WUH

There you go. Nice to have a coach.

Thanks guys for sharing those stories... It is very interesting when you see the standard that Joe Clarke was held to. There may have been more that I do not know about, but if he was judged by his team record, the program made the tourney in every season except for two. in 1994 and 1995, the team lost in the first round. In 1996, the team finished 5-10-6 and he was out.

Please ignore my previous post. Our disagreement is so minor as to be a non-issue. I know we are in agreement that the program is in a bad way.

Is that true? I guess the added duties after Keough and the coaching position became a full-time job.

Maybe we can just bring Joe Clarke back. McGinty would have been fired a few years ago if held to the same standard as Clarke.

Everyone knows Biondi hired Majerus. I never said May hired Majerus. May was there for the opening of the arena. I stand corrected. Still a lot of work in years 1-2. Not defending May at all, but I think it is a stretch to say he watched the program burn.

OK, now this is a bit much. SLU soccer made it to the second round of the NCAA tourney in the first two years of the Chris May tenure. Dan Donigan left and Coach McGinty looked to be a solid hire at the time. SLU soccer began trending up and made it to the second round in 2012 even if most of the fans had concerns. May clearly should have charted a new course last year and should have invested more in the facilities, but building the arena and a competitive basketball program was obviously going to be a priority.

There is no universal answer to the question, but rather there are multiple ways in which SLU could provide the commitment necessary to recruit a big time coach. Examples include salary and staff salary pool, travel and general expense budget, and commitment to facilities. SLU could also signal commitment by agreeing to offer the new coach a long term contract. In regards to the salary, private institutions do not need to disclose salary terms, but the public institutions do. I did a search for Coach Mims and his base salary is $74,XXX, though it is likely that he gets income from his summer camps. That varies from institution to institution, but he may be pocketing 100% of the profit. Who knows? For further comparison, Coach Rensing at Michigan State makes a base salary of $95,XXX. In regards to facilities, the University of Nebraska Omaha is the perfect example of an institution that demonstrates a commitment through facilities. Caniglia Field is beautiful: http://www.omavs.com/news/2013/10/28/209293705.aspx. In regards to long term contracts, Dan Donigan reportedly left because he wanted the security of a long term contract which he received from Rutgers. It has been a good thing for Donigan because he remains employed by Rutgers having only won 4 games over the past two seasons.

Creighton really is all in on soccer. Their commitment to the sport is second to none.

I am just guessing, but my guess is that they got close to hiring someone. Possibly someone who was coaching in November. They made an offer and were eventually left hanging. Just a guess.

Seriously, why is this taking so long? It is not as if SLU was going to hire one of the Elite 8 or Sweet 16 coaches.

Coach Tocco is also Professor Tocco and teaches accounting all while coaching full-time. I did not go to Rockhurst, but I have always heard that he is very engaged with the academic enterprise. Does that guy ever sleep?

I'll post when I want and I'll refer you to this post which says what I would have said in response. I am old enough to know Mike Sorber as an Assistant Coach. I have met him a few times. Nice guy and probably a good coach though not universally loved by those who he coached at SLU and not an exciting hire. Travis Ford had been a head coach at two other Division I institutions. Sorber has made a career as an assistant.

May is adamant that he wants a men’s soccer coach who can ignite the program and the community in the same way Travis Ford has lifted the men’s basketball program and Lisa Stone has elevated the women’s basketball program. A Mike Sorber hire is not the equivalent of a Travis Ford hire by any stretch. Maybe a Lisa Stone hire.

If St. Louis only had one sport... If our kids had only sport more or less to play when they went outside to play with friends... St. Louis would naturally produce far more soccer talent.

My mistake on Virginia. My point about scholarships and grants and tuition discounting is that SLU cannot arbitrarily give student athletes merit or need-based aid, but has to give it out in accordance with set institutional policies. For most merit scholarship, they have a simple formula that considers GPA and ACT. For need-based aid, they have to distribute according to the results of the FAFSA. The Post Dispatch did a lengthy article on the challenges of schools such as SLU. The ability for SLU to field a competitive soccer program goes way beyond one factor. No question that the conference is an issue.

The answer varies from school to school. A few thoughts: The last two times SLU made a deep run in the tourney, tuition was around $21-22K per year (non including financial aid). Tuition is $45K today though the discount is greater. Tuition at the University of Virginia is $15K. This is true for both in-state and out. Akron is $11K and 15K. Other schools double the tuition for out of state folks. $30K at Indiana is still way cheaper. Obviously, this does not reflect the net price that a particular student may pay. Tuition at Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford is even more, but they have a different student profile. You cannot give away scholarships and grants to people who are not demonstrably eligible just to get around the scholarship issue. SLU used to have a financial aid director who would do things most schools will not, but eventually it was discovered and SLU had to pay back millions. They got off easy. The new Director runs a much tighter ship.

The University of Nebraska Omaha was struggling to make Division II work, so they dropped football and a few others sports and moved to Division I. Omaha has long been a hotbed of soccer, so they decided to build an elite stadium and make a go of soccer. They hired away Jason Mims from Creighton who had followed Bob Warming when he returned to coach the Blue Jays. Nebraska Omaha is still struggling with the transition as it was never going to be a quick fix. Coach Mims will be hired away eventually.

The SLU Men's Soccer brand is obviously still very strong. Very few mid major conference programs could have arranged for such a schedule. But who knows how much longer that will last. I am not going to hold my breath, though I think SLU needs to go out and find a proven head coach who can get the program back on a track before it is too late.

Thanks and absolutely...

I had forgotten about the rain and had never heard about the goalie slipping. I listened to that game on the radio. Hard to imagine back in 2001 and 2003 that the fans would eventually turn on Dan Donigan and that he would eventually depart for Rutgers and the safety and security of a five-year contract. Not sure the status of his current contract, but he is 4-12-1 so...

The Vedad may have been better, but the Dipsy Selowane, Brad Davis, Jack Jewsbury led team also had a shot a national title, but the got tripped up in the quarterfinals. I thought they were the more recent team which was my point. Incidentally, Vedad is the more notable of the two but Dipsy scored more goals and more points. He scored in every game that season except for the 0-1 loss to Stanford. Dipsy was a few years older, I believe. Those were good times for sure.

I was about ready to remind you of the team that featured Dipsy Selowane and Brad Davis, but then I remembered that that happened a few years earlier.

Thanks Kwyjibo.

I think the Bills are tied for eighth with St. Bona if they win. The top eight teams play in the A10 tourney. I'll stand corrected if I am wrong... The Bonnies held on to beat VCU tonight, so the Billikens have to win tonight.