The school soccer switch portal continues to reshape rosters throughout the nation— together with on the Division II HBCU stage —and Clark Atlanta head coach Teddy Keaton isn’t sugarcoating his ideas. On the most recent episode of The Teddy Keaton Present, offered by HBCU Gameday, the coach delivered a uncooked, unfiltered breakdown of how HBCUs like CAU should navigate the ever-evolving panorama.
“All of it depends upon who that child is and the way a lot worth he’s created for himself as a person,” Keaton stated when requested if he lets gamers return after coming into the portal. “There’s quite a lot of coaches which have that philosophy to say that their finest participant acquired within the portal they usually’ll say, ‘Properly, I’m not going to let him come again.’ However that’s not the way in which of the world no extra.”
Keaton, whose HBCU squad went from a number of dropping seasons to a 7–3 file, emphasised trustworthy conversations and participant improvement over ego.
“It’s all concerning the dialog that occurs earlier than the dialog,” he stated. “Quite a lot of coaches don’t have exit interviews, conferences with their children. Are you able to win with that child? Can that child assist me maintain my job?”
The longtime HBCU coach pressured that it’s not nearly expertise—it’s about match, teachers, and mindset. “To start with, did he create worth for himself wherever he was at?” Keaton stated of transfers. “Can he do the lecturers that’s pressured at Clark Atlanta College? Third, is he a very good match?”
Keaton additionally took purpose at what he calls “barbershop discuss”—the false narratives surrounding former D1 gamers dropping right down to HBCU applications.
“After which we don’t take into consideration the mindset of a child when he drops from a ranks of Alabama or Florida or these locations and no person else in that Energy 5/ Group of 5 wherever else see any worth for him. And now he’s speaking…He’s nonetheless in that portal and he fascinated with, okay, now I’m at D2.
“What’s his mindset?Quite a lot of them don’t are available with that mindset,” he stated. “After they come down, they count on to not likely work. I’m banking off what I’ve already did someplace else… however you discover out while you come to D2 that there’s quite a lot of soccer gamers.”
He wrapped the dialog by stressing what makes the HBCU expertise distinctive. “We undergo from that at Division II, as a result of if he fails, it’s by no means going to be his fault. All of us, as coaches, attempt to take it on our shoulders.”
Watch the complete episode on YouTube to listen to extra of Coach Keaton’s unfiltered insights into HBCU soccer and the switch period.
