Why SMU lost Lee Nguyen top high school player to Indiana

[mustangbill67]

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

[me@smu]

Part that is horrible here is that we have a beautiful stadium for a team that never wins (football) and a shed for our nationally ranked soccer team.

Somehow, SMU has to get excited about their soccer team or we will continue to lose top flight talent.

[SMUguy]

Well, it's not like we're not hauling in some big-time players every year. It's a shame to lose a local guy, but I won't cry about it, since it sounds like we got just about every other talented Texan out there this year.

And yes, Westcott badly needs renovation. The playing surface needs to be much bigger, and needs to be somewhere that players won't kill themselves on a track when they run out of bounds. The bleachers are prehistoric, but the players don't play in the bleachers, so let's get the actual playing field improved first.

The thing about that story that bugged me was this quote: " .... Nguyen felt that the Mustangs were in the process of building a strong program and .... "

What has he been watching? Schellas Hyndman has had the Ponies in the NCAA tournament every year he's been here except one, and has had them in the hunt for a national championship in about half of those seasons.

That statement is like saying "Bamba Fall is in the process of growing into a tall kid...."

Fall is already a skyscraper, and the Ponies are already among the nation's elite.

[NavyCrimson]

soccer will never get the crowds it gets in the north - period!

no matter how hard u try, they've been trying 50 yrs wit no luck whatsoever -

even if they got a new soccer stadium, the crowds would be there for awhile & then they'd die out once the newness wore off - its a cultural thing plain & simple -

what they ought to do or maybe do once schellas retires is use those scholarships allocated for soccer for baseball & build a baseball stadium - then you'll see the crowds.

especially if they win!

then you could probably satisfy title 9 in the process -

[mustangbill67]

Men's soccer gets 9.9 ships while baseball gets 11.7. Switching soccer for baseball is a step backward for title 9 purposes. In addition, although I have never been a die hard baseball fan and did not follow it during the period SMU had it, I do not recall it was ever a program with the national prominence of the soccer program. The Dallas area is one of the principal hotbeds for youth soccer in the nation. It makes sense that SMU should always have a major nationally known program.

The purpose for posting the article was to demostate that SMU was a finalist for who is purhaps the top soccer recruit in the nation. We will always lose good recruits from the Dallas area who simply want to get away from home. In the past, many of these recruits have transferred back to SMU after a year or two away. SMU also in most years gets good recruits from outside Dallas who come to Dallas for the same reason, good school, good soccer program and a chance to get away from home for awhile.

[NavyCrimson]

i'm simply saying that if the soccer falls out of prominence & begins to suffer, we then get a big contributor to build a baseball stadium and make some $$$ for a change which i'm sure we never did with soccer.

probably wont be a lot of money but it'll be more than what soccer ever brought plus much more PR as well -

as they say, once schellas leaves, all bets are off.

[mustangbill67]

A lot of "ifs". If SMU soccer loses prominence when Schellas retires, if SMU can find a way to cover the title 9 deficit that baseball would bring, if someone would fund the building of a baseball stadium and if baseball would be any more successful attendance wise than soccer. Seems like wishful thinking by a fanatic baseball fan. With soccer's continuing growth including the conversion of one time football only fans such as myself, I place my bet on soccer's survival Schellas or no Schellas.

[RedRiverPony]

That's like asking a question based on if the Yankees run out of money.

If there's one program at SMU that wins, and will continue to win, it's soccer. And you want to replace it with a start-up baseball program?

Remember how quickly that little (re-)startup football program in 1989 started winning? Let's not mess with what works.

[abezontar]

do we market our soccer program to anyone outside of HP?

[EastStang]

I suspect that when Schellas retires, there will be a ton of excellent, well connected, well known soccer coaches lining up for the position. I don't think we'll miss a step. Did you notice the women's program kept right on going after its coaching change and even got better? Even before Schellas, SMU had a pretty good soccer program, he just took it to the next level. Indiana has been a soccer power since the 1960's. With Dallas being a youth soccer hotbed and no other Division 1 soccer teams in Texas, we have a monopoly, why give that up for baseball and I love baseball? We'll be fine in soccer for years to come. If you want baseball find some guy with about $90 Million to fund baseball and softball.

[Roach]

I'm with you, East. The women's team has gotten better. Coach Cossaboon is better than his predecessor, Coach Van Linder, who was lightyears better than his predecessor, Coach Ryan. Whenever Coach Hyndman decides to leave, there will be hordes of capable coaches trying to land the job. But I also hope that's a long way off -- Coach Hyndman is a great coach, and has a lot of coaching left in him.

And I'm like you -- I love baseball. But I have no interest in watching years of mediocrity while we "build" a program. I've heard that line before. I'm willing to be patient with the football team and the basketball team, and I believe in the future of each under Coach Bennett and Coach Tubbs. But that's enough for growing programs around here.

And with finances and Title IX, baseball is a non-issue, anyway.

[NavyCrimson]

that's the point, all these top 10 finishes & still nobody comes to the games.

[No Cal Pony]

It is sad that SMU loses out on the kid, but navy, as is discussed elsewhere, we don't draw so well for any team. I went to soccer games ('84 to '87). I knew two guys on the team. We kicked butt, and it was fun. That many SMU students and fans didn't go was a shame. The same is for our swimming and diving programs. I went to many meets, and I knwe many of the swimmers and divers. (And boy what a party fun group!) They don't get a lot of folks either. What it boils down to is a lack of concern and care over your school. That so many students and alumni don't show up is a sad and pathetic.

Go Ponies!

[EastStang]

I remember back in the day when Perkins Natatorium would be filled for big swim meets. I remember a packed house when we swam against #1 ranked USC. We beat them that night. And yes, my swimmer friends in my dorm never showed up until morning. Wild bunch those swimmers. I did go a couple of years ago to see the Mustang soccer team play at George Mason. There were about 5 SMU fans there.

[me@smu]

No students go to the games, but there are people there. Went to five games last year and each was filled with kids from HP and their parents.

To say it doesn't provide PR for SMU is just wrong. Last SMU game I saw on ESPN was actually a mens soccer match, granted it was ESPN 2 but still.

Considering how huge soccer is in Dallas, there is no reason the team can't draw like other programs in the nation. SMU just needs to be filling to put some advertising dollars behind the program, rather than spending it all to convince people that the football team will be worth something this year.