Men’s college soccer proposing a reorganized season, according to The Soccer Observer

By Chris Teale

In its search for greater relevance as soccer expands across the United States, men’s college soccer could be about to change to a full-year schedule according to Ian Thomson, the journalist known as The Soccer Observer.

According to the article, several NCAA coaches are proposing a 25-game schedule spread across the fall and spring semesters, with the College Cup moved from December to early June. The proposals would revamp what is currently a very unbalanced schedule in college soccer. The top teams play more than 20 games in the space of four months in the fall, including regular season matches, conference championships and the NCAA Tournament. The spring season is then made up of exhibition games that are often played at a low intensity.

That scheduling is combined with NCAA regulations that state student-athletes must only participate in countable athletically-related activities for a maximum of 20 hours per week. In the offseason, that is reduced to eight hours, with just two hours a week devoted to time on the ball.

“The sport has evolved so much in this country,” West Virginia men’s head coach Marlon LeBlanc told The Soccer Observer. “For us to only be allowing kids two hours a week of instruction on the ball is crazy.” If the changes are to be adopted, they would likely take effect in August 2016 due to the NCAA’s timelines for new proposals.

Read the full article here.