Let me tell you why i think Doug is the best recruiter and putting aside who plays where now and concentrate on where they played before college. First of all somebody already pointed out what i am about to reiterate. Clemson, USC, Virginia and all these big schools have more than just their coaches being good recruiters. They have school identity and well established program. Believe you memany quality players who joined Furman probably never heard of the school before somebody approached them. I think i can be the coach at let say Clemson or Virginia and wouldnt have as much difficulty convincing a national team player to join my program as a Furman coach would.Academics, social life, name identity and the fact that Furman just started being on the soccer map not long ago all i would assume work against Doug when recruiting but still he manages to attract quality players. Lets compare then the recruiting classes ranking of Clemson and Furman 2003-c11- f16, 2002 c5-f3, 2001 c10-f4 (source collegesoccernews). Now if you are gonna tell me that Doug isnt a better recruiter than Trevor given the facts that i have mentioned below then u are just not the smartest.
Recruiting Furmanfootball--- There is only a few problems with your analysis of Allison and that is he isn't responsible for the players of 2001 and 2002. Those players were chosen and recruited by Higgi and Allison never visited them. Now I know they met Allison on campus and all that but still evaluation and getting them to Furman wasn't Allison. Futhermore all the great ones left and that is the reason for the decline in Performance. As all the top coaches from Virginia, Indiana, Maryland etc will tell anyone the recruit visits with and works with the asst. The head coach does many other administrative jobs and isn't the daily contact except at practice and most pracices are run by assts. I think you are giving Allison credit not due but what he has now is his due. By the way as great a guy as Boulware is, He is no evaluator of talent. Allison would never let him bring in the players he wanted.
Dragon, i partly agree with what you are saying and yes credit should also be given to Higgi and all the other assistants for recruits but at the end of the day its Doug who convinces a player to join his program. That is why i was giving him credit coz lets be honest here, Doug is an excellent "convincer" (if i may use that).
Just want to congratulate Furman on the win over Air Force. With all their sturggles, any win is a good win but given how they played Friday, this is particularly good.
dragon, If you are not Higgi, then you need to get off his nu---!! He did not run any practices. HAHAHA. Most assistant coaches dont do any practices unless its the spring season, which is really not a big deal. He gave me some new cleats every now and then, but to say he ran practices is outrageous. If Higgi got them to Furman, he probably said, "Im DOUG ALLISON'S assistant coach". I just dont believe that players would choose a school because of an assistant coach. Congrats to the boys on a much needed win vs. Air Force. After 2 red cards, holding on to that match shows that they can still fight for each other.
good win today. probably should have been 4-2, air force's third goal was pretty flukey as a cleared ball deflected off a AFA player into the goal. furman looked really good. scored on their opportunities, attacked well. all while playing 1 and then 2 men down in the second half. i would like to have seen a even strength furman team against coastal without that own goal. coastal was by far the best team at the tournament. they are for real. so fast, so fluid, so smooth. they play well together and ngwenya can score at any moment.
Generally, I agree with this statement, but in the case of UVA, Craig Reynolds does most of the recruiting, and he is smooth. I guess that if you tried to take Gelnovatch's personality and recruit players most would shy away.
Good result for Furman and their fans. 180 degree performance compared to Friday evening. They battled through tough circumstances and held a lead....barely. Can't fault the effort here. Allison sure had a solid game plan. Team still has an uphill battle with tough conference foes ahead. Hats off to Clemson playing a physical game against technically better players. They even created chances to score. Although the result wasn't in their favor they should have success in the ACC with that kind effort and execution. The upcoming USC-Clemson match should be interesting.
especially since south carolina lost both games this weekend at washington's tournament. they are now 7-2. i believe their losses were to portland and washington.
Re: USSoccer fan you must be kidding.... Sheepshagger, I have to admit I've been watching these postings mostly in dissapointment that as of yet I've gotten no metion even as a second rate Furman player. Thank you for including me on your prestigous list of second rate Furman players. I guess that puts my standard somewhere between poor and really poor as a player. I look forward to the next slandering of me and my former team mates. Expert analysis like yours goes a long way for the future of US Soccer. I guess really we're quite lucky for your kind thoughts. carl ps - what did i say before the 2000 NCAA game that still has you so bitter? Where would you rank on the sheep shagger scale of soccer excellence?
Full International what ever is said about you or the Furman program by former players or fans of Clemson do not carry the endorsement of their Head Coach. Anyone who disputes this fact would be calling Adair a liar. Clemson has produced great players dating back to the 70's. Lets give Furman credit they have fielded their share of impact players (including you). For a state that doesn't produce great players there are now 4 programs that seem to draw and develop blue chip players.
Musicbox Good to hear from you coach Coach Allison, it's little obvious to see now, but I appreciate the PM from the Furman Alum who will remain nameless. I was unaware that any post about a school required approval from someone else, especially the head coach of another school. If this has all got too much for people to handle then maybe they should stop reading before they burst into tears. At the end of the day, every person on the board has respect for the other school, they just don't like them and there's nothing wrong with that. Do Adair and Berson cheer for each other during games? Do Bolowich and Rennie tell each other the other they are pulling for them? Do Allison and the coach of Lipscum hope the other coach gets their first win before they do? Of course not, and that is why express our feelings on here. Don't get into any self-righteous crap about people not being endorsed by the coach of the school they support. We are speaking our minds not looking for political endorsement. If we wanted to be told how good our program or team was we could call old teamates or parents, but here you check your ego at the door.
I do appreciate the compliment addressing me as Coach Allison. As far as my comment about the level of players, you should be proud of the Clemson heritage and let that do the talking. I agree that Adair and Berson and for that matter Allison are competitive and would love nothing better than to spank one another. The difference is no matter the result they don't call the others programs out as inferior. I guess you're right fans have that option and as a fan of all three I will stick with keeping my comments less antagonizing.
Full Int'l, On my scale of soccer talent, you rank #1!!!!!!! You were always my favorite soccer striker, and I wish I could have played more with you. You had such grace with the ball, ran so fluid in the wind, and celebrated in style. I love you. Scott and Fox
Interesting... After all the posts that have been written by Clemson and Furman fans it is fair to say there has been a fair bit of trash talking but it seems a fair amount of respect for each other. All the Furman complaints were that Clemson people weren't showing any class, had no valid points and were just making personal attacks. All the stats have been laid out, players examined, coaches analyzed and trash talked so it seemed things were settling down because lines had been drawn. So I looked at another couple of threads to see what people were talking about and I looked under the UNC-G thread and the response to a guy looking for his old teamates was from: I don't want to hear it from anymore Furman fans about being respected because if you think beating UNC-G for a few years is dominance, just look at Clemson vs Furman. Very classy move
I agree sheeplover. Not the classiest post. I'm afraid that we will never find justice on BigSoccer. Trash talk prevails and the mods won't step in. Too bad I guess.
Sheeplover....I have to agree with you, that UNC-G is going to be more than a handfull for the Paladins in light of the absence of Dempsey and Vogl. Anyone who doesn't think the consecutive win streak is in jeopardy isn't watching the same team I have this year. Don't know what the competition looks like this year but you can bet they are anxiously awaiting to see what a 2-5-2 team looks like. Clemson can't be to anxious to see what awaits them in the ACC. Can't find better preperation for NCAA play than the weekly wars that take place in your conference. There is proof that strength of schedule during the year leads to advancing in the playoffs.
ACC Conference Sometimes I agree that the ACC teams are ready for the NCAA tournament because of the tough games but at times I think they are hindered by so many clashes and big games e.g Wake 2002, UVA 2001, UNC 2000, Duke 1999, Clemson 1998. Because of the frequency of games you are up and down so quickly. The ACC this year will be extremely tough for Clemson but after a bad start it gives them a chance to make a strong NCAA bid with wins over ranked opponents. On the other hand Furman having a weaker schedule allows them to get up for the big games and rest guys in the lead up but also hampers them by having walkovers in previous years and not being able to step up the intensity. I don't think the best team in the ACC goes the furthest in the NCAA Tournament every year. This was a very docile post from me but there are no USC fans making any noise so it's in-depth discussions I guess
Guyz think before u post anything on here. Yes i did say Furman has been quite a handful for the likes of uncg and yea they should respect Furman till they beat them. I never said clemson hasnt been dominant over Furman yea and i do respect them for that. So me saying UNCG should respect Furman doesnt necessarily mean i dont respect Clemson for their dominance over Furman, so sheepshagger or whoever you are think men think and quit analyzing out of your ass. Well as for Carl, i honestly think he was much better than any clemson midfielder that year why he isnt playing now is beyond me thats why i dont think the best players are playing pro ball now coz just like in career field in the U.S soccer is about who you no and the connections you have. Even nusum isnt playing in mls, that tells you that its who you know that will get you to mls. I know if you played soccer for clemson, i know there are some guyz in mls you think you are better than. And music box men have faith in Furman, i thought u were a Furman player, dont diss the boyz now they need all the confidence they can get
Paul Leese Well thanks for the reply Paul Leese. Nothing personal towards Junot who I have no problem with as a player or person and I am grateful for his quotes in the paper that went up on the baord in the locker room along with Allisons but you are kidding if you think he is a better player than Clemson's best. Do you honestly think Junot was better than Lisi? In fact, in every position in the last 5 years Clemson has outshone Furman individually. In fact I want to see the all-time Furman team as well as the Best Furman team of the last 5 years vs the same from Clemson.
Maybe he's not good enough? Regardless of what you may think, coaches really do want the best players on their teams, especially at the pro level where their jobs are on the line.
Again i reiterate not the best players are playing in the mls and even for the national team for that matter. And oh by the way u damn *#*#*#*# i am not leese thats why i keep on sayin think before you post anything on here,stop posting baseless messages. Anyway to answer you question, yes i honestly think Carl was a much better player than lisi,nothin against lisi coz he was talented but i think carl was an all round better player than he was. And Fixxer i know coaches want the best players to play for them but not if they cant see it for themselves, they usually rely on the coaches to feed them with info about players. I think the scouting of players in college by the pro league is below par for sure. Another comparison is that forward from clemson, fuller, he played in mls and there in no chance in hell he was better than nusum. Lets be real here.
Lisi vs Junot, Fuller vs Nusum Thanks Paul Leese again. I need you to confirm this. Are you saying that Carl Junot is a better player than Mark Lisi? If you are, then you truly have very little concept about the game and good players. Have you ever played against Lisi? What evidence do you need? Maybe you and Junot were lovers but just because you practiced every day with him does not make him a better player than Lisi. Fuller scored in big games, Nusum didn't. Fuller is effective in A-League, Nusum is not. Nusum scored all his goals in the Southern Conference, Fuller in the ACC. Nusum was not offered a contract in Europe, Fuller was. Nusum is a big p&*%y, Fuller is not.