SimpleCoach D3 Soccer YouTube Channel

[SimpleCoach]

Dr. Jay Martin.  Need I say more.

Jay Martin, Ohio Wesleyan University

[Saint of Old]

One of the nicest guys in the business.

Michael Toshack, Head Men's Coach at St. Lawrence University

Coach Tosh.
By far a man you would want to havea beer with more than any coach doing it now. Not a bad  coach either.
Now, he has found his sea legs its really bad news for the rest of the liberty league and many teams in the  country.

Marvin Sibanda might just be the all-time SLU GOAT man, and I played with some goats,   kid is not normal,  his comfort level with the ball is the best I have seen from anyone in D3.

[PaulNewman]

Dr. Jay Martin.  Need I say more.

Jay Martin, Ohio Wesleyan University

I apologize in advance for being so weak.

First, kudos to Martin on his substitution comments.  And the pro-overtime folks got a little something as well.

It is just astounding to me how much Martin must despise Kenyon and Brown.  At least this time, because he was basically cornered by a "state of the NCAC question," he managed to get the word 'Kenyon' out of his mouth like three times.  But given the overall landscape his comments were disappointing if not downright sad...."a solid program"...."after us, Denison, Wittenberg, and Wooster for years, Kenyon kind of snuck in there."  Snuck in there?  Forget the 90s?  The entire past decade is a "sneak in"? 

As the unquestioned greatest coach in D3 history and maybe in any college division, at one of the top 2-3 programs in D3 history, how about being just a bit more magnanimous?  How about lifting both/all boats?  How about praising the great rivalry that has developed into inarguably one of the top 3-4 rivalries in D3?  I don't expect him to say that no team in his 46 years has had more success against OWU over an entire decade than Kenyon has, but he certainly would not detract from OWU's phenomenal reputation at all by throwing a bone to the Owls' record of achievement since they "snuck in."  Btw, he wasn't particularly gracious about MW either. 

I have been meaning to post since SC asked for feedback on ideas/topics for the coming year.  He received some good ideas but I think there is a larger issue.

SC is gonna keep doing his thing regardless.  The bigger issue to me is what happens to D3soccer.com and this board.  I would hope that the parties involved could arrive at some resolution before the season begins.  Imo an ideal resolution would involve an integration of D3soccer.com, the soccer board, and the SC channel.  One person might be able to conduct the symphony, but one person cannot (or at least should not have to) do all the content and behind the scenes work.

Now is the time.

[jknezek]

SC is gonna keep doing his thing regardless.  The bigger issue to me is what happens to D3soccer.com and this board.  I would hope that the parties involved could arrive at some resolution before the season begins.  Imo an ideal resolution would involve an integration of D3soccer.com, the soccer board, and the SC channel.  One person might be able to conduct the symphony, but one person cannot (or at least should not have to) do all the content and behind the scenes work.

Now is the time.

Managing an active website like d3soccer.com is a big chore. It requires some specialized knowledge, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. The current crew has asked for years for volunteers and has gotten relatively little help. I threw in some time to help with the poll, but it was pretty limited. Someone with a real passion, and real technical expertise, and real time, to devote to a hobby that is going to cost money is the answer. But that someone is few and far between.

I suspect most of us look around and say what I say... it certainly isn't going to be me.

[PaulNewman]

SC is gonna keep doing his thing regardless.  The bigger issue to me is what happens to D3soccer.com and this board.  I would hope that the parties involved could arrive at some resolution before the season begins.  Imo an ideal resolution would involve an integration of D3soccer.com, the soccer board, and the SC channel.  One person might be able to conduct the symphony, but one person cannot (or at least should not have to) do all the content and behind the scenes work.

Now is the time.

Managing an active website like d3soccer.com is a big chore. It requires some specialized knowledge, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. The current crew has asked for years for volunteers and has gotten relatively little help. I threw in some time to help with the poll, but it was pretty limited. Someone with a real passion, and real technical expertise, and real time, to devote to a hobby that is going to cost money is the answer. But that someone is few and far between.

I suspect most of us look around and say what I say... it certainly isn't going to be me.

Understood....and....it certainly isn't going to be me!  That's why I was careful to underscore that too much cannot be put on a single person which is my fear about SC.  Obviously, there have to be some primary player/players (and it seems that SC certainly should be one if he wants), but I think we've learned that there are a fair number of us willing to commit to smaller but fairly regular roles (like a poll, column, conference and/or regional coverage, etc).  But if there are behind the scenes convos that tend to happen in August, September, and November, I'm suggesting that they happen in February, March, and April.  Every year for the past few years is almost the last year or supposedly the last year.  Maybe reaching that milestone needs to go ahead and happen before anything else (or nothing) can happen or whoever might be interested can set up shop in a new neighborhood.  What's that therapy word?  Closure....closure allows new beginnings. 

[Gregory Sager]

SC is gonna keep doing his thing regardless.  The bigger issue to me is what happens to D3soccer.com and this board.  I would hope that the parties involved could arrive at some resolution before the season begins.  Imo an ideal resolution would involve an integration of D3soccer.com, the soccer board, and the SC channel.  One person might be able to conduct the symphony, but one person cannot (or at least should not have to) do all the content and behind the scenes work.

Now is the time.

Managing an active website like d3soccer.com is a big chore. It requires some specialized knowledge, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. The current crew has asked for years for volunteers and has gotten relatively little help. I threw in some time to help with the poll, but it was pretty limited. Someone with a real passion, and real technical expertise, and real time, to devote to a hobby that is going to cost money is the answer. But that someone is few and far between.

I suspect most of us look around and say what I say... it certainly isn't going to be me.

Nor is it going to be Pat Coleman. He had d3soccer.com for awhile as part of the overall d3sports.com group, but he allowed it to be hived off into an independent online entity in outside hands because he didn't have the time, energy, or interest to do it justice. Running d3football.com takes a lot of work, and Pat is a football guy first and foremost with neither the expertise in nor the affinity for soccer to double his workload during football season. Pat kept the soccer boards here in the d3sports.com family, because there were enough crossover posters to warrant it and because it gave Christan and Jim one less thing to worry about, but I wouldn't expect Pat to come in and bail out d3soccer.com. And I completely understand and sympathize with his position, even though I dearly wish that someone with the technical expertise and the funding would save d3soccer.com.

[4samuy]

Does anyone have a clue as to what the funding would look like?

[Gregory Sager]

Perhaps Christan Shirk can step in here and respond to that question.

[4samuy]

Yeah

I just emailed him.  Thanks

[SimpleCoach]

As promised.  A follow up to "So You Want to Play D3 Soccer?"

You Still Want to Play Division III Soccer?

[Kuiper]

As promised.  A follow up to "So You Want to Play D3 Soccer?"

You Still Want to Play Division III Soccer?

Great additions to last year's recruiting video.  Couple of points that occurred to me as I was listening to your episode:

- Being honest about where you qualify academically has gotten harder because so many schools are test optional. The schools that are permanently test optional (or test blind like UC Santa Cruz and the rest of the UCs) are more committed to that then the schools that are still in a pandemic-era experiment.  The latter schools' admissions departments will sometimes still ask for test scores for the pre-read process.  As you said, coaches have a lot less pull than some parents/students might assume.  In fact, they may have less pull at top academic D3 schools than almost any other NCAA or NAIA division.  That's why coaches try to weed out on the front end, but you can help by being realistic in what schools you target too.

- I"m not sure it's quite as true as it used to be that there's a place in D3 men's soccer for every player as you suggested (although I appreciate you're being nice and encouraging!).  It may be technically true if a player is willing to go anywhere and/or willing to never play a regular season game (i.e., not including the spring game or the reserves), but the reality is that the quality of D3 has improved substantially.  These days, it's not just the top ranked D3 soccer programs that are flooded with strong players interested in playing for them.  There are top players all over the place.  The harm with the "there is a place for everyone" mantra is that it suggests D3 men's soccer is a safety option, which is part of how some players convince themselves that they can try D1 and go D3 if that doesn't work out or that they don't have to expend much effort to get on a D3 roster.  We're kind of at the point where players need to be warned that they need to hustle with D3 schools from the outset because that's what the successful D3 recruits are doing.

[Newenglander]

As promised.  A follow up to "So You Want to Play D3 Soccer?"

You Still Want to Play Division III Soccer?

Great additions to last year's recruiting video.  Couple of points that occurred to me as I was listening to your episode:

- Being honest about where you qualify academically has gotten harder because so many schools are test optional. The schools that are permanently test optional (or test blind like UC Santa Cruz and the rest of the UCs) are more committed to that then the schools that are still in a pandemic-era experiment.  The latter schools' admissions departments will sometimes still ask for test scores for the pre-read process.  As you said, coaches have a lot less pull than some parents/students might assume.  In fact, they may have less pull at top academic D3 schools than almost any other NCAA or NAIA division.  That's why coaches try to weed out on the front end, but you can help by being realistic in what schools you target too.

- I"m not sure it's quite as true as it used to be that there's a place in D3 men's soccer for every player as you suggested (although I appreciate you're being nice and encouraging!).  It may be technically true if a player is willing to go anywhere and/or willing to never play a regular season game (i.e., not including the spring game or the reserves), but the reality is that the quality of D3 has improved substantially.  These days, it's not just the top ranked D3 soccer programs that are flooded with strong players interested in playing for them.  There are top players all over the place.  The harm with the "there is a place for everyone" mantra is that it suggests D3 men's soccer is a safety option, which is part of how some players convince themselves that they can try D1 and go D3 if that doesn't work out or that they don't have to expend much effort to get on a D3 roster.  We're kind of at the point where players need to be warned that they need to hustle with D3 schools from the outset because that's what the successful D3 recruits are doing.

Great follow up here - the D3 competition has certainly stepped up and to be honest some of their timelines are even shorter as alot of the High academic schools want their players to apply ED as that is where they get the most sway........thats the only piece missing for me is a realistic timeline of when all these activities should be happening - yes there are outliers but overall you should have a good feel by Summer going into your senior league of what your realistic options are.....

[Ejay]

I think asking the coaches what their style of play is, is useless.  Every coach my son talked to said they like to possess the ball but will adapt as the game dictates.  I've now seen a lot of those teams play and it's clear that some don't like to play possession. Well, maybe they do when playing a largely inferior team, but I wouldn't put any weight on the answer to that question.

[Saint of Old]

I think asking the coaches what their style of play is, is useless.  Every coach my son talked to said they like to possess the ball but will adapt as the game dictates.  I've now seen a lot of those teams play and it's clear that some don't like to play possession. Well, maybe they do when playing a largely inferior team, but I wouldn't put any weight on the answer to that question.

Well, unlike the 80s or even late 90s when I played, these answers actually  are legitimate.
A coach cannot come in and say "we play possession" , when all games are broadcast and can be seen by everyone.
For example, Coach Tosh from SLU not only explained his style of play, but SC was able to play clips of SLU games playing possession during the interview.
Now I hear you, coaches always like to say they play the ball on the ground, but one just has to watch a team like Mary Washington to see that the proof is in the pudding.

[Spartan94]

SC is gonna keep doing his thing regardless.  The bigger issue to me is what happens to D3soccer.com and this board.  I would hope that the parties involved could arrive at some resolution before the season begins.  Imo an ideal resolution would involve an integration of D3soccer.com, the soccer board, and the SC channel.  One person might be able to conduct the symphony, but one person cannot (or at least should not have to) do all the content and behind the scenes work.

Now is the time.

Managing an active website like d3soccer.com is a big chore. It requires some specialized knowledge, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. The current crew has asked for years for volunteers and has gotten relatively little help. I threw in some time to help with the poll, but it was pretty limited. Someone with a real passion, and real technical expertise, and real time, to devote to a hobby that is going to cost money is the answer. But that someone is few and far between.

I suspect most of us look around and say what I say... it certainly isn't going to be me.

Nor is it going to be Pat Coleman. He had d3soccer.com for awhile as part of the overall d3sports.com group, but he allowed it to be hived off into an independent online entity in outside hands because he didn't have the time, energy, or interest to do it justice. Running d3football.com takes a lot of work, and Pat is a football guy first and foremost with neither the expertise in nor the affinity for soccer to double his workload during football season. Pat kept the soccer boards here in the d3sports.com family, because there were enough crossover posters to warrant it and because it gave Christan and Jim one less thing to worry about, but I wouldn't expect Pat to come in and bail out d3soccer.com. And I completely understand and sympathize with his position, even though I dearly wish that someone with the technical expertise and the funding would save d3soccer.com.

Agreed that is too much for any one person to coordinate and gather information for.  Any thoughts if multiple people represented regions or even leagues that they were geographically close to so they could watch games/speak with coaches or players?  Having a network of Asst Coaches or even HS coaches that could do this might be the way to go?  I think on the old site there are even articles specific to regions like "Upstate Update" which covered upstate NY ...  I am in the South Shore of Boston/Mass and would be willing to cover a region here for content... but like you said, would need someone to be the higher level "Coordinator" with the knowledge of how to monetize and run the site.