Julie H and Who she Brings in to Replace Donnigan

[BuggsyRU]

First off, Hermann needs to make this change. The very same day the season is over for Rutgers.

It's just embarrassing that one of the top 5 stats for soccer talent constantly finishes at the bottom of the conference, no matter what conference we are in.

Hermann can really make a statement about transforming Rutgers sports into winners.....by starting off with the sport that can and should be at the top of the Big Ten.

If she is paying Dunnigan 130K to coach, she should be prepared to pay 350K a year....and get Masur to come home to The Banks....or someone like Gelnavatch.

We need to have a dominant sport....and we were dominant on the national level before in soccer, because of all the great soccer players we landed right from NJ.

We can most definitely get back to that level with the right coach, but it is going to cost us. However, I feel that with the right coach, and wins, we will have Yurcak rocking again like it was when I was at RU in the early 90's. That will offset the significant increase in coaching salary that will be necessary to get a top notch coach to come to RU.

IF she can pull this off, it will send a clear message to the rest of the community that she is wililing to pay a coach what they deserve....to have a top 10 program.

Top 20 is not good enough. RU needs to be, and can be, top 10 in the country in men's soccer.

 

[Mr_Twister]

The premise that we should succeed because there is plenty of nearby talent has not worked in football, men's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. The premise is out-of-date. We don't need to collect another generation of data to prove the premise is wrong.
This post was edited on 10/31 2:37 PM by Mr_Twister

 

[BuggsyRU]

Originally posted by Mr_Twister:

The premise that we should succeed because there is plenty of nearby talent has not worked in football, men's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. The premise is out-of-date. We don't need to collect another generation of data to prove the premise is wrong.

This post was edited on 10/31 2:37 PM by Mr_Twister

Bullshit. We have been losing not because of the players in the state (which are great) we are losing...in ALL the sports you mentioned, because the coaches have not been a high enough caliber.

The premise is not out of date. Bring in a coach that will actually be able to LAND the top players IN THE STATE like Reasso did in the late 80's and early 90's...and then watch us take off.

 

[oldman87]

How about Schiano? He is a decent recruiter.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Originally posted by BuggsyRU:

Originally posted by Mr_Twister:

The premise that we should succeed because there is plenty of nearby talent has not worked in football, men's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. The premise is out-of-date. We don't need to collect another generation of data to prove the premise is wrong.



This post was edited on 10/31 2:37 PM by Mr_Twister

Bullshit. We have been losing not because of the players in the state (which are great) we are losing...in ALL the sports you mentioned, because the coaches have not been a high enough caliber.

The premise is not out of date. Bring in a coach that will actually be able to LAND the top players IN THE STATE like Reasso did in the late 80's and early 90's...and then watch us take off.




Provincial thinking. It does not matter where the players come from. And to think that there is enough talent in NJ to compete for championships and national stature is preposterous. You are 40 years behind the time. Rutgers will never recruit the top NJ players year-in-year out. And even if they did, it's not enough. And people in NJ do not embrace Rutgers University the way that people in Kentucky embrace the Kentucky Wildcats and people in Indiana embrace the Indiana Hoosiers and people in Ohio embrace the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ditto Florida, Kansas, Alabama. We are talking about New Jersey.

This post was edited on 10/31 9:25 PM by Mr_Twister

 

[MamaRU]

It will say alot about how serious Rutgers is about being competitive in the Big Ten. As a soccer guy, I also believe this is an opportunity to create something big. Rutgers has great soccer facilities and a huge talent base to recruit from in the area. Unlike college football and basketball, soccer is not on TV all the time so playing at RU gives local talent the ability to have friends and family watch. Even a reasonably competent coach should be able to field a competitive side. If they let the soccer situation continue at Rutgers, I believe your program may even get worse. In my community (as a youth soccer coach and former college assistant) their seems to be a very negative buzz about RU soccer.

 

[BuggsyRU]

Originally posted by Mr_Twister:

Originally posted by BuggsyRU:

Originally posted by Mr_Twister:

The premise that we should succeed because there is plenty of nearby talent has not worked in football, men's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. The premise is out-of-date. We don't need to collect another generation of data to prove the premise is wrong.



This post was edited on 10/31 2:37 PM by Mr_Twister

Bullshit. We have been losing not because of the players in the state (which are great) we are losing...in ALL the sports you mentioned, because the coaches have not been a high enough caliber.

The premise is not out of date. Bring in a coach that will actually be able to LAND the top players IN THE STATE like Reasso did in the late 80's and early 90's...and then watch us take off.




Provincial thinking. It does not matter where the players come from. And to think that there is enough talent in NJ to compete for championships and national stature is preposterous. You are 40 years behind the time. Rutgers will never recruit the top NJ players year-in-year out. And even if they did, it's not enough. And people in NJ do not embrace Rutgers University the way that people in Kentucky embrace the Kentucky Wildcats and people in Indiana embrace the Indiana Hoosiers and people in Ohio embrace the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ditto Florida, Kansas, Alabama. We are talking about New Jersey.

This post was edited on 10/31 9:25 PM by Mr_Twister

In men's soccer, we have a proven record that we can attract the talent, and we can win with the right coach. That's a fact. We won with NJ players.

Steve Rammel
Dave Mueller
Jeff Zaun
Lino DiCuollo
Chris Brauchle
Dave Masur
Peter Vermes
the list goes on.

All NJ players that played for RU.
There was pride in NJ and NJ soccer when RU went to two Final 4's during my college years at Rutgers ('88-92) and I remember going to regular season games where there were routinely 3,000-4,000 in the stands.

If you don't think that can happen again, with a coach like Masur, a 2 time All American at Rutgers selling the idea to the current crop of NJ's best kids....then I don't know what to say to you.

 

[richthedentist]

I agree with Buggsy it is not like football where we have never been near the top but we have a program that has competed for a National Championship. Now granted they were hamstrung by the fact that Reasso was here 10 years to long but that is now water under the bridge. There is no reason with the right coach that we cannot be playing for a national championship or that caliber of soccer in just a couple of years. If Donnigan is kept on it will set us back 5 more years.

 

[MamaRU]

I have a funny feeling that the problems with your football team will occupy the AD enough to let Donigan escape this for a year or two. This bothers me as a soccer guy but I can see it happening. I played with many of the guys you mentioned and it truly was a great time for RU soccer (80's) Crowds were big and the team was very exciting to watch. Don't know if anyone at your University even understands the potential.

 

[rufeelinit]

Originally posted by MamaRU:
I have a funny feeling that the problems with your football team will occupy the AD enough to let Donigan escape this for a year or two. This bothers me as a soccer guy but I can see it happening. I played with many of the guys you mentioned and it truly was a great time for RU soccer (80's) Crowds were big and the team was very exciting to watch. Don't know if anyone at your University even understands the potential.

Well they lost again over the weekend to Bradley. Not sure what the basis would be to keep Donigan at this point unless he still has several years remaining on his contract and it is determined that we cannot get someone better based on available funding. That would be extremely unfortunate.

 

[rucoe89]

Originally posted by rufeelinit:

Originally posted by MamaRU:
I have a funny feeling that the problems with your football team will occupy the AD enough to let Donigan escape this for a year or two. This bothers me as a soccer guy but I can see it happening. I played with many of the guys you mentioned and it truly was a great time for RU soccer (80's) Crowds were big and the team was very exciting to watch. Don't know if anyone at your University even understands the potential.

Well they lost again over the weekend to Bradley. Not sure what the basis would be to keep Donigan at this point unless he still has several years remaining on his contract and it is determined that we cannot get someone better based on available funding. That would be extremely unfortunate.

Seems like is the current team suffers from folks preparing to leave it may be time for change. Was really hoping Donnigan could get it done. Would be great to get Mauser, but seems unlikely.

 

[Mr_Twister]

BuggsyRU ... What you are talking about happened many years ago.

 

[ag67]

I think this will be Julie's first important hire. I am expecting a good hire, after she gets the key alums to kick in the money needed to get the person she wants.

I think she might have learned something from the football hiring debacle last year. I give her a pass on that one, since she was probably too eager to show how she could make her mark.

 

[oldman87]

Too eager? She did the right thing, unfortunately some big donors didn't come through with the $ so here we are again in the same exact position this year except we're another year deeper into the recruiting hole.

 

[Leonard23]

Don't hold your breath on a big hire. Outside of CViv, when have we ever hired big? We missed on Masur & Danowski & several FB & MBB coaches.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[richthedentist]

We missed on Masur 15 years ago when Reasso should have been let go and now he has it too good at St. John's to leave. Agree Julie should be busy this off season and we should be in the market for a new football and soccer coach.

 

[BuggsyRU]

Originally posted by richthedentist:
We missed on Masur 15 years ago when Reasso should have been let go and now he has it too good at St. John's to leave. Agree Julie should be busy this off season and we should be in the market for a new football and soccer coach.

Why can't we not only beat, but blow away what St. Johns is paying Masur?

If he is getting 250K a year for the Johnnies, offer him 350K plus incentives (attendance figures, NCAA tournament games won, etc.) to get him into the 400K's.

Find out what the coaches at the very best programs make, and not only ach it...but beat it.

We're not talking about football-like 5-7 mill/year salaries.

We're talking in the hundreds of thousands.

 

[ag67]

Originally posted by oldman87:
Too eager? She did the right thing, unfortunately some big donors didn't come through with the $ so here we are again in the same exact position this year except we're another year deeper into the recruiting hole.

She did the right thing by leaving our head coach twisting slowly in the wind while NOT coming up with the dollars to hire one of the people she was after? Curious logic, or is this one of your jokes?

 

[oldman87]

She did the right thing by trying to replace an unqualified HC learning on the job, unfortunately, some in the good ol boys network that has been running Rutgers for decades are more concerned with maintaining status quo and access than winning, the same good ol boys that revolted when we got rid of an unqualified AD learning on the job who put the university in national shame and continued to resist changes from an outsider like Julie. Julie will continue to encounter similar resistance moving forward try to change the old culture of complacency for mediocrity at Rutgers to a winning culture.

Yes, she should take some heat but only for not completing the task, but definitely not for trying in the first place, no one said it would be easy replacing the old guards that brought us endless decades of irrelevance.

 

[mullerpesq]

This is year four for Coach D and there needs to be much better to show for it. Not going to change the fact that I like the guy but the results are not there. Wish him well.

Don't think Masur is tempted to leave St Johns. He's settled in, is 51 years old and not sure what he could accomplish here that he hasn't already. Not a knock but it's been half a dozen years or more since we've seen one of those historic red storm teams. Heck, if your going to go with the "older established coach with a proven record" why not the women's coach at RU that just retired?

A coach I knew used to say, "the difficult thing is not how to teach them to play soccer well together. The problem is getting great players." Ask players from our great teams of the 80's and early 90's and I'd doubt many of them would gush over what a great soccer coach Reasso was. But those guys were great players. I'm not sure what will entice the best HS players to come to RU but figure it out and bring in someone that can get them here. Don't get me wrong we have a lot of skilled players now but we need a few that can be considered among the best in college soccer. RU is a nice place to come and be a head soccer coach. We won't have a lack of resumes.

This post was edited on 11/4 8:06 PM by mullerpesq

 

[e5fdny]

Originally posted by MamaRU:
I have a funny feeling that the problems with your football team will occupy the AD enough to let Donigan escape this for a year or two. This bothers me as a soccer guy but I can see it happening. I played with many of the guys you mentioned and it truly was a great time for RU soccer (80's) Crowds were big and the team was very exciting to watch. Don't know if anyone at your University even understands the potential.

I think the one who will be making the decision does.

And as mullerpesq said..."RU is a nice place to come and be a head soccer coach. We won't have a lack of resumes."

As was said earlier in another thread, there is a plan. Might not be your plan, but there is a plan.

 

[snowboarder]

I dont know where this will all end up but clearly Rutgers should be a place that a qualified head coach would want to be.
A quality academic institution with excellent facilities sitting in the middle a of a deep and talented recruiting base. A program that plays in one of the best conferences in the country should not have trouble finding an exciting new coach. That being said, the search has to be thorough and organized. Dave Masur wanted the job last time until Pernettii seemed to string out the search process. Dave lives in Montclair and had a resume which at the time seemed to make his selection a no brainer, A Rutgers grad that had become one of the top coaches in the country whose accomplishments included winning a national championship, when the process dragged out, he pulled his name. Rob McCourt seemed to be in the lead for the position at one point but then pulled his name out also.
Both would have been excellent hires at the time but things have changed since then and the search may be a little more complicated then it was, For what ever reasons, Masur is struggling now at St Johns with multiple high profile transfers out over the last year, He is very personable and hard working with and obvious love for the game. He is demanding coach that has emphasized the conditioning aspect the game to an extreme over the last few years with a vocal style from the sidelines. He may need to reinvent his style a bit to continue being as effective as he has been. Masur could possibly want a change at this point and is young and smart enough to be successful again, Rob McCourt would also be excellent. He continues to win at Monmouth while playing in the shadow of a much larger institution, Rob is well liked in the NJ youth soccer community and is a players coach, He is involved personally with his players past and present and would bring a fresh, exciting style of soccer to RU. He is a great recruiter but the question is whether he would he leave Monmouth where he is very happy, I believe he would for the right money if he is convinced of a strong commitment to the program from the administration, Jeff Zaun is another guy that might surface, He is also a Rutgers guy with a strong resume, Jeff was never really given consideration during the last search because of his connection to Reasso I believe, I think that Pernetti wanted a clean break from the previous coaching regime, Jeff is also personable and hard working, He was the main guy in charge of finding and recruiting new players at NY Redbulls and was relentless in his approach, He also shares a good understanding of the game in my opinion, Julie will have an opportunity to put her stamp on things soon enough at RU, She will have to decide if the current staff is doing what they need to do to move the program forward. She will have to decide whether the work ethic, communication skills, organizational skills and vision of the staff is what we should expect it to be at RU,

This post was edited on 11/5 4:48 AM by snowboarder

This post was edited on 11/5 4:50 AM by snowboarder

 

[ag67]

Originally posted by oldman87:
She did the right thing by trying to replace an unqualified HC learning on the job, unfortunately, some in the good ol boys network that has been running Rutgers for decades are more concerned with maintaining status quo and access than winning, the same good ol boys that revolted when we got rid of an unqualified AD learning on the job who put the university in national shame and continued to resist changes from an outsider like Julie. Julie will continue to encounter similar resistance moving forward try to change the old culture of complacency for mediocrity at Rutgers to a winning culture.

Yes, she should take some heat but only for not completing the task, but definitely not for trying in the first place, no one said it would be easy replacing the old guards that brought us endless decades of irrelevance.

There is no reasoning with simplistic people like you who judge only by whether actions fit your "instant gratification" agenda to get rid of our head football coach. The issue is not whether or not she should have tried to get rid of Coach Flood. The issue is how she handled the whole thing. She needed to either support her head coach completely or make sure she could replace him with a significant upgrade. Instead she weakened Flood's position as head coach with her inability to follow through.

I personally like Ms. Hermann a great deal. I think she may well be an exceptional AD for us. But she mishandled the football program at the end of the year, probably because she was a little too eager to put her stamp on the whole athletic program and show how a decisive leader should act. Whether or not Coach Flood should be the head coach is a completely different issue.

 

[oldman87]

I know it has been your mo over the years but one of these days you should try having a difference in opinion without attacking other posters, it's quite refreshing.

Like I already said, she deserved some heat for not completing the task but it's pretty hard to weaken Flood's position any further than it already is, posters like to blame the botched coaching search and his apparent lame duck status for Flood's inability to recruit when in reality, it is the product on the field and the fact that Flood wasn't fired last season that is scaring the recruits away, the vaunted class last year disintegrated way before any talk of a coaching search. If you're a recruit or the parents, you have to be pretty dumb to not realized Flood is playing for his job with or without the coaching search.

Her botched attempt does bring some hope, indication that she does not wish to settle for mediocrity like the Rutgers culture of the past, I hope she continues to try to bring some of that Louisville winning culture to Rutgers.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Originally posted by ag67:

Originally posted by oldman87:
Too eager? She did the right thing, unfortunately some big donors didn't come through with the $ so here we are again in the same exact position this year except we're another year deeper into the recruiting hole.

She did the right thing by leaving our head coach twisting slowly in the wind while NOT coming up with the dollars to hire one of the people she was after? Curious logic, or is this one of your jokes?

Stop blaming Julie. That was in no way, shape, or form, her fault. People who THOUGHT they had enough money to buy a "big name" coach went to her. As AD it is her job to listen to such people. She did, they didn't have enough money to buy an entire staff to go along with a coach as such, that was it. Also, it was the same donors who opened their big mouths, blabbing all over NJ how they were "buying RU a new coach," and screwed both JH and Flood in doing so.

Put the blame where it belongs my friend.

 

[e5fdny]

Originally posted by AreYouNUTS:

Originally posted by ag67:

Originally posted by oldman87:
Too eager? She did the right thing, unfortunately some big donors didn't come through with the $ so here we are again in the same exact position this year except we're another year deeper into the recruiting hole.

She did the right thing by leaving our head coach twisting slowly in the wind while NOT coming up with the dollars to hire one of the people she was after? Curious logic, or is this one of your jokes?

Stop blaming Julie. That was in no way, shape, or form, her fault. People who THOUGHT they had enough money to buy a "big name" coach went to her. As AD it is her job to listen to such people. She did, they didn't have enough money to buy an entire staff to go along with a coach as such, that was it. Also, it was the same donors who opened their big mouths, blabbing all over NJ how they were "buying RU a new coach," and screwed both JH and Flood in doing so.

Put the blame where it belongs my friend.

Stay on topic people.

There is another board for what you guys are talking about.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Originally posted by e5fdny:

Originally posted by AreYouNUTS:

Originally posted by ag67:

Originally posted by oldman87:
Too eager? She did the right thing, unfortunately some big donors didn't come through with the $ so here we are again in the same exact position this year except we're another year deeper into the recruiting hole.

She did the right thing by leaving our head coach twisting slowly in the wind while NOT coming up with the dollars to hire one of the people she was after? Curious logic, or is this one of your jokes?

Stop blaming Julie. That was in no way, shape, or form, her fault. People who THOUGHT they had enough money to buy a "big name" coach went to her. As AD it is her job to listen to such people. She did, they didn't have enough money to buy an entire staff to go along with a coach as such, that was it. Also, it was the same donors who opened their big mouths, blabbing all over NJ how they were "buying RU a new coach," and screwed both JH and Flood in doing so.

Put the blame where it belongs my friend.

Stay on topic people.

There is another board for what you guys are talking about.

Hey, I just had to set the record straight buddy!

 

[snowboarder]

Soccer is so unimportant at RU that even in a message board thread about soccer the conversation turns to football.

 

[e5fdny]

Originally posted by snowboarder:
Soccer is so unimportant at RU that even in a message board thread about soccer the conversation turns to football.

It might seem that way now...

 

[ag67]

Originally posted by oldman87:
I know it has been your mo over the years but one of these days you should try having a difference in opinion without attacking other posters, it's quite refreshing.

Like I already said, she deserved some heat for not completing the task but it's pretty hard to weaken Flood's position any further than it already is, posters like to blame the botched coaching search and his apparent lame duck status for Flood's inability to recruit when in reality, it is the product on the field and the fact that Flood wasn't fired last season that is scaring the recruits away, the vaunted class last year disintegrated way before any talk of a coaching search. If you're a recruit or the parents, you have to be pretty dumb to not realized Flood is playing for his job with or without the coaching search.

Her botched attempt does bring some hope, indication that she does not wish to settle for mediocrity like the Rutgers culture of the past, I hope she continues to try to bring some of that Louisville winning culture to Rutgers.

Thanks for the lecture! I guess attacking other posters is reserved for the negative people like you and Nuts. You two are always attacking Coach Flood. Perhaps you could say something positive. That would be refreshing also. But your spin was delightful.

As far as "blaming" Hermann" goes, what went down was ultimately her responsibility. She was inexperienced, and she undoubtedly learned a lesson. I have been very impressed with her as an AD, but I do expect even good administrators to make mistakes.

I am hoping for a home run from her in the men's soccer situation, now that she has had time to get her feet under her, I thought Donnigan was a good hire. I supported him through this year, but I believe he is now playing with the coaches and players he brought in - and the results are not there. Maybe Nuts will have some insight on Donnigan's perspective on the whole thing, since he is his friend. Coaching is a tough occupation.

 

[oldman87]

If you don't understand the difference between personally attacking other posters for having a different opinion than that of yours vs. criticizing the performance of the team and coach that we are all here for, I can't help you. I actually like Flood as a person, I just don't think he is the right person for the job based on the results on the field and the lack of recruiting success over his 3 years tenure, that however won't stop me from buying a beer if I ever run into him in person.

 

[ag67]

Originally posted by oldman87:
I know it has been your mo over the years but one of these days you should try having a difference in opinion without attacking other posters, it's quite refreshing.

Like I already said, she deserved some heat for not completing the task but it's pretty hard to weaken Flood's position any further than it already is, posters like to blame the botched coaching search and his apparent lame duck status for Flood's inability to recruit when in reality, it is the product on the field and the fact that Flood wasn't fired last season that is scaring the recruits away, the vaunted class last year disintegrated way before any talk of a coaching search. If you're a recruit or the parents, you have to be pretty dumb to not realized Flood is playing for his job with or without the coaching search.

Her botched attempt does bring some hope, indication that she does not wish to settle for mediocrity like the Rutgers culture of the past, I hope she continues to try to bring some of that Louisville winning culture to Rutgers.

So the statement in bold type is NOT an example of attacking other posters. Thanks for the daily condescending lecture anyway. I simply said Hermann made a mistake. I did not blame her or say she should take heat. As far as the effect of the action on Coach Flood's recruiting, I know only that it did not help. I have no idea how much it hurt, but apparently you think you do. Perhaps you have personal connections with the recruits.

I apologize to e5fdny for getting this thread off subject. I shouldn't let the negativism get to me. I am out of here for this thread. I do look forward to more info on the soccer situation.

 

[oldman87]

Oh spare me, there were no negativism in this thread until you decided to criticize Julie for no reason forcing others to come to her defense. And yes I do know it had little effect if any on Flood' inabilities to recruit based on facts on the ground, all you have to do is look at the time line of the mass exodus of the 2014 class which started with us getting blown out on the field and ended way before the rumor of the coaching search (in fact it was one of the reasons for the coaching search in the first place), with the exception of Blacknall. In addition, 2016 top recruits were asked earlier this season what they were looking for from Rutgers, the answer was "win or lose, we want to see Rutgers compete on the field and not give up". It does not take a rocket surgeon to figure out what is scaring top recruits away is Flood and his product on the field.

As embarrassing as the soccer program has been at times this season, it has not been much better on the football field either.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Originally posted by e5fdny:

Originally posted by snowboarder:
Soccer is so unimportant at RU that even in a message board thread about soccer the conversation turns to football.

It might seem that way now...

Relax guys...shit happens...it's a message board, not the board room at RU, geeze! e5fdny you should know better my friend!

 

[ag67]

Originally posted by oldman87:
Oh spare me, there were no negativism in this thread until you decided to criticize Julie for no reason forcing others to come to her defense. And yes I do know it had little effect if any on Flood' inabilities to recruit based on facts on the ground, all you have to do is look at the time line of the mass exodus of the 2014 class which started with us getting blown out on the field and ended way before the rumor of the coaching search (in fact it was one of the reasons for the coaching search in the first place), with the exception of Blacknall. In addition, 2016 top recruits were asked earlier this season what they were looking for from Rutgers, the answer was "win or lose, we want to see Rutgers compete on the field and not give up". It does not take a rocket surgeon to figure out what is scaring top recruits away is Flood and his product on the field.

As embarrassing as the soccer program has been at times this season, it has not been much better on the football field either.

Spare me! and get off of your soapbox for a change.

I guess you thing saying Hermann probably would handle the situation differently when she is more experienced is nasty criticism. She would likely agree with my assessment.

You are right I do tend to attack posters on this board. People who constantly attack our coaches and insinuate they are the dumbest people ever born, irritate me after a while, and I decide to defend him. I am foolish enough to think balanced evaluation would be fairer. So you attack him. I attack you. You attack him and me. But of course I am the only bad guy here.

Nuts, maybe this is asking for things that are too personal, so feel free to ignore it if you choose. Do you get to talk to Dan at all or other people close to the situation? What do they think are the cause of the problems? Or maybe I should ask you what you think the problems are? I feel you are one person who would give a balanced assessment, since you have lots of respect for Dan.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Originally posted by ag67:

Originally posted by oldman87:
Oh spare me, there were no negativism in this thread until you decided to criticize Julie for no reason forcing others to come to her defense. And yes I do know it had little effect if any on Flood' inabilities to recruit based on facts on the ground, all you have to do is look at the time line of the mass exodus of the 2014 class which started with us getting blown out on the field and ended way before the rumor of the coaching search (in fact it was one of the reasons for the coaching search in the first place), with the exception of Blacknall. In addition, 2016 top recruits were asked earlier this season what they were looking for from Rutgers, the answer was "win or lose, we want to see Rutgers compete on the field and not give up". It does not take a rocket surgeon to figure out what is scaring top recruits away is Flood and his product on the field.

As embarrassing as the soccer program has been at times this season, it has not been much better on the football field either.

Spare me! and get off of your soapbox for a change.

I guess you thing saying Hermann probably would handle the situation differently when she is more experienced is nasty criticism. She would likely agree with my assessment.

You are right I do tend to attack posters on this board. People who constantly attack our coaches and insinuate they are the dumbest people ever born, irritate me after a while, and I decide to defend him. I am foolish enough to think balanced evaluation would be fairer. So you attack him. I attack you. You attack him and me. But of course I am the only bad guy here.

Nuts, maybe this is asking for things that are too personal, so feel free to ignore it if you choose. Do you get to talk to Dan at all or other people close to the situation? What do they think are the cause of the problems? Or maybe I should ask you what you think the problems are? I feel you are one person who would give a balanced assessment, since you have lots of respect for Dan.

I haven't really spoken to Dan since early summer, prior to camp, other than an e-mail "back-and-forth" here and there, just telling him to "keep his chin up," but what I can say is that...IIRC...he was worried that the influx of younger guys he was bringing in MIGHT create some chemistry problems. Obviously, they did, and apparently it has only gotten worse as the season rolled along. Now, working these things out is on DD - no ifs, ands, or buts about it - however, if the older kids are pissed that younger kids are playing over them, the younger kids expect time, one young kid thinks he should be the focus while the coach wants a team-oriented focus (just giving examples....), and parents are in the ears of the kids, making things worse, then the "wheels" can fall apart very, very quickly, and I think that's what happened here this season.

Snowboarder knows the talent much better than I and I believe he will even tell you that, the amount of talent on this roster, isn't the issue. I don't even know if it's truly an "x's and o's" thing, either, as some here feel, because once things fall apart, "in the locker room," so-to-speak, the team on the field can very easily look as though the coach doesn't know what to do with them. I think DD's record at St. Louis speaks for itself with 7 NCAA tourney appearances so, the "x's and o's" part, as being the problem, I'm just not buying into that it's only one man's opinion.

Again, any fault - as it should be, but unfortunately - lies on the HC's shoulders and, well, I'm just going to leave it at that.

 

[cyrock3]

The gist I got from the bigsoccer boards is that St. Louis people were very very happy to see DD leave.

They seem to be happy with their present coach.

 

[ag67]

Thanks, Nuts. I appreciate your input. Anyone who has coached knows that lack of team chemistry can negate all the talent in the world. If your players hate each other, it is going to be a long season.

If that is the real problem, that is too bad for him and RU. Sometimes talented people just are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In college sports you only get one recruiting go-around, so if the wrong personalities happen to show up, you are likely to be out of a job in a few years.

Maybe this doesn't apply to guys like Brian Kelly at ND who seem to be mean SOB's. The old theory was that such a coach would make the players focus on him so much they would forget about their differences with each other. I don't know if it is true. I never had an SOB as a coach, and I certainly did not want to be one when I got the chance to coach myself.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Originally posted by cyrock3:
The gist I got from the bigsoccer boards is that St. Louis people were very very happy to see DD leave.

They seem to be happy with their present coach.

I realize they're a little arrogant there, however:

2000 - CUSA reg and tourney champ; NCAA 1st round
2001 - CUSA reg and tourney champ; NCAA quarters
2002 - CUSA reg and tourney champ; NCAA 3rd round
2003 - CUSA reg and tourney champ; NCAA quarters
..move to A10
2004 - 9-8-1
2005 - 9-5-5
2006 - A10 Regular season champs; NCAA 2nd round
2007 - A10 Regular season champs; NCAA 1st round
2008 - NCAA 2nd round
2009 - A10 Tourney Champs; NCAA 2nd round

...so give me a break. They haven't been in their "glory days" in a long, long time. Last National Title was 1973 and since Dan left they've been to 1 NCAA tournament.

 

[MamaRU]

From 1959-2000, St Louis made the NCAA tournament 37 out of 40 years so I'm not sure what Donigan's record at St Louis means. I have been to many games over the past 2 years and the chemistry problems are all on the staff. The lineup and positioning seems to change all the time. That tells me that they have little feel for the players or little confidence in their own ability to evaluate the players. They have no commitment to a particular style which creates confusion among the players.
(I believe he lost Mael Corboz, now UMs best player, because of this) I watch elite players that now boot the ball up the field in hopes that they find a loan striker marked by 3 players. I watch a goalie continually boot the ball long to a lone striker with no support, instead of playing quickly to the feet of his defenders. The starting right back for the first 10 games is now a midfielder that plays sparingly. Mitch Tainter has played forward, mid and center back. The current starting right back was a center mid alternating with Sa in the middle.
Sa and Bruccoleri both have been out of the starting lineup which makes no sense. They do not use the field well at all, never showing any width. You can tell that the players are confused and unhappy. I suspect that the same thing that happened with Mael Corboz will happen again this off season. The style of play is really frustrating RU's most technical players. Some are going to look for a better soccer environment.