what people are saying...
“People often talk lovingly about grass roots soccer - Ryan Swanson skillfully recounts the struggles involved in nourishing those roots, and how they were torn up at UNM.”
STEFAN SZYMANSKI Professor, Univ of Michigan, Co-author of Soccernomics “Neither overly sympathetic, nor overly critical, Swanson delivers a deft mix of detailed accounting of the agonizing final run of one of New Mexico's most successful sports programs ever with very human, relatable anecdotes that could only be known by the players, coaches, and the embedded author, who lived out that impossible season. Nobody is villainized, but as the program's longtime patriarch would prefer it, nobody is let off the hook, either. There were political promises never fulfilled, numbers that never added up, school administrators digging in on decisions meant to solve problems cutting soccer didn't really fix, a college sports landscape moving at warp speed into an uncontrollable billion dollar behemoth and a sport itself that didn't always view college soccer as something worth saving, anyway. All that taking place in the complex setting of New Mexico -- a proud state always ready for a fight, but rarely prepared to deliver solutions -- and there's no more fitting description of the painful last days of UNM Lobo men's soccer than as ‘A Beautiful Shame’.” GEOFF GRAMMER Albuquerque Journal, NM Sportswriter of the Year |
"Friday Night Lights collides with the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico where a University required to balance its budget ends up cutting the hopes and dreams of a generation that is too often told it is not good enough. This isn’t about soccer, it’s about a Community and a Coach that had to fight for every inch only to have it all taken away with a single stroke of a pen. The final season of UNM Soccer is about perserverence in the face of adversity and controlling the controllable. The Lobos men’s teams plays its nuts off why those who relay on the storied program as a bridge to hope put everything on the line to fight to keep it alive. A story that needs to be told and remembered.
PETER TREVISANI CEO, New Mexico United "A Beautiful Shame" is a gripping inside look into one of the darkest moments of Men's College Soccer this century. While many college programs have suffered similar fates of being cut, the decision(s) to drop Lobo Men's Soccer was "shameful". A program that stood for excellence and achieved incredible success should have been heralded and rewarded and not dropped. This book reveals the current sad state of a college sports landscape that needs real reform so this never happens again to the players, coaches and the community that serve a University so well." SASHO CIROVSKI Head Men's Soccer Coach, University of Maryland “What is the value of the University of New Mexico men’s soccer team? Ryan Swanson, in this rich and textured chronicle of the announced final season of Lobos men’s soccer, shows that—contrary to university accounting—it is priceless. A Beautiful Shame places the Lobos’ story in the complicated contexts of Land-of-Enchantment state politics as well as the heightened scrutiny and sweeping business changes transforming American college sports in the 21st century. At its heart are the young athletes and their coaches who come together to fight to win—on and off the pitch.” VICTORIA JACKSON PhD, Sports Historian, Arizona State University 
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Backstory:
I have been asked, more than a few times, why I decided to write this book. I mean, a soccer team on the chopping block, a university (my university!) embroiled in fractious budget cuts, and the screwed up world of college sports? Was this really how I wanted to spend my time?
Yes, yes it was.
In part, it was because I knew these players, this program, and these coaches. I had been working with the Lobo athletics department for years as the Director of the Lobo Scholars Program. I'd been around. I'd seen things. And so, when the cuts were announced, and Coach Fish gave me complete access to the team as it played out a possibly-terminal season, I couldn't say no. Here was a group of men thrust into a difficult situation. Here was a team faced with extinction. Someone needed to record this saga.
If I'm being honest, there was also a small part of me that hoped a Disney-esque story might transpire. Maybe, I thought, a miracle would happen and a championship would save this team. And I'd be there every step of the way.
But that inkling aside, I also knew that this story mattered to a place that mattered to me: New Mexico. I knew this story would say something about the changing landscape of college sports. Further, I was convinced that following this team, during this season would show (rather than tell or postulate upon) what sports can do for a young person and for an institution.
So, I went all in. I attended every practice and game. I traveled with the team. I hugged the back wall during team meetings, trying to get everything but also stay out of the way. I interviewed everyone who would go on the record with me - players, coaches, university administrators, soccer officials, politicians, economists ... anyone.
What resulted is A Beautiful Shame. It's the story of a team up against great odds. It's about a leader being threatened with the prospect of losing his life's work. It's about a place that sometimes has a hard time believing it can be an incubator for good things.
I hope you'll give A Beautiful Shame a read. And if you do pick it up, I hope you enjoy the journey, and that, perhaps, this story might even change your perspective a bit. Knowing this group of men, and being along for this Beautiful Shame season, certainly changed me.
Yes, yes it was.
In part, it was because I knew these players, this program, and these coaches. I had been working with the Lobo athletics department for years as the Director of the Lobo Scholars Program. I'd been around. I'd seen things. And so, when the cuts were announced, and Coach Fish gave me complete access to the team as it played out a possibly-terminal season, I couldn't say no. Here was a group of men thrust into a difficult situation. Here was a team faced with extinction. Someone needed to record this saga.
If I'm being honest, there was also a small part of me that hoped a Disney-esque story might transpire. Maybe, I thought, a miracle would happen and a championship would save this team. And I'd be there every step of the way.
But that inkling aside, I also knew that this story mattered to a place that mattered to me: New Mexico. I knew this story would say something about the changing landscape of college sports. Further, I was convinced that following this team, during this season would show (rather than tell or postulate upon) what sports can do for a young person and for an institution.
So, I went all in. I attended every practice and game. I traveled with the team. I hugged the back wall during team meetings, trying to get everything but also stay out of the way. I interviewed everyone who would go on the record with me - players, coaches, university administrators, soccer officials, politicians, economists ... anyone.
What resulted is A Beautiful Shame. It's the story of a team up against great odds. It's about a leader being threatened with the prospect of losing his life's work. It's about a place that sometimes has a hard time believing it can be an incubator for good things.
I hope you'll give A Beautiful Shame a read. And if you do pick it up, I hope you enjoy the journey, and that, perhaps, this story might even change your perspective a bit. Knowing this group of men, and being along for this Beautiful Shame season, certainly changed me.