Becky Burleigh - U of F Head Coach announces retirement

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This comment is for many division one and other college programs. The game has evolved. The training from top clubs is sophisticated and produces players that are truly good soccer players. There is a big disconnect from what I see from what these players are taught in their clubs, which again is a pretty high level play that includes strategic possession. Then these players get to these D1 programs and it is for the most part very direct, unorganized play. This is not necessarily an age thing because FSU plays what I see as a high level possession game with a clear strategy. I’m not sure why the game from club isn’t translating to College. Some say, it’s the pressure to win, but there are only a Few colleges that can be successful in the direct play arena, because successfully plowing people over is virtually impossible today because the defensive is no longer the slow athletes that played it in the past. Really wish the College coaches would evolve to a higher level game.

Great post.

Surprising for TS, actually.

I watch a lot of coligate soccer and you’re correct. So many teams play a an antiquated style...perhaps because that’s all the coaches know, or maybe because teaching the evolved game is so much more difficult they can’t get it done in the time allotted....keep in mind that these teams play less than most every club team. Season is way shorter and they practice MAYBE as much as a typical club team....

I see Stanford, USC, UCLA, Virginia, FSU, Duke, Georgetown, Penn State, Indiana, Arkansas all trying to play modern possession soccer. UNC plays it most of the time as well despite their two as being a direct team.....they are so much more talented they must team a they play, they possess by default almost. Teams bunker against them.

The collocate game as a whole needs to evolve or else we will eventually see the results at the USWNT level suffer. The rest of the soccer world (Spain, France, Netherlands, England, Germany, Japan) is playing kick and chase from development years 18-22.....

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Sorry for all typos / autocorrect mistakes. I’m impatient and typically don’t proofread.

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This comment is for many division one and other college programs. The game has evolved. The training from top clubs is sophisticated and produces players that are truly good soccer players. There is a big disconnect from what I see from what these players are taught in their clubs, which again is a pretty high level play that includes strategic possession. Then these players get to these D1 programs and it is for the most part very direct, unorganized play. This is not necessarily an age thing because FSU plays what I see as a high level possession game with a clear strategy. I’m not sure why the game from club isn’t translating to College. Some say, it’s the pressure to win, but there are only a Few colleges that can be successful in the direct play arena, because successfully plowing people over is virtually impossible today because the defensive is no longer the slow athletes that played it in the past. Really wish the College coaches would evolve to a higher level game.

It's not like that in reality. Coaches don't just "evolve" and then their teams play better possession. If you must face opponents that have higher quality players all over the pitch, are you going to bet on out-possessing them? No, you will play more direct and then try to convert on set pieces.

On the other hand, if you are an FSU that can put very high quality all over the pitch, then coaching possession is very productive - otherwise, not so much.

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It's not like that in reality. Coaches don't just "evolve" and then their teams play better possession. If you must face opponents that have higher quality players all over the pitch, are you going to bet on out-possessing them? No, you will play more direct and then try to convert on set pieces.

On the other hand, if you are an FSU that can put very high quality all over the pitch, then coaching possession is very productive - otherwise, not so much.

I guess....maybe....


However, I would counter that at the highest level there shouldn’t be THAT much difference in the players...Coaching / training / tactics / philosophy can still have a HUGE impact.

Do you think that the talent difference at....Say, UF and Arkansas is SOOOO great that if The Gators trained the modern game (fitness, high press, possession from the back through the midfield and clinical finishing) that they couldn’t succeed? The other players are THAT MUCH WORSE that they have no chance of learning / developing?

No, I don’t believe that.


Btw...I realize that Arkansas has been the bridesmaid in the SEC a bunch recently, but they have been one of the consistently best teams with a great style of play and have been unlucky against USC the last few years....just my opinion. They’re an SEC team that plays ACC / Pac12 soccer.

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It's not like that in reality. Coaches don't just "evolve" and then their teams play better possession. If you must face opponents that have higher quality players all over the pitch, are you going to bet on out-possessing them? No, you will play more direct and then try to convert on set pieces.

On the other hand, if you are an FSU that can put very high quality all over the pitch, then coaching possession is very productive - otherwise, not so much.

Even the USWNT matches go ...pass, pass, pass, direct big kick to a player up top, repeat

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It's not like that in reality. Coaches don't just "evolve" and then their teams play better possession. If you must face opponents that have higher quality players all over the pitch, are you going to bet on out-possessing them? No, you will play more direct and then try to convert on set pieces.

On the other hand, if you are an FSU that can put very high quality all over the pitch, then coaching possession is very productive - otherwise, not so much.

FSU has an exhibition game against Florida in the afternoon.

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OP here. Just came back after posting this yesterday. I knew this would generate a dust up but didn’t realize so many folks would pile on.

1) To the person that asked if “stereotype much”, I can only imagine that you were thinking of Northerner vs. Southerner thing or a racial Black vs. White thing but I wasn’t - you went there. But now that you mention it there a some significant difference in the student-athletes (in general) between the 2 conferences.
2) Thank you to the poster that took the time to post the distinct, quantitative differences between the success of the 2 conferences the last 10 years. Conclusive evidence, even though some people tried to “cherry pick” statistics to refute the evidence.
3) If you don’t like concrete statistics - just use the eye test. After watching many, many college games which involved teams from both conferences you would have to admit that the generalizations above about the 2 conferences are very accurate.
4) Finally, as the parent of a kid that was recruited by schools in each of the 2 conferences, I’m not making this up. The coaches recruiting for colleges will tell you directly what they are looking for in players to be successful in that conference like “to win in the SEC we need players that are X,Y and Z and can do A,B and C at a high level.” I heard it straight from the horses (coaches) mouth.

You heard from the horses’ mouths and what were the X, Y, Z, A, B. C things your daughter would need to have to be successful in the SEC?

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You heard from the horses’ mouths and what were the X, Y, Z, A, B. C things your daughter would need to have to be successful in the SEC?

OP, I only come back here every couple of days. Well, what we heard from the SEC coaches is reflected in my original post that caused all this controversy.

I'm going to get even more blowback but, compared to the ACC coaches, the SEC coaches emphasized size, speed, strength, physicality, durability and somewhat "soccer heritage and skills" (basically the level of her past play - leagues, championships, personal accolades, etc.).

In contrast, the ACC coaches wanted more film and game to more events and seemed to focus more on her skill level, understanding of the game and watching in-game performance (let's call it soccer IQ). In addition, the ACC coaches spent a lot more effort looking at academics, test scores, and determining if she was a "good fit" for the school, the town/city the school was in, talking to her club and high school coaches about "habits" (leadership, partying, friend group, etc.).

Again, these are generalizations but the difference was stark. You can probably predict what conference she ended up in.

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OP, I only come back here every couple of days. Well, what we heard from the SEC coaches is reflected in my original post that caused all this controversy.

I'm going to get even more blowback but, compared to the ACC coaches, the SEC coaches emphasized size, speed, strength, physicality, durability and somewhat "soccer heritage and skills" (basically the level of her past play - leagues, championships, personal accolades, etc.).

In contrast, the ACC coaches wanted more film and game to more events and seemed to focus more on her skill level, understanding of the game and watching in-game performance (let's call it soccer IQ). In addition, the ACC coaches spent a lot more effort looking at academics, test scores, and determining if she was a "good fit" for the school, the town/city the school was in, talking to her club and high school coaches about "habits" (leadership, partying, friend group, etc.).

Again, these are generalizations but the difference was stark. You can probably predict what conference she ended up in.

Daddy has ACC bias for his daughter and his daughter did not have the size, speed, physicality strength, durability or performance history. The SEC coaches weren’t out at his daughter’s games as much recruiting her.

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Daddy has ACC bias for his daughter and his daughter did not have the size, speed, physicality strength, durability or performance history. The SEC coaches weren’t out at his daughter’s games as much recruiting her.

Don’t know about that but Daddy’s observations about the recruiting priorities of the SEC seem about right. Have you watched very many SEC games - they’re like H.S. Very little possession, very direct, kick and chase, and very physical. The refs let them play and maul each other. Most of the scoring comes off set pieces with kidney punching players in the box and elbows to the back of the head.

“Durable” is definitely needed. That’s why UF carries 36 person roster - next woman up!

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Don’t know about that but Daddy’s observations about the recruiting priorities of the SEC seem about right. Have you watched very many SEC games - they’re like H.S. Very little possession, very direct, kick and chase, and very physical. The refs let them play and maul each other. Most of the scoring comes off set pieces with kidney punching players in the box and elbows to the back of the head.

“Durable” is definitely needed. That’s why UF carries 36 person roster - next woman up!

Agreed. Like the UF vs. USF scrimmage from last weekend: “Florida played the final 36 minutes a man-down after sophomore Cameron Hall received her second yellow card of the match. It was a hard-fought match, with UF edging USF 20-18 in fouls. Six yellow cards (five to UF) were shown Saturday.”

5 yellow cards, showing them how they do it in the SEC!

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Daddy has ACC bias for his daughter and his daughter did not have the size, speed, physicality strength, durability or performance history. The SEC coaches weren’t out at his daughter’s games as much recruiting her.

Maybe based on the SEC results they should have been out there recruiting his daughter....I mean, why would they keep doing something that isn’t working?

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Maybe based on the SEC results they should have been out there recruiting his daughter....I mean, why would they keep doing something that isn’t working?

UF vs. UCF 0-0 last weekend
UF vs. FSU 0-0 today

FSU ranked #1 in the country right now.

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UF vs. UCF 0-0 last weekend
UF vs. FSU 0-0 today

FSU ranked #1 in the country right now.

It was USF last weekend, but that is a great result versus FSU.

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How would you turn UF WSoc around?