Soccer and the AAC

[jostar1]

From the article by Jeff Jacobs:

So much emphasis has been on the negative impact of football or basketball in the move to the AAC that the impact on soccer can be overlooked. The Huskies won the 2014 regular season AAC title, but when they beaten by USF in the tournament semifinals on penalty kicks, they weren't included in the NCAAs.

Before it broke apart, the Big East might have had the best soccer league in the country. In men's soccer, only eight of the 12 AAC schools play. Reid has lined up future games against Georgetown, Xavier, St. John's, Providence, URI. UCLA is signed up to open the Huskies' new stadium.

"We're recruiting with Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, UCLA, Georgetown," Reid said. "These are the teams we want to beat. We're worried about recruiting guys over four years who can make deep runs in the [NCAA] tournament. It's tough now because of the RPI with the league. We need to get a tougher schedule and it's got to be all front-based because the conference starts in October. It doesn't always work. We're not always completely ready, to be honest with you. We're trying to navigate that.

"We are lucky with Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel. Some of the other schools' administrators don't give a spit about soccer. They just want to have a four-year football run and be the one in the Big 12. They're pulling all kinds of nonsense. It won't affect us per se, but it's certainly not helping us."

Reid stops. He says he used to have all these pristine views of college soccer.

"I've had to adjust," he said.

Those long AAC trips South and Southwest for soccer? They aren't so cozy when there's no charter. Last year, for instance, there was a Saturday night game in Memphis when the team left Bradley Airport Friday at 7 a.m., went through Tampa on Southwest and got into Memphis at 3 p.m. The team practiced at night, won the following night and left Memphis at 8 a.m. Sunday. Back through Tampa and finally to Bradley at 6 p.m.

"Three days to play 90 minutes," Reid said. "Until we make money as a sport that's the way it is."


http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-huskies/hc-jacobs-uconn-soccer-column-0819-20150818-column.html

 

[auggie22]

Two things stand out as interesting:

1.) UCLA is opening the new stadium? Did I miss the announcement that the stadium plans are complete?
2.) The idea that all of the other AAC schools are ignoring lesser sports so that they can focus efforts/ resources on a four year football run and be the one in the Big 12.

 

[TRest]

I don't follow soccer all that closely anymore, but when was the BE close to being the best conference in the country? And the last time we made deep runs in the NCAA tournament? How about beating the teams in front of you when it counts.

 

[Sea Goat]

From the article by Jeff Jacobs:

So much emphasis has been on the negative impact of football or basketball in the move to the AAC that the impact on soccer can be overlooked. The Huskies won the 2014 regular season AAC title, but when they beaten by USF in the tournament semifinals on penalty kicks, they weren't included in the NCAAs.

Before it broke apart, the Big East might have had the best soccer league in the country. In men's soccer, only eight of the 12 AAC schools play. Reid has lined up future games against Georgetown, Xavier, St. John's, Providence, URI. UCLA is signed up to open the Huskies' new stadium.

"We're recruiting with Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, UCLA, Georgetown," Reid said. "These are the teams we want to beat. We're worried about recruiting guys over four years who can make deep runs in the [NCAA] tournament. It's tough now because of the RPI with the league. We need to get a tougher schedule and it's got to be all front-based because the conference starts in October. It doesn't always work. We're not always completely ready, to be honest with you. We're trying to navigate that.

"We are lucky with Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel. Some of the other schools' administrators don't give a spit about soccer. They just want to have a four-year football run and be the one in the Big 12. They're pulling all kinds of nonsense. It won't affect us per se, but it's certainly not helping us."

Reid stops. He says he used to have all these pristine views of college soccer.

"I've had to adjust," he said.

Those long AAC trips South and Southwest for soccer? They aren't so cozy when there's no charter. Last year, for instance, there was a Saturday night game in Memphis when the team left Bradley Airport Friday at 7 a.m., went through Tampa on Southwest and got into Memphis at 3 p.m. The team practiced at night, won the following night and left Memphis at 8 a.m. Sunday. Back through Tampa and finally to Bradley at 6 p.m.

"Three days to play 90 minutes," Reid said. "Until we make money as a sport that's the way it is."


http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-huskies/hc-jacobs-uconn-soccer-column-0819-20150818-column.html

Thanks for publishing - hard to give you a "like" though on such a depressing note. However, all (BOT, administrators, fans etc.) need to be constantly reminded of the effect of life in the gulag. The obsessed denizens of the Boneyard get it, but the less informed or focused need new and critical examples of our plight.

 

[CTMike]

Thanks for publishing - hard to give you a "like" though on such a depressing note. However, all (BOT, administrators, fans etc.) need to be constantly reminded of the effect of life in the gulag. The obsessed denizens of the Boneyard get it, but the less informed or focused need new and critical examples of our plight.

I'm pretty confident that the BOT, SH and WM get it. How much they can directly control is limited due to sins of the past but they get it. They hear it constantly.

It sucks. We all know it.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Two things stand out as interesting:

1.) UCLA is opening the new stadium? Did I miss the announcement that the stadium plans are complete?
2.) The idea that all of the other AAC schools are ignoring lesser sports so that they can focus efforts/ resources on a four year football run and be the one in the Big 12.

Good catch on #1 as I have not seen anything beyond the funding announcement either and I follow the soccer team and have friends who played for both the men's and women's teams.

No surprise on #2, the XII is a football conference with the exception of Kansas. The XII sponsors 10 men's and 13 women's sports and does not sponsor men's soccer all. The B1G in contrast sponsors 14 men's sports and 14 women's sports. The AAC's numbers are 10 and 11 respectively. UConn sponsors 10 and 12 respectively.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I don't follow soccer all that closely anymore, but when was the BE close to being the best conference in the country? And the last time we made deep runs in the NCAA tournament? How about beating the teams in front of you when it counts.

Before the last round of conference realignment, I would put the conference as the #2 soccer conference behind the ACC. The old Big E has UConn, St. John's, G-Town, Louisville, ND & Creighton whereas the ACC had Maryland, UVA, Wake, Duke, UNC, and Clemson. That's a lot of national championships: UVA (7), Maryland (3), Clemson (2), UConn (2), UNC (2), Duke (1), ND (1), St John's (1), Wake (1). Today, I would rank the ACC as #1 and now the B1G as #2 with Indiana (8 titles), Michigan St (2 titles), and Wisconsin (1 title) along with Maryland.

 

[djct1999]

Before the last round of conference realignment, I would put the conference as the #2 soccer conference behind the ACC. The old Big E has UConn, St. John's, G-Town, Louisville, ND & Creighton whereas the ACC had Maryland, UVA, Wake, Duke, UNC, and Clemson. That's a lot of national championships: UVA (7), Maryland (3), Clemson (2), UConn (2), UNC (2), Duke (1), ND (1), St John's (1), Wake (1). Today, I would rank the ACC as #1 and now the B1G as #2 with Indiana (8 titles), Michigan St (2 titles), and Wisconsin (1 title) along with Maryland.

So what you are saying is that not only would UConn provide solid content for the B1G, but it will also provide prestige.

 

[Dooley]

A couple of things about this quote:

"We are lucky with Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel. Some of the other schools' administrators don't give a spit about soccer. They just want to have a four-year football run and be the one in the Big 12. They're pulling all kinds of nonsense. It won't affect us per se, but it's certainly not helping us."

1. "nonsense"? What kinds of nonsense? Is Reid saying that other AAC schools (Cinci, UCF, USF, Memphis, Houston, etc) are abandoning their non-revenue sports in hopes of solidifying their football and, to a lesser extent, basketball programs? I have no idea if any of those schools sponsor soccer but I do know that the league, as a whole, just made a HUGE football coaching hire splash this past offseason. I know that Cincinnati is paying Tommy Tuberville very well and that Memphis and UCF have upped their football recruiting budgets. But I wonder what does "nonsense", in this context, mean. Are the other AAC schools abandoning soccer or are they playing dirty? Or am I just completely overthinking a throw-away line?

2. from the same quote - it appears that we're not putting much effort in going after a B12 invite. I'm not sure how I feel about this. From the soccer perspective, it's not good. But if we have any hope whatsoever of moving out of this hellhole of a conference, soccer included, it will be because we have properly funded and supported football. Again, the AAC just made some serious coaching hires this past offseason. Houston, SMU and Tulsa all made home run hires when they were able to pluck away top offensive coordinators from successful programs with a strong reputation for recruiting. I get the feeling that all 3 will be able to find players in the TX/OK area that can make their offenses explosive. I love soccer as much as the next guy, but if the B12 is the only P5 conference to be throwing out life preservers in the next decade, we need to make sure we secure one of them...even if it is at the expense of soccer. I have no idea if UConn has entered a B1G silent zone or not but it does appear that everything the administration is doing is in an all-in effort for a B1G invite. I sure hope it will pay off because if I have to watch fraggin' Memphis and Cincinnati get their escape pods ahead of us, I will throw up.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Before the last round of conference realignment, I would put the conference as the #2 soccer conference behind the ACC. The old Big E has UConn, St. John's, G-Town, Louisville, ND & Creighton whereas the ACC had Maryland, UVA, Wake, Duke, UNC, and Clemson. That's a lot of national championships: UVA (7), Maryland (3), Clemson (2), UConn (2), UNC (2), Duke (1), ND (1), St John's (1), Wake (1). Today, I would rank the ACC as #1 and now the B1G as #2 with Indiana (8 titles), Michigan St (2 titles), and Wisconsin (1 title) along with Maryland.

Hmm...ACC #1. Think the Pac is maybe #2 now though, it's a close call. The Big East is still quite good. Adding Creighton helped.

Meanwhile, this is interesting.

 

[Dooley]

Meanwhile, this is interesting.

Some good schools and ADs on this list. I enjoyed the Jackson Lab and $1.1B (although I think that is low) research expansion mention in the article. Hopefully, Jim Delany is reading USA Today.

 

[pj]

"nonsense" - undoubtedly what he means is their soccer programs have so little money, they can't provide standard amenities for opposing teams. Hopefully they can at least provide soccer balls for the games. Maybe as time goes on they will ask UConn to provide the balls for away games, if they don't have $20 for a ball.

not going after B12 - if we're not, it's because we're expecting to receive an invite to B1G or ACC.

 

[NYUConn]

A couple of things about this quote:

"We are lucky with Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel. Some of the other schools' administrators don't give a spit about soccer. They just want to have a four-year football run and be the one in the Big 12. They're pulling all kinds of nonsense. It won't affect us per se, but it's certainly not helping us."

1. "nonsense"? What kinds of nonsense? Is Reid saying that other AAC schools (Cinci, UCF, USF, Memphis, Houston, etc) are abandoning their non-revenue sports in hopes of solidifying their football and, to a lesser extent, basketball programs? I have no idea if any of those schools sponsor soccer but I do know that the league, as a whole, just made a HUGE football coaching hire splash this past offseason. I know that Cincinnati is paying Tommy Tuberville very well and that Memphis and UCF have upped their football recruiting budgets. But I wonder what does "nonsense", in this context, mean. Are the other AAC schools abandoning soccer or are they playing dirty? Or am I just completely overthinking a throw-away line?

2. from the same quote - it appears that we're not putting much effort in going after a B12 invite. I'm not sure how I feel about this. From the soccer perspective, it's not good. But if we have any hope whatsoever of moving out of this hellhole of a conference, soccer included, it will be because we have properly funded and supported football. Again, the AAC just made some serious coaching hires this past offseason. Houston, SMU and Tulsa all made home run hires when they were able to pluck away top offensive coordinators from successful programs with a strong reputation for recruiting. I get the feeling that all 3 will be able to find players in the TX/OK area that can make their offenses explosive. I love soccer as much as the next guy, but if the B12 is the only P5 conference to be throwing out life preservers in the next decade, we need to make sure we secure one of them...even if it is at the expense of soccer. I have no idea if UConn has entered a B1G silent zone or not but it does appear that everything the administration is doing is in an all-in effort for a B1G invite. I sure hope it will pay off because if I have to watch fraggin' Memphis and Cincinnati get their escape pods ahead of us, I will throw up.

It's interesting because I would have highlighted the proceeding sentence then the one you did.

It won't affect us per se, but it's certainly not helping us.

I find this way more interesting. To me it can mean only one of two things: 1) The school has told Reid that they have his back no matter what and will continue to fund men's soccer or 2) it doesn't matter what the AAC is doing because we're not long for the conference.

The optimist in me wants to believe he means No. 2, but the realist thinks it's closer to one.

But to your point, a guy can dream that we've entered a "B1G silent zone."

 

[NYUConn]

I don't follow soccer all that closely anymore, but when was the BE close to being the best conference in the country? And the last time we made deep runs in the NCAA tournament? How about beating the teams in front of you when it counts.

I mean in fairness the men's soccer team made back-to-back NCAA quarterfinal appearances in 2012 and 2013 including a big win over UCLA in 2013.

 

[NYUConn]

Hopefully, Jim Delany is reading USA Today.

God willing he's a Marriott Hotels guy.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Hmm...ACC #1. Think the Pac is maybe #2 now though, it's a close call. The Big East is still quite good. Adding Creighton helped.

Meanwhile, this is interesting.

Yes, the new Big E is good with St. John's, Creighton, G-Town, and Marquette. Providence even had a nice run last year, which was out of nowhere (lost semi-final to UCLA). At one time, Seton Hall was good, too. As for the PAC, I believe only 5 schools sponsors men's soccer (Cal, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, Washington) plus an affiliate in San Diego St. UCLA is clearly the big gun there while Washington and Stanford (USMNT's Morris plays there) are usually good while has improved lately (Klimsmann's son is their keeper). The B1G has 9 men's soccer teams (out of 14) with Indiana as their big gun plus reliable programs in Michigan St, Stanford, and Wisconsin. With the addition of Maryland, I would put them ahead of the PAC.

Historically, UConn and SMU (notice their kits lately, looks like the USMNT) are the two best programs in the AAC with USF and Tulsa showing some quality.

 

[Point6]

This is such BS! Get us out of here!

 

[buddy]

I'm pretty confident that the BOT, SH and WM get it. How much they can directly control is limited due to sins of the past but they get it. They hear it constantly.

It sucks. We all know it.

The "we are lucky with Susan..." paragraph I found scary. I was confident that they get it, but now I am not sure. I agree they hear the noise, but are they listening to the message?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yes, the new Big E is good with St. John's, Creighton, G-Town, and Marquette. Providence even had a nice run last year, which was out of nowhere (lost semi-final to UCLA). At one time, Seton Hall was good, too. As for the PAC, I believe only 5 schools sponsors men's soccer (Cal, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, Washington) plus an affiliate in San Diego St. UCLA is clearly the big gun there while Washington and Stanford (USMNT's Morris plays there) are usually good while has improved lately (Klimsmann's son is their keeper). The B1G has 9 men's soccer teams (out of 14) with Indiana as their big gun plus reliable programs in Michigan St, Stanford, and Wisconsin. With the addition of Maryland, I would put them ahead of the PAC.

Historically, UConn and SMU (notice their kits lately, looks like the USMNT) are the two best programs in the AAC with USF and Tulsa showing some quality.

Wow, only 5? Then four of them are top 16 in this preseason poll, and a 5th is 26th. Three are top 10.

I was bummed not to see UConn as I think they will be much improved.

 

[noeynox]

I don't follow college soccer, though I was captivated by their run in the NCAAs a few years back, but man has UConn gotten effed in every way possible in conference realignment. This is where some fans of other AAC schools come in and tell us to stop complaining about the conference, but damn it, we are the only school that has been even relevant nationally in sports that people actually watch. Just unreal to watch unfold.

 

[Pudge]

Let's face it ...

If Ray Reid was playing our old schedule - Harvard, Brown, URI, UVM - we'd still be drawing 4-6000 if we are winning; and bringing in top Program for showcase games. Reid doesn't need any excuses: just win. He has had really great players and fun teams to watch the past half dozen years; however, he has often stumbled in the NCAA and November tough conditions. It seems that he has lacked the kids to get us through in the most important games. His recruiting still is fairly solid.

We should get a "tradition" break in the NCAAs and get bids. But, let's just have a season of 2-4 losses out of 18 games and then we won't be bitching.

 

[NYUConn]

I don't follow college soccer, though I was captivated by their run in the NCAAs a few years back, but man has UConn gotten effed in every way possible in conference realignment. This is where some fans of other AAC schools come in and tell us to stop complaining about the conference, but damn it, we are the only school that has been even relevant nationally in sports that people actually watch. Just unreal to watch unfold.

Honestly there are only two programs that can claim to be better off today than they were 5 years ago:

Men's Ice Hockey
Field Hockey

And it's no coincidence they aren't impacted by the move to the AAC.

(Also I know that our basketball teams are still winning but I don't believe they are in a better position today than they were 5 years ago. I think for the women it's been a non factor and for the men it's hurt our postseason chances. The selection committee never turned down a 20 win UConn team in the Big East days).

 

[ScottBonz]

Big12 doesn't have a network and doesn't need to fill timeslots. The B1G does.

 

[Ha Who]

The "we are lucky with Susan..." paragraph I found scary. I was confident that they get it, but now I am not sure. I agree they hear the noise, but are they listening to the message?

Agree. Look at the legislature in Connecticut and their avoidance of cutting spending. I tend to doubt Beth Bye and company care about this issue. Hopefully Susan understands the big picture. If not, we may else we'll turn the Rent into a CT Fast Track East station.

 

[NYUConn]

Agree. Look at the legislature in Connecticut and their avoidance of cutting spending. I tend to doubt Beth Bye and company care about this issue. Hopefully Susan understands the big picture. If not, we may else we'll turn the Rent into a CT Fast Track East station.

Actually the second phase of Fast Track is proposed to connect Storrs to Hartford with stops at The Rent, Buckland Hills in Manchester and I believe south Windsor.

Would get more students to the Rent.