go to socalsoccer and go to forums then find the college board ... it's a very active forum with input from coaches and parents http://www.socalsoccer.com/forum/portal.php
So I'm going to just say, let's not turn this into a UCSB thread. The person wants info on coaches and programs in all of CA. I disagree with UCSB being hacks and only going in to hurt people though. There was that rep in 04, but since then we have had top notch players come out who aren't known for being hacks (Andy Iro, Eric Avila, Tyler Rosenlund, Tony Lochead, etc.). Being hacks and having no talent doesn't get you a title. Does UCSB have an aggressive style of play...yes. But that is no what it is based on. The only reason so many cards are giving is b/c of the rep earned in 04 and refs believe the only way to control it is to card early and often. If you were going to list the top CA programs in no particular order: UCSB UC Berkeley UC Irvine UCLA Santa Clara USF LMU SDSU Cal Poly Stanford
Re: From the horses mouth Okay, so you never noticed it before. On the UCSB GAUCHOS 2008 Official Thread on Feb 12 you wrote, "...and the Big West is not weak! If it was hamstringing us right now by bringing down our level of play, us Gaucho fans would be the first to complain." And then on Nov. 6, 2008 Oracle responded to one of your UCSB posts on the same thread as above. You've been on the Gauchos board many times in the past and as recently as earlier this month in 2009. I guess I just figured you would be aware by now of the Oracle/GauchoYoungin exchanges seeing as you profess to be a Gaucho fan and you have posted many times on that thread.
Re: From the horses mouth Wow. What the hell is your point? It wasn't until yesterday that I looked up Oracle's posting history and noticed that he had a hard on for UCSB. Are you trying to catch me in a lie? What difference does it make if I noticed his infatuation with the Gauchos yesterday or several months ago. Are you done with your cross-examination?
Re: From the horses mouth Okay, back to topic. In my opinion the top three soccer programs in California are: 1. UCLA 2. Berkeley 3. UCSB Then: 4.Irvine 5.Cal Poly 1. UCLA: Best college soccer brand in state. Consistently gets the bulk of interest from top tier national team players although that is starting to change a bit. UCSB and Berkeley are now signing these national team players also. Great school. Great campus. Players come in at such a high level but there’s not a lot of development. Often you’ll see national players on the bench because there’s so much talent. JS is a little inconsistent. Some years he’ll do really well and others not well at all. Won the Pac10 in 2008 but lost to Berkeley in 2006 and 2007. Got into the postseason but lost in his first game. Not a great coach but not bad either. He’s respected. Doesn’t keep a tight grip on team so team chemistry can get out of balance and some players leave very unhappy. Verdict is still out on how KA will perform as an assistant coach. Not many players are going to turn away a chance to play soccer at UCLA. Too many players to count have turned pro from this program. 2. UCBerkeley: Best college head coach in California. KM promotes his players better than anyone. Best 1st assistant in California. PL is head coach quality and develops players the best in state. Goalie coach has produced several pro players. Double digit amount of alums currently playing in MLS. Players really like the program and rarely leave early. Top club coaches like to send players there because they have fun, they develop well and they often go pro. More and more national team players are choosing Berkeley. I believe Berkeley will have at least 6 national team players on their team in 2009. They consistently make the playoffs every year and have reached the quarterfinals but until they win the college cup they will not have arrived. 3. UCSB: In addition to my earlier post from yesterday, on the positive side, there’s few players in the state that won’t feel honored to be recruited by TVS. It’s seen as one of the top programs in the state and if you like to combine soccer with the social scene then there is no school that will compare. There’s a lot of great talent that has come and gone from UCSB including some great players from New Zealand. I believe they have about 10 alums currently playing in the MLS and they are a very competitive team. No one takes a game against UCSB lightly. 4. UC Irvine: Only heard good things about the program. The class of the Big West Conference and a nice style of play. They’re a good team. 5. CAL POLY: very similar experience to UCSB. Same crowd feel, same reckless tackles, same cards, same conference, same type of emotional coach, same massive recruiting classes that get cut up as they go and similar results. Only difference is only players have gone pro from UCSB but PH at Cal Poly needs some time to prove what he can do. He hasn't had the program that long. Top CA programs in order of how soccer ratings had them ranked as of December 2008: 1. UC Irvine 2. Berkeley 3. Davis 4. UCSB 5. UCLA 6. Cal Poly Irvine and Berkeley went farthest in the postseason tourney both making it to the Sweet16 and both losing by 1 point to St. John’s and Maryland, respectively. This year Irvine is ranked highest but top level recruits are not likely to chose Irvine over UCLA or Berkeley if given the choice. I would not put Santa Clara, USF, SDSU, Stanford and LMU on a current list of top CA programs.
Didn't Santa Clara just have three transfer over to Berkley? Were they top players? If so, ouch, that will hurt. Just wanted to add, my son is at UCSB, and absolutely loves it! Loves the coach(s), team, school, atmosphere. He told me just a couple of weeks ago that he felt he made the absolute right decision. Any strong soccer player would not go wrong attending and playing at UCSB. Where else can you play, train, go to school, and then ride your bike or walk down to the beach in 3-5 minutes? It's also a beautiful campus, and he said his professors were terrific!
More on UCSB: http://ucsbgauchos.cstv.com/ot/soccer-town.html The UCSB Athletic Department announced today the "Soccer Town USA" initiative as part of their bid to land the 2010 College Cup. My understanding is that Cary, NC is the only other bidder, and they're hosting in 2009.
Regarding ranking the programs, I think that's hard to do. The reality is that there are very few poor soccer programs in CA. I think it's a testament to how much soccer talent there is in CA relative to the rest of the nation. I have a lot of respect for UCLA Soccer. As a US Soccer fan, they've produced so many of my favorite soccer players ever. I think UCLA is a little bit like the University of Miami in football. It's a very elite fraternity of soccer players. If that appeals to a top level soccer player, then UCLA is a great school for them. I think UCSB is the best choice for a top level player who wants to be a part of a program aiming to win the national title and bring college soccer to a new level of popularity. They have the best fans in the nation and are hoping to become a regular host of the College Cup. Cal is a great program and a fantastic school. They have a great coach. They've yet to really make their mark on the national scene, and their fans are pretty apathetic about the program. I think it's quite a stretch to say UCI is the class of the Big West. They have one NCAA appearance. Kuntz is a good coach and a good guy. Cal Poly only has one NCAA appearance as well. They've drawn some good crowds, but they've only really been for UCSB games. I don't agree with the notion that they're a bunch of hacks. That must be from a bitter UCLA fan since they got out fought by Poly in the NCAA. Holocher is a great coach, and they play very technical soccer. Santa Clara has great tradition too. I'm a little disillusioned about them just because I went there as a freshman and hated it. It's a good school but a very boring one, and the students don't really care about their sports very much.
All three programs, UCLA, Berkeley and UCSB are all aiming to win the national title. This is not an exclusive goal to UCSB. Most schools do not necessarily aim for this but these three do. As far as making the sport popular UCSB has done that extremely well. I’m curious if anyone out there knows the steps that UCSB took to make that happen. Before TVS UCSB played for a practically empty stadium. So, was it TVS or someone else who had the master plan? Indeed there are few “poor” soccer programs in California. But there are also few “top” CA schools as well which are really UCLA, Berkeley and UCSB at the moment. When GauchoYoungin categorized the following list as the top CA programs, most of them made me wince. UCSB UC Berkeley UC Irvine UCLA Santa Clara USF LMU SDSU Cal Poly Stanford So, when I said I would not put Santa Clara, USF, SDSU, Stanford and LMU on that top CA list this is why. And even Cal Poly and Irvine are new to success and a little early to include although I did based on their 2008 year. Both Cal Poly and Irvine will need to have years of consitent results to really gain a top reputation. With Irvine I was really just talking about their success this year. This year their brand of soccer was better than the rest of the Big West, imo. SANTA CLARA: Usually a top CA program but not this year. Upperclassmen players are madly transferring out. 4-9-7 record last year but usually a strong program. Tim Martin left program and a new assistant came in. First year with such a bad performance but for a few years now there have been some grumbling over there. USF: Not since Steve Negoesco’s glory days has USF been a top soccer program. EV not well respected as a good coach in top coaching circles. Ranking was the lowest of all teams in NCAA playoffs this year, below 100. Only got in because of an automatic berth and out in 1st round 3-0. Very inconsistent coach. Very inconsistent team. The only thing they aspire to accomplish each year is to try and make the playoffs and when they do it’s like they won the national championship for them. That’s not a top team mentality. SDSU: Out of 9 years LK has 3 winning seasons. His overall losing record is 61-81-29 at SDSU. Not once has he ever had double digit wins in a season. You get treated to coach yelling and swearing at his players during the game and then the players turning around during play and telling him off back. Total player revolt going on there. STANFORD: Bret Simon’s record over the last 6 years is 32-56-22. He took over a national powerhouse and has tanked the program. The AD needs to get his head examined. He talks a better game then he knows how to coach. LMU: PK has an inconsistent program. Certainly wouldn’t put him into one of California elite. In 2007 he had a 3-16-1, a losing record in 2008, not making postseason play…Not too impressed.
I was just trying to fill a list up when I made that one. I didn't feel ok just putting 3-5 teams down. Though most of those programs are inconsistent and lack a bit, they are still top 10 in my opinion. I agree with your top 3, and probably your top 5, but after that than who? That's what I was trying to figure out.
Re: your question on how soccer got so popular at UCSB... UCSB typically isn't considered a big sports school. We're in the Big West, which doesn't have football and has become an awful basketball conference. That being said, there is enormous school spirit at UCSB. It's a good school, and a very, very, very, fun school if you know what I mean. The result is that the students/community are pretty apathetic about their teams that don't win but go crazy over a winner. We had a solid basketball team in the 80s and late 90s, and the Thunderdome was considered the best crowd on the West Coast. So the short answer is that TVS built a winner, and UCSB was hungry for a winner in any sport. It's not like UCLA where they have other sports they're successful in. With that being said, there have been plenty of other schools, SCU for example, that don't have great success in other sports, but haven't had close to the support UCSB has for soccer. I think it fits a bit into the personality of UCSB. It's a very countercultural school. The kids love the fact that they don't have a football team, and that they steal soccer goals and throw them into the ocean, not field goal posts. Soccer is very popular in the SB community too. Tim has done a great job emersing the Gauchos in the local soccer community. I'm an AYSO coach in SB. The Gauchos visit every single team in the area for a clinic.
Re: From the horses mouth I agree. Point was well taken by both Youngin and Clash. That’s why I moved on.
Interesting. As a youth coach in the area what percentage would you guess of these youth soccer players attend the UCSB home games on a regular basis?
OSU/Dana Taylor: My expirence ,and that of my son, who is a frosh, has been very positive thus far. He has always been very communicative and approachable to me and my son. I have seen no indication that Coach Taylor has lost the respect or interest of his players. What I have been most impressed with thus far is how my son's health ( and that of other kids who were hurt) was put before the team's this year. My guy would have in all liklihood started this fall, but came into camp injured. Considering the fact that the team struggled on the field, there was no pressure put on my boy to come back before he was healthy. Dana is intense, but fair. He lets everyone know where they stand. Academics are emphasized and the players are encouraged to stick around during the summer to take classes, work out and work at the OSU soccer camps. PDL opportunities are made available for the players as are chances to work out with MLS teams for the top guys. OSU appears to be looking for big athlectic players as is evidenced by it's past two recruiting classes. UW/Dean W.: I thought Dean was a straight up guy during the recruiting of my son. He was one of his region IV coaches and seemed to me to be a strong motivator and able tactician. I don't know that I would agree that his players run the program at UW. I know the two Oregon kids who started for them this year as freshman, and they don't think so. Like at OSU, UW trys to find places for it's kids to compete in the summer, have sucess in school and showcase their top guys with the MLS and A league teams. UW also likes big athletic players, but I think that is the trend in College ball. The only pac 10 team I saw this year that did'nt seem to have a lot of size was UCLA. ( I watched them all but Cal).
Not sure when Oregon and Washington became part of California, but that's great. I like to expand our lovely state.
The original question was about Pac 10 and California schools. You would have to look long and hard to find anyone up here that wants to be part of California. I should know, I married a lady from Santa Barbara.
OSU has had losing records for the last three seasons and are currently ranked 103 in the end of season soccerratings.com poll and I haven’t seen or heard any signs of the coaches turning the program around. I don’t see OSU making the steps to become a winning program in the Pac-10 any time soon. It’s good to hear your son is enjoying himself but some of the guys I knew a couple years back were not too happy playing at OSU and they were pretty vocal about it but then they were upperclassmen.
Keep an eye on them. They lose 7 sarters, but have had two pretty good recruiting classes. Next year will be tough, but they should be very competitive by 2010. In 08 they brought two kids who could have gone any where. One ended up being Pac 10 freshman of the year. He did not get his ncaa clearance until the week before the start of the Pac 10 season. The other was hurt all year and had to redshirt.