Does BYU Have A Men's Soccer Team???

They do have a team but they compete in PDL and not in NCAA. There website claims it is because PDL has provided them with a more competative level than the NCAA does, I tend to think there are other factors involved.

http://soccer.byu.edu/

 

It's a club sport and BYU and not part of the athletic department. I don't believe that they ever had a varsity program there. Before joining the USL/PDL they competed with other college club programs, where they won several national club titles.

 

Correct. They've never had a varsity program. The PDL team is essentially a glorified club team whose costs don't directly come out of the athletic department, and doesn't invoke Title IX headaches with respect to other BYU sports.

 

I'm not sure that's correct. I may be wrong, but I am fairly sure they had a varsity program many years ago, which got cut. I think the story was that the coach stayed on as an assistant for the women's team and ran the men's club, and ultimately raised the money to do the PDL thing.

 

That's debatable.

I do know that while some MLS teams scout the PDL, they don't tend to put as much stock in PDL performances as they do in NCAA games. Look at last year's All PDL team and see how many of them got drafted and made MLS rosters. Then look at the NSCAA All America team and see how many of them got drafted and stuck.

Does that mean the NCAA play is better? No. There are some PDL teams that are like college all-star teams and if they all played for one college, they would be an elite team. The NCAA teams tend to have more resources, at least the ones associatated with athletic departments that have big-time revenue sports.

None in MLS. Part of the problem is that it's very tough for them to be developmental players beause most of them have done a mission and are coming out of school 2-3 years older than the average four-year college player. Have to be under 25 to be a Developmental Player so that's gonna eliminate most of the players who have graduated from BYU.

To the best of my knowlege, no ex-BYU players have played in the USL-1 (nee A-League). I don't know about USL-2, though there may have been some on the Utah Blitzz in the pre-RSL days.

 

Both. If you play NCAA, the PDL season is a second season, which addresses the oft-heard criticism of NCAA not playing enough games. At BYU, where you only play PDL, your season is roughly May through early August. Three months out of 12 you get to play soccer.

 

Actually, BYU did have a men's varsity team for a brief period, from '84 through '87.