the whole ucla crew is so well connected salacido and soto's fathers work for concacaf...and then of course you have the Arena ties
The UCLA AD (Dan Guerrero) will be far too consumed covering his own ass and finding a new football coach this fall to even give a damn about soccer.
Dear all, I am wrong you are right. It isnt official, but the word on the street is that Brett Simon has been released of his duties at Stanford. Moving on- So, I think we can officially say that the leading candidate is none other than Jaime Clark. If he coaches Harvard, Crieghton, UW, and Stanford in consecutive seasons, he will be the luckiest damn head coach ever. As I am sure that you have heard, Brad Agoos has been let go at Seattle U. I would almost go out and bet the house on the fact that Thor at Gonzaga will be let go. And if you want to get right down to it, I think there could be a couple of people let go in the WCC. I could see a couple potentials.
I had not heard that. While I wish Simon no ill will, this move is a fair one. Stanford soccer has gone backwards under Simon's tenure. No doubt he's lucky, though the decision to walk away from such a talented Creighton team isn't looking too bright! I'm sure he'd like the Stanford job but A) does he have a contract? And B) Does he really want to have the rep for moving around so much? I'm sure Stanford is his dream gig, but it's tough to recruit when you're at your fourth school is as many seasons, it's kinda tough to sell the recruits on committing to a guy who hasn't show much commitment to his previous THREE employers. I wonder if they'd be willing to give the job to Simon Elliott despite his lack of coaching experience. Can't quibble with the playing resume and you know he could recruit his ass off in New Zealand. I actually had not heard that. I hear that Kasey Keller guy needs a job... Does Gonzaga care enough to fire their coach?
I had not heard that. While I wish Simon no ill will, this move is a fair one. Stanford soccer has gone backwards under Simon's tenure. http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/111511aaa.html Does Simon make sense for Kentucky? Although he hasn't lit the world on fire the last few years at Stanford, he has a good resume with a couple College Cups and excellent work in the the Midwest at Creighton. He would also have a much bigger pool of players to choose from (academics are a bit different).
re: to Gonzaga. My understanding was that Thor's seat at GU was a bit toasty. You can say GU doesnt care about soccer, but if you look at the money that has been pumped into their athletics facilities, I think you would agree that they care about their sports. The soccer facility is easily one of the nicest facilities that I have seen in a while. You can argue for UP or Stanfords facility, but the playing surface at GU is immaculate. They have a practice facility behind their field and there are plans for expansion at the field including lights (it already has the bases for the lights and it is already wired) as well as locker room facilities right next to the surface. That program is a sleeping giant. Easily one of the most nationally recognized names in the WCC and on the west coast in general. That place is a gold mine for whoever gets it. In a woefully poor WCC this year, they were the only team going into the last weekend with nothing to play for, while all the other teams were mathematically still alive to win the conference. Just one mans opinion. If not this year, then next. As for Brad at Seattle. I know Brad personally and find him to be a very good man and knowlegeable coach. I cant speak to his man management or running of a program, but I wonder what the expectations are at SU. It is probably going to be a great job for whoever gets it. Stanford...wow. Simon is a good man, however, Rob Becerra was the man at Stanford. RB is innovative and progressive in his coaching, great man manager, and excellent with his colleagues. When Simon pulled the rug on his coaching duties (which were extensive at the time), the program and the players suffered. I am sure they can hire whoever they want as it is a great job, but a couple of local names would be Yamo at SCU and Lehrer at Cal. Both are good men and great coaches, both have a great repoirte with their student-athletes, both are honest. They have very different philosophies on how to play the game, but both would be very interesting. Also, kind of wonder if Rob has a shot at it. My understanding is that he was well liked on campus, I know his players would LOVE to have him back. In regards to J Clark, I know that is his dream job...
Hopefully the University of Pittsburgh men's team will be looking for a new coach. Change is long over due in Oakland now they finally have a 1st class facility.
Who are the top assistant coaches in line for the openings this year? Here is my list. Who would you add? Brian Maisonneuve Indiana Mario Sanchez Louisville Johnny Torres Creighton Michael Brady Duke BJ Craig Notre Dame Jeff Negalha UNC Kenny Arena UCLA Chris Volk Irvine Brian Johnson WVU Jeff Matteo St. John's
Quick trivia - two of these players were capped by the US senior team. One is obvious, because he played in a World Cup. The other not so much. Name them.
I gotta think Virginia Tech is thinking long and hard about firing Mike Brizendine. In fairness to him, he took over under rough circumstances. But in his three seasons, there has been little to show that he's making progress towards turning things around. Here's what Tech has done under Brizendine. Code: YEAR OVERALL ACC ACC TOURNAMENT GF PER GA PER 2009 5-12-2 2-6-0 (8TH) Lost Tarantini Invitational 21 1.11 34 1.79 2010 5-13-1 1-6-1 (9th) Lost Tarantini Invitational 29 1.53 49 2.58 2011 4-13-2 1-6-1 (9th) Lost Tarantini Invitational 15 0.79 25 1.32 TOT 14-38-5 4-18-2 0-3 (outscored 3-9) 65 1.10 108 1.84 The highlight of Brizendine's tenure is the upset of North Carolina this season. Given the Heels were No. 1 at the time and finished the regular season atop the RPI and have the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, that's a really big win for Tech. But it also represents 25 percent of the ACC wins he's had. And, it's negated by losses the past three seasons to the likes of Longwood, Radford and Howard. Worse, in the Tarantini invitational, a game where the two teams should be close, they've been outscored by an average of two goals. The gap between them and the next-worst ACC team is pretty big and that's pretty bad. They've also had myriad players transfer, often to good programs like Louisville and Central Florida, which is never a sign of a program going in the right direction. Add it all up and it's hard to see where things are headed up and that usually means it's time for a change.
So, I haven't been following this too closely yet but I have the following schools technically having openings at this time. Code: SCHOOL HEAD COACH REASON REPLACEMENT Appalachian State Shaun Pendleton (rip) deceased Matt Nelson (interim) George Washington George Lidster retired TBA Kentucky Ian Collins let go TBA Seattle Brad Agoos let go TBA Stanford Bret Simon “resigned” TBA Am I missing anyone? Not speculation but actual vacancies? I fully expect Matt Nelson to be named permanent head coach at App State. He did a great job under very trying circumstances.
You raise some good points, but what do you think about the starters who transferred away? As Sandon indicated, that's usually one of the main signals that a program isn't headed in the right direction.
I inadvertently deleted my message... Any idea how to recover it? I'm brand-newhere... Charlie Campbell- went to Louisville. He had graduated from VT and left to working a master's program not offered at VT. Greg Cochrane- transferred to Louisville big loss. No excuse and disappointing that he left. John Snyder- transferred to Georgetown. Not sure why he left, but was not much of a player. Two other guys I can think of (Luis Yamashita to UCF, Patrick Huang to Louisville) were both part time players at most and have had little impact at their new schools. Not necessarily "myriad" transfers nor a mass exodus.
I'm fairly sure it's Brian Johnson, although I have forgotten the circumstances. Think it was one of those replacement teams.
A) I don't think Torres's day in MLS had much hey to it. B) While he played for the US futsal team, he never played for the full team. Yes. Not Briam Johnson, though Johnson did get some YNT looks.
Pretty sure it is Michael Brady...he was capped a couple of times in the 80s while still in college at American.
I think Simon is a decent enough coach, but doesn't seem to be a very good recruiter. I lived in Palo Alto during his first few years on the job, and saw a ton of games. At the time, Stanford was just cranking out the pros (Simon Elliot, Ryan Nelson, Todd Dunivant, Roger Levesque, Chad Marshall, and many others that got drafted to MLS). Once those players dried up, the style of play continued to be generally good, but the talent was clearly not there. And there really isn't any excuse to not be getting top recruits year after year at Stanford. The facilities are professional quality, the weather is among the best on the planet, and the school's reputation speaks for itself. Most people will point to the academic standards as a barrier, but Stanford is the among winning-est schools across all sports in D1, so it doesn't seem to be hurting other programs.
Bret inherited those players from Bobby Clark when he replaced him in 2000-2001. His recruiting classes got better when Rob Bacerra joined his staff in 2006 who brought in national and ODP players, especially from So Cal. But Bret's defensive style of coaching did not evolve with many of his new players who were used to a passing attacking game prior to Stanford. Disappointing really for those boys whose soccer pedigree pre-Stanford would equal and/or surpass other more successful D1 programs during his tenure. Hopefully, the new coach will bring a more creative and progressive approach --- which the current players will embrace and All will be fine at the farm again. The new coach should look at what Paul Ratcliffe is doing right with the successful women's program and emulate or adopt. Bottom line, Bret is a NICE man with good intentions. Unfortunately good intentions seldom ever equal effective. The players who played for him will have learned about character, flexibility and knowing that they are better than what the W/L record shows. They surely are grateful for the undeniably great education they are getting from Stanford.