Men’s D1 College Soccer

[Anonymous]

Why don’t many of the perennial big sports schools have men’s soccer?

UT, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Arizona DO NOT - NOR HAVE THEY EVER HAD - D1 men’s soccer. The list goes on and on. These are all in soccer hot beds. Why no D1 MENS soccer (I know they have powerhouse women’s teams).

Is this part of the problem with the USMNT? The ACC has always had great men’s soccer and sent many guys to the national team (NC State). I know the better route seems to be going to Europe and joining an academy, but maybe our big powerhouse sports schools could compete with that? Going straight to MLS is another option but also doesn’t seem great.

I know Title IX is an issue but why not add Women’s Flag Football and Men’s Soccer at these universities? Our college system worked for Women’s Soccer (obviously) - we just don’t really have a full men’s soccer college program in the US. Might even be a revenue sport (I’d be surprised if Men’s Soccer at UMD isn’t making money).

Anyone know the history? Is it just Title IX?

[Anonymous]

No school in the Big 12 has men’s soccer. West Virginia, Texas Tech, and so on. It’s a shame.

[Anonymous]

UMD men’s soccer does make a profit, then again they also win National Championships pretty regularly. Go Terps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No school in the Big 12 has men’s soccer. West Virginia, Texas Tech, and so on. It’s a shame.

West Virginia has a men's DI soccer team. They play in the MAC because no other university in the Big 12 has a men's program. Their team is actually very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t many of the perennial big sports schools have men’s soccer?

UT, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Arizona DO NOT - NOR HAVE THEY EVER HAD - D1 men’s soccer. The list goes on and on. These are all in soccer hot beds. Why no D1 MENS soccer (I know they have powerhouse women’s teams).

Is this part of the problem with the USMNT? The ACC has always had great men’s soccer and sent many guys to the national team (NC State). I know the better route seems to be going to Europe and joining an academy, but maybe our big powerhouse sports schools could compete with that? Going straight to MLS is another option but also doesn’t seem great.

I know Title IX is an issue but why not add Women’s Flag Football and Men’s Soccer at these universities? Our college system worked for Women’s Soccer (obviously) - we just don’t really have a full men’s soccer college program in the US. Might even be a revenue sport (I’d be surprised if Men’s Soccer at UMD isn’t making money).

Anyone know the history? Is it just Title IX?

Most of the men's and women's soccer is on the east coast. Some time ago many of the west coast school got rid of their men's soccer program. I assume is has something to do with Football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No school in the Big 12 has men’s soccer. West Virginia, Texas Tech, and so on. It’s a shame.

West Virginia has a men's DI soccer team. They play in the MAC because no other university in the Big 12 has a men's program. Their team is actually very good.

Ok that’s good to hear.

[Anonymous]

Most of the better college programs rely heavily on international players anyway. This year at UMd, for example, 9 of the usual starting lineup is from outside the US. it’s quite a telling indictment of youth development in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the better college programs rely heavily on international players anyway. This year at UMd, for example, 9 of the usual starting lineup is from outside the US. it’s quite a telling indictment of youth development in the US.

Many of these players are also older. It is hard for a 17 year old player from Bethesda to compete for recruitment against a 20 year old from Bayern Munich's academy who is really good, just not good enough to play professionally.

The Premier League has a rule that at least 8 players in the squad have to have played on an English team or academy for at least three years before they turn 21. Many leagues around the world have had limits on the number of foreign nationals on the squad. I wish that sports teams in public universities had to give priority to kids either born or developed in the US.

[Anonymous]

There are three main reasons why some major universities such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Arizona, Purdue, Illinois, etc do not have men's soccer.

1.) Title IX: A law that requires the same number of women's athletic scholarships as men's at each institution. This was meant to level the playing field, and while people are free to bemoan this - it being implemented decades ago is a major reason why the US Women's Soccer program, US basketball teams, etc have excelled on the world stage.
2.) American Football: Because there are a limited number of scholarships, funds, and allotments per Title IX - a large chunk of the funding goes to football. Most football rosters have 50-plus players and well over half of those are on significant scholarship, particularly at a major university. Because everything is a business, this is unlikely to change as long as 60,000 seat stadiums are getting sold out throughout the fall and much of the winter.
3.) Marketing and Revenue: Soccer doesn't make money. They don't sell many tickets or any merchandise. I am on the belief that could change with the right marketing and structure. It is unlikely to do so in the next decade or so. Alot of people can tell you who made the basketball or football final 4 last year. Safe to say only the hard core enthusiast can tell you about soccer. It's a shame, and kids should be watching more college soccer. With a basic ESPN subscription almost every men's and women's game is available to watch live or on demand.

[Anonymous]

Great deal for these international athletes, but if we had more college programs, surely more US kids could play D1.

Now to be fair these big powerhouse schools have Club soccer, but we all know that’s not the same - not even as good as D3 soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are three main reasons why some major universities such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Arizona, Purdue, Illinois, etc do not have men's soccer.

1.) Title IX: A law that requires the same number of women's athletic scholarships as men's at each institution. This was meant to level the playing field, and while people are free to bemoan this - it being implemented decades ago is a major reason why the US Women's Soccer program, US basketball teams, etc have excelled on the world stage.
2.) American Football: Because there are a limited number of scholarships, funds, and allotments per Title IX - a large chunk of the funding goes to football. Most football rosters have 50-plus players and well over half of those are on significant scholarship, particularly at a major university. Because everything is a business, this is unlikely to change as long as 60,000 seat stadiums are getting sold out throughout the fall and much of the winter.
3.) Marketing and Revenue: Soccer doesn't make money. They don't sell many tickets or any merchandise. I am on the belief that could change with the right marketing and structure. It is unlikely to do so in the next decade or so. Alot of people can tell you who made the basketball or football final 4 last year. Safe to say only the hard core enthusiast can tell you about soccer. It's a shame, and kids should be watching more college soccer. With a basic ESPN subscription almost every men's and women's game is available to watch live or on demand.

UMD men’s soccer is making money and the students love going to their games (there is an entire subculture of UMD fans that I won’t get into but they love their men’s team.). Not great for the visiting teams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are three main reasons why some major universities such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Arizona, Purdue, Illinois, etc do not have men's soccer.

1.) Title IX: A law that requires the same number of women's athletic scholarships as men's at each institution. This was meant to level the playing field, and while people are free to bemoan this - it being implemented decades ago is a major reason why the US Women's Soccer program, US basketball teams, etc have excelled on the world stage.
2.) American Football: Because there are a limited number of scholarships, funds, and allotments per Title IX - a large chunk of the funding goes to football. Most football rosters have 50-plus players and well over half of those are on significant scholarship, particularly at a major university. Because everything is a business, this is unlikely to change as long as 60,000 seat stadiums are getting sold out throughout the fall and much of the winter.
3.) Marketing and Revenue: Soccer doesn't make money. They don't sell many tickets or any merchandise. I am on the belief that could change with the right marketing and structure. It is unlikely to do so in the next decade or so. Alot of people can tell you who made the basketball or football final 4 last year. Safe to say only the hard core enthusiast can tell you about soccer. It's a shame, and kids should be watching more college soccer. With a basic ESPN subscription almost every men's and women's game is available to watch live or on demand.

Undoubtedly Title IX helped the US women on the international stage (sadly it was also illegal for women to play in many countries).

But isn’t it time to level up the men’s side? Surely the universities need to be part of that.

[Anonymous]

You cannot tell me that the University of Florida could not, if they wanted to, produce national championship teams with players ready to play overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t many of the perennial big sports schools have men’s soccer?

UT, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Arizona DO NOT - NOR HAVE THEY EVER HAD - D1 men’s soccer. The list goes on and on. These are all in soccer hot beds. Why no D1 MENS soccer (I know they have powerhouse women’s teams).

Is this part of the problem with the USMNT? The ACC has always had great men’s soccer and sent many guys to the national team (NC State). I know the better route seems to be going to Europe and joining an academy, but maybe our big powerhouse sports schools could compete with that? Going straight to MLS is another option but also doesn’t seem great.

I know Title IX is an issue but why not add Women’s Flag Football and Men’s Soccer at these universities? Our college system worked for Women’s Soccer (obviously) - we just don’t really have a full men’s soccer college program in the US. Might even be a revenue sport (I’d be surprised if Men’s Soccer at UMD isn’t making money).

Anyone know the history? Is it just Title IX?

Football takes up a lot of the men’s numbers for Title IX. Soccer is not a revenue sport and even at colleges/universities that have programs it is an after thought. There is no pressure from the administration to win. Non revenue sports programs in college are amateur programs and a cost. Something will have to be cut to find money for new sports program.

As for the USMNT/MLS/pro career path way and college soccer. College soccer is an amateur part time program and they do not care about USMNT or professional leagues. College soccer actually hinders players development- competition is subpar, overall athleticism(speed, quickness, strength, etc) is too low, coaching is poor, speed of play is too slow and defensive pressure too weak vs a professional game/training environment. Add in the pre college travel years from u14/u15 up and it is difficult for a player to reach the pro level following a college soccer pathway. About 45% of drafted college players sign a professional contract. Maybe 10% of those players are still playing after two years.

The difference at 15-16 years old in Europe is they have already cut down to the top 3-6% of the age group. So take all the u16 boys players in the US and cut that down to 6%. This is why speed of play and soccer iq becomes so important in the European system. The athleticism by that age is pretty much the same and the differentiator is technically skills, speed of play and soccer IQ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great deal for these international athletes, but if we had more college programs, surely more US kids could play D1.

Now to be fair these big powerhouse schools have Club soccer, but we all know that’s not the same - not even as good as D3 soccer.

Actually if you have seen some of the top P4 school mens club soccer games I think you might change your mind about that.