courtside
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Posts posted by courtside
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5 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:
I just read an article by WKLY station in Louisviile, and he was listed as a candidate along with May, Scott Drew (yes Scott), among others. Rumors are popular this time of the year and you can pretty much publish anything you want.
Payne's buyout has been reported to be around $8 million, and he had a reported annual salary of $3.35m plus incentives. Louisville has the money to buy anyone they want.
That’s why the source of information and credibility matters. There are non-credible outlets that regularly share misinformation. Yet somehow desperate and/or lazy information seekers keep coming back for more.
“Coaching Changes” is a good example of this. They said Moser was going to DePaul. Then they said it was 90%. Then they blamed their source. Then they said they jumped the gun, it happens. And that would be all fine and good if they had a mostly accurate track record or didn’t trash people on a regular basis while not allowing replies. Yet some people keep going back for more and more. Maybe they like the shouting and trashing of people.
Look at their tweet from yesterday about SLU as an example.
Or their tweets yesterday trashing the Vandy AD because they were wrong about Stack staying. The problem with those tweets are that Stack and the Vandy AD are close friends. There were no surprises for Stack. Many of their tweets contradict one another so they can simply point to the one that is somewhat more accurate.
So, it’s up to the consumer of information to consider the credibility of the source that produces their information. A surprising number of consumers believe non credible places and later get dismayed when much of their information doesn’t ring true. And they repeat the cycle.
It doesn’t take much effort to distinguish between the two.
HoosierPal likes this -
4 hours ago, Pistol said:
Last time he moved up a level, he crashed HARD.
He also seems to be kind of a weirdo. Cycles through assistants quickly. Can sell a program but doesn't seem to build long-term relationships with players. I think he's a specific flavor and fits at certain places culturally (Valpo, GCU) that might not translate everywhere. Same for his brother - Baylor is the absolute perfect fit for him as the highest level program where he could thrive.
But Homer still lives in STL, right? Not surprising certain local media figures are pushing Bryce.
Regarding cycles through assistants quickly, if anything it’s the opposite.
Roger Powell Jr was on staff 8 years. He only left because Drew lost his job. And, he went to Gonzaga for 4 years before getting the HC position at Valpo.
Jake Diebler was on staff 10 years with Drew after also playing an additional 4 years at Valpo. He only left because Drew lost his Job. He went to Ohio State.
Walker, Schilling, and Shaw have all been with Drew the entire time at GCU. It’s the 2nd time he’s worked with Shaw for a total of 6 seasons.
Drew has long been connected with Athlete’s in Action and several of his connections have been through that.
Drew’s Vandy tenure was recruiting 5 star future NBA players, some but not all with season long injuries. He didn’t think his league record mattered that much in a bad 3rd season. He thought wrong.
He probably would have received one more season with the previous retiring AD.. The new AD had a long term relationship with Stack via the NBA and G League. That new AD lasted one year before being replaced.
The knock on Drew was not being able to be more competitive than he was with high level recruits. Most thought his dismissal was fair, if a year early. But he has many long term loyal relationships with assistants and staff.
aj_arete likes this -
Congratulations to former Billiken player and assistant Olivia Silverman, who has accepted an assistant position at the University of Cincinnati. She will join Erica Demers’ staff in the Big 12 Conference.
A former 1st Team All A10 goalkeeper, Liv was a 3 year assistant at SLU before making a change to be a personal trainer.
Liv then joined Maddi Moon’s UMSL staff before returning to her hometown to coach under Eric Demers. Moon also coaches several Billikens in Summer Ball with the SLSG WPSL team. Moon’s husband Logan is a SLU Baseball assistant. They met at Central Arkansas.
UC is one of 12 teams along with SLU that is competing in this year’s Spring Cup.
Tonka likes this -
On 3/6/2024 at 9:02 AM, OkieBilliken said:
Loyola Marymount, who is coming in this weekend, is 7-5 but they have played a much tougher schedule than we have and have earned wins over USC and Michigan. They are way better than their record.
What's crazy is after our win yesterday, SLU has an RPI of 58. LMU is at 194. I don't ever recall our RPI being that high. We are ahead of Tennessee (12-1) so I'm not so sure this a really accurate ranking, but it is still cool to be up that high.
I think it will be a big accomplishment if we can win this series.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1/rpi
Michigan isn’t the same as when Erik Bakich (Clemson) was their coach. USC hasn’t made the NCAA Tourney in 8 years and they haven’t been all that good since about 5 coaches ago. Another good cold weather coach, Rob Vaughn at Maryland left for Alabama. Both have had early success.
Even UCLA has had their challenges despite some strong recruiting in recent years. And many of the big teams like them do’t have great facilities out West.
Orgeon State, UC Irvine, UCSB, have been good out West more years than not recently. Elsewhere, DBU, Coastal, ECU, Campbell.
LMU was pretty good last year. Hopefully they can find some wins this year.
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2025 Midfielder Nick Schramm is the 6th member of the St. Louis City SC UPSL team to commit to SLU. They recently advanced to the U20 National Championship Game He formerly played with SLSG Academy.
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Colleen Corbin (Boyd) is the new SLU Women’s Soccer Associate Head Coach.
Most recently Colleen was the Head Coach at Wyoming the past 3 seasons. While there, she led their team a Mountain West Conference Regular Season Title last season. And, she was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.Prior to Wyoming, Corbin was a 3 year assistant under Josh Walters at James Madison in the CAA. She was eventually promoted to Associate Head Coach.While at JMU, Corbin spent time at the Tovo Soccer Academy (Dutch/Spanish) outside of Barcelona, with Todd Beane and his staff. Beane played at Dartmouth under Bobby Clark, who also coached at Stanford, and Notre Dame.Josh Walters, the JMU Head Coach was previously a 6 year assistant for Amanda Cromwell at UCF and mostly, UCLA. And, he spent 2 seasons at Florida State under Mark Krikorian prior to that. Walters has a good reputation as a coach, and, for developing other coaches.Prior to JMU, Corbin spent a year at Arizona State under Kevin Boyd. Kevin Boyd (no relation) spent 10 years each as Head Coach at ASU and Cal Berkeley. He most recently has had immediate success at Milwaukee.Corbin began her coaching career at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), near her childhood home in Los Angeles County.She played professional soccer in New York and Boston for 2 seasons, before beginning her coaching career.A La Cañada Flintridge California native, Corbin was an All American Goalkeeper at Oregon State in the Pac 12. She helped lead her team to 3 NCAA Tourneys as a player. She was also an All Academic Pac 12 honoree as well.Corbin’s college coach was Linus Rhode, a former All American player on Portland’s Final Four team, and former Canadian National Team player. He’s now the Executive Director at Northwest Elite in Portland.Corbin’s grandfather, Bob Boyd, was a standout basketball player and Head Coach at USC. Her dad, 6’7 also played basketball at USC. At 6 feet tall, Colleen will be a factor in SLU Women’s Soccer pick up basketball games. Colleen’s husband Nick was a D-3 college baseball player.A past 30 under 30 NSCAA Coaches selection, Corbin is highly regarded by her peers as a successful all around coach with a competitive growth mindset, on. and off of the field. She’ll bring indefatigable positive, energy to the program.Corbin has been a leading candidate early in the process, shortly after Chris Allen left.Katie Shields prefers to recruit players on the rise, with a lot of upside. And that’s what Corbin brings as a coach. And she was looking for someone who can be a “right hand” to her with everything in the program. Corbin fits that too.Gremio14, OkieBilliken, SLUMS81 and 2 others like this -
14 hours ago, Gremio14 said:
Any insight as to how we looked against City Next and Indiana? Is Moore playing?
Spring Ball so far has been productive. it’s more of a time of getting in reps, development. trying new things, individually and collectively etc….but it’s always positive to get results even win they don’t count. In a couple of spirited games, it’s been SLU 2-1 over St. Louis City 2. And, SLU 1-0 over Indiana. Pace has been good, with movement, decision making, and speed of play.
Moore is progressing. Rehabbing takes a little time. He will be ready when the time comes.
SLU recently added a 6’4 Goalkeeper, Marcus Steinhauser. He has most recently played with the U20 Inter Miami UPSL team. He was originally a Brown University commit. But he has re-classified, and he’s taking additional time before college.
BuiltFordBills, Gremio14, SLUMedBilliken15 and 1 other like this -
16 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:
Okay, they just announced a 10 person incoming recruiting class. Do we have 10 roster spots available??? I know we also had some transfers incoming. Does anyone know how this class is ranked?
https://slubillikens.com/news/2024/2/29/womens-soccer-adds-10-players-to-2024-roster.aspx
There were no surprises in the announcement. They have all been discussed here. There were 2 additional mid-semester incoming transfers that were previously announced. Both are on campus and playing Spring ball. And SLU is also expected to add an additional player, to make the roster total 33 for 2024. (SLU has 11 Freshmen commits for the 2025 class)
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The additional player expected is Elise Le, a defender at Xavier where she started all 62 games she played the past 3 seasons. A very good, reliable defender, Elise also brings 5’10 size to her left back position.
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Unlike some of its peers, SLU typically doesn’t have many early enrolled recruits. The trend in recent years is for schools to bring in Freshman a semester early in the Spring to get acclimated. It’s common.
SLU prefers to let those players enjoy and finish their high school years and arrive in the Summer. Addy Lang is an exception this Spring. Addy was a highly recruited defensive holding midfielder out of Kansas City. SLU lost both starters to graduation at the position. Addy played Summer ball with Caroline Kelly last year, and she routinely played up an age group, so she’s used to playing with older players.
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The roster size is typical of where SLU wants the roster to be annually, around 30, a little over, a little under. And that really isn’t much different than a basketball roster based on how many players play at a given time.
More successful teams have a 2nd 11 group of players that can play at a similar level to the 1st 11. With injuries, player development, and transfers, this is a typical roster size.
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Each school has their own recruiting strategy. SLU typically likes to target roughly 100 players in a class or recruiting cycle. Of that 100, they will get serious with about a third of that group. And they will get commitments from roughly a third of that. So, 100/33/11 type of philosophy. SLU has roughly 80 plus recruiting targets from 17 states so far in the 2026 class.
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Recruiting rankings have some marketing value, but they are overrated. With that said, re-stating for purposes of full disclosure, I am a consultant with the TDS’ Men’s and Women’s rankings. At the moment, the class is ranked 33rd nationally. But I believe it is better than that. It will likely get into the top 30 or 25. It will take 1 or 2 more deeper NCAA runs for a few more people to come around. But they are getting there.
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Remember, SLU has had 5 recent All Americans. And none of them were the highest recruited players nationally. SLU recruited and developed them anyway. And what matters is the year end ranking based on non-conference results, league results, post season results. That’s what matters most.
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SLU has recently recruited events in Florida, Texas, Kentucky, St. Louis, Kansas City, Iowa, Illinois, and elsewhere. They will be returning to Florida next week, and they will be in Virginia, Seattle, California, among other places this Spring and Summer.
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OkieBilliken, blue bodega, Tonka and 1 other like this -
24 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:
How does that work? Did the team that drafted him not offer him a contract, or do they retain his rights while he plays at SLU?
The team that drafted him (Toronto) has his rights until December 31st 2025. (2 years) And, he is no longer eligible for the draft.
DeSmetBilliken likes this -
1 hour ago, SLUBALLS said:
Delkus is playing this Spring with St. Louis City 2 along with Jaeger. (and John Klein).
5 Billiken commits made the UPSL U20 Championship Game. Over 400 teams, and over a dozen MLS affiliated teams.
Four of the above are transfers mentioned in more detail in previous posts. Some of the above are on campus and will play this Spring. Some others will begin playing in the Fall.
Maher was the 30th pick in the MLS Draft. His brother Josh, and cousin Josie will begin on the IU Men’s and Women’s teams this Fall. AJ had a good experience at SLU which helped with Joey.
blue bodega and OkieBilliken like this -
52 minutes ago, SLUBALLS said:
TriFutbol is Canada’s U19 Select Team.
The Indiana game is at Grand Park in Indy. The Tulsa game is at SLSG for the annual legacy scholarship game. And the Wash U game is a Joe Clarke tribute game.
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On 1/16/2024 at 2:15 PM, courtside said:
Some new players on campus:
Incoming Freshmen and transfers:
Freshmen Gershon Henry (Salt Lake City/Ghana). He is one of the best center backs in the country.
Freshmen Xavier Holloway (Cary NC) is a high rising outside back.
Both players have had USYNT experience and Gershon has also played with Finland’s Youth National Team. (one of his parents is Finnish)
Incoming Transfers:
Luis Lara (Stetson/Pitt/Mexico City) is a pacey grad transfer who scored 10 goals in the ASun last year.
Tiago Lopes (Campbell/Tennessee Southern/Lisbon) is a holding midfielder with a lot of size. (6’3) He is a former college teammate of former Billiken Diego Konincks.
UPSL:
Some incoming Billikens are still competing in the UPSL playoffs (Quarterfinals this weekend) after winning the conference title.
Some others will be joining after Spring semester and Summer ball.
UPSL Semifinals are this weekend in Irvine, CA. (Multiple Billiken commits involved)
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Draven Barnett has been available and participating in Winter/Spring ball.
Draven is an incoming transfer from Temple. He’s a versatile player that can play several positions, primarily the defensive holding midfield. 29 starts in two seasons, and he rarely exits the field.
Draven played a year with Sean Karani, (beofre he transferred to UCLA) the brother of incoming SLU Women’s Soccer player Nimu Karani.
Draven played at Sporting KC Academy and Sporting KC II. And, he’s from the same home town near Springfield, MO, as former SLU Women’s Soccer player, Bri Halverson.
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22 minutes ago, willie said:
How many sports do you have to participate in to be division 1?
14, and that’s exactly the number LMU would have after removing the other sports. 6 for Men 8 for Women.
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21 hours ago, ARon said:
Since when has Loyola of LA been competitive in any sports?
LMU has won 8 WCC Titles in the past five years. They are the defending WCC Baseball Champions. Their Beach Volleyball program for example, has made 2 Final Fours and an Elite 8 the past 3 seasons. Over half a dozen of their teams have made the NCAA Tourney within the past five years.
Some other similar non Power 5 schools are doing similar things, reducing/removing scholarships in some sports to concentrate on a smaller number of other sports programs based also on geography. program success, league affiliation, among other things.
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Former Billiken Patrick Schulte will be starting for the USMNT today vs Slovenia at 2pm Central Time. The game is available via TNT, Telemundo, Peacock, Universo, and MAX.
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38 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:
-pretty sure someone posted earlier in this thread that the now former asst coach was not being allowed to interview
Not sure if you are referring to me or not since you posted after my post. That isn’t something I have said. I have said before that both Chris and Katie were approached and turned down opportunities.
I’ve never heard anywhere that Chris wasn’t allowed to interview anywhere else.
I’m not going to mention names of other programs. I’m not going to mention other candidates names involved with his new job. (Power 5 assistants and mid major head coaches)
The situation is a celebration of Chris, his achievements for SLU’s program, and, for his new opportunity. It’s not a celebration for SLU’s inability to keep him, as challenging as that may be.
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5 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:
Congratulations to him. Wish it wasn't Marquette. How big a blow do you feel like this is for our program? CKS appeared to refer to him almost like a co-head coach. It was also comforting that he was in house if one of the SEC or Big 10 whales wanted to open the bank for our head coach.
Short Answer:
On a scale of 1 to 10, how big of a loss is it for SLU? My answer is 10.
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Long answer:
Chris was heavily involved in all aspects with SLU’s program. He was essentially a Co-Head Coach at SLU. Some of his strengths and some of Katie’s strengths were complimentary with one another.
More specifically, Chris was SLU’s lead recruiter locally, regionally, nationally. Thankfully SLU has strong classes for 2024 and 2025 filled. (Hopefully all 2025 players keep their commitments. That’s important. It’s a great class.) SLU does still have a Spring semester transfer target. But it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that some of the 40 (it ends up 75-100) or so early targets for 2026 are going to now look at Chris’ new school and elsewhere in addition to SLU. That’s how it works.
Katie is also heavily involved with recruiting and does some of her own recruiting, but nowhere near what Chris does with recruiting. She targets a smaller number of specific players and she helps close what Chris finds. Recruiting requires a lot of time and relentless energy.
Chris has also been a big part of building SLU’s unique culture on and off of the field. He has endless ideas and he implements them with unfailing positive energy.
Training, game tactics, player development, set pieces, in game adjustments, are also part of it.
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The good news is Katie found and hired Chris Allen. And he wasn’t an established college soccer coach at the time. She’s mentored him in many ways. However, SLU isn’t searching for a several year rebuild either at this time. So the new assistant has to be able to close recruits quickly this Summer at a high level in order for SLU to be continue to be successful at a high level. Otherwise there will be a few year drop off level and rebuild. And if another less proven assistant coach is hired for budgetary reasons, Katie will have to keep hitting home runs every so many years with these assistant hires.
Katie deserves plenty of credit for Chris’ development. That’s another plus for the next hire. But many of his personality/temperaments/skill sets are unique to Chris. He makes learning the boring or difficult things enjoyable for his players and students.
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I knew 6 weeks ago that Chris was approached by a search firm for the Marquette position. Marquette waited 2 months after its season ended to make a change, in part because they thought they had a chance with Chris.
I was hoping that SLU would have done everything possible to keep him. And that would have been enough. (Santa Clara for example has a 17 year top assistant for example. Assistant coach turnover depends on the school. Some have more than others.)
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Marquette has not been a big budget Women’s Soccer school. Their Men and Women’s hoops teams get the most money by a lot. But after that Men and Women’s lacrosse and even golf seem more prioritized there than soccer. Some there have said they want to make a new and bigger commitment to soccer. This shows they are off to a good start with that.
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Nate Lie left Xavier for Kansas in part because the level of commitment between the two places is apples to oranges. It’s also why Marquette was seen as perhaps more appealing than Xavier. They had past success there, where Xavier’s success was essentially only during Lie’s time there.
Lie was able to bring his top assistant and recruiter with him to Kansas. He then hired a well regarded established 2nd assistant and made both associate head coaches. The 2nd assistant had worked at LSU, Michigan, and with U.S. Soccer. Lie’s 3rd (young) assistant was someone he initially found. An analytics expert who last season coached against SLU while at Penn State. And to top it off, Lie just hired a very popular (nationally) director of operations who was a smaller college coach. He’s even more popular with peers than Allen as a person nationally. That’s 4 good hires.
Lie never would have been able to do that at Xavier. Not even close.
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Another example this cycle was Ken Masuhr leaving Vanderbilt for Miami Fl. He was a 9 year assistant at Vandy and he was with the same HC for 4 years prior to that at UPenn. So, 13 years, two schools with the same HC. And he thought Miami FL was the move for him. He also is a dynamic recruiter. And like Chris, he is good at finding players before other people do. That will be important at SLU.
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At minimum SLU needs Shields plus one elite level national recruiter. Two of those at a school like SLU is less likely. One plus Katie would be good enough. Two preferred. Cal is very good technically, and with player development. That’s his niche. He’s also learning the college assistant game. So he would be good in that role. Jenna works with keepers and she isn’t heavily involved with recruiting.
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And remember it takes time to build relationships at new places on the recruiting trail. So a new assistant will have to do that. But they need to have established relationships elsewhere too that they can bring with them. Otherwise again, there will be at least a temporary drop off.
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It’s interesting because Marquette just announced this week that they are building a new Men’s basketball practice facility. Their current one (Al McGuire Center) opened in 2004 at 120,000 square feet. The new building will be an addition/expansion to their 2019 built, 46,000 square foot athlete and human performance building, across the street.
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Previously the soccer teams there played at Valley Fields just South of their campus, which has a grass soccer stadium, and 2 additional full length turf fields adjacent to it.. It also includes an onsite locker room building. And a few years back they added a seasonal dome cover for those fields. $6 million. They can now train year round regardless of weather. The school is also hnder construction with an 80,000 square feet $80 million wellness and rec facility across the street from their soccer facilities.
Their soccer teams have worked out at “Marquette Gym” which was built in 1922. It was where the basketball team practiced until 2004. They are based out of Marquette Gym but they also use the 2019 building sometimes too.
But moving forward, Marquette will be playing its soccer games at a brand new 8,000 capacity soccer stadium just East of their campus. They will share the new facility with Milwaukee’s new USL professional soccer team. (Their basketball team shares Fiserv forum with the Bucks, and it has their own separate space. And that works for them)
https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/iron-district-state-grant
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Chris is starting immediately at Marquette. They are way behind. His family will join him in June.
Some may have mistakenly thought that Chris was permanently entrenched in St. Louis, and at SLU. He’s from St. Louis. He has lots of family locally. He’s been back high school and college soccer for 17 years. He’s had some opportunities.
Chris is very deserving of the opportunity. Loyal, smart, hard working, unassuming, liked by everyone. I wish SLU would have been able to find a way to keep him at SLU. I’ll be rooting for Chris.
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With their coaching change, Xavier lost transfers to Arkansas, Auburn, Texas A&M, and they may lose a few more. They also lost a few 2025 verbal commits with their coaching change. They do return and add some good ones too. But Georgetown is the team to beat in the Big East. And in a few years, perhaps Marquette will be as well. Chris has a lot of strong relationships with certain geographies and clubs. And he will be eventually competing with SLU for players.
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As for SLU, the clock doesn’t stop. No time for pity parties.
Next big recruiting event is Dallas in February. Florida in March. Seattle in June. Richmond in July. Regional Super Cup starts this weekend. Winter sports season is still here. (That’s when you attend the second sport of your recruiting target) Recruiting never stops. The good news is Chris left at a good time, during the offseason, with plenty of time to find a replacement. And SLU has full classes for 2024, 2025, and a few good transfers.
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So it will be a very important hire for SLU. There’s no reason why SLU can’t make a strong replacement hire. But it isn’t a given either. Change is tough for some people. But change also brings new opportunities as well.
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OkieBilliken likes this -
Congratulations to SLU Associate Head Coach Chris Allen for being named the next Head Coach at Marquette University.
Well deserved and well earned opportunity for Chris. He was a huge factor in the recent success of SLU’s program for 8 seasons.
https://gomarquette.com/news/2024/1/18/chris-allen-named-marquette-head-womens-soccer-coach
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2 hours ago, SLUMedBilliken15 said:
Argue all you want, but they are second in Kenpom right now. (Their A-10 record may not be great, but their A-10 sample size is low)
I agree with you that the results don't match the investment. I don't necessarily think we should keep Ford next year. Now is just an odd time to post this thread as the results of the past 2 games would be considered good in my opinion. Of course we want to win last night's game. but even a good top 25 team cant expect to win every away game vs a top 25 team with a great game day atmosphere. BTW the Dayton atmosphere was awesome last night. I wish we had that level of fan engagement honestly.
There are 0 top 30 Ken Pom teams in the A10 right now.
There is 1 top 80 Ken Pom team in the A10 this season.
If the league isn’t good (the league isn’t good), and if the league is the 12th or so best league, the expectation is league domination.
And it’s not just about 1 season.
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Not once has SLU won 70% or more of its league games the past 8 seasons. The only 3 times SLU has done it in the last 18 seasons since joining the A10, were the 3 seasons I listed above. And the A10 was a better league at the time when SLU did it.
It’s also why dominating a good or top level or P6 league is all the more impressive when it happens. And it’s why dominating your league matters more in weaker leagues and it matters less in P6 leagues.
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SLU had KenPom teams of:
14, 19, and 35 a decade ago. (By comparison Dayton is currently 33)
SLU has had 0 top 50 KenPom seasons in the past 8 seasons including this one. They have had 1 top 60 season in that stretch.
Isn’t a reasonable goal to try to be top 40 almost annually in KenPom? (You used KenPom here) And mix in even better seasons than that once in a while. There will of course be a few to some that aren’t those things.
If SLU was 33 in KenPom they would have a better atmosphere too.
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There’s no need to remove a coach during a season except for extreme circumstances.
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SLU’s record vs Dayton and VCU the past 8 seasons:
5-12 vs Dayton. (This year is potentially Dayton’s 2nd NCAA team in that stretch)
2-9 vs VCU (VCU has 4 NCAA Tourneys in the past 8 seasons.
JMM28, Bizziken and stmdragons like this -
35 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:
Interesting. I saw Lara play for Stetson at UNF this year. The league isn't very good (aside from Lipscomb) but 10 goals is impressive. I had no idea he was transferring to us. Cool!
It depends on the year. Central Arkansas had some good teams prior to Lipscomb. That’s where SLU found Alberto Suarez who was a very good center back. Diego played in the CAA prior to SLU where Lopes played.
When adding a transfer it’s more about the player than the league. 17 of 23 Men’s College Soccer Leagues had a player drafted this year. So, you can find good players a lot of places.
And much of it centers around International players. Some of those players are completely unaware of the various leagues and levels of American college soccer. So they end up in various places and transfer to better soccer schools.
So far with recruiting, SLU has 1) preferred the transfer portal for International players. 2) SLU has also recruited International players who first play youth club or academy ball in the U.S. for a few to several years.
SLU added an assistant this past season who was an International college player, Jack Roberts who is from Leicester, England.
Women’s soccer works very differently. Only 10 of 31 leagues had a player drafted. So only 5 leagues were not Power 5. (AAC, Big East, Ivy, Mountain West, WCC). Several non Power 5 (and P5) will receive non drafted camp invites.
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Some new players on campus:
Incoming Freshmen and transfers:
Freshmen Gershon Henry (Salt Lake City/Ghana). He is one of the best center backs in the country.
Freshmen Xavier Holloway (Cary NC) is a high rising outside back.
Both players have had USYNT experience and Gershon has also played with Finland’s Youth National Team. (one of his parents is Finnish)
Incoming Transfers:
Luis Lara (Stetson/Pitt/Mexico City) is a pacey grad transfer who scored 10 goals in the ASun last year.
Tiago Lopes (Campbell/Tennessee Southern/Lisbon) is a holding midfielder with a lot of size. (6’3) He is a former college teammate of former Billiken Diego Konincks.
UPSL:
Some incoming Billikens are still competing in the UPSL playoffs (Quarterfinals this weekend) after winning the conference title.
Some others will be joining after Spring semester and Summer ball.
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On 1/11/2024 at 11:59 PM, SLU_Nick said:
Mick Cronin on the hot seat is something. Lost to Utah by a billion.
If he becomes available he immediately becomes far and away my number 1 preference.However, apparently his buyout is um…20M dollars.
His agent is even better than Fords!
That $20 million is down from $24 million.
Cronin was far down the list of choices at UCLA during their 100 day search. They wouldn’t pay the $8 million buyout for Barnes. And they wouldn’t pay the $5 million buyout for Dixon. They also weren’t flying exclusively charter at the time. (Times changed since their new AD)
Cronin’s success was dominating the AAC regular season. That’s part of what stands out most for him. That was his difference maker. It was a league slightly better than the A10 at the time. But his teams dominated the league.
When Cronin coached in the peak Big East, his teams had 2 winning league records in 7 seasons. And his teams finished 9th or worse in the league 5 out of 7 seasons. But because the league was so good that was good enough to make the NCAA Tourney some years.
Cronin made the 2nd weekend of the NCAA Tourney 1 out of his first 16 seasons as a head coach.
Then his teams dominated the AAC.
He’s done well initially at UCLA. The Final Four team needed an OT win in their First Four game to get into the NCAA Tourney. (Margins are sometimes small). But it counts.
He’ll likely get more seasons due to his contract unless his off court behavior changes things. He isn’t going anywhere else on his own and few other teams are paying that buyout.
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2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:
Hiring NBA assistants sounds good in theory. They know how to get to where the players want to go. And they've had some success as coaches already. So let's look at the real life examples over the past decade: Rex Walters, Dan Majerle, Mike Dunlap, Jerry Stackhouse, Juwan Howard. Why isn't the theory holding up in reality?
Each situation is unique and different. This is a lot of apples to oranges. It’s like counting NCAA invites between P6 coaches and low/mid major coaches. That is also apples to oranges because it’s much easier to make the NCAA’s in a P6 league. That makes regular season dominance more important in non P6 leagues.
I see some coach of the year awards in your list. Walters in the WCC, Stack in the SEC just last year, Howard in the Big 10 and he was AP national coach of the year too. (Elite 8 and Sweet 16 in his first 3 seasons)
That’s why you examine each situation closely, thoroughly.
Let’s take Stack. He was hired because the then school chancellor (not a sports person) decided to go outside of the box and hire an NBA/G League marketing exec as AD after their AD retired and unexpectedly passed away a week later. So that AD had zero input. The new AD lasted one year before being let go for a variety of reasons. They now have a VU lifer as AD and more stability there.
The new AD new Stack from the NBA/G League. Stack wanted to be am NBA Head Coach. He wasn’t getting that opportunity.
So he took the Vandy position. If I had to draw up a play to win a game, Stack would be on my short list of x’s and o’s coaches to do so. If I needed to develop a player, Stack would get a call. It’s partly why they have slow starts and strong finishes.
What Stack didn’t have was a college ready staff when he started. His revolving door of assistants were pieced and patches together like his teams. Some of the inherited players left before he began as happens with coaching changes. (Disu to Texas etc.) It’s not as though he forgot how to evaluate talent. Getting that talent on staff and via recruiting is another thing altogether.
But the learning curve of running a P6 program was big and time consuming.
He’s very well liked there, very supportive of all of the other programs, and he even leads tailgates and voluntarily cooks day for those events. But he hasn’t won enough games. And of course NIL happened too and other challenges.
I’m not going to stir the pot by saying Chris Mack’s daughter is a Vandy Volleyball commit. Relax, it’s just a coincidence.
Vandy will likely go back to its search firm, and after consulting with a few others, CSL will make the hire. Some schools have influential boosters that make hires. Some schools have influential boosters that let the school make the hire they want. They are the latter.
Each example is unique and different and has its own story.
Some have success some don’t. Some have both. Some coach at P6 and some don’t. etc…
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On 1/8/2024 at 2:42 PM, courtside said:
Ahead of tonight’s deadline, there are 210 players registered for this week’s NWSL draft.
Notables:SLU opponents:Asman (Penn State) Augur (Georgetown), Bagley (VCU), Donley (Dayton), (Penn State), Folino (BYU), Kaufusi (Utah State), Leas (Georgetown), Linnehan (Penn State), McCarthy (BYU), Mozingo (BYU), Riley (Georgetown), Seelenfreund (Brown), Shepherd (BYU), Smith-Griffits (BYU), Terrell (Creighton) Vaka (BYU), Wade-Katoa (BYU), Webber (Indiana), Wiesner (Penn State).13 other former opponents registered for the draft from Arkansas, Notre Dame, Memphis, Rutgers, and a few others schools.Sam Cary (Iowa) is registered. (from St. Louis)Eleanor Dale (Nebraska) is deciding between Manchester United, West Ham, Aston Villa.Brittany Raphino (Brown) is deciding among teams in five countries.5 of 6 All ACC defensive players from Clemson. (Morrison, White, Mackiewicz, Hershfelt, Conti) The 6th Freshman Davis will return to Clemson.Jennifer, Onyi, “Joe” Echegini won the Mac Hermann Trophy this past weekend. The Florida State winger/forward signed the day before to play professionally with Juventus.Amsterdam>London>Starkville>Tallahassee>TurinFinal totals:
236 draft registered players. 56 picks. 50 were Power 5. 16 players were SLU opponents the past two seasons. Only 1 school had more draft picks than BYU and Penn State, who both had 5. (UNC 6) 4 of the 5 Clemson defenders were drafted.
Memphis’ Mya Jones was the only International draftee. With only 5 International slots available per team, many teams prefer to not take them via the draft.
Familiar foes drafted:
BYU (Mozingo, Smith-Griffits, Wade-Katoa, Shepherd, Vaka)
Penn State (Wiesner, Linnehan, , Asman, Wheeler)
Utah State (Kaufusi)
Arkansas (Podijil, Franklin)
Notre Dame (Van Zanten, Mercado)
Memphis (Jones)
2 more former SLU opponents: Notre Dame’s Eva Gaetino will sign with PSG and join former teammate Korbin Alberts.
3 underclassmen teens left school early and were drafted.
Local/regional: Sam Cary (Stl/Iowa) amd Felicia Knox (KC/Alabama) were also drafted.
How difficult is it to get drafted? Some notable players not drafted:
Emily Moxley UNC, Julia Leas Georgetown, Ayanna Gourley GCU, Sam Kroeger Rutgers, Jaida Thomas Tennessee, Bella Folino BYU, Skinner VaTech, Augur, Georgetown, Antoine Vandy, Hudson, ND, Spray Memphis, Stordy Memphis, Donley Dayton, Brian TCU, Boren BYU, McCarthy BYU, Nemec Minnesota, Cook UCLA, Lynch ND, White Clemson, and many more.
Drafted players still have to earn their spots and non-drafted players can still make rosters through camp invites, and sign with NWSL teams. And there are two additional expansion teams next season. They can also sign Internationally, or with the new USL league
Non Power 5 leagues with a player drafted: Big East, Ivy, Mountain West, WCC with a total of 6 players combined)
SLU Men's Basketball Head Coaching Candidates
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
SLU has had a top 3 for some time, well before the coaching change announcement.
The Ahearn booster move was more of a last year thing than a this year thing. A different coach was approached by some SLU boosters this year. My initial reaction was skeptical that the coach in question would take the job. But these boosters were emphatic about it.
If SLU doesn’t secure one of their top 3 choices, they will pivot to some other names. Some of those would be good or not ideal fits based on the individual in question.
My two cents personal opinion is that they won’t get either of their top 2 choices. (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) They might get their 3rd. And it’s another year where different boosters want different coaches. And the list isn’t the same.
Also remember, someone else’s first choice might not be the best choice, and someone else’s 6th or 7th choice may be a better pick or fit.
Many (not all) of the names are reasonable.