Richard Broad Joins American Sports Council Board on Eve of NCAA College Cup
Addition of Respected Figure in U.S. College Soccer Underscores Damage Title IX Doing to Men’s Game
With the men’s college soccer world gathering in Cary, N.C. this week for the NCAA College Cup, the American Sports Council (ASC) is pleased to announce the addition of Richard Broad to its board of directors.
Richard Broad is a nationally known television commentator and former head coach of men’s soccer at both the college and high school level. He is President of American Soccer Programs and founder and former Director of Middle States Soccer Camp. An educator and teacher of the game, he has provided training and guidance for numerous highly successful players.
“The ASC is truly honored to have Richard Broad join our organization. He brings to the ASC a lifetime of achievements in the sport of soccer, and with that extensive experience comes a comprehensive understanding of the problems that the sport faces,” said ASC Chairman, Eric Pearson. “The ASC team is devoted to preserving and expanding opportunities to play sports for future generations of Americans, and Richard will bring a voice for soccer to all our advocacy efforts.”
Richard Broad said, “It is an honor and a great opportunity to join the Board of the American Sports Council. This organization has made an important contribution to the preservation of numerous intercollegiate sports programs across the nation.”
Boys Soccer is ranked as the 5th most popular high school sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations according to participation rates. However, due to the restrictions created by Title IX’s gender quota, opportunities to play and earn scholarships at the NCAA Division I level are severely limited for male soccer players compared to female soccer players.
In 2010, the ASC published a frequently cited analysis of the gender disparity in college soccer. That analysis found that in addition to the limits on scholarships, college soccer teams for men have been eliminated in order to comply with Title IX, while many of the nation’s most successful athletic programs refuse to add the sport for fear of running afoul of the law’s senseless gender quota.
“Despite the worldwide growth of soccer, as evidenced by the massive interest in the 2014 World Cup, soccer faces a number of the same issues as other intercollegiate sports and in recent years has seen several long-established programs discontinued,” said Broad. “I hope, through my involvement with ASC, to call attention to soccer as well as contribute to other sports which are in need of advocacy.”
Men’s College Soccer and the ASC
It was in 2009 that the ASC (then called the College Sports Council) first uncovered serious disparities in the number of scholarships offered to men and women in sports where both genders compete. Building on that analysis, in 2010, the ASC became the first organization to shed light on how the enforcement of Title IX has retarded the growth of men’s soccer even as the game has expanded to new levels of popularity here at home. Today, fear of Title IX lawsuits prevents many of the nation’s most prestigious athletic programs from adding men’s soccer as a sport because doing so would run afoul of the law’s ironclad gender quota. Meanwhile, other schools faced with complying with the law like the University of Richmond, Towson University and Mount St. Mary’s College, haven’t hesitated to cut men’s soccer outright.
About Richard Broad
The primary focus of Richard Broad’s soccer career has been at the college level. After serving as Assistant Coach at the University of Massachusetts and later at Princeton University, where he played intercollegiate soccer, he became Head Men’s Coach at George Mason University. In nine years, he raised the program from NAIA and Division III status to national prominence at the Division I level. His teams were consistently ranked in the Top 20 nationally and twice selected for the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship. He was twice named Coach of the Year in the South Atlantic Region. He was also selected Head Coach of the East squad in the Senior Bowl.
At the secondary school level, Coach Broad won championships in Connecticut, Florida and Pennsylvania. Later, as Head Men’s Coach at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia, he took his squads to the state tournament four times, winning the Virginia State Championship in 2000. In addition, he has trained numerous successful club teams including the three time Regional Champions, Braddock Road Blue Jays.
He is especially committed to the development of the serious, highly-motivated soccer player. He has guided over 500 young men and women through their college selection and contributed substantially to the development of MLS players Michael Lahoud and Abe Thompson as well as United States National Team members Oguchi Onyewu and Clarence Goodson.
Richard Broad is a widely recognized television commentator for college and professional soccer. He has worked for the Big Ten Network, Fox Soccer Channel, CSTV, CBS Sports Network and has covered both the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division I Championships. Currently, he is an analyst for ESPNU. A Princeton University graduate, he holds a Masters degree in education from the University of Massachusetts.