Conf USA Investigating Marshall For Using Professional Players

Discussion in 'College & Amateur Soccer' started by BigRedFootie, Aug 25, 2021.

  1. BigRedFootie

    BigRedFootie Member+

    Jan 31, 2003
    B-town
    Marshall's soccer program is being investigated for utilizing players that had already signed professional contracts. Several opposing coaches from conference USA lodged complaints about Marshall players throughout last year.

    According to my source, several of Marshall's players (presumably those who have professional contracts) have already left the program.
     
  2. fanatica

    fanatica New Member

    LAFC
    United States
    Feb 6, 2020
    They have 55 rostered this year. WTH.
     
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  3. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    I think that will be a can of worms if they start looking deeper into a lot of the internationals coming over. The big grey area with the NCAA is "necessary expenses".
     
  4. BigRedFootie

    BigRedFootie Member+

    Jan 31, 2003
    B-town
    I should reiterate that this is still just an investigation.
     
  5. UNCG2004

    UNCG2004 Member

    Leeds United
    United States
    Nov 20, 2019
  6. JoeSoccerFan

    JoeSoccerFan Member+

    Aug 11, 2000
    BigRedFootie repped this.
  7. Wazzaville

    Wazzaville New Member

    DC United
    Netherlands
    Dec 13, 2018
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    A can of worms indeed! I was informed that it was now within the rules for colleges to hire players who had full pro contracts for one year following some NCAA ruling about a basketball player. Is that not so? I thought that was what allowed an influx of players in recent years who were previously on professional contracts in Europe. At least one did so well in the ACC that he could 'leave early'.
     
  8. Maclid

    Maclid Member

    Marshall (NCAA)
    United States
    Aug 28, 2021
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #8 Maclid, Aug 28, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2021
    I have great news for you! I can confirm Marshall is not under any investigation and has had no players leave the roster!

    I can also confirm they laid a 6-1 smack down in #21 JMU to open the season and they have significantly more depth this year on a team returning 10 starters from last season.
     
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  9. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    Got nicked by Va Tech today... Hard to win games against good opponents every game.
     
  10. Wazzaville

    Wazzaville New Member

    DC United
    Netherlands
    Dec 13, 2018
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    That is good news. West Virginia could do with some success.
     
  11. Branko Segota

    Branko Segota Member

    Feb 24, 2003
    What D-I men's program in todays era of Title IX can carry 49 players on their roster? I saw a post earlier mentioning 51, so I went to their website and saw 49 players in uniform in the team photo. That is nuts!
     
  12. PlaySimple

    PlaySimple Member

    Sep 22, 2016
    Chicagoland
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I don't want to sidetrack this thread but thought I would mention this since we're talking about roster sizes.

    North Park University in Chicago is D3 but they have 59 on the roster this year. They've had years with 60+.

    https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster

    I just don't see how having that large of a roster is advantageous. NPU does have a history of being successful, though.
     
  13. Maclid

    Maclid Member

    Marshall (NCAA)
    United States
    Aug 28, 2021
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Title IX applies to funding and scholarships. In NCAA Division 1, men's soccer can only give out the equivalent of 9.9 scholarships (full or partial as they see fit). So whether you have a roster size of the NCAA average 29 players or 51, they can still only give out the equivalency of 9.9 scholarship in D-1. Programs can have as many walk-ons or non-scholarship players as they want.

    Coach Grassie was basically the originator of the D-II trend over the last decade of large, international rosters that you now see West Virginia and Ohio schools using that are now dominating NCAA D-II and NAIA. The trend has been to cast a large recruiting net, implemented Varsity and JV squads, and develop deep programs with lots of players. Smaller colleges and universities like the trend because D-II and NAIA have even lower scholarship limits, so these are people paying tuition, generating revenues, and helping fund the actual scholarships they give out (not really a factor at a major conference level).

    You now have coaches that are starting to adapt this strategy at D-I. Not only does Grassie have a newer soccer stadium and a national title at Marshall, Jay Vidovich is basically doing the exact same thing at Pitt. Dan Stratford, who replaced Grassie at Charleston and won 2 national titles in D-II, is now in year 2 at WVU, and they just beat #3 Pitt this weekend (as well as being the last team to beat Marshall last season). At some point between this season and next season, I think WVU will enter the national championship hunt as well. I don't think its a coincidence that you are starting to see this philosophy starting to have some success at this level.
     
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  14. Maclid

    Maclid Member

    Marshall (NCAA)
    United States
    Aug 28, 2021
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is true. Herd's playing a very aggressive schedule. Against VT, had a 2-0 halftime lead, but gave up two penalty shots and got a red card within an 8 minute span - with credit to VaTech's pressure - that really turned the tide of the match. But it was a collapse that hadn't been seen - Marshall had not allowed more than 1 goal in regulation during all of last season.

    But as coach said in a preseason interview, the pressure is not on the team to be undefeated, the pressure is on to win another title...

    https://www.wsaz.com/2021/08/10/herd-soccer-begins-practice/
     
  15. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    NPU needs to put butts in the seats...that is seats in the school/dorms. Lots of D3 schools carry large rosters because that gives them extra students in the school as everyone fights to stay afloat. One of the main reasons there is D3 football is the 100+ male bodies to attend school at smaller liberal arts schools where getting men to attend is tough.

    Marshall may have the same luxury as the school is 58% female (even with football). Grassie may be given the green light numbers-wise to add more men to the school most likely full-tuition payers. How that impacts Title IX is another thing. They have 9 women's sports and 6 women's sports and have the minimum which is just one over the minimum and is the minimum for men's sports to be Division I.
     
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  16. PlaySimple

    PlaySimple Member

    Sep 22, 2016
    Chicagoland
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    That is an excellent point.

    Since D3 schools are not giving athletic aid, the more students that a school can roster = more $ for the schools.

    However, this is a phenomenon that will usually occur at those D3 schools that have academics that are not as stringent. Those huge roster sizes are rarely seen at schools that have high academic standards - Wash U, U of Chicago, Case Western Reserve, Emory, MIT, Williams, etc. It would be hard enough to find really large numbers of student-athletes that qualify to attend those schools. The same can be said for the D1 Ivies that don't give athletic OR academic aid.
     
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  17. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    Of course... We are talking about schools trying to survive not the elite academic schools that accept less than 10% of their applicants. Those guys will most likely be closer aligned to the D1 high academic schools in terms of roster size, etc.
     
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  18. ThePonchat

    ThePonchat Member+

    #ProRelForUSA
    United States
    Jan 10, 2013
    I've Been Everywhere Man
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    NAIA doesn't have lower scholarship limits. And, Grassie is not the originator of it.

    Large rosters have existed for years -- Gardner Webb is one of the longest-running large roster DI programs. They've been 40+ for many years, even had 60+ that I've counted previously.

    DII, DIII, and NAIA have done this for years. As you've mentioned, it's about generating revenues. Additionally, the male college enrollment numbers had some projections that fewer males would be going to college. So, colleges had to get creative about how to increase that number. Easy...use athletics. Go west and you'll see a load of schools carrying reserve basketball and baseball as well. Especially since where there's a large make-up of NJCAA schools where they can play four-year reserve programs for their regular season matches.

    There was an NAIA school a couple years back that had over 90 players. A DII program gets a $10,000 bump in their program budget (first team) for every X-amount of players they bring in over their target number. They are consistently over 70 players on their first team and reserve team -- which could be a near $40,000 boost to their program's budget.
     
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  19. collegesoccer

    collegesoccer Member+

    Apr 11, 2005
    #19 collegesoccer, Oct 20, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2021

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