You can make the case that college soccer is the most important thing that ever happened to American soccer.<\/p>\n
At the very least it was there in the 1980s to provide the early infrastructure, support the USSF\u2019s development program \u2014 the regional teams \u2014 and spread the word when there was nothing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to appreciate what soccer was like in the early to mid-1980s. The North American Soccer League got the ball rolling, but it came and went, burning through a ton of money, without building a foundation for the sport.<\/p>\n
College soccer coaches began a lot of that serious work. Many of the names you might not have ever heard of.\u00a0Joe Morrone,\u00a0Jerry Yeagley, Steven Negoesco,\u00a0John Rennie. Others you know.\u00a0Bruce Arena,\u00a0Sigi Schmid,\u00a0Anson Dorrance. All worked at big sports schools and benefited from their school\u2019s name and its backing to develop their programs.<\/p>\n
They benefited from being close to the action. In Arena\u2019s case literally. The Virginia soccer office was adjacent to the visiting men\u2019s basketball locker room. And Arena would silently listen as\u00a0Dean Smith,\u00a0Mike Krzyzewski\u00a0and\u00a0Jim Valvano, ACC legends, gave pep-talks to their players before they faced the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n
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