Coaching changes for 2022

[Ron Boerger]

New year, new thread, starting with a big one from the ASC:

Hardin-Simmons Coach Marcus Wood (387-44-32 in 22 seasons with 20 ASC championships) steps down for position at D2 Dallas Baptist University.

[PlaySimple]

Keri Sanchez has left Illinois Wesleyan for Colorado College after only serving one season for the Titans.

https://cctigers.com/news/2021/12/27/womens-soccer-four-time-ncaa-champion-and-us-national-team-player-keri-sanchez-named-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

I initially thought that this was a strange hire for Colorado College but it makes a lot of sense. Colorado College is a D3 school in all sports except men's hockey and women's soccer. Academically, it is more like a D3 school and has difficult admission standards. Sanchez has extensive coaching experience at the D3 level being that she was the HC at C-M-S for 13 years and last year at IWU. Additionally, she was a D1 AC at Oregon and Texas.

Sanchez was an excellent hire for IWU but she has an opportunity that would be difficult for her to pass up. If she was able to stay at IWU for a bit of time she more than likely would have been able to make a difference. Sanchez inherited a mess of a program at IWU due to the incompetence of the previous HC. He was a poor hire after Dave Barrett left to take the HC position at Fairfield after serving as the Titans' HC for 17 years. The success that the previous HC had at IWU was due solely to Barrett's work. IWU really needs to get the next hire right.

[PlaySimple]

New year, new thread, starting with a big one from the ASC:

Hardin-Simmons Coach Marcus Wood (387-44-32 in 22 seasons with 20 ASC championships) steps down for position at D2 Dallas Baptist University.

I've heard speculation that the current Louisiana-Lafayette coach may end up at Hardin-Simmons. That is only speculation from some so I am not sure about the veracity of it. I guess we'll see. It is definitely a good job and should attract some great candidates.

Also a great job, WashU remains open. I am sure that there is no shortage of great candidates and Wash U can afford to be rather selective. After Jim Conlon went to Grand Valley State, WashU was wise not to rush a decision by appointing an interim. The program at WashU is in great shape and gets the interest of a ton of top-quality players that want to play there and attend one of the finest academic institutions in the country.

TCNJ is still open. This would seem to be another great job with a lot of high-quality candidates applying. Prior to this past season, Joe Russo had compiled a 535-66-44 record at TCNJ which is pretty remarkable. TCNJ also made the D3 finals this past season before going down to Christopher Newport. As with WashU, TCNJ can afford to be rather selective. Also as with WashU, a lot of strong players want to play at TCNJ.

I was persuing the NCAA job market website and noticed a few other D3 openings that aren't quite as notable as the aforementioned ones.

Suffolk University, Boston
Franklin Univesity, Franklin, IN
Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill, NY
Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN

The Franklin job looked like it would also require the women's soccer coach to be the assistant strength & conditioning coach. Additionally, it was one of the few jobs that listed a salary. The salary was rather vague and only stated "$40,000+" I was surprised that Franklin would list a salary. Normally schools will only state "commensurate with experience" when a salary is listed. At $40K I would think they'll have a difficult time hiring a top-quality candidate.

I'm surprised that Illinois Wesleyan does not have a listing unless they already have a candidate in mind. The position has been open since Christmas. I would think that IWU should attract some quality candidates though there has been some instability there since Dave Barrett left after the 2017 season. The outgoing coach, Keri Sanchez, probably left the program in better shape than her predecessor left it for her.

[Ron Boerger]

New year, new thread, starting with a big one from the ASC:

Hardin-Simmons Coach Marcus Wood (387-44-32 in 22 seasons with 20 ASC championships) steps down for position at D2 Dallas Baptist University.

I've heard speculation that the current Louisiana-Lafayette coach may end up at Hardin-Simmons. That is only speculation from some so I am not sure about the veracity of it. I guess we'll see. It is definitely a good job and should attract some great candidates.

Lance Key (Trinity(TX) '00; 34 starts in as many games in two seasons with Colorado Rapids as the only D3 player drafted by MLS in 2000) was HC at his alma mater for 13 years.  Rolled up a 209-20-18 record before leaving for an assistant position at the University of Texas after the 2015-16 season.  I think he was only at UT for a year before trying his hand at non-soccer endeavors, returning to his passion with UL-L for the 2019 season, where he dramatically improved a perennial loser but has not had the success he saw at Trinity (6-10-3 so far this year after basically .500 seasons the previous two years).  You'd think it would be a big pay cut, unless he sees the writing on the wall at UL-L or really wants to get back to D3.

[keepemout22]

Keri Sanchez has left Illinois Wesleyan for Colorado College after only serving one season for the Titans.

https://cctigers.com/news/2021/12/27/womens-soccer-four-time-ncaa-champion-and-us-national-team-player-keri-sanchez-named-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

I initially thought that this was a strange hire for Colorado College but it makes a lot of sense. Colorado College is a D3 school in all sports except men's hockey and women's soccer. Academically, it is more like a D3 school and has difficult admission standards. Sanchez has extensive coaching experience at the D3 level being that she was the HC at C-M-S for 13 years and last year at IWU. Additionally, she was a D1 AC at Oregon and Texas.

Sanchez was an excellent hire for IWU but she has an opportunity that would be difficult for her to pass up. If she was able to stay at IWU for a bit of time she more than likely would have been able to make a difference. Sanchez inherited a mess of a program at IWU due to the incompetence of the previous HC. He was a poor hire after Dave Barrett left to take the HC position at Fairfield after serving as the Titans' HC for 17 years. The success that the previous HC had at IWU was due solely to Barrett's work. IWU really needs to get the next hire right.

I heard from a source close to the program that both coaches, after Dave, struggled to imprint their style and wanted to push the students more, but were not supported by the administrative staff.  Early morning practice and fitness standards were met with resistance from the players and an AD willing to comply to keep the students happy. 

[PlaySimple]

I heard from a source close to the program that both coaches, after Dave, struggled to imprint their style and wanted to push the students more, but were not supported by the administrative staff.  Early morning practice and fitness standards were met with resistance from the players and an AD willing to comply to keep the students happy.

That could well be true about Sanchez but my sources, which are reputable and I have no reason to doubt, said that the coach that immediately followed Dave Barrett was totally out of his element. The success that he had was solely due to the recruiting Barrett did and the imprint and work ethic that he put on the program. It is really hard to imagine a coach that held players more accountable than Barrett did, He is a no-nonsense type of guy. Additionally, I was told that he only put a token effort into the recruiting side of things. The players that were at IWU under Barrett would try to hold others accountable (those that were not exposed to Barrett) and they balked. Once all of the players that played under Barrett at some point were out of the program, it was noticeable. There were other issues with him as well. I was told that the school was looking at starting an investigation into some of the issues and he resigned prior to that happening. All in all, he sounds like he was a bad hire and the coach that comes in will have some work to do. The coach that followed Barrett walked into a good situation and did not work hard to maintain or improve it. Sanchez walked into a mess. She also made some effort on the recruiting front but it will remain to be seen if those players will want to be at IWU without Sanchez being there. I monitor the pulse of the soccer scene in Chicagoland and beyond and have no reason to doubt what I know.

It will be interesting to see who ends up at IWU. It could be a good job for someone but getting someone that had the success of Barrett may be difficult. The school has decent academics and the facilities are good and better than many D3 schools. Sure, there are other schools with better facilities but many D3 schools don't have a dedicated grass field as IWU does. In terms of recruiting, IWU should be able to get high-quality players. Barrett made an effort to get players from around the country and if the coach that comes in wants to get the program back, they may need to do the same. In terms of the CCIW, IWU should be getting some of the best players of any school in the league. I suppose with Wheaton's success, one could argue that they get the best players overall. The students that want to go to Wheaton, because it is a Christian school, are not the types of students that will want to attend IWU. Also, IWU will not be getting the types of students that attend the schools in the area that are in the UAA, Chicago, and WashU. IWU has good academics but not on the par of a UAA school. The school should be recruiting those in Chicagoland that might be considering some of the "UW-" schools. And, as I said, the next coach should get out of the local/Chicago comfort zone and look at some players from elsewhere. Perhaps not from all across the country but they should look hard at the Midwest. There are a lot of quality players in the Midwest.

[keepemout22]

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps posted today.  It seems that Jen Clark is no longer at CMS.  No post on the athletics page about her departure.  Another big west region job open.

[JR]

Also saw this last week:

Missy Price Ph.D., Wellesley College Head Soccer Coach and Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics (PERA) Assistant Professor of the Practice has stepped down from her role to accept the position of Vice President of Women's Soccer at the United Soccer League (USL). A nationwide search for Price's successor will begin immediately.

[PlaySimple]

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps posted today.  It seems that Jen Clark is no longer at CMS.  No post on the athletics page about her departure.  Another big west region job open.

CMS will be a great job for someone. It's been a good soccer program for a while. All three schools are really good and attract the same type of students that attend the UAA & NESAC schools. Because of that, the kids attending any of the three really want to be there and as you all know, there will sometimes be student-athletes that go to these highly selective schools that could have played at the D1 level. Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna both have 10-15% acceptance rates and Scripps is 30ish%. The drawback for a potential coach might be the cost of living in Los Angeles County. Going east of Claremont toward Riverside or San Bernardino is a lot more affordable and if I were a young coach that is definitely what I would do.

[PlaySimple]

Lance Key is the new HC at Hardin-Simmons.

https://www.hsuathletics.com/sports/w-soccer/2021-22/releases/20220126q3bd0k

[PlaySimple]

Is there any news of any open positions being filled? On the NCAA Jobs website, there are still some listed but some that are open are no longer listed.

I'm curious about what is going on at Illinois Wesleyan. There still has not been an announcement and the position has been open for more than two months now. I'm sure that they want to get this right after a disappointing hire was followed by an excellent hire that left for a better opportunity.

If anyone has news on any hires or movements, post it here. 

I did notice on one of Simple Coach's youtube videos that he mentioned Lance Key, now the HC at Hardin-Simmons, was at Louisville as the HC. Note that he was from Louisiana Lafayette if you're reading this, Simple Coach.

[Purplegatorade]

Oz Bakiirdan was hired at IWU.  He is a former men's junior college coach.  He has already been reaching out to players and recruits.

Is there any news of any open positions being filled? On the NCAA Jobs website, there are still some listed but some that are open are no longer listed.

I'm curious about what is going on at Illinois Wesleyan. There still has not been an announcement and the position has been open for more than two months now. I'm sure that they want to get this right after a disappointing hire was followed by an excellent hire that left for a better opportunity.

If anyone has news on any hires or movements, post it here. 

I did notice on one of Simple Coach's youtube videos that he mentioned Lance Key, now the HC at Hardin-Simmons, was at Louisville as the HC. Note that he was from Louisiana Lafayette if you're reading this, Simple Coach.

[PlaySimple]

Oz Bakiirdan was hired at IWU.  He is a former men's junior college coach.  He has already been reaching out to players and recruits.

Thank you for the update. It is curious that IWU or ICC, the school that Bakirdan has coached at since 2001, has yet to announce this.

If Bakirdan is the new coach at IWU, he is a good hire. He had a lot of success at ICC and men's JUCO soccer can be extremely competitive - much more so than women's JUCO soccer.

Good luck to him and the Titans.

[VAFury]

Not sure anyone cares, but since I'm taking a keen interest in following the AMCC... 

Hilbert College announced hire of Scott MacLean as HC on Feb 26...

Sounds like mostly a travel and ODP coach from the resume.

[PlaySimple]

Oz Bakiirdan was hired at IWU.  He is a former men's junior college coach.  He has already been reaching out to players and recruits.

Here is the press release from the school on Bakirdan's hire...

https://www.iwusports.com/news/2022/3/4/womens-soccer-oz-bakirdan-named-iwus-head-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

As I already mentioned, he sounds like a good hire. Hopefully, he can get IWU back to being a strong program. There is a lot of hard work to be done but it is very doable. That said, I am surprised that a woman wasn't hired. From all that I've heard, the school made a strong effort to hire a woman as the last coach and they did. This was important because of the issues with the coach between Barrett & Sanchez. Sanchez was a good hire but, unfortunately for IWU & fortunately for her, a better opportunity became available at Colorado College. Sanchez also started to address some of the recruiting and development that the previous coach neglected so that should ease Bakirdan's transition.

There is a dearth of women in the coaching ranks for soccer and it should be addressed. It is at all levels of soccer. It is not as prevalent in other women's collegiate sports. As an example, of the top 20 women's D1 soccer teams, there are 15 men and 5 women. For the top 20 basketball teams, there are only 7 men and 13 women. The trends in D2 and D3 are similar. Girl's club soccer teams are also mostly coached by men. I am not suggesting that there should be quota-based hires or that unqualified women should be head coaches just because they're women. The disparity, and the causes of it, should be addressed, though. The simple fact is that most collegiate athletes that are women prefer to be coached by women. It is an issue that there is not a simple solution to.

Not sure anyone cares, but since I'm taking a keen interest in following the AMCC... 

Post any news of hires or coaching changes. It's all welcome.