time he left. Are there some coaches who can be great at mid-majors, but not have that translate to the Power 5?
great thread... lots of great coaches out there. Out west: Not sure if the WCC can count as a mid major league but obviously some big time coaches out there: Rockwood, BYU Ward, Pepperdine Smith, Santa Clara Watkins, Gonzaga Big West: Brown, Fullerton Big Sky: Sac State
not sure if conferences like the WCC or the Big East are exactly mid major maybe more somewhere between most mid majors and power five. For example BYU, Pepperdine and Santa Clara are schools that almost sell themselves regardless of which is in charge. Obviously they all have good coaches too. Gonzaga coach came in right at the correct time as they had a group that seemed were about to head onwards and upwards. Plus I don’t see Watkins being a good recruiter the guy is a tool his school just sells itself. but yes I agree good thread. On the flip side of the hot seat thread this does make you realize there are a lot of good coaches out there in difference parts of the country.
Not sure Gonzaga ever even had a winning season before he got there. Guys got a great reputation and the players love the him. Ever been to Spokane? I’d add: Illinois State, consistent Boise State Loyola Wisconsin-Milwaukee
I haven’t heard the same thing about his players liking him and that’s from other coaches in the conference. But they’ve been good so clearly he can coach. Illinois state I think is a tough one as they have been good but they’ve been good under 3 different coaches in recent years. Probably a case of a good job so you can win there but also because it’s a good job it attracts good coaches. Milwaukee I think is kind of the same; good program anyway but it attracts good coaches because it’s a good program.
Good point. My daughter really liked Frankie the few times they interacted during the recruiting process. She loved his technical training at their ID Camps.
I'm actually surprised that Pelaez hasn't snared a decent head coaching position somewhere. He's got a lot of experience and is an excellent recruiter. Bimbi has promoted him from assistant coach to AHC so if Bimbi does move on from Loyola they'll have a good successor to him in the system already. FWIW, Pelaez' first name is Franky, not Frankie.