Why SMU lost Lee Nguyen top high school player to Indiana
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 12:31 am
A blue-chipper's tale
Adam Zundell
Special to ESPN.com
Imagine what it must be like to be 18 and loved. Not 18 and in love with a stunner who looks like they belong in the cast of The OC - although that would be nice, too - but loved. Coveted. Sought. That's what it must've felt like for Plano East Senior High (Texas) senior Lee Nguyen as a blue-chip college prospect.
Nguyen, recently named as the Gatorade National High School Boys Soccer Player of the Year, had plenty of college coaches calling on him to try and entice him to attend their school. Of course, his playing talent made coaches spill compliments like a knocked-over barrel of Texas oil, but his 3.8 GPA made him as attractive as Halle Berry on Oscar night.
The recruiting trail to the Nguyen house heated up after a showcase at Disney during Nguyen's junior year. Getting exposure on the U-18 national team also helped showcase his skills and playing ability. With the talent level across the country growing steadily, many players have to work hard to get attention from colleges. For Nguyen, though, the letters and phone calls started steadily coming to the house, creating a nightly schedule of practice, dinner, homework and recruiting.
"Things got kind of hectic having to read all of the letters, calling all of the coaches back and filling out all of the personal profiles took a long time," Nguyen says. "I probably did over 50 of those information sheets, but it was definitely worth the effort. There were a few nights that I was up late trying to get all of that stuff done."
If they were a nationally prominent program, the pitch was that he could continue the tradition - next in a line of greats. If it was a school that was looking to make an ascent to the elite level, the sell was that he would be the cornerstone - first in line of future greats.
He heard all kinds of things from all kinds of coaches. Some told him that he would start from the first minute he stepped on campus. Some told him that all of the accolades and awards hadn't earned him a spot on their team. He was pitched the business school he was interested in majoring, the weather, the "college" life (insert Animal House images here), the financial aid package, the other players coming into the program - even the campus male-to-female ratio.
Nguyen kept an open mind at the beginning of the process, choosing not to narrow down his choices until the end of the summer before his senior year started. While it was fun hearing all of the nice things coaches had to say to him, it was difficult to tell those same coaches that he was no longer considering their school.
Most of the schools still in the running for Nguyen's talents were those that had a strong soccer tradition, were not located in the state of Texas (with the exception of SMU) and had a fan base that was excited about soccer.
"I played football senior year, just for fun, and soccer doesn't even get a quarter of the fans that football gets," Nguyen says of high school football crazed Texas. "I definitely wanted to go to a school that was really big in soccer and where all of the people from school go to the games. Wake Forest, Duke, Notre Dame and Indiana all had good soccer teams and attracted big crowds, and I wouldn't have minded playing at any of those schools."
Finally, though, Nguyen whittled his decision to two schools at the start of his senior year: SMU and Indiana. SMU was local, so his parents and family could see him play on a regular basis. Nguyen felt that the Mustangs were in the process of building a strong program and he had a comfort level with several players on the team that he had played with previously. Indiana is nearly 900 miles away from his home in Richardson, Texas, but is synonymous with success in college soccer. There he would have new teammates and a fresh start.
He made official visits to both, traveling first to Dallas with his parents and going solo to Bloomington. He asked his questions about how much and where he would be playing and all about the academic side of things.
With so many factors weighing on Nguyen and being pulled in so many directions, it was a single moment in Bloomington in Indiana's 2004 home opener that solidified his decision to become a Hoosier.
"They were down to Boston University 2-0, and they came back and tied it 2-2 with a minute left, and the stadium was packed," Nguyen recalls. "In overtime, Indiana came back and won it 3-2 and everyone was going crazy and I just thought that this was the atmosphere I have to be in."
Nguyen had always felt that he had wanted to start new - to face the new challenge of college soccer with new teammates, and he committed to Indiana in October. The relatively early commitment allowed Nguyen to enjoy his senior year and concentrate on school.
As much as Nguyen's father, Pham, would have loved to see his son play regularly, he empowered Lee to make one of the most important decisions in his life. "I kind of let him do this on his own," Pham says. "He has to spend the four years in college, so he has to like the school, coaches and teammates. I put all of the responsibility on him to make the decision. We talked so that I had a feel for where he wanted to go, and then I was able to give him advice on what he might need. "It's going to be difficult," Pham says of watching Lee play. "If I can get up to one game up there I will be satisfied."
With the decision and recruiting process over for Lee, the family could finally relax. But it'll be a short break for the Nguyen family - just as Lee's letters stopped arriving, younger sister Michelle's have already started rolling in.
Adam Zundell works for the University of Maryland. He can be reached at azundell@yahoo.com
Adam Zundell
Special to ESPN.com
Imagine what it must be like to be 18 and loved. Not 18 and in love with a stunner who looks like they belong in the cast of The OC - although that would be nice, too - but loved. Coveted. Sought. That's what it must've felt like for Plano East Senior High (Texas) senior Lee Nguyen as a blue-chip college prospect.
Nguyen, recently named as the Gatorade National High School Boys Soccer Player of the Year, had plenty of college coaches calling on him to try and entice him to attend their school. Of course, his playing talent made coaches spill compliments like a knocked-over barrel of Texas oil, but his 3.8 GPA made him as attractive as Halle Berry on Oscar night.
The recruiting trail to the Nguyen house heated up after a showcase at Disney during Nguyen's junior year. Getting exposure on the U-18 national team also helped showcase his skills and playing ability. With the talent level across the country growing steadily, many players have to work hard to get attention from colleges. For Nguyen, though, the letters and phone calls started steadily coming to the house, creating a nightly schedule of practice, dinner, homework and recruiting.
"Things got kind of hectic having to read all of the letters, calling all of the coaches back and filling out all of the personal profiles took a long time," Nguyen says. "I probably did over 50 of those information sheets, but it was definitely worth the effort. There were a few nights that I was up late trying to get all of that stuff done."
If they were a nationally prominent program, the pitch was that he could continue the tradition - next in a line of greats. If it was a school that was looking to make an ascent to the elite level, the sell was that he would be the cornerstone - first in line of future greats.
He heard all kinds of things from all kinds of coaches. Some told him that he would start from the first minute he stepped on campus. Some told him that all of the accolades and awards hadn't earned him a spot on their team. He was pitched the business school he was interested in majoring, the weather, the "college" life (insert Animal House images here), the financial aid package, the other players coming into the program - even the campus male-to-female ratio.
Nguyen kept an open mind at the beginning of the process, choosing not to narrow down his choices until the end of the summer before his senior year started. While it was fun hearing all of the nice things coaches had to say to him, it was difficult to tell those same coaches that he was no longer considering their school.
Most of the schools still in the running for Nguyen's talents were those that had a strong soccer tradition, were not located in the state of Texas (with the exception of SMU) and had a fan base that was excited about soccer.
"I played football senior year, just for fun, and soccer doesn't even get a quarter of the fans that football gets," Nguyen says of high school football crazed Texas. "I definitely wanted to go to a school that was really big in soccer and where all of the people from school go to the games. Wake Forest, Duke, Notre Dame and Indiana all had good soccer teams and attracted big crowds, and I wouldn't have minded playing at any of those schools."
Finally, though, Nguyen whittled his decision to two schools at the start of his senior year: SMU and Indiana. SMU was local, so his parents and family could see him play on a regular basis. Nguyen felt that the Mustangs were in the process of building a strong program and he had a comfort level with several players on the team that he had played with previously. Indiana is nearly 900 miles away from his home in Richardson, Texas, but is synonymous with success in college soccer. There he would have new teammates and a fresh start.
He made official visits to both, traveling first to Dallas with his parents and going solo to Bloomington. He asked his questions about how much and where he would be playing and all about the academic side of things.
With so many factors weighing on Nguyen and being pulled in so many directions, it was a single moment in Bloomington in Indiana's 2004 home opener that solidified his decision to become a Hoosier.
"They were down to Boston University 2-0, and they came back and tied it 2-2 with a minute left, and the stadium was packed," Nguyen recalls. "In overtime, Indiana came back and won it 3-2 and everyone was going crazy and I just thought that this was the atmosphere I have to be in."
Nguyen had always felt that he had wanted to start new - to face the new challenge of college soccer with new teammates, and he committed to Indiana in October. The relatively early commitment allowed Nguyen to enjoy his senior year and concentrate on school.
As much as Nguyen's father, Pham, would have loved to see his son play regularly, he empowered Lee to make one of the most important decisions in his life. "I kind of let him do this on his own," Pham says. "He has to spend the four years in college, so he has to like the school, coaches and teammates. I put all of the responsibility on him to make the decision. We talked so that I had a feel for where he wanted to go, and then I was able to give him advice on what he might need. "It's going to be difficult," Pham says of watching Lee play. "If I can get up to one game up there I will be satisfied."
With the decision and recruiting process over for Lee, the family could finally relax. But it'll be a short break for the Nguyen family - just as Lee's letters stopped arriving, younger sister Michelle's have already started rolling in.
Adam Zundell works for the University of Maryland. He can be reached at azundell@yahoo.com