W Soccer - Coaching Speculation

by **August** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:25 pm

They're having a bit of fun on another forum speculating on the new hire, with some saying ND's Waldrum would be a good fit. Or perhaps even bringing in Pia. Either would be a high profile hire, obviously. So, what say you? Are we aiming that high for our non-rev sports, looking for an up and comer or ...?

by **DallasDiehard** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:42 pm

TCU grabbed someone from one of the local club teams (as an assistant, I think). Do we want to go that route, for recruiting purposes?

by **DanFreibergerForHeisman** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:01 pm

DallasDiehard wrote:TCU grabbed someone from one of the local club teams (as an assistant, I think). Do we want to go that route, for recruiting purposes?

Yes, he is the TCU assistant now. Their new head coach was the top assistant at Florida State who was in the College Cup this past season.

I would like to think we would bring in somebody high profile. Hopefully we won't be cheap on this one.

I would think anybody new would easily be able to have better relationships with the local clubs than the previous coach.

by **Junior** » Wed May 09, 2012 12:48 pm

yeah, chill...

by **Hoofprint** » Thu May 10, 2012 1:47 pm

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:I would like to think we would bring in somebody high profile. Hopefully we won't be cheap on this one.

What have you seen from Orsini's dealings with any sport other than football or men's basketball to make you think he would consider someone high profile?

Wait ... the men's golf coach has a good track record. But I bet he came cheap because he's an SMU alum.

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:I would think anybody new would easily be able to have better relationships with the local clubs than the previous coach.

Was the previous relationship with club coaches really that bad? Aren't almost all of our players local?

by **DanFreibergerForHeisman** » Thu May 10, 2012 8:46 pm

As far as the relationship with local clubs, I am just reiterating what others have said on this board. We are certainly heavy on Dallas Texans, but still get the occasional player from D'Feeters, Solar, and Sting so it isn't like we are blackballed or anything. The current roster is roughly 2/3 local and of the 5 in the 2012 class 3 are local.

I have better things to do than count up the club members but off the top of my head, 6 of this season's 13 local players (including players who quit), 2 of the 5 2012 class, and all 3 of the current 2013 commitments are Dallas Texans. It's great to have a good relationship with them but that is a lot of eggs in one basket in my opinion.

As for your other point, I don't trust Orsini to make a big hire at all, but I will hold out hope until they name the new coach. At least he was aware a change needed to be made which surprised me.

I do wonder about the timing of the new hire. I don't remember if they announced an Erwin camp this summer but there isn't anything on the SMU site about it now. If they plan on having a new coach in place for any camp the hire would obviously need to be made in the near future. I would also think the summer is a good recruiting period with all of the national tournaments.

I assume the summer workout program for the team has already been put together by the current staff and obviously the 2012 schedule is already set so there wouldn't be a rush for those reasons.

by **Buddha** » Fri May 11, 2012 12:23 am

Seemed like Steve-O overpaid for Brown, going after a "name" coach in order to save face after being turned down by a half a dozen candidates (despite his claim that he offer the job to Brown only). The only way he does the same for women's soccer is if he realizes what a disaster his last hire was, and has anyone ever heard him admit he made a mistake on anything? Me neither.

by **DanFreibergerForHeisman** » Fri May 11, 2012 9:18 am

Buddha wrote:The only way he does the same for women's soccer is if he realizes what a disaster his last hire was, and has anyone ever heard him admit he made a mistake on anything? Me neither.

Not to get too dramatic, but this hire will really go a long way to showing how serious SMU is going to be about this Big East thing.

Obviously, the basketball teams are facing a HUGE upgrade in competition, but of the other higher-profile sports at SMU women's soccer probably faces the biggest challenge with the move.

So, if we really want to be a serious contender in the Big East we need to make a splash with this hire. We just need to look at the positive press TCU made with the Eric Bell move to set the baseline for our hire.

by **PonyTales** » Fri May 11, 2012 6:46 pm

Any candidates known yet? Has anyone even been contacted?

by **HeyHey** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:38 am

I'm hopeful Steve O comes through, but moving Erwin to the men's program makes me wonder. Erwin had a terrible reputation with both clubs and other colleges. Sting wants nothing to do with him, so he did everything he could to be chummy with Texans.

I hope if nothing else Orsini hires a women's coach and learned his lesson about bringing a men's coach in to coach women.

by **Ikus** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:46 pm

So do I, but I little faith that he'll make a good call. Without Circle of Champions money, his coaching hires have been anything but impressive.

by **August** » Mon May 14, 2012 7:37 pm

HeyHey wrote:I'm hopeful Steve O comes through, but moving Erwin to the men's program makes me wonder. Erwin had a terrible reputation with both clubs and other colleges. Sting wants nothing to do with him, so he did everything he could to be chummy with Texans.

We haven't had a Sting player since Lewis/Hairston came over and the ensuing mess shut that door pretty darn hard. Hopefully they'll reconsider if we hire someone with integrity who means what they say.

HeyHey wrote:I hope if nothing else Orsini hires a women's coach and learned his lesson about bringing a men's coach in to coach women.

Brent doesn't even a good record as a *men's* coach. Looking back through the archives, he was 13-17-3 at UCF and yet this was Orsini's quote in the presser:

"Brent was an ideal candidate for this position," said Orsini. "He has extensive ties to the area and to SMU. Having hired Brent when I was at Central Florida, I knew that he was well-equipped to lead a program and his success there only reinforced those thoughts. He understands our goal of being a top-25 program and I am convinced he will keep our program at that championship-level and help us continue our march up the national rankings." The italics are mine, but REALLY? What part of that pathetic record coaching men made him an 'ideal candidate' to coach a Top 25 women's team? I am very hopeful that Steve O is just darn tired of cleaning up the mess over there and brings in a quality coach to get us back to a genuine Top 25 team.

PonyTales wrote:Any candidates known yet? Has anyone even been contacted?

I've heard Cal's AHC, Patrick Baker, on a couple of forums but don't know any more than that conjecture. Orsini may know him since they were both in Florida during the same time period, especially since Baker had a great record as HC at FSU.

It seems our AD moves rather slowly during these searches so we'll just have to be patient and keep hope alive.

by **SMUFan** » Mon May 14, 2012 10:07 pm

August wrote:... I am very hopeful that Steve O is just darn tired of cleaning up the mess over there and brings in a quality coach to get us back to a genuine Top 25 team.

Would he ever acknowledge a mess when he's the one who made it? I doubt it.

by **smusic 00** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:06 am

Former SMU assistant Stewart Brown from Highland Park. State Champ...

by **smusic 00** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:46 am

North Texas is a hotbed of girls' soccer talent.