Chris Henderson has just published his annual NCAA WoSo Coach Rank Top 60. I'm not sure exactly how to interpret this list, as it seems odd to compare the achievements of say East Texas A&M (who knew that existed?) and South Dakota State with the likes of Virginia and Clemson, but its a good list of coaches that might be ready to make the leap into bigger jobs. Maybe in the future there should be a P4 Coach Rank and a separate list for everyone else?
East Texas A&M just became that. They were previously called Texas A&M Commerce. They made the name change in the middle of the fall which was weird
Here's the rankings for those interested. I personally enjoy the work Chris does and know that any rating has flaws it also has some merit too. His twitter post explains in detail who is eligible (coaches need to be with a program for 3 years) and what he uses to come up with the score...and he does add bonuses to the coaches in higher ranked conferences.
I'm surprised Loyola Chicago hasn't removed the interim tag by now. Anyone know what's happening there?
I'm impressed with the work that Jane Alukonis has done at USC. She is deserving of that spot on this list. The former Duke player has gotten a good background for the collegiate game doing her time in operations at Duke & as a UCLA assistant. At 35 or 36 years of age she seems like she'll have a pretty long career as a coach and is someone to keep an eye on. About 8-10 years ago Alukonis also ran a blog/website, College Committed, to help high school players navigate the college recruitment process. With her increased coaching duties I am not sure if that is something she is still involved with.
Maryland is confirmed to be hiring the interim, they just told players and announcement coming soon. Interesting one… didnt seem like they attracted big time candidates.
OPEN: UC Riverside (interim) Loyola Chicago (interim) Cal Poly (retirement 6/9) Mississippi Valley State (8/25) Western Illinois (10/31) VCU (11/7) NC State (11/8) VMI (11/8) Youngstown State (11/8; retirement) Pacific (11/12) Chicago State (11/14) Duquesne (11/15) Wofford (11/24) North Dakota (11/25) UC Davis (12/2) St. Bonaventure (12/4) Southeast Missouri State (retirement 12/6) FILLED: Duke - Kieran Hall (Duke associate head; filled after Fall 2024 season retirement) San Francisco - Pinder Nijjar (interim; 9/17) Oregon State - Caroline Kelly (OSU interim; 11/13) Wisconsin Green Bay - Matt Kagan (Washington State assistant; 11/4-11/29) Oregon - Tracy Joyner (UC Davis head; 10/29-12/2) Kansas State - Colleen Corbin (SLU associate head; 10/28-12/2) Auburn - James Armstrong (Miss St head; retirement 11/26-12/3) Mississippi State - Nick Zimmerman (Miss St associate head; 12/3-12/3) Niagara - Donny George (St. Bonaventure head - 8/27-12/4) Weber State - Kyle Christensen (Utah Valley associate head; 11/5-12/6) IU Indianapolis - Angela Berry White (high school coach; 11/7-12/9) North Carolina - Damon Nahas (UNC interim; retirement 8/9-12/9) Illinois - Katie Hultin (Grand Valley State head; retirement 10/30-12/10) Maryland - Michael Marchiano (Maryland assistant/interim; 10/10-12/11)
Agree this seems like a plan. The current asst was a college mens HC but was out of the college game, an alum, players seemed to like him, and he's much cheaper than other HC's out there. Might have had to pay the former coach some as well. The AD goes to the mens coach, well-known Cirofski in this case, and says, you have any ideas? If it was their plan since summer, they got what they wanted. He might be real good! Wish them all the best.
I think you are very correct here with Sasho and wife have a say in all things soccer at Maryland since after Leone. There was no way they were going to overlook the interim since Sasho brought him in last Summer. Plus if Meg is still on the payroll and did not accept a buyout, he would be the best option financially - win/win.
I agree with everything being said about Maryland. This all seems pre-meditated, perhaps right down to the mid-season termination for the interim to “prove” his ability to run the program. His CV is incredibly light on the women’s soccer front. That may or may not matter as the recruiting and coaching landscape has changed so rapidly over the past 5 years, but it’s worthy of note that he will be starting from scratch when it comes to women’s soccer identification, recruiting, and tactics. Who knows, maybe that’s a good thing and they wanted a completely fresh take on their program? However, this forum has been critical of hires with such little experience in the past, and it’d be fair to be just as critical of this hire. Compare their hire to fellow P4, Auburn, and their approaches couldn’t be much different.
UAB football hired former NFL quarterback/ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer after he coached at a Nashville high school very briefly.
UMD example maybe when an AD just really wants a more quiet program, instead of the recent noisy one they've had. Or they want a not-terrible team, but don't really need an excellent team, at least right now. I would guess financial considerations are much more important than many folks think looking from the outside in a lot more cases. I wonder how the Nahas salary compares to AD or would have compared to hiring a big name? I wonder if he even got any bonuses this post-season as the 'interim'? Maybe he should have waited until after the game to negotiate. You think with his Brother being a pro coach right there, they know some agents. Someone could do the research on his deal but interesting.
How was this the best candidate available to Maryland? Poor hire they should be able to get someone with proven success for that job.
Grand Valley has now produced the successful HCs at Iowa and Michigan State. Now one to Illinois. Begs the question, how many of the open jobs (or even just D1 jobs in general), is GVSU better than? 80% of non-P4s… maybe even better than some P4s?
There's been chatter since the hire that he's actually the heir apparent for Sasho when he retires. Keeps him in house, more HC experience before Sasho calls it quits. Has to do well otherwise that plan may not be best laid plans. Not sure the MR removal was in the original plan. No idea if there's any credibility to it, but it's the rumors that have floated around.
GVSU is a D1 program in a D2 wrapper for almost all of their athletics. Great facilities, championship culture, and an engaged student body. No idea how well they pay compared to say, an in-state MAC or Horizon League school but I have to believe it's competitive.
Absolutely. It’s a better job than a lot of mid majors and you have the opportunity to compete for a national championship. I would imagine that job with be highly sought after. With the festive season upon us how much more movement will we have before 2025? Channeling my inner Scrooge with the current confirmed hires I would say: Good hires North Carolina Oregon Auburn Illinois Bad hires Maryland Kansas state IU Indy Green Bay
OPEN: UC Riverside (interim) Loyola Chicago (interim) Cal Poly (retirement 6/9) Mississippi Valley State (8/25) Western Illinois (10/31) VCU (11/7) VMI (11/8) Youngstown State (11/8; retirement) Pacific (11/12) Chicago State (11/14) Duquesne (11/15) Wofford (11/24) North Dakota (11/25) UC Davis (12/2) St. Bonaventure (12/4) Southeast Missouri State (retirement 12/6) East Carolina (12/12) FILLED: Duke - Kieran Hall (Duke associate head; filled after Fall 2024 season retirement) San Francisco - Pinder Nijjar (interim; 9/17) Oregon State - Caroline Kelly (OSU interim; 11/13) Wisconsin Green Bay - Matt Kagan (Washington State assistant; 11/4-11/29) Oregon - Tracy Joyner (UC Davis head; 10/29-12/2) Kansas State - Colleen Corbin (SLU associate head; 10/28-12/2) Auburn - James Armstrong (Miss St head; retirement 11/26-12/3) Mississippi State - Nick Zimmerman (Miss St associate head; 12/3-12/3) Niagara - Donny George (St. Bonaventure head - 8/27-12/4) Weber State - Kyle Christensen (Utah Valley associate head; 11/5-12/6) IU Indianapolis - Angela Berry White (high school coach; 11/7-12/9) North Carolina - Damon Nahas (UNC interim; retirement 8/9-12/9) Illinois - Katie Hultin (Grand Valley State head; retirement 10/30-12/10) Maryland - Michael Marchiano (Maryland assistant/interim; 10/10-12/11) NC State - Gary Higgins (East Carolina head; 11/8-12/12)
Is Jeff Freeman the long time associate head coach retiring with Janet? Or think he will retire soon? Good hire with Katie, just had always thought that Jeff had stayed because he would eventually take over. With that being said, with how mediocre they have been, totally see why they would go out of house to hire.
ECU is a good opening for a coach. A team on the rise. Will be interesting to see who they go after or if they hand it to the current assistant.
It's fair to say that East Carolina is on the rise in the evolving American Athletic Conference, but it actualy has been quite stable, on average in the low 100s RPI range (and that takes into consideration the last 2 years). It won the American Athletic Conference championship this year, but the conference is considerably weaker than it was a few years ago. This year it was the #9 conference according to all of the NCAA RPI, the Balanced RPI, and Massey. That's not bad, but it's not where the American once was and it seems about right.