Saginaw Valley State Women’s Soccer – Coach Pablo Ortiz
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Pablo Ortiz from the Saginaw Valley State University Women’s Program in Michigan. We talk about how the transfer portal has affected their recruiting strategy. He describes the huge value that their school has from a cost standpoint. Lastly, we discuss what it was like to have a first-year head coach and how that shaped their play. Learn more about Saginaw Valley State Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Pablo Ortiz from Saginaw Valley State.
Coach: Welcome coach. Hey, thank you. Thank you.
Matt: Hopefully you’re staying warm there. Up in Michigan, uh, got that cold snap coming through there.
Coach: Yeah, man, it, it snowed. It was snowing yesterday and then, A little chilly today, but nothing too bad, thankfully.
Matt: Oh, good. Well, good. Well, let’s, uh, let’s talk a little bit about the, the women’s program you have there and, and how you’re, let’s start with recruiting, I guess, how you’re bringing kids in. So when is it that, you know, you guys just wrapped up your season, so are you really focusing on the 23 class right now, the 24 class? When do you guys really start talking to players and, and focusing on that?
Coach: Right, so, Maybe for the women’s game, you, you hear a lot of mixed reviews about how a lot of times they’re two years ahead, one year ahead. Um, from my experience though, uh, we’re still in the 2023 class and I do get a lot of emails from 2020 fours and a lot of times I just have, we look at them, we consider them, we push it back more so for the spring because, uh, the main priority right now is closing that 2023.
Okay.
Matt: Now are there, I mean, looking at your roster, obviously, your, your heavy, heavy Michigan, uh, focus mm-hmm. , you know, what, what are some of the tournaments and, and places that you kind of have on a, on a must visit basis that you really use to, to scout players?
Coach: Right. [00:01:30] So Michigan’s got a really good pool for players.
Um, may, maybe it sounds a bit unfair to say, but unless it’s. A GA or an ecnl, uh, tournament per se or game, um, unless we happen to be in that area, uh, for whatever reason, it’s, it’s usually those are the games we go watch. Um, if it’s not an ECNL or a GA game, a lot of times it requires, um, an email from the player and then we’d look at her stuff and we’re interested and then we’re like, okay, let’s bring her on campus.
Cuz we could give trials into division two. Or a really good recommendation from a coach. So, um, I’m the one who does more of the, I guess not, not really that, that’d be unfair to say for anything outside of Michigan. I’m the one who’s done more so of that. So I go to Canada, uh, a lot, um, to take a look at players and then if I get any recommendations.
So I’ll look in. And then I have friends around the US that I’m consistently asking like, Hey, do you have anyone, uh, that you think we should consider? So a lot of it is from recommendation, and a part of it is just being at the right place, the right time if we’re there watching.
Matt: Yeah. Well, do you guys do, uh, do you do camps there at Saginaw Valley or do you, does your staff work other camps?
Coach: Yeah, we, we do camps. So for the 2024s, It’s kind of like, so you get [00:03:00] recruits and then almost put ’em into list. So you get certain ones that are the ones that everyone’s trying to get. So those you don’t necessarily send to a camp, uh, you’re just trying to get them on campus or trying to get a conversation with them.
Then there’s other players that, um, You’ve seen, you’ve watched you really like, and then you’re like, okay, let’s bring them on campus and give them a trial. So they get you to go through the A day in the life player, uh, they get you visit school, try ’em out. And then there’s another set of players that we get recommended or we watch or that um, they’ve emailed us with interest and we’re like, okay, come to ID camp.
Um, it’s closest thing to a private combine. So in the pro games there was private combines where they invite specific set of players to go watch them and they pick two or three outta. So our camps are in a sense, similar to that, except, um, it’s more of an open combine, I guess, with specific players that are invited and told, come to our camp so we can watch you specifically.
Okay.
Matt: Well, whether it’s camps or games or wherever you’re looking at kids or, or even the, the video and emails you’re getting, kinda what, for you guys is, is that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player that’s gonna make you say, yeah, yeah, we want you to be part of our.
Coach: Yeah, that’s, that’s a great question.Um, look man, I get a lot of really, really good players, but a lot of it is, is is context, right? So it’s like what do we need, you know? Um, we have eight center backs, uh, something around there. [00:04:30] So it’s like, am I gonna look at a center back? And I get a lot of really good center backs, but the second I get a good center back, I’m like, I’m sorry, I just not for 2023.
If you’re 20, 24, maybe once we graduate a. But for 2023, that position per se, that context doesn’t work. Um, so first things first is context is what do we need? And then we go to the players, like, what, what can you offer within what we need? So obviously, I guess, um, a lot of training sessions nowadays are, are small sighted, so.
And the game is really quick at division two. So the ability to, for me, the biggest thing is when I, when I recruit players, it’s their awareness, especially if I’m recruiting a center mid. So I’ll be checking, I’ll be watching their game. They’ll take me five minutes at most to see how much they’re scanning, how much they’re checking their shoulder.
They don’t even have to touch the ball. Just the way they move, the way they shuffled, the way they, uh, look around, you can tell pretty quickly, uh, is this a player that. Like is good, like the fundamentals are spot on, or is this a player that might have a lucky game, uh, maybe lucky game, but might have a good game that could maybe doesn’t have certain fundamentals.
So there are things we look at right away for the fundamentals that can take five to 10 minutes to figure out, uh, that’s the easy side of it. And [00:06:00] then, As the game goes on, as you’re watching, uh, all the other non-trivial things like speed, pace, size, um, those are also done quickly within five minutes. But, um, how you perform, like how you perform during 90 minutes, how you perform during 70 minutes, how you perform during 60 minutes.
Um, and then you go to meeting most person. So then you get on the phone or you talk to a coach, uh, and you get to know what they’re like. Cuz honestly, I’ve been a part of teams that, um, we recruited very talented players, very, very talented players, but, uh, the culture wasn’t great. They weren’t necessarily the greatest people per se.
So there’s a lot of emphasis on that. Now, it’s, um, can you play soccer? Can you get the fundamentals? And are you a really good person? Not a really good person, but are you a good person? Are you Integris to some degree? Are you willing to. So that’s usually if she passes all the first steps, like I, I see she has all the fundamentals down.
She performed very well in the training session in the game. Uh, then we get to know her as a person. We go talk to her, uh, take her eat at the cafeteria, whatever it is. And then that’s, those are the tiny little details that you’re like, okay, I have another player just as good as you, but who is gonna fit in more with the culture of the team?
Matt: Makes sense. Well, Do you guys look at, uh internationals or, or the transfer portal at all to, to help your recruiting?
Coach: [00:07:30] Yeah, that’s, uh, okay. So internationals is a, is very tricky. If, if it was the men’s game, uh, definitely, definitely look at internationals for the Americans who just, female Americans are very good in general already.
So when you take a look at an international, a lot of times you’re taking a. . Um, so we do consider internationals and we, we currently have one international. Last year we had two. We usually have at least one to two. Uh, it’s just a lot tougher if you’re an international for us to actually want, you have to be significantly better than, um, the talent pool we have here now for the transfer portal.
Right now we’re all transport portal. So I guess the way we divide our classes, Um, you take a few incoming freshmen, regular incoming freshmen, which for not necessarily development players, but you get four years out of them and you’re, you’re willing to be patient with their development, uh, whether they’re starting or not starting, it’s, it’s a bit irrelevant.
Then when you go to the transfer portal, you’re trying to bring in these, these players that are ready to go or ready to bring in some sort of leadership are ready to. Essentially they’re championship players. So right now we’re definitely looking at the transfer portal and we’ve been mainly working off the transfer portal without to close the 2023 class.
We obviously still look at, uh, regular 2020 threes, but, uh, since we already got a few regular 20 [00:09:00] threes, now we’re trying to close with transfers. Okay. Well, or international.
Matt: Okay. Well, a lot of times, uh, parents, the first question’s gonna be, okay, well what, what’s this gonna cost me? Right? Say the colleges is, are expensive these days.
So I’m, uh, I’m not gonna hold you any hard numbers here, but, uh, can you just gimme an overall view of what the, what it looks like from a cost perspective, whether with, with academic money, athletic money, you know, what kind of scholarships are available, what’s the, just what’s it look like if, if, to be a student athlete at, there.
Coach: Um, SVSU, if it’s not the most cost effective, it’s top two or top three, uh, most cost effective schools in Michigan, uh, it is a state school, so obviously there’s in-state tuition and there’s out-of-state tuition. The, the thing that helps us out a lot is that we give even international students and out-of-state students in-state tuition if they come in with 3.0.
So we automatically give them something called a red and white scholarship. That brings it down to instate tuition, I believe instate tuition. Um, so all in is around, uh, the low 20 thousands with housing, food, and, and academics. Obviously tuition increases due to, uh, the university policies, whatever it is, they’re gonna increase it by next year.
Um, but yeah, you’re looking at that low twenties [00:10:30] outta state and in state, and then. Uh, there’s other trivial things, like if you’re a 4.0, you automatically qualify for 5,000 off and you go into a raffle to have your whole tuition covered. Um, just for coming in with a 4.0. Um, and then whatever money we give, let’s say worst case scenario, the players at Wacon doesn’t have 4.0 and they wanna play on the team.
They’re looking at around, yeah, low twenties. . And then if there’s, if they have other factors such as good grades, and then we give them a certain amount of money, then you start bringing that cost down significantly. You’re, you’re looking for the most part. Um, yeah, the tens are under 10. A lot of players are under 10 for sure a year, so it’s good.
Matt: Yeah. That’s, that’s fantastic. Well, let’s, let’s talk a little bit more about the school folks who may not be familiar. Uh, my, my wife’s famous is from Michigan, so, uh, I know, I know where it’s at, at least, uh, up there in the, um, but gimme some, you know, I can click around the website, learn a lot about the school, but gimme some of the, the, the good inside scoop that maybe I’m not gonna learn about on the, on the website.
Coach: I, um, I’ve always said, I, I, I, I myself personally, for personal experience, I’ve done a lot of traveling. Um, and I’ve always said it, it’s not so much where you go, it’s who you’re with. Uh, and that includes even your own, your own personal, um, relationship with yourself. So it’s a [00:12:00] place where you don’t have 20,000 students, like Michigan State are 40,000 or 60,000.
It’s a, it’s a place where you’re right under that underneath 10,000. So it’s, it’s mid-size. The classrooms are no bigger than 30 students. So you have a close relationship with your professors. Uh, you can talk to them. I, I, I’ve even had lunch with my professors. I’ve had lunch with, um, the vice president.
Like it’s really easy to have a close relationship with, uh, faculty per se, and that really helps the academic side of things. And then on the social side of things, you really get to. Grow friendships or relationships with really close friendships and relationships with, uh, your friends, with your peers.
So it’s under 10,000 students. You’re not at a big city or you’re not in Chicago or Toronto, where you can go out and, and, and, and do a whole lot of things per se, but you are within driving distance of those activities within 20 minutes to 40 minutes. Um, so obviously what I’m trying to say is those big activities.
You can do what? Big cities, you can still do them here, but there’s more emphasis on personal relationships. So there’s a lot of really tight friendships that are made at this school. And, um, even players on the team will tell you a lot of the people that are, are here with you will end up being at your marriage.
Um, either be your groomsmen or your, um, so it’s very, it’s, it’s [00:13:30] a tight knit school without being too small, if that makes. Yeah. And then on the athletic side of it, I, I think more so the men’s side, uh, why they’re so successful is because you don’t have a lot of distractions. So we have really, really good facilities, I’d say top of the line facilities for, for any division, even in the professional game.
And so you have the ability to train whenever you want. We have indoor and outdoor, uh, as much as you. You have full access to, um, doctors and, um, what do you call it at athletic trainers? Uh, bathtubs, uh, I mean ice baths, um, gyms per, uh, personal gyms and then rec gyms. So a lot of what happens, especially with the men’s side and the women’s side is, um, we recruit soccer junkies that maybe they come in and we’re overlooked, um, as senior.
You have the ability to train so much cuz it’s snowing outside and you’re not gonna drive 40 minutes to go to a mall. So you’re just like, ah, let’s just go play or let’s go train. So you find that a lot of our players come third or fourth year, uh, both soccer junkies and have had the ability to develop their skills to the, to their utmost potential.
Got it. So it’s, yeah.
Matt: [00:15:00] That’s great. Well, in terms of the academic component, you know, what, how do, how do players really balance their academics and athletics there? Uh, what kind of support systems are in place at SVSU to help them with that?
Coach: Yeah, so the school, like I said, because it’s, it’s so small, first of all, automatically you have a, a close relationship with professors.
The professors, for the most part are very understanding of athletics and. They’re not maybe as lenient as some other bigger schools, but they’re quite lenient or, or there’s usually no problem with missing classes and so forth, or giving extensions for assignments. I, I know my brother and a few friends went to bigger, maybe Ivy League type schools where there’s no late assignments, no talking to professor, none of that.
So you, you do get sort of that help, that automatic help where it’s like you can talk to a professor, um, and they’re, they’re lenient to some. They’re understanding to some extent. And then on top of that, um, there’s free tutoring. Uh, there’s free, uh, services for student success offered by the school to all students.
Now, is there extra help for athletes? Not necessarily because, uh, the school’s not so big and, and the free services that are available for every student, uh, are just as readily available for athletes as well. Uh, but we do. Someone in charge that, uh, overlooks the athletic department. And if any [00:16:30] athlete has any problem, uh, his he’ll, they’ll just deal with him and he’ll help them out, sort them out, put ’em with the right tutor, put them with the right guidance, uh, counselor.
And we actually, for the women’s side, we don’t actually have a lot of problems with, uh, the academic side of things. For the men’s years ago, it used to be, it used to be a. But it’s, it’s definitely not a topic anymore.
Matt: Yeah. That makes, okay, well let’s talk a little bit more about the team. You know, is it, is there a roster size that you guys find ideal that you’re trying to hit each year?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think 25, you’re starting to get a little low because of injuries and so forth. 20 sevens almost perfect. 30, you’re starting to get high. So we try to, we try to keep. below 30, high 25. Uh, above 25. Yeah.
Matt: Okay. Um, well, we talk about the size of the roster. What about the size of the staff? How, how many coaches are there?
What role does everybody play? What’s that look like?
Coach: Yeah, so for the woman’s side, we have obviously the head coach. Uh, I know some schools use an associate head. Uh, we just have the head coach, and then we have, uh, first a. And then, uh, almost two other assistants that they have the same role as the first assistant.
It’s just more so how it’s organized. But, um, the first assistant might have a little bit [00:18:00] more responsibility to, um, be around all the time because the other two we have, so we have head coach and then three support staff. So there’s one first assistant that has to be there most of the time, and then the other two are volunteers.
And so, The other two are, are crucial because they’re the ones that help set up, let’s say, um, activities, uh, let’s say bonding activities. They’ll be put on a, on those coaches, they’re the ones that, uh, are overseeing the drills or even running the drills most of the time. So you have three coaches that mainly work with the players, and then you have a goalie coach.
So we have four in total. Ok. Actively there all the, all the time with the.
Matt: Okay. Well, what, how would you guys describe your, your style of coaching as a staff and, and your team style of play?
Coach: Well, this is, so this is chance’s first year. So chance as the head coach, um, as the, as the head coach, he’s been here for seven years, been assistant for all those seven.
Uh, and then this is my first year, uh, on the women’s side. I was on the men’s side recruiting mainly last year. And then this is my first year on the women’s side, um, as his assistant. So we came in partially working off what the old coach was had, which is O’Neill, uh, who’s at NIU now. And we’re very, [00:19:30] I I’ve always say this like if, if you’re, if you’re a player, You don’t have to, if you wanna stand out, be really good at, uh, procession drills, you know, because we, we do, obviously, we understand there’s context for certain players that are not that good at procession drills and so forth.
We, we know that’s a factor, but a lot of our drills are rondos and, and built off the idea of being able to play quick and tight spaces, uh, because that’s, that’s sort of the style we try to play.
Play quick. One, two touches, um, the occasional dribble, depending on, on context, like I said. Um, so the sessions are tailored around that procession. Uh, change of tempo. Quick, fast, quick, fast. Now the Glee act, the league itself, uh, is more of a fiscal league where you have certain teams that are a lot more direct.
So, like I said before, context. Whereas if we’re playing against Northern Michigan who’s a very, a very direct team where the ball goes out every other play for throwing, um, you can try to play and, and it works sometimes, but sometimes you do end up going long. Um, but it usually doesn’t go too well against them cuz they’re the best at going back and forth.
So it depends the game. Uh, but we do try to stick to our recessive. Three. Five, two or four? Four. Two or four? Three. Three occasionally. Okay.
Matt: Well, in terms [00:21:00] of, um, technology, do you guys use, uh, video a lot? Do you have the GPS stuff? What? Do you guys use any sort of technology in your training and or games?
Coach: No, we haven’t. We actually, we actually aren’t that, uh, that, uh, advanced technologically wise. We, we don’t have gps. , um, whether we’re gonna get some, I, I don’t think we’re gonna invest in any, anytime soon we could, but, um, it’s, it’s not something we wanna put on our budget, uh, per se right now. We obviously do film, um, every game.
I know some schools don’t film every game and we, we do stream every game. We, the school has a partnership with Flow Sports, so, um, there’s stream through Flow Sports, and then we do our own VO filming. As well. So we just, like, almost any program I’d imagine, we, we have a film day where we break down film before we play our opponent.
Uh, we analyze it. Uh, that’s part of the staff’s job is everyone’s gotta watch it and then break it down. So we’re still more so on, uh, on the basics of watching film, breaking down film. We haven’t really gone into, uh, any gps. I don’t even know what else is, is new, but yeah. Okay.
Matt: Well we’ve, we’ve talked about a lot of different things here.
Covered a lot of ground, but I always like to end with the, the same thing, and that’s what didn’t we cover? What else, uh, should we have talked [00:22:30] about that we didn’t? Uh, whether that’s about recruiting the school, soccer, anything else? Uh, I, I kinda leave you with the last word.
Coach: Ooh. That I can think of. Um, I guess, I guess if you’re, If you’re, if you’re a student athlete, um, in high school, um, it, it sounds really cliche, but you, you really, you really can’t get discouraged ever cuz it is the right place, the right time.
And I know for myself and, and many other players on the team, um, We’re recruited quite late in the process, so I know a lot of players of 2023, especially right now, are starting to get stressed and it’s like, oh, well we’re starting to enter spring time. There’s not a whole lot of money left and so forth, but you, anything can happen.
You know, like, um, tomorrow one of our players can leave, and then we’re like, okay, now we need a striker. And, and that’s not just for us. It happens for every school. It’s almost guaranteed. Um, someone will quit. Something will stop, happen to someone, or a, a recruit will pull out someone that signed already.
So, as cliche as it sounds, you, you really, if you’re 2023, you, you gotta keep going all the way. And that includes all the way up until June. We brought in players, um, one week before pre-season. I’ve, when I was here as a freshman playing many years ago, um, we brought one player in like two weeks into preseason.
[00:24:00] So, That’s what I mean. It can happen at any time. Just gotta keep training and hopefully it works out, but you gotta have faith that’ll work out.
Matt: Yeah. I love it. Well, coach, thank you so much for your time. Uh, wish you guys the best of luck moving forward and, uh, if you’re in Philly for the convention swing by, we’ll, we’ll, uh, have our Discover College soccer booth there.
All right. For sure. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you coach. Right.
