BC's RPI is 80, which puts it among the top 38 percent of the teams in D-I. Is a new coach really gonna make that big a difference? It's a private school in a conference with mostly public schools so unless they get 28 full rides, parents of the players have to write bigger checks there than at Clemson, UNC, Virginia and they don't have the weather advantage the Southern schools do and, while a good school, they don't have the academic prestige that Duke, UVA, Stanford, Cal and Notre Dame have. Further, will BC pay enough to lure top coaches outside of the area to pay Boston prices for housing? If you're an up-and-coming D-I coach, do you go for BC and hope for the best or wait for an opening at a place like Va. Tech or Michigan where the cost of living isn't so high?
It's not like he took over a powerhouse... I would think as a federal employee he gets a little wiggle room.
I'm curious... Does anyone have some genuine insight into why certain programs are consistently at the bottom of the national RPI? Is it simply the lack of funding/resources or is it more due to the ever-changing landscape of college athletics? Surely it can't just be coaching/recruiting. Programs that come to mind for me are like Central Conn State, VMI, Chicago State, Niagara, and even Saint Joe's (despite being in a strong A-10 League).
Probably limited financial support, coaches have to coach club teams in addition to college teams to feed their families, maybe only one or no full-time assistant, limited scholarships or financial packages (limits international recruiting), and poor facilities... and if you do happen to win in the short-term you get a new job and the cycle repeats itself. Probably all mentioned are among the lowest-paid coaches in the country. St. Joe's has one sport they care about and that is basketball. Chicago State plays at a high school field off-campus. Sure any great coach can win anywhere but if they do, they are probably not staying long. VMI went 5 years without a Division I win and now plays D3s in order to get some results that massively lowers their RPI after the first one (max penalty for each game after one with the win not counting to your total)
Chicago State struggles in all athletics. The women's team struggles even more than the men. In the past 11 years since the women's team started in 2014, their record is 12-176-6. They would get spanked around by D3 teams also. The school probably should not be playing D1 sports. I would be tempted to say that they should be D3 but their academic profile is not similar to most D3 schools. D2 would probably be a better fit. The school itself only has 1400 full-time students and perhaps another 1000 that are part-time. It is also located in an area of town that is not great and without a lot to do. Academically it is not great. I would think that it would be a very hard sell. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future the school bags athletics altogether and channels resources elsewhere.
CCSU is a strange one. Used to be decent back in the day. 7/8 British lads so they were always strong. Been one of the worst teams in the nation for the past couple years. No idea what has happened.
Somehow I had missed the fact that AU's hiring of Zach Samol led to a discrimination lawsuit that made it all the way to the DC Circuit! Some interesting details of the hiring process in the judgment: Nakhid v. Am. Univ., No. 21-7107 | Casetext Search + Citator Some context:
Yeah a 60 year old with a big professional coaching career in big time places like Lebanon and Trinidad to coach in college with no college experience in the very academic Patriot League. Stunned he didn't get hired.
They are on the verge of collapsing but as a state school that serves an urban population they will keep them afloat. Chicago State is one of the few state schools to use athletics to help put students in the school. Giving scholarship to athletes adds numbers and they need numbers.
VMI would have the lowest RPI even without the three max penalties they are taking for scheduling all of those non-D1's.
Agreed. I think him being an alumni was more of a factor than his coaching resume. As far as qualified goes, Zach Samol is far more qualified based on his coaching resume IMO
he was on staff when they also won 1 game last year. You would think government employee or not, 2 wins in 2 years is…not good.
I've said it before but VMI might be the toughest job in D-I soccer. It's a military school without the national appeal of the service academies. (It's still pretty prestigious in Virginia.) It's in the middle of nowhere. It's mostly male. It's student-body leans pretty conservative. Thee are good soccer players are willing to go to a military school. But if they're D-I caliber and want a military career, their first choices are in Annapolis, West Point and Colorado Springs. So VMI is getting the leftovers from that smaller pie.
That he didn't get hired isn't hugely shocking given, as was pointed out, a lack of experience in college soccer. If you read the link, it's pretty clear that college coaching experience was a big part of the relevant experience and Nakhid ain't got none. But to not even get an interview? Given his ties to the school - not just an alum but one of the best players on the team that went to the national title game and took UCLA to a bunch of OTs - and his experience abroad, with his national team and even MLS - to not even get an interview seems disrespectful at best. Was it because he's Afro-Caribbean? I don't know. But I know that AU has a poor history with hiring Black coaches and it sits in the whitest part of the District. Nakhid wants to get the school to turn over any previous race-based hiring complaints so if he can prove there's a pattern here, he might have a case. Having said that, college soccer has a terrible track record hiring Black coaches and needs to do better.
Yeah, I found the lawsuit itself not so surprising, but noteworthy for some of the details in it, such as: This also got me looking at other publicly-available filings in the case (e.g., Nakhid v. Am. Univ., Case No. 19-cv-03268 (APM) | Casetext Search + Citator and Nakhid v. Am. Univ., 19-cv-3268 (APM) | Casetext Search + Citator), which include things like: and There's also an article in the AU student paper (AU and an alumnus who sued the University for discrimination agree to confidentiality order - The Eagle) which has this startling statement, I guess sourced from the initial lawsuit itself (the writers at The Eagle have access to PACER??): In any event, with this ruling, the case is effectively dead. The DC Circuit is not taking this up en banc, nor is the Supreme Court taking this up. I have a feeling the DC Circuit Court took it up solely because the trial court judge spent the vast majority of his ruling holding that, as a non-citizen not living in the U.S., Nakhid did not have the right to sue under non-discrimination statutes. The Circuit Court opinion basically says, 'Hey, that question doesn't need to be decided here.' Nakhid himself is an interesting character. He attempted to run for president of FIFA but was disqualified, and he is a sitting Trinidad & Tobago senator. Regardless, there is much to be done in terms of improving coaching diversity at AU specifically and college soccer more broadly. It's good to see that Samol used his third assistant slot this season on his former player Nic Blassou.
Didn't they restart men's soccer just a few years ago? I remember being surprised that CSU would be adding sports. Given the little I know about their finances, I have no idea how they pay for travel for any of their sports.
Not to beat a dead horse but… https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-...force-mens-soccer-players-under-investigation
Saint Joseph's University Hawks · Saint Joseph's University Vice President and Director of Athletics Jill Bodensteiner announced today that the University and Head Men's Soccer Coach Don D'Ambra '94 have mutually agreed to part ways effective immediately.
He was one of two coaches in NCAA Division 1 with at least 10 years of experience who never made the NCAA Tournament.
OPEN Air Force (interim) Saint Joseph’s (11/5) FILLED tbd It's time for the new thread to take shape.[/QUOTE]
Before they beat Howard earlier this year didn't VMI go like 9 years without a DI win. I find that absolutely insane. .
Good one. I thought they had made NCAA. I guess they won a regular season but never a tourney but I'm sure there are more out there.