UConn men's soccer and MLS SuperDraft

[dbmill]

Two UConn men's soccer players were selected in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft today. Jake Nerwinski (Vancouver Whitecaps) was the 7th pick, and Kwame Awuah (New York City FC) was the 16th player taken.

Nerwinski & Awuah Selected First Round 2017 MLS Draft

 

[Riga Ben]

Congratulations to both of them! They deserve it. We'll miss them: Jacob's smart runs and aggressive attitude, Kwame's footwork and playmaking. Both of them excelled even though the other teams gunned for them.

 

[Riga Ben]

While I don't have data on this, it seems to me that UConn MSOC has placed more than its share of ex-players to MLS etc. I think the $150,782 question (that's the 2015 salary of UConn women's soccer coach Tsantiris, and they're a decent team if you haven't watched them): Why do these draftable players come to UConn, when they know they'll play on a mediocre team? Perhaps the answer is in the first sentence? I don't get how they get noticed by the scouts, though.

The $323,867 question (Coach Reid's salary) is: How does Coach Reid manage to make a mediocre team - year after year - around these great players?