This is perfectly perfectly stated. We aren’t living in the same world we once were. Everyone is looking to find the broken link and point the blame, but it isn’t that simple. College sports are evolving…this is the same reason I believe your basketball coach left. Wasn’t the same.
Before you close it, why do you guys think that Anson said that none of the seniors would be returning (even the ones with eligibility)? Does he not want them back? If so why not? I'm asking in part because I haven't had a chance to see the interview in which he made the statements. If someone has a link that would be great. Thanks.
I saw the interview. I just got the impression that he knew his roster was too big to keep younger players happy, and he needed to move players on. He said that the ones who do not go pro he would help them get playing time elsewhere. I imagine that most coaches are ready to be done with all of these 5th year Covid players because it does keep young talent on the bench, and the roster sizes are silly.
5 of the TDS top 10 have now decided to go straight to the pros. I find it hard to believe that all of those 5 will make so much as to have rendered a prestigious college degree irrelevant. I can see why a Moultrie, Rodman, Shaw caliber players may ( I repeat MAY) be better off going straight to the pros, but 5 in one class. In you guys' opinion, is Hutton good enough to demand bigger bucks? If not, then short sighted decision IMO.
Hutton turns 18 in January. So she is likely trying to get in under the U18 rule like Giselle Thompson did. Considering she is from New York, I assume she will sign with Gotham. Who are the 5? Giselle Thompson, Hutton, ???
I think it’s strike while the hype is hot. I don’t have access but I bet if you pulled the “top 10” player list from the last 5 years you would see an incredibly high % that never panned out and/or not looking to get drafted, etc. college weeds out these players a lot more than the ynt hype train that starts at 13. if you get the in now, you’re at least in the club. Access to better training comp, presumably better coaches/trainers, facilities, time, etc. you don’t pan out well you don’t pan out. I would bet >95% of top players in the pay-to-play ECNL model either come from money or come from parents that push success so those kids likely can get a college education at any point. now is turning down Stanford or Duke wise in the long run? Chances are probably not but these are high achieving kids/families that will likely be successful regardless. Obviously I’m sure there are exceptions.
Ah yes! Thank you. I knew about all of them, but I had not equated them all to the Class of 2024. I do not know Hutton's game, but I think all of the others made solid calculations. Onyeka, Gisele, and Riley are arguably the top 3 players in that age group with the YNT.
Players, parents, recruits, alumnae and donors, Up 3-0 and then to lose 4-3? Yes, we are absolutely gutted. And I have gone all the way back into last spring to add up all the mistakes I made that contributed to the loss. But one of the best things competitive athletics teaches you is to have the resilience to dust yourself off and get back to work. So, here we go! “I am hurt, but I am not slain; I’ll lay me down and bleed a while, and then I’ll rise and fight again.” This Sir Andrew Barton quote is what goes through my mind as I try to recover from any loss including this one to the absolutely brilliant comeback from BYU!!! For years I used to tease my players about losing to the “righteous and principle centered” of BYU when I saw them in our bracket. Our run to the 2012 National Championship went through Provo and BYU. I remember after a gut wrenching 80 yard sprint from Brooke Elby to clear the ball off our goal line to keep hope alive; I saw us win it with a goal from Crystal Dunn on a pass from Kealia Oha. It was heart stopping and the press asked me if I was nervous during the game (of course I was!!). And I joked that both teams had principle centered athletes so all of us should be calm since both teams of athletes probably have the same priority: character development, academic success and soccer development IN THAT ORDER!! And as all philosophers of athletic teams will tell you: most “character development” occur after losses or some kind of adversity. Every goal we scored from this past season has been put together below by Chris Ducar. If you have time, there were some wonderful goals … please take a look. All kinds of Alumnae in the pro world winning glory and connecting. Obviously, much of what I am sharing below are about different players successes on the soccer field. But there is one that is different: Darcy McFarlane’s …. she was named to the “Forbes 30 Under 30” list; again highlighting what a young woman of character that takes her academics seriously and played soccer for us can do in the real world!!! Well done Darcy!! I just returned from the fantastic Bridgette Andrzejewski wedding in Tampa, Florida where fourteen Tar Heel teammates joined me and Tom Sander and Chris Ducar to celebrate Bridgette’s union on a spectacular beach. More in my next eblast!! Good luck on EXAMS my intrepid Tar Heels and all our best from Paradise!!! Anson
Wow--impressed by that Dorrance note. Does he write such "eblasts" to players, parents, alums, donors regularly?
20 or so years ago, it seemed these letters were sent regularly as part of recruiting and were not shared with fans. I'm glad they are now being shared.
I had to shut down wveyras I would have revealed a bit too much but things played out as I expected. Fuller will decommit in a couple months. She's slightly behind Hutton in getting things sorted out.
If you’re in the usynt setup the coaching staffs are basically telling the girls they need to go pro. We are getting outclassed at international tournaments by youth players who are training in pro environments. The end result will be more full national team issues as in Europe girls are training with pro teams at 15 plus. Not going pro until 22 in the US will be an issue. Thus they are being told to go pro.
I don't know much about this subject, but I did see a recent interview given by Beata Olsson. She mentioned how in Europe 15 year olds in their system find themselves competing against much older girls. I reckon that's an iron sharpens iron situation.
Probably true. I also see a fear of missing out factor that could be at play. I was talking to another soccer friend, and I said that I anticipate more college players coming out early to go pro this year because they will feel like they are getting left behind (15 year olds or other early-entry college players). Plus you see Korbin Albert and Jaedyn Shaw getting full WNT call ups and how do you not think long and hard about it.
You may have more information than I've seen, so I am not going to say that the team is gutted. Yes, it looks like the top players are being pressured into going pro, and UNC is a prime target to pick off the top players simply because the 23 and 24 classes have 5 players who are ranked at the very top of their classes. If the Heels loose 5 or more payers to the pros this year it will be a real jolt, but not necessarily a fiasco. Times are a-changing. The pro teams have arrived and it is at the expense of a stronger college game. Anson's timing is terrible for having convinced 5 top 10 players to sign with UNC in the last two years. And before he got this figured out, he let some of the better graduating seniors go (promising his help at landing them with appropriate pro teams) thinking that he would have an even stronger team coming in given the signings this past spring and solving the playing time issue. Had the pro offers come three months earlier for the top players, I suspect that those seniors and two underclass players would have stayed.