Zips Mens Soccer Program, Coaches ...

[Zip_ME87]

It's often easy to find fault with things and harp on those, but as we begin this New Year, I feel the need to give kudos to Coach Embick and Staff for the continued great Mens Soccer Program that we enjoy and sometimes under-appreciate. Some of our recent accomplishments include:

 

• Although 2016 didn't end as we all had high hopes that it would, the team overcame some adversity and won the MAC Regular Season and Tourney for the 5th year in a row. We hosted an NCAA Tournament game and advanced to the round of 32.
• 3 of our players graduated joining many of us as UA Alumni...and all graduated with honors...Victor Souto, Summa Cum Laude and Brad Ruhaak and Danillo Radjen Magna Cum Laude. Brad Ruhaak was the student speaker at his graduation ceremony. Our coaches and staff deserve accolades for this along with our student-athletes.
  • I'll add that I believe Tyler Sanda is on track to graduate from UA in the Spring, and last I knew, he was on track to do so Summa Cum Laude (and I think go on to medical school)
• Some of our players are in the mix to go pro, or possibly go pro
  • Victor Souto has signed with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds
  • Danilo Radjen is invited to the MLS Combine
  • Brad Ruhaak is invited to a Midwest Combine in Detroit

 

To this I'll also add kudos to Jared and his staff for everything that they did for Victor Souto. We all saw some of the issues on the field from time to time, and we don't know what happened to lead to Victor's dismissal. But Victor gave us 3+ very good years on the field and was instrumental in our 2015 College Cup appearance. As I mentioned above, Victor graduated Summa Cum Laude with a UA Business degree...an accomplishment for which Jared and his staff brought to fruition by recruiting Victor and supporting him as they did. They should be extremely proud of this as I am (and I hope others are) proud of them.

 

Finally, I'll say that I'm very proud of what Jared and his staff have done and continue to do with all of our players. The player issue above is the only one of which I know while Jared has been at Akron, under Caleb's tenure as head coach and during his own. We have had and continue to have outstanding Mens Soccer student-athletes whom are all outstanding young men and make us all proud. They do things the right way ... the Akron way!

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Zip_ME87

[TennZip]

37 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

• • I'll add that I believe Tyler Sanda is on track to graduate from UA in the Spring, and last I knew, he was on track to do so Magna Cum Laude (and I think go on to medical school)

 

 

Zip_ME87....your post is excellent......

You made so many great points....

I will try to find time tonight to add to your positive comments.

 

I will make one small correction.  Tyler Sanda is truly a super student.  In the All MAC academic announcement, Tyler was listed as having a 3.946 in Biology...so he is on target to graduate summa cum laude (joining Victor in that super achievement.  summa is 3.8 and above.   Magna is 3.6 to 3.79.   Adam Najem was also listed as having a cumulative 3.751 GPA.   Adam is on target to graduate magna cum laude and hopefully, we will see a home grown pro soccer announcement about Adam in the next few days.

Tyler Sanda, Jr. (R), 3.946, Biology

 

     One quick point that I think is really important.  I agree completely that Jared, Leo, Ger and T.J. did a super job in 2016.   It is important to realize those 4 did the work that 5 people did in 2015.  In 2015, the Akron Soccer staff included those 4 and Director of Operations Oliver Slawson.   I know many of you are much closer to the program than I am but all of you were always super complimentary of the value added by Oliver Slawson.  That position had to be eliminated due to the ongoing problems at the University of Akron ...caused by the Proenza reckless spending and the Scarborough fiasco.      The loss of that key contributor to the Akron soccer program really hurt Akron soccer and further builds zip_ME87's case for the fine job done by Jared and staff in 2016.  

 

   

[Zip_ME87]

@TennZip thanks for correcting me, and I corrected it in my post. I knew that Tyler is on track to graduate Summa Cum Laude, but typed Magna for some inexplicable reason. Absolutely would not slight him in the least.

[72 Roo]

11 hours ago, TennZip said:

Zip_ME87....your post is excellent......

You made so many great points....

I will try to find time tonight to add to your positive comments.

 

I will make one small correction.  Tyler Sanda is truly a super student.  In the All MAC academic announcement, Tyler was listed as having a 3.946 in Biology...so he is on target to graduate summa cum laude (joining Victor in that super achievement.  summa is 3.8 and above.   Magna is 3.6 to 3.79.   Adam Najem was also listed as having a cumulative 3.751 GPA.   Adam is on target to graduate magna cum laude and hopefully, we will see a home grown pro soccer announcement about Adam in the next few days.

Tyler Sanda, Jr. (R), 3.946, Biology

 

     One quick point that I think is really important.  I agree completely that Jared, Leo, Ger and T.J. did a super job in 2016.   It is important to realize those 4 did the work that 5 people did in 2015.  In 2015, the Akron Soccer staff included those 4 and Director of Operations Oliver Slawson.   I know many of you are much closer to the program than I am but all of you were always super complimentary of the value added by Oliver Slawson.  That position had to be eliminated due to the ongoing problems at the University of Akron ...caused by the Proenza reckless spending and the Scarborough fiasco.      The loss of that key contributor to the Akron soccer program really hurt Akron soccer and further builds zip_ME87's case for the fine job done by Jared and staff in 2016.  

 

   

Two much appreciated posts. My thanks to Zip_ME87 and TennZip. We forget the good things we have and our soccer program, coaches and players are at the top of the list. I confess sometimes I've gone negative out of frustration because I can see a much better product than we are given. You remind us, though, that we still have a lot to be proud of. Thanks guys. 

[72 Roo]

Two much appreciated posts. My thanks to Zip_ME87 and TennZip. We forget the good things we have and our soccer program, coaches and players are at the top of the list. I confess sometimes I've gone negative out of frustration because I can see a much better product than we are given. You remind us, though, that we still have a lot to be proud of. Thanks guys. 

 

Let me offer a point of clarification. The much better product I was referring to was other Zip sports, not soccer.

[TennZip]

I did not get a chance to add some more comments last night as I wanted to.

 

I agree with Zip_ME87 that soccer is often underappreciated.   We all remember the best and want that to happen every single year.   We all remember years when Akron was signing 4 out of the top 10 US recruits in the country and some ask why Jared and his staff are not replicating that.

 

The simple answer is that the college soccer and pro soccer worlds have changed.  MLS has added home grown contracts and generation adidas offers and many of the top 25 recruits are bypassing college.  Most MLS teams now have affiliated teams in the USL and many high school kids think that they will develop more in the USL than they will in a college environment.   Wil Trapp was from columbus and loved his time at Akron.  However, if Wil was a high school senior now, he would be offered a home grown and never would go to college.   Dillon Serna never would have come to Akron in today's environment.   Perry Kitchen also would have gone straight to the pros.  The recruiting environment for Caleb was much different than the environment that Jared and Leo and company currently operated in

 

The facts are that last year, only 6 of the top 25 high school players elected to attend college.  Of those 6, one of those (Nick Hinds) chose to go to Akron.  Also in the top 25 was a young man named Emmanuel Sabbi.  He had committed to come to Akron but chose to pursue a career overseas.  Jonathan Lewis did not play in traditional places in his junior and senior years of HS so he was not ranked in the top 25 but he was clearly a top 25 talent.   If Sabbi had come to Akron, Jared would have been successful in bringing 3 top 25 caliber players to Akron while all other schools had 4 top 25 kids combined.  Like all of us, I worry about who will replace Brad and Danilo as center backs and now I worry about who will replace Jonathan.  The fact is that Akron had an outstanding recruiting class for the 2016 year and I trust that Jared and staff will scour the world to put a quality team on the field in 2017.

 

   As Zip_ME87 said, there was adversity last year.   The team lost their emotional leader, who had been a starter for 3 plus years.  I think everyone knows my feelings about Victor but I would like to join Zip_ME87 in thanking Victor for always giving 150% and for everything that he did for mens soccer and the Univ. of Akron.  Every team deals with injuries but at season end, Danilo missed the last 6 games, Stuart could not play a full 90 minutes and Manel Cordeiro could not play a full 90 minutes.   We all want to do better than winning one NCAA tournament game but ask yourself...when was the last time that that Akron U. mens basketball team won an NCAA tournament game?  Don't even get me started on the money pit known as Zips football.

 

   Bottom line, Akron mens soccer is a true gem on the Akron campus and I like the group leading the mens soccer program.

 

That being said, I worry tremendously that the gigantic financial mess  caused by the board of trustees and the 2 past presidents could have a trickle down impact on the soccer program.   I commented yesterday about the key loss of Oliver Slawson.  We know that the coaching staff budget had to be cut.   Did Jared and his staff also have their recruiting dollars budget cut?   What is Jared's recruiting dollar budget now compared to the budget that Caleb had to work with(when everyone thought that Akron U. finances were solid while Proenza was building new structures everywhere)?

 

Also, I was not happy with Larry Williams during the year.  Scheduling an NCAA tournament game at 4:00 to accommodate a meaningless mens basketball non league game against cupcake U.....sends the message that mens soccer is a secondary sport compared to basketball and football.  Larry also undercut Jared's authority when Larry dismissed Victor.  That announcement should have come from Jared.   Also, when funds are tight, the athletic department could be so much more pro-active in raising funds for mens soccer.  How many season ticket holders know that there is a group called the goal club?   What % of season ticket holders contribute money to the Z-fund or the goal club?   If the recruiting budget was cut due to the financial mess, has the athletic department reached out to soccer alumni and season ticket holders to explain the situation and to try to raise more funds?  The Athletic department should be doing so much more to help the true "gem" sports program on the campus.   Larry Williams and his team need to do some stepping up.    I appreciate Jared and his staff and the current high quality of the mens soccer program.