Top Mid Major Coaches

Discussion in 'Women's College' started by Sledhead, Dec 17, 2019.

  1. Sledhead

    Sledhead Member

    Atalanta
    United States
    Jul 14, 2019
    With the recent announcement of Matt Fannon leaving BGSU for Iowa State, it made me wonder who are the other top Mid Major Head Coaches that should be considered for the jump to the next level? A couple others that jump to mind for me are:

    Shields at SLU
    Bimbi at Loyola Chicago
    Fabiano at Milwaukee

    What say you?
     
  2. PoetryInMotion

    Feb 7, 2015
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Hedlund at UNT
    Blankenship at FGCU
    Holeman at Lamar

    Not sure any of these are leaving their current posts, though. SH the most likely.
     
    Soccerguy1022 repped this.
  3. PowerSoccer

    PowerSoccer Member

    Dec 3, 2019
    Turner at Monmouth
     
  4. Wildcatter

    Wildcatter Member

    Sep 9, 2018
    Simon Riddiough - Hofstra

    I also really like Jason Dowiak at Umass. I think it would be a few years before he bounces but I like what he's done at Umass so far
     
    Tigmon and pwrcln repped this.
  5. Almost done

    Almost done Member

    Juventus
    United States
    Oct 4, 2019
    Kevin O'Brien - Lipscomb
     
    OGSoccerCoach repped this.
  6. MFF1910

    MFF1910 Member

    Sep 11, 2018
    I second Simon, fantastic job over the years.

    Nate Lie is making miracles happen in short time at Xavier as well

     
  7. SoccerTrustee

    SoccerTrustee Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Definitely agree about Turner, Riddough, Shields, Bimbi, Blankenship, Holeman, and Fabiano. Hedlund too as UNT has success but their brand of soccer is hard to watch.

    Also:
    Patrick Baker from FAU. RPI is rigged for the Power 5s yet he got a 32 this past year.

    Mick D’Arcy from Central Connecticut St. consistently does well in the NEC and has the biggest Tournament upset this year when they beat Rutgers in the first round.

    Paul Royal at La Salle.

    Nancy Feldman at Boston University.

    Carin Jennings-Gabarra at Navy.

    Samford, South Alabama, and Furman coaches typically do well.
     
    Soccerguy1022 repped this.
  8. Sam Miami

    Sam Miami Member

    Bayern Munich
    Germany
    Sep 11, 2019
    Woodward at Seattle U - sustained success for a decade

    Rumor out here was she was headed to UW (could anyone have complained about that one?), but that has quieted
     
  9. sokarcrazy

    sokarcrazy Member

    Dec 19, 2005
    Some other names not mentioned

    SDSU
    Denver
    Drake
    Memphis
     
  10. PlaySimple

    PlaySimple Member

    Sep 22, 2016
    Chicagoland
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #10 PlaySimple, Dec 21, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2019
    Barry has done a good job with the Ramblers but you only need to go back a few years to see that they've struggled recently. He seems to be on a good trend and appears to have the program moving in the right direction but a few more solid years are needed, IMHO. He seems to be a nice guy and if anyone would be deserving to move up some day, it would be Barry. That said, he seems to be very content in Chicagoland and may not want to move on. He does have a good gig at Loyola now. The soccer facilities suck (field about 1 mile off campus and bad turf) but there are many other good aspects of the school. Also, I would like to see Loyola have some more success vs stronger OOC competition as the Missouri Valley Conference is inconsistent and can be weak.
    Nate has done a good job at Xavier but he just finished up his 3rd there as HC. I would like to see him have a few more good years and with more of his own recruits before I brand him ready to move on.

    Another consideration with Xavier is that the conference that it is in, the Big East, is a step up from being a mid-major and a step down from a power conference. I'm not sure that Nate is ready to make a jump to what would be considered an improvement in strength of program/conference. In all seriousness, I can see him going back to Cincinnati as HC. Neil Stafford has been a bit sub par, IMHO, and I would think that he is on notice to get things turned around. I'm not sure that he will. I see Stafford being at UC maybe only one more year though I'm saying this without knowing how his contract reads. Also to consider, that middling UC program is composed of many players that are Lie's recruits. Nate had a heavy influence on the recruiting at Cincinnati when he was there. A larger program may take that into consideration when looking at Nate.
     
  11. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Baker appears to be a good coach. Apart from that your statement is just the opposite of the truth. The RPI is rigged against stronger conferences and in favor of weaker ones. If you check Massey's ratings, you'll get a much better picture of where teams from stronger and weaker conferences stand in relation to each other. Massey has FAU at #63, which stil is pretty good for a mid-major.
     
    Soccerguy1022 repped this.
  12. Sockers1

    Sockers1 Member

    Nov 7, 2016
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #12 Sockers1, Dec 21, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2019
    Here’s an outstanding list with a few mid major coaches to pick from!

     
  13. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It looks to me like Gavin McKinney at UT Chattanooga must be a pretty good coach.
     
  14. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Although he didn’t set the world alight at Buffalo I think Michael Thomas at South Dakota has done well. They’ve had one of the highest upswings in the country from when he took over so if you look at coaches who have made a significant impact quickly I think he has. Plus he does it in South Dakota which I wouldn’t imagine is as easy a location to recruit to as a lot of other places that coaches in this thread are spoke about.
     
  15. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew

    I would say it’s no coincidence that Loyola got better when Frankie came aboard. And I will be interested to see if they go back to struggling if/when he leaves.
     
  16. sokarcrazy

    sokarcrazy Member

    Dec 19, 2005
    And Marquette seemed to slide when he left
     
  17. Cantcoach

    Cantcoach Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Dec 29, 2017

    Why Drake out of curiosity? I would think they should be fairly decent right? Denver too.
     
  18. Cantcoach

    Cantcoach Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Dec 29, 2017
    location for sure makes it harder to recruit. The Dakotas I would guess are maybe the least desirable states for recruits so being successful there would not be a picnic.
     
  19. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For mid-majors, Bill Hempen has had Colorado State improve its rankings at the rate of just under 30 positions per year since he started the program there (per Massey, #274 in 2013 to #89 in 2019, improving every year, and just about the same for the RPI). To me, that's pretty remarkable, although I think CSU will start to tail off in the improvements this year. On the other hand, would he make a top level Power 5 coach these days? He had good days at Colorado (Boulder) but they were in trouble by the time he left. Are there some coaches who can be great at mid-majors, but not have that translate to the Power 5?
     
  20. FCBarcelona

    FCBarcelona New Member

    Nov 10, 2008
    great thread...
    lots of great coaches out there.
    Out west:
    Not sure if the WCC can count as a mid major league but obviously some big time coaches out there:
    Rockwood, BYU
    Ward, Pepperdine
    Smith, Santa Clara
    Watkins, Gonzaga

    Big West:
    Brown, Fullerton
    Big Sky:
    Sac State
     
  21. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    not sure if conferences like the WCC or the Big East are exactly mid major maybe more somewhere between most mid majors and power five. For example BYU, Pepperdine and Santa Clara are schools that almost sell themselves regardless of which is in charge. Obviously they all have good coaches too.

    Gonzaga coach came in right at the correct time as they had a group that seemed were about to head onwards and upwards. Plus I don’t see Watkins being a good recruiter the guy is a tool his school just sells itself.

    but yes I agree good thread. On the flip side of the hot seat thread this does make you realize there are a lot of good coaches out there in difference parts of the country.
     
  22. FCBarcelona

    FCBarcelona New Member

    Nov 10, 2008
    Not sure Gonzaga ever even had a winning season before he got there. Guys got a great reputation and the players love the him. Ever been to Spokane?

    I’d add:
    Illinois State, consistent
    Boise State
    Loyola
    Wisconsin-Milwaukee
     
  23. Collegewhispers

    Collegewhispers Member+

    Oct 27, 2011
    Club:
    Columbus Crew

    I haven’t heard the same thing about his players liking him and that’s from other coaches in the conference. But they’ve been good so clearly he can coach.

    Illinois state I think is a tough one as they have been good but they’ve been good under 3 different coaches in recent years. Probably a case of a good job so you can win there but also because it’s a good job it attracts good coaches. Milwaukee I think is kind of the same; good program anyway but it attracts good coaches because it’s a good program.
     
  24. Sledhead

    Sledhead Member

    Atalanta
    United States
    Jul 14, 2019
    Good point. My daughter really liked Frankie the few times they interacted during the recruiting process. She loved his technical training at their ID Camps.
     
  25. PlaySimple

    PlaySimple Member

    Sep 22, 2016
    Chicagoland
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I'm actually surprised that Pelaez hasn't snared a decent head coaching position somewhere. He's got a lot of experience and is an excellent recruiter. Bimbi has promoted him from assistant coach to AHC so if Bimbi does move on from Loyola they'll have a good successor to him in the system already.

    FWIW, Pelaez' first name is Franky, not Frankie.
     

Share This Page