Methodist University Men’s Soccer – Coach Justin Terranova
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Justin from the Methodist Men’s Program in North Carolina. We talk about how they virtual tours and meetings in their recruiting. He describes the beautiful location. Lastly, we discuss their roster size with a reserve side. Learn more about Methodist University Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Justin from Methodist up there in North Carolina. Welcome coach.
Coach: Hello. Good afternoon. How are you?
Matt: I’m doing well, thanks. Glad to have you here. Uh, now I’m a, you know, folks know I’m a D3 guy through and through.
So, uh, you know, back in, uh, we, we wouldn’t have crossed, maybe one season we would’ve crossed paths, but, uh, Catholic never played Methodist, uh, probably. Probably good for me, uh, in that instance cuz, cuz you guys have always been a nice power program there on the men’s side. So, you know, we’re sitting here talking, we were just chatting for more.
You got the rally showcase coming up this weekend. So you’re heavy in recruiting mode now that the season’s over. Yeah. Yep. Um, so for you guys, when, when are you really starting to talk to players when you know that, that we. Getting going in the recruiting process. What year in high school or, you know, as we’re here in December, are you finishing up the 20 threes or is that done and you’re really focused on 20 fours?
What’s that look like?
Coach: Um, it’s never ending. For us. It’s a constant cycle. Uh, we have continued to communicate with players all year round. Of course in the fall it’s very difficult when you. A 20 game schedule and you’re training every day. And then of course you have to, you know, manage the season and the time and, and your own life and your family.
Um, so during the fall, I [00:01:30] would say it would be kind of our pause in, in recruiting. Uh, we, we will take, uh, visits during the fall. We will communicate in a general way in the fall, just updating everybody how we’re. , but really as soon as the season is over, like you said, uh, we just drop it down into Turbo and we get after it and we go out to tournaments.
We’ve already been to two E C N L events. Of course, this is our big weekend. In our home state with NC F C Showcase, and then we will, we have been going to Disney, uh, but we’re skipping Disney this year and we’re gonna be going to the two E C N L showcases in January, um, down in Florida. Um, so we’re, we’re ECNL or bust right now.
Um, we are all. And North Carolina Football Club obviously is, uh, near and dear to my heart, being that it’s my home state’s, um, club and also my two children play for North Carolina Football Club. So, uh, we’re all in this weekend. We’re actually gonna have myself, my assistant coach, my captain who’s graduating, um, is gonna help us watch games and Michael Keeper coach.
Um, so we’re gonna be all in, all four of us. [00:03:00] Um, getting in there this weekend and, and getting after it and trying to find the best players we can to bring here. But for us, it’s a year round process. Um, we’re texting, we’re emailing, we’re doing virtual tours of our facility on Zoom, kind of like what you and I are doing today, but I’ll put it on my phone and we’ll start the interview like, And we’ll talk for five minutes, get to know each other, and then I’ll flip the camera around on my phone and I’ll literally walk around the facility and show the recruit, you know, what we have to offer and talk to him during that.
And then at the end, I’ll sit down in the bleachers on the other side of the field and I will flip the camera background and allow that student athlete to ask me some questions. So that’s one way to connect with them, where they don’t have to spend an hour or two hours or three hours driving here and a whole day away from school or the parents from work to get to know, you know, our facility.
And we do have an amazing facility here. Um, as you know, being a D three boy yourself, I’m a D three boy. Um, I played here at Methodist for Alan Dawson, um, in the nineties when we were ranked number one in the nation. Of course Coach is up at Old Dominion now. Um, and he’s been there for 26 [00:04:30] years. Uh, but he was here for nine years and I was lucky enough to play for him.
And you know, when I came on campus as a freshman in 1992, I drove onto campus and I saw this amazing building that I’m sitting in that has locker rooms for both women and men that has the offices upstairs. It’s very European in that feel. Um, because the two boys who created it, one’s, uh, Joe Perrera from Portugal, and then also Alan Dawson from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
So we have this great building, uh, very European setup with the locker rooms downstairs. The office is upstairs. It was always my goal in my 20 years so far to improve the facility, to have it look different than when it did when I walked on campus in 1992. And, uh, we have spent about a million dollars over the past five years on the facility, including TV Ready Lights 200 chair back.
Concession stand bathrooms for, for the, uh, visitors, for the families. And then a brand new beautiful rod iron fence that goes all the way around the outside. Um, so in my opinion, it’s one of the top division three stadiums in the nation. It is probably in the top five to 10 soccer. Stadiums for division [00:06:00] three because in division three you’ll find a lot of facilities that have beautiful, amazing things to offer for student athletes, but they’re football, lacrosse, and soccer, and a lot of them are turf.
And so we’re natural grasp mu TIF and four 19 amazing stadium soccer specific. So you’re not gonna find a lot of those that. Compete with this facility. So that all kind of feeds into recruiting. And of course our tradition in soccer is very helpful. Um, our success in the past and recently, in the past 20 years when I’ve been here.
So it all feeds into recruiting. Um, it’s all super important talking to athletes about what they want to do and how they wanna approach the game. And so it’s not just you. This guy’s sitting in the seat. It’s where they’re gonna play every day. It’s who they’re gonna play against. It’s what the training facility is like.
You know, we have the Jordan Soccer Complex, which is an eight field Bermuda Tifton soccer complex on our campus. There’s not a lot of Division three schools or division one schools that can say they have eight soccer fields to practice on. So we’re blessed with, uh, with a history. Of, of guys that knew what they were doing that wanted to, to make it a top place, an attraction for, for athletes and, and were [00:07:30] doing that and keeping that tradition alive.
So I’m excited to be out there recruiting this weekend.
Matt: Yeah, it’s, and if, if you haven’t seen it folks, look up, uh, the pictures, just to see that, that facility, it’s top notch, it really is. Awesome. Um, so, you know, you’re going to, to Raleigh right? For, for the showcase. How is it that, you know, you see, you got a lot of staff going too.
How is it that you guys have decided who you’re gonna see? I’m guessing you’re not just randomly showing up to games and hoping to find the diamond in the rough and, and, and that whole thing. And I mean, I know the answer to this question, but tell me how, how you guys really decide, uh, who gets the looks and, and, and what you’re going to see.
Coach: I mean, a lot of it has to do. location. Um, you know, we’re, we know who, who we can get, we know who generally attends our university, what states they’re from. Um, we’re generally not getting a kid from Wisconsin. Uh, we’re generally not getting a kid from Iowa, so we’re focusing on first and foremost, foremost north.
The teams in North Carolina, especially the E C L Regional League teams from North Carolina, and then all of the best teams from North Carolina, we’re circling them to make sure we watch them. And then you start to go [00:09:00] out from there. We’re gonna watch the Virginia teams, uh, we’re gonna watch the Maryland teams.
We’re gonna watch the Pennsylvania teams and New Jersey teams and then so on up there. And then the opposite way, we’re gonna watch the South Carolina teams. We’re gonna watch the Georgia teams and we’re gonna watch the Florida teams. So basically encompassing the East coast, trying to make sure that we start from North Carolina and move outwards and make sure that we’re seeing the best teams from those, you know, regions and states.
And just don’t miss anything. Don’t allow, um, fatigue or, um, any kind of schedule to get in our way. And just we, you know, we actually spend lots of time looking at, all right, you’re gonna be here on these two fields. I’m gonna be on these three fields and this. Eight o’clock hour, I’m gonna watch three games.
You’re gonna watch three games. Then I, then I’m gonna go to these three fields. We’ll watch these three games. So we’re not kind of, I see a lot of coaches out there, like literally walking around together at, with their assistant. And I understand if you’re trying to educate him on what you’re, what you want in a player.
I did that at first with my, my assistant, Evan. But now that he knows what we want, I don’t need to hold his hand. We don’t need to walk around together. We can get more coverage and we can watch kids [00:10:30] more if we separate. And so, you know, I’m even, we’re looking. There’s so many facilities in Raleigh, so they’re playing in literally like 10 or 12 different places.
But we are focusing on W R A L because we, we believe we can watch every U 19 team that we feel is gonna influence our team in the entire weekend. So Friday, we’ve already picked out like six groups that are gonna be at W R E L, and we know that on Saturday. These four groups are gonna be at W R E L. And then on Sunday the last groups are gonna be at W R E L.
And so in that time period we can watch all of the nineteens teams at W R E L park our cars and just walk from pitch to pitch and be efficient. And then, you know, from that standpoint, what am I doing with my captain? And. You know, Michael, we’ll keep her coach. You know, my captain is gonna be a volunteer coach, so we’re trying to educate him.
So I’ll bring him around with me and I’ll show him what to do, get him accom, you know, kind of comfortable what we’re doing. And then on by Saturday or Sunday, I’m like, all right Daniel, go, go watch this under 17 team so that we can prepare for the 20 fours and the 20 fives down the road. Cause literally we’re looking at right now.
Probably [00:12:00] already 600 kids in our database and we’re starting here and kind of whittling it down and hopefully we can get 75 to a hundred of them to apply and then maybe 40 to 50 visits. And then from there, that’s how we get to our class of players, which will probably be. Hopefully 10 or 12 players total, um, for the, for the next year.
So, um, how we do it, I think is a pretty complicated science experiment. But, um, it’s, it’s really not that difficult in terms of, you know, we, we don’t leave any stone unturned. And, and I think that’s really what’s important is. We’re grinding, as they say, . Absolutely.
Matt: Well, you know, let’s talk a little bit more about the, the school itself as there’s folks out there who may, uh, not know anything about Methodist.
Um, so besides what I’m gonna find on the website, you know, and what you talked about with the facilities, uh, gimme some awesome things about the school that maybe we, we wouldn’t see on the website?
Coach: So, um, Methodist is located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is the fifth largest city in North Carolina. Um, it was originally the capital of North Carolina before Raleigh.
Um, it is in [00:13:30] what I think is probably the best location for travel in North Carolina, uh, because it’s proximity to the I 95 corridor. So you can get. To Washington, DC in five hours and you can be in Jacksonville, Florida in five hours. Um, a lot of places in North Carolina are beautiful, uh, just like where we are, but they’re a little bit harder to travel around the country and especially driving, um, flying.
We have our own regional airport, so kids that live in Florida that are on our. You know, can fly straight into Fayetteville via Atlanta and Charlotte airports. Um, so that’s one way to get to school. And a lot of kids don’t think about that kind of stuff when they’re looking at school is, all right, I picked this school, but how do I get there?
How do I get Thanksgiving? How do I go home for Christmas? And so, you know, having ease of travel is really important. Um, I’m from Connecticut originally. I used to drive myself to college. Um, it was 10 hours, but it was straight down 95. There’s no turns, you’re not getting lost. And we didn’t have Google Maps back then in, in the nineties, so it was just get on 95 and go straight.
And I think from that standpoint, our location is an attraction to, you know, families and, and the [00:15:00] cost of travel. Is reduced when you have ease of travel. Um, so I think that’s wonderful. We’re, we’re an hour and a half from the beach, uh, from Wilmington. We’re an hour from Raleigh. Uh, so if you wanna fly, um, on a major airline directly to a major city, you can jump up to r and get anywhere.
Every four years we go on an international tour. And uh, we’ve been doing that now for my entire 20 years. We’ve been on five tour. And, uh, we always leave directly outta Raleigh Durham to wherever we’re going to across the world. Uh, we did Spain in 2020 and now we’re going to Germany in 2024. So, um, ease of travel is really important, and I think that’s a big attraction for us.
We’re, we’re a small division three school. We have about 1500 students. We have over 80 majors undergraduate. Undergraduate majors. We have three postgraduate degrees that include an MBA in business, and we have the occupational therapy degree, which is a seven year degree. And then the the PA program.
which is a six year degree, and you know, huge attraction for those postgraduate uh, degrees. Those are hard to get into. But if you do graduate from Methodist, you have preferential admittance to [00:16:30] those programs. So you know the people that are looking for those types of majors, that should be a good attraction to them.
We have 1100 beds on campus, so we have capability of, you know, As, as many as 1100 students that live on campus. Uh, right now we’re hovering at about 900 that live on campus. And, uh, we have all types of, uh, dormitories from apartments to a brand new dorm that kind of looks like a hotel, you know, to the original type dorms where it’s a community style dorm where you walk down the hallway to the bathroom.
So, um, Program, including soccer has their own facility where you have, you know, offices and stadiums. We have an 18 hole golf course on campus, which I would say that our golf teams are amazing national champions, uh, many times over. And then of course, like I said before, we have the Jordan Soccer Complex on our campus.
So it’s a huge campus. There’s 600 acres of property. And the really cool part of it is the way you drive onto campus. I’m looking out the window at it. Right now. The way you enter campus, the only way to enter an exit campus is right here at the front where the soccer stadium is. So the first thing you’re gonna see when you come on campus [00:18:00] is our beautiful dugin soccer stadium.
So, you know, we have a great tradition of soccer at a small private school and uh, it’s just a wonderful place. To bring your, your child and I have an, an 18 year old and a 14 year old, so I know, uh, what parents are looking for and I think it’s a safe, closed environment that you can rely, that they’ll be looked after by the coaching staff.
They’re gonna study, they’re gonna have study hall. Um, they’re gonna be in a place that everyone around them is gonna be supporting them, um, trying to make sure they’re successful. So, yeah. That’s awesome. I’m a Methodist grad, so I’m a little biased, but I, I just think it’s just a wonderful place for student athletes.
Matt: Well can, let’s go back to being, uh, in the season, right? And, and you talked about facilities and, and the academics. And so can you walk me through an average week of a student athlete that’s on the, on the men’s soccer team in terms of when, when are classes, when are meals, when is practice? What’s kind of the game cadence and travel look like on on, on a normal week?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, I don’t think there’s an anything ordinary about being a student athlete, um, in college at whether you’re gonna play for NC State or, or Methodists. Those people that are able to, to do that and accomplish it are [00:19:30] amazing people. It takes a lot of time management, it takes a lot of effort and, and, uh, and belief in themselves.
But how a regular week in college goes, um, . So you know, let’s just look. Let’s look at two different weeks of what happened to us this year. So in the first week of our season, we did a big trip to Boston. As you can see, I’m wearing the shirt that we created for the trip. Um, so the first week of the season, you know, they went to class on Monday, we had training.
Um, they would have class from nine to 12 lunch, maybe another class, and then training is at three 30 to five 30. And then they would go to dinner and then they’ll go directly to to study hall. Then on Tuesday we would do that all again, and Wednesday we’re flying out to Boston. We fly out, we’d go directly into Boston, go right to the New England Revolution Training Center.
Trained with New England Revolution, um, on their facility. Olfo, my old friend, allowed us to, to get in there and do some training. Then we went directly to m l s game, watched them against Chicago Fire. The next day we went on kayaking, tour, some team bonding. Then Friday we played our first match against New England College.[00:21:00]
And then Saturday we played a reserve game at 9:00 AM and then we went into Boston. We walked around Boston, went to Quincy Market, walked two and a half miles over to to Fenway, watched the Red Sox play. And then Sunday we played our second match against University of Maine. Prescott is, we ended up drawing one, one.
We were knackered by that point. And then we flew. So that was the first week of the season. That’s, that’s intense. That’s a lot. But then let’s just look at, you know, the, the last week of the season, we had practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then played a match on Saturday because by that time we’re in the.
and we’re having less matches. We’re only having Saturday or Wednesday matches. And then that week we didn’t have a match on Wednesday, which I thought was great, and we’re preparing for the conference tournament after that. But it was more of a normal week for the guys where they’d go to class and then they train and get up and do it all over again.
And that’s when we really get stuff accomplished as coaches. Like the finer details of set plays and systems and preparing for opponents, stuff like that. But the first week of the season, you’re just trying to keep the right clothes on and make the match and wake up [00:22:30] after five hours of sleep and do it all over again.
So, yeah, I mean, , these guys and girls that, that get done, uh, as a student athlete. It’s just amazing what they do. And, and the time and effort they put into it to me is incredible.
Matt: For sure. Well, you, you, you actually mentioned something there about a reserve game. Is there, is there a roster size you’re trying to hit?
Do you guys have a, a true varsity and reserve team? How does that work?
Coach: We have, our number is 35, um, that’s given to us by an institu. To achieve and that kinda dictates that we’re not too big, but we’re not more like 24, which is what you’re gonna see mostly in division one. Um, so that 35 number allows us to have some reserve games, but we’re not like tearing 60 like some of these other institutions are, where they have to create like a full on totally different schedule for the reserve.
We’re kind of treating it really like a professional environment where everybody trains together and then we will pull out a group of players to play a reserve game because we wanna see them play again or they’re also not playing enough and so we need to see them play more. Or maybe someone got injured and they missed four games.
Now they’re coming back and they need some time. So we’ll us, we’ll [00:24:00] utilize the reserve. To keep everybody on their toes. Um, this year we only played two. Uh, we wanna play like three or four, and we had three scheduled. We canceled one because we, at that time, we had like five injuries. And if you pull five out of 35, And you have four keepers, now you’re looking at 30 or 26 players, and if you’re trying to pull 14 players out of 26 to play a reserve game, you’re, you’re already dipping into first team players.
So we kind of balance our schedule as best we can. We wanna provide more reserve games. It just depends on where we’re at in the season, who’s. But we’re not playing 10 reserve games like some schools are in our league. One of our opponents does that. And then a lot of division two schools are actually creating reserve team leagues.
Um, there’s one in North Carolina. We’re not quite to that moment. Uh, I don’t anticipate we, we will be in that moment. We wanna play those teams, but we can never. Consistently produce enough, uh, of a roster to play 10 games. It would just, it would hurt the first team as much as it would help it. So I would rather not distract from, from our [00:25:30] first team games, uh, just because we’re trying to play some reserve games.
I would rather place them strategically. Within, within the season, like every two to two and a half weeks where the guys can continue to get. The guys that are not getting enough minutes continue to develop and they get to play minutes and we get to video them and and review that video as well. So we are, every game is being videoed.
We have huddle AI on the roof of the building and all of our training sessions. And all of our games are videoed through that. And I can just take my phone and turn it on right now if I want to. But, um, I think that’s really important for, for the guys to review and see where they’re at. Um, it’s a delicate balance, but.
To answer your question more directly, we’re training as a unit altogether all the time. Everyone is trained the same way, in the same manner every day. And then when we need to play reserve games, we’ll pull a group out. And say, okay, on Tuesday, these are the 15 guys that are gonna play, and we suit them up and play a match.
Matt: So. Awesome. Well, coach, I don’t, you’ve been, uh, super, super with your time and, and. Detailed into your program, and it’s been awesome. And I always like to end these the same way [00:27:00] and that’s what didn’t we talk about. What else would you want folks to know, whether it’s about the recruiting process, uh, the school, your team, or anything else like that?
I leave you with the last word.
Coach: Yeah. I mean, first of all, this is my 20th season. Um, I’ve, I have the best staff I’ve ever had and I really think. Um, what the women are doing here at Methodist. Uh, my friend Brian, his team doing really well. Uh, there’s a really good buzz around the university soccer program.
Uh, we have faculty and staff that are supporting us in the best way, so we’re in a really good moment, um, with our facility, with our support staff, with, with our coaching staff being so in tune with our programs being so. Uh, the women are probably gonna come with us on the tour of Europe, so we’re looking at that as well.
Being, you know, a, a good synergy. Um, you know, you couldn’t find a better moment to be a soccer person in the United States. The World Cup is going on. Um, it’s been so awesome to watch games. Um, I think I. Oh, I think I saw almost all 48 games, um, before the knockout round. Um, so it’s just soccer heaven right now.
Um, [00:28:30] for, for a person who played division three and and loves his university, it’s a good time to be in charge, uh, of a place like this and it’s a great time to be student athlete. There’s so many options out there for, for players. I just want them to keep their minds open. About what’s best for them because they all want to play in college and of course they all want to play at the highest level that they can.
Uh, and and I think we can provide that challenge for. A lot of players in, in youth soccer and, and America is in a really good place with soccer. It’s, it’s come so far and I can only imagine where we’re headed for 2026 when we host the World Cup.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. I’m looking forward to that for sure.
Well, coach, best of luck with, uh, your recruiting this weekend in. Thank you and getting your team set for next year. And if you’re in Philly for the convention, be sure to swing by the table and say hello. Would love to see you in person, or, uh, or maybe I’ll see you if you’re, you’re down this way and, uh, in Bradenton for some of these recruiting events.
Coach: So thank you Matt. I appreciate you bringing us on here and spotlighting us. Um, I love this, uh, type of format. I think it’s wonderful. For guys on social media to get out there and see, you know, and listen to coaches and, and what they have to, to feedback for them. So looking [00:30:00] forward to seeing it on social media soon.
Absolutely.
Matt: And then you tell Coach Brian, he’s next. Right? Well, we’ll get the women on here and then talk about that. He’s, he’s out there right now.
Coach: I’ll tell next up. Sounds
Matt: good. All right, coach. Thanks again.
Coach: All right, Matt. Have a great day. Thank you, you too. Bye-Bye.
