Nov. 15, 2001

If your question was answered below by Coach Adair, you will be receiving an official NIKE Clemson soccer ball signed by Coach Adair.

Coach,
What is your position on expanding the field for the NCAA tournament? Do you believe that expanding the field would create a better balance in college soccer? Thank You.
Thomas Cochran
Columbus, OH

Thomas,
I am very much in favor of expanding the field because in the past quite a few teams that would be capable of making a run in the NCAA have been left out. Because of the automatic bids, I feel the field gets a little bit diluted in giving conference champions an automatic bid at the expense of another team from another conference that may be stronger. This helps things out and makes it a little bit more of a balanced field getting all of the best teams provided the NCAA does a good job matching those teams up. I definitely think it is good for the tournament and for men's soccer. - Trevor Adair

Coach,
Having followed Clemson soccer as well as many other instate college teams I have noticed that there is slowly an increase in the number of SC boys being recruited. I was wondering where you thought SC youth/high school/select etc soccer stood versus the rest of the country and what step SC soccer should take to make it to the next level.
Andrew Hayes
Columbia, SC

Good question, Andrew. We obviously are seeing some more South Carolina players playing at these top programs like Clemson, Furman, and South Carolina. Two of our top recruits for this upcoming year are from South Carolina and on signing day we will be signing two of the top players in the state that have played on the US National team. What needs to happen is our ODP program and our club program needs to get more numbers so that the competition gets better. I see the club teams are starting to travel and have teams come in from other states like Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Better competition means better players. It is good to see that we have players like Nick Rivera, who has been a starter for us for most of the season and has been one of our best players coming from Anderson, South Carolina. We like to recruit the best players from South Carolina and we just want to make sure that when they come in here that they have an opportunity to play.- Trevor Adair

Coach! Great job this season! Do you feel that you have any extra pressure having beaten Maryland earlier in the season? Thanks! Good Luck!
Jason Donnally
Clemson, SC

Jason, I appreciate your comments about our great season. We beat Maryland at home this year, and I think that does put a little extra pressure on you. You've already beaten them, there is a tendency for the guys to have a bit of a let down, where as if you are playing North Carolina or Virginia there is the revenge factor. The first game of the tournament is always the toughest. We have the pressure of hosting, and playing a team we have already beat. We also know the streak of the team that hosts the tournament not winning it. But our guys are ready and they're fairly healthy and we're looking for a good showing this weekend.- Trevor Adair

Coach Adair,
The Clemson teams in our recent past relied fairly heavily on scoring "stars" (e.g., Krakowiac, Harris). However, the scoring talent in this year's squad seems to be more spread out. Is this by design? It would seem to make it harder to defend against our offense.
Rick Tyrrell
Central, SC

Obviously you are a loyal fan, Rick, if you know the names like Krakowiac and Harris and how in the past we have had one guy to do all the scoring. It really wasn't by design, but Ian Fuller has emerged as a very good goal scorer. Dimelon came in as a transfer this year, Steven Rhyne is still developing. We didn't think that Paul Souders he would be able to score as many as he has so far. Fabio hasn't scored as many goals this year, but is capable. So it definitely makes it hard for teams to key in on one player, and it makes us a little less predictable, and obviously harder to defend. Good observation and I appreciate your support.- Trevor Adair

Coach Adair,
I have been a fan of Clemson soccer since I came to Clemson. I have noticed that Fabio is a very talented player, but fouls often. My question is have you ever coached a player that was as aggressive as him?
Bob Martin
Central, SC

Bob,
Fabio is a very talented player. Obviously you are aware of his size. I think he struggles a bit with his size, trying to compete for balls, where he has to use a little bit more force to get the ball away. He played at a fairly high level when he was young and he knows some of the subtleties of the game on fouling, and sometimes he fouls unnecessarily. I wouldn't say it is that he is too aggressive, he is just trying to gain an edge and be competitive and challenge some of those bigger players. He doesn't usually find too many players that are smaller than him. We have talked to him about fouling less so that we don't get teams constantly pumping balls into the box on us. He is aware of it, I am more concerned, however, that he hasn't scored as many goals this year and hasn't played as well on the offensive side, which is the best part of his game. Good question, though, and hopefully we will see you this weekend.- Trevor Adair

Coach, Your defense seems to be coming along great with the many shutouts this year, do you foresee changing your game plan any with the post-season coming up? Also, great job on recruiting!
Steve Helderman
Richmond, VA

Steve, I agree, the defense is playing well. When you have players like Oguchi, who I think is the top defender in the country right now, and Ricky Lewis, and Kevin Conaway, and Nick Rivera, whom I think has been a pleasant surprise. Then there is a Doug Warren in the back, so you have five very capable players and should make it tough for teams to score on us. Any goals we have given up this year have come from counter-attacks, where we commit a lot of people forward and our outside backs into the attack and leave ourselves a little bit exposed. But that is part of our game plan and part of our style. I don't plan on changing anything up except occasionally moving Oguchi out of the back and into the middle where he reaps havoc, but unfortunately we can't play him up there and in the back. Chase Hilgenbrinck, who started quite a lot this year, can fill in the middle. Ross Goodacre can also go to right back and play for Gooch if we need to move him.- Trevor Adair

Coach, when is the NCAA going to start using a ranking system for their tournament. In the past them seem to be more worried about matching up teams on a regional system. I realize they do this to save money but is this fair?
Brad Winchell
Richmond, VA

Brad, we have been trying to get this for years, but really until our tournament shows where it can be profitable to fly teams around like basketball does, I think that the NCAA is going to keep it on a regional basis. Unfortunately the two regions that get hurt the most are our region and the West region, which are the two regions with the most strong teams. It means that we are going to have to knock each other off to emerge. I imagine that we are going to see quite a few regional match-ups, which obviously will be popular with the fans. Fans will know the teams, there isn't as much travel for supporters, and big crowds, which the NCAA likes.- Trevor Adair

Coach Adair,
Our family saw you hard fought loss to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. We wish you the best in the tournament to get the Tigers the championship. What phase of the game do you expect to be most important to progress in the tournament? Offense, Defense, Midfield play, or goalkeeping?
David Carney
Raleigh, NC

David, I appreciate your family's support at our game in Chapel Hill. It was a tough loss, because I though we played a fairly outstanding game, especially defensively. I was a little bit disappointed in our ability to hold the ball in midfield and get our outside backs into the attack. I thought defensively we were stellar, despite that one mistake which involved a couple of different players in the back and goalkeeper. I thought we deserved at least a draw out of that. I appreciate you coming and supporting us, I know it was a hard loss. That bus ride back was difficult, but hopefully it will all be amended if we get a chance to play them in the second round of the tournament. - Trevor Adair

Hope To See You Tonight!
Go Tigers