This is not good for college soccer. Big East commissioner Val Ackerman (U.S. Soccer BOD member): “no appetite” from admin. side of NCAA for extending soccer season to spring. “DOA.”— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) October 19, 2018 It is probably good for American soccer as a whole as it will likely push more of the top players into a pro environment. This, in turn, will lead to more of the top programs bringing in more international players. But it doesn't look like all the problems with college soccer we've discussed for so long and are all so frustrated with are gonna be changing anytime soon.
Also form Kennedy's twitter feed: Grant Babadook @GrantBabcock Oct 19 Replying to @pkedit What's the big obstacle in their view? Paul Kennedy @pkedit Oct 19 Val mentioned facilities in spring. She didn’t say but I’d add resources (staff/trainers) needed for other sports
Extending the college soccer season has never been realistic. It's been in the talks more quietly for a lot longer than Sasho has been vocal about it. We would lose tons more of programs if the shift happened. Maybe, they could have an opt-in possibility, then that could save some. It'll never happen with NCAA in charge. One of the "biggest" (had to put quotes around it, because it's largely been words and no action) supporters was Oliver Luck. He bailed on NCAA and is now working with XFL. Yeah, that shows he was really involved in extending the season and looking out for the betterment of the sport at the intercollegiate level.
Would someone remind me what the more motivated programs are allowed to do in the Spring (Winter and/or Summer). I know practices and competition are limited, but Maryland always plays five or six games locally - against good competition, including professional teams (allowing that the games don't count). And some years (but not every year) the team travels overseas. If it were within the rules, I would organize a group round-robin among Maryland, Virginia and the four Carolina schools - though presumably the five ACC schools would ditch B1G Maryland. Actually the Carolina schools should probably just organize a home-and-away double round robin among themselves. I don't think cost/logistics/fields etc would be a real barrier to something like that on a small scale.
Student-athlete feedback to requested NCAA survey's regarding their college experience- "I had no life". Look for less time per academic year per sport, than more time.
The non-championship season is 5 dates (can play any number of competitions, but limited to 5 dates). There are a few exemptions though: foreign opponent (one per year), alumni game (one per year), and foreign tour (once every 4 years). Summer is basically off-limits with teams, unless it's the foreign tour. Spring programs are largely worthless. Only half a team, probably. Nothing riding on it. It's a big struggle in motivation for the spring as no one likes waiting 3-8 months for August to roll around for something that matters.
Legitimate problems I've heard about the switch are all tied back to resources. Available trainers is one. Sharing fields with lacrosse teams is another. Travel costs would be up a little bit but I don't think it'd be a massive increase. Some people talk about the change in schedule being too much for students across the two semesters but I don't buy it. The students won't miss near as much class time with games strung out over two semesters and physically they'll be taken care of better. It's clear adjusting the schedule isn't that high of a priority for the NCAA so I think the universities have to essentially present a new idea where the NCAA says "yeah sure, that's fine." I would think copying football's D-1A / D-1AA seems to be the best bet. They would have the precedent of a split division to lean on and the schools that don't want to go two semesters (or can't) can stick with the old formula. Well-funded programs that can keep up and want to prepare players for the next level can do so. Either way it seems incredibly improbable to see the NCAA change operations. I think the best case scenario for college soccer is to view it as the last failsafe. MLS/USL teams would ideally pick up the more talented youngsters while everyone else goes the college route.
To me, travel is almost a non-factor. I'd love to see any financial plans they have (or may have proposed) and compare it to their current budget. I don't even think they have to add more games, if they do it's minimal. Here's what I always thought could happen: 1 game per week, weekends (unless travel is 1 hour or less) Multiple games per week ONLY on holiday breaks or with above rule Keep the regular 18-20 game schedule School year is 32 weeks long (16 week semesters, 15 weeks without finals) Play 10 weeks in the fall, 10 weeks in the spring Take a "holiday" due to winter weather Still have 6ish weeks at end of spring semester for conference/national tournaments Can even avoid the long preseason starting early August, if we really tried. That would save money. With fewer games to pack in, no need to do the early move-in (or, as early).
Coach Cirovski's tweet yesterday about NCAA 2 semester soccer: Sasho Cirovski @SashoCirovski With at least 8 of the 16 @NCAASoccer Men’s 1st Rd games affected by terrible weather conditions today, it’s time for folks who oppose to rethink their position and to get behind the 21st Century 2 semester model if you genuinely care about SA experience! 8:36 AM - 15 Nov 2018
After yesterday, I'm 100% with Coach Cirovski on this. Michigan and Princeton played on a snowy/icy field and went through two overtime periods and 14 (I think) rounds of penalties. It was rough on the players and refs and I can attest it was very rough on the fans. The win helped a lot but it was still brutal. The national tourney should be played in late spring.
I’ve always been about it. But, that tweet is off-base. Weather is an issue into April for EVERY northern school. It’s not like there’d be tons of change.
"We landed on Friday, but we're still flying high." @MarylandMSoccer coach @SashoCirovski discusses winning the College Cup and some interesting ideas around changing college soccer's postseason. ⚽🏆 pic.twitter.com/vA0Ey1EGdq— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 13, 2018 Near the end (starting at about 3:40), Sasho Cirovski discusses changing the College Cup (to a single game) and moving college soccer toward a two-semester "21st Century" model.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/spo...-college-football-playoff-20181216-story.html Not directly on topic, but given FB practices (and MBB too) I think the bias in scheduling could be another negative on the college soccer landscape. If we do have a 10-month season are we to see the BIGS scheduling only the BIGS in home-home type series and just shut out the little guys entirely? I can def see some AD's at smaller schools start to lean toward shutting programs down or under-resourcing if they have no chance of even playing a BIG school, and live a little on the the cinderella type story, let alone compete for a national championship
I applaud Sasho in this fight. I agree with him. But, it would wreck DI college soccer. It would continue separating the haves and the have-nots. In all reality, what we need is an alternative amateur/professional lower division system structured that allows players to play and/or study/work.
You may be right, but that is too big a change to implement upon a governing body that is not motivated to change at all. We on this thread need to be happy with incremental achievements since we cannot hope to fix all of college soccer in one fell swoop. For starters, simply move up the regular season to start a full month earlier. College Cup should be over and done before Thanksgiving. Let's make that the first domino to fall.
I agree that there should be incremental changes, unfortunately, it seems NCAA operates as efficiently as USSF. None are actively doing anything to better the game.
NCAA has no mandate or ambition to improve the game. The organization was founded to promote safe and more or less equal competition in athletics without ignoring their primary role of educating the student part of student-athletes.
I read that in a Sarah Huckabee voice because it was about as believable as the bullshit she regularly spews.
The first sentence is absolutely true. The second is true in a philosophical, if not practical, sense.
Doing mini-tournaments is something some schools already do. Last year the USSF did a pilot program with 6 schools (5 ACC plus Georgetown if I remember) that featured limited substitutions and a bunch of coaching education stuff. The facilities/logistics mostly have to do with trying to add a full slate of conference and NCAA tournament games into the crowded Spring Calendar. Even just Men's D1 would create huge facility and staffing issues. And if anyone thinks you could move just Men's D1 without Women's D1, much less the D2/D3/NAIA schedules, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. Sasho and friends are scared about disappearing into the woodwork as the pro game and the summer clubs - especially pro academy teams take over. Expanding into the Spring blocks out a larger portion of the calendar and basically cedes control of the players to their colleges and away from their "club" teams. The proposal is part of a larger turf war.
I'll let Terp fans defend Sasho, but to me he seems to be genuinely interested in improving college soccer for both the players and the fans. Also, I don't think college soccer coaches are worried about summer clubs or, for that matter, the pro game hurting the college game. There is plenty of room for all three. At any rate, with approximately $50,000,000 or more in scholarships to give players every year, in the aggregate colleges have more to offer players (literally) than pro clubs.
If you think NCAA/NAIA men's college soccer teams actually give out anything anywhere in the remote neighborhood of $50mm in athletic scholarships, you're deluded. I would guess that a large majority of scholarships are unfunded and only a small fraction of teams actually are at the limit allowed. Sasho definitely is interested in improving college soccer, and providing a better platform for player development than it currently does, but unfortunately for him college soccer doesn't operate in a vacuum within college athletics. And you bet your ass that the premier college coaches pay very much attention to what is going on with club soccer, and they most certainly don't want to find themselves marginilized.
Look no further than how excited they were (on social media) when a bunch of college players got caps for the USMNT during January camp. They want to be relevant and it kills them that so much of the top talent is now skipping college soccer altogether or bailing after a year or two. They put up a stiff upper lip and try to project a positive attitude about it but they know that unless there are major changes, college soccer's days of being the primary outlet for top American talent are over. And none of them want that.
They'd much rather be like college football and basketball coaches than college hockey and baseball coaches. The latter are respected and some are even legends, but they operate in their own universe, almost completely separate from the pro game, whereas the former are relevant with the top ones being household names on par with their pro counterparts. When was the last time an NHL or MLB team filled a head coaching job with a college coach? I'm sure it has happened, but with full farm systems, most pro coaches in soccer are developed from within*. *Well, you never know where Mike Burns will find the next head coach for the Revs with no prior coaching experience.