2021-22 Hot Seat

And now brings in a D3 men's coach who won 2 games in his last 2 seasons to be his assistant. The cliff could be rather steep that they fall off of.

 

Big question at Florida - does Bohon have access to players right now and in the recruiting pipeline that can help Florida in the next year or 2 or 3?? (I can't see any FSU kids thinking, "wow, she's much nicer than Pensky") Those kids want to win. (BTW, that answer for Pensky and McAlpine is a strong YES)

I admitted I had the major doubts when the Grand Valley coach went to Mich State. GVSU talent, that forward Cook in particular, was good enough to help MSU. She even got drafted! It's a good story actually. Turns out GVSU has much better talent as a d2 then almost anyone on the outside thinks. I don't see that kind of talent at ERAU, who did barely win that Sunshine conference and lost to a FL team in NCAA Rd 1.

The Florida talent pool is well known and vetted. At least 5-6 good in-state programs and dozens more outside Florida sort through that club talent pool.
Those internationals at ERAU aren't SEC quality. She may get the 'culture' right, which just means no soccer nasty-grams for most ADs, but being competitive again in the SEC??

It will be interesting but I would argue, even in this crazy year, it's a much better hire - an experienced head coach - than the USC and UCLA hires.
It's kindof like Leadership experience vs Pedigree. Seen this alot over time.
I usually lean toward experience.

 

There is a certain contingent on here that wants a female hired for every position. There is a certain contingent on here that will bash every female hired. The truth here is that this is a reach, regardless of gender. Her career at Embry Riddle has been above average, but nothing more. This was a PC hire recommended by Becky Burleigh. In the end it might be a good move. That remains to be seen. Very risky choice in my opinion.

 

What criteria will determine whether its a good move or not and over what time frame? the easiest thing to see is wins and losses, but now, coaches need to be measured on more than that. Culture is very important. USC over the last few years is a good example. Did they perform to expectation?

 

https://gobearkats.com/news/2022/5/17/soccer-bearkats-tab-sonia-curvelo-to-lead-soccer-program.aspx

This is a solid hire for Sam Houston.

 

Sam Houston just hired someone with a better background than the University of Florida.

 

Damn! You guys are good! Hard to keep up with all of this, and you guys wrap it up in a nice, neat, little package!

 

The Florida release says that Bohon was the recruiting coordinator at Tennessee. Is that true? If so, I do not recall anyone mentioning it here and am wondering why no one has mentioned it.

 

Culture is important, to be sure--but it won't save your P5 job if you aren't winning.

I think what we've seen from a lot of these P5 ADs who've made recent hires is a lack of ambition. There are various reasons why these ADs (UCLA, USC, Florida, even Tennessee) have made their decisions--money, gender, personality, avoiding losing good players, etc.--but if you're a big program that hires small (and by small I mean people with no D1 head experience and thus no track record of winning), you are demonstrating, really, a lack of ambition. That's not at all to say that these new P5 hires don't have numerous good personal and soccer qualities or won't succeed--some of them could do well. And hiring a veteran winner is no guarantee of success. It's also true that all veteran winners were once assistants or coached at small schools. At the end of the day, nearly all hires are a bit of a crap-shoot. It's really just a matter of risk--playing the odds. There is less risk with coaches who've run big programs and succeeded. It will be interesting to follow this group of hires.

 

It is Womens soccer and the AD’s at Florida, UCLA, Arizona, and USC are showing they don’t care about on field success for the athletes or the programs, they just want to show their progressive thinking. If on field success happens then great, if not then oh well. At the mid major level the Lamar and Holy across hires also same extremely lazy and the AD’s seem to be showing they don’t care about womens soccer at those institutions either.

 

Funny how there were not criticisms of Utah or Oregon hires (just two examples that jump out to me). Those men were no more, and in some cases, less qualified then the female hires at UCLA, USC, Florida, and Arizona. But, no bashing when they were hired.

 

Has anyone heard an update on Boston? I would say they should have their pick of some quality candidates, but the way hires are going right now we should probably expect another s$!?show.

 

The guy at Utah won multiple national championships at Stanford... and the guy at Oregon was on national team staff with Jill Ellis and has seen the highest level... Not sure what their is to say about those two hires...

Sorry had to look because I had forgotten who they hired, but seems like those schools did their research and found good coaches. I haven't bashed any of the females hires on this thread, just was curious after you brought those two schools up, and seems to check out for those programs.

 

Utah is no USC or UCLA or Florida, not even close. When has Utah even had a winning season in the last 5-10 years? Never once competed for national championship or as a top 10 program. Not in the same category at all.
Arizona hire no history of success and recruiting at college level. Hideki put in his time at small D1s and worked his way up to Power 5 recruiters for top teams, and still he got a mid level job with average pay at Utah. Oregon, a program that has never once made the NCAA tournament and is near the bottom of the Pac 12 always, never once nationally ranked, garbage history with like one winning season in school history. Two lack-luster programs. The others you mentioned above all have been regular top 25 programs. Comparing grapes to watermelons, not the same thing Ytrs.

 

I am not trashing the Oregon and Utah hires at all. Some of you cherry pick what makes a person qualified. The Oregon coach was a GKer coach who has never led his own program. But, that is never discussed. With no disrespect to him, the USWNT would win with or without him. Let's me a little honest here. The AZ coach was a pro assistant coach, she played professionally. So again, what does the Oregon coach have over her? The Florida hire has more head coaching experience than every candidate hired this cycle. And, yet, she is getting criticized. What do you all want? My buddy hiring me at Duke as an assistant would instantly make me qualified for Power 5 gigs? Or grinding it out at NAIA and D2 for many years as a head coach?

 

I think what people wanted for these 4 programs was the Georgia hire. I think alot of people see USC, UCLA, Florida and FSU as 4 of the top 10-15 jobs in the nation if you just want to win soccer games. Out of those only FSU hired someone that would have the experiences you would expect to take over a program that isn't a big job but a MOSTER job.

Having said that I agree with you that these candidates are within the curve of what can get hired and be succesful. People are high on the Kentucky hire. (as am I) but I'm not sure that winning soccer games in a weak Horizon prepares you more to win in the SEC than winning games in a very good d2 conference. Especially when some of the other factors are looked at. All of these schools had chances to hire somebody that fit the conventional resume and chose to hire somebody that still had something to prove on their resume. That doesn't mean they won't be succesful and are not accomplished soccer coaches with good resumes.

I guess my point is this.

1. It's fair to say that given the profile of the jobs in question these schools didn't need to hire people with any holes in their resumes. I think there are only 10 or 11 schools that have won a national championship. These are 4 of them. Comparing UCLA to Utah or Florida to Kentucky isn't really accurate.

2. Having said that there is somethng to be said for having the right coach at the right time. Not all of the big hires have worked out recently. There is always a risk. All of these coaches have experiences that make you believe they could be succesful. I don't know her but really have a good feeling about the Florida coach. I think she has alot of things going for her to be succesful there.

 

National Championships are wonderful, but as you say, only a handful have won them. Everyone seems high on the Georgia hire and given where they are, i totally understand why, but post title, how would you rate the USC performance? 32/16/QF/32/32. Do you think the new coach will underperform that? For Georgia, it is a no brainer and a chance to get to that level in arguably a weaker conference. McAlpine seems to be a good recruiter and should be able to get players who can elevate them from where they are. I see it as limited risk for USC and all upside for the Bulldogs. win/win ?

 

I think categorizing UCLA, Southern Cal, and Florida State as expected ordinarily to be Top 15 programs is correct. For Florida, however, although that once was the case I do not think it is a correct categorization now. Here are the Florida RPI and Masse7 ranks since 2007 -- RPI first, followed by Massey:

2007 10 12
2008 8 8
2009 13 15
2010 4 5
2011 9 21
2012 8 8
2013 10 7
2014 10 8
2015 6 6
2016 4 9
2017 19 15
2018 55 52
2019 23 34
2021 117 83

I have left out 2020 since it was such a bizarre year. That year, however, Florida was RPI #185.

What this shows is that over the last five years, Florida has dropped out of the Top 15. This kind of thing happens to once top teams now and then, and whether Florida ever will get back to the Top 15 remains to be seen.

 

I'm just going to reply to the last in one post as I'm running around.

To Number007 I pretty much agree with you. I wasn't trying to talk anyone down. Was just trying differentiate between the Usc's and the Utah's of the world.

To cpthomas. I love your work. I think one of the biggest things that is missed is some jobs are harder than others. Your system is better than almost any other to determine who is doing a good job relative to what expectations should be. Having said that Florida is a tricky one as she was there so long. I would put out there that the drop off in recent year isn't that it has become a worse job, but hasn't been performing to expectations lately. When i said they were 4 of the best jobs in the nation it was simply me sitting around in May thinking "where could would someone be most likely to win alot?" UCLA is top of the list for me (of all schools) Florida is somewhere 10-15. Having said that nobody is asking my opinion which is why i'm posting on a message board.

 

@Sophos well said. Summed it up nicely so both sides feel heard - and if not, nothing you can do for them.

Now who's got any inside info on UNC-C or BU??

 

What does Coach Abel have over Coach Moros? Surely you aren't serious? You have an agenda and push it all the time. But for fun I will answer your question.

He has actual college coaching experience over Coach Moros (at 4 difference Universities)
He has 2 World Cup Gold medals over coach Moros
He has 17 years coaching experience over Coach Moros

I can keep going but surely you get the drift.

Coach Moros is an awful example. She had 1 year as an assistant coach at ANY level. She has never recruited. She has never coached in a college game. She has barely coached at all. She has never dealt with compliance. Or a budget. Or really anything for that matter.

Don't pick ridiculous fights and maybe people will take you more seriously. Although you may be well beyond that as of now.

These schools are hiring whoever they want. HR is tasked with ensuring that the best person possible is hired. Clearly that is not happening. If you think Embry Riddle or a 1 year Asst coach with no college experience at all is the most qualified person for a P5 job then we can agree to disagree.

Would you care to wager a bet that UGA has more success in the next 5 years with their established coach than Arizona does with theirs? UGA cares about winning, and went out a recruited and paid a coach showing they were serious about the sport. The fact that more people aren't up one arms about AD's going cheap on these hires, shows a real lack of support for Women's Sports.

 

Cares about winning is a phrase often used. With all that has gone on in Women's soccer over the last couple of years, its understandable that some schools have hired out of the traditional box. @devad Do you think USC will perform worse than they have in the last 5 years without McAlpine?

 

Here you go BigBear for UNC Charlotte: https://charlotte49ers.com/news/202...-the-year-fontaine-to-lead-womens-soccer.aspx

Good hire for them. Brandi did well at High Point and she will do well at UNC-C.
High Point is an attractive destination for a good mid major coach. Seems to be in a pretty good spot with recent success.

 

I would call this a great move for Brandi. UNC-C gets an experienced coach that's well connected to the region and even getting some good internationals now. Big budget improvement for her but also tougher competition. Moving to an affordable State school will be interesting for her but likely a bit easier. Highpoint is one of those privates convincing kids to pay a ton for nice dorms and green grass. Been cited often as a highly mortgaged campus trying to be a resort but not spending as much on financial aid and faculty.

Curious to see if HP just gives it to either of those assistants at this point, even in the short term. And what happens to the staff at UNCC. Folks easily forget about the worker bees when the boss moves to another nest.