Coaching changes for 2021

[PlaySimple]

I didn't see a new thread for '21 so here goes...

NCAA Jobs website is listing an opening for a women's head coach at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania https://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs/14347122/head-women-s-soccer-coach

This is a little confusing since Pam Monnier is still listed on the Allegheny website as being the head coach. https://alleghenygators.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/pam-monnier/1128

If they are looking for a head coach this should be a decent opportunity for someone. Allegheny has solid academics and is in close proximity to good clubs in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland/Akron that have talented players.

I'm also hearing rumors that there may be some openings over the next few months at some prominent schools in the Midwest/Central region. I don't want to name the schools yet since there is nothing definite.

[PlaySimple]

Illinois Wesleyan is open. This is a bit of a surprise. It should be a good opportunity for someone. IWU has been a consistently strong program over the past 20 years and is a solid school from an academic standpoint.

https://www.iwusports.com/news/2021/2/19/womens-soccer-tony-dulak-resigns-from-position-at-iwu.aspx

[PlaySimple]

Is there any word on the Illinois Wesleyan position? Here in Chicago, I haven't heard much but I also haven't asked around.

I'm also curious why the sudden resignation of the previous coach at IWU. Does anyone have any insight into that? The timing of it, and for the length of time that he was at IWU, seems a bit odd.

[Stryker]

Vassar coach has just announced that she is leaving the school and that a nationwide search for new coach will commence.

[PlaySimple]

Is there any word on the Illinois Wesleyan position? Here in Chicago, I haven't heard much but I also haven't asked around.

I'm also curious why the sudden resignation of the previous coach at IWU. Does anyone have any insight into that? The timing of it, and for the length of time that he was at IWU, seems a bit odd.

Illinois Wesleyan made a great hire:

https://www.iwusports.com/news/2021/5/18/womens-soccer-keri-sanchez-named-iwus-head-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

Sanchez was most recently an AC at Texas and prior to that was the head coach at Claremont Mudd Scripps for 13 years. In reading her bio it sounds as if she spent a lot of time with clubs and was involved with training club-aged kids. Collegiately she played at UNC under Anson Dorrance and was a contributing member on 2 national championship teams while earning All-American status. Amazingly, UNC was 97-1-1 in the time that Sanchez was there. She also spent some time playing professionally.

This sounds like the type of hire that IWU should have made after long-time coach Dave Barrett left to become the HC at D1 Fairfield.

I did ask around a bit and while it probably would not be appropriate to share everything that I heard since it is hearsay, it was pretty well known in the soccer community that the last coach was a bit out of his element and there were some worries that the program was starting to slip a bit. From what I heard, he also didn't put a lot of effort into the job. With the hire of Sanchez, IWU should be back to where they were. Barrett also was known for bringing kids in from across the country rather than just the Illinois and greater Chicagoland areas. It seems with Sanchez, and her seemingly extensive contacts, they'll get back to that.

[blue_jays]

The legend Pete Felske at Wheaton College has announced his retirement.
https://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2021/6/10/womens-soccer-pete-felske-announces-his-retirement-as-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

525 wins, top 5 win total in NCAA history (all divisions). 3 national titles with some of the greatest D3 teams ever assembled. That 2007 squad is the best team in D3 history and you won't change my mind on that.

Congrats to Pete on his retirement, he will be greatly missed.

[PlaySimple]

The legend Pete Felske at Wheaton College has announced his retirement.
https://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2021/6/10/womens-soccer-pete-felske-announces-his-retirement-as-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

525 wins, top 5 win total in NCAA history (all divisions). 3 national titles with some of the greatest D3 teams ever assembled. That 2007 squad is the best team in D3 history and you won't change my mind on that.

Congrats to Pete on his retirement, he will be greatly missed.

Felske is definitely a legend.

I remembered that Wheaton had an undefeated team that won the National Championship sometime in the late 2000s. I looked up that 2007 team. They finished 27-0, scored 105 goals, and only yielded 13 goals. Only two teams scored more than one goal against them the entire season - U of Chicago and Illinois Wesleyan each scored 2 goals in those contests. They had close games against Chicago, IWU, Augustana, UW-Eau Claire, Wash U, and a 1-0 win over Messiah in the NC game.

It's too bad that the women couldn't get at least a few games in this past spring like some of the other CCIW schools did.

[WLCALUM83]

Rockford U (NACC) has a new coach:

https://www.naccsports.org/sports/wsoc/2021-22/releases/20210630ns06ux

[Ron Boerger]

Wow - WashU HC Scanlon leaves a few weeks before the start of the season to head up the program at Grand Valley State.  Guess you can't blame him for taking a job offer from the defending D2 champions, but it certainly leaves the Bears in a unenviable position.

https://www.washubears.com/sports/wsoc/2021-22/releases/20210730h3my1v

[PlaySimple]

Wow - WashU HC Conlon leaves a few weeks before the start of the season to head up the program at Grand Valley State.  Guess you can't blame him for taking a job offer from the defending D2 champions, but it certainly leaves the Bears in a unenviable position.

https://www.washubears.com/sports/wsoc/2021-22/releases/20210730h3my1v

Before I start, I fixed his name for you.

That's a bit of a shock.

Wash U is a great school and I'm confident that they'll get a good coach. Because WashU has such great academics, getting top-level players, that have the smarts to be admitted and some of which also have the skill to play at a higher level, makes that aspect of the job a bit easier. Schools like Chicago and others in the UAA and the NESCAC are in a similar position. That said, and for that very reason, the pool of players that can qualify to attend a school of WashU's caliber can also be restricted.

I'm curious about the salary. Conlon was at WashU for 12 years and I would think that he was being compensated fairly well. He's going to find that he will be recruiting a different type of student-athlete to GVSU than he was accustomed to recruiting to WashU. GVSU is not a bad academic school but it's not even close to a school like WashU. It's really more similar to the schools that are found in the D1 Mid American Conference - not great but fairly solid overall. Surprisingly there are a lot of kids that could play D1 that would rather play at GVSU. It will be interesting to see how Conlon does but he should do well.

[WLCALUM83]

Keene State (Little East Conference) has a new coach:

https://keeneowls.com/sports/wsoc?path=wsoc (latest item-should be first one up on the scroll at the moment.)

[cciw83]

That is a big surprise about Conlon at Washington U. It was always impressive the quality of student-Athletes they had based on the cost and academic requirements of Washington U..
You look at the top 15 or so women's teams and they always have a mix of players that could have played at some level of D1. Give a lot of credit to the coaches for their hard work in recruiting and the schools for finding these type of student athletes that usually have to meet tough academic standards.