Very telling things about the current state of college soccer

Discussion in 'College & Amateur Soccer' started by Sandon Mibut, Dec 13, 2019.

  1. staffstaff

    staffstaff Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Sep 12, 2016
    Chula Vista, CA
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It isn't just the DA. USYS regional and national leagues, and now boys ECNL, travel just as much, if not more than that of the DA. IMO, too much travel for something that could be done on more of a local level.
     
  2. espola

    espola Member+

    Feb 12, 2006
    Travel is only coincidental to what I was referring. The DA is too narrow and doesn't have enough feet. The DA teams associated with MLS teams have an obvious advantage over the others, and the MLS distribution itself misses hotbeds of youth soccer. An extreme example - LA has had three teams (one died) and San Diego has none.
     
  3. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    Funny, we copy some things from Europe and other things we ignore like travel. There is no reason in the world why teams from the same area shouldn't be playing each other. Madrid teams play in Madrid, Barcelona teams play in Barcelona, London teams play in London, etc. some games for the pro teams are more comfortable than others. At the beginning of the year and the end of the year, they'll play against other pro clubs sides in tournaments but, most travel is less than an hour and one game a week with four days of training. No one travels 10 hours by bus or four hours by plane to play in a league match. No reason the main metropolitan areas couldn't have their own leagues with the quality of academy and non-academy teams in each area. Less time in a car, bus or airport and more time on the field have a life as a kid.
     
  4. VASoccer75

    VASoccer75 Member

    Oct 28, 2015
    Also, not charging $3,500 (More for DA and ECNL in some cases) per child to play youth sports. It leaves the have-nots with limited playing options.
     
  5. espola

    espola Member+

    Feb 12, 2006
    #30 espola, Dec 16, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2019
    When my son was involved in the ODP program in Cal South over 10 years ago, my suggestion to an ODP coach was to have each District form their own team and have them play against each other more often than the ODP teams were then meeting for practices (a few times a year). That wouldn't eliminate all the travel, but it would be limited to the distance between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, at worst, and it would give the selected players more opportunities to play against other selected players.

    Then DA came along and sucked the blood out of ODP.
     
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  6. Fish On

    Fish On Member

    Oct 22, 2016
    Club:
    AC Mantova
    another factor- burnout.
    Or that could be a whole separate thread.
    Fun factor diminishes a bit when scholarship is involved. Takes on more job like characteristics..if it’s not fun- kids are not interested.
     
    Fitballer and TimB4Last repped this.
  7. Terrier1966

    Terrier1966 Member

    Nov 19, 2016
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Seems to me there is a core with a very strong culture but 80% of the culture is owned by 20% of the people.

    The point I was trying to make is that some of the soccer population from a while back was not committed to the sport...they were looking for something and soccer started at 3-4. Some of that crowd has moved to lacrosse, which was heavily concentrated to a few areas and now is more widespread.

    I think there will always be a core but I also think the evolution of DA etc more quickly thins the herd.
     
  8. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Speaking of numbers and youth. This series of tweets is exactly what direction I mentioned initially.



     
  9. UNCG2004

    UNCG2004 Member

    Leeds United
    United States
    Nov 20, 2019
    This got me thinking, so I broke down the College Soccer News All-American Teams. Three teams, with 12 players each, so I total of 36 players were selected by CSN.

    + 20 Americans were chosen with 16 internationals
    + 7 Americans were named First Team, 5 internationals were named First Team
    + 23 kids attend Public schools, 13 attend Private schools
    + Breakdown below, six categories of Public In-State, Public Out-of-state, Public Out-of-country, Private In-state, Private Out-of-state and Private Out-of-country players
    + My initial reactions: eight players attend in-state public schools, as well as three more in-state players that attend private schools, nearly one-third of the list; Five internationals landed on the First Team and; the foreigners chosen were from Europe (9), South America (3), Oceania (2), Africa (1) and North America (1).

    Public: In-state (8)

    Clemson (First Team)

    Virginia (First Team)

    UCLA (Second Team)

    Illinois Chicago (Second Team)

    New Hampshire (Second Team)

    Washington (Third Team)

    Kentucky (Third Team)

    Charlotte (Third Team)


    Public: Out-of-state (5)

    Central Florida > Georgia (First Team)

    Washington > Idaho (First Team)

    Virginia > New York (Second Team)

    Virginia > Oklahoma (Third Team)

    Indiana > Illinois (Third Team)


    Public: Out-of-country (10)

    Missouri State > England (First Team)

    Virginia > New Zealand (First Team)

    James Madison > Spain (First Team)

    Clemson > Senegal (First Team)

    Penn State > Ireland (Second Team)

    Santa Barbara > New Zealand (Second Team)

    Missouri State > Canada (Second Team)

    Clemson > England (Third Team)

    Marshall > Germany (Third Team)

    Rhode Island > Norway (Third Team)


    Private: In-state (3)

    Southern Methodist (First Team)

    San Diego (Second Team)

    Loyola Chicago (Third Team)


    Private: Out-of-state (4)

    Georgetown > New York (First Team)

    Stanford > North Carolina (First Team)

    Southern Methodist > Oklahoma (Second Team)

    Georgetown > Florida (Second Team)



    Private: Out-of-country (6)

    Wake Forest > Brazil (First Team)

    Saint Mary’s > Norway (Second Team)

    Stanford > England (Second Team)

    Campbell > France (Third Team)

    Saint Francis > Brazil (Third Team)

    Southern Methodist > Brazil (Third Team)
     
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  10. Terrier1966

    Terrier1966 Member

    Nov 19, 2016
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Wow, good info.

    I wonder if the voters have it in their mind to keep an eye on those numbers so as to avoid blowback if the team was 80% from overseas.
     
  11. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It doesn't seem to affect voting in DII or NAIA.
     
  12. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. espola

    espola Member+

    Feb 12, 2006
  14. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    goes to show you where the $$$ are located...lol
     
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  15. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So, this is endorsed by pro coaches, how?

    They move to finish their season in late spring (maybe May?). The MLS and USL calendars begin [essentially] in January. Now, there’s no injection of college players in the pro game until May or June at the earliest?

    That’s a strange thing to support. Exactly who is keeping roster spots then?

    Or, are college coaches happy with losing players to pro teams in the spring? They’d not have their best players (potentially) as they look to play for a national championship.

    This just doesn’t add up.
     
    espola repped this.
  16. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    Nah, I think it'll be like hockey and baseball where you go to the minors after the college season ends and if you're ready (which is rare) you get a call-up towards the end of the pro season.
     
    fknbuflobo and MySonsPlay repped this.
  17. Terrier1966

    Terrier1966 Member

    Nov 19, 2016
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Soccer will be more like basketball...the college b-ball game is at its lowest skill level ever...this change will not improve the player pool in college.

    If anything, at least now you get some “fall and done” players...nobody who can sign with an MLS team and make the squad is going to stay just to play 10 spring games and maybe some tournament games.

    Not to say I disagree with the move but I don’t think it will improve the player pool.

    As much as a grind as the fall is, the players get to enjoy being students more in the spring. Two seasons of “in-season” practices, travel and social restrictions won’t make any players enjoy college more...even if they appreciate the fall being less tenacious.
     
    espola repped this.
  18. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Those "minors" already have full rosters too. That's why I mentioned that. Many USL rosters are 80+% full by December anyway. So, what is going to happen from January-May when USL is in season AND they already have full rosters.

    These college guys have no where to go. It's really a silly concept right now.

    Really? I've never once heard that. Especially with the names and the impact that college players have had recently going to the NBA.

    You are 100% correct. There's a reason the players have been relatively quiet in this whole ordeal.

    You know who else is quiet? The coaches and programs who don't have 6-figure salaries and million dollar budgets. They know they will have to be on the job market when their school cuts men's soccer.
     
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  19. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Notre Dame de Namur University in California is cutting all athletics. This is the 5th men's soccer program cut in 2020 (1 school closed, 1 - this one - cut all athletics).

    There have been 13 programs gone since 2019.
     
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  20. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    The whole university is most likely closing in the next year. They are not accepting any new students at all.
     
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  21. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    The Catholic church is bleeding money with sex-abuse settlements. Less money available to prop up smaller schools.
     
  22. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    Closing the entire school would be damaging to any sports program.
     
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  23. Terrier1966

    Terrier1966 Member

    Nov 19, 2016
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    I wonder how many SEC AD’s would say “that’s a great idea, shut down this damn school with all these rules, study halls and expenses... let us run a real football program”
     
    collegesoccer and fanatica repped this.
  24. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Two more schools are closing, announced the last two weeks:
    • Nebraska Christian College - Nebraska (NCCAA - NAIA hopeful)
    • MacMurray College - Illinois (DIII)
     
  25. OverseasView

    OverseasView Member+

    Olympique Lyonnais
    France
    Feb 3, 2013
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    With the fact that very few foreign students will join colleges in the forthcoming months, can we expect a lot of closures, especially for the ones whose business model is based on having a large number of overseas students?
     
    appwrangler and ThePonchat repped this.

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