Now that the season is over, players will start contemplating moves to other universities. Ryan Kelly made a move last year from UVa, and ended up in the championship game with SJU. Who will be this years transfer candidates (rumors, wishes and actuals) and their future site to metriculate?
Don't forget that Drew Moor transfered to IU and won the national championship and played for the U20 team. Probably beats being at Furman.
i spoke with some of the guys on the uva team yesterday, and they said that megaloudis would be transferring to fiu. seems like a decent idea given that he didn't get p-time this year. he'll still have 2 yrs to play. don't know about phillip long as of yet. he was the one that was removed from the team in mid-season.
KD, what's the word on Hall and Freeman and P40? Also, if anyone else from UVa was going to transfer, I would guess it would be one of the freshmen GKs. Best was the starter as a frosh till he got hurt and I can't see him wanting to go back to being No. 2. At the same time, Burke did very well once Best got hurt and I can't see him wanting to be No. 2, either. So, I see one of them going. Lots of top programs are losing their starting keeper to graduation and I'm sure would be interested in one of the Ryans.
S'nM, sorry i don't know info on hall / freeman & p40. but it is a good question. my feeling is that both need one more year of seasoning at univ level, but i'm just a poster child. burke doesn't have a scholarship at the moment, and best could be thinking about alternatives, since burke came on remarkably when best was injured. that is only conjecture as i do not have better info on this. there's always the possibility of a sophomore jinx for burke.
Personally, I thought that Best was the better of the 2 GK's. Burke had the advantage of playing when the defense had solidified. Best played when the UVA defense wasn't playing anything resembling a team. Burke does seem to be a strong PK stopper. Maybe george can use the 2 keepers a la St. John's, one for the game, the other as a PK specialist. I don't see Burke leaving. he went to UVA as a walk on. I don't see Best leaving either. He played well enough to keep his scholarship. Maybe he shouldn't have played hurt but that decision was his coach's.
Santa Clara Medhi Ballouchy is at Santa Clara and has been the whole year...he had to sit out this past year because of his transfer from Creighton but he is on the team and has been training all year...
UVa coaching change recently heard that craig reynolds has been released from the assistant trainer position at uva.
That's the only one I know of. Last I heard from/about Phil, he was hurt and that's why he didn't play towards the end of the season. So I doubt he's going anywhere.
Re: Santa Clara I didn't know that. Why would he have to sit out a year when Drew Moor and many others don't???
Long didn't play towards the end of the 2003 season because he failed piss tests, and got booted from the squad. Don't know if he will be back or not. He showed a lot of promise as a cat quick forward with a good shot as a freshmen. Downside was his work rate. He was moved to midfield in 2003 for some reason.
Re: UVa coaching change Whoah, when did this go down, and why? Was he "released" as in fired? Or did they let him go to pursue other things? I'm sure Craig could make more as a youth coach at a top club than as a college assistant. So, if he's just moving on, then that makes sense. But, if they're firiing him, that is totally BS. He is their best recruiter and the players really like him. Firing him sends the message that the problems at UVa the last few years are Craig's fault and imply that Gelnovatch isn't to blame and I don't think many of us would concur that that is an accurate picture of the situation in C-Ville.
Re: Re: Santa Clara Something about when he did it. He had already enrolled at Creighton for the fall semester and didn't tell them he wasn't coming back till very late, like August, when he didn't show up for preseason. I'm pretty sure that's the reason.
Re: Re: Re: Santa Clara It may also have to do with getting (not getting) a release from the school/coach which is not always a smooth situation.
Re: Re: UVa coaching change from what i have heard "released" = "fired" in this case. other details i do not know at this time. i'm not sure what official ath. dept. statements will say either.
More bad news for Furman As a fan of Furman soccer I must admit that there's something terribly wrong there. Clint is going project 40 this I understand, I also heard the that Eric Vogel is leaving, as well as, some others. What the hell is up. Is Vilalobos staying? Is the mass exodus from last year to continue? JBINSC enlighten us.
I know the Furmanites will get really bent by this and think I have some pro-Clemson or pro-SC agenda (which I don't), but it's hard to look at what's going on down there in Greeneville objectively and think something is amiss. Players leaving P40, in itself, is not an indictment of a program having problems. But, combined with a massive amount of transfers and players just leaving the program and it raises some serious questions. To Furman's credit, they did a great job brining in talent. Clark, we all knew was gonna be a stud. But, Dempsey wasn't a youth national teamer when he got to Furman and now he is, so the coaching staff deserves credit for their role in helping him move on. But, Drew Moor, Chefik Simo, Sergei Raad, etc.., it just seems like no one wants to stick around. And, it's hard to see that an anything but a negative. Is any, or all, of this related to the tragic Gray Griffin situation? Is it a matter of guys wanting to get away from the reminders of that whole incident or is there something unrelated to that and more related to the coaching or something else that is causing this. If the coaches are doing things that are prompting all these guys to leave, the administration needs to step in and take a hard look around and contemplate making changes. Because, something like this shouldn't be happening.
I wouldn't pretend to know if there is some underlying problem there, but it could be simply a case of being careful of what you wish for because you might get it. If the program is being sold as an intermediate stopover for MLS to players who might not otherwise be collegiate material, it's been hugely successful. Despite the beauty of the campus and it's quality soccer facility, don't forget that the school is still about the same size as many D3 programs, and although it's in Greenville, I wouldn't guess that the social environment among athletes is what it is at, say, neighboring Clemson. It may be difficult to recruit quality players to the school other than those who are already predisposed to leave early for a pro career.
Someone named Omar Jarun is going from Memphis to Dayton. http://www.daytonflyers.com/menssoccer/headlines/MENSSOCCERADDSTRANSFEROMARJARUNTOROSTER_8571.html
Furman Here are a couple of answers to recent questions. At the risk of exposing my obvious bias, I'll say first that I am a supporter of Doug Allison. He is an excellent coach, recruiter, and "all around great guy." He seems to highly value loyalty. Sandon, I don't think most of us Furman fans read SC or Clemson bias into your post. I think most of us tremendously underestimated the impact of the accident on the program. As noted, Furman is a very small school that has developed quite a strong soccer program. The natural migration in the program has been to recruit at the higher levels over time. Allison's recruiting class for 2002 was rated extremely high because it included Chefik, Gray, Josh, and Drew (3 National U-17 players and a Region III star.) A tremendous amount of the recent events at Furman with their soccer team is a direct result of the accident in the Fall of 2002. When Gray died and Chefik was so seriously injured, Josh was injured along with Sean Murray. The accident seriously impacted the recruiting for the following year. Chefik left because of memories, especially since he had been Gray's roommate for the 2 years at Bradenton as well as the short time at Furman. UVA offered an opportunity for a different venue along with moral and physical rehab support. Chefik had other friends from Bradenton already at UVA. Drew left for greener pastures because the whole situation he had been recruited into had changed. Gray, Chefik, and Drew were primary targets for the recruiting by Allison for 2002. With Gray gone, and Chefik leaving, along with the U-20 opportunity provided to Drew, he evaluated his options and chose to leave. Good decision or not - you be the judge. Josh is still at Furman and is staying. I expect him to have a banner year next season, possibly regain the attention of the national level coaches, and seriously entertain opportunities in the MLS after next season. Purely my opinion and hopes. Sergei was not academically eligible to play last season. Eric Vogel was attracted to Furman because of his friendship with Gray. He was cut from the team last fall due to an indiscretion that no colleg coach would tolerate. I haven't heard the latest on where he is going. A couple of other players have recently been cut, but nothing out of the ordinary. There was some grumbling last fall as the players got acclimated to the new assistant coach. I'm sure there will be some compromise on both parts; players need to get tougher and the assistant will need to adjust his style of dealing with the players. Now for my opinion regarding college soccer and elite youth players. Not every program is a good fit for players expecting to move to the professional level. Furman is not a program known for producing professional caliber players. There have been a few, but it is foremost an excellent academic environment that has a strong soccer program. The elite youth players coming through Bradenton are graduating high school earlier than most, and are expecting to move into the professional ranks. More and more of them are looking to college as an intermediate step to the MLS, if they are not the one or two that can attract a Pro-40 contract or direct offer from professional clubs. Their expectation is that college will provide a "semi-professional" training environment that help prepare them for future opportunities. That expectation is not a good fit for small schools like Furman or coaches who value loyalty and want longer commitments. Enough of my waxing philosophical, here's to expecting better things from Furman and Coach Allison over the next couple of seasons.
rumor has it that eric vogl called many ACC teams and sent letters in to coaches asking if he could transfer in. most of the coaches said no and hung up right then and there. if i was an ACC coach, and i saw eric vogl's names pop up on the caller Id, i would ignore it and never waste my time with this kid. he is as cocky as they come and the worst part is, he can not back it up. from stories passed along from various sources within bradenton have told me that he wasn't cut as much for his ability and potential, but cut for attitude and personality reasons. apparently he cant get along with anyone, that could be the reason he was cut first from the u17s and then with Furman Univer. take it for what it is worth, but i see this kid holding himself back due to the fact no one can stand to be around him. JHF
Really? That's the rumor, huh? Well, I'd love to know where you're hearing your gossip. Yes, coaches hung up on an email... wait, is that possible? No coaches were called, only emailed, and the negative responses you imply with your comment did not exist. Eric fit the team dynamic perfectly on and off the field at Furman, getting along with everyone just fine. Whether he is "cocky" or not is a completely separate and irrelevant issue because of that. Interestingly, his prospects for next year don't include a single ACC team, as your comment entails. Vogl is looking at VCU and UNC Charlotte for next year, ...most likely UNCC. Eric didn't give Allison any problems with his "attitude" throughout the year, and did get released due to the illegal contacting of other coaches, nothing more. He'll be great at UNCC. Anything else you want to say on the topic, you might want to check your sources, because you're probably not as informed as you think, and as I am.