Hot Stove Action

[Mr.Right]

I am not confusing strong leadership with ego....I have read the book and it was interesting but all I am telling you is that word is around his peers / coaches is he has a massive EGO (which is fine) and is a total CONTROL FREAK. I know he is a great coach but you seem to present Brandt as a total coaching GOD and no ther D3 coach comes close..There are many coaches past and present who are / were just as capable as Brandt. In fact Brandt really started playing futbol at Messiah after seeing SLU play in the Final 4 in 1999. After watching SLU that year he started to study the dutch philosophy and "total futbol". He is a great coach but went as far as he could at Navy  and realized it would be impossible, even with his coaching acumen to take Navy beyond the 1st / 2nd round of the NCAA's no matter what HE DID. So he got itchy and could not handle losing or .500 seasons and left. My guess is he will continue to struggle in the "pro's" unless he has an owner willing to support him with $$$$ for better players, etc...1-7-1 is NOT GOOD no matter what he inherited. Time will tell

[lastguyoffthebench]

E-town Freshman AA, Gilly Waso started getting minutes for Reading United (PDL) late in the season and the playoff run.  Scored the game winner in the round of 16 over Carolina Dynamo... Started in the quarterfinal loss vs Ocean City Nor'easters last night.   Reading played with 10 men for the majority of the match... Waso played more of a defensive role while OC possessed the entire second half.

PDL FINAL 4
Ocean City Nor'easters vs Midland/Odessa Sockers
Michigan Bucks vs Calgary Foothills

[jknezek]

Is the Ocean City team still all run and gun? The last couple times I've caught one of their games, my parents have a place in Ocean City, they were the epitome of boot and chase. Of course they had the athletes to make it stick, but it wasn't pretty. Heck of a place to spend a summer. I can see why they get the players. And my nephew did 2 weeks of their camp this year and liked it. So I might disparage the style, but...

[Shooter McGavin]

I think there are a few of us on this board who had great college careers, and others who had amazing professional careers with just "One Go to Move".

Also, if you are playing at a premier college against good competition "double digit goals" is a very very difficult thing to achieve.

Some of us came into college thinking we would score a couple dozen years each season like in High School, but they call this Mens soccer for a reason.

Wheaton might just be "5 goals and 1 assist" from a National Championship, and he could help them get one for sure.

I think a coach in another sport and another league once said "Never underestimate the heart of a champion".

P.S.
I'm the biggest fan of your posts and knowledge shooter, but we have to disagree here.

No problem Saint of Old and I appreciate the honesty and compliment. You have a good point with the 5 goals and 1 assist might be the missing element for Wheaton and Brandt might be that spark they need. I just think he was given too much hype while at Messiah. I would have liked to see how he did there as "the guy" to lead the team, but instead he bailed and has sold out at every place since. Very intrigued to watch how his time at Wheaton plays out. Did we confirm that he does actually have 2 years left there or is it just this 1?

[NEPAFAN]

For those programs that don't release recruits when do we typically see Roster's pop up? 3rd week in August?

[D3soccerwatcher]

I am not confusing strong leadership with ego....I have read the book and it was interesting but all I am telling you is that word is around his peers / coaches is he has a massive EGO (which is fine) and is a total CONTROL FREAK. I know he is a great coach but you seem to present Brandt as a total coaching GOD and no ther D3 coach comes close..There are many coaches past and present who are / were just as capable as Brandt. In fact Brandt really started playing futbol at Messiah after seeing SLU play in the Final 4 in 1999. After watching SLU that year he started to study the dutch philosophy and "total futbol". He is a great coach but went as far as he could at Navy  and realized it would be impossible, even with his coaching acumen to take Navy beyond the 1st / 2nd round of the NCAA's no matter what HE DID. So he got itchy and could not handle losing or .500 seasons and left. My guess is he will continue to struggle in the "pro's" unless he has an owner willing to support him with $$$$ for better players, etc...1-7-1 is NOT GOOD no matter what he inherited. Time will tell

MrRight,
Someone recently asked me what I think of your posts.  I said that I believe that sometimes your posts are "more fluff than stuff".  While I'm certainly open to hearing your explanation of your post quoted above, let me explain why I think this is pure "FLUFF".

You adamantly claim that Dave Brandt started to study Dutch soccer after seeing SLU play in the 1999 NCAA tournament.  Well let me show why I think this is made up "fluff".

Here's a quote from the book about Messiah soccer... " As Brandt tells it, in March of '97, soon after he was tapped to be head coach, Messiah was playing in an indoor tournament at Penn State.  'Driving out of the campus when it was over,' he recalls, 'the Dutch 4-3-3 flashed in front of me – positions, the little dots, all of it.  I had seen it somewhere before in the last few months, but it just came to me in that moment.  I said to myself, when I get home I'm going to start researching it.

He poured himself into the task, beginning with benchmarking.  As far as Brandt was concerned, Ajax, the Dutch professional club managed through the 1990's by the renowned coach Louis Van Gaal, was the model.  Van Gaal had led the club to national and European titles through a distinctive system of play.

'At the time,' remembers Brandt, 'Ajax was in the Champions League and ESPN, so I taped a couple of games and broke them apart.'

Dissected may be a better way of thinking about it, or autopsied.  At the atomic level.

Brandt studied everything the team did – every passing option they exercised, every run they made, every decision of every player – and began the process of creating a Messiah version.  'It was possible,' he says, because 'the Dutch system was fairly mathematical.  It would have been harder to do this with the Brazilian or Italian or Spanish game.  They're more free flowing.'

Then Brandt studied some more, devouring books on the Dutch system, analyzing more video, even boarding a plane to see for himself.

'The first trip we took as a team,' says then Assistant Coach Jason Spodnick, citing the summer of 1998, 'was to Holland to dive into the culture and learn as much as we could."

So obviously SLU had NOTHING to do with Brandt's pursuit of the Dutch system for his club.

Further, I personally traveled to the Messiah vs SLU game in the 1999 tournament.  The 1999 SLU team was made up largely of Caribbean players, several in their mid-twenties (including fullback Nick Hillary, 24 years old and a former tank gunner in the post-Gulf War).  SLU's star and NCAA D3 POY was Dan Annan from Ghana.  I clearly recall coming away from that game saying that was a "men against boys" match.  SLU was bigger, faster and simply more physically mature.  Their style, while effective, was free flow and very individualistic.  I can assure you that their style of play had virtually no influence on Dave Brandt's disciplined style of play.  He already knew where he was going with his team and he was years into the development of his system prior to 1999.

So I'm calling "FLUFF" on your assertion that the 1999 SLU team was some kind of turning point in pushing Brandt to pursue the Dutch system.

I look forward to your response.

[D3soccerwatcher]

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.

Stevens never "went down early" in that game against RPI in 2008.  Indeed, Stevens won the match 1-0 with about 2:00 remaining in regulation.  Might want to check your "facts".  Stevens made it all the way to the National Final that year where they were defeated by Messiah in what was one of the most brilliant (and gusty) coaching moves in D3 tournament history by then Messiah head coach Dave Brandt.

Also still awaiting a response on this "FLUFF" as well.

[Goldenrj]

For those programs that don't release recruits when do we typically see Roster's pop up? 3rd week in August?

I have seen some schools in the CAC and ODAC start to post their rosters of returning players this week.  Some have added incoming freshmen as well.

[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.

Stevens never "went down early" in that game against RPI in 2008.  Indeed, Stevens won the match 1-0 with about 2:00 remaining in regulation.  Might want to check your "facts".  Stevens made it all the way to the National Final that year where they were defeated by Messiah in what was one of the most brilliant (and gusty) coaching moves in D3 tournament history by then Messiah head coach Dave Brandt.

Also still awaiting a response on this "FLUFF" as well.

This is a recount of my experience 8 YEARS AGO at a game. Sometimes I forget a small detail or 2. I am basically recounting this off memory and I have seen a 1000 games since. My whole point was my impressions of O'Donohue, NOT THE SCORE. Of course you can nitpick at every little detail and miss the entire point of what I was saying. YOU DO THIS FREQUENTLY. Shockingly, you turned the whole thing around and brought it back to what a great coach Brandt is.

[Mr.Right]

I am not confusing strong leadership with ego....I have read the book and it was interesting but all I am telling you is that word is around his peers / coaches is he has a massive EGO (which is fine) and is a total CONTROL FREAK. I know he is a great coach but you seem to present Brandt as a total coaching GOD and no ther D3 coach comes close..There are many coaches past and present who are / were just as capable as Brandt. In fact Brandt really started playing futbol at Messiah after seeing SLU play in the Final 4 in 1999. After watching SLU that year he started to study the dutch philosophy and "total futbol". He is a great coach but went as far as he could at Navy  and realized it would be impossible, even with his coaching acumen to take Navy beyond the 1st / 2nd round of the NCAA's no matter what HE DID. So he got itchy and could not handle losing or .500 seasons and left. My guess is he will continue to struggle in the "pro's" unless he has an owner willing to support him with $$$$ for better players, etc...1-7-1 is NOT GOOD no matter what he inherited. Time will tell

MrRight,
Someone recently asked me what I think of your posts.  I said that I believe that sometimes your posts are "more fluff than stuff".  While I'm certainly open to hearing your explanation of your post quoted above, let me explain why I think this is pure "FLUFF".

You adamantly claim that Dave Brandt started to study Dutch soccer after seeing SLU play in the 1999 NCAA tournament.  Well let me show why I think this is made up "fluff".

Here's a quote from the book about Messiah soccer... " As Brandt tells it, in March of '97, soon after he was tapped to be head coach, Messiah was playing in an indoor tournament at Penn State.  'Driving out of the campus when it was over,' he recalls, 'the Dutch 4-3-3 flashed in front of me – positions, the little dots, all of it.  I had seen it somewhere before in the last few months, but it just came to me in that moment.  I said to myself, when I get home I'm going to start researching it.

He poured himself into the task, beginning with benchmarking.  As far as Brandt was concerned, Ajax, the Dutch professional club managed through the 1990's by the renowned coach Louis Van Gaal, was the model.  Van Gaal had led the club to national and European titles through a distinctive system of play.

'At the time,' remembers Brandt, 'Ajax was in the Champions League and ESPN, so I taped a couple of games and broke them apart.'

Dissected may be a better way of thinking about it, or autopsied.  At the atomic level.

Brandt studied everything the team did – every passing option they exercised, every run they made, every decision of every player – and began the process of creating a Messiah version.  'It was possible,' he says, because 'the Dutch system was fairly mathematical.  It would have been harder to do this with the Brazilian or Italian or Spanish game.  They're more free flowing.'

Then Brandt studied some more, devouring books on the Dutch system, analyzing more video, even boarding a plane to see for himself.

'The first trip we took as a team,' says then Assistant Coach Jason Spodnick, citing the summer of 1998, 'was to Holland to dive into the culture and learn as much as we could."

So obviously SLU had NOTHING to do with Brandt's pursuit of the Dutch system for his club.

Further, I personally traveled to the Messiah vs SLU game in the 1999 tournament.  The 1999 SLU team was made up largely of Caribbean players, several in their mid-twenties (including fullback Nick Hillary, 24 years old and a former tank gunner in the post-Gulf War).  SLU's star and NCAA D3 POY was Dan Annan from Ghana.  I clearly recall coming away from that game saying that was a "men against boys" match.  SLU was bigger, faster and simply more physically mature.  Their style, while effective, was free flow and very individualistic.  I can assure you that their style of play had virtually no influence on Dave Brandt's disciplined style of play.  He already knew where he was going with his team and he was years into the development of his system prior to 1999.

So I'm calling "FLUFF" on your assertion that the 1999 SLU team was some kind of turning point in pushing Brandt to pursue the Dutch system.

I look forward to your response.

I am going to do what you normally do and pick some minor detail apart and ignore the point of your response. It seems like you are DISCOUNTING what SLU did in 1999 in their undefeated season because they used "Caribbean players" and several in their mid-twenties...WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE....SLU fans feel free to jump in...

[Saint of Old]

I am pretty sure that Messiah team was older than the SLU team they faced.
Infact, there were only 3 seniors on that team.
2 were 21 and yes, we had a former soldier who was 24 because he spent a couple years in the army before starting college.

The best players on that team were the dozen or so 19 year old Sophmores (Seniors when they lost a heart breaker to Richard Stockton in 2001).

That 99 team had a good bit of Caribbean/Jamaican flair, but we also had a big Goalie from Buffalo, a couple West Coast Strikers and some Ballers from Colorado.
It was a blend of soccer from all over the world, playing for a Coach who preached 4-3-3 all day.
We had no players from Holland, but everyone bought into the system!

I should add that my comments are just to clarify the record for an alltime NCAA battle, that Messiah would flip the script on in the 2002 Final 4 at SLU.

I think most of my comments on the board have made it known just how much respect and admiration I have for the Messiah and Wheaton programs... who I think are the Gold Standards of College Soccer.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Is it any wonder that D3soccerwatcher's karma is negative 35?!

[Toure87]

Shooter, this is Brandt's highlight tape from his time at Messiah. Pretty sure every comment you made about him, including him being chubby or only having one move, is nowhere near a credible comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8MZNruHlmg

[Shooter McGavin]

Shooter, this is Brandt's highlight tape from his time at Messiah. Pretty sure every comment you made about him, including him being chubby or only having one move, is nowhere near a credible comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8MZNruHlmg

Yes, which was 4 years ago...but I am sure it's impossible to gain weight in a 4 year span. Also, if you notice from the highlight his main move is a cruyff turn or drag back to change direction. That's pretty much the only move he ever really used to get out of trouble. Put him on any other team without the talent surrounding him and he would not be effective. Put any of the other talent that was surrounding him on a different team and they would still be as effective.

I think my statement is credible having watched him play. He is highly overrated and couldn't handle the pressure of being the leader of the team after that incredible class graduated so he bailed on his team because the team wouldn't be as good as his freshman year. Someone I am sure you would want on your team though Toure87.

[Flying Weasel]

Shooter McGavin, do you know why Danny Brandt left Messiah or are you just taking a guessing?  If memory serves, it mentioned and discussed on here years ago that his intent was always to play at the D-I level, and the only reason he landed at Messiah was that coming out of high school he didn't like any of the D-I offers he got and he came to Messiah still looking to move to D-I after a year or two.  I don't know why he ultimately left, but I always assumed it was primarily about his continuing desire to play D-I, not about a weakened Messiah squad in 2015 and the pressure of being one of the team leaders.