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Hunter,

What you have to consider is that Furman is private; Costal is so small as to be generally off the radar; and Charleston, while a great city, is a featherweight of an educational institution. Though as you observe, CoC is at least pulling its weight in supporting state soccer. The big two state schools are USC and Clemson, and Clemson doesn't bill itself as a feeder program for state soccer the way that Berson does with his youth summer camps.

I don't claim to have the pulse of the people; I've been out of it for a few years. But just from growing up around SC youth soccer, I would say that Berson catches more flack than Adair because of his camps and the fact that SC players are always secondary if not tertiary recruiting concerns.

I hate to hinge an argument on a single premise, but with annual camps that draw players and parent's money from all over the state, Berson's program gives the impression that they are invested in improving South Carolina soccer. For me at least it was highly disillusioning to find that after taking all of this money from the state, that the best players of the state were not then heavily recruited. I mean seriously, you've had a chance to watch these players grow, train them into what you want them to be since they were 7, is there a more ideal feeder program? And make no mistake; innuendo's about spots on the team for the great players are definitely flowing from the coaching staff, right up until about the time you become a second semester junior in high school.

Given the number of people I have heard that from, I don't think that it is a couple of aberrant cases. All that aside however, I think that it angers a great deal of people that the program almost completely ignores its location.

I'm not naive; I've played the state teams of Texas (either half). I know they're better and further along. SC is behind some states in soccer, but hey, the whole country is behind most of the world in soccer. Half of the country probably thinks that soccer is a women's sport between the combination of Title IX and the fact that our women are the least oppressed on the planet which enables them to win "world cups." You think the MLS is ever going to become less than fringe unless they can improve and acquire the star talent of the country?

The same principle extends to USC. Eventually for a sport to have the support of the local people, they have to recruit and land the local stars. Local soccer players feel betrayed by a program that relegates them to a backhand concern after the "real recruiting" is done out of state. No one, after reflection, resents the great local program where they just did not make the cut. But given equal talent, you have the expectation that the local boy is going to be picked. However, at USC the impression is all things being equal, Berson prefers Arizona on the residency card.

Keano - Great post and insight! Looks like you're familiar with the "neglect SC" routine as well.

All things considered Carolina seems to be doing well this year and should figure for another playoff spot this season. Whether McGee lobbies (read - pays for) another home game remains to be seen, but USC does have some tough tests ahead and the meat of their schedule still is in front of them.

USC has pulled major money from SC soccer parents over the years as well as support from several of the state's better high school teams, however you rarely see any of these high profile programs with their players on the USC roster. Being a graduate of a Columbia area school, I can count only a handful of Carolina players from Columbia over the years.

Hopefully, Berson will realize that there are several good players in this area and at least throw the local kids a bone, if for no other reason than to have that kids parents, friends, and family in the stands and the fact that he can tell the local soccer supporters that he does value the efforts of so many in youth soccer.

Talon and Keano and Cola Fan,

WELL DONE!!!!! Keno couldn't have said it better myself!

As for SCDREWABLANK: **** off! USC DOES NOT compete with the Dukes,Clemsons,UNC,INDIANA,UVA's,ETC!!!! They can't even beat CofC!!!!! So just take it like a man and admitt that USC has missed out on a lot of equall talent that would have stayed at USC! Unlike the rosenberg twins the two twins from Maryland and like the other guys from UTAH and ARIZONA!!!!!! Oh well go put your garnet colored glasses back on and put you lips back on Bersons ass it is getting cold!!!!!!

Boy...feel the love and the warmth.
As for the statement that USC doesn't compete with the upper schools, the facts differ.
USC all time vs.
Duke 7-8-2
Clemson 10-19-1
Furman 17-6-3
Indiana 3-3-2
Maryland 1-1-0
North Carolina 10-12-1
Penn State 2-1
Saint Louis 3-1-1
UCLA 2-0-2
Virginia 1-3-1
Wake Forest 10-9-4
and finally Shearer's beloved Charleston Cougars, 15-2-2
goals for 61 goals against 21

As for camps...Clemson and Charleston's camps are way bigger than Berson's. Those guys are doing multiple weeks at 500-600 kids per week while USC is doing 150-200 kids. Partly because Coach Lundy and Coach Adair are much more personable than Coach Berson. Also probably because their camps are in a camper friendly environment and they wear you out (which parents love).

Finally, to this day I have never said that USC missed out on state talent, I mearly said that a lot of the kids USC gets bashed on were not interested in USC and/or weren't good engough to play there and/or they were in a position that was already loaded at the time they were being recruited. I wish they had more in-state kids and I think the next three classes are loaded with in-state talent so we'll see. I don't think talent can be an excuse these next three years.

Personally, thanks for the complements Shearer. I used to think you were somewhat objective and I've always enjoyed your posts. Now I think you've lost your objectivity (sounds like bitterness to me), so I'll put my garnet glasses on and support the University with pride as I've done for most of my life.

No No bitterness here; just the Truth!!!!! And by the by I do not count sub .500 records as competing!!!! Well maybe competing but not contending!!!!

PS you forgot the big boys Like Newberry(1-0), Mercer,Stetson,Adelphi,and Marist,Wheaton,Drury,Emory,Hartwick,Lehigh,and my ALL time favorite Philly Textile!!!!!!!!

Of the anti-Berson sentiments, Mr. Keano does an excellent job of putting his case forward. But I do take exception with the comment about CoC being a 'featherweight of an educational institution.' If you refer to athletic programs, sure, but as far as an educational institution, you may be making a mass generalization, but that's for the 'SCHIGHEREDUCATION.COM' board. But Mr. Shearer, the "TRUTH", not "BITTER"? Then why the '**** off' and 'kiss ass' comments. If you aren't bitter then why resort to vulgarities? Usually that's the result of someone who is not comfortable in the use of the language or someone who is so angry they can't complete a sentence without cursing. You may get more empathy and understanding of your position if you would speak to the message board as you would a room full of strangers at a workplace function instead of drunken Clemson/Carolina fans in a smoky bar.

This topic seems to change issues based on the emotional state of a few. The thread started regarding players who were no longer on the team and quickly digressed to USC being horrible and how Berson is the cause of players leaving the team as well as 'stealing' money from parents of soccer camp attendees by ignoring them when he recruits. I would speculate that almost all programs have someone who doesn't make it and places blame on the coach(es). But to really take a totally negative position, anti-Berson/USC, could anyone give some specific facts. This is what I would want to know: how many scholarships are available for men’s soccer, how many are awarded for men’s soccer and how many walk-ons do each of the major colleges get in our state? How many SC high school soccer players go on to play college soccer? Of those, how many are on scholarships and how many graduate?

So how do other colleges fare regarding players whose home residence is in the state of the school they attend? I was curious so I went to the NSCAA/adidas® National Rankings for the week of September 8 and used those schools for comparison. If you look at each of those schools rosters here’s what you’ll find.

Maryland 6 of 24 (25%)
Wake Forest 9 of 31 (29%)
UCLA 27 of 28 (96%)
Saint Louis University 18 of 27 (67%)
University of North Carolina 16 of 26 (62%)
Santa Clara University 13 of 27 (48%)
Old Dominion University 11 of 26 (42%)
Rutgers 12 of 33 (33%)
Southern Methodist University 12 of 25 (48%)
University of Connecticut 5 of 27 (19%)
Indiana University 9 of 28 (32%)
University of Alabama at Birmingham 5 of 25 (20%)
Hartwick College(NY) 3 of 28 (11%)
UC Santa Barbara 18 of 25 (72%)
St. John's University(NY) 5 of 23 (22%)
University of South Carolina 2 of 18 (11%)
Coastal Carolina University 2 of 31 (6%)
University of Notre Dame 2 of 27 (7%)
Stanford University 6 of 24 (25%)
Oakland University(MI) 10 of 24 (42%)
University of Tulsa 5 of 24 (21%)
Florida International University 14 of 25 (56%)
Cal State Northridge 28 of 29 (97%)
Virginia Commonwealth University 11 of 25 (44%)
University of Pennsylvania 2 of 24 (8%)

The state with the highest number of home-grown players is California; five schools are represented by 92 CA players out of 133 total players on the rosters. Three schools have less than 10% of their players who are their own, USC with 11% is not one of those three. It was interesting to learn that the UCONN roster includes Willis Forko, former USC player from Texas. It was even more interesting to see a large number of players who had transferred from other colleges. I wonder why they do that, does Berson secretly coach at hundreds of colleges and universities?

To argue that we should only compare the two largest public universities is equivalent to arguing that we should only consider public high school players from Class AAAA and AAA as being qualified to play college ball.

As for Berson, I don’t believe I’ve seen anything claiming his youth soccer camps are a feeder program for state soccer. Quite frankly, a coach would be an idiot to sponsor a camp and then tell the participants ‘you will never have a chance to play college ball because you’re not good enough and we’ll never recruit you even if you were.’ The fact is that he and his assistants and other experienced staff interacts with the kids and gives them positive encouragement. Furthermore, any camp that brings young players in and gives them the opportunity to learn and develop skills and interact with college level players IS making an investment in improving South Carolina soccer.

Jon Eggert of Riverside High School is a freshman and one of the two USC players coming from the state. He was also the only player from South Carolina who was selected as a McDonald's All-American for the men's team this year, which featured the top 36 high school soccer seniors in the country. It seems like Berson’s standards are high, maybe too high. And let’s face it, college sports is a business, although some sports are ‘non-profit businesses.’ It’s better to keep your bosses happy than former high school players who didn’t fit a coach’s profile for recruiting.

I was sitting with my eight year old daughter at the NCAA Regional game USC played in Columbia last year. It was an enjoyable game until a group of local high school BOY soccer players sat down behind us. They weren’t as interested in the game as much as bragging about how great they were. All they did was criticize their teammates describing them in such eloquent speech as ‘he sucks,’ ‘he’s gay,’ ‘he’s a queer.’ They then questioned why the coach would let any of those degenerates play. The highlight was when one of them described a conversation they had with a female soccer player from their school, who had won a state championship with her team, telling her she wasn’t any good, just lucky and she would never be good enough to play for the boys team; duh! If this is representative of SC high school soccer players maybe that’s a good reason for not doing much recruiting in the state. If I were a coach I’d look for recruits anywhere else if there were more dedicated to a team than to their own inflated ego.

And lastly, the original post for this thread wanted to know about players no longer on the team. The answer, academic ineligibility. That is the truth of that matter and that lies totally with the individual. It doesn’t matter what sport you play, if you don’t make the grades the NCAA won’t let you play. But of course, doesn’t Berson control the NCAA also????