S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Brackett. San Diego FC's memorable first ever season came to an end last weekend after A321 loss to Vancouver in the MLS Western Conference final. But that doesn't tell the full story of San Diego's newest soccer team. We take a look back at FC's incredible first season and the role San Diego fans have played in the team finding success. Then a recent report out of UC San Diego found a major jump in the number of students not meeting high school proficiency in math. What's behind the increase and what needs to change ? That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. San Diego FC's inaugural season has officially come to an end. Saturday's match against the Vancouver Whitecaps ended with a 3 to 1 loss. Looking back , it's safe to say that Major League Soccer's newest team played historic season , setting records for wins and points for an expansion team and setting some attendance records as well. Joining me now to talk more is Darren Smith. He's one of the radio voices for San Diego FC and host of the section 1904 podcast. Hey Darren , welcome to roundtable.
S2: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Appreciate the invite.
S1: Also , Hector Trujillo is here. He's a soccer writer with The Times of San Diego and El Latino. Hector. Welcome back.
S3: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with these two guys.
S1: And finally , Sony. Tony Sanchez is co-founder of San Diego Football , an online sports page covering San Diego soccer. Tony , welcome to you.
S4: How's it going ? Thank you for having me on once again. Appreciate it.
S1: Well , thanks everyone for making time for us today. Darren , I hate to start with the bad piece here , but San Diego FC fell behind pretty quickly in that match Saturday.
S2: I think objectively , not just the SFC angle. Was Vancouver a really good team ? We're going to talk about some of the records that SFC set this season. Vancouver was neck and neck with them the entire way. They had as many points as TFC. They scored more goals. They allowed fewer goals there. Really good. This match was hosted by TFC , even though they were level on points for the season because of a tie breaking rule. And I think Vancouver just came out of the gates flying and they found a couple of pressure points for CFC a little bit out of character. I would say again , I don't think CFC played its best match ever , but credit to Vancouver because , you know , they found ways really , really early on to take advantage of SDLC to pin them back , something we haven't seen a ton of in 2025. And they scored a couple of goals. And then the third one , the back breaker just going into the half , and that was just too much to overcome for SFC. So the match itself was a little bit of a disappointment. I don't think there's any shame in losing to a really good team like Vancouver , but I think everybody would like to have seen SFC s best version of itself , and we didn't get that. Tony.
S1: Tony. The score and the score ended up being 3 to 1 as as Darren mentioned , their pair , those goals came really quick , really fast.
S4: And that's one right back situation where they had a just a , you know , hospital of injuries in the right back position. A young kid in Ian Poulter , a centre back by trade , playing out of position , uh , and preferred left foot. Uh , most of the time you put them up against one of the best offensive attacks , uh , in the league and that what they have to offer in that big of stage. It's a lot to ask , uh , from , uh , that situation. But obviously Vancouver did a fantastic job in managing and being lethal. When they had the opportunities presented to themselves. It wasn't it wasn't easy to dispossess San Diego FC , but it was equally as difficult to score off of that dispossession. And so that's those successes were really matched up in San Diego FC , just weren't able to respond , uh , unfortunately with um , with quickness. And it just it took a Chucky Lozano in the second half to be able to bring him , bring the team back at least with one goal. Hector.
S1: Hector. One striking moment , at least for me , came at the end of the match. SFC fans , you know , kind of stayed after really serenading the team after the disappointing loss. And it even caught the attention of Vancouver star player Tomas Mueller. And here's a little bit of how he reacted to the San Diego fans.
S5: But I also enjoy it to be honest. Look at his pictures now. It's a defeat. It's a big defeat for San Diego. But that's why we play this sport and that's such an amazing atmosphere.
S1:
S3: Even though it was in a obviously a heartbreaking situation for the fans when the opposing the best player for the opposing team recognizes the efforts of the fan base , the supporters group , and like Tony and Darren was saying , it was just one of those situations where Cinderella hit midnight and the carriage turned into a pumpkin. Whatever you want to think about it. They just wanted to prevent the offense at the time they're up three nothing , but it's good to see that level of passion. It's just not a bunch of bandwagon , as you can tell. And when the opposing team , the captain or one of the best players for the other side recognizes that it's an unforgettable it's an unforgettable season , an unforgettable moment. And obviously , you know , you wanted to make the final , but in the end , you know , it's going to be something that we're all going to remember.
S1: Tony , you've been long enmeshed in San Diego and Tijuana's soccer fan culture.
S4: Even within the independent supporter union , Frontera , San Diego is just getting seven different versions of what it means to be a supporter and have them all chanting and cheering for 90 minutes in one direction is a challenge in itself , and what was able to come out of it was something beautiful that United is that unilateral thread throughout all these people that were able to understand that this is beyond anything that's team related , any sort of crest. This is for the city , this is for San Diego. And a lot of these people were the ones that were in the middle of a catch 22 situation with Soccer City , and this is how they end up getting MLS here. And they're finally able to cheer for that highest , uh , highest level of soccer here in the United States. But to be able to see that , to be able to have the recognition from a Thomas Mueller , who is from Germany , who has played in front of some of the most just fabled fan bases like , uh , Dortmund and their yellow wall to and in World Cups. Right.
S1: Right.
S4: And in World Cups. Yeah. It's absolutely huge. Uh , to be able to go ahead and have that recognition and , uh , they are definitely still in the growing process. It's it's still year one even for the supporters , not just for the team. It's still year one for a lot of these , uh , supporting groups.
S1: Darren , Toni kind of mentioned their soccer city some of the past , you know , efforts we've seen to bring soccer , bring professional soccer , whether it's MLS , other teams to San Diego. Um , you know , let's talk about San Diego in there. Some of the attendance records , they did kind of break a record at Snapdragon earlier. I think it was their home opener. Right. They ended the season with several sellouts here. Tell us about the growth of the fan base and how you see that compared to years past. I mean , you've you've covered this scene , sports scene here in San Diego a long time.
S2: Yeah , I know you mentioned Soccer City. I got some Pts from that. So , you know , I haven't lived through some of these for sure.
S1: That was a failed effort to bring. Yeah. Like a stadium. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Don't remind me. I was , I was putting my pretty face the mascot for a while. So don't remind me though. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean , I kind of split up , uh , a large portion of my radio audience at that time , but , um. Yeah , I mean , I , you know , I think that the point about , you know , how popular this became , you know , I think it was mostly assumed that that was going to happen because it was new and because it was novel. And I will tie this back to the previous point , which was the fans that were serenading the squad before it left the field , and Thomas Mueller's reaction , because I think there's a lot of ways that you can measure success. Clearly , this was the success on the field with the wins and the points , and I'm sure it did well in business and ticket sales. But , you know , one of the points that I was focused on all year was the fans. And , you know , we're the fans as this thing picked up steam and as the bandwagon filled up. Was this a club ? Was this just a bunch of people that are attracted to it because of its success ? To see the fans serenading the squad after an elimination ? To me it was really an important moment because , you know , we we talk about success of a franchise and expansion franchise , but we're also talking about a desire to be a club like a real soccer club. And that's not just necessarily tied to wins. You know , being part of a soccer club is being there when things are good , and it's also being there when things aren't so good. And this was not such a great moment. But in terms of of the tickets sold , I was shocked to see how quickly these playoff games were selling out , especially while we're sitting and talking about ticket sales for other sports to see games sold out in 48 hours , 72 hours less than 24 hours for the Western Conference final. To me , uh , it was incredibly validating as somebody who , you know , who would try to convince nonbelievers that that pro soccer at the highest level would be an absolute hit in San Diego. So I loved everything about that. And , you know , I especially love that moment. I do think that that moment at the end of the season for for what felt like ten , 15 minutes was just something that will carry the group. And everybody who's been associated with this into the off season and into the second season for stock as well.
S1: Yeah , that's really interesting. Darren. Tony , I'm wondering if you can , you know , enlighten us a little bit about what Darren was talking about in terms of like what an actual soccer club is versus just a team having a great season and the fans jumping on a bandwagon. Tony , what does a healthy soccer club look like and what's giving you optimism that San Diego has found ? One.
S4: It's the fact that people care and you start seeing it leak out of the stadium into the community. With San Diego FC , it's not only like Darren was saying , the marketing aspect. Oh yeah , you're going to see some SD , MTS buses with the wrap of a club and whatnot , but you start seeing the jerseys in the community , you start going to to grocery stores and , and different , you know , places , and you start seeing the CFC branding and you start seeing people wearing knockoff CFC shirts. Uh , this is really kind of where that starts taking off. And , um , it starts permeating through the through San Diego. And that's where , uh , soccer itself is , is what , uh , moves this forward. The play , the game itself moves forward regardless of the color , regardless of the name , regardless of whatever it is. It's a club that represents the people that are in that city , that that name is attributed to San Diego. Anybody who identifies with that , whether it's 619858760 , even six , cuatro and TJ like that can be a possibility here in this area. And for San Diego FC to be able to cement themselves and be a place where people want to be , where despite , you know , what parking is , how much it's okay , I need to be there. I need to be there , this need to be there moment. Uh , just very much , uh , came to , uh , to to a critical boiling point here towards the end of the year. And it's , it's something that a true club needs to also feel the pain , the pain of loss. You know , how awesome would it have been to have won it all and gone all the way year one ? But then after that , you don't know what it's like to lose. And then does that really signify a collapse in well , you know what ? Your tears are going to win. They lost and viewership starts going down. Attendance starts going down. That's not what a true club means. It means you start building bonds. And next year , all these people have expectations now and want to go ahead and see San Diego succeed at the highest level.
S1: Darren , one of the main reasons that I think , you know , a lot of people point to for SFC success this season is it's head coach coaching Mike Guevara's. You recently spoke to him on your podcast and you asked him what it meant to , you know , for him to hear such an outpouring of fan support after that match. And here's a little of what he told you.
S6: Yeah , I mean , I get goosebumps right now thinking about it because , you know , we were. We were all down , you know , because we're we're really competitive. And the fact that they lifted us up out of the ditch in that moment and , uh , just gave us all. They gave us something to dream about , which is getting back on the field sooner rather than later and and getting back to competing for them. Uh , it was really important. And I think it was a perfect example of being with us in Las Vegas and , and , um , sometimes being the ones who have to lead us. Darren.
S1: Darren.
S2: It just raises the hair on my arms. Hearing him say that and how beautifully I , I'm so envious of of him and our other panelists here with being bilingual that he says , and the good and the bad. Um , I think he talked about how , you know , he felt like it was the honor of a lifetime to be associated with something. Those are his words , not mine. He felt like it was the honor of a lifetime to lead this group in season number one. And , you know , I think that means something to me. Who's somebody who's been around here for a long time. And , you know , Tony and Hector have been around here ever longer than I have. Um , I think that that really mattered. That resonates with people , you know , that he was feeling the pain and he was being open , and he was being honest. And I also thought he said something interesting because he's always telling us about having a growth mindset. And , you know , not just as a football coach , as a soccer coach , but as a as a human about what that means. And I thought he allowed us in a little bit. He said , hey , a year ago , like everybody would have said , who is this guy ? Why is he the one who's being picked to lead this team ? And he allowed us a moment where he talked about his own success and said , you know , there were things that I felt like I also needed to prove. I've never been a first team manager before in my life. So , uh , people were right to have questions and , and , you know , now it's what are we going to do getting set for season number two. But yeah , you can tell like it was still nobody was ready to sit and try to put this in perspective about how special the season was. They were still feeling the pain , but , you know , they also were buoyed by the support and getting ready for season number two.
S1: I mean , Hector , what was your first impression of Coach Mikey Vargas ? As Darren mentioned there , it wasn't just like a done deal. Like slam dunk. Everybody thought , you know , he'd hit it out of the park , right ? No.
S3: Yeah. And in that sense , I think I was here last time when I told you I'd be shocked if he didn't win coach of the year , which for some reason , he didn't. And I'm still in shock because of that. I mean , the other two coaches were very deserving of being nominated , but Philadelphia Union , they have a track record of success already. And and , you know , the coaches for Vancouver. But yeah , I mean , Binky Badass is Mikey badass is one of those guys that , you know , the emotion is there , but he's honest. He's not , you know , cut and paste. He's not a corporate guy. That's going to tell you what he thinks the media wants to hear. I mean , we talked about the controversies at the beginning of the season with the fans and and the team and all that. He was really up to the moment and no nonsense kind of guy. He. He told him what he felt and he told the community what he expects from them and what the team expects from them , and they followed suit. And from this moment on , I think even though we talked about a second ago , it didn't end the way we wanted to in the final. But I think him and the culture that he's brought into the team and into the city is going to prolong and continue on for years and years and years.
S1: And those early season issues you mentioned kind of related to some fan chants , some fan behavior that he was pretty like verbally kind of came out against pretty early. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. And you could tell from the post-game conference , the moment he wasn't scripted , he wasn't told anything from the GM or the ownership to say this or that. If this question popped up , he felt that he said it. You could tell I call him Miguelito all the time because he reminds me of my cousin. He's one of those guys that's like really down to earth , relatable to the for the masses , for the people. And he just told what he felt at that very moment. He was disappointed. And the fans , the supporter group , listened. And from then on it's been all positive , I think in terms of the fan support.
S1: Darren , you mentioned this , you know , growth mindset that you've you've taken from from coach bodies. And I'm wondering if you talk a little bit more about that. I mean coaching there is the X's and O's. There's the technical the you know tactical side. But there's much more. There's leadership right. You know , tell us more about what you've , you know , gleaned from him from your conversations with him over the season.
S2: Oh yeah. I mean , like , listen , I sit around my kitchen table and I talk about the stuff with my wife. You know , like , not to be weird about it , but about , you know , making sure that we're continuing to grow as individuals and as a couple. But as it relates to SFC , you know , I mean , they part of their approach is that they are playing younger players and younger players who are in their first year , whether it's Ian Pilcher , they're also playing teenagers. Some of these guys are 18 to 19 during the season. And so you have to have that growth mindset and not just the cliche of , hey , you're always learning and you're always getting better in sports. These guys are going to make mistakes. And when Mikey talks about being willing to grow , it is about. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Like , I can live with you making the mistakes. What I cannot live with is you a not learning from your mistakes and b not being willing to make them. You know , those are the areas where where your growth mindset has stopped. You are fearful , you are scared and you cannot play that way. You have to be brave and you have to play a certain style , and you have to have a level of conviction to you. And I think it really applies. You know , again , I could I could take this and turn this into , you know , all sorts of stuff away from the pitch. But as it relates to the soccer club , it is it is really specific to the younger players on the squad , making sure that they understand he will live with your mistakes , but he will not tolerate you being unwilling to make them or not learning from them. And we've seen examples of that as the season went on.
S1: Tony , I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about this. You know , depending on sort of these younger players.
S4: And so there's this network of , uh , almost like charter schools , uh , for soccer specifically. And so San Diego now has that and it's , it's a it's almost like a blueprint now that San Diego FC has to be able to follow of what success looks like in soccer , not necessarily success in MLS , because that's what San Diego sees trying to navigate and discover. And so with that , um , the flagship mindset is they're going to play young , they're going to play young players and give them opportunities to get better looks and the best opportunities to go ahead and move on to potentially a bigger club or be as successful as they can within that same club. And that's on year one. Difficult to do because you really can't mine , uh , MLS quality players out the gate from San Diego. So you have to go ahead and look into different avenues that MLS offers , whether that's the college SuperDraft or that's the expansion draft. But it all goes back to what , uh , sporting director Tyler Heaps was able to do in his scouting , in his experience through Monaco and different , uh , European clubs that are that same way. They looked at these players and looked at the strengths of what they can offer. And whether you believe it may be a more bespoke approach to soccer , which is just a plug and play , is this player able to fill in this place , go ahead and plug and play him. He can play multiple positions and they were successful by finding the talent to be able to step up into those positions with players like Ian Pilcher , Bombino and a slew of others that , you know , came in as loans and did their their job and their role really well.
S1: And we're going to talk more about the players in just a moment. When we come back , we'll continue our conversation about San Diego FC and take a look at what's to come next season. This is KPBS roundtable. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. We're continuing our conversation on San Diego FC and its inaugural season. That just came to an end. I'm joined by San Diego FC radio voice Darren Smith , soccer writer Hector Trujillo and San Diego football's Tony Sanchez. Tony , I want to turn to talk a little bit more about some of the players that led to the team's success this season. And I've got to start with Anders Dreyer. Tell us about him. And you know what ? You know what impression he's made on you this season.
S4: Yeah , I mean , for the break. We're talking about great moves by Tyler Heaps , the sporting director. This is probably the the coup de grace here. The the beautiful moment that he does in getting this piece of negotiation of honor. Dreier from Anderlecht over in Europe. And , um , the bit of business , the boring part is it was a great maneuver. But what he was able to do in this league is really turn heads and really put that focus on San Diego FC , where everybody thought it was going to be the other designated player , Chucky Lozano. Uh , it ended up being on the field honors Dreier , the Danish national who from the get go , really cemented himself as being the leader on , uh , with the style of play that he was able to do , and it's a player that was able to contribute incredibly through the season and anytime. On his rider scored in this season , they went undefeated , and so having such a such a tally , uh , attached to the name , uh , as a player , you know , that's why he wears number ten. Ten is almost sacred. And in the soccer world , that's your talisman. That's the player. If he is doing everything right , you're going to go ahead and have a great time and a great and a great game. And even when your team is struggling , that's still the focal point. That's still the the , the , the ray of sunshine that pierces through the clouds and is able to make something out of nothing. And so honors Ryan was absolutely huge. Uh , and it was one of those things where you measure the level of the volume at Snapdragon Stadium during player introduction. Then it always was Chucky Lozano Lozano getting the biggest cheers. But towards the end you got that bigger and bigger and bigger pop for what people consider here in San Diego to be the MVP. Uh , the true MVP of MLS honors.
S1: Drier , and he won the 2025 MLS newcomer of the year award as well. Right. So Hector , Toni mentioned the other kind of major , you know , headliner of SFC and that's Irving Chucky Lozano. Tell us about his season. He scored the only goal for SFC in that that playoff loss. But he's had some ups and downs this season. Tell you what has the season been like.
S3: Yeah a little bit of a roller coaster. I mean that's been his career when he started off with Pachuca and Liga mX. Then he went to Europe. But he's been a champion everywhere. He's gone Mexico , Europe. And hopefully if he stays with us , San Diego FC , you know he had dealt with some injuries early on the season. He was out for a few weeks. We were worried. He got aggravated in the recent Mexico friendly. But he turned out to be okay. Like you said he scored the goal for CFC in the playoff. A little bit of a controversy there as to why he wasn't a part of the first game against Portland in the playoffs. As to his , you know , I wouldn't say attitude , but his demeanor Meaner towards the Miguelito in terms of like being substituted in the game against Houston at halftime. But that turned out to be okay because we got to see Jamal Pellegrino come up and make some great plays throughout the season and especially in the playoffs. So for Chucky Lozano , you know you get what you get with him. You know he's a package deal. The passion the fire. Kind of like we said with Mike Ibarra. Like he's not going to hide anything. And sometimes that overwhelms others around him. But at the same time , it's it's always a mindset that he wants to make , not just the team better , but himself as a player , successful on the pitch to create chances for everybody else. So yes , totally a roller coaster. But Chucky Lozano is one of the , as Tony said , one of the loved players and I hope to see him again on 2026.
S1:
S2: Um , I think , you know , the season itself was probably a bit underwhelming. But I think also , you know , we can all say honestly , that part of the reason why you bring Irving Lozano to San Diego is for what he's going to do on the field , but also what he's going to do off the field. Right. Not a big secret that this is a league that coveted this player for a while. And given our own geography and his popularity , there aren't many people that are going to bring thousands of people to The Rady Shell for an introduction. Respectfully , I don't know that Anders Dreier would have drawn even a quarter of that. So only because we didn't know then what we know today. Um , I think there has to be some some resolution about and some , some honest conversations about how he fits in. I think the season itself , with nine goals and dealing with a bit of injury was , was , um , underwhelming. Certainly by comparison to to Anders , we would have thought , you know , 19 goals , 19 assists if he were to say , hey , who's the player that's going to do this before the season starts ? Every one of us probably would have guessed that to be Irving Lozano. So , um , you know , I think that , you know , there has to to I don't know that there's any lingering resentment or ill will towards the situation that happened in Houston. But certainly , you know , there are going to be some questions asked here in a short amount of time about what the future's going to look like for him.
S1:
S4: But in the meantime , you can go ahead and start developing them. And at the at the way that MLS works with the salary cap , that's a player that you can get the most bang for your buck for , uh , and enable to enable. In order to go ahead and do that , you have to go ahead and play with a certain play style with which is the under 21 initiative , which is just , hey , we're going to trust younger players instead of bringing these high value players in. And so a player like mano , who is able to not only adapt to a brand new position at centre back , him being a traditional centre defensive mid , but it honestly speaks to , um , the trust that Mikey Varas once again has in his players. And that's you can look at almost any of these starting 11 players. It's the trust that they were able to earn uh , for uh , what in other places would be called a professor or prophet Mikey Varas , which is literally the professor. Uh , and in this situation , he has a lot of young pupils who stepped up to being one of those players , uh , in the midfield , if you want to talk about experience like that , is a player that if you want to go ahead and really , truly understand the sport of soccer , just look at the way that number six is able to move in the midfield , in the defense and transitioning forward. That's a player who may not be scoring all the goals , who may not be the flashiest player , who may not have the the , the , the , the coolest skills or the fastest sprints , but that is a general and that is somebody who understands the game of soccer in a 4D chess situation and is able to make quick reactions and amazing , impressive saves. When you just look at the simplicity that he's able to go ahead and have and bring calm as a as a captain as well , it's incredible to go ahead and do that. So , um , those are two for me that were some of my favorite this season.
S1: Um , you know , the looking at the calendar , one thing that's striking that the season just ended for San Diego FC , but the next season is right around the corner.
S3: The nucleus. Um , I'm still expecting that Santa will be back someway , somehow that the rumors is going to go to Chivas or the Amex is not going to happen. But yeah , hopefully somebody that I would like to mention as well throw out there. Corey Baird , where did this guy come from ? I'm an amazing player. Gave me some great , great , great , great passes for his teammates and openings. But in terms of the season itself , I expect the nucleus to be pretty much the same. On their striker , obviously , and I think Pellegrino will be back. And the peace of mind that having somebody like Pablo Negra , you know , the great. Even though it ended horribly with Vancouver , everything happened. All the bounces went against San Diego FC. It was Murphy's Law at that point in the first half , but I think he stood out well filling in for CJ dos Santos. And like you said , it's going to be here before we know it. I think MLS and Liga mX. That's one of the things they have in common. They don't give the players a lot of breaks in between. So once the season ends , you got to start getting ready. The GM's and the front office have to start making some quick choices as to what's going to be back. But in terms of the basic , fundamental , you know , backline and the backline lanes , young as everybody is saying. But the nucleus of the team itself , I think , would pretty much be the same.
S1: So as we kind of get to wrapping up here , I want to zoom out and just kind of reflect on your , your , you know , thoughts of the season. And Darren , you've been covering San Diego sports for a long time , long before San Diego FC or even the wave , you know , hit the shores here.
S2: And it's something that Tony and I talk about a lot , which is you obviously want to cater to an audience that knows how to speak the language of soccer , but you also realize that there's a lot of people who are learning , and you maybe have to to slow things down a little bit and explain some of the things in ways that you wouldn't do it if you were talking about baseball or if you were talking about the NFL. When the Chargers were still here , you would just automatically think people know what you're talking about. So , you know , I do feel like there's such a willingness to , uh , to learn. You know , people that have had their first exposure to professional soccer , Major League Soccer , this past season. I get a lot of questions. You know , that that I think a dyed in the wool longtime soccer fan would consider remedial. But I think that there's , you know , a way to to address everybody , no matter what it is that their level might be when it comes to the sport. So , you know , it's different. And , you know , I think you want to be inclusive. You know , I think that you want to make sure that if somebody doesn't understand even something as basic as , wait , what , three points and two points and , you know , you want to make sure that everybody can feel involved. You know , this is going to be a learning process still for for quite a while. We have a great soccer culture. We have a great soccer IQ here in this region , not just in San Diego , but on both sides of the border. And and , you know , those people are on it. You know , we we all know this , but , you know , it is also growing. And I think it's going to be like rocket fuel here over the next couple of months. With the World Cup coming through next summer and a season number two now people have an appetite for it. So it is a little bit different. But I think I think San Diego sports fans are pretty savvy. And I think that they'll they'll get up to speed pretty quickly here if things continue in the direction that they've been picking up in 2025. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. You mentioned the World Cup. The draw was just announced earlier this morning , and the United States is actually going to play a match in Los Angeles. I think it's June 25th. So something to watch there for sure. Uh , Tony , you know , we got Hector's reflections of what he's looking forward to next season.
S4: It's a very ambitious project. Since the get go , they promise to have an academy up and running , facilities up and running. And over in Singing Hills. It's , uh , an impressive , uh , complex that they have designated to soccer. And just the development that this is really going to go ahead and bring year two. I'm very curious in the interest that it's going to bring and how long the people are going to stay. Right. San Diego fans , uh , that's always been the criticism. Well , are they really fair weather fans ? Are they going to be here every single day ? So off pitch , that's what I'm looking for on on the pitch. I'm looking forward to seeing more international uh , looks for some of these players in terms of international games. We have the Concord Champions , which is a separate international tournament coming up with a draw , and we're going to find out where San Diego is going to play. They might go to Panama and play. They might go down to Mexico and play some of these matches. So these are aspects for a new club that are very interesting to see in the little , uh , wrinkles that that's going to present , whether it's uh , we need more players , we need more players to go ahead and have experience in these types of moments. You need a certain , um , you know , um , uh , archetype of player to , to play in , in this sort of weather. Uh , but at the end of the day , it's going to be very interesting to see the development of year two of San Diego FC style of play. Will they learn from their mistakes ? Will they able to go ahead and grow , or are they just going to stick to that same blueprint that they've been presenting of Right to Dream and not really divert from it ? And that's really going to be whether Mikey Bottas decides to acclimate a little bit more , or divert from that style with the teams , that and players that he has. It's a year one was a lot of you go to war with the with the Army that you have , not the Army that you want. And as they grow , they're going to start being a little bit more , um , intentional about which players are here.
S1: Well , we appreciate you all breaking down this season. Um , next time , hopefully we can talk more about all the things that are happening. We don't even get into San Diego Wave FC and their prospects for next season. I've been speaking with Darren Smith. He's one of the radio voices for San Diego FC and host of the section 1904 podcast. Also , Tony Sanchez has been Erie's founder of San Diego football and finally Hector Trujillo. He is a soccer writer in San Diego with a Latino in times of San Diego. I want to thank you all for joining us today.
S3: Thank you guys.
S2: Appreciate you. Guys.
S4: Guys.
S1: Up next. UC San Diego's leading institution in Stem field. So why are so many of its students struggling in math ? That's ahead on roundtable. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS roundtable I'm Andrew Bracken. Remedial math is on the rise at UC San Diego. That's according to a new report out of the university. And it's raised concerns not just in San Diego , but across the country about academic preparedness and the future of Stem education. KPBS reporter Jacob Eyer covered the story , and he joins me now. Hey , Jacob. Andrew.
S7: Andrew. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate being here.
S1: Yeah , I know it's great to have you. So set the scene for us. What did the university find out about students math skills and where they are right now ? Yeah.
S7: So all of this information is coming from a report. This is a , you know , pretty expansive report over 50 pages in length , dove into a a wide range of subjects. But this really highlighted the need for , uh , math help here. It was saying that , you know , back in 2020 , there was about 1 in 200 students who needed remedial math help. This is for courses. Think in high school like algebra one , algebra two , maybe geometry. Now that number this last year is about 1 in 8 students. So this is a huge jump.
S1: It's yeah I mean that really kind of struck me as just how significant that increase is. So let's talk about more about what we know why students are coming in so unprepared. I mean , obviously Covid would be kind of the first thing that pops into my head. But tell us what what they're saying. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. According to the report , of course , Covid is one thing. And when you think about Covid , you know , there was remote learning and then some of the other kind of ripple effects it might have had. So things like grade inflation , maybe teachers were a bit more lenient during that time because of the remote learning. Um , another big point that this report hit on was the elimination , the elimination of standardized testing. So Act and SAT are no longer considered , you know , in the admissions process for the UC system. They said that that was , you know , at least according to them , one of the reasons for this. And then the last one is the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools. And this does tie back to the pandemic again , because you think about schools that maybe were hit hardest from the pandemic , whether it's , you know , teacher turnover , whether it's maybe less access during remote learning. And it was students from those schools who suffer the greatest during the pandemic. So , uh , that was another reason that they listed.
S1: So , you know , you mentioned remote education going to Covid. And another piece of that is just like how technology and education has shifted and obviously artificial intelligence is playing a role in that.
S7: Um , artificial intelligence wasn't directly mentioned in the report itself , which kind of actually struck me in a way. It was something that wasn't included. And I , I even did ask , um , Rhona Tosh , the professor at Coach Rona Tosh , about this. And he said , you know , maybe , maybe in other subjects this is something that you could potentially see more direct line to , whether that's writing these kinds of things. But yet even even though he said that when I was speaking with other people , you know , maybe that it was something that they were talking about. I talked to the student body president , William Simpson , and he said , you know , whether or not it's as easy to maybe get answers on on math questions , it's the simple fact that you can turn to it. So , hey , you know , whether it's ChatGPT or something similar , can you help me help solve this problem ? So maybe it's just that reliance and the lack of a challenge that it creates when you're when you're turning to AI.
S1: So UCSD , they kind of say they're ahead of other schools in identifying the need for this remedial math. Why are they , you know , ahead from where maybe other universities are in this. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. Well , there's a couple reasons. Um , for those who live here in San Diego. You know , UC San Diego is known as a very strong school for for Stem education , science , technology , engineering , math. They have a very robust engineering program. Their life sciences are very good. They also have , um , you know , just strengths overall in the sciences. So that's one reason they're , you know , they're math focused. Those fields require math.
S1: That's what this issue kind of jumped out to them. Exactly.
S7: Yeah , exactly. And then the other one is that , um , they have their own math placement tests that UCSD itself kind of created , whereas some of the other schools are more reliant on standardized math testing. Um , that goes across , you know , whether it's the UC system or even more broadly. So UC San Diego might have a more rigorous math placement test. So the combination of that , you know , with all these Stem related majors that these students are applying for , they said it just kind of culminated in this situation where they have all these students that are are now not qualifying for college level math.
S1: And this isn't really just a potential math problem , right ? I mean , the report also found shortcomings in other skills around reading and writing. Can you tell us about that ? Yeah.
S7: Yes and no. Um , I do want to reiterate this. This report really did focus on the urgent need to to address the math specific situation. It did look into other , you know , shortcomings for academic preparedness and things like reading and writing. But a lot of that data kind of fluctuated over the last decade or so. So while they said there needs to be more research done and , you know , some of the admissions process should be changed regarding reading and writing , they really were focusing on the fact that there was this lack of of math , and that's why I delved into that in my story specifically.
S1: So , I mean , I guess , you know , the big question here is , what are they going to do about this issue ? How are how is , you know , UCSD approaching this to improve it ? Yeah.
S7: So there's a few there's a lot of recommendations actually , whether it's , you know , system wide , when we were talking about other things like writing and reading or there's specific recommendations for how to fix this math problem , you know , right now , like just to paint the picture , there's about 900 students in these remedial math courses. Whereas in the past you maybe had somewhere between maybe a couple dozen up to 100. This is , you know , up to 2020. So the numbers really have exploded. So the report specifically for fixing the math problem , they said they want to change how they assess math preparedness and admissions. So maybe looking at a math specific GPA , these kinds of things , um , revisiting math requirements for certain majors , you know , whether psychology is a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science and how students are applying for each of those differently , and then just conducting the actual math placement exam , that one that we had talked about earlier in the summer , they're trying to set this June 1st deadline. So those are some of the changes specifically for the math. And then overall , um , they're petitioning to the UC Board of Regents to , you know , bring back standardized testing. And they're also hoping to to look into this high school grade inflation more broadly.
S1: You also spoke to an outside expert about the long term problems that this could pose. How might that impact students who are planning , you know , a career in Stem , right ? Yeah.
S7: Daniel Daniel Reynolds , who teaches math here and he studies math education. He had told me that , you know , there's this intimidation factor that can sometimes happen , particularly in the US. Maybe someone says , oh , you're you're a math person. You're not. And he's like , that's the wrong approach to this all. So this can start from a young age. And then of course we've talked about reasons this has gotten maybe exacerbated at the college level , as we've seen here at UC San Diego. He was saying that , uh , you know , when students come in to college needing remedial math , it can really set them behind. I mean , there's a lot of data that shows students who need remedial math again , high school level algebra one , two or geometry. These folks have much , much lower rates of graduating from college itself. So then , you know , if you can't get the degree , maybe the job won't be lined up in the future , these kinds of things. So his big suggestion was we need to fix the K through 12 aspect of this , make it more approachable , make it more fun , relevant for students , and then just not have this kind of black and white. You're a math student. You're not a math student approach. Whereas everyone can kind of what he said was that , you know , everyone can do math if you put in enough effort. And he really wanted to emphasize that.
S1: You know , this story has gotten a lot of attention , a lot of nationally , you know , I've seen lots of stories on it. I've heard some interviews. I'm just curious , you know , what have you been observing ? What's the response ? Been to your story. Yeah , it does seem like it's kind of captured , you know , something. And when folks. Write.
S7: Write. And what I was hoping to do with this story was really show on a local level , kind of diving deeper into not just looking at the report , but actually talking to some of the voices , whether it's students themselves and , you know , in the case of William Simpson or one of the voices behind why the report was made in Oshkosh for Natasha about , you know , what this actually means , and I did you know , I've gotten some feedback. This is a very hot topic issue. There's been a lot of people saying , you know , our students aren't ready. Um , this is this is terrible. This is a reflection of bad policy , these kinds of things. But at the end of the day , um , what Rona Tosh was really stressing is , yes , this is happening at UC San Diego. But he said , you know , quote , we we could be the canary in the coal mine , meaning other UCS might be seeing this issue. Um , you know , there's national downward trends in math abilities , uh , at the , at the eighth and 12th grade levels. So he's saying , well , we're one of the first to see it because we have this placement test. This might be a bigger issue that needs to be looked at.
S1: So I mean , a real local story here , but with much , you know , greater national potential. Yes.
S7: Yes. Potentially , yes.
S1: Well , it's a great story. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter Jacob Eyre. I want to appreciate you , you know , telling us more about it. You can read his full story at KPBS. Jacob , thanks.
S7: Thanks for having me.
S1: That'll do it for our show today. Thanks so much for listening to KPBS roundtable. You can always listen to our show anytime as a podcast. Uh , roundtables technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush and Juliana Domingo. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer. Quinn Owen is supervising audio producer. I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Thanks again for listening and have a great weekend.
