Saint Louis University 2010-2011

Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

If my memory is correct in Dan Donigan's first year SLU went 18-2. Thank God we have a new Coach who is much better than Donigan. What is our record now? Thinks real hard... Oh yeah. 2-3-2. SLU could win the National Title this year and still lose more games under McGinty than during DD's first year. We are so fortunate to have Coach McGinty.

Carry on...

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

You fell right into ST's trap.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Haha that hilarious. Ask any player that has played for both and you will get your answer there and your not going to like it. For people that know things about the program and have played there this answer is easy. For those of you that aren't connected you might have a tough time grasping this. You can't argue record because circumstances are so much different so if you really want to know who is a better coach then here are some suggestions.

1) Ask the players
2) Ask coaches around the country
3) Go watch a practice
4) Look at the assistant coaches for both regimes and compare
5) In 3 years look how far SLU has come and how far Rutgers has fallen

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Quite the contrary.

Donigan recruited Warmings players. Warming got the benefit of Donigan. Donigan then improved the team his first year. Donigan's team were nearly always ranked at one point or another. Some teams were ranked in the top 5 in the country.

Had Vedad, Will John, and Tim Ward stayed SLU likely would have got to a College Cup.

The move to the A-10 has been detrimental to SLU's RPI and is the only reason SLU hasn't maintained a higher RPI. No fault of Donigan.

Donigan won the A-10 Championship last year and also recruited a stellar class for 2010. Not just my opinion nearly universally recognized.

That all being said I hope McGinty wins every single game from now on.

That being said I'm not at all impressed at what McGinty has done so far. McGinty has pleanty of talent. PLENTY! McGinty doesn't seem to know who to play or where to play them and that is alarming. It's mind boggling. Donigan won somewhere close to 80% of his A-10 games. Hopefully McGinty will get things going and figure things out right quick before it's too late to salvage this season.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

I have talked to plenty of players and I don't like what I'm hearing at all.

I have watched practices.

I really like Santel and Johhny D as assistants. I know next to nothing about the other assistants other than what I have read.

You are correct time will tell. I hope in 3 years SLU has won 3 NCAA Titles.

For right now I just hope McGinty can figure out who the best players on his team are and start putiing them in the proper positions at the proper times.

One other thing that is really bothering me is McGinty stands the entire game 25 yards from his team with a very negative arms crossed body language shouting out 3rd grade CYC soccer parent style instruction. WTF is that all about?

Go Devon Go! Run Nicky Run! Back Johnhny Back! Watch out Jacob! Move up Benny! Move over Adnan! Up! Back! Stop! GO! LOOK! Jump Jimmy Jump! Good going Alex! Get back! Get Back Get Back Jake!

I find that to be alarming and embarassing.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

If my aunt had a penis she'd be my uncle.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Hey that was clever, though tasteless, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't still be your aunt ... haha.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

If we're going to compare them, we should probably look at how both coaches are doing right now, since we are really concerned with the here and now.

As you mentioned, McGinty's squad has shown that they are probably an average team overall, with a chance to overachieve or underachieve, based on how well the come together.

Rutgers, on the other hand, are 3-5-1.

So, they've got two more losses than SLU, are currently riding a four game losing streak, during which they have not scored a single goal, and just yesterday lost to New Jersey Institute of Technology, a 3-7 school that just became a full fledged D-1 member last year. Other losses are against Lehigh, Marquette, Temple and Cincinnati. Wins have come against Long Island University (4-6), Hartford (3-5) and St. Peter's College (4-4).

So, if we are going to say that Donigan's 18-2 season had nothing to do with Warming leaving him a full cabinet, and we aren't going to give McGinty the benefit of the doubt for coming in when the cabinet was left bare by Donigan, then clearly it's OK to simply compare the two teams, and determine who is doing better in 2010. McGinty's squad has struggled, but they've also played a more difficult schedule, and still haven't done as poorly as Rutgers.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

If you notice he rarely talks the whole time. Sorber used to stand, doogie sit on a ball, and literally yell out who to pass the ball to when you got it. This was a nightmare for outside mids with the coach in your ear the whole time.

How do you want him to stand. Hands in pocket looks like he doesnt care. Sitting looks like he is lazy. There aren't many other options. Instead of sitting right next to the press box go near the field and actually hear what he says because most of it makes a lot of sense.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

You can't really compare 2 totally different teams but the schedule Rutgers has played is embarrassing. I mean they have lost to teams that I have never heard of. They are only going to slide more as they start big east play. Their only chance is to promoted Dave Beck as soon as possible.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Huh? What? WTF are you talking about?

I'm not comparing the two coaches or the two teams. I was simply pointing out that Donigan's first team went 18-2 and competed for a National Title. All accounts regarding Donigan and his performance that season were extremely positive. Now folks are actually suggesting that Donigan left the cupboard bare when he left which is ridiculous. Not only was the cupboard fully stocked it was overflowing. SLU has 16-22 players that could start right now if all were healthy. Exclude a few injured players and SLU still has 17 or 18 potential starters. So make no mistake McGinty has plenty of talent. PLENTY! SLU won the A-10 last year and made the second round of the NCAA's taking a very very strong Tulsa team to double OT before losing at Tulsa. SLU had/has the potential to improve on that this season.

Now Rutgers on the other hand had a losing record last season and for the most part has been on the decline the last decade or so save for one season a couple years ago when they had a decent year. It's clear that Rutgers hopes to rebuild through Donigan. I'm not a Rutgers fan and have no allegiance to them other than respecting what has been a pretty good program over the years. I do believe Donigan is a very good Coach and so does apparently the Rutgers Administration since they hired him over a group of other candidates.

Sincerely I hope McGinty succeeds but at this point I have a lot of questions.

 

Heh heh heh. I don't fail to see anything.

You in my opinion are delusional. Are you on LSD? Peyote? Shrooms?

SLU's team played great under Donigan. Donigan had a 70+ % winning percentage. Last years SLU team won 15 games, qualified for the NCAA's for the 4th consectutive season, won the A-10 Championship and played Tulsa to double OT. Anything less than that under Coach McGinty is going backwards not forwards. Correct?

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

You honestly cant really think SLU has plenty of talent. 17-18 starters? Lets hear them then because I can count about 5-6 that would actually start for a top 25 program right now. If we have so much talent we would have a better record plain and simple. We haven't even played that hard of a schedule compared to years past.

Enough with DD though, thats old news and an old argument. In time everyone will see who the better coach is. Its been bad for 10 years and only going to get much worse now. I will say this 500 million times but the people that actually played for DD know how terrible of a coach he is. All you have to do is ask. The stories are endless and unbelievable that these guys actually got paid to do what they do.

BTW, not sure if this was you or not but many people on here argued how much of an upgrade Rutgers is in terms of a coaching job. Where are those people now.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Attackers

Benny Estes
Adnan Gabeliic
Beau Bellomy
Mike Roach
Jordan Wolff
Jimmy Holmes

Mids

Alex Sweetin
Mike Robson
Steve Bortolon
Nick Maglasang
John Roeckle
Devon Newport
Sito Sasieto

Defenders

Chad Vandergriffe
Alex Johnson
Christian Briggs
James Dice
Jake Brown

Keepers

Mark Pais
Nick Shackelford

I also like Graham Basecke from what little I have seen of him.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

You basically just listed anyone who played this year. Sure all those guys may be potential starters on THIS TEAM but this team isn't very good. This is not a team challenging for a national championship. This is a team that will only get in the NCAA's by winning the conference tournament. This is not a top 25 team right now.

The only players that would actually start on a top 25 team are Roach, Sweetin, Robson, Maglasang, Chad, and one of the goalies because they are actually both pretty decent. Thats it.

I am not saying everyone else is terrible but thats the reality of the situation. Sure players like Dice, Jake, Roeckle, Newport have played well at times but really Roeckle and Newport wouldn't step on the field until their junior year at a better program.

If you truly feel that this team is that talented then they would have won more games against a pretty weak schedule. This team cannot win the national championship and that shouldn't shock anyone. This team is 2 years away from even considering that.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

No I listed guys who started full time or part time last year on a team that was ranked and played into the second round of the NCAA's

Attackers

Benny Estes
Beau Bellomy
Mike Roach
Jimmy Holmes

Mids

Alex Sweetin
Mike Robson
Steve Bortolon
Nick Maglasang

Defenders

Alex Johnson
James Dice
Jake Brown

Keepers

Mark Pais

Then Tossed in very talented newcomers such as,

Attackers

Adnan Gabeliic

Mids

John Roeckle
Devon Newport
Sito Sasieto

Defenders

Chad Vandergriffe
Christian Briggs

Keepers

Nick Shackelford

Also I feel Jordan Wolff has a lot of unused talent all the rest could very well start for many top teams in my opinion. Your opinion obviously differs.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

I respect your opinion but your fanaticism is getting in the way of what this team really is.

Last years team didn't beat one ranked team all season, I am not including Missouri State as a ranked team because they were not, and were not ranked after the first week of the season.

Yes we did win the A-10 championship, not the regular season, and took a good Tulsa team to double OT.

I will just say it again, if we truly have 17-18 quality starters then we would have a much better record because we really haven't played a very tough schedule.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

You are ridiculous. Half of these kids wouldn't even get made fun of by a top 25 coach. Let alone play on a top 25 team.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

Lets not overcomplicate this ....... If you look at the roster , you will notice there is a lack of starters in the junior and senior classes. Those two classes are the reason there is a problem with this years results. There is not one player left from those classes that is making an impact. MR and SB are the best players and they were transfers. Unfortunately they have been injured and non contributors. Last years senior class was decent , the line up was made mostly of seniors with a few talented freshman sprinkled in so thats why they "survived"
And
......Dont forget Virginia is a place known for direct soccer with an emphasis on strong fast players that can get on the end of long balls and win knock downs.MM will now recruit players that fit that style. Look at the way the team is playing now 4-5-1 with direct balls being hit in the corners or at the target and then the wing players running off of it.Dont expect SLU to be a possesion oriented team anytime soon.

 

Re: Saint Louis University Billikens: The Dark Ages!

The senior and junior classes are the 2 worst classes in SLU soccer history and the class with reeder, ward, ect is the 3rd and those classes were in the last 5 year period. Who was the coach?

SB, i am assuming you are reffering to bartolon is not the best player on the team. Sweetin, Mag, Robson and Chad are better then him. He is a decent player but like i have said a million times what kind of team are we trying to be.

You could be right on the strategy but I see something a little different. I believe once we get some better possession players in we will possess more. Virginia plays in a very tough conference and can't always play pretty soccer to win, which is what most of college soccer is. However SLU in the A-10 would be stupid to kick it long and see what happens because they will be much better than most teams. You can already tell he wants outside backs to get forward and make overlapping runs for the outside mids which only works with possession.