November 2007 Archives

If Chip Huber was listed in the dictionary, his headshot would probably be next to the word "selfless."

I first met the former Wheaton Academy boys coach seven years ago, and I've always felt like he was one of the most honest people I have ever met. He loves to use the word "exactly" when talks as much as he loves helping kids - on and off the field.

On Tuesday, I received an email for Huber inquiring if I was interested in joining Wheaton Academy's trip to Zambia next June. Under Huber's direction, current and former students have raised money and made the trip each year to help this village that has been devastated by the AIDS virus.

He also alerted me to take a look at his latest blog entry. It's something you should read, too.

First an email, and then a couple phone calls asking me if I knew what was up with the St. Xavier women's soccer program.

St. Xavier athletic director Bob Hallberg has confirmed Derek Begich will not return as women's soccer coach. The Cougars fell to Lee University in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Women's Soccer National Tournament on Saturday in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Begich's office has been cleaned out, and Hallberg is addressing the players at 3 p.m. today.

"I've been through this so many times when a coach leaves," Hallberg said. "Derek did an outstanding job with this program, and we are very proud of where it stands. I think right now, Derek is looking to further his coaching career."

After years of trying to find a home that featured first-class facilities with turf fields that was easily accessible, the girls version of the Pepsi Showdown is now only four months away from kicking off and becoming the largest regular-season high school tournament in the country - http://www.pepsishowdown.us

The 32-team tournament, which is hosted by Oak Park and presented by the Chicago Sun-Times, is scheduled for the first week in April. With the girls soccer season set to kick off on February 26, 2008, teams will have more than a month to prepare for the upcoming showcase.

This Sunday, the 32 coaches will seed themselves for the first year. While that most likely won’t continue in years to come (the 2008 boys version of the Pepsi Showdown will be seeded by members of the media), it should be interesting to see who falls where.

So who do you think should be seeded No. 1-32?

Each time I read about the ongoing battle with the IHSA and the Illinois Press Association (IPA), I imagine someone in the IHSA office pulling a Jerry McGuire - http://youtube.com/watch?v=9MaKHxsGZ-A.

As we've all seen over the years, high school sports have become a revenue source for many. But you have to love it when you hear "high school" people nail soccer clubs for charging. It's all about money they say.

My first reaction is that yes, you pay for a service and club is a service. With a service, you hopefully receive something in return.

But in this case - the battle over the sale of IHSA state finals photos between the IHSA and IPA - I want someone to tell me the Jerry McGuire reference is wrong.

Someone said to me the other day they're still not sure if it's a good or bad thing to end up in the Cornerkicks blog. Moments later, someone else responded by saying there is nothing wrong with stressing accountability and conversation that could lead to innovative ideas.

Here is another response I received from a reader in regards to a recent blog:

"Here is a question for you, and it goes along with potentially what the IHSSCA may do to spice things up for the sport as well as how one might counteract a weak schedule. You, as well as several other newspaper reporters, constantly receive criticism for your Top 10 or Top 20 lists. However, the NSCAA has Regional and National rankings that coaches contribute to and rarely receive criticism. What do you think about the IHSSCA coaches creating a weekly state ranking poll? Logistically possible? Good or bad idea?"

As I shopped on Friday with about a million other people throughout the Chicagoland area, I asked myself: “Do people still shop for others on the so-called ‘Black Friday’ or does everyone just go out and take advantage of the deals for themselves?”

Not going to lie – I was out there for a couple things I needed. I’m a big fan of gift cards and money unless I know there is something a person really wants. Some people will say those are impersonal gifts, and I’ll be the first to say it’s personal if that person has to stand in line to return your special gift without you knowing. Gift cards and money tend to buy twice the amount after the holidays anyways.

But back to the point.

After I asked myself that, I received a phone call from former Providence soccer coach and current Lyons assistant girls soccer coach Andy Newcomb.

You have to give credit where credit is due.

Since this blog started at the end of August, there have been some great emails and responses to all topics. But I think this response posted below might be one of the best. It makes you really think.

It comes from blogger JW7451 in response to this blog - http://blogs.suntimes.com/cornerkicks/2007/11/planning_weak_schedule.html#more

"I think the comments above by "Argo AD" reveal some of the issues that soccer faces at the high school level. What do we consider a good program? Is it defined as one with proven leaders who have an unquestionably solid character, who show great work ethic? To some, that constitutes a "good" program. But don't 80 percent of all teachers fall into that category? That doesn't make them good soccer coaches any more than it makes a good Math teacher a great English teacher or vice versa. We don't have Biology teachers tutoring Art and Music do we?"

There aren't too many girls soccer coaches in the country that can say they’ve coached for 25 seasons.

There aren't too many girls soccer coaches in the country that can say they've won 399 games.

There aren't too many girls soccer coaches period that can say they’ve played a role in as many lives as Downers Grove South girls soccer coach Barry Jacobson.

But if Jacobson, the all-time winningest girls soccer coach in Illinois, were to retire today, would people remember him for those three items first or the fact he's never won a state title?

Former Maine South boys soccer coach Tim Spiegel, who played at Northern Illinois and is still an assistant at Maine South, sent me an article from Greenpitch.com on Monday. Here is the portion Spiegel highlighted:

"It used to be that if you lived in a city or town, you followed that team, no matter its size or success," Argentine football fan Dominic Argullo said. "Not any more. You probably have more Manchester United fans in New York than you do United States fans. Actually, you'd probably have more Manchester United fans in London than you do West Ham fans. There is something wrong with that. I follow Cordoba and Argentina because that is who I am. These Americans with their Chelsea uniforms don't have a clue."

Spiegel was pointing out an image problem with soccer in America, while also comparing the lack of allegiance to what is going on with high school soccer.

"The last part of the article hit home with me," Spiegel said. "This has been a major beef with my kids for some time now, as they just don’t feel it is cool to support U.S. Soccer or the Chicago Fire. If the (quote above) is true, it may be the ultimate downfall to IHSA soccer (quality wise) if clubs get their way because there is little allegiance to high school soccer."

I've always liked former Naperville North girls soccer coach and current Naperville Central boys soccer coach Jay Konrad.

Like many, he's honest and straight forward about his own players (that's the key) and opposing players. He's just a very good all-around guy, who has played the sport and wants to see it continue to grow.

I received a message from him this morning and thought he was right on:

"As for Norm (Hillner), if he reads your blog and is willing to respond, it is a great opportunity for him to share his views," Konrad said. "If not, it was interesting. I would take it a step further in terms of all coaches. In light of (Michigan) Coach Carr "stepping" down, what will any of our legacies be? It is something as coaches we usually do not think about until it is too late to impact."

As I was sitting watching the title game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday, it was great to see a number of former area high school stars starting for the Bradley and Creighton men’s soccer teams.

But as I was flipping back and forth between the MLS Cup, the Big East Championship and the MVC Championship, I had to chuckle. It’s amazing how messed up some of the basic things in American soccer are. One channel had the game clock counting up in its game, while another channel had the game clock counting down.

Tell me what other sport can’t figure out which way to run the game clock? Seriously, tell me one sport – just one.

This might seem like something small, but it’s just another example of people not understanding the game.

It was a special night for Norm Hillner on Thursday night.

The current Lake Park boys coach and Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association (IHSSCA) president was voted into the IHSSCA Hall of Fame. Let's give another round of applause to Hillner, a winner of 300-plus games and someone who has donated a lot of time to the sport.

Nice job Norm, and thanks for the Sun-Times reference in your speech. Free advertising is always a good thing.

I asked coaches and parents who attended Thursday's banquet: What is Hillner's legacy as president? No one could answer the question. Not a single person of the 13 I talked to.

I found that pretty amazing.

Each year, hundreds of soccer players throughout Illinois dream of playing college soccer.

Some get the opportunity and enjoy it, while others quit after their first year. Some of those players will even be apart of the 1 percent of high school athletes in the U.S. to receive full Division I scholarships and still quit.

Yes, you read that right – 1 PERCENT.

I want to do a study on the number of soccer players from the area that have gone on to play college soccer. I think the number of players that quit or transferred after their first season would be staggering.

It makes you wonder if these players aren’t going to a certain college or university for the right thing or if they are being fed a line of bull by some college coaches?

Race.

It’s a word that makes some people cringe and turn their heads as if they were blind and deaf.

I’ll never forget covering the demise of the South-Inter Conference Association (SICA) the last two years and realizing how ignorant some people were to race in today’s society. Still to this day, there are people in the south suburbs that point a finger and blame me for covering this major news story. I politely remind them if the SICA federal lawsuit wasn’t settle out of court, it would have become the largest federal lawsuit involving school districts since Brown vs. the Board of Education.

But here’s a question that needs to be addressed – why aren’t more black athletes playing soccer in Illinois?

How many black athletes did you see in attendance at this year's state finals - boys or girls? How many black coaches did you see on the benches? How many black officials did you see on the sidelines?

I can tell you there wasn’t even a single black adult on the IHSA bench personnel in the North Central College press box.

Want me to keep going? I will.

This past Saturday, I received a number of calls and emails from coaches and readers asking how a team could be ranked when it plays a weak schedule and goes through a weak sectional.

To each their own I responded.

But the more I thought about it and talked with some coaches of major programs, it made me wonder - what's the point of playing a good regular-season schedule if that isn't figured into final regular-season rankings? As a number of coaches pointed out, it's easy to get up for one game on your schedule.

At the end of the day, coaches control their schedules - they do. I've never understood why coaches with talented players and teams avoid competition. But some coaches need to feed their egos with easy wins.

That headline has to be music to the ears of high school coaches throughout the Chicagoland area.

Yes, the Chicago Magic is encouraging its players to play high school next year, the year after that and the year after that. That is what Chicago Magic director Mike Matkovich confirmed to me once again.

"We've always supported high school soccer," said Matkovich, who coached at Bolingbrook High School back in the late 1980s. "We told the kids again (at a meeting last week) that if U.S. Soccer will allow it, we want them to play high school. It's important to the community, and it's important for the kids to have a chance to play in front of their peers. Some kids who are just average players in club are stars on their high school team. It's good exposure for them."

Why don't more black athletes play high school soccer?

Do college coaches lie to high school athletes?

The Chicago Magic will allow its players to play high school in 2008.

How does a team play a weak schedule, go through one of the weakest sectionals in the state and is ranked at the end of the season?

Give credit to St. Viator athletic director Lynn Gaziano. She may have saved the Lions girls soccer program from becoming just an average program.

Gaziano and Co. have named Sam Donnelly St. Viator's new girls soccer coach. A native of Scotland, Donnelly was the head soccer coach at UIC for 12 years and coached the Indianapolis Daredevils of the American Soccer League for two years. He places Roberto Avendano, who resigned as head coach to take a position with the Barrington girls soccer program - the same school he also teaches at.

Now the question is if Donnelly will have the talent to work with to turn help turn the Lions around?

This blog is a full-service blog.

From comments and thoughts to callouts and shoutouts, Cornerkicks tries to provide it all.

Wondering how Barrington celebrated its state championship? Well, here's the video of the "Championship Ride:"

http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?f=ILCHS

Whether you loved or hated him, Rory Dames produced future Division I players, winning teams and state championships during his tenure at St. Viator from 1997-2005. During that span, the Lions were undefeated in 180 of the 205 games under Dames' leadership.

Yes, that's right - St. Viator suffered a mere 25 losses in eight years, a number some programs hit in two or three years. Dames' worst season came in 1999 when his squad was 14-3-6 (no, that's not a typo and yes they played one of the best schedules around). That's what happens when you have good players, good coaching and a good system.

But oh how the mighty Lions have fallen.

Dames, a St. Viator alum, resigned after winning his third state title in four years in 2005 to focus more on his club, Eclipse Select. Now word comes that Roberto Avendano, an assistant under Dames, has resigned as head coach after just one season to take a position in the Barrington girls soccer program. Avendano is and has been a teacher at Barrington, where Ryan Stengren, a personal friend of Dames, has taken over the girls program from current boys coach Scott Steib.

That question was posed to me by a well-respected coach on Tuesday. I actually sat back and thought about it. For the record, this coach is a former high school, club and college star, so he's seen it all.

There's no question most of the soccer played this past weekend at the Class AA state finals was very good and very entertaining. But with the Chicago Fire, Chicago Magic and Chicago Sockers taking players from the high school arena next year for their own academies, this coach asked me to think about that. And let's not fool ourselves here folks, the three programs I just mentioned aren't taking players from the sticks.

Naperville Central, New Trier and others powerhouse programs are going to lose players to these programs. Is that a bad thing? I don't know, because I've always been a big believer in having choices. Welcome to America.

But let's go back to the main question: Is there any area club team that would have beaten or blown out Neuqua Valley or Barrington this past weekend?

And you know something, let's take it step further and push the issue (I never do that): Can anyone honestly say anyone of those three programs would have been No. 1 all season if they were allowed in the Sun-Times Top 10?

When I saw Sean Palacios standing at the end line after New Trier's loss to Hinsdale Central on Friday at North Central College in Naperville, the first word that came to mind was class. As a reporter, there are some players you always remember - those that are talented on the field and humble off.

You sort of wish every player could be like that. Palacios, a former Trevian, was an assistant coach at New Trier this fall.

Thankfully, the days of the science teacher coaching soccer is over. More and more, former players are coming back to their roots and giving something back. Hopefully, the first thing they teach is class and respect to some players, who couldn't carry the jockstrap of past stars.

I remember when Sandburg won back-to-back Class AA state titles in 2001 and 2002. If anyone recalls those teams, you know the Eagles didn't win those state crowns because of their offensive attack. (For those wondering, Sandburg - on both the boys and girls side - hasn't had a true offensive star since the days of Tim Regan and Katie Hertz.)

Coach Jack Ferraro's squads were and have always been based around defense and restarts. Those two seasons, defender Jed Zayner and goalie Cole Glassner led the way. Former Sandburg assistant coach Jim Pisani told me when Zayner was a freshman that he was going to be a man among boys by the time he was a senior - and he was.

And come next fall, defenders and goalies will once again be in the spotlight. From Naperville Central defender Tim Zimmer, Schaumburg defender Josh Beard, Downers South goalie Brett Petricek, St. Viator defender Matt Riggio, Andrew goalie Tom Serratore, Neuqua Valley goalie Jack Turanchik, Barrington goalie Tom Unak, Hinsdale Central defender Alex Scott , Marmion defender Luke Friedman and New Trier goalie Jordan Maman, these are just 10 defensive players to keep an eye on.

When Barrington coach Scott Steib ran toward the crowd Saturday night after his team’s 2-1 triple-overtime victory over favored Neuqua Valley, little did anyone know what was about to happen.

In a matter of seconds, Steib let out a rage of emotion that was filled with excitement, frustration and accomplishment. It wasn’t just Steib screaming with jubilation toward the crowd, however. In that powerful 10-second moment, I knew it was the entire Broncos nation coming out.

A nation that has endured so many seasons of woulda, coulda, shoulda. Thirteen years at the helm, 235 victories, 12 double-digit winning seasons, but no state championship for Steib or Barrington – until Saturday night.

Four years ago, I received a tip from two staff workers within the North Central College athletic office in regards to a possible IHSA ticket scandal at the soccer state finals.

These two staff members said the IHSA had a meeting with the North Central College administration in regards to this issue. The IHSA denied this meeting ever took place.

There were questions as to whether some of the money had been stolen, because the IHSA doesn’t actually sell tickets it can easily track. It uses raffle tickets - ‘Split the Pot’ tickets - for entrance into the stadium. (Once again, another example of something that needs to be reformed.)

On Saturday night, the IHSA officially announced attendance for the Class AA boys soccer game at 2,872, which had a number of people inside the press box looking at one another cross-eyed. If there were only 2,872 people in attendance in the 7,000-seat stadium that was near capacity, either I need to go back to basic math or something smells a little funky.

Three games in 24 hours, title game ends after 11 p.m. on Saturday night (which made me wonder if I was watching a sporting event in the eastern time zone), the official attendance was announced at 2,872 when the stands of the 7,000-seat stadium at North Central College in Naperville were at near capacity and somehow the Sun-Times had Saturday's title-game story in its Sunday home-delivery edition and the Tribune didn't (now that's a first).

Ahhhh, the IHSA state finals.

As I drove down I-88 back to Lincoln Park last night, I had 1,001 thoughts running through my mind - these were just three of them (fourth one was learned Sunday morning when at 8 a.m. when Sun-Times prep editor Steve Tucker decided to wake me up for that breaking news).

The best thing about the weekend hands down was the crowd. Yes, the play on the field was good, too, but the crowd set the atmosphere and without them the event is nothing more than your average high school tournament. People have always knocked soccer attendance, but they couldn't last night. I'm sure each one of the players on the field appreciated it, too.

As for that attendance count, I'll get back to that tomorrow - I can promise you that (IHSA).

Many more thoughts to come in the coming days and weeks ahead, but until then here is the final Sun-Times Boys Soccer Top 10:

A good number of college coaches were in attendance on Friday for Class AA quarterfinal action. In recent years, many high school coaches had commented on the low number of college coaches attending the state finals to scout.

Here are more sights and sounds from North Central College:

"These kids don't play in front of crowds like this in club. It's great to see them run right to the crowd after scoring a goal."

"I asked Beth (Sauser) why we can't stretch the rubber band a little more and have more diversity in the sectionals? She asked me what would I think if Plainfield Central played Plainfield South in the title game? I told her if those were the best two teams, no one would care."

"It's the state finals and there 15-plus light bulbs out on the lights. Is that a hint?"

"Hinsdale Central's John Shakon is the best goalie in the state finals since Sandburg's Cole Glassner."

The Illinois Press Association has filed a lawsuit "to seek a resolution to the simmering conflict about the secondary use policy regarding photographs, and the preferential treatment afforded to VIP photographers."

Allowing a private party to have unfettered access while limiting the press is another example of prior restraint and also violates the state’s “equal protection” clause of the Illinois Constitution, according to the lawsuit.

“It’s very clear what this is about,” said David Bennett, Executive Director of the IPA. “After a century of supporting and promoting local school sports, newspapers have helped develop a market that the IHSA now wants for itself. We believe what they’re doing is unlawful.”

The Northwest Herald and State Journal-Register also have joined the lawsuit.

"The commercial interest in school sports is small for individual newspapers,” said Sue Schmitt, publisher of the State Journal-Register. “Selling images is viewed more as a public service with the costs of covering the teams outweighing the income generated. But collectively, the commercial interest could be very large for the IHSA. This is about money for the IHSA.”

If you think the Sun-Times All-Area Boys Soccer Team is put together overnight - guess again.

With each year, there are more players that prove themselves worthy for one of the teams. For those coaches who take the few seconds to nominate a player or two, they push for their player via email and phone calls (and even text messages this year). Unlike other media outlets, we have only three teams. It would be easy to add special and honorable mention to just throw names on a page to cover our butts, but that would be the easy way out.

This isn't an AYSO All-Area Team. As Naperville Central coach Jay Konrad said to me earlier this week, "The Sun-Times is one of the three major dailies - it's a big deal." I treat it as such, as I debate and go back and forth each year. It's tough - it really is. But that's part of the business. Some people will agree, others won't.

And with that, here's the 2007 Sun-Times All-Area Boys Soccer Team:

I started covering soccer back in 1995, and there are two high school state finals games I will never forget.

The first is Neuqua Valley’s six-goal, second-half rally to stun two-time defending state champion New Trier 6-3 in the 2005 girls title game. Rallying from a three-goal deficit against a team that hadn’t lost to an Illinois team in some 80 games in that type of atmosphere was and still is unbelievable. The Wildcats were my preseason No. 1 with future Division I and Notre Dame stars Brittany Bock, Michele Weissenhofer and Amanda Clark. But the Trevians were a powerhouse, too, with KayAnne Gummersall and Crysti Howser. I remember I rewrote the lead to my story five times that night, because the game went back and forth.

And then there’s Providence’s 2-1 shootout victory over Gibault in the 2002 Class A boys semifinals. I will never forget Brad Guzan basically carrying the Celtics into the title game. After dominating play in the midfield, Guzan basically put on his ‘Superman’ jersey and went into goal for the shootout. Like a man against boys, the 6-3, 205-pound senior stopped four of five shots.

That brings me to my point - there have been reports that English Premier League powerhouse Arsenal has been scouting Guzan. He's a big reason Chivas finds itself in the position it's in in the MLS Playoffs. Guzan, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft, finished the season with 13 shutouts, second-most in MLS history behind Tony Meola's 16 in 2000.

And guess what? Guzan didn’t skip high school to play club year-round.

Each day, I receive countless emails from coaches, parents, adminstrators and yes, even players.

Here are some items from those emails that have made me go hmmmmmm:

"Is it wrong to let a player score more than five goals in a game? You don't punish success. You reward success. Is it a player's fault that even though a team puts three or four people on them and still can't stop them? I don't know what we're coming to in this world if we don't reward success."

"Beth Sauser has been in charge of boys soccer for the IHSA since 1999. What has she done in the nine years to really help the sport?"

"Don't you think it's ironic there are football coaches out there who rip the sport of soccer, but then turn around and beg soccer coaches to help them with their kicking situations?"