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Post by JoshuaC on Oct 23, 2021 15:14:10 GMT -6
The Sun Belt Conference, due to getting more men’s soccer programs with a few new members is rumored to have these teams bring back their men’s soccer league.
1. Marshall #3
2. WVU #25
3. UK #4
4. South Carolina
5. ODU
6. Coastal Carolina
7. Georgia State
8. Georgia Southern
9. James Madison #23
Would soccer at UL or ULM succeed in this serious D1 conference? Marshall won the national championship last year. Either one of these schools could start the first D1 men’s soccer team and compete in what seems like a fantastic conference of teams.
Travel would be unfortunate as all games would be on the east coast so it would have to be very popular to produce a profit I assume.
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Post by OPHSLadyLions on Oct 24, 2021 20:24:55 GMT -6
I can't see a world where ULM ever has a D1 men's team. I think the number 1 reason would be money.
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Post by premier on Oct 25, 2021 9:06:25 GMT -6
I can't see a world where ULM ever has a D1 men's team. I think the number 1 reason would be money. When I went to ULM about 8-10 years ago, we barely could field a decent college club team. ULM also had the lowest athletic budget of any D1 team in the nation if I remember correctly. It would take serious recruiting to get players to go to ULM for men's soccer and the budget will probably never be there to accommodate such (not including the extra travel costs associated with an entirely new college team for the away games). I can see where the Sun Belt East division would have their own conference for soccer and add a few teams like UK and South Carolina, but the rest of the conference is lacking in the men's soccer department (Texas St, Ark St, ULL, ULM, Troy) |
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Post by usasoccerboy on Oct 25, 2021 9:26:51 GMT -6
I can't see a world where ULM ever has a D1 men's team. I think the number 1 reason would be money. ULM (formerly Northeast LA) along with Nicholls and UNO had successful Div I soccer programs in the eighties before we qualified for the 1990 World Cup, during the death of soccer period. All 3 programs were eliminated not because of money, but because of politics and Title 9. I think Roger Bimah (E. D. White head coach) played for northeast LA soccer then and then assisted his brother Lester, when they were the coaches of Nicholls in the eighties. Talk to Roger Bimah if you want an accurate history lesson of those days. Researching on the internet, I found this: ULM had a men’s soccer program from 1979 to 1985. The program achieved considerable success (a 67-43- 5 record) under coach Jim Kane, but was discontinued in 1985. Some stars of ULM men’s soccer include Wayne Williams, Marty Buckheimer, and Tom Cooper. 1985 may be too early for title 9 so maybe finances did make the program dissolve. Back in those days, Louisiana colleges were more academic then than they are now and were not full of bogus programs like social work which are just academic studies for people who cannot pass in psychology. Also, agricultural studies were more prominent than they are now. This was before leftist indoctrination, postmodernism, took over American universities. |
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Post by JoshuaC on Oct 25, 2021 12:23:29 GMT -6
Good discussion. I mentioned ULL and ULM simply because they are in the Sun Belt, but it clear that the Sun Belt East has their interests in mind which I don't blame them.
Nobody in the Sun Belt West has a men's soccer team so it makes sense as to why they are left out. Travel would be a nightmare unless we were raking in big time cash which I doubt these sports would at the collegiate level in Louisiana, but a man can dream.
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Post by viewgator91 on Oct 25, 2021 12:34:39 GMT -6
Wouldn't it be amazing if all this NIL stuff could absorb some of the 85 scholarships from the football team to reallocate to other men's sports? Then we could have D1 soccer at more schools and still follow title IX laws??
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Post by usasoccerboy on Oct 27, 2021 15:24:19 GMT -6
Good discussion. I mentioned ULL and ULM simply because they are in the Sun Belt, but it clear that the Sun Belt East has their interests in mind which I don't blame them. Nobody in the Sun Belt West has a men's soccer team so it makes sense as to why they are left out. Travel would be a nightmare unless we were raking in big time cash which I doubt these sports would at the collegiate level in Louisiana, but a man can dream. Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama each need a few schools to start programs for it to be feasible. SouthEast Texas too. The Deep South has always been a wasteland for college men’s soccer since Title IX. What Athletic Directors refuse to admit is that men’s soccer draws fans to their games in that it is not unusual to get 2,000 to 3,000 for many games. That can make it more profitable than say other programs like Tennis or Golf or Cross Country, yet those programs are funded, but not soccer. The only real reason is that soccer is a step child to these Athletic Directors, because they think it interferes with Football. It doesn’t help soccer that the season is played during football season. Personally, myself, I wish college soccer was 9 months long, and had less games per week. Start in the fall, take a break in the winter, and play through the spring. Then you would get closer to what is needed to advance the game in this country. As it is now, college soccer is hampering development more than it helps, as it impedes development of tactical soccer due to too many games being played in too short a time which means less practices between games. Proper development calls for a game to be played, coaches break down game film and then develop practices geared to previous games insufficiencies. Hopefully this leads to the later games being better tactical matches which not only draws more fan interest, but teaches players to play better soccer and once they get to that point, to keep playing at that higher level. Playing 30 games in a two or three month span is not ideal. |
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Post by CoachD on Oct 27, 2021 19:29:50 GMT -6
When I went to ULM about 8-10 years ago, we barely could field a decent college club team. We had a pretty good club team when I was there in the late 90's until they added the women's program. It was made up of mostly international students. The first ULM women's coach had something against us after her first year and took our goals and wouldn't let us use the field we had always used. Team fell apart after that. Just found this article about the history of ULM soccer ulmwarhawks.com/news/2015/6/21/210159495 |
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