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Why do we think Carr is a great hire for a college program?

I really think we have a ways to go to be mediocre.

One other thing that bothered me about this roster was how many guys we brought on that were injured. Dorn missed a lot of time and the other 2 guys (not even worth looking them up) never got off “IR”. 2 international kids that are projects. This roster had no hope. I am always hopeful when it comes to IU but I am not optimistic we are on a good path.

Reading Dolsons comments about how we struggled to land top portal guys was because by the time we hired DD (one of the early coaching hires) most top targets had made decisions weeks and months ago. So, doesn’t that suggest we should now who we are getting for next year already?

You follow this a little closer than I but I appreciate your perspective. I tend to think Dolson either cuts bait (not likely unless by him sitting so close he realizes DD is not the guy) or realizes he needs to right this ship quickly. I don’t discard the GM suggesting it could take time to balance the roster but to do that at the expense of wins is not something I think Dolson is going to accept. So what do you do if you are Dolson? Dolson’s superpower has been fundraising and I see this as the only viable path here. We cannot go into next year with another 35th ranked team. I think he has to convince some donors to stay the course and/or increase our NIL such that for at least 1 year we are top 5.

I agree. In the last few years there is data that shows most guys that jump up a level struggle. I think you still get some but not most of your starters. Grabbing P6 guys that are starter quality is going to require an infusion of $. I expect we will have to over pay for some of the top guys next year and then hope our success follows and our new gm can also build depth.

I worry this may be the strategy. I heard Rabby or Goodman during the off-season talk about how less than 20% of kids who move up a level (mid major to p6) via the portal have success beyond being a role player. 87% had a decrease in peg, with 57% seeing a drop of more than 7ppg. There are some exceptions but it is hard to go get 8 kids from p6 schools who we can afford and who don’t bring some baggage. I like the cig philosophy of production over potential but the stats suggest that for college bball mid major kids see their production fall off when they portal up. I lwas highlighted in coverage of players like Florida’s Xaivian Lee (Princeton → SEC), who started slowly but later improved

The same people Dolson will need to talk to about NIL $ next year are basically the same ones who would pay the buyout. DDV likely gets more time but Dolson sits right next to coach and if he will have a good idea if DDV can get it done or not. I think the easier and cheaper path is to bump up NIL a lot and see if we can basically buy a sweet 16 level team for a few years. This takes pressure off and allows the focus and money to go to football. This might allow time for DDV to build IU into a really good but probably not great program. But if he thinks DDV may not be the guy, I would not be surprised to see a change. Only Dolson knows how strong the interest was from other coaches last year. Only Dolson knows What he hears from DDv as he is coaching.

Cant really think of anyone. He averaged almost 17 minutes a game and had pretty consistent minutes through the first 6 BT games. The last 10 that has dropped to 7 minutes. If you look at the non-con plus those 6 games he averaged over 22 minutes a game. You can give me recent examples of this since it happens all the time?

Beginning to doubt that Sisley is back next year. No info just a strange drop off for a guy who really shined early. In a blow out loss to PU he barely plays?

I keep seeing a need to update that press box but that does not add any revenue. If by update you mean tear it down, increase seating including suites and then have some new press box by default I agree. I wonder if the corporate sponsorships are increasing in a unexpectedly big way. Sure they are going to go up but when we had one, I could not give tickets away. Now, those tickets are in high demand and there are a lot more eyes on your adds so what we paid $250k/yr on in 2020 might be worth triple that if not more. I think there were around 20 other corporate sponsors back then and I would think that number has to be much higher now too.

Anyone remember who plan B was?

I am not sure this is true unless you also mean it is conditional on CDDs results. I do like that Dolson is well connected to all the big donors and I hope he sees that we need to over pay some while CDD gets established

I did not know she flipped from Michigan to Indiana. Big time get for IU and shows the value of having a staff with good connections to Indiana clubs. Mary Seiffert coached at Indy Premier where Sloane played but I do not think she coached her directly.

Any idea if his team plays I’m florida

Thanks, this is a good thing to keep in mind. Louisville was 28 at the end of last year and seemed a better team than us now, but I do like how we are competing now. I knew we had holes in the roster and hoped we would make up for some of that by playing hard. Early on I did not see that and joined in the criticism but it is there now. Even if we win ugly, it is a win.

Thanks that helped. I heard Yeagley talk about the year long season with the mid year break where transfers could take place and liked the idea. I also kind of like the unlimited subs tbh and always find it odd that when my daughter played ECNL they only had the one sub. I know international play has the limited sub but at the instructional level, more so ECNL youth level, I think it has value to be able to pull a kid quickly for a teaching point then put them back in. Does top drawer or someone post a ranking of recruiting classes like we see for football or basketball?

Anyone know if he is the 9th ranked prospect in the country or 9th ranked in PA? Vincent Uglow | Defender | Newtown Square, Pa. | Penn Fusion Top Drawer Soccer's No. 9-ranked prospect from the Pennsylvania region,

Isnt today signing day? Do we have a thread discussing this? Do we have any concerns/hope?

Tank Ford. Now you might not have heard of him because he was created on Madden but let me tell you, he was a double stud. My point on not minding stud lineman is that we often get overly excited and talk ourselves into the greatness of just about any kid Cig lands. I was the same way with kids RMK brought in. Sometimes they turn into Calbert and sometimes they an important role player. But overall I really like the staff and am fine with them getting whoever they want. But if they can get Tank, I am telling you, he is awesome

It is not on my radar which is why I asked. Went to AI and got the scoop. The class is ranked around 6th and has a lot of key positions covered. It looks like Gigi could be an impact player right away, but we probably still some veteran portal players to be in the top third of the BigTen next year.

I don’t mind getting a prospect but am not opposed to some stud lineman

What. Michigan City is home of Scott Dolson and that Delray Brooks fella.

I was critical early because we did not seem to have toughness and grit, let alone enough talent to win much. Team has that toughness now. Wasn’t excited about how we executed down the stretch in regulation but they beat Purdue, smashed Rutgers on the road and beat a good UCLA team even though we had kids fouling out left and right. Not sure if it will last all season but we have the toughness now to overcome some of our shortcomings and that can be the fuel to make this a good season and show hope for what can be.

Regarding the excellent best ever class we have coming in, how many are in the class? What is it ranked vs others nationally and vs BigTen? Are these freshman expected to have an immediate impact such that we compete for a top quartile BigTen finish?