[Cross-posted from the 2025 Coaching Carousel thread]

Lewis & Clark promotes Fraser Morrison to head men's soccer coach

This is something I have been calling for since the program was created.  Instead of hiring a men's coach when they started the team in 2022, they just asked the women's coach, Jim Tursi, to coach both the men's and women's teams. He has continued to do so for the first three years.  That clearly wasn't working.  Lewis & Clark has a record of 0-46-1 in the past three years, their recruiting has been very poor, and when they happened to stumble upon a halfway decent player, they transferred or left the program after one year.  That's as big an indictment of how a program is run that you can find.  The dual coaching arrangement seemed to be a disservice to both programs.  So, although I have no idea whether Morrison is the right person for the job after being with the program all three years, I'm glad that they finally created a structure where someone can take ownership of and be fully accountable for the men's program.

QuoteLewis & Clark College Director of Physical Education & Athletics Mark Pietrok announced the promotion of Fraser Morrison to men's soccer head coach on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Morrison, who has worked as an assistant with the program for the past three years, will lead the men's program and continue to work with Director of Soccer Jim Tursi for this upcoming season. Tursi will also continue on his role as the women's soccer head coach.
 
"I'm very excited to see Fraser move into this larger role," Pietrok stated. "He has been with our men's program since it's inception and this will give both of our programs a better chance to grow and be successful. Fraser has over 25 years of coaching experience and tremendous connections throughout the Pacific Northwest at the high school and club level."
 
Over the past three seasons, Morrison has worked his way up and served as the lead assistant for Lewis & Clark's new varsity soccer program in 2024. With each season, the Pioneers have proven to be more competitive, as they work to establish themselves in the Northwest Conference and Pacific Northwest.
 
"I am honored and delighted to be named the head men's soccer coach at Lewis & Clark College," Morrison said. "I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the administration for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity.
 
It is important to me to recognize Jim Tursi, our director of soccer, for his mentorship and support over the past three seasons. It has been a privilege to work with him, and I look forward to continuing to push the program forward, building on the strong foundation laid by Jim."
 
Morrison is a native of London and he played at the University of Luton. In his final year of college, he began his coaching career by serving as a Football in the Community Coach for West Ham United and a Center of Excellence Girls Coach for Barnet Football Club.
 
"Moving forth, I'm excited for the seasons ahead and helping our student-athletes grow both on-and-off the field, as we continue to develop and strengthen the program," Morrison noted.
 
After moving to the US in 2000, he worked with the Oregon United Soccer Academy (Director of Youth Development), US Soccer Youth Region IV (Region IV Staff Coach) and the Oregon Olympic Development Program (Girls 1992 ODP Head Coach).
 
He was named head coach of the Lake Oswego High School boys varsity team in 2005 and led the Lakers for nearly 20 years. Morrison led the program to the playoffs in eight of his final nine seasons, including a trip to the State Semifinals in his final year (2023).
 
At the club level, he has worked as the Director of Coaching at the Lake Oswego Soccer Club since 2004 and served in the same role for Oregon Premier FC since 2008. In his roles, he oversees programs for well over 2,000 soccer players in the state of Oregon and helps develop players of all ages and skill levels.

Lewis & Clark promotes Fraser Morrison to head men's soccer coach

Instead of hiring a men's coach when they started the team in 2022, they just asked the women's coach, Jim Tursi, to coach both the men's and women's teams. He has continued to do so for the first three years.  That clearly wasn't working.  Lewis & Clark has a record of 0-46-1 in the past three years, their recruiting has been very poor, and when they happened to stumble upon a halfway decent player, they transferred or left the program after one year.  That's as big an indictment of how a program is run that you can find.  The dual coaching arrangement seemed to be a disservice to both programs.  So, although I have no idea whether Morrison is the right person for the job after being with the program all three years, I'm glad that they finally created a structure where someone can take ownership of and be fully accountable for the men's program.

QuoteLewis & Clark College Director of Physical Education & Athletics Mark Pietrok announced the promotion of Fraser Morrison to men's soccer head coach on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Morrison, who has worked as an assistant with the program for the past three years, will lead the men's program and continue to work with Director of Soccer Jim Tursi for this upcoming season. Tursi will also continue on his role as the women's soccer head coach.
 
"I'm very excited to see Fraser move into this larger role," Pietrok stated. "He has been with our men's program since it's inception and this will give both of our programs a better chance to grow and be successful. Fraser has over 25 years of coaching experience and tremendous connections throughout the Pacific Northwest at the high school and club level."
 
Over the past three seasons, Morrison has worked his way up and served as the lead assistant for Lewis & Clark's new varsity soccer program in 2024. With each season, the Pioneers have proven to be more competitive, as they work to establish themselves in the Northwest Conference and Pacific Northwest.
 
"I am honored and delighted to be named the head men's soccer coach at Lewis & Clark College," Morrison said. "I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the administration for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity.
 
It is important to me to recognize Jim Tursi, our director of soccer, for his mentorship and support over the past three seasons. It has been a privilege to work with him, and I look forward to continuing to push the program forward, building on the strong foundation laid by Jim."
 
Morrison is a native of London and he played at the University of Luton. In his final year of college, he began his coaching career by serving as a Football in the Community Coach for West Ham United and a Center of Excellence Girls Coach for Barnet Football Club.
 
"Moving forth, I'm excited for the seasons ahead and helping our student-athletes grow both on-and-off the field, as we continue to develop and strengthen the program," Morrison noted.
 
After moving to the US in 2000, he worked with the Oregon United Soccer Academy (Director of Youth Development), US Soccer Youth Region IV (Region IV Staff Coach) and the Oregon Olympic Development Program (Girls 1992 ODP Head Coach).
 
He was named head coach of the Lake Oswego High School boys varsity team in 2005 and led the Lakers for nearly 20 years. Morrison led the program to the playoffs in eight of his final nine seasons, including a trip to the State Semifinals in his final year (2023).
 
At the club level, he has worked as the Director of Coaching at the Lake Oswego Soccer Club since 2004 and served in the same role for Oregon Premier FC since 2008. In his roles, he oversees programs for well over 2,000 soccer players in the state of Oregon and helps develop players of all ages and skill levels.

Cross-posted from the 2025 schedules thread

A few schedules from Lone Star State schools in the SCAC

Concordia (TX)

After traveling to Virginia last season and getting a tie and a win against Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan, they stay local this year, playing four teams from its former conference, the ASC (Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and East Texas Baptist) and two former teams from its current conference, the SCAC (Trinity and Southwestern).  Concordia has been bringing in a lot of strong recruits from Texas schools and they may need them early because they are losing their top two scorers, several of their starting defenders and midfielders, and their starting goalkeeper.

University of St. Thomas

St. Thomas had a down year last year, relatively speaking, but they still managed to get to the SCAC tournament and beat Colorado College 2-0 in the semis before losing to old nemesis Trinity in the finals.  They didn't have a down year from the perspective of cards, though, despite the new coaching staff, receiving 60 yellow cards and 7 reds.  This only reinforced UST's reputation as the bad boys of the conference.  By contrast, Colorado Colleges numbers were 23/2, Trinity's were 34/2, Concordia's were 43/2, Texas Lutheran's were 20/1, Southwestern's were 30/1, McMurry's were 21/1, Centenary's were 27/1, Ozarks were 39/2, and Austin College's were 30/2.  Trinity and Southwestern's players may have been glad to have moved on from playing the Celts, but their coaches had other ideas, as UST starts the season playing at Southwestern and Trinity.  They then host Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor, so UST isn't using its schedule to pad its record.  They also play two NAIA teams from the Red River Conference - North American and Houston-Victoria.  They actually play North American twice - once in a preseason scrimmage and a second team in the regular season, which is fairly unusual.

Texas Lutheran

As with the other top teams left in the SCAC, TLU plays Southwestern and Trinity as well as the top ASC teams Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor.  The most interesting opponent is Marymount (VA), which is visiting Texas on the second weekend of the season.  Marymount is pretty ambitious in its out-of-state travel, going to SoCal two years ago to play Occidental and Cal Lutheran.  This year, they are playing Schreiner as well on their trip to the Texas Hill Country.  This is a rebuilding year for TLU, which lost most of its regular starters to graduation from last season.

A few schedules from Lone Star State schools in the SCAC

Concordia (TX)

After traveling to Virginia last season and getting a tie and a win against Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan, they stay local this year, playing four teams from its former conference, the ASC (Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and East Texas Baptist) and two former teams from its current conference, the SCAC (Trinity and Southwestern).  Concordia has been bringing in a lot of strong recruits from Texas schools and they may need them early because they are losing their top two scorers, several of their starting defenders and midfielders, and their starting goalkeeper.

University of St. Thomas

St. Thomas had a down year last year, relatively speaking, but they still managed to get to the SCAC tournament and beat Colorado College 2-0 in the semis before losing to old nemesis Trinity in the finals.  They didn't have a down year from the perspective of cards, though, despite the new coaching staff, receiving 60 yellow cards and 7 reds.  This only reinforced UST's reputation as the bad boys of the conference.  By contrast, Colorado Colleges numbers were 23/2, Trinity's were 34/2, Concordia's were 43/2, Texas Lutheran's were 20/1, Southwestern's were 30/1, McMurry's were 21/1, Centenary's were 27/1, Ozarks were 39/2, and Austin College's were 30/2.  Trinity and Southwestern's players may have been glad to have moved on from playing the Celts, but their coaches had other ideas, as UST starts the season playing at Southwestern and Trinity.  They then host Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor, so UST isn't using its schedule to pad its record.  They also play two NAIA teams from the Red River Conference - North American and Houston-Victoria.  They actually play North American twice - once in a preseason scrimmage and a second team in the regular season, which is fairly unusual.

Texas Lutheran

As with the other top teams left in the SCAC, TLU plays Southwestern and Trinity as well as the top ASC teams Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor.  The most interesting opponent is Marymount (VA), which is visiting Texas on the second weekend of the season.  Marymount is pretty ambitious in its out-of-state travel, going to SoCal two years ago to play Occidental and Cal Lutheran.  This year, they are playing Schreiner as well on their trip to the Texas Hill Country.  This is a rebuilding year for TLU, which lost most of its regular starters to graduation from last season.

At Siena Heights, 67.8% of its students were athletes.  That's a canary in the coal mine stat:

https://bsky.app/profile/stevedittmore.bsky.social/post/3lsvt2nn5ik2z

QuoteUnfortunate news concerning Siena Heights University and its impending closure. Per 2023-24 EADA, school had 1,075 undergraduates, 729 athletes (67.8%). In 2022-23, the school reported 1,095 undergraduates, 684 athletes (62.5%).
https://www.sienaheights.edu/siena-heights-university-announces-closure/

[Cross-posted from the 2025 Schedules Thread]

This is the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles version of a schedule

Whitman

If this is accurate, Whitman has to have agreed to the craziest three game travel schedule I have ever seen.  First, they fly from either Walla Walla or drive 45 minutes to Pasco (or 2.5 hours to Spokane) to fly to Colorado Springs or Denver and play at Colorado College on Thursday, Sept 4.  Second, they hop on a plane in Colorado Springs or Denver and travel to (I assume) Austin and then take an hour bus ride to Belton, Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Sept. 5th.  Third, they fly from Austin to Los Angeles or Burbank airports and drive 1-2 hours (depending upon traffic and time of arrival) to Thousand Oaks to play Cal Lutheran on Sunday Sept. 7.  Then they have two weeks off before conference play.  I'm envisioning some travel agent's Rubik's cube of one way flights on regional jets to pull this off.  Three games in four days in three different time zones and 5000+ feet changes in elevation.  Maybe the Admissions Office was offering a subsidy to any coach who could visit several different metropolitan areas for recruiting events this year?

Beyond the logistical nightmare of the trip, that's a nice opportunity to play three strong schools from three different conferences.  Whitman traveled to SoCal last year and beat Chapman and La Verne, while losing to Redlands, so Cal Lutheran should be a good matchup for them. 

Classy statement from SCAC Commissioner on the last day of Trinity and Southwestern's membership in the conference

Whitman

If this is accurate, Whitman has to have agreed to the craziest three game travel schedule I have ever seen.  First, they fly from either Walla Walla or drive 45 minutes to Pasco (or 2.5 hours to Spokane) to fly to Colorado Springs or Denver and play at Colorado College on Thursday, Sept 4.  Second, they hop on a plane in Colorado Springs or Denver and travel to (I assume) Austin and then take an hour bus ride to Belton, Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Sept. 5th.  Third, they fly from Austin to Los Angeles or Burbank airports and drive 1-2 hours (depending upon traffic and time of arrival) to Thousand Oaks to play Cal Lutheran on Sunday Sept. 7.  Then they have two weeks off before conference play.  I'm envisioning some travel agent's Rubik's cube of one way flights on regional jets to pull this off.  Three games in four days in three different time zones and 5000+ feet changes in elevation.  Maybe the Admissions Office was offering a subsidy to any coach who could visit several different metropolitan areas for recruiting events this year?

Beyond the logistical nightmare of the trip, that's a nice opportunity to play three strong schools from three different conferences.  Whitman traveled to SoCal last year and beat Chapman and La Verne, while losing to Redlands, so Cal Lutheran should be a good matchup for them. 

Siena Heights, an NAIA school in Adrian, Michigan that routinely plays DIII schools in the area such as Adrian and Albion, announces it is closing after this upcoming academic year

QuoteSiena Heights University, with the full support of the Board of Trustees and General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, will close at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 academic year.

Senior leadership has assessed the financial situation, operational challenges, and long-term sustainability. Despite the dedication of our board, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters, continuing operations beyond the coming academic year is no longer feasible.

"For 105 Years, Siena Heights University has been a beacon of light in a world sometimes cast in darkness," said Dr. Douglas B. Palmer, President. "The spirit of Siena Heights will continue long after the institution itself closes its doors because it lives in every graduate, faculty member, and staff person who has been on campus – whether in-person or online."

The University's top priority will be students' academic progress and working with partner institutions to establish transfer pathways that allow as little disruption as possible. Faculty and staff will be supported with transition assistance. The intent is to have as full and vibrant an academic year as possible, including academics, athletics, support services, and extracurriculars.

Southern Maine

When you're a DIII soccer program in Southern Maine and you don't want to travel too far, you're going to play a lot of the same sort of schools every year.  So, Southern Maine dutifully serves as the punching bag of Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates every year and then plays an assortment of relatively local non-conference opponents such as Maine Maritime, UMaine Fort Kent, University of New England, Husson, Thomas, and University of Maine Farmington.  This year, they drop MIT and add Rivier and have to hope they can amass more than 2 wins this season.

Rutgers-Newark

It always feels like Rutgers-Newark has been underperforming compared to its natural advantages (cost of location).  They did have a decent 11-8-4 record in 2024, but in recent years they seem to come up short compared to NJAC powers like Montclair State and Rowan.  They drop Randolph-Macon, Mary Washington, Union and Lycoming and pick up an opening game against Redlands, plus Farmingdale State,  Penn State Harrisburg, Manhattanville, Manhattanville, and NYU.

Quote from: markerickson on June 28, 2025, 11:33:00 PMI wonder to what extent international students will opt against playing in the US, whether immigration's analysis of social activity and/or media posts will influence ability to study and compete in America, or if the landscape remains the same.

I doubt it affects the incoming class (unless they literally are denied visas under the Administration's new policies), but it could chill future international recruits.

Quote from: Kuiper on June 12, 2025, 07:40:44 PMNot a full schedule, but Denison coach Brandon Bianco revealed on his interview with Simple Coach that they are traveling to the NJ/NYC area the first weekend of the season to play Stevens on Friday night and then Stockton on Sunday and then the second weekend (which we already knew about through their opponents' respective schedules) they are hosting Franklin & Marshall on Friday night and Johns Hopkins on Sunday.  Three NCAA tournament teams in the first four games with a fourth game against a team that made the NJAC championship game last season is one way to open the season after graduating 11 contributing players from last year's team.

The full schedule is now posted on its website and it's still a doozy

Denison

As previously mentioned, Denison starts with a trip to New Jersey to play Stevens and Stockton and then comes home to host Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins, but the non-conference schedule doesn't get a ton easier after that.  They host Berea next, but then travel to Otterbein, host Centre, and then play Marietta and Capital away.  Conference play isn't exactly kind either.  They open by hosting Kenyon and they close by traveling to NCAC newcomer John Carroll right about when the win whipping off Lake Erie will be revving up for winter.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 28, 2025, 10:44:04 AMAccording to Politico, the enhanced college endowment earnings tax in the upcoming federal budget has been scaled back in the Senate and will now (if passed and approved by both houses and signed into law) impact only colleges with over 3,000 "tuition-paying students", up from the current 500.  The Senate parliamentarian also ruled that the previously proposed exemption for religious schools (Hillsdale, Notre Dame, etc) violates the Senate's rules for what can and cannot be included in bills that go through the reconciliation (simple majority, cannot be filibustered) process.

The maximum tax on endowment earnings in the current version of the bill making its way through the Senate would be 8% rather than the 21% proposed in the House.

Of course, any difference in bills passed by the House and Senate will themselves have to be reconciled, so even if the Senate does approve this version things could change before the final (disastrous) budget is approved.

Has anyone compiled the list of schools that will now be hit by the tax under the Senate version?

[Cross-posted from the 2025 Schedules Thread]

Gettysburg

In part because of their central location, Gettysburg often seems to get some pretty good non-conference games.  It hasn't really helped them advance much in the Centennial recently, but they did show signs they may be in the upswing last season with a win against Johns Hopkins, a 3-4 barnburner loss to Dickinson, and a tie against Muhlenberg.  With their top scorers and starting GK graduating, though, it will be interesting to see if that was a turning point or the high point.  They drop Sewanee, Carnegie Mellon, Carthage, Penn State Brandywine, and Cal Lutheran and add Widener, Neumann, Rowan, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, York, and King's. With Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, and Southern Virginia still on the schedule, it looks like a step-up.  In conference, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, and F&M in a two week stretch could make or break their season.

William Paterson

After finishing above .500 for the first time since 2018 (9-8-3), William Paterson's schedule gets a bit of a glow-up, as the kids would say.  They drop Endicott, Gordon, Saint Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Keystone, Baruch, and Delaware Valley, and after easing in 2025 with Penn State Brandywine, they add Stevens, Christopher Newport, Virginia Wesleyan, Centenary, Ursinus, and Drew.

Gettysburg

In part because of their central location, Gettysburg often seems to get some pretty good non-conference games.  It hasn't really helped them advance much in the Centennial recently, but they did show signs they may be in the upswing last season with a win against Johns Hopkins, a 3-4 barnburner loss to Dickinson, and a tie against Muhlenberg.  With their top scorers and starting GK graduating, though, it will be interesting to see if that was a turning point or the high point.  They drop Sewanee, Carnegie Mellon, Carthage, Penn State Brandywine, and Cal Lutheran and add Widener, Neumann, Rowan, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, York, and King's. With Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, and Southern Virginia still on the schedule, it looks like a step-up.  In conference, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, and F&M in a two week stretch could make or break their season.

William Paterson

After finishing above .500 for the first time since 2018 (9-8-3), William Paterson's schedule gets a bit of a glow-up, as the kids would say.  They drop Endicott, Gordon, Saint Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Keystone, Baruch, and Delaware Valley, and after easing in 2025 with Penn State Brandywine, they add Stevens, Christopher Newport, Virginia Wesleyan, Centenary, Ursinus, and Drew.