Maybe, maybe not.
Where to start? Ok, on the personal level. Again....I have lived here for 10 years and have 4 kids of wildly varying ages who play or have played soccer. I am really, really unaware of what you are talking about regarding community involvement. I know they have dabbled with Discoveries, but I think even that link isn't what it was. And there are a ton of kids and families up here who aren't associated with Discoveries.
I see no player or coaching clinics, no invitations to games, no mass mailers to my house....nothing. The better players in Greenville go to Furman or CLemson camps and the kids all know the coaches and vice versa. Same thing in Mount Pleasant with C of C. I've witnessed it in both locations....there is a connection between the better players in that area and those coaches. Don't see that going on here.
Ironic.....that no Winthrop coach appears to be involved with SC ODP? What better way to get to know the better state players? And thats been the case for at least the last handful of years. Current ODP coaches (and from last couple of years)......are from USC, Furman, Wofford, C of C, CCU, Newberry, Lander, etc. No Winthrop.
How about CESA player Combine attendance. They weren't on the final pre-list.....altho I thought I heard that someone did come from the women's side.....there was no men's attendance. Why? Even if you find no players....at least "look" like you care enough to come.
In terms of recruits....statistics don't lie. There are some outstanding players from the state and from York County in the class of 2009 and 2010. Combined....the mens program and womans program has 1 instate recruit? USC recruits inside the state harder than that. Compare C of C class of 2009 to Winthrop. Heck....there are 3 or 4x more kids from the Discoveries 90 team going to C of C than Winthrop has total SC recruits!!!
I don't mean to seem negative to Winthrop. Good luck to them and God bless them. There are different philosophies to recruiting......some football coaches love recruiting Juco players. Maybe Winthrop would prefer international players.
But I have heard Winthrop "people" say they don't recruit hard in SC because they feel they are the 5th or 6th choice in state. And with that approach I guarantee they will never be more than that. And I'd also say....that as the economy tightens and dollars shrink.....there needs to be a little more accountability for decision making. What is more cost effective from a recruiting perspective? Actively working state and region ODP, events like CESA Combine, and building and mining club relationships in the State? Or traveling all over the world looking at players once?
I understand.....the real answer is you need to do both. So lets see them do both.
Is the talent pool as deep in SC as Georgia or NC? No. But there are probably 14-18 kids per year that go on to play D1 soccer. I think CESA this year......probably has 8-10 on their own. How about Winthrop starts signing 2-3 SC kids per year....then Big Daddy will be happy.
