Coaching Carousel

[Ejay]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

[jknezek]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Huh. Didn't know that. Not going to lie and say my curiosity isn't piqued.

[Kuiper]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Huh. Didn't know that. Not going to lie and say my curiosity isn't piqued.

I have no inside knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if the circumstances underlying the departure of former Goucher AD Andrew Wu (who hired Singleton), which were described in this tweet, didn't sit well with Singleton either

For all my Goucher friends and alums ... something to consider when you see  news of Andrew Wu leaving. Wu didn't choose to leave Goucher, though he did resign. And he didn't leave because Maryville opened. The president is behind this and not because things were going badly. The athletics department has been making smart moves and have hired some very good coaches in the last few years. They have been turning a lot of programs in a positive direction. They have been bringing in more than their recruiting goals, apparently, for several years and athletes have been 40% or more of the overall enrollment for several years. That last part points to the issues on the rest of the campus bringing students to Goucher.

This is the same president that let go of Sally Baum based on information that clearly was flawed. He has zero experience with athletics and while he's been at Goucher I'm convinced while he's learned more, he hasn't learned enough.

Now Goucher has to find a new AD after also losing the former Associate AD to another job earlier this year. Maybe the president thinks he can save a few bucks hiring someone with no experience, who knows, but I fear this will derail the progress Athletics had been headed. Coaches could leave. While I don't have any information, the recent surprising departure of Steve Baum, Sally's son, maybe is related to Wu being let go. (Edit: I'm told Steve didn't leave for these reasons, which is good to hear.)

I've also been told the Goucher Board is fed up - or at least a number of them leading to a several leaving the Board. Supposedly there are some Board members pretty angry Wu was let go. Of course the Board hired this President, though I know there has been some turnover ... no signs they let this guy go, but maybe I'll learn more.

Goucher administration just doesn't seem to get out of their own way.

I'll be blunt: We are entering tough times in higher education with steep drop in enrollment coming (less kids born since 2008). Goucher has shown signs of struggling financially including selling some of its art work, I believe, and the supposed "deal" with the neighboring retirement community to lease land on Goucher's campus near the entrance for a new residential building. Decisions that could derail Goucher Athletics, one of the few things seemingly working better on campus, could put the college under. And I'm not making this up. I've had enough people outside campus raise flags about Goucher financially that these decisions give me great concern.

It's getting more and more difficult to speak proudly of my alma mater.

[SierraFD3soccer]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Strange.  He seems to still listed as Goucher's coach and his LinkedIn acct still shows him at the coach.

[Ejay]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Strange.  He seems to still listed as Goucher's coach and his LinkedIn acct still shows him at the coach.

I didn't say he left the program. I said he didn't coach the entire season. He was (is?) technically still on staff despite not participating in practices or games. And plot twist.... I heard it wasn't his decision.

[SKUD]

What are we missing? His resume reads top 2%. Remind me why he came to Bmore?

[jknezek]

What are we missing? His resume reads top 2%. Remind me why he came to Bmore?

They moved for his wife's job. She needed to be closer to the home office. So he followed and took an open job.

[SierraFD3soccer]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Strange.  He seems to still listed as Goucher's coach and his LinkedIn acct still shows him at the coach.

I didn't say he left the program. I said he didn't coach the entire season. He was (is?) technically still on staff despite not participating in practices or games. And plot twist.... I heard it wasn't his decision.

Now, I'm really intrigued and sad that he ended up this way. Maybe he'll end up in youth soccer where he started. A whole lot of programs in Maryland area that could use strong coaching plus a lot of great club teams.

Singleton did not even get a chance to bring in players he might of recruited since he got there in the Spring. What a missed opportunity if this ends up badly. Ultimately, Goucher will be the worse for this. Singleton can definitely find a better position with his abilities in the Maryland area.

[jknezek]

There's more to the Goucher results than meets the eye.  Singleton didn't coach the entire season. I'm sure the whole story will come out eventually.

Strange.  He seems to still listed as Goucher's coach and his LinkedIn acct still shows him at the coach.

I didn't say he left the program. I said he didn't coach the entire season. He was (is?) technically still on staff despite not participating in practices or games. And plot twist.... I heard it wasn't his decision.

Now, I'm really intrigued and sad that he ended up this way. Maybe he'll end up in youth soccer where he started. A whole lot of programs in Maryland area that could use strong coaching plus a lot of great club teams.

Singleton did not even get a chance to bring in players he might of recruited since he got there in the Spring. What a missed opportunity if this ends up badly. Ultimately, Goucher will be the worse for this. Singleton can definitely find a better position with his abilities in the Maryland area.

That's just it. Goucher would never have gotten a coach of Singleton's experience except for this fluke situation. To squander it.... it kind of boggles my mind. I can't imagine Singleton doing anything that would result in his absence, the guy was praised to high heaven at W&L for his ethics, the team's GPA was off the chart, and he held a strict line on any team violations.

It's also not like this is his first time coaching a women's team. First time as head coach, but he was an assistant at Emerson with the women for a couple seasons and a long time ago assistant at some other school for the women while coaching the men. I know that transition has tripped up a few coaches over the years, but I just... well, I struggle to believe it could be anything he did.

If I was an AD looking for a coach, and I knew about whatever this situation was and it's not somehow disqualifying, I'd be on the phone. You are not going to get many shots at a coach with this pedigree.

[Hopkins92]

Respectfully, (and I mean that) I highly doubt the AD at Goucher is unaware of the golden situation that landed in their lap.

None of us want to speculate, and I won't (this community is too small to start flinging around wild accusations) but ... While the guy's reputation is immaculate, the AD isn't going to just yoink the guy over nothing.

[PaulNewman]

Aside from whatever the real story is, I would assume that most of us agree that the Goucher women's team was not a golden opportunity for Singleton.  It is difficult to imagine a scenario where this was going to work out well for Goucher or him as a long-term solution.  That's not say that it's impossible for just the right person who is both talented and highly motivated to build a program at a place where it's gonna be difficult to build a national power or contender.  For someone like Singleton, the move from the outset impressed as a largely stop-gap situation destined to be relatively short-term.  The Goucher job unless there is something I don't know is not akin to rebuilding a once proud program or doing something at a prominent school ripe with potential (like when Shapiro took over at Tufts or a Bianco taking on the challenge at Denison at a resource/money rich institution).

[jknezek]

Respectfully, (and I mean that) I highly doubt the AD at Goucher is unaware of the golden situation that landed in their lap.

None of us want to speculate, and I won't (this community is too small to start flinging around wild accusations) but ... While the guy's reputation is immaculate, the AD isn't going to just yoink the guy over nothing.

What AD? Goucher has an interim AD in his first year. They fired their last AD, see the XTwit or whatever it's called above. Again, I don't know anything, and I can't find anything, but in half a season at Goucher Singleton did something so egregious to get pulled that over 20 years of coaching has never popped up before?  The guy had a pretty much spotless reputation from US Soccer down. I'm struggling with that but I guess anything is possible.

[PaulNewman]

Addendum:  I understand he needed/needs a job in the Baltimore area, but would be interesting to see what a Singleton could do at a Trinity (CT), Colby, or Bates...or a middle of the pack Centennial.  In any case, those are the types of challenges that I would come closer to matching his talent and potential to impact a program.

[Hopkins92]

I mean... again... Whoever is in charge of doing this, interim or not, would have to be incredibly short-sighted (and probably not that intelligent) to sack one of the most respected and successful coaches in college soccer without some type of valid reason. We'll just have to wait to see where he lands to understand, even if it's obliquely, what the heck happened. (IOW, if he is able to find a job next season, this was probably something political or some type of disagreement with the Administration.)

In terms of other Baltimore opportunities: Both of the Hopkins programs are humming, so that's not an option. But I wonder, if he has the pedigree to grab either of the jobs at Towson, who both had sub .500 seasons.

There's also Stevenson, which isn't a Centennial but could probably build itself into a contender in the MAC-C. The men are coming off 4-10-5 (23) and 3-10-6 (24) seasons and the women were 5-10-4 this year and 5-8-5 the year before. Stevenson is a tough sell, is it's considered a commuter school.

Loyola is lovely, but neither program is anywhere near needing to hunt down a new coach.

[Hopkins92]

Respectfully, (and I mean that) I highly doubt the AD at Goucher is unaware of the golden situation that landed in their lap.

None of us want to speculate, and I won't (this community is too small to start flinging around wild accusations) but ... While the guy's reputation is immaculate, the AD isn't going to just yoink the guy over nothing.

What AD? Goucher has an interim AD in his first year. They fired their last AD, see the XTwit or whatever it's called above. Again, I don't know anything, and I can't find anything, but in half a season at Goucher Singleton did something so egregious to get pulled that over 20 years of coaching has never popped up before?  The guy had a pretty much spotless reputation from US Soccer down. I'm struggling with that but I guess anything is possible.

I can tell this is bugging you, so I wanted to say directly: One of the big reasons I hold Coach S in such high esteem is because someone of your caliber speaks so highly of him. Put Another Mom in this category--when you trust your kid with another adult and come away impressed, that speaks volumes.

I get why this is head-spinning for you.