I don’t see much of a correlation at all honestly. If anything, your data shows they used to perform much better and consistently. Conference results for sure were way better. Not really close to being back to that. Also, the issue isn’t non-con or rank. This issue has been conference play. It is making conference tournaments. 2 years ago finally made it back. Missed last year flirting with last place this year. While bringing in a transfers to help. Again, right after associate HC left. I know a few kids there and surrounding area from my club soccer time and it is a little more than wins and loses at this point as well. It is just one of those situations you can read the writing in the wall when you have been around this enough. Pretty sure it is a contract year too. Will see.
I get it, and also that at least posters here tend to focus on how teams are doing in their conferences rather than within the entire DI matrix. And, I have seen suggestions here that this is how ADs think, too. I am projecting MIami OH to finish #11 in the Mid-American, based on teams' current RPI ratings, so that obviously does not look good frtom a conference perspective. For how teams are doing in the Mid-American this year, however, there is one very strange oddity. The Mid-American currently is the #7 ranked conference in average NCAA RPI. This is as compared to its historic average from 2010 through 2023 of #16. That is very weird, to the point of being not credible or close to not credible this year. How this relates to where Miami OH currently fits within the conference standings, I don't know, but it is strange indeed.
Michigan lost to Northwestern tonight 3-0. Record now 2-12-2. This is crazy. They should have an amazing program with what they have to offer: top-notch academics, great campus and one of the country's best ECNL teams in their backyard to recruit from (Michigan Hawks). Her contract goes through 2025 season I believe. Do they give her another year to turn things around or pull the plug early? Interestingly they only have 1 2026 recruit at this point (at least from public info I've seen) which is strange too based on rate of other P4 commitments.
We all know Kansas state should be . Currently 0-7-2 in the Big 12 and the only team eliminated from the Big 12 tournament currently. Would think Houston and Iowa State have to be warm as well
I know everyone is scared to mention Indiana, but when you don’t score in 8 of 9 conference games… Oh and you schedule a D3 (I think) program as a regular season game. What is that about?!?
Arkansas and Kansas both played NAIA schools this year. it's pretty common. Figure it will become more common with schools probably tightening their soccer budgets.
I think hot seats and evaluations start as the teams progress through the season and quit on their coaching staffs. Watching this season you can see there are some teams that start the season with some fire, maybe even a win or two against the odds. But as the weeks roll on, something shifts. The losses pile up, sure, but it's more than that. The energy's gone. Plays that were crisp are now sloppy. There's no fight when they go down a goal or in the final 15 minutes. You can almost feel the disconnection from the sidelines to the field. Administration saw it at MD. What other programs are showing this?
Completely agree with this. Results in the last few games are very telling, especially for teams that get eliminated from the post-season. There was a player coup at UMD and the asst coach (interim HC) is likely interested in the job (or should certainly be acting/coaching like it) so how do the players react to that situation? Are they fighting to stay in the program and on the depth chart or ready to get out? Results do tell somewhat from afar but we'll see.
On the question of scheduling DIII and NAIA opponents, this is not typical but it does happen, sometimes for very strong programs. I have some knowledge related to this for strong programs and, in my experience, it typically happens late in the scheduling process when a game space opens up because a planned opponent for one reason or another decides they cannot play the planned game. The coaches want a game, figure out they will not be able to schedule another appropriate DI opponent, and go the DIII or NAIA route to fill in the empty game slot. It then becomes an opportunity to get more experience for players who ordinarily do not see the field that much. These games have no impact on teams' RPI ratings and ranks and on their NCAA Tournament seeding or at large selection prospects. Also, some very weak programs schedule multiple games of this sort. I assume it is because either they don't want their players constantly getting slaughtered or they can't find enough other DI opponents willing to play them or they need to do it to contain travel expenses. So,l in relation to coach evaluations, these types of games almost always are irrelevant.
All fair comments. But what does it say about your program if you have to schedule one of those in your 5th or 6th season? I just don’t see the benefit and believe it shows your players and outsiders that your program is not in a good place. If you are a P4 program, you can’t find another D1 program to get a W?
Back in the day, North Carolina played Guilford during the regular season (on more than one occasion). They must have been in trouble
B1G: Oregon ~ There will be a change there. Read Kansas State if not. - Michigan, because it’s Michigan, they could pull the trigger early, but that highly questionable bid for the NCAA’s last year could be the saving grace for one last chance to turn it around in 2025. But isn’t that the why they miraculously got that bid? - Indiana, as someone mentioned, looks down this year, but no change will happen. Too good of a year last season for them. SEC: LSU, to your point, concedes 1 goal and you can count on 2 more to come.. at least. Team looks like a bunch of individual players thrown together hoping for the best. No change will happen there, but there is a clear disconnect between staff and players. Mizzou - Multiple embarrassments this year. Must be getting warm. Florida - time to start talking about this. Social media only takes you so far. Team has no fight, no identity and the Florida Gators should be, much like Michigan, way more successful on brand alone. Big12 Kansas State - Joke. No need to discuss further. Adm just doesn’t care or has serious ties to the HC Iowa State - should be warm. Their counterpart Iowa is constantly improving against much better competition, so what’s the excuse here? A whole coaching staff change should be a warning sign. I mentioned the same thing about Maryland in this thread and here we are. Arizona State - anyone else thinks that this program is constantly under achieving? Lots of talks about Arizona, including myself, but this is a really interesting one here.
Penn State played West Chester on August 25, this year. When planned opponents pull out late, it is a lot more difficult to find a reasonable D1 opponent to play than you apparently think. There are many teams out there that do not want an assured loss and teams that would need to travel already have committed their travel budgets.
And a late schedule is ok, I get it. Indiana has done it at least the last 3 years. But all good all points made are valid. Scoreless in 8 of 9. Is that the norm too?
LSU, Iowa State, Kansas State, and Arizona State all signed extensions in the past few years. Doesn’t mean there won’t/can’t be change, just a reminder.
Just for some fun and argument sake. What about Texas A&M? Currently 8-7-1 (with Arkansas and Mississippi State left) could be under .500 this year 2023- 10-8-4 2022 - 9-7-5 2021 - 7-9-2 Last big year was 2020 in the covid year going 11-3 Is that really good enough for A&M? Yes the staff there has probably earned the right to go out on their own but the records the last few years aren't great (for A&M standards, most teams on the hot seat would gladly take those records)
Somewhere out there floating in cyberspace is a shocking stat about A&M. It seems they haven't won more than five conference games in a season since 2020. I don't think that's meeting the expectations at all.
Southern Miss must be hot. Signed an extension to the end of the 2024 season and since signing has just got worse each season.
They hadn't scored a goal in conference play in over two years - maybe the players were engaged in a work slowdown, old school union style?
‘the job has to be posted by law. That doesn’t mean the assistant - interim coach won’t get the job. OSU has promoted assistant to head coach through the same process before.