Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

While the soccer coaches of some schools that have transitioned from DI or DII to DIII have left in an attempt to stay in those divisions at other schools, APU's coach Dave Blomquist is staying, in part because he himself was a DIII player and All-American at men's soccer powerhouse Wheaton College (IL) from 1992-1995.  This will be his 17th year at Azusa Pacific.

Blomquist is actually the second straight former Wheaton star that APU hired as its men's soccer head coach. Before Blomquist there was Phil Wolf, who was a four-time All-CCIW first-teamer and was named the league's Most Outstanding Player in 1990 and 1991. He coached the Cougars from 2001 through 2008.

Wheaton has supplied SoCal with some of its longest tenured men's soccer college coaches. In addition to Blomquist, Wolf is a longtime head coach at D2 Point Loma University in San Diego and his brother Dave, also a Wheaton men's soccer alum, was the longtime men's head soccer coach at Westmont University in Santa Barbara.

[mngopher]

wonder if Superior will consider moving back to the WIAC.

Not gonna happen. Even though it's institutionally a sister school to the eight WIAC members, it's much smaller (it's half the size of the smallest WIAC school, UW-River Falls, and about a third to a fifth of the size of the other seven members) and it's more remote from major population centers, making it a tougher recruiting sell. It also doesn't sponsor football, which makes it a significant outlier, as all eight WIAC members have football programs and that sport is a very big deal for them.

I think there's a chance UW-Superior goes to the WIAC. Not so much because they want to as much as they may need to. The UMAC is not in the best shape with only 7 schools, having lost two (Scholastica to the MIAC and Northland to school closure) in the last 5 years. There are no obvious UMAC additions in the region, and at least a couple current UMAC schools are not in very strong financial positions along with declining enrollment. Nothing I've heard is imminent, but UWS would be smart to get a sense of what options they may have, and I can't think of any that make more sense than the WIAC. Maybe independent, but doing an independent schedule from their location could be problematic.

[Gregory Sager]

Didn't realize that any of the remaining UMAC schools were in bad shape. I thought that Northland was the only obvious casualty. But you're right that if UW-Superior's hand is forced by the collapse of the UMAC, the Yellowjackets may have to go back to the WIAC folks with cap in hand.

[Kuiper]

Since it's the offseason and news is slow, I thought I would share this post from Caltech, which really is what DIII athletics is all about. 

caltechmsoc
Junior goalkeepers Ethan Hamel and Alex Crowley competing in the Mechanical Engineering department's annual robotics competition!

I imagine the Caltech Robotics Competition is like the World Cup of Robotics.  No surprise that the goalkeepers are taking the lead on this one.  The strikers would probably keep kicking their robots until they started to work again 

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity (TX)'s Luke Chandler was awarded one of the 21 NCAA men's fall postgraduate scholarships.  These $10,000 one-time scholarships are awarded to deserving graduating seniors who plan to continue their education, and student-athletes from all 1100+ NCAA member institutions are eligible.  He joins Trinity women's soccer's Ilsa Newland and TUVBer Reagan Whatley in receiving one of the fall '25 awards.  Awards are given three times annually, to players of fall, winter, and spring sports.

I didn't see any other western soccer recipients.  Johns Hopkins was the only other school with three fall recipients, including both MSoc's Will Sangpachatanaruk and Timothy Treinen.

[Kuiper]

Big news out of the ASC.  Hardin-Simmons head coach Brad Bankhead, the former long-time head men's soccer coach at Mary Hardin-Baylor, who left for his alma mater, Hardin-Simmons in 2023 and led them to the ASC championship and NCAA Tournament bid in 2024 and 2025, was a member of the DIII Men's Soccer Championship Committee

Dallas Baptist University (DII) Names Brad Bankhead Head Coach of Men's Soccer

Dallas Baptist University has named Brad Bankhead as the new head coach of the DBU men's soccer program. Bankhead brings 19 years of collegiate head coaching experience and 195 career victories to the Patriots, along with a proven record of postseason success that includes five NCAA Tournament appearances, two conference regular-season championships, and four conference tournament titles.
 
"We approached this search with intentionality and prayer, and we believe God has led Brad Bankhead to DBU at the right time," said Director of Athletics Matt Duce. "His leadership, character, and commitment to our mission make him an exceptional fit. We are confident he will build a winning program and advance DBU Men's Soccer in every meaningful way through the development of our men and a strong, enduring culture. We are also honored to welcome his wife, Shannon, and their three children, Mallory, Morgan, and Max, to the DBU Men's Soccer family."
 
Bankhead most recently served as the head coach at Hardin-Simmons University, where he guided the Cowboys to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and consecutive American Southwest Conference Tournament championships in 2024 and 2025. Prior to his time at HSU, Bankhead spent 16 seasons as the head coach at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, building the Crusaders into one of the premier programs in Division III. During his tenure, UMHB earned three NCAA Tournament berths, captured two ASC regular-season championships, and won two conference tournament titles.
 
Throughout his career, Bankhead has established a reputation as an elite developer of talent. His players have earned four All-America honors, 18 All-Region selections, and more than 120 All-American Southwest Conference recognitions. In recent seasons, his success has continued with the development of the ASC Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 and the ASC Co-Midfielder of the Year and Co-Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year in 2025.
 
Before becoming a collegiate head coach, Bankhead served as a volunteer assistant with the Hardin-Simmons men's program and later spent one season as an assistant coach at Cumberland College in Kentucky. He also volunteered with the Hardin-Simmons women's program while serving as the head coach at Abilene High School, where he was named District Coach of the Year in 2005.
 
A 2000 graduate of Hardin-Simmons, Bankhead was a four-year letterman for the Cowboys and earned All-American Southwest Conference honors three times during his playing career. Following graduation, he played one season with the Colorado Springs Stampede of the Professional Development League.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity(TX) announced on IG that Gustav Moberg, a 6'1" mid from Sweden who played the last two seasons at D2 Flagler University has committed for the upcoming season.  Moberg played in 20 matches in 2024 (17 starts), 24 (22 starts) in 2025.  He was second team all-PBC last year and a member of the 2024 PBC all-tournament team (PBC = Peach Belt Conference).  His Saints team was 15-3-6 last season and made it to the third round of the D2 tournament after upsetting #2 Palm Beach Atlantic in the second round.

While classified last season as a redshirt junior (after two prior years at Missouri State, in which he saw no action one year), Moberg expects to graduate with a BBA in Accounting and Finance from Flagler in May and seems likely to enroll as a graduate in Trinity's MS - Accounting program.