Postseason Potpourri

My youngest came out to Saturday's game

In case you missed it (and if you're reading a team specific blog about a team in the USL League One, then it's highly unlikely that you did, but just in case), Tormenta clinched the sixth seed in the playoffs following their 3-0 win over Texoma and a few other results around the league, primarily Portland drawing against AV Alta. That sets up a first round playoff matchup with Spokane Sunday night in Washington, so I can finally relate to Carrie Underwood saying she's been waiting all day for Sunday night. 

We're planning to have much more on the Tormenta/Velocity match up on Friday's post, but I did have a little in my game recap Sunday in the Statesboro Herald. (May require email or subscription).

Before we get to that, I have had a few things kicking around in my head that I haven't been able to turn into a full length blog post, but I do want to discuss them. (I'm sorry for the soccer pun, but my keyboard is broken and I can't go back and change it. Ok, that's a lie, my keyboard is fine, but I am sorry for the soccer pun, you do deserve better. You're not going to get better, but you deserve better.) Let's get to it, shall we?

Roster Construction and Ian Cameron

Ian Cameron resigned in early August, paving the way for Mark McKeever to take over and do nothing but finish the year 9-1-2 to lead South Georgia back to the playoffs for the first time since their title winning run of 2022. It's an incredible achievement and one McKeever, his staff and the players deserve all the credit in the world for pulling off. These last three months have been an absolute blast.

McKeever downplays his impact on the club in interviews. Clearly he's had an impact, but sometimes I feel like he's about to say "Look, man, I don't know. I just roll the ball out there and let the guys do their thing." He's quick to credit his players for making this run happen and if you didn't know better, you'd think he was just kind of along for the ride.

He certainly recognizes, however, that the proverbial cupboard was well stocked when he took over. He may be the one reaping the rewards of a tremendous hot streak, but McKeever readily acknowledges it was Ian Cameron and his staff that attracted the players to Statesboro and set him up to succeed.

"It's been a special journey, but again, I think it's just a credit to the players and the type of players that are here," he said Saturday night. "Everything was here, I didn't create it. I've just come in and I did what I do and the boys have obviously come together and make the possibility happen. All the credit goes to them."

Tormenta midfielder and captain Conor Doyle said Saturday that obviously McKeever adjusted the formation the team played in, but the team always believed they were better than their record indicated. 

"We got a couple wins early on (under McKeever) and it was able to get us on a roll," he said. "You get that confidence. You get that feeling of it doesn't matter if they score one or two, we're going to get two more three and go on to win games. Results change everything, right? So we started winning games and I think it's just snowballed from there." 

Back in March, Cameron said he'd put together a roster of players that he thought could play the style of soccer he wanted to play. I think everyone was disappointed when Cameron stepped down, but in doing so, he set the stage for the players he assembled to go on an historic run. For all the well deserved accolades McKeever and the players receive, I just don't want the impact Cameron had on this roster to be overlooked. 

Future of the playoffs

Playoffs are fun. They're crazy stressful and I'm going to spend all week with low level anxiety until kickoff at which point it becomes a full on white knuckle stress event until the final whistle. It's the worst, and the absolute best. There is nothing better than sports stress and the playoffs are when that stress level gets turned up to eleven. 

As a Cubs fan, I think back to 2016 and just the sheer amount of stress the Cubs' World Series run led to. I'm not sure how I got up to work each morning after staying up watching all those games. The crash afterwards could not have been pretty. 

But it's worth it. It's why we watch. That stress and anxiety is just the manifestation of the time and treasure we put into these teams week after week, season after season. As Conor Doyle said Saturday, "When it starts to get cold you want to have a couple more games at the end of the year," and after missing out on the experience the last two years, being back in the playoffs this season is fantastic.

But how many more years of playoffs are there? Promotion and relegation is not as far off in the distance as it seems. The USL has announced it's happening and Tormenta owner Darin Van Tassell is one of the owners on the committee looking at how to implement it. 

Unfortunately for our purposes, he hasn't given me any inside information about what it's going to look like, but he has told me the committee is looking at every possible option to figure out what is going to be the best for the teams in the league. There's no guarantee playoffs are a part of that future. Nothing is stopping the league from simply saying "Top X teams move up, bottom X teams move down" at the end of the year. Selfishly, I hope that's not the case because there's something to be said for the fun and excitement of playoffs. No decision has been announced and, to my knowledge, no decision on pro/rel implementation has been reached. 

I don't think the playoffs are set up to crown the best team in the league. We have a whole regular season for that. No matter who wins the postseason tournament, One Knox was the best team in USL League One this year. They proved it over the course of the season. But man are playoffs a great time and I would hate to lose that when pro/rel makes its debut.

All that is the long way of saying we should enjoy the playoffs now because we don't know what the future holds. They're fun. They're exciting. They're incredibly stressful but in the best possible way. 

McKeever (briefly) reflects on his journey

I will be the first to admit I was a bit skeptical of Tormenta hiring Mark McKeever as the interim manager after Cameron resigned. All I really knew about him was that he was at One Knox, there were allegations of verbal abuse and while that didn't directly lead to him and One Knox parting ways, it was certainly a stain on his record while in Knoxville.

At the time of McKeever being named interim manager, Van Tassell said he was comfortable with McKeever's integrity when he hired McKeever to be an assistant on Cameron's staff. Van Tassell said the time off from when McKeever and One Knox parted ways in August of 2024 to late July 2025 when he was hired by Tormenta was a chance for McKeever to reflect on things. I was skeptical but I did my best to keep an open mind. Tormenta assistant coach Jordan Bell played and coached under McKeever and I know Van Tassell trusted Bell's assessment. 

To my knowledge, McKeever hasn't spoken publicly about what happened in Knoxville. Honestly, I'm not around him and the team enough to have developed a relationship with him enough to feel as though I could ask that question and get an answer yet. But McKeever has consistently said how grateful he is to be at Tormenta and having the opportunity to coach again.

Following Saturday's win, I asked McKeever about the experience of coming to Tormenta, suddenly being the interim manager before having the interim label removed and leading the team back to the playoffs.

"Personally, and I've reiterated this from the beginning, I've always had a relationship, be it indirectly or directly, with the players that have been involved in this club, so to come in and be a part of and represent them, represent the club, has just been phenomenal," he said before getting to the part I found most interesting.

"Obviously that little bit of time out to reset in my own life and my own personal life, probably push on with things that might not have been great in my life and so the opportunity to have a second crack at the whip in USL League One is special to me. I don't think anybody will ever get the gist of how special it is. Maybe my close family and really close friends understand how big this moment is for me," he said.

I followed up by asking if he could try to put into words what he was feeling being in the position that he's in now.

"It means the world right now. I probably can't put into words at this moment because I think my mindset is 'When do we travel to Spokane and how do we beat Spokane?' Maybe (after) a little bit of reflect at the end of the season I can put it into words, but it's just been very special. That's the best way to describe it," McKeever said.

That wasn't the first time McKeever talked about how much it meant to be in Statesboro and representing Tormenta. Following their 4-2 win over Richmond on September 27, McKeever said "I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I feel very blessed to be here. It's been a life-changing experience for me and I'm forever grateful."

And back on September 6 following Tormenta's 2-1 win over McKeever's old team, he stressed that his love and loyalty was to Tormenta at this time.

"It doesn't mean nothing," he said of what beating One Knox meant to him personally. He went on to say he appreciated seeing some of the players he'd coached previously but other than that, he wasn't at One Knox and wasn't thinking about them.

"My loyalty, my passion, my love now is in this locker room right here and I've embraced them and they've embraced me. And Knoxville's not really a part of that so I don't want to talk about them too much," he said.

McKeever has certainly embraced the opportunity in South Georgia and seems genuinely happy to be in Statesboro and coaching again.