soccerman, I know that Mr. Stutts has successfully started and continued to run a pretty decent adult league. When he coached at DSC, my children were younger. However, I was around when he left the U-17's (I believe) in the middle of the season. I know the group of kids he had were not easy to handle. I have chosen to withold judgement as I was not in his shoes at the time and didn't have a child on that squad. I remember it leaving Teddy Meyer (DOC at the time) in a bind but it all worked out. I am not privileged to what happens at DSC board meetings, so again, I choose to withold judgement on their decisions regarding the new Executive Director position.
My son started playing club ball with DSC and has had the good fortune of being on a pretty successful squad that has managed to hang together for awhile. Unfortunately, when my next son came along, there weren't enough kids to make a quality team, so we went elsewhere with him; and unfortunately, DSC still doesn't have a premier level squad at that level. Now, should any of my other kids want to play, I will look to DSC first to see what is available before I go anywhere else. They did a great job training my first two boys, so I trust them. For the most part, we've been very pleased with the coaching they provide. DSC has been very lucky to be able to tap into a variety of resources at Winthrop. Granted, Rich only let current players coach in the off-season, but Rich has always been good to DSC players...letting them attend Winthrop games for free...Giving public recognition to DSC teams that win state cup during Winthrop game halftime, etc. As far as I know, DSC still has a GREAT relationship with Winthrop and the Gaffer.
Soccer may be going backwards in this town but DSC isn't solely responsible. There are other clubs in this area and "the give and take" has to happen on ALL sides.
I, for one, thought Gary Brannan was an excellent choice for DOC. He is VERY connected in the soccer world. He wrote the government grant for the Manchester complex. He knows all of DSC coaches personally. He's very "in tune" with the happenings in Rock Hill and the surrounding areas.
Mike Gabb was a HUGE disappointment. DSC had a couple of teams qualify for the state finals in their respective leagues and age groups. He was nowhere to be found. One of those teams actually won state cup and where was he??? Unless he had a death in the family, or was deathly ill himself, he should have been at those games, and I know DSC reprimanded him for that. He was a poor time manager, a worthless coach. Sitting with his back to the field while his team plays? What is THAT? Letting coaches who were abusive to U9 players continue to coach? What was that? Please know that I did not have a child in either of those situations. I guarantee you if I had, we would have been out of there. Gary Baker, Phil Hindson, and Teddy Meyer all were outstanding DOC's who put the player's training above all and were excellent at managing their time. Phil and Teddy both complete their Master's while running the club. Mike Gabb could never seem to get his act together.
