It is going to be fun to see which power 4 jobs become available after this season. My predictions are Texas AM, Missouri, Florida, Iowa State. These openings will create some fun movement from other power 4s.
Don't rule out Pitt either. getting out of that cold weather and going back home to TX would be something. He (or they if you count the current HC/son) have done those rebuilding projects before and seem to like them. Pitt is a classic case. Taking A&M from the bottom to the top in short order would make him the master of multiple conferences.
Pitt TD and HC lived in Waco, South Bend, Tulsa, and Pittsburgh. College Station ain't the worst on that list by a long shot. And they're from Texas originally. We all know what Texans think about Texas......
For over half a million dollars, if not more, you can get any sitting coach in the country to come to College Station
I’m not sure how TAMU would appreciate their current model of international recruiting though. Especially at a public university in Texas.
Agree- Pitt just fired nearly an entire freshmen class and drops about 10-15 kids each year! There is literally 1 Sophomore on the team. And replaced them with 17 new players?? They are turning over that roster and firing current players more regularly than maybe any other P4 team and its entirely their own fault. I'm not sure how or why Pitt tolerates that but not sure how many other ADs would give them that kind of latitude. IMO- Pitt has become the black hole of the ACC - okay, along with Syracuse maybe
Waco has had 1 more cult presence than College Station also. Waco --> Branch Davidians + Chip & Joanna Gaines College Station --> Aggies
OPEN: Akron - Maggie Kuhn (Akron assistant; INTERIM) McNeese State - Juan Yepes (McNeese assistant; INTERIM 6/17) Northern Iowa - Alex Place Thomas (Wartburg assistant and HS coach; INTERIM 6/20) Long Island (7/11) FILLED: Bellarmine - Steve Bornhoffer (Northern Kentucky assistant; ??/??-7/22) Central Arkansas - Derek Nichols (Central Arkansas associate head - 7/28)
In my experience, College Station has been fine. My family was there about 20 years ago and when we went back this summer with our daughter it’s totally unrecognizable with all the growing. My comment was more along the lines at people acting like it’s a dump and people wouldn’t take it. I would imagine base salary is a pay raise for 98% of coaches and combine it with what is incredible camo supplement, anyone would take it
Florida and Missouri have to be on the hot seat. UF have have gone backwards since Bohon took over. 3 conference wins in her tenure is a terrible showing.
FILLED: Mississippi Valley State - Alexandra Roberts (HS coach; 8/25-8/?) 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) East Carolina - Emily Buccilla (East Carolina assistant; 12/12-12/17) Loyola Chicago - Jon Sandoval (Northern Michigan head; interim-12/20) Duquesne - Jessica Giegucz (Slippery Rock head; 11/15-12/20) Cal Poly - Bernardo Silva (CSUB head; retirement 6/9-12/21) Pacific - Jeff Freeman (Illinois associate head; 11/12-12/27) Youngstown State - Rich Wall (Mercyhurst head; retirement 11/8-1/2) North Dakota - Henrik Sohn (North Dakota associate head; 11/25-1/3) Southeast Missouri State - John Klein (Columbia College head; retirement 12/6-1/21) UC Davis - Kat Mertz (MSU Denver head; 12/2-1/22) Wofford - Kevin Dempsey (Loyola MD assistant; 11/24-1/23) Portland State - Maureen Whitney (Portland State co-head; 1/23)~ Chicago State - Kevin Larry (Jackson State assistant; 11/14-1/27) St. Bonaventure - Melissa Sherwood (former Mount St. Mary head; 12/4-1/29) Boston - Megan Burke (Boston assistant; 12/13-1/30) UC Riverside - Mike Dibbini (former Kansas State head; Fall interim-1/30) Western Illinois - Ross Henderson (Clayton State head; 10/31-1/31) VMI - Jim Robbins (club coach; 11/8-2/3) Indiana - Josh Rife (Ball State head; 1/13-2/11) Houston - Ben Williams (SFA head; 1/23-2/12) VCU - Lauryn Hutchinson (club coach; 11/7-2/12) Mercyhurst - Dale White (club coach; 1/1-2/14) Mount Saint Mary’s - Liis Abbott (Maine associate head; 1/27-2/17) Cal State Bakersfield - Whitney Pitalo (Boston College assistant; 12/19-2/19) Ball State - Andy Stoots (Missouri associate head; 2/11-3/11) FIU - Mat Dunn (Keiser head; 1/23-3/20) Alabama State - Alicia Wilson (Navarro head; retirement 1/30-3/24) San Jose State - Sonia Curvelo (Sam Houston State head; 2/27-3/26) Stephen F. Austin - Ashley Whittemore (club coach; 2/12-3/27) South Carolina State - Andrew Richardson (Columbia College men’s assistant; 1/17-4/2) Charlotte - Sinead Byrne (Charlotte assistant; 2/28-4/18 interim) Sam Houston State - Kendall Ayers (Texas Southern head; 3/26-4/28) Jacksonville State - Corey Smith (Tennessee Tech assistant; 3/11-5/3) Akron - Maggie Kuhn (Akron assistant; INTERIM) Pitt - Ben Waldrum (Pitt associate head; 5/22)$ Northern Iowa - Alex Place Thomas (Wartburg assistant and HS coach; 5/1-6/20 INTERIM) Texas Southern - Danesha Adams (former Pacific co-head coach; 4/23-6/27) So from the list above - who do we see coming in and making an impact and who are going to get found out straight away at not being at the right level?
I’ll respond to found out. Northern Iowa, Akron, Jacksonville State, SFA, Alabama State, VCU, North Dakota, IU Indy and Kansas State.
LIU women's coach was the former St. Francis Brooklyn men's coach for a long, successful time before the school cut athletics. His old AD is now the new AD at Manhattan, and the men's coach there took an administrative role in the department. Easy fill that makes a lot of sense for Manhattan. Unlucky for LIU...
Tennessee's Joe Kirt should definitely be on the hot seat this year. He was a bad hire to replace Pensky and has been way over his head from the start. Simply put, he doesn't have the chops. He came to Tennessee some 16/17 years ago after being a Div. 2 or 3 goalie coach, was the No. 2 assistant for most of 14 years at UT before being handed the head job four years ago when Pensky left for FSU. The Vol AD hired him because it was convenient and cheap to do so--and, because, he said, the players liked him. That is not the reason to hire a head coach. His first season was telling: Kirt inherited a team that had won 20 games the year before, won the SEC tourney and finished ranked No. 10 nationally, as I recall. The team returned 10 of 11 starters, including 3 All SEC players in Taylor Huff, Claire Rain and Jordan Fusco. Rather than replacing the one starter and keeping the group in the same positions they'd excelled in the year before, Kirt completely messed with the team--changed the formation, moved starters to new positions--and in the end, long story short, completely screwed up the squad. A 20-win team devoloved into an 11-win team. A team that had won the SEC tourney and two NCAA games the previous year lost in the first round of both the SEC and NCAA tourneys. Huff and Rain immediately transferred to FSU. I've been around many different sports and coaches for a long time--and I've never seen a coach who makes more transparently bad personnel decisions. He has a knack for taking players who've shown themselves not to be good players, inserting them in the starting lineup---and then keeping them there even though it's clear they are not productive or influential and the team is not playing well. He actually seems to play favorites. Two years ago he started an outside forward who in no way had the pace or skill set for the position while better players--including a two-year starter for St. Mary's--sat on the bench. The starter had 0 goals and 1 assist in 10 SEC games--that lone assist coming in the last game. Kirt played her as if she were an All American. The St. Mary's player now plays far more for the first or second-best team in the Mexican pro league than she did at Tennessee. That same year, it took Kirt more than half a year get his best forward (another transfer) on the field for more than 45 minutes--and only then because of an injury. He seems loyal to players who've been in the program for a few years--but who, unfortunately, are not very good. Last year he started two mids who had no previous starting experience--and they were not good--offering absolutely nothing in attack or progressive play all season. No matter, the pair started every game as if they were stars. I could go on.....The Vols have managed to squeak into the NCAA tourney the three years Kirt has been the head--but only by virtue of being in a strong conference: Two first-round exits and a second-round exit. The last two years UT's only SEC wins have been the worst teams in the conference. The Vols could be a powerhouse program with an ACC-quality coach, as the school is very attractive to recruits for a variety of reasons--and this year's team has talent, for sure. This has to be a make-or-break season for Kirt.
What do you expect from a lifetime GK assistant coach? He is lucky to be in that role and if Tennessee cares about soccer, they won’t renew that contract.
Not a Major, but St. Thomas is very hot. D3 coach now at D1. In last year of contract. Doesn't recruit well. 4 yr D1 record is awful. It could be a really good job. Great school, big market