Kalekeni Banda resigns

[GreatDanes06]

Kalekeni Banda resigned as Women's Soccer Coach today reported on the Athletic Website...gotta say i dont think anyone here is surprised. Asst Coach will be interim coach for now.

[statefan]

Using my criteria, this coach had a successful season.

[Patch]

And that criteria is they .......

 

 

Beat Siena

[B9j2j6s]

Beating Siena

 

That criteria works for me.

 

But seriously 4 wins in 3 years we needed a change.

Edited October 27, 2005 by B9j2j6s

[alumni '92']

4-54-1 in three seasons, but they beat siena ... doesn't justify a pay raise, but certainly an extension ... it's soccer!

[olddog71]

Does anyone have any insights on why the women's soccer team has had such horrible records? It seems like this sport is the only one in which UAlbany has not been successful during its time in Division I.

 

If I recall, all past coaches in the Division I era have had challenging seasons. I cannot say anything about pre-D I days.

 

Anyone out there have a clue?

[DaneFan2k3]

The talent pool in women's sports is decidedly smaller than in men's sports. You've seen the men's team at UAlbany have more success by recruiting players from overseas, but, since women's sports don't enjoy the type of success over there as they do here, there are not international women to really choose from.

 

Thus, you have a pool of girls, mainly from the U.S., already smaller to begin with, and then the top programs generally are able to stock their teams top to bottom with 20 premier players.

 

Figure the top 50 teams each have 15 players (average, some have 20, some have 10) that are worthy, and you're talking about the top 750 girls being gone pretty quickly. That would be the top 15 players from each state.

 

Now you're starting to get down into the girls playing at smaller schools, without the coaching and experience needed to make an impact at the D-I level.

 

Combine that with the fact that you're 4-and-terrible over how many years, and you're not even getting your pick of the "second tier". You're looking mainly at the bottom of that second tier and even third tier level players.

 

Whereas with hoops, you have only 13 players per team, vs. 20+, and the fact that hoops offers full scholarships ... thus it's easier to get good at hoops faster than women's soccer. Even softball, where you probably only need to give out full rides to maybe six good players (three pitchers, three hitters) and then fill in around them with some talent ... and volleyball you also give out full rides at most D-I schools.

 

Lacrosse is different, and field hockey, because you have far fewer D-I schools playing those sports. W. Soccer probably has nearly a full compliment of 300 schools, vs. about 100 for field hockey and probably around teh same for women's lacrosse ...

[olddog71]

DaneFan2k3,

 

I don't mean to quibble with your argumentation, but isn't every school subject to the same restrictions?

 

Since scores are only numerical representations of relative strengths, why does the UAlbany's women's soccer team seem to do so poorly, relative to other schools in Division I, and specifically in our league?

 

I'm quite sure that the women who play for UAlbany have skills and work hard at what they do, so I am not belittling their accomplishments, but why is the record so consistently poor?

[UAalum72]

A guy in my office who referees HS and college soccer in the area agrees that the shallow talent pool makes it hard to get a bunch of players to turn it around quickly; that Banda had a few interesting players (but the goalie couldn't stop anything) but that a lot of good players would rather play on a successful D-III like Union than on a team that's been 12-114-4 over the last seven years. I don't know if they were winning at D-II or D-III either. Turning it around will be a long process with a new coach who can recruit above all else.

[UA66]

I don't recall the women's team ever being good at any level. I paid attention for a while when my niece played here in DIII days but quickly lost interest when the team remained less than mediocre. I had hopes that Banda could turn it around, based upon his success at UMass where he had some outstanding players, but he accomplished nothing here. It's just as well that he "resigned." Maybe the Grand Architect of a successful program is on the horizon and the only way to find out is to make the coaching change.

 

Also, it becomes very easy to expect that all athletic teams at an institution will be successful just because some - the majority of teams in UA's case - have had success. I believe, without having data in hand, that there are just a handful of schools where that is the case. For example, with all of the success of UConn's football, men's and women's basketball, men's and womens' soccer teams, their volleyball team has been mediocre.

 

Having said that, I expect that all of our teams, including women's soccer, will be very good, but I will not be crushed if one or two fail to meet those expectations.

[DaneFan2k3]

but isn't every school subject to the same restrictions?

 

In theory yes, but if you're a top soccer player, and every school is throwing top dollar at you, then where are you going to go to school?

 

And, more importantly, if you're only a borderline "top" player ... and UA throws good money at you but North Carolina (like 20-time National Champion) tells you that you can walk-on or throws books or a couple hundred at you ... Sorry, but UA doesn't compete for those types of players.

 

Abby Wambach, who plays for the US National Team, is from Rochester. She's a really good player for the U.S. team, one of the best up-and-coming players.

 

Did she go to Binghamton, UB, UAlbany, Stony Brook, Siena, or even Syracuse?

 

No, she went to Florida because they are a good soccer school. She chose them over North Carolina and Notre Dame, also great soccer schools.

 

Being in the Northeast also plays a factor; if you don't have the Carrier Dome you're going to be hard-pressed to get the top talent to come and play for your school, when they know their late-season games could be into a stiff wind in 45 degree weather (and the corresponding amount of fans that come with that weather).

 

I'm quite sure that the women who play for UAlbany have skills and work hard at what they do

 

The point is, UAlbany's best players have traditionally been players who would be second-stringers at the top schools, or may not even make the teams (when speaking of the Final Four calibur schools).

 

Part of the reasoning behind it is that you have 300 schools competing for a shallower pool of talent. If 300 women's soccer teams have at least 22 players apiece, that is 6,600 players. At the D-I level alone. Add in the girls who don't care to play at D-I and like a D-II or D-III school better (or in some cases the D-II school offers more money) and you're talking about spreading that talent THIN.

 

Once you factor in the fact that the top 50 schools basically pick-and-choose their ladies, you've removed probably the top 800 or 1,000 players.

 

And out of the remains come some dog teams, like UAlbany.

[olddog71]

but isn't every school subject to the same restrictions?

 

In theory yes, but if you're a top soccer player, and every school is throwing top dollar at you, then where are you going to go to school? . . .

 

Did she go to Binghamton, UB, UAlbany, Stony Brook, Siena, or even Syracuse?

 

No, she went to Florida because they are a good soccer school. She chose them over North Carolina and Notre Dame, also great soccer schools.

 

I'm quite sure that the women who play for UAlbany have skills and work hard at what they do

. . .

 

The point is, UAlbany's best players have traditionally been players who would be second-stringers at the top schools, or may not even make the teams (when speaking of the Final Four calibur schools).

 

Once you factor in the fact that the top 50 schools basically pick-and-choose their ladies, you've removed probably the top 800 or 1,000 players.

 

And out of the remains come some dog teams, like UAlbany.

[

 

I understand your points, but I think you are misunderstanding my point.

 

I know I did not make myself clear. I have been comparing UAlbany's record with similar D I schools, and we just do not do well.

 

I think some of the other posters have given me more accurate reasons why we cannot perform well at our level of D I.

 

We just simply have a long-lasting pathetic record at that level of competition. I have not specifically looked up each school's record, but I am willing to wager that Binghamton and Stony Brook, among other competitors in our league and other similar leagues, have done much more poorly. I cannot think of any reason why they should have done much better.

 

As another poster opined, he was hoping that the previous coach would make some headway with our women's team, but as far as the record is concerned, there was little progress.

 

I am still wondering why our team has consistently done poorly compared with similar teams. Thanks to all of the other posters for giving me a partial explanation.

 

I certainly hope the team does better in the future, most of all, for the women who participate on the team.

Edited October 28, 2005 by olddog71

[UA66]

DF2K, I think OldDogs' point is not that best players are will choose the UNCs but that Albany should be competitive with the Stony Brooks and Binghamtons whose realistic pool of potential recruits is the same. Why aren't we beating Vermont, SB, and other America East teams, which I agree are lower tier DI teams?

[DaneFan2k3]

Agreed. I in part missed your point.

 

My sub-point was that women's soccer is one of the toughest sports, if not the toughest, to get REALLY good at. Whereas with field hockey and lacrosse, I think it's more feasible to get really good quicker because you're dealing with 100-200 teams instead of 300+.

 

I can't answer why we don't compete with teams that should be on our level.

 

I wouldn't want to come play for a team with our record.

 

At some point you just have to invest a lot of money into the program, and get one really good recruiting class, weed out the upperclassmen (who probably won't like the fact you're bringing in 10-11 frosh to take their spots), and just make a huge press to get it turned around. Talk to 30 girls at once and say hey, we haven't done it right in the past, but if we can get 10 or 11 of you to all commit here together, we'll turn it around in your four years and be a good team. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't (and maybe it sounds easier than it is to say that).

[UAalum72]

Story from The Asp Online

Other articles from the hardcopy edition said that Banda 'wasn't too enthusiastic' the last few weeks, cancelling some practices and uncharacteristically quiet coaching. The players 'could all tell he was kind of not into it' the last few weeks.

 

The players are said to be looking forward to playing for Monroe, who played at UConn and UCLA, the pro Boston Breakers and Philly Charge, the USA under-21 team, and was an assistant coach at Wellesley.