I’m sure Hobbs, unlike some people around here think, isn’t stupid let alone ignorant as to what has gone on with men’s soccer. Now, once again, can we talk about the great list of candidates? Arguably the best list of candidates ever assembled for a sport in our university’s history?
Soccer - top candidates
- Thread starter Scarlet Craig
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I’m sure Hobbs, unlike some people around here think, isn’t stupid let alone ignorant as to what has gone on with men’s soccer. Now, once again, can we talk about the great list of candidates? Arguably the best list of candidates ever assembled for a sport in our university’s history?
If those are Hobbs's hand picked top 5 candidates...wow!! Mens soccer is about to be revived in a big way.
Thats why I say anyone bitching about Ash right now and saying that Hobb's job is hanging in the balance can do us a solid and drink a gallon of bleach. This is an incredible list of finalist candidates. If Ash fails, Hobbs wont have a week to make a HC hire for football this time plus will have a far larger budget to work with.
DING DING DING we have a winner!
His name has been discussed,here, but most feel he’s lost his magic??. Hasn’t made the NCAA’s since 2012. Would’ve been the perfect hire when Reasso left.
My bad it said “college cup” not champion I’ll edit thx!
It’s a great short list that Hobbs has put together. I like all the names with maybe the most hesitation about Brandt. If they can get this wrapped up quickly, I wonder if there might be time for the new coach to gather any recruits and/or transfers—or will the new coach be stuck with the recruits Donigan had already lined up?
When a coach is released, IIRC, you have the option to pull out of your letter of intent
A school like Rutgers isn’t going to pull scholarships from kids who already committed. Not sure what he has lined up, but if they singed. The new coach isn’t going to stop them from coming if they want.
Looks like signing dates are typically 1st of Aug and mid-November in all sports NOT football or hoops.
List of verbal commitments. Not sure who if any have signed.
Randy Arrows 2019 MF New Jersey PDA
Harper Cook 2019 MF Allison Park Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Dylan McDermott 2019 MF Rochester New York Empire United
Anthony O'Donnell 2019 MF Staten Island New York PDA
Chris Tiao 2019 D Randolph New Jersey New York Red Bull’s
Randy Arrows 2019 MF New Jersey PDA
Harper Cook 2019 MF Allison Park Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Dylan McDermott 2019 MF Rochester New York Empire United
Anthony O'Donnell 2019 MF Staten Island New York PDA
Chris Tiao 2019 D Randolph New Jersey New York Red Bull’s
From the NLI FAQ section---
The NLI you signed with an institution remains binding if the coach who recruited you leaves the institution with which you signed. When you sign an NLI, you sign with an institution and not with a coach or a specific team.
However, most schools will release the student athlete(very bad PR to not).
OK for some reason I thought there was a difference between the school and firing the coach and the coach leaving on his own but I could be wrong ha ha ha!
Looks like a strong list of candidates and I assume budget is not an issue in attracting any of these guys. Hopefully Hobbs makes the right decision here and the turnaround of men's soccer can commence.
Let’s hire a coach of the caliber that would get consideration from other Big Ten programs if they had an opening. The hire need not be a local guy. Provincial thinking has killed Rutgers Athletics for decades and generations. Get a proven terrific coach with a record of success and a reputation beyond NJ, NY, CT, and PA. Hire like a Big Ten program.
Did you even bother to look at this list of candidates? This is as good of a list as you're going to get.
I am familiar with the past hires around here. Pulling for a “Big Ten” caliber hire this time. The caliber of coach who would get consideration from Maryland and Penn State.
One thing I agree with- we need to get away from "only a Jersey guy" mentality. We are in the B1G. The important thing is they have relationships in the area and can coach. It doesn't matter where they are from.
I have no problem with that - at all - and this this search shows that Hobbs wasn't screwing around when he said "national search."
Agree here, this is a very solid group of candidates. Not sure I find much about Mcelderry that stacks him up with the rest. Took him a long time to win the conference, but they have gotten better the longer he's there.
What is rank relative to each of them in terms of Recruiting prowess. Not fully sold on prior success alone as Donnegan had prior success in St. Louis. Need recruiting to get talent in first and foremost followed by a player developer. All of these folks may have that, but I am not as sure of each of them as candidate (other than Miller).
Question better directed to one of others here such as @Ironhead23 @seansherm or @snowboarder when it comes to recruiting but this list is great, period, Hobbs really can't go wrong with any of the 5 IMHO. Can't keep harping on the "Donigan" thing, IMHO, gotta move forward. Dan's move didn't work here, IMHO, for several reasons and not just recruiting.
I would not assume that money might not eventually be an issue when deciding who to offer the job to. Can't imagine Franks comes at the same salary as Miller.
OK, I'll play. If this is really the list they are all very good candidates;
1. Miller. Love the idea of him at RU for lots of reasons. If we are going to do it right this is the type of guy we want. (hope he's not just interviewing to get better money to stay where he's at)
Tied for 2. Acquista - young, dynamic, a recruiter that kids should want to play for. Like his background.
Tied for 2. McElderry - really great job with the Rams. Built toward consistently really good results...at Fordham?!. He could really improve Rutgers.
4. Jamie Franks - I have him lower because his teams have lunched on lesser competition...feels a little like a DD hire out of Denver.
5. Brandt - Huh? older, only coached at small schools...if he's such a stud why take a job at Hope College this past season? Might be in over his head here...doesn't feel like a B1G hire.
The interviews are really important so who knows.
1. Miller. Love the idea of him at RU for lots of reasons. If we are going to do it right this is the type of guy we want. (hope he's not just interviewing to get better money to stay where he's at)
Tied for 2. Acquista - young, dynamic, a recruiter that kids should want to play for. Like his background.
Tied for 2. McElderry - really great job with the Rams. Built toward consistently really good results...at Fordham?!. He could really improve Rutgers.
4. Jamie Franks - I have him lower because his teams have lunched on lesser competition...feels a little like a DD hire out of Denver.
5. Brandt - Huh? older, only coached at small schools...if he's such a stud why take a job at Hope College this past season? Might be in over his head here...doesn't feel like a B1G hire.
The interviews are really important so who knows.
“Lunched on lesser competition”...You realize he got to the College Cup, right?
“Older” - he’s 56. You did see that Mack Brown just got a head-coaching job again, right?
Not sure if this name has been mentioned, but Jim DeRose, HC at Bradley University. He is a New Jersey native from Cinnaminson. He played for Cinnaminson HS from 1981 to 1984. He played at Johnson State College in Vermont. Played a short stint with the New Mexico Chiles of the old APSL in the early 90s and then moved into coaching. He has been at Bradley for over 20 years and has been to the NCAAs a number of times and produced some MLS talent.
I know it is not a sexy name but he is a NJ guy but with exposure to a lot of talent outside of NJ. His broad exposure to the talent pool outside of the northeast may be something that may help the program.
Your thoughts?
In terms of recruiting ability, the one name here that gives me pause is Brandt. I’m just not sure how quickly he’d be able to shift from the provincial Michigan D3 context of recruiting, to a much higher level of recruiting necessary for success at RU. I’m not gonna say that Brandt isn’t capable, but I think the other candidates seem like they would be able to more seamlessly situate themselves as strong recruiting presences at RU.
Why Miller #1, out of curiosity? I see that a lot on the boards. Is it because of his rep as a recruiter? HC is a much different roll, he may not be as successful, or he could be unreal. He's the wildcard of the bunch to me.
It will be interesting to see where it goes, we all have such vastly differing opinions. I'd be perfectly happy with Acquista, Franks, or Brandt, hesitantly happy with Miller, and blah on McElderry.
He's only been in Michigan a year. He's done it at every level, he'd be fine if he was the choice.
For a variety of reasons certain posters here, understandably so, are automatically going to be putting the guy who is the known best recruiter at the top, regardless of the fact that he has zero head-coaching experience.
In my humble opinion the best candidate is the guy with the best combination of both: experience and recruiting ability.
Was Mike O’Neil from W soccer ever a head coach before taking over for Crooks? I don’t recall.
He is a fantastic recruiter though, I think we can all agree on that!
He is a fantastic recruiter though, I think we can all agree on that!
Interesting comparison, don't think he was. But he was here for as AC Head Coach for 10 years and also the Director of Coaching at PDA. Miller has been a career assistant/scout who moved around. UConn has not been nearly the program they were since he's been there as they were before (not saying that is all his fault at all). His resume confuses me a bit. Career assistant. Not sure why he didn't go from Syracuse to a lower level head job, but to multiple assistant jobs seems odd. I was told he would interview poorly, so maybe that's happened to him in the past. I don't know.
Sean Sherman – I’m going to have to disagree with you.
1) While UConn has not been the program it once was, that’s supposedly why Miller was brought in. Since he started in the summer of 2016, they’ve started to make a comeback. In fact, they made their return to the NCAA tournament this year after a 2 year hiatus. He’s also recruited some ridiculous NJ talent in that time (and previously to Duke).
2) Why would a successful assistant coach at a great D1 program take a “low level head job” vs. waiting for the right opportunity in a Power 5 conference? A few people have stated that he’s lined up to be the next HC at UConn. If he’s good enough to be the UConn Head Coach and can recruit like hell – why wouldn’t Rutgers want him? They must know something you don't know.
3) He’s also worked at Syracuse, Duke, Sporting Kansas City and now UConn. I don’t think you can be a poor interviewer and get those gigs.
1) While UConn has not been the program it once was, that’s supposedly why Miller was brought in. Since he started in the summer of 2016, they’ve started to make a comeback. In fact, they made their return to the NCAA tournament this year after a 2 year hiatus. He’s also recruited some ridiculous NJ talent in that time (and previously to Duke).
2) Why would a successful assistant coach at a great D1 program take a “low level head job” vs. waiting for the right opportunity in a Power 5 conference? A few people have stated that he’s lined up to be the next HC at UConn. If he’s good enough to be the UConn Head Coach and can recruit like hell – why wouldn’t Rutgers want him? They must know something you don't know.
3) He’s also worked at Syracuse, Duke, Sporting Kansas City and now UConn. I don’t think you can be a poor interviewer and get those gigs.
This bothers me just a tad...so far we're lucky with Pikes and, hopefully, will lock him up for a decade before he gets sniped by Yuke-On, but taking a chance with a 2nd one could be risky IMHO. Don't get me wrong, he COULD be a great hire, and the good news is that he didn't attend Yuke-On so maybe not that big of a deal if he's "next in line."
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