PonyFans.com

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/st ... a&&cc=5901

18. SMU -- Change is in the air at SMU. After serving as the head coach at SMU for 24 years, Schellas Hyndman was hired as the head coach of Major League Soccer's FC Dallas in June. Tim McClements, who most recently served as an assistant coach at SMU, but who previously did an exemplary job as the head coach at Vanderbilt for four seasons before the school dropped the sport, has been named to replace Hyndman. The Mustangs have announced the addition of a 15-man recruiting class. The class includes six players from the Dallas Texan club team and three players from the Andromeda club team that captured the U-18 national championship. Midfielders Arthur Ivo from Fort Worth, Texas, and Brian Farkas from Plano, Texas, are two of the more visible members of the class. Both played club for the Dallas Texans.

What were previous years' classes ranked?

smu diamond m wrote:What were previous years' classes ranked?

SMU was #4 last year.


http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index_ ... e13729.htm

eek

This #18 ranked class is Schellas' class as head coach (though McClements did have a big hand in getting the talent to SMU). Let's wait and see what McClements can do as head coach before we write him off.

I'll be very interested to see where Soccer America ranks this class, because this ranking is very low, according to some friends who actually follow high school soccer. Usually a large class of quality kids gets a bump in the rankings because of the increased chance to get some real studs out of a class of prospects, and I've heard that especially in soccer, a player who has a sibling who ended up being a star often grants little bit of a bump, because of the potential of a similar star emerging (a la Joe Cooper, younger brother of FC Dallas star Kenny Cooper). From what I'm told, the two Brazilian guys who are coming from Arlington (Ivo and DeAlmeda) and a defender (vanderGriffe) are "potential All-Americas." I bet we look back in a few years and laugh at this ranking. The comments in the link below make it sound like Schellas was thrilled with the talent coming in. From what I recall, he never was one to fawn all over freshmen, and if he talks about them in these terms, they must be pretty damn good. I'd bet it's safe to say he knows more about them than any of the guys on that website.

http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/m-so ... 08aaa.html

I wasn't writing him off by any means. In comparison to previous classes, regardless of HC, it seems low...

smu diamond m wrote:I wasn't writing him off by any means. In comparison to previous classes, regardless of HC, it seems low...

Agreed...my post was a preemptive strike against those who already seem ready to write TM off.