Chat With Men's Soccer Coach John Rennie August 30

Rafael Rangel asks Once again i'd like to compliment you and your team. Was just looking at the site and saw this, don't really have a question for you just wishing you and your team good luck in this upcoming season.
It is always nice to hear good things aobut the Duke soccer team. We expect to have a very good season mainly because of a strong senior class this year. We are going to do our best to see that they end their career with a flourish. Thanks so much for chatting with me today. Hopefully we can do this again soon. Go Duke!
Purple Crayon asks Hey Coach, it's always exciting to see Duke perform so well in the regular season, and then heartbreaking to see the team lose early in the postseason. What do you attribute to Duke's early exits the past two years, and why will this team be any different?
It is very difficult to explain postseason results. They seem to run in cycles. At one point our home record in post-season play is 11-2 in 13 games. In the last few years it has been the opposite. We are just going to work hard to get our record back to the winning side.
paul harvey asks many years ago when duke was not yet a soccer power there was some jamicans playing for duke and helped put them on the map...Richrad Murray to name a few...do you ever recruit out of Jamaica?
There were two great Jamican players, Richard Murray was a great forward and Steven Bond was a great defensive player when I got here. We have not recruited any foreign players since I got here. We prefer to recruit American players. But with so many leaving early to go into the major league we might recruit some foreign players in the future.
David McKee asks I have been an avid Duke soccer fan for twenty years now. What has been the graduation rate during this time. There have been so many unbelieveable players in this time; Give me your short list, top defenders, top midfielders, and top forwards. Thanks, David M
I can only remember one or two players that have not graduated since I've been here. All of our top players have graduated. Forwards such as John Kerr, who is currently head coach at Harvard. Tom Kain is in charge of European marketing for Nike. Brian Kelly who is playing major league soccer in L.A. Midfielders such as Jason Kreis who is MVP in MLS last year, Jay Heaps who is rookie of the year last year in MLS, and Evan Whitfield who is both in MLS and named to the olympic team this year. All of these players have graduated and we are proud of their soccer accomplishments and that they got their degree.
Andres Pedroso asks What is the best way for a high school soccer player to gain exposure nationally among the best college soccer coaches in the country such as Duke?
The two things that we need is first of all as much information about academics and soccer background as possible. The next thing is we need an opportunity to see you play. Such as camps here in the summer or major youth tournaments to see club teams play. So, it is a combination of both.
ray selvadurai asks I have watched Jordan Cila on Long Island and Commack United. Will he start for you this year, and is he a future all-time great.
Jordan will be in the starting line-up this weekend in the tournament at the Univ. of Conn. He seems to have a great future and hopefully will be on of the all-time greats. He is a great player.
Steve Ziegler asks Hi Coach, My question is: Will you be making any offensive or defensive changes due to the strength of the team this season?
We have added two great offensive players Danny Wymer and Jordan Cila to replace our two graduating senior starters from last season. Everything else pretty much stays the same.
Brian Tarquinio asks Coach Rennie, My younger brother John is a Junior in High School and is very interested in playing Division 1 soccer for a strong program like Duke. Can you tell me what he has to do to allign himself with your program. I wish you continued success this year and in years to come. Thank you, Brian Tarquinio
Thank you for the kind comments. We need to know as much about his soccer and academic background as possible. High school transcripts, video of matches, or recommendations from coaches. Anything that will tell us about him as a player and as a student.
Joshua Hanslik asks Is there alot of traveling if you're on the soccer team?
In season our players probably miss three or four days of class total. Because most of our games are on the weekends and the mid-week games are at night. We try to miss as few classes as possible.
Justin Kramer asks Hi, I was just wondering what do you look for in a player? And does the player have to be the most skilled or have the drive to succeed?
The three things we look for are skill, athletiscism which could include speed and overall character which includes academics and they are all eqally important.

Chat With Men's Soccer Coach John Rennie August 30

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