IIAC 2013

Started by Puerco Espin, July 03, 2013, 12:38:32 AM

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KingDuhawk

Loras Men's Soccer Releases 2014 Schedule // http://www.duhawks.com/article/1296.php

lastguyoffthebench


Strong schedule...

Midwest Soccer

"Being able to play a school like Drake is huge for us because a lot of times we're recruiting against them," Rothert said. "For us to be able to say to a future recruit 'Hey, we beat this team you're looking at even though we're Division III,' can be a big selling point."

IMO, players don't choose the college you go to and ultimately earn your degree from based on winning a pre-season soccer game. The same can be said if they lost that game too, I doubt a recruit will say "Hmm Loras lost to Drake, I guess I need to go to Drake now." You make your selection based off a million other things like the culture of the programs (I'd venture to guess there's a better soccer culture at Loras), where can you get on the field quicker, do they have my major, etc.. I agree that it's a big selling point for Loras to play Division 1 teams in pre-season, that always gets the team pumped up because you feel like you have so much to prove but to say that pre-season game has big recruiting implications is a bit ridiculous IMO.

"We whole-heartedly believe that we are a Division I soccer program participating at a Division III school."

How do you figure that you're a Division 1 program Coach Rothert?

Bottom line: You're not a Division 1 soccer program.

- Can you beat some of them? Absolutely Yes.
- Do you have players that were recruited by D1 schools? Yes.
- Are you a D1 program? No.

I'm sure Coach Rothert runs great trainings but just because you run a good training and have a culture and identity within your program and are capable of knocking off some D1 teams doesn't make you a "Division 1 program". All in all, I HUGELY respect what Loras has done over the last 8 years. However, you still haven't gotten over the Final 4 hump so to call yourself a Division 1 program is a stretch and a bit arrogant for my taste. I'd love to hear the reasoning for why we should consider Loras a Division 1 program. (I hope it's more than "we beat Drake in a pre-season game 4-3 the year after they went to the elite 8).

Puerco Espin

How many Division I programs are complete garbage? For a Division III program to play at the Division I level, they don't need to win conference championships or national championships.

You're correct that Loras has yet to get over the Final Four hump, but I don't feel that disqualifies them from the idea of being able to compete at the Division I level. Just as you say it's arrogant for Loras to believe that they are a Division I program at a Division III school, it's just as pompous to say they don't belong.

Discount the Drake game all you want for it being preseason. Understandable. Do you believe that Western Illinois is going to bend over and just not care about their match on October 13?

Even though Western was 6-13 in 2013, 10 of their 13 losses came by a single goal. In 2012, they advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Wisconsin. Are they a top tier Division I program? No, but I don't think anyone is trying to say that they are.

And one last little tidbit ...

8x Iowa Conference Champions
9x NCAA Tournament Qualifier (All consecutive)
3x NCAA Sweet 16
4x NCAA Final Four

In 17 seasons as the men's head coach, Rothert has a career record of 255-86-19, which equates to a .735 winning percentage.

Since 2007, Loras Men have gone 138-22-12, totaling 20 wins in four of the seven seasons.

Are there coaches out there that have stronger records? Sure (McCarty, Brandt, Martin), but I think he's got some room to be confident.
NCAA Final Four: 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015
NCAA Sweet 16: 2005, 2009, 2010, 2014
NCAA Tournament: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
IIAC Champions: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Madhatter5

Having a D1 school on your schedule is a lot better looking than having some scrub team on your schedule for a D3 program. It's something that the recruiting staff can point at and say, "We want to compete against better programs all the time to make our team a better program. We want our players to compete against better players to make themselves a better player. We think you are a player who can do that and we want you a part of what we are doing."

You're right Loras has a phenomenal soccer culture and to keep that culture vibrant you mustn't be complacent and play the same teams over and over but mix it up a bit and grow the culture. By competing against D1 programs, who have a bigger net to cast to recruit talent no matter the school, you do that. And in my opinion, competing against higher level programs at a higher level and having your end goal of a national championship every year is #1, #2, #3 on all soccer kids list followed by how pretty the campus looks and if they have the useless major you want to take and then change from after year two...

Rothert saying Loras is a D1 program in D3 is all about mentality. If you don't honestly believe you are that good and that you can win against D1 programs than you shouldn't even walk into the locker room day 1 of spring training. What does it take to be a D1 program? Winning a national championship in a lower league??? No, a bunch of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. But thank you for pointing out that Loras really is in the Third Division of the NCAA....

What team do you cheer for anyways Midwest??? I feel there's some bad blood behind that keyboard of yours :'( 

Midwest Soccer

I cheer for everyone. It just bothers me that good D3 programs feel the need to compare themselves to Division 1 programs publicly. Some things that are said in the locker room should stay there. That mentality of being better than D1 schools is absolutely necessary and in the locker room you preach that as much as you can cause it's part of your culture. Completely agree with you that if you don't have that mentality then don't show up for training cause you don't belong at 1 of the better programs. It just comes off like a little napoleon complex/arrogant to me to publicly say that. You don't see McCarty, Brandt, Martin (simply to name the coaches you used) publicly saying the same things.

These are simply just my opinions. I have no bad blood towards Loras. I root for any teams from the Midwest.

I would have said all those same things to any other D3 program that said the same thing, Rothert's quotes were just readily available.




lastguyoffthebench

http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=csoc2013&sub=12801

Subjective mumbo jumbo... Loras was ranked 116, Drake 117 across all
Divisions.

   

PaulNewman

Interesting list.

Top 25 D3s on list as follows.

Messiah
Rutgers-C
Amherst
Loras
OWU
Trinity (TX)
Montclair St
York
Williams
Franklin & Marshall
Stevens
Salisbury
Kenyon
Rochester
Dickinson
St Lawrence
Wartburg
Calvin
DePauw
Rutgers-N
Carnegie Mellon
Wheaton (Ill)
Hope
Luther
Ohio Northern

Next 10 includes Oberlin, Randolph, Carleton, Bowdoin, Conn College, Misericordia, GAC, WI Oshkosh, Brandeis, Coll of NJ

Madhatter5

Some things that are said in a locker room should stay in the locker room. This is not something that needs to be so. If Rothert thinks his program is skilled, confident, and mentally strong enough to be a D1 program than that's good to hear as a former player, current player, and prospective player. Unfortunately, or fortunately however you want to look at it, there is no real way to adequately gage that or prove that besides what he believes.

You not having a team you support is another story I won't get into but did you at least play/involved in a collegiate sport?

Nice to see according to that massey ratings that Loras is above a large amount of D1 schools.

Midwest Soccer

Yes, I played college soccer. You could say I root for NCAC teams more-so than others but I enjoy seeing midwest teams do well when it comes to the tournament.