Don't know about "since 1995" but the last 9 or so years Maryland has struggled. Maybe my memory is bad but I thought they were usually solid in 2010 and prior. Their women's lacrosse does well. Don't know why women's soccer struggles so badly. They are situated near solid youth soccer areas (Northern VA, MD, PA.) Haven't been there in a long time so don't know about their facilities. VMI posted that they beat them this spring. That is terrible. I know spring doesn't really count but that should never happen. What's the story with this program?
Ray at UMD is a great guy and is a good coach. Think he is still cycling out some of the old players that were there. Think he just finished his 3rd season. As far as the facilities, they are rough. Field is inside a track, and they put up temporary bleachers in the fall for soccer and take them down for track and field for the spring. Haven’t been up there in 2 years, but that’s what it was like the last time I was there. Hasn’t seemed to stop the Men’s side from being successful though...
I personally wouldn't have UCLA on there. You can certainly make a good case for UF, due to the paucity of deep NCAA runs. I also think Texas and UGA would be prime examples of underachieving as compared to resources and location. As 007 points out, deep NCAA runs aside, other factors come into play. I think (JMHO) that making it to the elite 8 or Final 4 should be a benchmark of a really good program. (speaking athletically)
Maryland is definitely a place that can be successful. Men’s soccer, field hockey, lacrosses, and basketballs do well there. Good location, strong state school, and in a recruiting hotbed. It took Pensky a good five years to get that program rolling, guess he needed some time to transition from the men’s side to the women’s side. He then made them a Sweet 16 caliber program. Tennessee pulled him away after 2011 season with $ and then assistant Jon Morgan took over. He had a good first year to make it to the second round, second year was on the Tournament bubble and didn’t get in, and down third and fourth years. Wheels came off when they went 1-9-1 and finished in last place of the Big 10 in 2015. He was let go based on performance and questionable recruiting tactics by an assistant. They had decent teams but just couldn’t score and lost a lot of one goal games including quite a few late and in overtime. What really hurt Maryland was their hiring process after Morgan was let go. Took them about 2 1/2 months to make a hire which is an eternity. They went after Stefanie Golan but Minnesota upped her $ and retained her and also went after Dave Nolan but Georgetown did the same thing. Eventually landed Ray Leone who is from that area. But during that time they lost committed recruit after recruit. They lost 3 good classes while kids were unsure of what was going to happen and committed elsewhere. Massive failure by the administration there and set the program back years. Shows the effect of when an administration doesn’t know what they’re doing. The only thing close to that in recent history in hiring time was when Syracuse took an even longer 4 months to hire their head coach last year. Leone walked in to very bare cupboard and didn’t have a whole lot of talent for his first 2-3 years. But having said that they should have been making a turn this past year as he was in his 4th year. Would think he needs to show progress in year 5 and 6 (top 1/3 of Big 10 and NCAA appearance is how I would define that) in order for him to keep going. Was handed a huge rebuild project so can understand a few down seasons but time has now come to make some headway.
Thank you for all the great historical information! I was shocked by the VMI result. I definitely have a better understanding now.
Maybe VMI is getting better. Combined with MD having a spring roster that could be challenging. Graduation of players. Injuries. It is spring you know.
The first part of the theory is possible but highly unlikely. They have a student body of 1685 compared to Maryland's 30K+ and getting female athletes to commit to VMI is a big challenge. They were 1-16-2 in the fall. Plus they lost to Liberty 5 to nil two weeks prior so it would have been some miracle improvement in 2 weeks if that was the case. Most likely "spring roster" issues as you state for MD. Still a poor showing by MD and significant enough that VMI posted it on their twitter account (I don't see many teams post spring results): KEYDETS WIN!!!!!!! Women’s soccer takes down Big 10 foe Maryland Terrapins 2-1! #RahVaMil #EARNEDIT #GrowthMindset— VMI Women's Soccer (@VMI_WoSoc) March 8, 2020
I can't resist - just about any 11 Maryland players should be better than any 11 VMI players. That's a terrible sign for UMD at any time of the year. All true about the poor transition when Ray was hired and maybe women's soccer has been under the radar with all the other crap at UMD recently but Ray is not getting it done. I would not put them on this list necessarily since they were in a bad place when he arrived and have not been good since joining the Big10 but it's always interesting to compare the men's and women's teams. In several comparable sports, when one gender is very good, that certainly means it can be done for the other. As was noted, UMD is above avg in lots of sports in the Big10. I think when mens soccer won it all a couple years ago UMD also won both lacrosse national titles. I do think UMD should be doing much better though and does have a new stadium coming very soon. My total guess is Ray does not get renewed and retires at the end of this year.