Something I'm pondering today: It seems to me this day and age that Title IX is as much of a limiting factor as anything. I wish it wasn't so restrictive. I hate that there are sports that can't happen at UT because of it. I'm not saying it should be totally scrapped, but I just wonder what would happen if it were? Would women's sports just go away without it? I don't find much interest in women's sports personally but I'd hate for that to happen. I wonder if there is some way to reform it to keep the protection it gives women's sports yet not put so much restriction on what universities can do? Me personally, I'd love to see men's soccer at UT, I think it would do well. Knoxville is pretty much a soccer hotbed, at least for this region.
Women's sports would dry up fast. I agree that there should be a way to negotiate more flexibility somehow.
The NCAA should simply require an equal number of men's and women's scholarships at each school, with higher limits on the number of scholarships per sport, minus basketball and football, which have enough. And have no minimums. If UT wants a men's soccer team of instate walk-ons or only a few scholarship players, so be it. It would help the women, because most school double count ladies that run track and XC as 2 scholarships.
Even if the money was there, I don't think college soccer would become a major sport. The top players shouldn't be considering NCAA soccer.
I don't either, but it would be nice to see UT field a team. And there is enough good, but not world class talent around Knoxville to probably field the core of a decent team IMO.
Women's sports are singlehandedly bankrupting cal's athletic department. It's absurd we have to offer scholarships to offset those taken by the sports who literally pay for the rest of the athletic department.
Don't disagree, but also doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy going over to the stadium and watching, which was more my point.
I would generally expect college soccer to be on par with college baseball for better or worse. Most of the best players aren't playing in it, but it would still be some pretty good players.
Developmental academies, either here or overseas. I'm confident that we'll continue moving in this direction. I'm not sure how many of the young players at MLS teams come from college right now. I think the number will continue to drop.
Professional academies, i.e. the European Way. No time limits, better competition and structure. We have a lot of kids in the MLS academies and a few in some places like Liverpool and Bayern Munich. I believe there's even a kid in the Barcelona training center.
It doesn't mean you can't develop in a college program. Dempsey played at Furman and went on to stardom. That's the exception, of course, but there is still very good coaching and talent at the collegiate level here. Incidentally, we never hear a lot of stories about the guy that goes through the development process and flames out.
Counted 12 of the 23 roster players from the last round of qualifiers that played collegiately (concentrated in defense, GKs, and the bench). It's probably about 50/50 with the remaining 11 whether they were academy or didn't live in the US during development. The majority of the starting midfield and forward rotation comes from that 11, however. It likely changes going forward.
You're right, but it's going to change going forward. US Soccer knows it's what will have to happen for us to start competing internationally. Looking at our youth teams, it seems like most are already with some club.
