It's that time of year again. The season's winding down and there are invariably several coaches who've found themselves on the hot seat for less than stellar performance. Dave Golan's departure at Evansville was announced midway through the season, probably as much for the accumulation of poor results over the years as anything else. Besides Golan, a couple of others from around the Great Lakes could be in for some difficulty as well. Pete Curtis - Cleveland State - The Vikings went 0-17-0 on the season, in a year when the university made a major financial committment to improve and rededicate Krentzler field. Curtis' 5 year tenure at CSU has produced only tepid results, and they've made it into the Horizon League tournament 2nd round only once. Joe Sochacki - Butler University - After a solid league finish last season, Butler turned a 9-2-0 record with a 0.40 GAA into 7 consecutive losses (including a big 6-0 loss to instate rival IU, and 7th league tournament seed) after the loss of a starting GK, and virtually no offensive production - despite a large number of returning offensive veterans and transfers. A miserable season by the football team puts pressure on all the other programs. They're due to lose a bunch of seniors this year. Mis Mrak - Valparaiso - Since 2001, Valpo has been 23-52-10, and are 6-8-2 this season (which is one of their better results). Valpo is a perrenial also ran in the mid-Con, and failure to show progress in the conference tournament this year won't be viewed well in a year that the school's poor football program (like Butler's) will put the other programs under pressure.
John Kerr - Harvard Once viewed as the heir apparent to John Rennie at Duke, he must be tired of seeing another Duke alum, Ken Lolla, put himself in pole position for the Duke job when Rennie eventually retires. Crimson are 0-7-1 in last eight games and 4-8-2 overall, with 2 of those wins coming against UMass and Maine. No one is expecting Kerr to produce an Indiana or a Maryland type team in Cambridge, but with 2 Ivy teams in the top 25 this week, and Harvard still without a win in Ivy League play, Kerr will be doing well to hang onto his job after a number of disappointing seasons.
Its a bit early.....year three..... for Rohrman at Wisconsin, but he's not winning many games and possesses a lot of talent. I really expected them to bust out and win a bunch this year. AD Alvarez is not the kind of guy that tolerates losers ?
Do D1 Coaches really get fired? I thought these were lifetime appointments. What happened to UNC-Charlotte (5-9-3) and Furman (7-6-4)? These use to be Nationally Ranked programs but have had some tough years.
I'm a big Rohrman supporter and a Wisconsin fan, but I'll agree that the wins haven't been there. I think he may be trying to fashion a program that can play good, technical soccer, in a part of the country where big guys, set pieces and long throw-ins get better results. They have bunch of guys who can really play (like the Spaniard, Diaz), but not many ballwinners. But they're also pretty young, so next season should be the acid test. I'd say if he can't get it done by year 5, it could be a problem (especially since Alvarez will be the AD full time).
I've been lobbying for years that Ohio State should promote John Bluem to Assistant AD in charge of Corporate Diddlies and bring in Ken Lolla before it's too late. Sadly, it probably WILL be too late before that ever happens. Ohio State made a full committment to fund 9.9 scholarships, they built a very impressive stadium, they have complete access to all of OSU's splendeferous athletic facilities, they've attracted some first rate blue chip talent and the team is wallowing in the muck.
Unfortunately, Bluem signed a 5-year contract early in the season, so you'll have to suffer through a few more seasons of high school style soccer in Jesse Owens Stadium.
Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2004, in the hunt again this year. I would love to wallow in that much if I were a college coach.
Yes, they had a nice run last season. I wouldn't take that away from them at all. But what "hunt" do you feel they are in this year? The Hunt for Red October? The Hunt for Osama bin Laden? Hunting for the national ranking which disappeared after they lost to BG? Elmer hunting Bugs in Wabbit Season? "Be vewy, vewy quiet - we're hunting Indiana"
The funniest post I have seen in awhile. LOL.... Does seem that Ohio State should be doing better than they are.
Bret Simon at Stanford? In 2002, they competed for the NCAA title. In 2005, they are 1-5-1 in the Pac-10.
In the hunt for an NCAA bid. With a win over Michigan on Sunday, OSU will finish ahead of Indiana in the Big Ten with a #2 seed. With another win in the first round and then a 2nd round Big Ten Tournament match-up with IU, they will probably get an at-large bid with or without the IU win since you are adding huge strength of schedule with a 2nd IU match-up. This is what "the hunt" means. 9.9 scholarships and a decent facility is what every program has anymore. Thank God you guys aren't ADs. There would be coaches out of work for a bad game like there is at the pro level.
Back to the topic. I'll also throw in Dan Donigan of SLU, a team that was nationally ranked in the preseason. Although they're 5-1-1 in the A10, they're 8-5-2 overall, with no guarantee they'll win out over Charlotte and Richmond. While they host the A-10 Tournament, an at-large NCAA bid is out of the question. If they don't win the tournament outright, they don't get in, and if not, I think Donigan has trouble.
I can't believe Furman hasn't been able to capitalize on the pro success of Rico Clark and Clint Dempsey. All-Americans, first round draft picks, youth national teams, MLS end-of-season awards (Clark should make the Best XI this year, Dempsey was ROY last) and now the full national team all since they came to Furman. There is something wrong if they can't use that to get other good players. Did the assistant coach that brought in Rico, Clint, Griffin, Simo etc... leave or is it the same cast of characters?
The guy that hired Simon, Ted Leland, has stepped down and has been replaced, as interim AD, by Bill Walsh, the legendary 49ers, and former Stanford football, coach. Walsh won at Stanford... in football. Not hard to see him saying "if I can win, here, at football, then you should be able to win here at soccer." Odds are he won't make any personnel moves, but I wouldn't want to have my review with him after three-straight losing seasons! And, depending on who the new AD is, Simon could find himself on a very short leash. I doubt he gets canned after this season, but he might be told he's got to turn things around next year or put his resume together.
Asst. Coach left. But that arguement will pull alot of Furman lovers out of the woodwork based on claims the asst. had nothing to do with the recruiting classes.
With possible losses to Charlotte and Richmond and potentially an A10 playoff loss, the worst case scenario you paint is a .500 record. Even if SLU was favored to win the A10, a non-losing record's rarely enough to get a guy canned. I'm unfamiliar with Donegan's prior teams, did they underperform too? Otherwise, why would he be canned for one average year?