Cal... What happened?

Neil doing everything he can to save his job. Another season like last and he’s a goner.

There are many qualified female coaches waiting for that job to open up.
 
https://calbears.com/news/2019/7/1/womens-soccer-bears-add-edwards-to-coaching-staff.aspx
Does anyone know anything about this guy? Can he help Cal become more competitive?
He had a good reputation as a strong coach and was involved a lot in ODP and club soccer. In college he seems to have bounced around a lot. He was the assistant coach and recruiter for Michigan for a hot second and then was gone from there but not sure what happened there. It said in the announcement that he was a “volunteer assistant” coach now. That sounds like a step in the backwards direction from where he was headed when he was at Michigan.
 
He had a good reputation as a strong coach and was involved a lot in ODP and club soccer. In college he seems to have bounced around a lot. He was the assistant coach and recruiter for Michigan for a hot second and then was gone from there but not sure what happened there. It said in the announcement that he was a “volunteer assistant” coach now. That sounds like a step in the backwards direction from where he was headed when he was at Michigan.
In the attached podcast Edward’s states he left Michigan because the head coach was fired shortly after he arrived. He also claims to have left ODP due to the lack of upward mobility for African-American coaches in US Soccer.
https://343coaching.com/podcast/soc...rds-life-as-a-black-coach-in-american-soccer/

I suspect his job will be similar to what is was at Michigan because Cal also recently promoted Austin Risenhoover to Associate Head Coach.
https://calbears.com/news/2019/4/24/womens-soccer-risenhoover-elevated-to-associate-head-coach.aspx
 
In the attached podcast Edward’s states he left Michigan because the head coach was fired shortly after he arrived. He also claims to have left ODP due to the lack of upward mobility for African-American coaches in US Soccer.
https://343coaching.com/podcast/soc...rds-life-as-a-black-coach-in-american-soccer/

I suspect his job will be similar to what is was at Michigan because Cal also recently promoted Austin Risenhoover to Associate Head Coach.
https://calbears.com/news/2019/4/24/womens-soccer-risenhoover-elevated-to-associate-head-coach.aspx
he was a club coach for sereno ECNL (now RSL AZ DA) hear in arizona. I dont know what other ODP programs he worked for but hear in arizona when he coached an ODP team he tried to recruit some of the players to come to his club and was caught. I dont think he left ODP in arizona on his own but was caught recruiting and not asked back.
 
he was a club coach for sereno ECNL (now RSL AZ DA) hear in arizona. I dont know what other ODP programs he worked for but hear in arizona when he coached an ODP team he tried to recruit some of the players to come to his club and was caught. I dont think he left ODP in arizona on his own but was caught recruiting and not asked back.


Just a dad how was that switch for Sereno from ECNL to DA?
 
Just a dad how was that switch for Sereno from ECNL to DA?
My kid doesn’t play for the club but sereno took over a lot of clubs in Arizona and went under the Rsl AZ name before they went DA. If they wouldn’t have taken over so many clubs i think it would have been a disaster because they never did a good job getting players to go to the club. It seems like with the new coaches and large pool of players they have access to now I think they will be the dominant club in Arizona going forward
 
My kid doesn’t play for the club but sereno took over a lot of clubs in Arizona and went under the Rsl AZ name before they went DA. If they wouldn’t have taken over so many clubs i think it would have been a disaster because they never did a good job getting players to go to the club. It seems like with the new coaches and large pool of players they have access to now I think they will be the dominant club in Arizona going forward
The big change for Sereno was getting Brent Erwin.

For years Sereno was hands down the best club in AZ. Then they basically rested on what they had accomplished while other clubs in the area became more aggressive, improved, etc.

Take ECNL. In AZ you had del Sol and Sereno.
- del Sol was aggressive in recruiting and over time became the club to go to.
- Sereno over time had a weaker pool of players to pull from and generally promoted from within to their ECNL teams.
- The result? Sereno ECNL was very weak. This weakness started to translate to their state teams as well. The perception was the club was not that good.

The club brought in Erwin 3 yrs ago.
- He started getting rid of coaches who were just mailing it in.
- He started getting some very good coaches who were previously at other local clubs, plus recruited good coaches from outside of the state.
- Immediately the ECNL teams started bringing in girls from outside clubs during the tryout time period.
- He worked the deal whereby the club got backing from the MLS club RSL in Utah. That coincided with the girls side getting DA.
- At the same time Sereno joined up with Legacy (a big club in the SE Valley area of the Phx metro area).
- This then made the club more attractive to more coaches.
- The club then merged with a couple of other local clubs.
- In the past couple of months the club was awarded boys DA. Last year and this year the boys did rather well in boys ECNL.

Currently?

- It is easily the largest club in the state.
- The large player pool will help them put out quality teams at all levels.
- del Sol over time should be a bit worried. Previously with Sereno being passive, del Sol got the best players. That ship has sailed and RSL for most will be the first choice for DA. Being partially subsidized by the MSL and NWSL club helps on the price side make things much more attractive vs del Sol.
- All of the above has certainly changed things in AZ.
 
The big change for Sereno was getting Brent Erwin.

For years Sereno was hands down the best club in AZ. Then they basically rested on what they had accomplished while other clubs in the area became more aggressive, improved, etc.

Take ECNL. In AZ you had del Sol and Sereno.
- del Sol was aggressive in recruiting and over time became the club to go to.
- Sereno over time had a weaker pool of players to pull from and generally promoted from within to their ECNL teams.
- The result? Sereno ECNL was very weak. This weakness started to translate to their state teams as well. The perception was the club was not that good.

The club brought in Erwin 3 yrs ago.
- He started getting rid of coaches who were just mailing it in.
- He started getting some very good coaches who were previously at other local clubs, plus recruited good coaches from outside of the state.
- Immediately the ECNL teams started bringing in girls from outside clubs during the tryout time period.
- He worked the deal whereby the club got backing from the MLS club RSL in Utah. That coincided with the girls side getting DA.
- At the same time Sereno joined up with Legacy (a big club in the SE Valley area of the Phx metro area).
- This then made the club more attractive to more coaches.
- The club then merged with a couple of other local clubs.
- In the past couple of months the club was awarded boys DA. Last year and this year the boys did rather well in boys ECNL.

Currently?

- It is easily the largest club in the state.
- The large player pool will help them put out quality teams at all levels.
- del Sol over time should be a bit worried. Previously with Sereno being passive, del Sol got the best players. That ship has sailed and RSL for most will be the first choice for DA. Being partially subsidized by the MSL and NWSL club helps on the price side make things much more attractive vs del Sol.
- All of the above has certainly changed things in AZ.


Great story to hear. You see so much buffoonery in club soccer, it’s nice to see someone seemingly putting all of the right pieces in place.
 
Back
Top