NESCAC

[kevdog]

Amherst admin obviously does not care, or this would have been nipped in the bud years ago. I'm sure it's the usual "us against the world" mentality where "everyone hates Amherst" and they circle the wagons. People have been justifiably grousing on these boards about this for years and years.

As to Amherst caring or not, I'm going with they don't. Check out this video from Amherst v. Middlebury in 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg9YX_NSIFE

Notice also the Asst. Coach, Alex Ortega, now HC at Redlands. Among the disturbing behavior, a coach appears to be joining in the taunting, see :49 of the video where it appears that he is waving to the Middlebury crowd and not making any effort to correct the behavior of his players.

I sent this in an email to Amherst's pres. and he responded with -

Thank you for your note.  I am indeed aware of this deeply troubling behavior, and you are absolutely correct that it does not represent the standard of conduct that we expect of Amherst athletes.  I assure you that we will take appropriate action, and I hope that we will be able to earn back your respect for Amherst soccer.

So that was 2023. I'm guessing that Amherst admin either doesn't care or just doesn't want to know.

IMO, Amherst could play maybe even better with the talent they have. They just chose that way.

It's been basically 20 years of the same.  Back in '08 when they hosted the first and second round in Serpone's 2nd year there was an issue that weekend. I have plenty of stories from things I've seen in person that I have documented on here throughout the years.  Seems like it's all been tolerable from the admin point of view as long as they were winning. One has to wonder what happens if the results don't continue for a stretch.  If social media was more of a thing in the early 2010s along with better livestreams, this might have been addressed a while ago.  What really gets me is the professional pedigree of their coaching staff related to the program's behavior.  Serpone has like 5 master's degrees and has taught courses I believe. They have an assistant coach that was an elementary school administrator.  If kids in school behaved the way some of their players have they would have been punished, yet apparently the standards are lower for collegiate athletes at one of the most prestigious colleges in the world.  My own high school principal threatened to throw out the entire crowd in a playoff game once because of a couple parents mouthing off, yet at Amherst that kind of behavior is embraced by seemingly professional educators.

And as mentioned, the worst part about all of it is that it's a program that has elite talent and can play like a respectable program.  There is absolutely no need for it (anywhere for that matter), as all they have to do is play and let the results speak for themselves.  Unfortunately, it will take a very long time for the program to lose their reputation among the d3 crowd. Which I guess doesn't count for much since it's a niche thing, but still.

I know the assistant coach who is the an elementary school administrator.  It has been over 30 years since I have talked to him and he did not seem to be the type of person who do some of the antics that Amherst does but people can change when they get into different environments.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Watch the video. 8 also named the asst coach and now is HC of Redlands in CA. So different guy.

During my kids recruitment, my son and I had at least one discussion with Serpone. Came off as a good guy, no red flags during our discussions. Son broke his finger in the first 10 min at the Amherst ID camp in VA. So that was pretty much that. No hard feelings plus we probably couldn't have afforded Amherst anyway.