SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA 2015 SCHSSCA All-State Teams

Coach Eskew, I know that I appreciate you time and never questioned the intentions of anyone on the committee. I also didn't bring up the club aspect up it trying to rial anyone up. That was more of a curiosity question.

I coach at a smaller AAAA school that in my tenure hovers around .500. I also am the Director of Coaching at a "smaller" club in the area.
I just want to make sure my players have "a voice" in the room.

I have reached out to coaches on the committees for all state and all star games to lobby for my players in the past when I felt like they were deserving.
Shilo has a great team and is able to play games all throughout the state. He does a good job representing our region.

The idea I proposed earlier would just give him more "data" walking into the meeting. If he walked in with a list of players, voted on by the region coaches, it would make me feel like I had more of a voice.
With a room full of "experts" then they would look at each region and say "The 5th best player in this region is better than the 3rd best player in this region"

I have never talked to or met a coach that didn't love what we do and I have never felt like they wouldn't do what is best for the players.

I made the point earlier "if Wando's best player played for me in place of my best player, would he be all state?" We finished 3rd in our region and lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs. According so some posts, he wouldn't have been considered because of the team he plays on.

I don't want to take anything away for the players that were named to the all state team! I'm sure they are all deserving young men and women.
I nominated a player that I knew was a long shot. If I was going to rank the best players in my region, he would have been somewhere between 7-10 on my list which tells me that he wasn't deserving.

I'm enjoying the healthy discussion and I think as coaches, we should always look at ways to improve the way we do things. It's not necessarily an insult to the people that are working hard but things can always be better and why not explore that?

Well said Coach DeLong

I'm up for exploring and yielding to the acting committees as well. I like the region idea, and I do understand the holes that people have brought up against it. Would it be a bad committee if it was made up of region coordinators and previous region coaches of the year? That would be 2 from each region. Just an idea.

The coach representing our region was absent this year. I would love to have an alternate type system or back up if they are unable to make it in both in our current committee selection process and if we alter.

Just some additional thoughts.

-Coach Garvin
James Island

I like the idea of region coordinator and region coach of the year. What happens if they're the same coach?

Kyle, if a coach is invited and does not show are they/their school removed from the committee the following year?

Manny Medina - Midland Valley - 2011 All State Selection and also played in the North/South Game. Team record was 4 - 13. Just pointing out that sometimes the Best players in the State aren't on the best team. So before anyone says the player has to be on a top team is bogus.

Had to fix the post sorry:

Manny Medina - Midland Valley - 2011 All State Selection and also played in the North/South Game. Team record was 4 - 13. Just pointing out that sometimes the Best players in the State aren't on the best team. So no one should really say the player has to be on a top team. That's just someone being oblivious and single-minded.

I like the idea of having a coach from each region represent the region at this meeting to ensure that each region at least feels as if their player(s) are represented. If it is offered to a coach in the region and he declines then another should be offered. Before all of these posts I was unsure how the committee was even selected. This is just our second year with a varsity program and previously I was an assistant at Wren so I was not aware of how the process worked, I am now, so thanks for the education. I will not be at the State Championships this weekend but I will be at the meeting this summer.

My concern is obviously for one of my guys that I nominated. Austin Snow had 25 goals and 7 assists and he is a sophomore and was named All Region and Co-Player of the Year in Region 1 2A. He led the region in scoring and points in region matches and also for the season as a whole. I was told by a coach that was present on the committee that he wasn't selected because he was a sophomore and members of the committee felt that AM and BE deserved more players. While there is little doubt that those two schools have VERY strong teams, no one on that committee saw Austin play this year and that is where my concern lies. I sent an email to someone that should have been very familiar with the process prior to the meeting occurring and never received a response. So I had to rely on a piece of paper with stats and accolades listed on it to "vouch" for him.

As far as some of the reasoning that I have read above some of it I feel like is fair and some I disagree with. I don't think that a kid has to play on a team that is ranked inside of the top 10 nor play a statewide schedule. The kids have no control over scheduling. Our schedule wasn't "weak", our opponents had the 7th most wins amongst 2A upstate schools when the playoffs started, of those 6 3 had at least one selection and the other 3 did not. We finished 12-7 so he was not a heart and soul player on a team that finished sub .500.

In the end I felt he was deserving and that is why I nominated him. No use crying over spilt milk at this point because it is what it is. Hopefully he will use this as motivation to keep improving as a player and leave no doubt next year. Again, I appreciate all of the information that has been shared in this thread and hopefully if the process can be improved it will be.

Jeremy McCall
Powdersville High School

I will preface this by saying that the following idea might not work at the 3A and 4A level.... BUT

How about giving the #1 ranked team in the classification 3 selections, the #2 ranked team 2 selections and every other team in the top 10 one selection each. That gives you 13 players and spreads the wealth. There are then 5 spots left. These are the spots to be debated.

If you are ranked in the top 10, then you probably deserve at least one All State selection. That format also leaves 5 spots for debate... is the best player at the #11 ranked high school better than the fourth best player at the #1 ranked high school?? This is when stats versus schedule, coaches write up and group discussion come into play.

Here is a scenario... who is the All State player?

Player A: team record is 15-5, position is defensive CMF, opponent winning percentage is 60%, stats = 9 goals, 9 assists, played 90% of minutes, team rank is #7

Player B: team record is 16-1, position is forward, opponent winning percentage is 38%, stats = 31 goals, 20 assists, played 100% of minutes, team is unranked

The issue comes into play b/c too many people think that a player with great stats is automatically an All State player. Player B should NOT be excluded form the conversation, but he should also not be automatically selected b/c of stats he clearly got versus lesser competition. However, Player B should be included in the discussion of the "final 5" selections.

I agree with Hamil's last post.

I also like the ranked selection idea.

-Coach Garvin
James Island

Yes, top ten ranked teams should have at least one player listed. Some regions are incredibly weak and don't necessarily warrant an all-state pick.