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How bad is our men's soccer team?

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Ok, so we leave a poor men's soccer conference to go to this Atlantic Soccer Conference, which is supposedly worse, and we're getting our butts kicked! 6-0 loss to Hartwick on Saturday…how embarrassing!

In the latest soccerratings.com rankings, we're 162nd out of 199. Adelphi, who are top of the ASC standings at 3-0, are ranked 115th.

Take a look at these stats:

12 games played (3-8-1)
Four goals scored (yes, four!), and only three in regulation!
21 goals allowed

In a state where soccer is played 365 days a year, we should never be this bad.

Time for Donev to say goodbye?
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

Donev has limited scholarship money and he got killed because last minute the athletic department couldn't try to pull strings to get his out of state athletes into school; which I understand would have been 2 stud players.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

Its not a "top priority" right now…balancing the budget is though…Donev's all time record cant be better than .500….cant blame it all on the loss of two recruits…from what i have been told, he used to show up to practice with "books" and read out of them at one point…that, and he doesnt have the field knowledge…i dunno…he's a nice guy, but i sometimes question his lack of coaching and recruiting ability…
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

But surely with 365 days of soccer weather here, the local talent should be better than most of these northeast schools we're playing. I understand the need to get foreigners, I mean Donev has lived off Scandinavians for years, but local recruiting must be #1. We don't have UM to contend with, which is a huge plus.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

How bad is our men's soccer team?

I can't comment on Donev's coaching ability, but I know a few of the difficulties he faces in regard to recruiting.
If you hope to recruit in state kids you need two things…money and a facility.
Men's soccer has never been fully funded during Donev's tenure. He has no full time assistant coach to help recruit, and one of the worst operating budgets you would care to see. They have usually taken vans to games in Orlando and Tampa, because they couldn't afford a bus.
Thanks to the addition of football,and Title IX, FAU's women sports have reaped the benefit of fully funding their programs. Now look at the success of women's soccer and volleyball. Their is a correlation.
Compare some of the trips taken by those sports to men's soccer, and do the math.
The neccessity to offset the Title IV implications of football has caused most of the men's programs to financially flatline. Except for the money provided basketball since Doherty's hiring, the male sports have seen little, or no, financial increase.
The facility is hidden behind the baseball practice field and the Oxley center. There are no bathrooms, and only in the past few years, a grandstand. The setting isn't even as good as many Florida high schools.
The argument to recruit Florida kids because UM is out of the picture is offset by the lack of money, staff, and facility.
It makes sense to recruit international players who are unlikely to visit and see the reality of where they train, dress, and play. The international model resulted in the championship programs at Lynn, the success of past FIU soccer teams, and the roster demographics of most of the top teams in the country.

As far as losing two studs…the story is that the University decided to no longer accept any out of state student who was not deemed admissable through the normal process. The state doesn't not fund those students, and FAU decided to no longer pick up the tab, as they, and all the other state schools have always done.
This decision was not communicated to the coaches during the past recruiting year. Coach Donev had two outstanding strikers committed, who were denied admission this summer because of the new policy. There was no time to replace them.

Now look at this year's team and find the weakness. Is it coaching, or an inability to score goals? There are no strikers on this year's team. You can't expect an underfunded, understaffed program to be capable of having enough depth on their roster to absorb such a loss.
Men's soccer, tennis and swimming ,are the red-headed stepchildren of this university. It is a shame for their players, coaches , and fans.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

Thanks for the great insight tecumseh….these are the kind of things we don't find out about the lower-level sports because our local reporters don't give a flying F about anything else but football, basketball and occasionally baseball. Title IX had good intentions, but it's ended ruined a lot of things as well.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

Its mens soccer. this board must be dead if people are worring about mens soccer. I'm glad its not funded because if it was it would take away from football, basketball and baseball. Sports that actually can bring money and interest to our school. when in the big east one day and making money on athletics then its up for discussion.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

The problem is TITLE IX
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

The problem is TITLE IX - othwise known as non profit motivated sexist based spending. Nobody cares about the womens sports. That's why NOBODY GOES. Look at the average attendance at a softball game. Or a swim meet. Or a womens soccer match. The school is FORCED to spend money on losing propositions that would never stand a chance in the private business world. Primarily due to a special interest group (to remain unnamed due to cultural correctness) that lobbies the NCAA for "equal treatment". We even have a "senior woman's administrator" - completely fluff title that sucks up $50k of revenue to "make sure" the ladies are treated with "equality". If it were a private school it would be different. Im sure the coaches would love to have the salary re-distributed into travel and recruiting measures. I was on staff prior to the requirement for that position and other red tape (forced spending). Unfortunately, the men's soccer program performed at the same level - without the constraints you mention. So i cant agree with the constaints now having more of an effect. One thing is certain - WINNING lands more recruits than anything.
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How bad is our men's soccer team?

even the women's sports aren't fully funded anymore…not really…that's because they are now required to use almost half of their full scholarships for in-state students since those cost 1/2 as much as out of state…..unfortunately our competition doesn't have the same restrictions….also 5th year aid is now coming out of all the programs scholarship budgets
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