I have seen college games on tv and what I do not understand is why they allow for timeouts. This is ridiculous and IMO is a mockery of the sport to do this. I was wondering why it is allowed and why it has not been corrected. If you are trying to develop these kids into professionals, it makes it kind of hard when you play by different rules. This is why I don't follow college game, if your going to play the sport, play it right.
What's your point? There are probably all of 50-100 future pro prospects playing college soccer in the USA. (quick people help me out here..) Let's do some math ....200+ colleges playing men's soccer with a minimum of 20 men on the squade....that's 4-5000 men playing college soccer? The goal of the sport is NOT to develop professionals. The NBA and college basketball have different rules? Is that a mockery? Same for football, baseball...... If you don't like the sport, don't watch it. If you don't follow it, what the hell are you doing on a college soccer board?
That begs the question then (not that I care that much about timeouts), should these 50-100 players be in college soccer or not? Does college soccer want them or not care? I think college soccer is on the verge of possibly making a decision. It's currently in the middle between "revenue" and "olympic" sports. Does it want to try to go one way or the other or continue to be a bit of both. Not that I'm saying it'll be a big money maker of a sport, just that it may be in competition with the new MLS reserve league in recruiting talent. I'm not sure MLS is willing to give scholarship promises (project-40) to all its future players instead of the ~10-15/year it currently funds (through Nike). MLS may focus on college graduates, but it also might try to lure all the youth national team players into its new system. Does college soccer care? PDL is helping, but the fundamental issue of limits on coaching time and # of competitive games doesn't seem to be a concern of the NCAA at all (it probably mostly ignores men's soccer). Fans of pro soccer have a vested interest in college soccer right now cause that's where the majority of the future players of the current 18-22 generation are playing. I like college sports. I love college football (despite no playoff) and have only mild interest in the NFL. Same for college basketball. But right now I can't see college games anywhere on tv. The Big 12 & most of the SEC aren't fielding teams. I've seen very little movement towards improvement from the NCAA. So it's easy to say, "we like it the way it is, leave us alone", but right now these pro prospects are mostly in college and many of us do care that they develop well. Anyone here have any opinions on which way college soccer should go (remain the same, turn the pro prospects over to MLS reserve/youth teams and emulate "olympic sports", follow the football/basketball model and be a pro "minor league", follow the baseball/hockey model and take a back seat to the minor leagues but be there for players who want an education also/first, allow for a more competive environement with longer seasons and more coaching time like foreign "acadamies", or any other changes)? I think the title is a poor choice cause it is somewhat disrespectful over a small subject. But there are some issues here. And taking breaks during play does change the fitness requirement/expectation I'd guess? Since I'm 4 years out of college and haven't seen any games since then, is reentry still allowed (I think it was)?