Bad news seems to be piling up right now at Maryland. After getting off to a 5-0 start to the season they have now not won in their last three matches. Now the school newspaper, The Diamaondback, is reporting that Erwin Diaz has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Daiz has been coming off the bench scoring two goals and contributed two assists. Diaz, a junior, came to Maryland highly touted from the U-17 National Team Pool and has not quite lived up the his reputation.
A life of freedom from the parents can ruin who a person is on and off the field. There have been a lot of players who I know of who have been great youth players, but once they get the absolute freedom from their parents they neglect it and end up getting themselves in trouble. It's a shame to see a thing like that happen, although I don't know the circumstances with Diaz...Regardless, the season moves on.
It wouldn't be the 1st time that one of Sasho's "name" recruits had failed make an equivalent impact for the Terps.
To be fair he's had a few go beyond what their bio's said they would do coming in, Scotty Buete, Seth Stammler and Clarence Goodson would be recent examples.
UMD = University of Maryland. I should've realized. Here I was thinking "wow, someone started a thread on soccer at the University of Minnesota - Duluth". Doh!
I can understand the slip. The low end of college soccer has way too much in common with the stick game.
Post:UNC vs Dukie The truth is Dukie in Rennie's diaper has played 9 exhibiton matches and is 1-0 on the season against Maryland which of course they were outplayed... ..................................... All of the Maryland supporter please feel free to go on the UNC vs Dukie thread and comment on an ACC side (Dukie) scheduling such a out of conf. schedule. ACC has developed a Rep. as the strongest conference because of the strenght of schedule and talent in these programs. Rennie will not add to this by scheduling 9 Cupcake U and going 9-0 including a 10-0 victory over a D-3.
In addition to Diaz, you can even the score up with A.J. ("Nobody told me that college soccer would be this tough") Herrera, and Nick ("I'm sure my size will make me more useful in MLS than at Maryland") Downing.
Nick Downing was a two time ALL ACC performer and a first round MLS draft pick and AJ Herrera had 60 career "college" points and was fifth all time in Maryland history in career assists. Not sure where you're coming from.
These were 2 guys that Maryland recruited specifically for the purpose of "building the team around" during their tenure. Downing (arguably Maryland's most over-hyped recruit ever) skipped town after 3 years and a lackluster Terp showing in 2000 (10-9-0/1-5-0 ACC) for the bright lights of MLS, despite the fact that MLS (to this day), can't use a 5'9-145lb. defender - he vanished into the A-League shortly thereafter. Hererra had the luxury of playing his freshman year among the likes of Twellman, Califf, Cropley et al, then proceeded to follow it with 4 games his sophomore year where he wasn't a factor, subesquently injured and redshirted. Returned the next year to start, only to see the Terps go 1-4-1 in the conference (11-9-1 overall, 1-4-0 away). Basically benched the next season while the Terps go 20-5-0 and 4-2-0 in the conference, then returns as a 5th year senior that, despite his numbers, probably wouldn't have been missed if he hadn't played (and drew no interest at all from MLS).
Um, no he wasn't. Downing was the 21st overall selection in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft and no matter how you spin that, it isn't the first round. Also, while Hererra did indeed finish with 60 career points, and that's nothing to sneeze at, 60 points over four years isn't a great compilation of points. It's basically 5 goals and 5 assists a year, which are good, but not great numbers. AJ came to Maryland as the national high school player of the year and member of the U18 national team so I don't think it's unfair to say that he underachieved at Maryland. Having said all that, I don't think Sasho is to blame for that. Yeah, he's had players like Downing and Herrera who have come in with Big Reps and not developed as the rep they brought in implies they should. But, that happens everywhere. If you'd like examples of it happening at Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia, UCLA, Indiana or elsewhere, let me know and I'll be happy to provide them. And Sasho has done well with some of his high profile recruits, namely Twellman and Califf, who have been everything they were billed, both as Terps and as pros. And, as Terp Fan noted, Sasho's also had plenty of players who weren't high profile recruits and ended up playing in MLS. R.T. Moore, Randy Merkel and the rookie trio of Buete, Goodson & Stammler all were good HS players but none of them were HS all Americans or youth national teamers. Also, in the specific case of Diaz, he's a good kid but he's also a bit of a headcase, a lot of it having to do with his old man. Diaz' dad wouldn't let Erwin enroll in Bradenton even though Ellinger wanted him in residency full time, he got mad at the Fed when his son didn't play a lot during the U17 WC in T&T and he won't let the kid play PDL ball because he thinks it stunts his development. That doesn't mean Erwin isn't responsible for his own actions and whatever it is that got him suspended this time, but the kid doesn't exactly have the best role model for good decision making. So, while I don't think Sasho is the greatest coach in the country - and he's struggling right now - but I don't think you can fault him for not developing more players and sending them to the pros. He's had some guys fizzle out and other guys blossom but in the end, it pretty much evens out. And that's as much to do with how kids develop and what they put into the sport as it is the coach. Also, with this four-game winless streak - during which they've been outscored 8-4 - Sasho has far more to worry about than Diaz!
In case this adds some light to the discussion, here's a year-by-year list of Maryland players who went on to appear in MLS: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3313278&postcount=16 They've certainly been successful in getting marginal players a chance on the next level.
Please remove your mouth from Rennie's genital area. It's not even amusing anymore. Is he, and the Duke program, really on your mind that much that you have to bring them up in another team's thread? Being obsessed with another man makes you look like the real cupcake here.