Is Portland ready for Soccer State, USA?

^{Photo by Cliff Pfenning}

With the release/firing of coach Bruce Barnum after a 1-11 season, the Portland State football program is at a key moment in time along with the city it represents; and it’s cause for some serious reflection on the future of the program.

Is Portland State really a football school, one that can actually generate revenue, generate enthusiasm for the community and potentially win a playoff game or two?

Or should Portland State become a football school - as in soccer - and help the city focus more on the sport that it’s already associated with internationally?

Should Portland State cut football, and take up men’s soccer so that it would have a men’s and women’s soccer program? If the Vikings athletic program directed the resources its football team has available toward a men’s and women’s soccer program there’s no telling what it might be able to accomplish.

In 2024, the University of Vermont won the NCAA Div. I men’s soccer title with a Golden Goal in the final against Marshall. That sound like the SEC beating the Big 10 - what we expect in football? The Catamounts play in the America East Conference - just about as far away from big time football as you can get and still be at Div. I. But, that's men's soccer.

If PSU had a men’s soccer team, it would have a shot at winning playoff games almost immediately, something it does not have now in football.

And, the sport would be substantially less expensive.

So, how would that happen?

Well, it might need support from city officials such as Mayor Keith Wilson. And, student leaders eager to see the school be relevant in athletics, and not just as a tool for big stats that it’s used for once per season by a larger, FBS school in exchange for a big payday.

And, it would need fans of the Timbers to support such a decision with the goal of becoming fans of the Vikings as well. The team could play a few games each season at Providence Park with the goal of generating big paydays through large crowds.

The Vikings have quite a task ahead to find a new football coach and staff for a program that plays at Hillsboro Stadium before hundreds, not thousands, of fans each game. And, that doesn’t translate to recruiting advantages.

A crafty coach will be able to do great things with fewer tools, but as soon as he does he’s going to leave for a better, higher paying job, and that’s what PSU football is set up for into the future.

Any successful football coach is going to leave as soon as they succeed. That’s likely to happen in men’s soccer as well, but the ability to replace the soccer coach is probably going to be easier/faster since the program would have more of a footprint on the sport almost immediately.

The Vikings soccer program is also likely to have more of a recruiting footprint as in players wanting to use the transfer portal to get to Soccer City, USA, so better coaches are going to want to move here and the school is going to have a higher caliber of choices available when a coach does leave.

Maybe it’s time for Portland State officials to start asking themselves, “are we playing the right kind of football in Soccer City, USA?”

Maybe it’s time for Portland to become Soccer State, USA.

‍