NCAA Women's Soccer RPI

quote:

---

Colby Hale is in his fourth season as head soccer coach at the University of Arkansas after being named to the position on Dec. 21, 2011. Just needs 5 years to get it turned around

---

I mean we've only been to the NCAA Tourney twice in program history...2013 (sweet 16) and 2014 (2nd round) soooo I'd say he's doing fine

Like I said. All non revenue sports are a dumpster fire.

quote:

---

Looks like he's got a couple of good young freshmen players in Reece Christopherson and Carly Hoke.

---

Creepy alert.

Let us be honest, women's soccer has been the afterthought of afterthoughts here at the U of A. We've shown some progress in recent years and that is a good thing.

As an example our women's gymnastics team was... well we didn't have one to be honest. But we dropped a bit of cash, hired some good coaches, and we have a respectable team.

A small investment in the non revenue type sports can generate a lot of success. If we are willing to dip into what is shaping up to be quite a pot of SEC money then we could become a mid-America sports powerhouse in a lot of sports.

I think we can make it. A mix of Arkansas talent and out of state players will have to work their way up. But if we hit the recruiting trails then we can be a mid America powerhouse. There are a ton of athletic women in our footprint that we can offer a scholarship.

Who would have thought we'd have more track and field titles then just about anyone? Drop just a little bit of cash and we can be a major player in women's sports.

quote:

---

Drop just a little bit of cash and we can be a major player in women's sports.

---

We need to do this in Football and Men's basketball, too.

Oh its being done, but we are so far behind the game, with no solid network set up.

quote:

---

Arkansas can compete with the big boys. We just have to pick our battles wisely.

---

Hell, OM has a better infrastructure than we do as far as "friends of the program". It can be done again, but the old timers (farmers) have been replaced with PC fortune 500 folks.

The national team beat a bunch of amateurs and now the "cool" thing is to apparently care about women's soccer. Well I don't, and never will. It's impossible to watch.

quote:

---

The national team beat a bunch of amateurs and now the "cool" thing is to apparently care about women's soccer. Well I don't, and never will. It's impossible to watch.

---

While this attitude is pretty close-minded, I tend to agree with you when it comes to euroleague/professional soccer. I played for almost 20 years and can't stand to watch them flopping around when a slight breeze blows. It's really ruining the sport for possible viewership/soccer fan newcomers. High school, traveling tournament teams, and college are all a lot more exciting and usually fun to watch though. Particularly high school men's soccer can get extremely physical and all-out dirty, which is why the U.S. Men's teams are always fairly tough and avoid the flopping technique. I broke 2 ribs, an ankle, had 2 concussions, and dislocated a shoulder playing high school soccer. I've also been a part of a massive brawl between both teams, coaches, and parents that resulted in the visiting team purposely driving a vehicle through our soccer field house because things got so heated on the field. I've found that knowing more about the sport makes it more enjoyable to watch; in other words, it's not something an average joe can flip the channel to, watch, and enjoy.

Back to the UofA women's team - they do have some talented younger players right now and will continue upgrading their talent as the "soccer explosion" kids in the state grow up. The last 5-10 years has seen the sport grow exponentially in the state, something like 200%. Just the last 3 years has seen both men's and women's high school teams win state championships that have never before. Another thing people have to realize is that most UofA's competition also deals with the same issues being in the southern states. The only southern state that is and has been consistently churning out significant soccer talent for the last 15 years is Tejas.