It remains remarkable to me that in one of the top soccer markets in the entire country that NCAA Division 1 mens soccer is not currently offered at the UH, Rice University, University of Texas, or Texas A&M to name a few. In fact SMU is the only college or university that offers mens NCAA Division 1 soccer. If you like I believe the top players need an option to stay in Texas please sign the following petition and comment. The list will be offered to the board of regents at the institutions. Click the Comments button below and sign up. Tell your friends and link to this petition so we can get the momentum going.
-Glenn
Danish Inspirations
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Members of the oard of Regents:
As a soccer fan in the community ,I don’t understand how It can be that you do not provide a Men’s NCAA
Division ! team at the University of Houston, I encourage you to support such a program and I would certainly support it with my attendance. In a community the size of Houston and the talent pool in this city and state there is no excuse for the absence
of NCAA Division 1 soccer. Thank you. David Talbert
As a Rice alumnus, I have never supported the athletic department. My father, also a Rice alumnus, never supported the athletic department. When Rice has men’s soccer at the division one level rather than club level, this just might change.
My wife is a U of H alumnus….
Board of Regents at Texas Flagship Universities:
My son and all but one of his soccer teammates left the state of Texas to attend universities in North and South Carolina to play soccer in college. The exodus of exceptional student athletes to other states to play Division I men’s soccer is a disgrace. It is not a Title IX issue when unviersities like South Carolina and Clemson have both football and men’s soccer and are currently ranked in the top ten nationally, in part due to student athletes from Texas. Please consider the addition of men’s soccer to keep Texans in Texas.
I was one of those soccer players who received a soccer scholarship at a Division 1 school but had to go to Furman University in South Carolina to play. It was a great experience but I would have loved to stay in the state of Texas to play collegiate soccer. I have had many friends and heard many youth players who had the ability to play college soccer but decided to quit because there were limited opportunities in the state of Texas.
You could have a top 20 program overnight if you decided to get a program at UH or Rice and the Houston soccer community would embrace you with open arms. Your investment in a Division 1 soccer program will payoff in more than dollars and cents.
Hello, Give me 3 scholarships for men’s soccer at
Rice, UH, Tx. or Tx.A&M and we will play for a national Championship in 2 years. I will retire from
Klein High and Coach for free. I can get Stevo Weizel
and Nathan Thornton ( Houston Chronicle players of
the year) to transfer, plus 8 other Div.I players
that would love to play at any of these Colleges in the great state of Texas. I also have
Chad Bauman ( Sr.at Klein who has given a verbal to
SMU, plus Tyler Deric Sr.(keeper) who has given a verbal to UNC chapel Hill. Let me know soon as the
signing date is in Feb.
PS Please remember that 70% of all Football games
are won by soccer kickers. Coach Allen Baker
Klein High
Dear Board of Regeants,
My son has been playing soccer for more than 10 years. He is just entering high school and has started thinking about college. For what ever reason, he wants to stay in Texas. There are thousands of very talented soccer players in Texas that would love to be able to play division I in this state. I can’t believe that the cost for a soccer program is prohibitive. Re-allocate a few of the scholarships for football to soccer. It won’t take that many and it won’t disrupt the football program. There is enough talent in Texas to support all of the major universities and be competitive.
In addition:
Just look at the success level of the club teams at schools like Texas A&M and Texas. Multiple national championships for both schools and perpetual dominance in their region. Also take into account the countless drummings of Div. 2, 3 and Semi-Pro clubs every year in the off-season. All of this managed by students who “pay to play” and simultaneously earn various engineering and graduate level degrees at the nations top academic public universities. As a former player for one of the afore mentioned schools, I know first hand that these programs fill their rosters each season with native Texans who have been forced to forfeit their Div. 1 soccer dreams in order to get an education because they do not wish to relocate so far away from home. These players are usually accompanied by the unfortunate few who do venture cross country to play their soccer and find themselves burned out, unhappy and moving back home to attend a closer to home university within a year or two.
Guaranteed Dominance…
Please give the young men who play soccer in Texas the liberty to dream. To dream big, to play big time college athletics in the sport they love, in the state they love-Texas. All of a sudden, these young men have role models in Texas, just like kids in every other sport. Men’s soccer in Texas will instantly be competitive. We have tremendous talent!
In addition, please don’t just make it a scholarship issue. Let the coaches put together financial aid packages just like Division 3 coaches have to do. Put the players in work study. There are ways to help with the cost of school.
Coaches from these great Texas universities come here to Lufkin to recruit players in other sports. I only wish our soccer athletes had that same opportunity.
I am just one, but I know there are many who stand where I do. Please let them play.
Coach Russell Shaw- Lufkin HS
Dear Board of Regeants:
In a state as big and diverse as ours, we should have every type of sport offered at our universities. With the huge talent pool in just the Houston area, not to mention the whole state, we could easily have one of the best soccer teams in the country in a very short period of time. The cost to create such a program would not actually be very much. The fan support would come overnight as well. There are many in this city who have wanted to watch and play soccer, and have only now gotten that opportunity with the Dynamo. Now we can have a NCAA team to root for as well. This will give all the youth players something to look forward too, brining quality players and people to a booming University. Please start a NCAA Div I team. You’ll have my attendance, and many others.
Greetings:
The Big XII has women’s soccer (very successful programs, 3 teams in the top 25) but no varsity men’s teams.
Please sign a petition to bring Men’s Soccer to the Big 12.
http://www.petitiononline.com/big12men/
also visit http://big12menssoccer.blogspot.com
This has information including email address to the various Big 12 athletic directors.
Be sure to have your kids, spouses, teams sign as well.
I know there are Title IX issues that must be addressed. No need to start that debate. The Big 10, ACC, Pac10 also are subject to Title IX but somehow have managed to include men’s soccer. With enough support this issue can be addressed.
We need Men’s NCAA soccer in Texas. We have the talent. Momentum for the sport is building. We have two professional teams in the state now. One is in the championship (Go Dynamo!). This is a good opportunity to help minorities with getting secondary education also. We have good women’s programs and a great JUCO team also (Go San Jac Coyotes!).
We need Division 1 soccer in Texas. My son is a golie and also a kicker in football. His intention is to pursue football in college since there is no Division 1 soccer at out Texas Colleges. Three of my sons went to U of H and one graduated from UT Houston Dental Branch.
It is simply wrong that there are so few Division 1 men’s soccer programs in Texas. This situation should be corrected. This is discrimination against the men.
Keith Watkins
Atlanta, GA
We need Mens soccer at Texas Universities. Please don’t let all this talent go to waste!
As a UH alum and supporter I’d like to see UH field a men’s Div 1 soccer team to match up with the women’s team. With the talent available in TX that could come to UH and grow into a nationally prominent team would certainly promote UH in the national spotlight. Robertson stadium is an intimate venue for watching football and futbol.
As a successful collegiate soccer coach I have always been comletely amazed as to the lack of D-1 men’s soccer programs in Texas. There are so many thriving universities such as UT and A&M that actually profit from their sports and could easily start up these programs.
Furthermore, the soccer community in TX is huge and I so surprised that more grassroots movements and pressure has not been placed on these institutions to properly serve their communities.
While it is not so cut and dry for the UofH and Rice on a budgetary and NCAA Compliance level, there’s no time like the present. Both football teams are doing very well and may make a bowl game. The Dynamo have shown that there is tremendous support at a grass roots level.
I played college ball at Fresno State, which still holds the regular season (single game) attendance record of 13K+ people. I regularly played in front of 8 to 10 thousand people during the two seasons that I played there. This was during the late 80’s when Fresno only had a population of approx 300K people. I can only imagine how awesome the U of H or Rice could do if they had men’s soccer programs in a city the size of Houston.
Texas Universities:
My son plays soccer in High School and would love to play here in Texas in College. I also know many other players who would rather play close to their friends and families instead of going to North Carolina or California. Don’t let this resource go to waste! This would be a great way to link these great universities to a growing interest in this sport.
Texas should offer NCAA soccer at many of its colleges. As a player there are not many places for me to look at or coaches to get seen by due to the distance coaches would have to travel to see one game. If colleges in Texas would offer more soccer programs then everyone would see how quick the game will pickup.
Texas Universities,
Please bring men’s soccer programs to your school. My son is a senior this year and wants to stay in Texas. There is so much talent in this state that it’s sad to see it leave. Texas could dominate in this sport like we have in other sports. Let’s give these young men an opportunity to stay true to their roots and their loyalty to their state of Texas. Give them some soccer programs. I’m sure a lot of them would play without a scholarship just to get the opportunity to play in Texas.
Bring it on!
Please begin a Division 1 soccer program, so both of my Division 1 soccer playing kids can strive for scholarships to attend the Texas university of their choice.
At the University of Texas “What happens here changes the world.” I am a Texas-Ex, as is my wife. We believe that a world-class university like Texas should adopt the world’s game as a showcase sport, not only as a niche women’s sport. As a leader in the Big 12, should you bring in men’s soccer, other Big 12 schools will follow. The increased presence of the sport will spill over into the women’s game as well, and there are synergies that will avail both offerings.
Texas has proven itself powerful in America’s games — football, baseball, and basketball. Now it should prove itself in the world’s game: soccer.
Lets keep our kids in state. It about time Texas D1 schools add mens soccer.
i agree, i would have never gone off to play football. glen you know where i stand. when i was a senior in high school i was on the houston touchdown club there where around 20 of us which about 13 are pro. anyways during are dinner the coaches from all the major texas univ. stoud up and begged us to stay in texas so a texas team could win a national champship this was 1998. now why cant they do this for soccer. thanks brooks harris
With only SMU having a div I mens program in-state, what kind of message does that send to all the young players in Texas? For young talented boys the choice is either leave your home state to play, or just quit the game altogether, because only SMU cares about your soccer talent. I thought all schools were about nurturing and flourishing talent for boys as well as girls? The game isn’t expensive and this smacks of reverse-discrimination. There really is no good reason for not having men’s programs at all these schools. Perhaps crowds would increase with traditional rivals like UT and Texas A&M establishing programs. U of Houston really has no excuse either – you will allow pro soccer in your stadium but NOT college soccer??? That’s a joke.
I work for the University of Houston and would love to see a Division 1 NCAA cougar team. Houston has what it takes to build a core that can compete nationwide. My son will be a college prospect next year, and his only shot at a Division 1 team is out of state. SMU’s recrutiment process is rigorous and favors North Texas players. So, SMU would be long shot for many Houstonian players, including my son. Also, many quality local players will not be able to make it just because money and the logistics of attending an out-of-state college. It would be cumbersome for them as well as for their families.
Therefore, the University of Houston as well as all of the other Texas state schools need to take advantage of the acumen of talent that we have been grooming in the state of Texas; enough of those sports where we invest so much money and the performance is mediocre.
Dear Board of Regents of all Division 1 Texas schools,
Having been born and raised in Texas and being a product of the North Texas State Soccer Associaton while growing up in Richardson in the 60’s and 70’s, I implore you to begin Men’s Soccer programs at all schools.
Only after I moved to the Austin area 6 months ago did I know SMU is THE ONLY DIVISION 1A SCHOOL IN TEXAS WITH A MEN’S SOCCER TEAM. As I type that out it seems nearly impossible to believe such a statement is true. Please do the right thing and bring the world’s greatest sport to America’s greatest schools.
I agree lets bring Division 1 soccer here in texas. I know i want to see my kids play here in Texas instead of outta state!
Well the comments above me have already summarized what I wanted to say.
so lets bring it to Texas!
It is time for men’s soccer at the D-1 level for Texas universities.
Texas Universities,
Shocking to learn your prehistoric bias against Div I Soccer continues, driving talented youth players out-of-state!
I remember not long ago…the University of Connecticut won the the Men’s Div I National Championship with a nucleus of TEXAS PLAYERS.
The Hermann Award winner (national player of the year) Chris Gabandi, played for UConn and honed his skills growing up in Houston.
Since the University Presidents and Athletic Directors ignore the state-wide issue…it is time the United States Soccer Federation weigh-in. They provide millions in public grants developing soccer.
Glenn,
You know our family – we support soccer at all levels. When Marc was shopping for college programs to apply to in ‘94, he had no choice but to leave the state because of the Division I programs that were available to him near home. When Christie was shopping schools in 2001, more options were available to her in Texas. We know why – Title IX, which was put in place to create equality in womens’ sports in colleges. The problem is — the “spirit” behind the implementation of Title IX in Texas, was to promote equality for women (for every 1 mans’ sport, the school has to have 2 womens’ sport); I’m sure that was necessary at the time of its’ birth. However, over time, a “reverse prejudice” has taken place – in creating that equality for women, the mens’ programs that are available to local male soccer players, have benn replaced with womens’ programs, leaving the males no choice but to go outside of Texas to find quality programs. As the parent of a male and a female player, I feel the pain of both situations. Title IX, as it is now, only created more problems for soccer in Texas – maybe it wasn’t the answer after all, and needs to be reviewed for fairness to all.
Pam Mestayer
The Biggest State in the contiguous U.S? Not when it comes to College Soccer. How many Clint Dempseys have died on the vine for want of development?
Mess with Texas.
—Mark
Soccer is the most popular team sport in the World. The World Cup is the largest and only truely global international team sports event on the planet. The U.S. has never won this prestigous tournament.
Texas is the home to two Major League Soccer teams. One won the 2006 MLS Cup Championship and Western Conference Championship. The other was number one in in regular season play and progressed to the competition for the MLS Western Championship and MLS Cup.
Texas is the home to U.S. Youth Soccer and has one of the largest youth soccer programs in the nation.
It is a disgrace to the state of Texas and to the United States of America that major universities in great state of Texas don’t offer or promote mens NCAA Division 1 soccer.
As a former U of H student one of the most memorable experiences I had while attending there was the PE clas I registered for. It was a soccer class and I met some fine talent in that class. Please bring NCAA Division 1 class to our city. Let our talented youth express the passion they feel and flourish in this sport. I will most certainly be present at these games.
yeah football rulez!!!
Dear Texas Universities,
It is quite a shame that there is so much talent at the youth level for soccer in the state of Texas and the players have to go to the east coast or west coast to play collegiate soccer. They do not have a tremendous amount of options and do not get to stay in their own state to compete and give their families a better opportunity to support them at the collegiate level. I am a youth coach in Houston, TX and have been involved at the youth level for 18 years and I feel that the state of Texas is missing out on their own talent. We desperately need collegiate soccer at more institutions at the collegiate Division 1 level in the great state of Texas ASAP.
Thanks for all your help in advance,
Tony Johnson
Glenn:
I wholeheartedly support your efforts to bring D.1 mens soccer to South Texas. It is a great shame that our boys have to travel out of state to play at this level, not to mention the cost incurred by their families.
Keep up the good work.
Mark Horton
Glenn – I applaud your efforts to get soccer a stronger foothold in Texas. The more universities with full programs will definitely make the area stronger and keep our good talent at home.
It is truly a shame and frankly unbelievable that given the number of great academic institutions in Texas, the rich talent pool and depth of support for the sport that only SMU offers a Division I Soccer program. The Texas schools should be national leaders in this area. Please throw your support behind this movement to offer more oppertunities to the state’s deserving youth.
Steven R Drexel
Bellaire, Texas Resident and Parent
To Board of Regents:
I graduated Rice in 1987. My son loves Rice, but continually asks me if Rice plays men’s soccer. Sadly, I have to tell him no. It is far too early to tell if he will be talented enough to play men’s division one soccer. Regardless, lots of boys who ultimately will, ask the same questions of their dads for Rice, UH, UT, A&M, etc. The ones that are good enough will be forced to leave the state.
I understand the financial restrictions of Title IX. However, there must be a way to figure this situation out!!
Thanks for your consideration,
Ron Stinebaugh
This is a great site. There is another petition with over 1400 signatures for teams throughout the Big XII. Think of it, if A&M, OU, OSU etc get a program it can only help your efforts. Visit http://big12menssoccer.blogspot.com
to see and sign the petition. Committees are being formed with the help of some of the Big 12 men’s soccer clubs.
Board Members and Chancellors:
As I am sure you are aware, soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and the fast growing sport in the United States. The MLS has shown tremendous growth and popularity. Yet, in world-class play, the US fares poorly, especially considering our resources and that our youths do not have to be considered with farming and supporting a family. This is because these young men and women have very limited choices beyond high school. We personally know of extremely talented players that gave up soccer rather than leave Texas to play elsewhere for Div I.
Soccer may not be “huge” like football – but it is only a matter of time. Great universities in Texas can either lead and dominate, or they can follow the herd and be left behind. It is not in Texan’s culture to be left behind, so I urge you add soccer at the Division I level to provide opportunities for our youths.
I am one of those players who is getting ready to go off to college and am going to play D1 soccer but it will have to be on the east coast some where far away from home. I would love to go to texas and texas aTm to play but they dont have a team so i think what your doing is great trying to get them to have a team goodluck.
Another sport, another chance for some great inter-state rivalries. Soccer kids should have the same opportunity to play for their favorite Texas university as any other athlete.
NCAA Div 1 soccer in Texas is a no-brainer! Enough said…
As a soccer player who grew up in Houston, and had to travel out of state to play division 1 soccer, i feel strongly about the fact that this needs to be addressed. I was one of 5 local Houston soccer players who played at the university of Connecticut, and i can tell you we all would of loved the opportunity to stay in state. There is no excuse for this and i have no doubt that soccer would thrive at a large state school in Texas.
I am a Soccer Mom and for the past 7 years I have been proudly carting my son off to his soccer training sessions, camps, games, tournaments and championships.
I am a proud Houston Dynamo supporter/season ticket holder. The MLS and the Houston Dynamo are now offering real Youth Development Training to groom a new breed of young players. How Fantastic is That !?!
The time is NOW for The Great State of Texas to proudly join the ranks of the other major universities in the United States and become an NCAA Division One Soccer State !
Dear Board,
My 13 year old son has been playing for 7 years with Westside Soccer and training with Sports Quest most of that time. Please bring Texas Universities into the 21st century.
What a great forum!
I was fortunate to play college soccer at a major university years ago. What a great way to continue to express your talents while earning academic honors.
It is amazing to live here in Texas and not be surrounded by men\’s college soccer programs. Other comparable markets have many schools that have teams.
As a high school soccer coach for 20 years, I have seen soo much talent pass on to other state\’s universities. I understand the Title IX dilema, but there must be a way to keep the talent produced in this state and provide a way for them to wear our college school colors. Some school can benefit greatly by providing a place for Division 1 soccer players in Houston.
I hold out hope!
There is a vast pool of soccer talent right here in Houston currently underdeveloped.
Take soccer to the next level and let\’s get Texas Universities involved.