WVU Potomac State College Men’s Soccer – Coach Daniel Hott

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Hott from the Potomac State Men’s Program in West Virginia. We talk about the benefits of mixing in international players to the roster. He describes the benefits of being part of the West Virginia University system. Lastly, we discuss their roster size and ideal playing styles. Learn more about WVU Potomac State College Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Daniel Hott from W V U Potomac State College in West Virginia. Welcome 

Coach: coach. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate you, uh, taking the time to be here with me. 

Matt: Yeah, thank you. And the funny thing was we randomly bumped into each other at a pizza place in Philly at the convention knowing that this interview was coming and, uh mm-hmm. , and I’m still blaming you for why I’m tired two weeks after the convention, uh, staying up late trying to solve all the soccer problems of the world that we, that we were doing.

Um, but anyway, it’s great to have you on. Uh, Interested to hear about WVU u Potomac State. Um, I think there’s a lot of folks, obviously not familiar, they know WVU U and you know, the mountaineers, but, uh mm-hmm. . But let’s talk a little bit more about the school. So you guys are, uh, technically NJCAA, is that right?

Coach: That is correct, yeah. We are a. , um, NJCAA like program, like you said. Uh, we compete in the region 20, so it’s consistently one of the most competitive regions within junior college soccer. Um, constantly sending people to the national tournament. Um, so we are in the progress of trying to get our guys there, [00:01:30] or not only our guys, but also our.

Matt: Yeah. No. And, and, and I know that that region pretty well just from being in DC Cause it’s a lot of the Maryland schools and you guys are like right on the border with Maryland. Yeah. Uh, with your location. So I know junior college is tough cuz you gotta recruit twice as much as the four year schools. Um, so in terms of your recruiting going on right now, it’s, it’s showcase season.

So where are you guys spending your time? Are you, are you, uh, hitting those tournaments hot and heavy or what’s that looking like for. 

Coach: Yeah, so we we’re planning to hit a couple tournaments here coming up. Um, the problem is we, we kind of have a small staff and by small staff we have, uh, myself, which is the assistant coach for both the men’s and the women’s teams.

And we also have our head coach who’s the head coach for both the men’s and the women’s teams. So we’re, uh, we’re dual threatening here. We’re, uh, we’re trying to do as much as we can. We’re, we’re planning on heading to a tournament up in Potomac, Maryland. down at soccer plex. Uh, there’s a pen fusion tournament coming up here in February as well.

Uh, just a few that we’re, we’re trying to hit to, uh, you know, continue to increase our numbers here. 

Matt: So, and I think that’s maybe one misconception about junior colleges. Uh, they’re, they’re, yes, they’re usually state driven. Um, but you guys recruit outside of West Virginia and, and even internationally, right?

Coach: Yes. Yeah. We had, uh, on the men’s team alone, I think we had. . We had nine international recruits this past [00:03:00] season, uh, which was, which was really awesome. You know, I think international students kind of get the shorter end of the stick, I would say sometimes and just are overlooked. But, uh, for junior colleges, they’re perfect fits.

You know, we, we try and bring those guys in, those girls in and, and really show our, our local guys and girls that we may have different cultures that are around the world. And I think it’s beneficial for. 

Matt: Sure. Well, in terms of. , you know, a lot of people look at, at junior college as a way to, to be a stepping stone onto the, to the next level.

Mm-hmm. , is that what a lot of your players are looking for, that, that opportunity to, to continue to go on and play after their two years with you guys? And what does that look like for ’em? 

Coach: I think, uh, it, it goes one of two ways. You know, you’re either coming to play. Collegiate soccer to see if it’s something you wanna feel out or it’s something that you are coming in to prove that you can play at the collegiate level.

Trying to go to a four year, uh, I mean, this past season we’re, we, I mean, we’re very lucky enough to have, I guess we’ll call it lucky, a lot of colleges surrounding us. Um, a lot of four years, whether it’s, uh, division two, division three, uh, we have two junior colleges also around us. So there’s always colleges that are looking for both guys and girls to you.

That have that college experience and are ready to play at the next level. So I’d say this, we have two guys that, [00:04:30] uh, I know of are, are, are playing hopefully at, uh, a D three, a D two school near us, excuse me. And then we were fortunate enough to, to send a Guy Pro. So it’s, it’s pretty crazy. It’s, it’s been a whirlwind of a first year I’ll say that.

But, uh, we’re finally getting things in motion and we’re happy where we. It’s good to hear. 

Matt: Well, you know, and a lot of the four year schools, camps have become a really big part of their recruiting process. Is that held true for you guys, even at the junior college level?

Coach: Yeah, I, I think it does. We, so little background, I got here in September.

Um, so it was kind of a quick process. I would say my first day on campus was the women’s first game, so I had a lot of learning to do. Uh, but we were able to get things in motion. We had a fall ID camp, uh, which was a great success. Honestly, it was something that we are looking to continue to do, especially here in the spring.

So we will be having another ID camp here in the, in the, in the spring for both the men’s and the women’s teams. You know, I think ID camps get a bad rap a lot of times, and it’s unfortunate, you know, the a a lot of schools kind of make it. A money maker, a fundraiser, I guess I would say. And that’s something that we don’t want to do.

Uh, we want to give, you know, not only local guys, but out of state or out of country, the opportunity to just come see what a typical day is like, uh, as a student here at EM state. So, uh, we’re definitely, definitely looking to do another one here in the spring. 

Matt: Well, [00:06:00] Either a camp or, or you’re going to the Potomac Tournament.

Penn Fusion, what? Any place you’re looking at players, what is it that you are, are really looking for and that makes a player, somebody that you want to talk to and, and make that offer to? Yeah. 

Coach: Uh, really, and it’s, it’s funny you ask, we’ve, we’ve done a few Zoom calls of recent, like you said, we, we do a lot of international, so we do what we can and do Zoom calls.

So in, in that perspective, we kind. Look to see if they’re engaged, if they’re kind of just going through the motions, just listening to what we have to say. Not really asking any questions. We’ll really see if you’re interested or not. I had one the other day where, uh, we had a potential athlete and his mother both on the screen and I could tell that they had a great relationship and they were engaged in asking questions, and it was something that I felt really joyful of just.

I could tell that they were interested and I could tell that they wanted to know more. And her, his mom wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay being here. And that’s something that’s important to me. I, I like to create a family environment somewhere where parents are gonna know that if they come here, they’re gonna be safe.

So going to tournaments, uh, or camps or anything along those lines, just watching how a player holds himself. , you know, if they are going through a legitimate warmup, if they are engaging with other team teammates, or if they are, you know, [00:07:30] getting themselves right in the mental state just to go out there and perform, that’s something that’s really important for me.

Obviously, we’re looking at the tactical, the technical sides of things. Can they listen to their coach? Are they coachable? Are they. playing their positional position, right? All those sorts of things that all kind of tie together that any college is looking for, you know, we are also looking for it. Okay, 

Matt: well, one thing about junior college that should be attractive to a lot of folks is the fact that it’s usually a lot cheaper than a four-year option.

So, you know, I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but can you just give me an, an idea of, of what a, a student athlete walking in as a, as a player is gonna be Looking at both, whether they’re in-state outta state, what does the academic or athletic scholarships look like? Is there academic scholarships?

Just gimme an overall viewpoint of the finance. 

Coach: Yeah, so, you know, I, I’m not too worried about giving hard numbers or anything like that. Normally we tell our recruits to be prepared anywhere between 12 and 15,000. Um, we do offer merit-based scholarship. We also, uh, have some athletic scholarship that we can offer.

And I say some because everyone wants a little bit more, but unfortunately we can’t give it, uh, That that number I gave is that’s, uh, room and board. That even includes some, uh, you know, books that you might need. So it’s [00:09:00] not as, not as scary as some may think. Um, which is very, very nice. And, and you know, in-state students that’s even cheaper than that, than the number I just gave you, obviously just being a in-state school.

But, um, I, there’s plenty of opportunity for scholarship for. trying to get that price lower. It’s just the price range we kind of give people just so they can have that understanding of what they’re looking to get into. Okay. 

Matt: Can you tell me what the relationship is between Potomac State and Morgantown?

Like being like the, the branch campus, what, what is the relationship there? Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Is it, is it a no thing? What, what, what is that like?

Coach: It’s, uh, it’s definitely a big thing for sure. So we we’re a regional campus of West Virginia University, so. Our classes, everything we do is on par with, uh, main campus.

So it’s a great opportunity. You know, we like to say that we are on par with main campus and we can offer that big college experience within a little town. So it’s, it’s a great opportunity to say that, you know, you are taking the same classes that you would be taking at main camp, at main campus for a cheaper price, and also getting to play collegiate soccer that you might not have the opportunity to do at main campus.

Okay. 

Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about campus and the school there. In, in Kaiser, West Virginia, I believe. Mm-hmm. , uh, and, and like we said, you’re, you’re [00:10:30] right on the river, right over the border from Maryland. Mm, mm-hmm. . But besides location, can you gimme some, some things that make going to Potomac State attractive and, and what makes the school unique?

Coach: Yeah, I, I’d say I’m definitely a little bit biased, so I’m, I grew up about 30 minutes from. . Uh, so it’s an easy drive home to see the parents all the time. It’s, I know the area very well. There’s many different things that you can do, whether it’s, you know, you want to go out on a boat in the summer, or if you want to go snowing or skiing in the winter, it’s, there’s plenty of opportunities to do things within a 30 to 45 minute reach.

Even in town, uh, there’s a lot of opportunities we’re surrounded by local high schools. Uh, off the top of my head, I could probably think of 10 at least, that if you wanna go catch a, a game or see what, how local soccer is here, uh, there’s plenty of opportunity to do it. . Um, like I said, I’m a bit biased.

I’m a mountains guy myself. It’s, you know, you, you walk on campus here and you’re surrounded by ’em. It’s, uh, it’s a beautiful thing. Uh, where, where our soccer field is here on campus, we’re in between the softball and baseball field and overlooking it is just mountains and windmills. So it’s a, it’s an awesome environment to, to really put yourself in.

And it’s something that I can’t encourage people enough to look at for the sole reason of, you know, Some people are used to big city life. I’m not a big city life person myself, [00:12:00] so going to, you know, we’ll say the Pittsburgh area or the DC area, and seeing what that city life is like, just always drew me back to the mountains.

So it’s great to be here. I would encourage anyone to, to come check it out. It’s, uh, it’s a beautiful place. Yeah. 

Matt: Well, in terms of the school itself and. What kids go through both academically and athletically. Can you walk me through a typical day for a student athlete during the season? Like when are they going to class?

Meals practice, what’s the game cadence looks like, that kind of thing. 

Coach: Yeah, so the, I’d say it’s unique for a junior college. Um, myself and our head coach, we are full-time employees here. We’re here on campus 24 7. I’m here 24 7. I’m a part of my job is I’m a housing. So I oversee one of our, um, dorms here on campus.

It happens to be our biggest one. It, I kind of describe it as like a hotel. Um, so it’s, it’s nice that I’m here. I’m, I’m very accessible to our athletes, to our students. So it’s definitely a benefit. But, you know, looking towards a normal day, uh, kids are waking up, going to class from anywhere between 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Some classes are a little bit in the later evenings, probably labs, those sorts of things maybe in the four or five range. Um, our, our, our school works with us very [00:13:30] well, uh, in terms of making sure our, both our men’s and women’s teams can get to training, gets to games, all those sorts of things. So getting to class during the day, uh, our normal practice time and it’s very nice.

We’re the only team, two teams in the fall, the men’s and the women’s that uses our practice and game facility. Uh, so we’re not competing for times. So normally our practice times are anywhere from three to five, five to seven, just depending on whether the men’s or the women’s teams goes first that day.

Really it’s, you know, you’re gonna have a majority of the evenings off to, you know, be a college student, get your academics where they need to be, hang out with friends, do whatever you want to do to make sure you’re feeling comfortable. Here on campus, it’s, uh, we, we kind of. Our players, the trust and the freedom to make the right decisions and do the good things just because ultimately with my job as a housing coordinator, if something is to happen, their name’s coming to my desk that, that next morning.

So, uh, it’s a, it’s a pretty normal day, I would say. Uh, since I’ve been here, we’ve been able to implement some great things. Uh, we’re implementing some new lifting material, uh, getting our guys and girls in the gym and, and really just trying to get them fit and, and prepared for, uh, a long and busy season.

Matt: Well, let’s talk more about that long and busy season and, and talk about the soccer side for, for both teams. Is there a roster size that, that you are trying to hit that you guys find as ideal?

Coach: Yeah. So, uh, not many people know this, I, I would [00:15:00] say, but, uh, both our men’s and women’s teams were dormant in the 2018 season.

So we’ve been in a bit of a rebuild, I’d say. Um, but since our head coach has been here, he’s been able to take care of the women’s and, and get them back on. This is our first year together with the men’s team. Um, so they’re right where we need them to be as well. So normally I would say we like to keep our numbers around the 26 to 28 range.

Um, normally our, our both teams are traveling together, so we like to travel everyone. I don’t want someone to come here and their experience be wasted by being. A JV program or a development program, anything along those lines. Our athletic director works with us very well. She’s an awesome person. She makes sure that, you know, our athletes are engaged and are getting the time they need to be successful.

So it’s been great. You know, she doesn’t set a number for us that we need to get. She kind of puts our trust in us in knowing what we need as coaches. That’s great. 

Matt: Well, in terms, , your style of coaching, both you and the head coach, what does that look like? Your teams both, is there a particular style of play that you’re trying to implement?

Is it different from on the boys side and the girls side? 

Coach: Mm-hmm. ? Yeah, I think it really ranges. Um, this year for the women’s, we had a shorter roster than we would’ve liked, so we had to play a little bit different style. I would say. Uh, we ended up playing a 3 52 for the women this [00:16:30] year, which is a little bit d.

But we had three strong center backs that we could believe, uh, could do very well for us. And we found that, you know, it’s better for us to be more attack minded and, and rather than just trying to win one nil or just fighting to the end, you know, we want to be able to put balls in the back of the net.

Ultimately, whoever does that is gonna win the game. On the men’s side, uh, I think we play a more typical system of style of play. It’s a 4 33. Uh, we love a high pressing game. Uh, like I said, it’s the same thing with the women’s side. We don’t wanna sit back. We wanna, we want teams to play to our style of play.

We don’t want to change our game plan based off teams. So, very high pressing, very, uh, you know, we’re, we, we tell our guys to be very, Ball control oriented. We wanna be possession based, getting our out outside, our outside backs high and wide, just doing all the little things necessary to be successful.

And that’s something that we really preach here is, you know, we, we got guys and, and girls coming from all over the world. All different types of play styles. All we preach is the little things. If you do the little things right, we’re ultimately gonna be successful in the long. 

Matt: I love that. Well, it, you know, we’re talking here in January, it’s the off-season.

Um, you know, depending on which level of coach you talk to, they’re always lamenting about the, the regulations around off-season training and how little it is. But, so can you tell us what the Junior College [00:18:00] Offseason program, uh, looks like and what you guys will be tune between now and the fall? 

Coach: Yeah, for sure.

So it’s honestly, For me, coming from a D three program to now coaching at a juco, it’s very different and I’ll say that, and it’s very different in a good way. So we have a 90 day window where we can train up to 60 times and play. We have four play dates, so it’s honestly a, a decent amount of time that we can be with both teams and making sure that they’re ready for the upcoming season.

Ultimately, like we know it doesn’t count for anything, uh, but it’s very, very beneficial to get those touches on the ball and getting prepared for that upcoming season. You know, during the season we play anywhere up to two to three games a week, and that’s something that’s not very ideal because we struggle to run a legitimate training session because of overload.

So it’s something. We take very, very serious in the spring and in our early fall preseason, because that’s when we’re implementing our style of play, how we want our guys and girls to, you know, carry themselves all those little things that I, we consistently preach about. Yeah. Makes sense. 

Matt: Well, coach, you’ve, you’ve been very generous with your time.

We’ve covered a lot of ground and I always like to end these with what didn’t we cover? What is it that you want folks to know, whether it’s about the college recruiting process, about your school in particular or anything else? [00:19:30] I’ll leave you with the last word. 

Coach: Yeah, so, you know, I think something I, I definitely didn’t mention was, you know, the experience of our head coach, he’s got over 30 years of, of head coaching experience, so I like to call him the vet of the program.

It’s kind of our running joke just because I’m a, I’m a bit of a younger guy, , so something we consistently tell the recruits is that, you know, you’re getting a guy. 30 plus years of coaching experience as well as myself who’s coming off of his first season as a college coach. So you’re getting not only the veteran experience, but also the youthful energy that we can bring to, uh, a program.

And I, I think we, we could see the difference, uh, this past season and, you know, we’re looking forward to, to see where we go in this upcoming year. I think we have a, a lot of good pieces coming in and that we will hopefully continue to be very successful and build off the year that we had last. . Um, I would encourage anyone that is looking to play at the next level to not overlook the junior college process.

It was something that I unfortunately did, uh, when I was coming through my recruiting process, but there’s endless benefits, if I’m being honest. You, you get to go to one program and not only be coached under a coaching staff, but building a network of friends. , you know, after you’ve done your two years here, you’re doing the same thing at another program.

So you’re leaving with double the experience of being a soccer player and double the experience of just being a student [00:21:00] and being a person. And not only growing in life, but growing in friendships, growing in, you know, your overall mentality that’s gonna carry you through your, the rest of your life.

Absolutely. 

Matt: Great words. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck and continued success on, on building up both programs and uh, hopefully if you’re, if you’re down in Florida trying to, to nab some players, we’ll we’ll meet up again and it won’t be till January of, uh, the next convention.

Right. . 

Coach: We’ll see. I’m, I’m hoping to get some, uh, warm weather up this way, so. We’ll, I might have to take a little trip down there, . There Matt: you go. All right, coach. Take care. Thanks, you too.