As a soccer game from way back, Connecticut's smaller high schools in the 90s had great soccer teams. East Granby had one of the natiothrns top soccer teams back in the late 80s early 90s.
East Hartford and Penny were great soccer schools and RHAM was, also. East Granby and RHAM, at the time, didn't have football. (Now, I believe the only school without Football is Parish Hill). When UConn went big time, I think the high schools focused on Football instead of soccer, either by starting football or co-op with other schools.
That said, I believe, Reid is going the international route. CIAC focused on FB now, so CT schools aren't ranked nationally anymore.
CT has always had and continues to have some really nice soccer talent in the high school age bracket. You really only hear about those kids outside of Fairfield county because most of the best players from that Fairfield area attend prep schools out of state.
I have been around CT soccer since the late 60s and never remember the East Hartford schools having any consistent quality teams. Bloomfield (Lou Magno), EO Smith (too many to mention), Ellington, Rockville HS, Avon, Simsbury, Hall and Conard, Glastonbury, RHAM Burlington, Old Saybrook, the Granbys and others were consistently very strong
Now, many of the best talent doesn't play HS soccer, they gravitate to the Premier clubs, national prep squads etc
You have to remember that RR came from SCSC where he could recruit and play guys in their mid 20s and international kids that couldn't go D1 due to grades/scripts in the late 70s and 80s so his attention was in a different direction.
RR has always recruited with skill set and athleticism in mind vs finding players that were a much better fit for certain positions and roles. He was forced to place kids into positions that were not to their liking or skill set and promoted much transfer activity. Sometimes, like his late 80s and early 90 teams, the kids just happened to accept and blend so they had some nice success.
RR has great soccer acumen and always felt that he is better suited for the professional game but his demeanor has a tendency to be his worst enemy.
He won a NC and has played in a few Final Fours so you can't say he hasn't been successful but consistency has not been kind to him. Losing John Deeley was a huge loss on his staff, John was/is a great coach and tactician and was a favorite of so many players.
