The Turning Point: Kentucky’s Failed Invincible Season and the Sun Belt’s Response
A year ago, Kentucky was the talk of the NCAA men’s soccer world, all because the Wildcats hadn’t lost a match all season. After sweeping through the regular season undefeated, the Wildcats earned the No. 1 overall seed, and the country wondered whether Kentucky could complete the invincible season.
They couldn’t, and they didn’t even make their first appearance in the College Cup. The Wildcats’ run ended in the Sweet 16, where a Pittsburgh team that had been hardened by ACC competition wasn’t intimidated by Kentucky’s record and handed the Wildcats a season-ending 2-1 loss. After the match, Pitt midfielder Jackson Walti threw a small amount of shade at the Wildcats’ lack of preparation, having to ask a Kentucky PR staffer what league the Wildcats competed in for men’s soccer because the SEC doesn’t sponsor the sport.
“They haven’t played an ACC team all year (besides rival Louisville),” Walti said that night. “We showed that the level of competition is a lot stronger where we play.”
But ever since that night, a funny thing has happened. The rest of the Sun Belt seems to have taken that challenge personally and developed the league into a national power in its own right. The league now has four teams in the Top 10 nationally. That’s surprising for two reasons: it’s as many as the big, bad ACC and none of the four are the Wildcats. Marshall, West Virginia, Central Florida and James Madison all reside in the top 10, all without a loss on the season.
How has this occurred? Here’s a look at Sun Belt soccer’s rise.
Realignment Ripple Effects: Marshall, James Madison, and Central Florida Join the Fray
Everyone knows that 90% of college sports realignments have been about football and the other 10% have been focused on basketball. Almost nobody thinks about how the Olympic sports will be affected, and fewer think about how they’ll affect men’s soccer. But the Sun Belt’s decision to add Marshall and James Madison and the Big 12 grabbing Central Florida made a huge difference for the league’s soccer fortunes.
First, there was Marshall, an established national power who won the national championship in 2020. Chris Grassie proved himself an elite coach by winning a Division II national championship at Charleston, and in his fourth year at Marshall, he brought a national title to Huntington. In 2022, the Herd got the invite to leave Conference USA for the Sun Belt, bringing Grassie’s team into the league. Suddenly, Kentucky had a rival who could compete with it.
Then came James Madison, which had become dominant in the Colonial Athletic Association. Under Paul Zazenski, the Dukes were poised to continue their dominance of CAA soccer until the football team landed them in the Sun Belt. So the Dukes shifted their efforts to competing in their new league and embracing becoming a potential national power. And so far, the stage hasn’t proven too big for Madison.
Finally, Central Florida completed the picture. Scott Calabrese had all the resources to build a soccer power in an international city like Orlando, and the Knights had become a strong contender in the American. But once again, football changed the equation. The Knights joined the Big 12, which doesn’t sponsor men’s soccer. Only West Virginia played the sport among the existing league members, and the American wouldn’t allow the Knights to remain a member in one sport. So the Knights were off to the Sun Belt, giving the league another new power.
Competing With Neighbors and Rivals
Speaking of West Virginia, the Mountaineers are also newcomers to the Sun Belt, having joined the league in 2022. Unlike the other three, their presence in the Sun Belt has only a little to do with football. Their rise also has much more to do with the two soccer programs surrounding it.
West Virginia has two traditional rivals: Pittsburgh and Marshall. The Mountaineers consider the Panthers rivals in every sport, while the Thundering Herd are only rivals in certain competitions. But in men’s soccer, there’s no question that both schools are strong enough for West Virginia to consider them a real rival.
And in 2020, that became a huge problem in Morgantown. Not only did Grassie bring a national title to Marshall, but Jay Vidovich’s efforts in Pittsburgh began to bear fruit. That year, the College Cup featured both of the Mountaineers’ biggest soccer rivals, as Pittsburgh fell in the national semifinal to Indiana.
West Virginia had a decision to make: accept being little brother to one national power to their north and one to their west, or throw its support behind Dan Stratford and its program. The Mountaineers opted for the latter, and Stratford’s program is thriving. Football also came into the equation when Marshall moved to the Sun Belt, leaving Conference USA behind. West Virginia had expected to join C-USA for soccer, but without the Herd, the move no longer made sense. The Mountaineers jumped to the Sun Belt, and the league had another motivated and talented squad.
The Up-and-Comer
There’s one more Sun Belt program worth discussing here: South Carolina. The Gamecocks care about the SEC Derby with Kentucky, as they’re the only SEC programs who play men’s soccer. But under Mark Berson, the program had gotten stale, failing to win a league title or reach the Sweet 16 in his final 11 seasons.
Enter Tony Annan, who came over from Atlanta United. Bringing an English and MLS perspective has paid off for the Gamecocks, who ended their seven-year losing streak to Kentucky in their league opener. Annan’s in his second year, and his team appears on an upward trajectory.
In 2022, a lack of preparation might have doomed Kentucky’s national title chances. Ironically, they’re much better prepared this season, as they’ve taken a couple losses and learned a few lessons. The Sun Belt has grown up around the Wildcats, and a lack of preparation isn’t going to be an issue moving forward.