Coleman out as head men’s soccer coach

20 11 2009

By Jimmy Lemke

It was only a matter of time, really. The hammer finally dropped on the head coaching stint of Milwaukee Panthers’ Jon Coleman, who was fired Friday after four losing seasons.

Coleman, the first Panther alum to guide the men’s soccer program, compiled a dreadful 20-44-12 record as head coach.

He did seem a logical choice when he took over for former boss Louis Bennett when the latter moved to Marquette in December 2005. Coleman as a player was exceptional, and his time as an assistant at Milwaukee was full of success.

However, his tenure has been tepid at best, with his greatest nights being the obvious first night game at Engelmann just weeks into his first season and the 1-0 overtime loss to eventual Elite 8 participant UIC in the Horizon League semifinals.

Attendance has fallen off steadily since his takeover of the program.  The Panthers also have not defeated an in-state rival in a few years, and Milwaukee’s three biggest rivals – Marquette, Green Bay, and Northern Illinois – hold the Milwaukee, Chancellor’s, and LeWang Cups, respectively.

Many Panther fans who only know the basketball program would be smart to check up on the men’s soccer program, by far the most successful in the state (how Wisconsin won the 1995 championship, who knows, but Panther alum Jim Launder was head coach).  Milwaukee owns large series leads over all three D-I state rivals and calls Engelmann Field, “The Greatest Home Field Advantage in College Soccer,” home.  With George Koonce as athletic director, the Panthers will surely be looking for a high-profile coach who is interested in more than Horizon League championships.

Milwaukee athletics will launch a national search immediately.  Their news story is here.

However, the UWM Post has done some of the work for them, putting together a short list of possible candidates both far fetched and likely.

Jimmy Banks, MSOE: Alumni who has guided MSOE since 1999.  Two time All-American and one of the greatest Panthers ever, Banks could be a great coach if given a D-I program and the best soccer stadium in the midwest: Engelmann Field.  And the man loves the city and university.  Likeliness of being a serious candidate – 90%

Sasha Cirovski, Maryland: Why would a national championship winning coach leave the school he has won two national championships at?  To come home to his Alma Mater, where he can rebuild the program that educated him and fostered his love of coaching and college soccer.  It would take a pretty penny to pay for Sasha, but it’s definitely worth it. Likeliness – 70%

Louis Bennett, Marquette: The MU experiment failed.  Bennett can come home to the athletic program he still supports with no questions asked.  MU isn’t getting the Engelmann copy he was promised.  He is still loved by many of his former players on the East Side, and never shies away from recruiting or playing against the best.  He does have a cozy job in Kilbourntown, however. Likeliness – 50%

Tom Poitras, UWGB: He has proven he can build a program from modest beginnings into a solid national mid-major program up in Green Bay.  Would he be willing to make the move to Milwaukee, where he has more resources and a better stadium at his disposal? Likeliness – 80%

Brian Tompkins, Yale: Another former coach who has a cushy home on the east coast, Tompkins could be lured back to the fresh coast with a high enough number.  Put this on the lower probability end of the scale; Yale has been a great program under his watch and their pockets are probably a little deeper than ours. Likeliness – 30%

Bob Gansler: A bit seasoned at 68, he left the Panthers in 1989 to become the head coach of the US National team.  He was the first coach to really build the program; could he be the one to right the ship?  It’s doubtful that Gansler would want to take over his old program at this stage in his career; he hasn’t been a head coach for a few years. Likeliness – 10%

Tony Sanneh: If the guy would retire already, he’d be a great candidate.  Too bad for us he’s still playing at a high enough level to start in MLS. Likeliness – 0%

Craig Mallace: Panther alum is young enough to relate to players, and the fire that he brought to the pitch so many times is exactly what the Panthers need at Engelmann Field.  Might still be a bit young to be a head coach, but he has the intangibles Milwaukee needs, and he wouldn’t be afraid to go out and recruit anyone.  Likeliness – 80%

Jim Launder: He led the Wisconsin Badgers to the 1995 NCAA Championship.  Panther alum is also one of the fathers of the program, having kicked off the soccer program that is one of the best.  Would he be interested in bringing ‘Ole Alma Mater a national title?  If he does, I would support inducting him into the Athletics Hall of Fame a second time.  Likeliness – 50%

Pete Knezic, FC Milwaukee: Panther All-American was the women’s coach at the end of the ’80s following his pro career.  His tireless work as Director of Coaching at FC Milwaukee is a very big reason the men’s and women’s Panthers have been successful, as many are alumni of FC Milwaukee.  Pete would be a perfect fit to coach the men’s program; the only negative is the Panthers “farm system” would lose its director. Likelihood – 90%

Note: Credit goes to apaladino of the UWMFreak fan message board for contributing to this report.





Not as lucky

10 11 2009

The UW-Milwaukee men’s soccer team wasn’t quite as lucky as their women counterparts.

The men played their first round Horizon League Tournament game today and lost at Valparaiso, Ind. 4-0.

The Crusaders scored goals in the 7th, 52nd, 77th and 87th minutes.

The game was marred by five yellow cards and three red cards.

The Panthers finished the season 3-13-2.





A little history

10 11 2009

Now that we know where the UWM women’s soccer team will be heading, let’s take a little look at the history between them and their potential opponents.

The Panthers first round match-up is with No. 9 Central Florida. MIlwaukee has faced UCF three times in their history, going 3-0 all time against the Golden Knights with the most recent being a 1-0 overtime win in 2005.

If UWM should advance, they will face the winner of UW-Madison/Arizona State.

Milwaukee has been successful against the Badgers of late, going 3-0-1 in their last four meetings including a 0-0 tie earlier this season. Overall, however, Madison has a 17-4-5 edge over the Panthers.

Should the Sun Devils advance, that would be the first ever meeting between the two schools.





Off to Madison

9 11 2009

By Tim Prahl

The brackets are in and the UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer team will be heading a whopping 90 miles to Madison, Wisconsin this Friday to play third-seeded Central Florida.

The Golden Knights finished their season 16-4-1, 10-1-0 in Conference USA play.

Milwaukee and UCF shared no common opponents this year.

Notable for Central Florida are their wins over then 10th ranked Duke on August 30th and a double-overtime 1-0 win over one of the four No. 1 seeds, Florida State 11 days later.

On the other side of the bracket is at least one team the Panthers are very familiar with; UW-Madison.

The Badgers finished their season 9-5-5, 5-1-4 in the Big Ten. One of those non-conference ties came early in the year when UWM made the trip to Madison in just their second game of the year. The game ended 0-0.

Arizona State is who the Badgers will have to go up against in their opening round, a school that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003.

The Sun Devils finished their season 9-7-3 overall, 2-6-1 in the very competitive Pac-10 conference.

The opening round games will take place at the McClimon Soccer Complex this Friday, November 13th at times to be determined. The winners of the first round matches will square off Sunday at the same field.





And the envelope please…

9 11 2009

By Tim Prahl

After demolishing their two opponents and riding the scoring machine that is Sarah Hagen, the UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer team will now head to Harry’s Bar & Grill tonight to find out their seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Last year, the Panthers got a tough draw, having to go up against Michigan State despite a phenomenal season they had.

This year, Milwaukee took on an even more challenging schedule in playing seven Big Ten teams in the regular conference, and a rematch of that loss to Sparty in the exhibition season. They also traveled to perennial powerhouse Notre Dame and hosted crosstown rival Marquette.

The result? They didn’t fair as well as they probably would’ve hoped (2-5-3), but I think it’s safe to say the team that finished the non-conference portion of the schedule and the team that just steamrolled through the Horizon League Tournament are just a little bit different.

Panther fans shouldn’t be too optimistic though, as the selection committee probably won’t see Milwaukee’s dominance in the Horizon as impactfully as their fans do.

The seedings are set to be released around 7 p.m. on ESPNews.





Hey, you’re crazy bitch

6 11 2009

By Tim Prahl

A couple hours before the Horizon League Women’s soccer tournament starts up here at Engelmann Field, I was a little curious what was going on around the country in other conferences.

I came across this video.

If you don’t watch SportsCenter, this is a must see.

Essentially, a defender from the New Mexico took a page out of…wait, I’ve never actually seen anything quite this vicious before. The young lady intentionally kicks a ball into an opponent’s face, punches another in the back, and pulls another girl to the ground by her hair.

I guess that’s why Sarah Hagen wears her hair up.





The “in” crowd

4 11 2009

By Tim Prahl

While Sarah Hagen has been the driving force of the UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer team for the past nearly-two seasons now, she has received plenty of attention and awards from in conference, but not too terribly much outside of the Horizon League.

No longer.

In this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated, Sarah Hagen is featured in “Faces in the Crowd.”

Her byline says, “Hagen, a sophomore at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, scored in a school-record nine straight games, including all the Panthers’ goals in wins over Detroit (2-0) and Wright State (1-0) that clinched the Horizon League regular-season title. She was fourth in points (42) in NCAA Division I and was named conference player of the year.”





And the winner is…

2 11 2009

By Tim Prahl

Loyola. That’s the team the UW-Milwaukee women’s soccer team will play host to in the semifinal game.

This is a rematch of last year’s Horizon League Final, which the Panthers won 6-2.

The Panthers also won the two teams’ head-to-head match-up this season 5-1 in the conference opener.

Some people put a little asterisk behind that score though, as Loyola’s best scorer from the year before (Cynthia Morote-Ariza) was out of that game with an injury.

The game will be at Engelmann Field this Friday night at 7:30 pm.

The other match-up is between second-seeded Wright State and Valparaiso, teams UWM beat 1-0 and 5-1, respectively earlier this season.





Case of the Fridays

30 10 2009

By Tim Prahl

For the second straight Friday, a UW-Milwaukee soccer game in Green Bay has been postponed.

The men were scheduled to play the Phoenix for the Chancellor’s Cup tonight at 7 pm, but due to the rain that seemingly will not go away in this state, the game has been pushed to a later date (to be determined).

 





FINALLY!

29 10 2009

By Tim Prahl

This afternoon at 5 p.m., the public will get their first view of UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball time.

Thank God!

Not trying to dis any of the other sports teams currently grinding out the final portion of their respective seasons, but I think it’s safe to say most fans care just a little bit more the men’s hoops team.

And what’s not to love?

Other than football (wait, we’ve got that, right?), basketball is the second biggest way for a college to get national recognition these days.

The team that was predicted to finish fourth in the Horizon League will have an open intrasquad scrimmage at the Klotsche Center tonight. While some might think that sounds boring, anyone who went last year had the inside scoop on newcomers James “Big Lumber” Eayrs and Tone Boyle.

Who will be this year’s diamonds in the rough? We’ll report back tomorrow to let you know what we think.