TU Women's Soccer Fall 2023

[lawpoke87]

Yep. My sense, and it’s just a wild guess, is that TU isn’t paying attention until they are 17.

Like I said, Im totally ignorant on these things, but one way of interpreting how it appears is that they are waiting until they are absolutely sure a young woman can prove they have the scores and money to make it through the admissions process. IOW, after the ACT and FAFSA are in.

I’ve just heard too many stories over the last 5-8 years of TU calling girls for the first time during the fall of their senior year— months or even a year after being committed to OSU, Arkansas, etc.

I don’t know how you could be competitive if that is even partially true. Which, like I’ve said earlier, makes me wonder if we are even trying to be competitive. IOW, if the function of the program is now back to what it was in the early 90’s where we simply went through the motions in a lot of sports because we had to in order to play football.

The program is light years from Cami and Jordan being ready to beat just about anybody they were allowed to play, that’s for sure. We went from being two players away from consistently nationally ranked and a Cup trip to not being able to attract a top level recruit. Instead, who we sign may or may not develop into an average conference player. Something is either out of the control of the coaching staff or they need to go. Or both.

Unfortunately, recruiting is over for almost all the top girls by the time they reach 17. They are committed and locked into their school. What’s generally left are the borderline D1 girls or those who haven’t received the offers they want. Girl soccer players typically excel in the classroom. Seems like it would be worth the risk to lose one or two here or there to have the opportunity to sign the top tier girls.

There are four Oklahoma freshmen who have been identified by US Soccer as among the best players in the country. I can’t recall many years when Oklahoma had four freshmen on that list. Their names and emails are readily available from US Soccer. I would love to see TU be proactive and email these girls about camps and other activities. These are the type of players we need to win championships. We should do it for every class. It would take 5 minutes a month. Showing up for local games to watch the girls would also be a nice gesture but would take a little driving.

 

[HuffyCane]

If the settlement goes through, it looks like women’s soccer will be able to sign up to 42 players for 2025-26 if my math is right. Obviously only 11 can play which is problematic. It’s a hat tip by the Super League football schools to Title IX that instead of getting a cut of their player salaries and facilities budgets, they can put more girls through college than would otherwise go. Which is a good thing.

So it’s more likely that TU will focus on finding players that will pay to play rather than elite talent that is local and will likely leave, especially if they get a little cash.

From that standpoint, that’s a net positive for TU. If TU could attract 250 more athletes , and that’s on the table right now, that would get them to the 1000 freshman threshold they’ve coveted for 50 years.

You would think with a bench of 40, we could find 11 that can win the conference. We shall see.

 

[lawpoke87]

If the settlement goes through, it looks like women’s soccer will be able to sign up to 42 players for 2025-26 if my math is right. Obviously only 11 can play which is problematic. It’s a hat tip by the Super League football schools to Title IX that instead of getting a cut of their player salaries and facilities budgets, they can put more girls through college than would otherwise go. Which is a good thing.

So it’s more likely that TU will focus on finding players that will pay to play rather than elite talent that is local and will likely leave, especially if they get a little cash.

From that standpoint, that’s a net positive for TU. If TU could attract 250 more athletes , and that’s on the table right now, that would get them to the 1000 freshman threshold they’ve coveted for 50 years.

You would think with a bench of 40, we could find 11 that can win the conference. We shall see.

My understanding is women’s soccer rosters will be capped at 28 players. I expect most programs to offer full ships to the women but limit rosters to the low 20s due to costs. Other Olympic sports will have roster caps as well. Other than football, I’m not sure I see more athletes attending colleges under the new rules.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Couple of things….practically every D1 soccer program in the country attends the national events. Coaches are head to toe in school colors. It’s as much about being seen and promoting the school as scouting the players on your list. There must be a reason the successful programs attend these events. You would think a less successful program like TU might follow their lead. It’s a bad look to have little or no presence at these events. It also makes a poor impression on the girls you’re recruiting. The other schools on their list are there. TU doesn’t care enough to show up for my games? Impressions are important. Especially with 15 year old girls. Might explain why we struggle to recruit those girls who have other D1 options.

My kid will never pay to attend a college ID camp. Especially if it’s a condition to be recruited. The optics of that are awful. If TU is doing this they should be ashamed. Colleges invite girls to attend their camps. They waive all camp costs for the girls they want at those camps. In many cases there are the announced ID camps and then much smaller camps where their top targets are invited. Those kids are never charged a fee.

TU should also be reaching out to the top players in Oklahoma and Texas and any other areas we recruit when the girls are freshmen. For whatever reason we don’t. It’s an email. It costs nothing but a little effort from an assistant coach or admin. Recruiting will be over for most of the top players by the summer after their sophomore year. TU’s women soccer program is currently struggling. Why they aren’t more proactive in their outreach to kids in Oklahoma and the bordering states is beyond me.

Have you made the staff aware of this in an email. From an alum who has a daughter playing soccer at a level similar to your daughter, this might be something they would listen to/maybe even respond with answers.

 

[HuffyCane]

You are right. My aging eyes didn’t follow the spreadsheet. It’s track that nearly doubled to 42. Rowing can add 48 if they want. We will have roster room for more than 200 additional athletes just in our existing sports. Budget isn’t a problem if the net tuition revenue exceeds the cost of participation. In fact, that’s the idea. Getting women’s sports to sustainability. With track, that’s next to nothing. And it’s not a whole lot for the five or six female soccer players that practice but don’t travel.

 

[lawpoke87]

You are right. My aging eyes didn’t follow the spreadsheet. It’s track that nearly doubled to 42. Rowing can add 48 if they want. We will have roster room for more than 200 additional athletes just in our existing sports. Budget isn’t a problem if the net tuition revenue exceeds the cost of participation. In fact, that’s the idea. Getting women’s sports to sustainability. With track, that’s next to nothing. And it’s not a whole lot for the five or six female soccer players that practice but don’t travel.

These next few years will be interesting watching how things shake out. Watching how the individual schools handle to new scholarship and roster numbers. Will also be interesting to see how many kids will be ok with putting the time into being a member of a D1 program but not being allowed to travel or play with their team.

 

[lawpoke87]

Have you made the staff aware of this in an email. From an alum who has a daughter playing soccer at a level similar to your daughter, this might be something they would listen to/maybe even respond with answers.

I had a high school coach who is close to the program reach out on my daughter’s behalf. Haven’t heard anything back from that contact. If Jim is still running the show next year I will contact Kaylee if they don’t contact my kid first.

 

[HuffyCane]

These next few years will be interesting watching how things shake out. Watching how the individual schools handle to new scholarship and roster numbers. Will also be interesting to see how many kids will be ok with putting the time into being a member of a D1 program but not being allowed to travel or play with their team.

If they are on a Pell Grant and the school is paying the gap, they will like it better than working in the cafeteria. The primas and pay to play kids is who you have to be careful with.