How does she do it

[Fk_Pitt]

So I was told here that coach Waldrum won’t be able to bring elite middle class players to Oakland and thus make Pitt a power in women’s soccer like our men are.

yet Nikki Izzo Brown has been the only coach in WVU’s history, and has built that program into one of the elite programs in the country, grabbing top recruits from western PA and top players from all over North America every year. She recruits the Canadian national team very well. Morgantown is not Oakland. It’s not the city. But it is a dump. And it is West Virginia afterall.

WVU has only been to one national title game in recent years, but they were ranked #1 and upset by USC. But top 5 and top 10 rankings and contending for national titles are the norm there. I think this is our ceiling at Pitt. We play in the ACC afterall so being a perennial conference winner isn’t easy. The conference has 3 of the 4 College Cup teams this year and probably should have had all 4.
By the way, WVU has an AA (I think she’s an AA) out of WPIAL. She was a national player of the week this spring. She ls at WVU, and Pitt gave her a $hit offer out of HS because it was the old staff that didn’t value local players. If Coach Waldrum were around then, Pitt would have been in play...and our women still might be playing in the College Cup today. Granted we haven’t had a player like her in Western PA in the last 4 years...but we do produce them once every 5 years or so. When I think of the 4 best local players who came out of WPIAL in the last 10 years, one went to PSU, one went to UVA, and 2 went to WVU. That’s gonna change.

I also remember talking to our old staff about another player who was a notch or two below the players i mentioned above. They didn’t recruit her and specifically told me they only saw her as maybe a player who would get minutes here and there for them. She ended up playing at a mid major and has been a Herman award finalist and has lead her team to the sweet 16 and has scored plenty of goals and helped her team beat ACC teams in season and in the NCAA tourney. Those guys simply couldn’t identify talent. Among other things.

 

[ThePanthers]

I don't know why people say Waldrum can't bring in top talent to Pitt. I think he can. Not everything is a miracle turnaround like JV has done. That happens far less across all sports than you think. It's just when it does happen it is brought to the spotlight.

I mean the WVU coach has been there for 22 years and has built the program, sustained it, and has her foot in the door.

Waldrum has been here for 3 seasons, and is has shown improvement every year from a program that literally was one of the worst out there. And prior to the Petersen Events Complex, was playing on a field that middle schoolers would think was crap.

 

[JD1976]

So I was told here that coach Waldrum won’t be able to bring elite middle class players to Oakland and thus make Pitt a power in women’s soccer like our men are.

yet Nikki Izzo Brown has been the only coach in WVU’s history, and has built that program into one of the elite programs in the country, grabbing top recruits from western PA and top players from all over North America every year. She recruits the Canadian national team very well. Morgantown is not Oakland. It’s not the city. But it is a dump. And it is West Virginia afterall.

WVU has only been to one national title game in recent years, but they were ranked #1 and upset by USC. But top 5 and top 10 rankings and contending for national titles are the norm there. I think this is our ceiling at Pitt. We play in the ACC afterall so being a perennial conference winner isn’t easy. The conference has 3 of the 4 College Cup teams this year and probably should have had all 4.
By the way, WVU has an AA (I think she’s an AA) out of WPIAL. She was a national player of the week this spring. She ls at WVU, and Pitt gave her a $hit offer out of HS because it was the old staff that didn’t value local players. If Coach Waldrum were around then, Pitt would have been in play...and our women still might be playing in the College Cup today. Granted we haven’t had a player like her in Western PA in the last 4 years...but we do produce them once every 5 years or so. When I think of the 4 best local players who came out of WPIAL in the last 10 years, one went to PSU, one went to UVA, and 2 went to WVU. That’s gonna change.

I also remember talking to our old staff about another player who was a notch or two below the players i mentioned above. They didn’t recruit her and specifically told me they only saw her as maybe a player who would get minutes here and there for them. She ended up playing at a mid major and has been a Herman award finalist and has lead her team to the sweet 16 and has scored plenty of goals and helped her team beat ACC teams in season and in the NCAA tourney. Those guys simply couldn’t identify talent. Among other things.

WVU has a culture and a style of play that has been developed over 25 years by Izzo-Brown. You mentioned the Canadian pipeline that has served them very well, but they always have big, strong fast players up top and big, physical defenders. Her success at WVU is no different than the Howland/Dixon formula at Pitt. They have a style of play and type of player that they look for that isn’t typically from the US Youth national pool.

The other thing is that the Big 12 in women’s soccer should be so much better than it is. There is no reason Texas shouldn’t be national title contender every year with their resources and recruiting base. Same for Oklahoma and Baylor.

All that said, as much as I dislike WVU, their women’s soccer program is definitely a model Waldrum should look at, but it won’t happen overnight.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

So I was told here that coach Waldrum won’t be able to bring elite middle class players to Oakland and thus make Pitt a power in women’s soccer like our men are.

yet Nikki Izzo Brown has been the only coach in WVU’s history, and has built that program into one of the elite programs in the country, grabbing top recruits from western PA and top players from all over North America every year. She recruits the Canadian national team very well. Morgantown is not Oakland. It’s not the city. But it is a dump. And it is West Virginia afterall.

WVU has only been to one national title game in recent years, but they were ranked #1 and upset by USC. But top 5 and top 10 rankings and contending for national titles are the norm there. I think this is our ceiling at Pitt. We play in the ACC afterall so being a perennial conference winner isn’t easy. The conference has 3 of the 4 College Cup teams this year and probably should have had all 4.
By the way, WVU has an AA (I think she’s an AA) out of WPIAL. She was a national player of the week this spring. She ls at WVU, and Pitt gave her a $hit offer out of HS because it was the old staff that didn’t value local players. If Coach Waldrum were around then, Pitt would have been in play...and our women still might be playing in the College Cup today. Granted we haven’t had a player like her in Western PA in the last 4 years...but we do produce them once every 5 years or so. When I think of the 4 best local players who came out of WPIAL in the last 10 years, one went to PSU, one went to UVA, and 2 went to WVU. That’s gonna change.

I also remember talking to our old staff about another player who was a notch or two below the players i mentioned above. They didn’t recruit her and specifically told me they only saw her as maybe a player who would get minutes here and there for them. She ended up playing at a mid major and has been a Herman award finalist and has lead her team to the sweet 16 and has scored plenty of goals and helped her team beat ACC teams in season and in the NCAA tourney. Those guys simply couldn’t identify talent. Among other things.

My guess is she just a really good coach and really good recruiter. She only has 2 WV kids and 3 WPIAL kids. She recruits nationally and internationally. The WPIAL kids she has are not from upper middle class to wealthy suburbs (Waynesburg, Baldwin, Penn-Trafford). I would think she would have success recruiting from WPIAL schools who are from middle class to lower middle class to poor areas. You mentioned there was a big-time recruit from Brownsville. I'd think that type of player could pick WVU over Pitt.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

My guess is she just a really good coach and really good recruiter. She only has 2 WV kids and 3 WPIAL kids. She recruits nationally and internationally. The WPIAL kids she has are not from upper middle class to wealthy suburbs (Waynesburg, Baldwin, Penn-Trafford). I would think she would have success recruiting from WPIAL schools who are from middle class to lower middle class to poor areas. You mentioned there was a big-time recruit from Brownsville. I'd think that type of player could pick WVU over Pitt.

Penn Trafford? Harrison City, as reported by WTAE, is the third wealthiest zip code in the area. It absolutely floored me to hear that. But that’s what they reported. Of course Venetia was #1, and Nikki had a player from there recently.
The girl from Waynesburg played club soccer in Morgantown with Nikki’s daughter. The girl from PT and the girl from Baldwin would be considered “privileged” by people like you. The point is, if it’s a good program, with a good coach and a good school, players will come. WVU has 2 of the 3. Lol.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Penn Trafford? Harrison City, as reported by WTAE, is the third wealthiest zip code in the area. It absolutely floored me to hear that. But that’s what they reported. Of course Venetia was #1, and Nikki had a player from there recently.
The girl from Waynesburg played club soccer in Morgantown with Nikki’s daughter. The girl from PT and the girl from Baldwin would be considered “privileged” by people like you. The point is, if it’s a good program, with a good coach and a good school, players will come. WVU has 2 of the 3. Lol.

I was surprised about Harrison City. I'm not sure I believe that. Even still, the vibe of Penn-Trafford and Baldwin is middle class. Maybe these girls were rich, I dont know but their school districts are "normal." They arent "too good" for crummy Morgantown. Surprised a Peters girl went down there for soccer though. Maybe that was her best offer? Maybe the parents went to WVU?

 

[JD1976]

I was surprised about Harrison City. I'm not sure I believe that. Even still, the vibe of Penn-Trafford and Baldwin is middle class. Maybe these girls were rich, I dont know but their school districts are "normal." They arent "too good" for crummy Morgantown. Surprised a Peters girl went down there for soccer though. Maybe that was her best offer? Maybe the parents went to WVU?

Well as mentioned above, WVU is a perennial Big 12 contender and Top 20 program so it’s not exactly a stretch for a kid to go there from 90 miles away.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Well as mentioned above, WVU is a perennial Big 12 contender and Top 20 program so it’s not exactly a stretch for a kid to go there from 90 miles away.

From a good school district though, that is surprising. WVU is basically Cal U, IUP, Slippery Rock

 

[mike412]

How many of these ladies are going to make a living playing pro soccer? Not many.

The fact is that Randy slowly ought to be able to outrecruit WVU for the top WPIAL players based on academics and Pittsburgh vs Morgantown.

But, that is not going to be enough. As the OP mentioned, WVU only has 3 or 4 WPIAL players. Our best player, Amanda West, is Canadian. I don’t know if Waldrum can establish a Canadian pipeline, but he is going to have to establish one or two in places with consistently high level recruits. Getting a chance to play in the top conference in the nation (and is there even a consensus #2?) should be a draw.

I watched Santa Clara beat UNC 3-1 yesterday. Coaching was a part of it. Their game plan was much better. They defended in depth and attacked on the counter with multiple players. But, they also had a lot of talent. And speed.

How many options are there for high school stars in that area in California? UCLA, USC and Stanford. Now Santa Clara. There is a lot more talent out here. I think Waldrum can recruit successfully out here.