Hot Stove Action

[Falconer]

Concerning newcomers, has anyone actually seen Shay Quintin play? He was All-State in Massachusetts for what was apparently a dynamite team at Milton Academy--not the type of school from which Messiah gets a lot of players. His profile seems more suited to the NESCAC, and I'm guessing that Mr Right or someone else from up that way has seen him.

I'm inclined to think that the incoming CB combination of Joey Cianciatta (Copa FC) and Cooper Robbins (regional AA) is really going to help the Falcons. I doubt both will start right away, but Robbins probably will and might actually be the best defender as a freshman. Time will tell.

[4231CenterBack]

Some interesting Messiah related news:

- Nick Thompson comes out  of retirement to play for his old coach Dave Brandt at Pittsburgh Riverhounds

- Danny Brandt resurfaces at Wheaton (IL) to play for Jake DeClute.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://gomustangsports.com/sports/msoc/2016-17/releases/20160617id2aj8

New coach announced for Stevenson. The Commonwealth continues to get more competitive each year. This will only add to the competition for Messiah and now Lycoming.

[Joe Wally]

The following freshmen have been added to Wabash's 2016 soccer roster:

Gabriel Anguiano - Hammond, IN / Bishop Noll Institute       
Adam Courter - Fremont, CA / Washington       
Devon DeLaMater - Marietta, GA / North Cobb       
Cruz Garcia - Fort Wayne, IN / Canterbury School       
Ethan McNaughton - Indianapolis, IN / Plainfield       
Mohamed Ndour - Bronx, NY / Kingsbridge International       
David Ortega - Hammond, IN / Munster       
Keith Owen - Indianapolis, IN / Cardinal Ritter       
David Riggs - Indianapolis, IN / Heritage Christian       
Nicholas Shrader - Indianapolis, IN / North Central       
Michael Tanchevski - Crown Point, IN / Crown Point       
Pierce Van Houten - Rensselaer, IN / Rensselaer Central       
Abdoulie Waggeh - Bronx, NY / The Metropolitan HS

[MidwestGrinder]

The following freshmen have been added to Wabash's 2016 soccer roster:

Gabriel Anguiano - Hammond, IN / Bishop Noll Institute       
Adam Courter - Fremont, CA / Washington       
Devon DeLaMater - Marietta, GA / North Cobb       
Cruz Garcia - Fort Wayne, IN / Canterbury School       
Ethan McNaughton - Indianapolis, IN / Plainfield       
Mohamed Ndour - Bronx, NY / Kingsbridge International       
David Ortega - Hammond, IN / Munster       
Keith Owen - Indianapolis, IN / Cardinal Ritter       
David Riggs - Indianapolis, IN / Heritage Christian       
Nicholas Shrader - Indianapolis, IN / North Central       
Michael Tanchevski - Crown Point, IN / Crown Point       
Pierce Van Houten - Rensselaer, IN / Rensselaer Central       
Abdoulie Waggeh - Bronx, NY / The Metropolitan HS

I like Wabash's chances of making the NCAC tournament this year and having a solid season. They return nearly everyone (including All-Region players Jennings and Dorsuleski) and the rest of the conference is a Pandora's box. OWU lost a TON of talent (although they always rebuild), Depauw lost some good players in Ables, Schoenfeld and Musa, and Oberlin lost Ingham. I expect Denison to do well and of course Kenyon is a national title frontrunner. I would not at all be surprised to see Wabash make the NCAC tournament and maybe pull off an upset to make the NCAC finals 

[Mr.Right]

Some interesting Messiah related news:

- Nick Thompson comes out  of retirement to play for his old coach Dave Brandt at Pittsburgh Riverhounds

- Danny Brandt resurfaces at Wheaton (IL) to play for Jake DeClute.

Well the Brandt to Pittsburgh rumor that had been circulating the past few years finally came true. I just do not understand it. Navy might be one of the top 10 coaching jobs in the country because of the pay and BENEFITS. You are set for life. What are Brandt's goals in coaching? Did he give up on Navy to quickly after realizing it might be a struggle to win consistently? Does his massive ego need to and must get to the PRO game? The league that he has joined is a couple bad investments away from FOLDING. Any insights on this would be helpful to realize why he jumped "ship".

As far as his son, this kid is some player and I like his game but what on earth is going on with all the schools and the jumping around. D3 to D1 to D2 back to D3...Insights ti this also would be of interest

[jknezek]

MLS coaches generally are MLS assistants. Or former players, which seems to be the hot way to go for some reason. Anyway, MLS assistants were generally head coaches in USL/NASL and other pro levels. If his ambition is to be an MLS coach, he needed to move. Caleb Porter was an anomaly. The days of Sigi Schmidt and Bruce Arenas moving straight to MLS gigs from DI college programs is over except in very rare circumstances. And those circumstances include D1 gigs where coaches can really make a name. Navy is not likely a school where that will happen.

I think your opinion that USL is in danger of folding misses the mark. Given the partnership with MLS and the MLS developmental affiliates that are populating USL these days, I think USL is in probably the best financial shape in its history. Over 20 teams have joined USL in the last 3 years, more than doubling the size of the league. No teams folded or moved to PDL in the last season or two, a rarity for USL. Overall, it isn't a huge financial winner by any means, but it finally seems to be growing as the pro soccer pyramid in this country takes a little bit of shape.

The Riverhounds have an affiliation with Columbus, who does not sponsor a USL development team preferring the relationship with Pittsburgh so far, so Brandt will get exposure to MLS through players moving back and forth and conversations with the Columbus coaching staff. If his ambition is to see if he can be an MLS coach, this move makes good sense. Risky, but it all depends on what you are trying to do. If his goal was to comfortably coach out his career, Navy wasn't a bad spot. But to keep climbing the ladder? He had to move on.

As for his son, I have no idea.

[Saint of Old]

Makes sense (in my humble opinion) for Brandt Jr. to go to possibly the best soccer program in history (Wheaton) after winning a championship with possibly the best soccer program in history.

He's a champion, and he knows it.
Why stay at Messiah?

He will be the only individual who will be able to claim that he competed for two of college soccer's powerhouse teams and maybe even win a championship with both.

Makes a lot of sense.
Wish he came to SLU

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Makes sense (in my humble opinion) for Brandt Jr. to go to possibly the best soccer program in history (Wheaton) after winning a championship with possibly the best soccer program in history.

He's a champion, and he knows it.
Why stay at Messiah?

He will be the only individual who will be able to claim that he competed for two of college soccer's powerhouse teams and maybe even win a championship with both.

Makes a lot of sense.
Wish he came to SLU

I feel if he would have stayed then Messiah wouldn't be in the funk they have been in lately. It was a selfish move on his part. He knew they wouldn't be as good without the 2015 class so he moved on. Selfish! Louisville didn't work because the culture was a complete 180 from Messiah and he tried to go back to Messiah but the team, not the coaching staff, boycotted him and didn't want him back. And why would you? The kid ditched you because he knew they wouldn't be as good. So then he transfers from Louisville to play on a beach somewhere in Florida and that got old fast. Now for his final year he's heading to Wheaton, whose coach by the way has great connections with Brandt's father, so this move makes tons of sense. Wheaton is familiar with him and thrilled to have him and Danny is familiar with their staff as well. It's a win win for both parties and he should have made that move first. But in all honesty he should have never left Messiah. Big time mistake but he's young and he will live and learn. He will grow from this process but it's a shame of the constant moving between schools.

[Flying Weasel]

Navy has hired a replacement for Dave Brandt, and it's another of Division III's most successful coaches: Tim O'Donohue.  O'Donohue has spent the past 5 years as an assistant at D-I powerhouse UConn (2011-15), after 10 years as head coach at Stevens Tech (2001-10) where he posted a 165-21-23 (.844) record.  That mark places him at the top of the list of Winningest All-Time Division III coaches (10+ years min. as D-III head coach) in the NCAA record books.  Dave Brandt left Messiah and Division III with a .886 winning pct., the best career D-III mark, but the record book includes all years as a NCAA head coach (all divisions) meaning Dave Brandt's Navy years have pulled him down the list a little.  Brandt and O'Donohue squared off in the 2008 D-III Final, a 1-1 draw that was decided by penalty kick shootout in Messiah's favor.

One thing I wasn't remembering about O'Donohue was that he was a 4-year starter at Muhlenberg in the middle of a run of 8 NCAA appearances in 9 years (back when the tournament field was 32 teams and a little harder to get into).  As a senior, the Mules reached their only Final Four and were eliminated via penalty kick shootout in the semifinals by host and eventual champion Williams.

[Mr.Right]

O'Donohue is an interesting choice for Navy. Personally, I thought he made a mistake to leave a D3 Head Coaching role at Stevens with a lot of success to go to UCONN to be Ray Reid's lackey. I was wrong as he was young enough to make the move and wanted to be a D1 head coach. For all his faults Ray Reid has plenty of connections and is a great name to throw down as a reference. I remember O'Donohue to be a screamer at Stevens when I saw them live in 2008 at Babson in the NCAA's and they played a classic NCAA game v RPI in the 1st round. They went down early and he was screaming at his players, the ref and even Adam Clinton the RPI coach who is no slouch himself in terms of screaming. I came away impressed with the game but thought O'Donohue was a bit immature. Maybe that was an anomaly.

[Mr.Right]

Quick Pittsburgh Riverhounds update....I believe Brandt has started 2-4-1 since his arrival. I have no idea what the team was like before he arrived so maybe that is improvement. Anyone in the know?  Has the style changed?

[D3soccerwatcher]

Some interesting Messiah related news:

- Nick Thompson comes out  of retirement to play for his old coach Dave Brandt at Pittsburgh Riverhounds

- Danny Brandt resurfaces at Wheaton (IL) to play for Jake DeClute.

Well the Brandt to Pittsburgh rumor that had been circulating the past few years finally came true. I just do not understand it. Navy might be one of the top 10 coaching jobs in the country because of the pay and BENEFITS. You are set for life. What are Brandt's goals in coaching? Did he give up on Navy to quickly after realizing it might be a struggle to win consistently? Does his massive ego need to and must get to the PRO game? The league that he has joined is a couple bad investments away from FOLDING. Any insights on this would be helpful to realize why he jumped "ship".

As far as his son, this kid is some player and I like his game but what on earth is going on with all the schools and the jumping around. D3 to D1 to D2 back to D3...Insights ti this also would be of interest

If you think Navy might be "one of the top 10 coaching jobs in the country" then my guess is you have never spent significant time at a military academy.  It might pay well as you have highlighted, but it is very different from other NCAA soccer programs in so many ways.  And I'm also guessing that a Coach the caliber of Dave Brandt has much more that he wants to accomplish than just being "set for life".

[D3soccerwatcher]

Makes sense (in my humble opinion) for Brandt Jr. to go to possibly the best soccer program in history (Wheaton) after winning a championship with possibly the best soccer program in history.

He's a champion, and he knows it.
Why stay at Messiah?

He will be the only individual who will be able to claim that he competed for two of college soccer's powerhouse teams and maybe even win a championship with both.

Makes a lot of sense.
Wish he came to SLU

I feel if he would have stayed then Messiah wouldn't be in the funk they have been in lately. It was a selfish move on his part. He knew they wouldn't be as good without the 2015 class so he moved on. Selfish! Louisville didn't work because the culture was a complete 180 from Messiah and he tried to go back to Messiah but the team, not the coaching staff, boycotted him and didn't want him back. And why would you? The kid ditched you because he knew they wouldn't be as good. So then he transfers from Louisville to play on a beach somewhere in Florida and that got old fast. Now for his final year he's heading to Wheaton, whose coach by the way has great connections with Brandt's father, so this move makes tons of sense. Wheaton is familiar with him and thrilled to have him and Danny is familiar with their staff as well. It's a win win for both parties and he should have made that move first. But in all honesty he should have never left Messiah. Big time mistake but he's young and he will live and learn. He will grow from this process but it's a shame of the constant moving between schools.

If I'm following Brandt's moves properly, it seems to me that he has two years of eligibility remaining.

[D3soccerwatcher]

After the significant Senior class Wheaton just graduated (two have already signed pro contracts - including one in the MLS), Brandt is much needed there and he will undoubtedly have an immediate and considerable positive impact on this team.  I don't think anyone has ever argued his playing prowess - he is an excellent player.