12 D-I head coaching hires this offseason. Zero Black head coaches, zero Latino head coaches and zero Asian-American head coaches. Nothing but white dudes... for a sport that is increasingly more and more diverse. Do better, college soccer.
Who are the top minority candidates? No Power 5 jobs, No Big East openings, so many bottom-of-the-RPI teams are likely paying very little money.
The "who are the candidates" job is the laziest trope and ignores the pipeline issue. Harder to get to the top of the queue when you can't get in the queue. Oregon State, btw, is a Power 5 job. Cal Poly is a desirable job. But who says it has to be a Power 5 gig. Plenty of coaches would love that shot at a smaller school to work their way up. Like Gbandi, Oshoniyi, Roberts, Daly and Payne have done. BTW, it appears the easiest way for Black players to become college head coaches is to have some MLS playing experience on their CV. A disproportionate number of the Black coaches are former MLS players and a disproportionate number of the former MLS players who are now college head coaches are Black.
Let me give a few names that are guys out there that deserve a shot at a school that has resources. Let me be clear before you read this, I’m not saying any of these guys should have gotten any job on this list, but when you say “name a minority coach out there that has the qualifications, experience, without the extensive playing career and deserve a shot” I don’t mind doing that. - Jjojan Obando (Spanish) – Been at Michigan for almost or right around a decade. Has had some good and bad while there but has been a part of a lot of success. For sure a guy who should be in mix for some of these jobs. But, he’s a GK guy? Ok let me give you a couple of names: Terry Boss (Former OSU), Ryan Hopkins (SDSU), Chris Rich (UNCG) all came from environments where they were primarily working with GKs. - Abel Wasswa (Black) – Current assistant at Oregon State. Did a fantastic job at UMass Lowell as the top assistant there and clearly helped Boss continue what they were doing as the top assistant at OSU. I’m not saying he should have been the next OSU coach but should he have gotten a call to be in the mix for one of these other jobs out there, no question there. - Charles Rodriguez (Spanish) – Current assistant at UNCC. Has had a lot of success both at Stanford (2 National Titles) and Yale (First ever Ivy Title). Everywhere he has been he has had success. I don’t see how he’s not in the mix for multiple jobs - Armante Marshall (Black) – Currently at South Florida. Has been around the block, fantastic recruiter and a has been a part of helping programs some programs he’s been a part of. Not a lot of success at Temple (we have all seen other coaches get opportunities with less) but Jacksonville and South Florida he has been a huge part to their success - Trevor Banks (Black) – Left Brown to start a program at Chicago State (School with zero resources), you got what we expected with starting a program at a low resource program. He left for Michigan Stars and absolutely killed it with that group. No clue where he is now but to me this is a guy who should have gotten a call for one if not most of these jobs. - Dannie Merida (Spanish) – Currently Assistant at FIU. Not a huge amount of success in his time at Stony Brook (Again, we have seen coaches get opportunities with less) but he has been a huge part of what FIU has been able to do over the last 3 years and deserves a shot. Thoughts?
Those are great names. Are they applying for these very low-level D1 jobs? (they are probably making more as an assistant where they are). Not everyone is in a position to take a pay cut to get a Head D-1 Job. A place like Chicago State pays $55,000 a year as a head coach. Are these guys applying for these jobs before you blame college soccer administrators? It's been a year where there has been one power five job open and it went to a guy from Penn State. Jjojan had his first year as a primary assistant and Michigan finished last in the Big Ten. He may be a great coach someday but he is not ready. The jobs that opened this year are some of the worst jobs in D1. Maybe waiting for better opportunities or picking their moment when they are ready.
So you're saying that white coaches are more willing to take the crappy and lower-paying jobs than Black and Latino coaches? Not a lot of societal historical precedence there, but you be you and ignore the problem.
This is true. Credit to Stewart Flaherty. Don't think Mr Banks is actually a good coach either. Talks a big game, and rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Also part of the reason the previous Brown staff got fired; and there's a rumor he's heading back to the Ivy League to be an assistant too.
Another few names to add in would be Jose Robles (Tulsa). Nate Daligcon (Seattle). Camilo Rodriguez (Clemson). Diving deeper there are a total of 8 out of 212 D1 Schools with Black, Latino, Asian HC's. (Please correct me if I've miscalculated. Equaling just 3.77% of all eligible schools with a minority head coach. Schools listed below. Again please correct me if I'm missing anyone. (Creighton, Cal, UConn, UTRGV, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Incarnate Word, Stony Brook)
You blamed college soccer and administration. I gave you another thing to think about. Do you know if those coaches applied for these jobs before you pass judgment that college soccer needs to be better? I can guarantee my background and history (me being me) with diversity and inclusion allows me to put forth these questions with a very clear conscience. Who are the AA coaches out there? Leonard Griffin - P5, Russell Payne - P5, Chaka Daily - P5, Chris Gbandi - Big East, Bo Oshanyi - Ivy, Norris Howze - Independent, Bryheem Hancock - UTRGV, Ryan Anatol - Stony Brook - American East. Probably all but Chicago State (and probably) UTRGV are paying $125K+ with most being over $150K. If I am the Michigan assistant in my first year as the top assistant and a last-place finish, am I applying for the Detroit Mercy job? No. If I am the South Florida assistant - after just returning to my alma mater - am I applying for the position at Jacksonville? No. Or the first assistant at UNCC - after also just returning to my alma mater - am I applying for the position at Presbyterian? No. It is very difficult to win at those schools and you don't want to commit career suicide especially if you are not one of those coaches without previous MLS experience. Maybe they are happy for now in their situation knowing there are better opportunities ahead. I think time will prove that statement to be true. I said to you "Do you know if these coaches applied for the positions?" I hope that Temple and Oregon State had minorities interview for the position. I hope that administrators at the other schools sought out potential minority hires. For sure, I don't know why there are not more Latino coaches, especially in California. Does Greg Dalby deserve a shot to be a Head Coach at OSU? Probably. He has paid his dues. MLS experience. Helped two programs to unprecedented success and comes from the extremely successful Bobby Clark tree. There is a very high proportion of international coaches (particularly British) but that is the US Soccer scene in general. There is a trend to hire D2 coaches since international recruiting has taken over the mid-majors. Do I think there are some good hires this year? Yes. Do I think there are some bad hires this year? Yes. In my opinion (and I'm allowed to have one) is that your statement about college soccer needing to be better was too general when you have no idea who applied and who interviewed for these positions.
He is a good recruiter, works hard, and is not a bad guy, but that's about the extent of praise I'd offer and I wouldn't enjoy working with him. Loads of people just like him involved in college athletics so this isn't exactly revelatory.
Mentioned a few pages back that new Bryant U HC Resendes strongly favored Spanish talent. Well he brought a few xf's in during the Sem' break (according to TD). Including the #2 scorer MF Villaldea with SDSU who I think was there as a 2Y player for Aztecs. Iñigo Villaldea - Men's Soccer - SDSU Athletics (goaztecs.com) So it may not have worked out for whatever reason, but it wasn't playing time or scoring.
OPEN: Detroit Mercy (11/28) UMBC (1/31) FILLED: Bryant - Ruben Resendes (Franklin Pierce head; 11/8-12/7) Cal Poly - Oige Kennedy (Stanford associate head; 10/18-12/8) St. Francis - Mads Kaiser (St. Francis assistant; 11/18-12/12) Georgia Southern - Lee Squires (Lander head; 11/4-12/14) Jacksonville - Ali Simmons (Elon associate head; 11/3-12/20) Robert Morris - Jonathan Potter (Presbyterian head; 11/11-12/20) Gardner-Webb - Scott Wells (UNC Greensboro associate head; 11/8-12/22) Temple - Bryan Green (Louisville Associate head; 11/13-12/22) Rider - Chad Duernberger (Dartmouth assistant; 11/1-1/3) Lindenwood - Kris Bertsch (Saint Louis assistant; 12/5-1/11) Presbyterian - Nick Finotti (Wofford assistant; 12/20-1/24) Oregon State - Greg Dalby (Penn State associate head; 12/22-1/26)
I don’t know Trevor personally, but I do know Patrick Laughlin (former Brown coach). PL never once said a negative thing about Trevor besides he needed to go on vacation. When PL was not renewed, a year and a half after Trevor was gone, he knew it was the end of his time at Brown with new administration and how successful the Women’s program had been in recent years. For you to try and spread a dirty rumor that isn’t true about a guy you don’t know or haven’t had any “real” interaction with shows you’re a keyboard warrior looking for some attention. This is from a former player who was in Michigan the last couple of seasons who I coached as a youth. No names are being mentioned here as this player is in the middle of signing with another club. “As you know I was with the club the year before and the club was dump before Trevor came in. There was a lot blamed on Trevor during his time, but we all knew who was really to blame, which was ownership. Instead of working with Trevor everyone, including staff, wanted to go against Trevor and as players we saw it everyday. Trevor was very good at making sure we were prepared for whoever we played. He could breakdown any team we played against and prepare us to defend whatever they threw at us. He was super detailed when it came to what he created with our team and he was always prepared with something else, if that didn’t work. Don’t get me wrong I wish we attacked a bit more but the reason we lead the league in GAA, before Trevor left, is due to how he forced everyone on the field to defend and win the ball back as quick as possible. I’m not saying Trevor is the sole reason, because Stew did a good job and Trevor wasn’t here at that point, but Trevor is definitely one of the main reason we won the championship.” In my book there is no need to try and slander a guys name. The question was asked, who are the minority coaches out there that deserve an opportunity to be in a head coaching position. I think everyone would agree this guy at least deserves an interview.
OPEN: Detroit Mercy (11/28) FILLED: Bryant - Ruben Resendes (Franklin Pierce head; 11/8-12/7) Cal Poly - Oige Kennedy (Stanford associate head; 10/18-12/8) St. Francis - Mads Kaiser (St. Francis assistant; 11/18-12/12) Georgia Southern - Lee Squires (Lander head; 11/4-12/14) Jacksonville - Ali Simmons (Elon associate head; 11/3-12/20) Robert Morris - Jonathan Potter (Presbyterian head; 11/11-12/20) Gardner-Webb - Scott Wells (UNC Greensboro associate head; 11/8-12/22) Temple - Bryan Green (Louisville Associate head; 11/13-12/22) Rider - Chad Duernberger (Dartmouth assistant; 11/1-1/3) Lindenwood - Kris Bertsch (Saint Louis assistant; 12/5-1/11) Presbyterian - Nick Finotti (Wofford assistant; 12/20-1/24) Oregon State - Greg Dalby (Penn State associate head; 12/22-1/26) UMBC - Anthony Adams (UMBC associate head; 1/31-2/6)
Michigan's Canadian coach and briefly NE Revolution player Chaka Daly is Black. But the number of POC coaches in college men's soccer is still shockingly and embarrassingly low given how high the participation numbers for POC in the sport are.
Here's the POC men's soccer head coach list I know of. If anyone's left off or incorrect, well, you know what to do. Ryan Anatol - Stony Brook Graciano Brito - Siena Oliver Carias - Queens (NC) Chaka Daly - Michigan Terry Davila - Cal State Northridge Chris Gbandi - Connecticut Leonard Griffin - California Philip Gyau - Howard Bryheem Hancock - UTRGV Norris Howze - Chicago State Kiki Lara - Incarnate Word Kwame Oduro - St. Bonaventure Bo Oshoniyi - Dartmouth Russell Payne - Northwestern Carlos Somoano - North Carolina Johnny Torres - Creighton Everyone is indeed entitled to their opinions, but if you don't a sport as diverse as men's soccer having this few POC head coaches is an issue that needs to be addressed, you are very likely a big part of the problem.
Thank you for the quote from the former player. Players rarely know the full truth. Everywhere he has been (and there's been quite a few!), his teams have been pretty bad. Speaking of minorities deserving of head coaching jobs, his name should not be in the conversation. I watched his put together Chicago State team this past season and they were the worst team I'd seen playing Akron in my 20 years watching the Zips. IMO, best candidate gets the job - minority or not. There are many minorities in jobs because they are minority. There's been quite a few mentioned in this thread..
OPEN: Detroit Mercy (11/28) FILLED: Bryant - Ruben Resendes (Franklin Pierce head; 11/8-12/7) Cal Poly - Oige Kennedy (Stanford associate head; 10/18-12/8) St. Francis - Mads Kaiser (St. Francis assistant; 11/18-12/12) Georgia Southern - Lee Squires (Lander head; 11/4-12/14) Jacksonville - Ali Simmons (Elon associate head; 11/3-12/20) Robert Morris - Jonathan Potter (Presbyterian head; 11/11-12/20) Gardner-Webb - Scott Wells (UNC Greensboro associate head; 11/8-12/22) Temple - Bryan Green (Louisville Associate head; 11/13-12/22) Rider - Chad Duernberger (Dartmouth assistant; 11/1-1/3) Lindenwood - Kris Bertsch (Saint Louis assistant; 12/5-1/11) Presbyterian - Nick Finotti (Wofford assistant; 12/20-1/24) Oregon State - Greg Dalby (Penn State associate head; 12/22-1/26) UMBC - Anthony Adams (UMBC associate head; 1/31-2/6) Maybe...just maybe...Detroit Mercy has hired...reportedly the top two candidates turned them down. Could they get an announcement out before the three month mark...