You can make the case that college soccer is the most important thing that ever happened to American soccer.
At the very least it was there in the 1980s to provide the early infrastructure, support the USSF’s development program — the regional teams — and spread the word when there was nothing.
It’s hard to appreciate what soccer was like in the early to mid-1980s. The North American Soccer League got the ball rolling, but it came and went, burning through a ton of money, without building a foundation for the sport.
College soccer coaches began a lot of that serious work. Many of the names you might not have ever heard of. Joe Morrone, Jerry Yeagley, Steven Negoesco, John Rennie. Others you know. Bruce Arena, Sigi Schmid, Anson Dorrance. All worked at big sports schools and benefited from their school’s name and its backing to develop their programs.
They benefited from being close to the action. In Arena’s case literally. The Virginia soccer office was adjacent to the visiting men’s basketball locker room. And Arena would silently listen as Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Valvano, ACC legends, gave pep-talks to their players before they faced the Cavaliers.
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