The Southeastern Conference is best known for its football, but lately fútbol players have begun to make a name for themselves.
Soccer has recently overtaken other sports, such as basketball and baseball, as the nation’s second-most popular sport behind football. According to an ESPN poll, the percentage of people aged 12 to 24 who consider soccer their favorite sport sits at 13.7 percent.
Amateur soccer in the United States is divided into four regions, with the Southeastern region, or Region III, providing the national team with a steady stream of top players, including Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Ricardo Clark.
Jason Kreis — third in Major League Soccer in all-time scoring — played for Mandeville High.
“In Region III, we have a climate advantage that allows us to play 10 to 12 months in a year,” said Region III Deputy Director Lance Chaple. “That has helped us catch up to some of the more historic soccer areas, such as California.”
Even with the number of impressive soccer players flowing out of the South, most SEC schools refuse to institute men’s college soccer into their programs. Only two schools — South Carolina and Kentucky — have men’s soccer.
“Our top teams match up with the top teams from other regions,” said Region III director Bob Singer. “They win national championships consistently.”
LSU fields a club soccer team that has many players who previously played for college soccer programs across the country.
“Our players played for teams ranging from Division I all the way down to NAIA [National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics],” said LSU Club Captain June No. “We have some real talent.”
Lately, Louisiana has produced a high level of talent that has spread throughout the nation to some of the powerhouses of college soccer. Patrick Mullins of Jesuit High School was named ACC Freshman of the Year for Maryland in 2010. Andrew Tarbell of Fontainebleau High School recently committed to Clemson after traveling with Region III to England. While in England, Tarbell turned down an offer to sign for West Ham’s Youth Academy.
“If the SEC were to have soccer programs that could compete with the top conferences like the ACC or the Big East, more players would stay,” Tarbell said. “Staying closer to home is definitely a plus to consider when going through the recruiting process.”
By funneling more resources into soccer, LSU and the rest of the SEC could take advantage of the rabid hometown fan bases found throughout the South.
“These kids in Atlanta bleed Georgia red and black. If given the opportunity, there’s no way they would pass up the opportunity to play [for UGA],” Chaple said. “I imagine it’d be the same in Knoxville, Baton Rouge and Gainesville.”
South Carolina’s men’s soccer team has been playing since 1978 and joined Conference USA in 2005. Since that year, South Carolina has won three conference championships and appeared in the NCAA tournament three times. Currently, only two of South Carolina’s players hail from outside of the region.
“If the SEC devoted as many resources to soccer programs as other conferences, they would be competitive in a span of four to five years,” Chaple said.
The main stumbling block for men’s soccer in the SEC comes from the 1972 Title IX law.
Title IX states that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity.
According to the NCAA manual, a university that fields a men’s soccer team can only offer 9.9 scholarships. The scholarship money would have to spread out to cover a full roster of players. Women’s teams are currently allocated 14 scholarships to fill out their rosters. By adding a men’s soccer team, LSU would have to take a current men’s sport away or add a women’s sport to comply with Title IX.
If the NCAA were to lift scholarship limits, it would allow SEC programs to add men’s soccer programs, while also adding more scholarships to the women’s program to keep up with the increasing demand for soccer in the U.S. Currently, there are only 3.9 scholarships available per 100,000 soccer players according to ESPN.
“The demand for soccer in the United States is too high to not have competitive soccer in one of the most competitive regions in the nation,” Chaple said.
