Rumor

[SMUer]

MLS is pouring more and more $$$ into the academy system. IMO in 10 years college soccer will be so sub-standard it'll be only slightly above current university "club" (rec) teams. Switch soccer for baseball...this coming from a huge soccer fan.

[Planter's Punch]

MLS is pouring more and more $$$ into the academy system. IMO in 10 years college soccer will be so sub-standard it'll be only slightly above current university "club" (rec) teams. Switch soccer for baseball...this coming from a huge soccer fan.

That sounds more like the current state of baseball. Kids out of high school can enter the draft, decided whether or not to sign, go into the minors, or opt spend time in college before trying again.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

This is why people are pushing the NCAA to make soccer a year-round sport.

Players need more game action in college to keep more good players in the university system.

[gostangs]

Stallion -

And rice is the most popular food in the world, but that doesn't mean Americans need to eat it. Your list makes my case for me. Good private schools play lacrosse as a college sport. Nobody cares about soccer. It's for euro trash and latins. Let's admit it and move on. We have a brand new field ready to go, let's just switch to lacrosse and save the cost of redoing any field. You could win the national championship in soccer and nobody would ever notice.

[jpe747]

I think it is time to reevaluate what sports SMU participates in. The school might decide to continue with the sports they have. But, what future value will SMU receive from each sport vs cost and other considerations? The only two that I see as likely to be future big money makers are football and basketball.

[JasonB]

Stallion -

And rice is the most popular food in the world, but that doesn't mean Americans need to eat it. Your list makes my case for me. Good private schools play lacrosse as a college sport. Nobody cares about soccer. It's for euro trash and latins. Let's admit it and move on.

Possibly xenophobic but certainly an ignorant statement. Soccer is popular in the United States, even with non-immigrant populations.

http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-socc ... -espn-poll

What is interesting in that poll, is that if you replaced MLB and MLS with Baseball and Soccer, Soccer would rank way higher than baseball in popularity. In fact, ESPN found that Soccer is actually second in popularity behind football for people 12 -22:

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/relegation-z ... g-takeover

If you replace soccer with baseball or lacrosse, the problem is that nobody really cares who wins those championships either. At least with soccer, the students actually like and follow the sport, so you have some chance for decent attendance. Which you don't have for rugby, baseball, or lacrosse.

[couch 'em]

Soccer has been extremely popular with kids for 30+ years. That doesnt translate to college soccer popularity. Fanatics where soccer is their primary sport is still quite rare.

[Pony Boss]

Nobody cares about any other sport that is not Football and Men's basketball. Lacrosse and Soccer will get the same kind of "interest"

[ojaipony]

When I was there, soccer was very very good - one of the few sports that were any good actually - and swimming.

All I care about is excellence. If we had underwater basket weaving, I'd want us to be consistently top 10 competing for the UBW championship every year. Since I experienced elite soccer and swimming, I'd like to get back there. We should be smoking all these AAC schools in all of these sports and competing for national championships in the "country club" sports also (golf, equestrian, rowing etc). And definitely hands off women's volleyball!! Just be damn good and don't half [deleted] it, whatever it is.

[stc9]

I am a big lacrosse fan. I would love to see SMU make the change; however, if a change is made it needs to further the overall strategic plan of the University. If the change doesn't further SMU's long-term goals, then why rock the boat.

This was discussed in greater detail on the Around the Hilltop forum: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=76859

JPE - As a member of the same abused fan club, I would be hesitant to call for a review of all sports. I think that would be the opportunity for the anti-sports faculty/staff to get their nose back into the tent and be able to voice their negativity all over again. I generally love the idea of reviews that you are calling for; however, in this case I would highly recommend it be done one sport at a time. This way it is smaller in scope and it can be controlled by RH with consultation from RGT.

[RebStang]

MLS is pouring more and more $$$ into the academy system. IMO in 10 years college soccer will be so sub-standard it'll be only slightly above current university "club" (rec) teams. Switch soccer for baseball...this coming from a huge soccer fan.

I think baseball would be the 'right' choice but that comes with some caveats.

Of the non-revenue type sports, baseball is probably the most expensive to be truly competitive in.

The really good coaches are all paid well. There are 2-3 that make over a million a year and another 10-15 that make over $600,000. That said, there are some really good 'value' coaches out there... hell, George Horton (Oregon... formerly at Cal St. Fullerton) only makes around $450-500k and he's got a national championship under his belt... of course, Oregon pulled a hell of a scam on him to get him there - his max pay is based on season ticket sales and could go as high as $700,000 but, despite their decent success under him, attendance and ticket sales just aren't there from what I've heard.

The big cost is facilities. A stadium and field that would say "We're serious about competing" would cost $30 million or more. Serious talent isn't going to come to a school that shows them a glorified high school ball park - the schools that really compete in baseball have stadiums that would make a lot of minor league clubs jealous. That said, a stadium doesn't have to be huge... only 10 schools average over 4,000 a game and only 5 (LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and South Carolina) average over 7,000 a game. A 3,000-4,000 seat stadium would be more than adequate.

[jpe747]

I am a big lacrosse fan. I would love to see SMU make the change; however, if a change is made it needs to further the overall strategic plan of the University. If the change doesn't further SMU's long-term goals, then why rock the boat.

This was discussed in greater detail on the Around the Hilltop forum: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=76859

JPE - As a member of the same abused fan club, I would be hesitant to call for a review of all sports. I think that would be the opportunity for the anti-sports faculty/staff to get their nose back into the tent and be able to voice their negativity all over again. I generally love the idea of reviews that you are calling for; however, in this case I would highly recommend it be done one sport at a time. This way it is smaller in scope and it can be controlled by RH with consultation from RGT.

GREAT POINT stc9. I would like to limit my suggestion to the Athletic Dept. ONLY!!! I sure don't see any benefit of faculty from other departments involved. And I am sure they would want to be. However, from a business point of view who doesn't have some FUTURE comprehensive plan to evaluate and meet the needs of the coming years? I've mentioned elsewhere that I would add a men's track team. I think that would help our recruiting for football. As one example I would like to point out that one could argue that the greatest athlete to ever play for SMU was Michael Carter. His greatest accomplishment was not on the football field but in Track and Field. Getting Carter to play for SMU probably relates to the fact that we had men's track.
I assume that most of you have other ideas and I am satisfied with what we do have. Nevertheless, I have to agree that the only two that are above all others are football and basketball. For you swimmers, I love swimming and have coached it. BUT, unless SMU builds one fantastic indoor pool, we will never be a swimming power again. I hate to say that, But I feel it's true. (Yes, the women are holding on, but for how long?)

[JasonB]

Soccer has been extremely popular with kids for 30+ years. That doesnt translate to college soccer popularity. Fanatics where soccer is their primary sport is still quite rare.

What has changed was that in the past, soccer was directly linked with kids. 14 year olds want nothing to do with 8 year olds, so they would bail on soccer and move on to football, baseball, and basketball.

For the last 15 years, good soccer has been pretty available for people to watch. That has allowed those kids to become fans of teams, and not just of the sport itself. Additionally, MLS started to market to actual soccer fans instead of kids about 7 years ago. That has led to people staying fans of the sport itself. Which is why you are seeing the 18-22 and even 18-36 demographics watching soccer and selecting it as their second favorite sport. Its also why the world cup outdraws the world series. Its also why more people wake up to watch the EPL early in the morning than watch a college basketball game on ESPN. Its also why MLS has an average attendance that is higher than the NBA and NHL. Its also why a MINOR LEAGUE soccer team in Sacramento draws 25K per game. And it is also why the Yankees are a part owner of one of the New York franchises, which is playing its games in Yankee Stadium.

The attendance for college baseball is going to continue to decline, and the cost of facilities is too high to justify. Soccer is cheap. Lacrosse is interesting because it is a little more expensive to play, but much less expensive and more available than hockey, so you can see lacrosse passing hockey in the next 20 years.

The cheapest thing to do would be to replace the current soccer field with an IPF, and massively upgrade the turf in Ford so that it is of high enough quality to play soccer, football, and lacrosse in the same stadium.

[RebStang]

The cheapest thing to do would be to replace the current soccer field with an IPF, and massively upgrade the turf in Ford so that it is of high enough quality to play soccer, football, and lacrosse in the same stadium.

This makes a lot of sense and I actually remember going to an NCAA tournament game against St. John's at Ford years ago so it seems that Ford is suitable for soccer.

[Pony Boss]

Winners play on grass. Change Ford to Bermuda.