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I don’t understand this whole portal business. In football everybody and their brother knows every single player that has entered. But in soccer it’s top secret and only coaches have access to that information.
 
No league in the world has any many problems/issues between coaches and players, more coaching resignations, than the NWSL
It's crazy.

Kirt should invite Wilkinson to Knoxville watch film and practices and advise....
 
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No league in the world has any many problems/issues between coaches and players, more coaching resignations, than the NWSL
It's crazy.

Kirt should invite Wilkinson to Knoxville watch film and practices and advise....

Great suggestion.
 
Tennessee end up unranked in the final United Soccer Coaches poll. On a side note, they played 6 of the top 10 teams in the country.
 
Neal doesn't play for Le Havre any longer and I don't think she's playing for anybody--hasn't for at least a year, maybe two. But, yea, I'm sure
she could help the Liberian women's national team, which isn't in the top 100 of international teams in the Fifa World Ranking.
 
Thomas has been great at putting the ball in the net, obviously--but she needs to work on the rest of her game. She is an excellent poacher
if she gets the ball in the box---but the Vols need more goals from more players; otherwise, our attack is too predictable, too predicated on trying to find
Thomas close to goal. It's fine to do that--but Thomas needs to be more dynamic and creative when she is away from the 6-yard box---make quicker decisions with the ball, improve her passing, find her teammates who are shooting/scoring position. She had a meager 2 assists for the season. That's not good enough when you've got good attacking players around you. Huff had 5 goals on the season, plus 7 assists, but she should have at least 10 goals, given her talent. But that means having better players behind her so that she's not spending half the game in our defensive half; that was among our problems last year.
 
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Curious to see if we sign any transfers. You really have to look for and recruit anybody and everybody in the portal who you think will help your team. If you don't you risk losing ground to all those teams that are bringing in good transfers--and almost every team is. Teams are signing transfers now. We need only look at what bama did last year---going from a mid-tier SEC team to a College Cup team largely thanks to the addition of three new starters--all transfers (2 from top programs) and the good play of a couple/three seniors. We signed no transfers last year, which I think was one of a number of Kirt mistakes. My sense is that he and the staff over-valued some of our players. We'll see. Kirt's gotta make better decisions about everything going forward.
 
Oh, no: I just read a post from an FSU fan, in an FSU thread, on a collegiate soccer board--and he mentioned that our best player is in
the portal. Let's hope that this isn't true, as would be devastating if it is.
 
Oh, no: I just read a post from an FSU fan, in an FSU thread, on a collegiate soccer board--and he mentioned that our best player is in
the portal. Let's hope that this isn't true, as would be devastating if it is.
Had to know it was coming...
 
It's official: The player in the portal was in fact Huff--and she's now a Seminole. Already been announced. Truly sux. I think it's unethical of Pensky
to accept a former Vol--not illegal, of course, but pretty cheesy/tacky, if you ask me. But he didn't tell her to enter the portal. That was her decision. But let's not be naive, either: There could have been communication through intermediaries between Huff's family and Pensky/FSU //prior// to her entering the portal--and I think it's /very likely/ that that is what went down. I was pissed at White from the start of this, and now we see why. Sux for Vol fans who spent years watching the program slowly, steadily get stronger, and looked poised to really become a power program--and then the coach leaves and White fumbles and....
 
It's not going to take two years. Don't like it one bit but how can a player of Huff's quality barely touch the ball to score. I doubt if she will be the only one. The program is in a slow decline if not freefall.
 
I would say that would be Taylor Huff IMHO ! Hope not ! Jaida Thomas the other but who knows now days with the portal. This NIL crap is on its way to destroying college athletics .
Guess being a Lady Vol didn't mean much to Huff. She has won about every accolade to be won. This is on White!!!
 
Leaving a good program to go to what you perceive to be a better program is betrayal of your teammates---a slap in the face--even if transferring is de rigueur these days. It stings. It's one thing when a good player at a smaller program--a mid-major, say---transfers to a bigger, better program, and we see a lot of that. It's quite another thing when one moves from one big D1 program to another, but that happens a lot now, too.

Haley Hopkins was Vandy's best player--a center-forward and true scoring talent on a good team--and two years ago she surprised me and others--including, no doubt her coach and teammates--when she decided to transfer to UVA--a situation quite similar to this one. Vandy is a good program, but UVA is a bit more high-profile. She left Vandy high and dry--and the team struggled to score the season after she left and missed the NCAA. Vandy rebounded this year, however, but it was a serious setback.

I think transferring has been made too easy nowadays--but we're now in an era of player empowerment, for good or for bad. A mix of both, I think.
 
It's official: The player in the portal was in fact Huff--and she's now a Seminole. Already been announced. Truly sux. I think it's unethical of Pensky
to accept a former Vol--not illegal, of course, but pretty cheesy/tacky, if you ask me. But he didn't tell her to enter the portal. That was her decision. But let's not be naive, either: There could have been communication through intermediaries between Huff's family and Pensky/FSU //prior// to her entering the portal--and I think it's /very likely/ that that is what went down. I was pissed at White from the start of this, and now we see why. Sux for Vol fans who spent years watching the program slowly, steadily get stronger, and looked poised to really become a power program--and then the coach leaves and White fumbles and....
Claire Rain probably next! Simmonds not far behind!
 

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