They don’t have to be Power 5 schools. They need not be tippy-top academically, but you can include them. I’d prefer them east of the Mississippi, but throw anything out there that fits the bill. Public or private is fine. I’m not afraid of a work hard, play hard campus culture.
WVU, Va Tech, UVA, Penn St, Clemson
A few to start with a wide range of academics/acceptance rate. I am sure there are many more.
Michigan ?
Lafayette, Bucknell, and maybe Lehigh but Bethlehem might be considered urban based on population size.
Notre Dame, Indiana, Penn State or UNC. Maybe Wake Forest or Furman. Auburn or UGA but I don’t think they have men’s soccer teams unless it’s a club.
Colgate meets at least two of your criteria, and I’d think its football fans would be loyal, if not necessarily great in number.
Syracuse
Shocking…?. A player he scrimmaged every week is there now and loves it.
SMU!
UCF, NC State, Boston College
This link might help… https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/ncaa-mens-soccer-rpi
Tippy Top academically and football fan base:
Notre Dame
Michigan
At least equal academically to the above and play football in Power 5, but not the consistent football fan base of the former two
Stanford - Ok football, Superb most other sports, except basketball
Duke - Total Basketball school
Northwestern - Football off and on
Vanderbilt - Current Baseball World Series Champs and excellent in several other sports
I know, I’m a “homer.” My kid loves it there.
OK, the defending national champions, who were just beaten by Michigan 4-2 this weekend, wait for it, Maryland. Their b-ball team will be excellent, but their football program is bad.
Also, Princeton and Yale, though the D1 football base is relatively small when compared to P5.
Not Tippy Top academically, but the best football fan bases
Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Auburn, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Penn State, USC, Florida, Michigan State, Nebraska, Tennessee
I count USC (SoCal) as close to tippy top academically, but they don’t have a men’s soccer program. And neither does Oregon.
Pac 12 men’s soccer is UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington and San Diego State.
@bloomfield88 maybe referring to U of SC (Columbia). I know a couple scholarship soccer players there.
@NJWrestlingmom Ya, that’s what I was thinking too, but the inclusion of Oregon kinda confused me.
So, west of the Mississippi and NO football team, but great non-urban location, top notch academics with an excellent men’s D1 soccer program that gets great attendance at their matches: **UC Santa Barbara. **
Interestingly, my son had previously reached out to 13 of the schools mentioned here thus far. Of the 13 he’s had 9 scout at least one of his showcase matches. Most were there for other, older players I’m sure, but I know at least 3 were there specifically for him.
Please keep the suggestions coming. He intends to cast a very wide net.
@GKUnion – your request is pointlessly over broad.
There’s 205 D1 msoccer programs out there.
And 256 D1 football programs (126 FCS, 130 FBS). 65 of those 130 are P5.
So there’s at least 100 schools that might fit your unfocused request. You can search them on the NCAA website.
If you have some other criteria, it would help if you shared them. Like is your kid trying to play D1 soccer? If so, how good is the kid? Playing for a top 10 soccer school (UVA, Stanford, Clemson) is a totally different ballgame than playing for school #205.
How good a student is the kid?
Are you looking for athletic scholarship money? Merit money? Need aid money? Or are you full pay?
What does the kid want to study?