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Unlike many so-called mid-majors -- including the current membership of the Missouri Valley -- WSU has actually won a D-1 national championship, and done so in a national sport (as opposed to, say, hockey). In fact, WSU's baseball championship is made even more impressive by the semi-regional nature of contemporary college baseball, and that WSU is not in the favored part of the country.
The Shocks were recently joined in their distinction as national champions by Akron, a MAC school that just dodged a winless football season by winning its final game of the year to limp home 1-11. So what sport did the Zips win? Try soccer. A mid-major from that famous soccer hotbed, northeastern Ohio, previously better known for their nickname, for having played football for many years in a stadium known as the Rubber Bowl, and for hiring its basketball coach from LeBron James's old high school, won the "College Cup" this year after losing in the finals last year to Virginia.
What does this have to do with WSU? Simple -- if the Shocks want to compete at a top level nationally in some sport, the obvious choice is not football but soccer. I don't say that because I like soccer; I don't. I watch the US team in the World Cup every four years, assuming their games are at a reasonable hour, and only because they're our guys; I don't watch any other games, and I walk in and out of the US World Cup matches I do see on TV. I've never been to an outdoor soccer game and probably wouldn't go if WSU had a team.
Nevertheless, Wichita's long history with the Wings makes it clear that there is a hard core of soccer fans here. More important, if Akron can play for the championship two years in a row, winning one -- and if Creighton can play for the national championship, for heaven's sake -- WSU could too if they made the proper commitment. Soccer doesn't cost an arm and a leg; it doesn't require so many players as to disrupt a program's Title IX balance; and it can be won by a school outside a power conference. So why the hell not?
The Shocks were recently joined in their distinction as national champions by Akron, a MAC school that just dodged a winless football season by winning its final game of the year to limp home 1-11. So what sport did the Zips win? Try soccer. A mid-major from that famous soccer hotbed, northeastern Ohio, previously better known for their nickname, for having played football for many years in a stadium known as the Rubber Bowl, and for hiring its basketball coach from LeBron James's old high school, won the "College Cup" this year after losing in the finals last year to Virginia.
What does this have to do with WSU? Simple -- if the Shocks want to compete at a top level nationally in some sport, the obvious choice is not football but soccer. I don't say that because I like soccer; I don't. I watch the US team in the World Cup every four years, assuming their games are at a reasonable hour, and only because they're our guys; I don't watch any other games, and I walk in and out of the US World Cup matches I do see on TV. I've never been to an outdoor soccer game and probably wouldn't go if WSU had a team.
Nevertheless, Wichita's long history with the Wings makes it clear that there is a hard core of soccer fans here. More important, if Akron can play for the championship two years in a row, winning one -- and if Creighton can play for the national championship, for heaven's sake -- WSU could too if they made the proper commitment. Soccer doesn't cost an arm and a leg; it doesn't require so many players as to disrupt a program's Title IX balance; and it can be won by a school outside a power conference. So why the hell not?
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