Missouri State University Men’s Soccer – Coach Mike Seabolt

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Mike from the Missouri State Men’s Program. We talk about how he looks at recruiting international versus domestic players. He describes how their field is in the center of campus. Lastly, we discuss his preference for two-way players. Learn more about Missouri State University Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by my buddy coach Seabolt up there at Missouri state welcome coach.

Coach: Thank you. Good Matt. Great to see you. 

Matt: And, and, uh, yeah, we’ve had a long time friendship and, uh, appreciate that. And, uh, It was good to see you not too long ago, uh, at a, at a concert and that was a, uh, a good coincidence.

Coach: And, uh, it’s a pleasure to be on this, uh, this podcast. 

Matt: Well, thanks. Glad it was good. Nice to have you back in the Tampa area where we first met over, can’t believe it’s been over 20 years ago, but, uh, But, you know, you went from UT to West Virginia, you had some other stops and now you’re at Missouri state.

So, so let’s talk Missouri state, huh? You guys are, you’ve, you’ve been keeping them in the, in the top 25 for a few years, which is awesome. Um, you know, we gotta get, you gotta figure out how to schedule USF so we can, so I can, you know, come, come watch you play, uh, instead of just watching on Espen, um, You know, and I’m going to try to do this like I do my other ones, but you know, we, we, we have some history and then there’s some interesting things about your program, but so, so we’ll talk recruiting, which is how I always open these up.

And the 1 interesting thing about your roster is I only see 2 Americans and they’re both goalkeepers on that roster. So. Everybody always asks me like, Matt, what, what’s going on with like Marshall and Missouri state and these teams with what’s going on with all the international players. And, and, I mean, I kind of know the answer.

Obviously I recruited some international players when I was coaching D2, but you know, [00:01:30] what, what is it about the international side of things that, that intrigues you and how, how has that really come about for your program? 

Coach: Yeah, no, that’s a good question. And it’s, it’s not, it’s not. intentional. Um, what it really is, is we recruit the best students and the best young men and the best athletes.

And, uh, we recruit them whether they’re from Springfield or Missouri or the Midwest or the United States and the globe. And Those are the ones that have chosen to come. Right. And so, um, that’s really it. It’s, it’s not, it’s not that we, uh, target a particular group. Um, in fact, if anything, we target locally really well.

I’ve been a director in a local sports club here for 13 years now, um, sporting Springfield. That’s a, uh, supporting Casey affiliate and involved. And we’ve had some really good local players. It just hasn’t been, uh, the last few years that, that those guys have come to fruition for whatever reason. Um, one, one guy that was really good that I coached locally left and, and went out to Grand Canyon, um, and he wanted to go to a, a school based on religion a little bit.

And, and that’s fine. We supported that decision and, and um, and then, uh, just hasn’t been a couple, any guys lately, but, you know, really it’s not a targeted thing, it’s just something that’s happened organically. Uh, I think there are some reasons that. It does occur, though, and I think I think Marshall you bring up is a good example.

I think when you look at some of the [00:03:00] schools that are public state universities that are very affordable, um, that, uh, it becomes an attractive place for international students because of that affordability. Uh, there’s kind of a misrepresentation. Sometimes people think that they’re all on big scholarships, but that’s not the case.

We only have 9. 9 scholarships. So, uh, a lot of that’s the piece and sometimes sometimes the young American guys. You know, like, for example, SLU is a great university and a great school, and if a guy’s from St. Louis, it’s pretty hard to get a really top one to not consider SLU in their backyard and play in front of friends and family, so, but once you’re coming across the seas, it doesn’t really matter the location in some ways, so there’s just some different factors that come into it, but We want to recruit the best Americans and have great Americans and it’s ongoing.

And we’ve had some really top ones. It just happened to be right now. The other thing that’s happened was kind of a big thing was COVID. And it was really hard during COVID to get out and identify 15, 16 year old young Americans, because you weren’t allowed to get off campus. And so that was really hard.

And those resources weren’t there. So that, I think that affected all of us a little bit. Um, and so there’s just been several factors, but I’m sure the roster will flux and change in the next couple of years as well, and it’ll just be a trend. 

Matt: So what is, you know, some of the questions I get are, okay, there’s, you know, we, we gotta have, uh, There’s got to be players good as good as these international guys.

Why would, why would a coach pick an international guy [00:04:30] over an American kid? And, and it’s, and again, I understand the nuance here, but what, what is it kind of give me a little bit of background or what, what are some of the things maybe an international player brings? That you might not see it a kid at, at sporting Springfield or Braden river soccer club or any of the other clubs here in the States.

Coach: You know, and see, that’s, that’s the thing that I don’t think there’s anything. I don’t think there’s anything. I think the thing that it is, is best player and the best player. That’s American right now. He’s not going to college. The best player that’s American is going to MLS next pro and or USL pro, and they’re trying to go the pro route.

Very few of the best Americans right now are taking college as their plan. A in fact, Johnny Torres, uh, from Creighton and I just, you know, went up in the preseason, we played at Swope park with sporting Casey, and we did a talk. Uh, education talk with the young men at sporting Casey, uh, as asked by their directors.

Because they’re trying to get it back into their curriculum as a college is a pathway and Sporting KC has not even put in their pyramid their pathway for their young players. College wasn’t even on the pyramid until this year, and they put that back in they want that back in and we want to put that back in for these young men.

And so we did that we’re going to do more of that johnny and I are going to go back and do some more education with the Sporting KC kids in the spring, because we want them to realize that college soccer is a good opportunity. So. [00:06:00] It’s really not, uh, that the international students are, are, are bringing something, um, that the Americans don’t have.

That’s not it at all. It’s that the international young man that plays for Real Madrid until he’s 18 and then gets released from Real Madrid, he’s excited to go to university. And the same 18 year old that plays for sporting Casey is not thinking about university right now. On the whole, there’s always exceptions, but on the whole, and so that we’ve got to change that we’ve got to get American families and American athletes to get back to thinking as college is an interesting and exciting pathway, because right now there’s a little bit of a temptation that we’re going to go the pro route.

But then what we’re finding is at 2021 years old, some of these young Americans are then out of the pro game. And now they’ve missed on the college opportunity. And so we’ve got to educate we’ve got to bring that. To the to the young americans because they’re top top players. We got to get college back on their pathway and back on the front of their mind.

And that’s something that as coaches, we need to keep working on and we got to keep evolving. And that’s why we want to do the 21st century model with soccer. We want to have a 10 month college season and do some of these things because we want to make this a pathway that americans are really excited about, um, and make it a better environment.

So those are really the things Mhm. Okay. 

Matt: All right. Well, you mentioned MLS next pro, but are you, when it comes to American recruiting to, to the, does the initials matter of the league? What kind of events do you go to? What are you focusing on? Where, where do you like to see top players?

Coach: [00:07:30] Yeah. I mean, MLS next is fine, but the ECNL is fine and even, even other, um, club opportunities and youth opportunities and even high school, they’re good players all over the place.

And sometimes the best ones are, you could be, still could be found in, in, uh, uh, unique circumstances. So, like, we’ve got a guy, uh, he’s not on our team this fall, so he doesn’t show up on our roster because he has an injury and he’s redshirting and we’re only allowed 26 on our roster. So, he’s having a medical redshirt this season, uh, but his name’s Eli Zelkin and he’s here at school at Missouri State.

He was with our team last year as a redshirt, not medical, but just a redshirt, this year medical. Um, and he’ll be rejoining us in January and Eli’s from Southern California and we found him in ECNL and he’s absolutely fantastic. I think he was ECNL player of the year for Southern California. He was an ECNL All American and Eli is a tremendous talent.

And, um, so, so you can look at all those places and you can find players. And, and I think sometimes because of what we just described, ECNL or some other levels can be really interesting because They don’t have that access to go pro right away at 19. So maybe there is more of an excitement to go to college.

And that goes to another thing. I think that’s important. I think we’ve got to start to think about like hockey has done, you know, hockey, you’re allowed to go two years pro, um, and pro juniors. And then go to university. I don’t know all the ins and outs, but I pretty much understand that you can go two years for junior hockey and then go into college.

And I think we got to look at that with with college soccer as well. I [00:09:00] think we got to look at finding a pathway for young Americans to explore that opportunity in a professional environment. Do they get to the top top level, and if not, I think college still could should be available to them, you know, maybe not when they’re 25 but but give them a couple years.

It’s very, very similar to hockey to, to mature and, and, and find that a right pathway for themselves and, and see if they can go direct to pro or if college is the right thing. Yeah, that 

Matt: would, that would be an interesting model. I think, I think you’d find a lot of support for that, but we got to get the 10 month season, uh, across the line 1st.

Right. Um, all right, well, in terms of, um, the school, let’s talk about Missouri state a little bit. I’m sure there’s some folks out there who, you know, aren’t that familiar with it. Um, So you’ve been there a few years, kind of give me what are some of the things that you love about the school that you found are awesome.

Maybe some insights that maybe we wouldn’t learn even just by going through the website.

Coach: Well, Springfield, Missouri is an unbelievably cool place to live. Um, you know, it’s a, the whole community, the whole metro area is probably 450, 000 close to half a million people. Um, you know, good climate. It’s really far south.

I mean, if people think of it Midwest, but we’re stone’s throw from Arkansas, right? So, from, from, from where I sit right now on campus, it’s 45 minutes to Arkansas. So, when you start, then we say Arkansas, then people think, okay, that’s in the south. So, you know, so we’re very different than Kansas City and St.

Louis. In terms of our climate, in terms of, in terms of [00:10:30] geography and everything. And then we’re in the Ozark mountains or hills and so lakes and it’s green and hiking. And I was actually just talking to the, the, the head coach at Drake about their visit down here, uh, in a few weeks time. And, and do they need training?

He said, well, no, we’ll train on the day before, but the morning we’ll go for a. A little hike in the woods, you know, we’ve got some cool trails we found over the years coming down to Springfield. And so it’s a place where you wouldn’t think about that, that there’s, there’s hiking and fishing and outdoors and that’s pretty cool.

And, and uh, then the city’s super supportive of Missouri State University. We’re, um, you know, one of the flagship businesses really in town, along with Bass Pro. Uh, it’s a home of Bass Pro. Um, so there’s your anecdote for you, but yeah, you know, it’s 26, 000 students in the heart of the city. Uh, really nice campus, modern campus, uh, tremendous apartments and places for students to live and facilities, um, you know, recreation and, um, all the things they need are soccer fields in the middle of campus, which is a really cool perk for our guys.

Um, so it’s just a great place to live and work. And, uh, um, and like I mentioned earlier, I mean, it’s an affordable education, a high quality education, uh, the school and the board of governors and the president worked hard to make sure that’s the case. And, uh, we’ve got good support for students, uh, in terms of academic scholarships and financial aid as needed and and all those things.

So that makes it a great place for a student to go to school and and get a great degree, do it affordably, not have a ton of debt. And, [00:12:00] uh, and it’s just a really good, good, good college environment. 

Matt: Well, you know, part of it is also the academic piece, right. And, you know, one thing that, that I know I found, at least in my experiences with, with international players coming from those academies and getting into college, it’s a different animal, right?

The, the, the academic piece is something they got to learn how to do. So, you know, how do your players really make. Make it to balance school and sport and, and what kind of support services does the, the school have to help them with that?

Coach: Yeah. I mean, I think it’s been a fantastic, uh, we’ve got, we’ve got a, uh, achievement center that’s right next to my office here.

Uh, so we have a full time person that works with our student athletes and make sure they’re, they’re getting the support they need and we’ve got tutoring and all those things available, uh, as needed, uh, to add onto that. So we’ve got that advising and support. And then also within each each, uh, The department, obviously there’s advisors as well.

So you’re kind of getting a double, double support structure, you know, the athletic support and then the regular student support, which is, which is amazing. And then, you know, uh, you know, Missouri State has just done a great job with, with, um, helping guys adapt to the English when needed. And those things we’ve got ESL courses available as needed for students.

Uh, we’ve got a huge international student services office that’s we’re great partners with them and, uh, tremendous staff, um, working with athletes, but also just the other thousands of international [00:13:30] students that we have on campus. And, uh, so that that that for international students, that that transition has been easy, and we’ve been able to support that for Americans the same.

They’ve been able to to come in and get tremendous support and and those academic services and. And we’ve had, you know, you know, last year, our GPA was at 3. 6. We, we had a student athlete a few years ago to win the award for the. Uh, top student athlete in the whole country for all of men’s soccer. Um, and so we’ve, we’ve had some tremendously high level students.

One of our former players and the guy named Heath Belusion, who is from Springfield, Missouri, that I recruited and coached here, he’s now a doctor here in town, he’s an orthopedic surgeon. So, I mean, we’ve had so much success helping guys to have tremendous athletic, athletic, but academic success, Cal Hebert, who plays for.

Uh, St. Louis City right now. He’s, uh, got his master’s in accountancy and he’s playing pro soccer. So, I mean, those are, those are cool, cool stories and, um, that academic support. And then, like I mentioned, our field being in the middle of campus, you know, we’ve both been in some different places and seen different places.

There’s something special about looking at the South side of your stadium and there’s the business school, right? And our business school has over 5, 000 students and a huge part of our team is in the business school. So they’re, they’re literally walking across the street from the locker room to go to class.

And that makes life so easy. You’re not getting on a bus or this or that. So we’ve been able to support students really well. And it’s been a big part of our success. 

Matt: That’s awesome. Well, you know, you’re, you’re in the, you and I are talking, it’s mid October in the heart of the. The [00:15:00] conference schedule and, and, you know, trying to fight your way to that national tournament again, but kind of give me an idea, what would a typical week?

Look like for a player during the season right now, like when, when are you practicing one of their classes kind of what’s the standard game cadence? What, what all goes into a week as a student athlete in Missouri state.

Coach: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think, uh, you know, as college soccer is right now, there is hardly a standard week, right?

Because the games are, are all over the place. But on a general basis, we’re going to have class and school and study time throughout the morning, right? That’s going to be an important school time till early afternoon till about two o’clock for most guys to two 30. Uh, three some days and then after that, you know, maybe a bit of pre have injury prevention type work.

Um, some film analysis that will do sometimes in a video room, but a lot of times in the locker room because we’ve been able to upgrade the locker room is a really nice facility in a nice, nice place to meet and do some film. Then we’ll of course have training and then, uh, a couple times a week we’ll hit the weight room after training as, as well.

Uh, and then, you know, with the busyness of the season, sometimes it’ll be just, just filming, just weights if maybe it’s a recovery day or, or whatever. And then of course, maybe some extra training for guys that are playing a bit less and, and need a, need some extras. And, and the other, the other cool thing about the campus and the facility that we have being in the heart of campus, [00:16:30] they’re able to access that on their own.

And you, you, you hardly walk by the field in the afternoon. and don’t see a men’s soccer player out there working on his craft. Actually, it’s a day off today and I, I saw a couple guys as I was walking in, they were, they were walking out towards the field. So, um, so that’s, that’s, that’s great that they have that access and, um, they just really, you walk in three blocks from where they live to, to come in and do that.

And then of course we have the travel and the bus rides and, uh, we try to make those as comfortable as we can. And then try to create an environment on the road that’s very similar to our home environment. And, uh, you know, we have a routine on game day, sort of four hours before the game, we have a team meal and a pregame meeting and then, you know, treatment and injury prevention.

And then, you know, a last second meeting before we head to the field, just to fine tune our restarts and make sure we know what we’re doing for the, for the game and then warm up and then, uh, and then hopefully get a result in the last five years. Like you said, the guys have been pretty good getting the results and.

They’ve been the winningest team in the country for five years now. And, um, actually for seven, you can go do it either way, whatever way you want to do it and set the last seven years, the last five, you can do the math and we’ll, we’ll have the best win percentage in the country. And, um, but the last four in the NCAA tournament, and we’re just working hard to, to, to get ready for our next game, which will be Evansville, uh, uh, six days from now on Wednesday.

Matt: Uh, my old stomping ground. Sorry, you got to go there. No. Um, well, let’s talk a little bit about the team. One thing you said earlier, [00:18:00] which, which I was surprised that you said you have, you will have a max roster of 26. now I’ve, you know, I did the survey and, you know, the average. College roster size across all divisions, men’s and women’s that I heard was 30.

Um, but it went, you know, it went from some, you know, Juco’s may only get 16 to some guys, these smaller NAIs may have, you know, 60 if the reserve team. So, but 26 for, uh, a big D one pro, you know, a top 25, D one, that’s a little light, is it, or what, so why is it a max 26?

Coach: Well, title nine. So, so that’s, that’s based on the title nine prong that we follow and, and, and the way, um, it’s been interpreted here.

We’ve got to have 26 in terms of our enrollment, women and men. So, uh, that’s where we are now. We, we do hope there’s going to be some improvement in that, in the, in the coming years. And, and, and the main reason I care about that is because what we talked about earlier is, is, is opportunities. And, you know, one of the things that’s also hard Is for an 18 year old.

I don’t care where they are from to get into this team playing college soccer and that it men’s division one college soccer in my mind is the hardest team sport to play for a student athlete in the NCA, meaning it’s the hardest to get into. And why do I say that I say that because there’s only 200 I think 11 or maybe it’s going to be 13 next year division one men’s teams.

Right. And I think there’s close to 350 women. [00:19:30] So there’s such a small window for us. And then it’s the biggest sport in the world. Right. So you’re competing against every. 23 year old in the world that has an interest in attending a university and playing soccer. So it is so hard, uh, to get on these teams.

And then if you’re 18 and you’re competing against guys that may be 22, it’s, it’s very, very difficult. So where I, you solve that problem for a long time and still does it by recruiting young men. And very often red shirting them and doing those sort of things. And I’ve done that too. I used to do that at West Virginia.

Um, we don’t have much room for red shirts. It’s very, very difficult. And so that’s also part of the recruiting processes. We’ve got to have guys that are mature and ready. And, uh, And it’s hard. So that 26 men roster can be a blessing. We make it a positive, we make it competitive. We make it a really good team framework.

We try to really include everybody and have everybody very involved and, and not separate the guys that maybe aren’t playing as much, we try to really keep it inclusive and with 26, you can do that. You can make it feel very, uh, almost like a professional team where like, for example, a primary league roster is 25.

Um, so we make that really positive, but where you miss out is a couple of key things you miss out on development opportunities. for for young guys that maybe aren’t quite ready, but you hope will be in the future. Um, you, you, if you have injuries, you have a little bit of a challenge and you also have a challenge in goalkeeping.

How many goalies can you carry [00:21:00] in that smaller roster and, and managing that? So those, those are the things we have to really be careful with. Um, and you know, we, we, I think we do it really well, but Yes, I would be excited to have a few more opportunities and be able to bring guys in and develop some different guys and, and, um, create those opportunities for young athletes.

And, and, um, so hopefully, hopefully that will improve in the coming years. 

Matt: Okay. Well, we talk about roster. What about your staff roster? Who do you have out there to help you? What role does everybody play? What kind of support staff does the athletic department offer to help? What’s that look like?

Coach: Yeah, Jordan Valentine’s on staff.

Um, he was a D two head coach, um, at Ohio Valley University and was very successful there. And, um, unfortunately that they, they dropped the program and I think the school ultimately shut. So, um, but we’re, we’re, we’re pleased to have Jordan. He’s been with us two years. And then Danny Frid, uh, is, uh, joined us from Mac U mid America.

Um, he was an NII head coach. So two former head coaches on staff, which is really amazing. And they’re both really good guys. And hardware workers and good coaches. And as far as roles responsibilities, it’s not like, okay, this one does this and this does that. We’re all in it together, um, working to support the team.

I guess Danny’s a little bit more doing some of the scouting of opponents. Uh, the general scout, uh, Jordan’s looking a bit more at the restarts and set plays and these pieces, but we’re all looking at all of it really. And then certainly when we’re training our own team, uh, we’re all involved and, you know, probably.

lean towards Jordan a [00:22:30] little bit in some of the attacking play and lean towards Danny a little bit. Some of the build up play, but that’s not set in stone. That’s just that’s just a general thing. And then Dominic Gillespie joined us this year. He was at a D two in West Virginia, um, on the women’s side, and he’s he’s our goalie coach and also just works with the team generally.

So it’s good to have Dom on staff as well. So you got Danny and Jordan is sort of equal top assistance and then and then Dom Dom is our goalkeeper coach and Um, he’s gonna be a good young coach. Okay. 

Matt: Well, how would you describe your style of coaching and kind of the style of play that, that you guys are looking to implement?

Coach: Yeah. I mean, I think, I think, uh, I mean, I enjoy the way we play. I enjoy the way our guys, our guys work and, and, you know, we want to be a hardworking team and if I was going to sum it up, you know, we have an expectation to be two way players. Everyone, everyone, uh, is responsible for being a part of the tack and everyone’s responsible for being part of the defense.

And, uh, You know, one of the big themes in sport nowadays is Is, uh, counter protection. How do you stop counter attacks and, and, and, and soccer and, and, uh, we were talking about that yesterday before the game and I said, well, if, if you, if you don’t wanna have to worry about the counteract, be one of the first guys to get in the box, right?

So if you run hard to get in the box and someone else has gotta stop the counteract. So it’s just, you know. Go forward with numbers and, and, and, and attack. Uh, um, everyone’s committed to that, that attacking play. And then defensively again, same, everybody’s got to track back and everybody’s got to work to press and, and, and do those things.

So, um, you know, we’re playing a modern. Modern version of the game. But [00:24:00] frankly, the modern version of the game, is it any different than the Pep Guardiola himself has said many times, you know, Johan Cruyff was doing everything I’m doing now. So it’s, it’s, it’s just a complete football experience and doing everything we can to be successful.

You know, I guess we would say we. Have a possession style. I mean, our possession numbers this year have been upwards of 65 percent in most of our games. Um, but you know, uh, we also work to press and defend and we’ve only given up four goals all season. And, and so just trying to be complete players. And really what I try to do is what I look at is.

How can we be excellent every day? How can we be the best we can be? And strive to do it better than anyone else in the world, right? So, we can’t suggest that anyone on our team is going to be better than Messi. That’s not reasonable. Can we train better than Messi? Can we prepare ourselves better than Messi?

Can we do everything the best that the world can do it with our resources? Why not? Why not? Like, you don’t have to be number one in the world in tennis to practice the best. Play the best, have the best preparation, the best analytics, the best analysis, the best strength program, the best diet. Right. You can do that even if you’re not the number one in the world because you’re pursuing being the number one in the world.

So that’s what we try to do every day is just try to find those pathways to excellence and, and, and boy, the guys in the locker room are amazing how much they, um, put in, uh, [00:25:30] to be as good as they are. And, uh, I think they are doing it really, really well. Are we doing it the best? We don’t know, but we know we’re doing it really well.

Um, and I don’t mean results. I mean, how we do the process each day. And that’s so important. And, and we try to coach the best, right. And do we do it perfect? Of course not, but we try to have that process be as good as it could possibly be, and, and that’s really my coaching style is just be as good as you can be every day and, and, uh, love it and be passionate and enjoy it.

And the second you don’t love it, you stop doing it. And I love it as much today as I did the first day, uh, you met me in Tampa. So people just keep enjoying it. And, and, uh, fortunately, uh, love it. It seems to help a lot because I love it a lot. And we seem to do okay in Tampa. We did it. All right. That’s right.

We’re doing okay now. So, um, I think that’s it too. I think that’s recruiting student athletes that love it. Right. If they love it. Then they’re going to do really well. So, um, I think that’s a lot of it, you know, so I’d say two way players and, and loving what we do, be passionate about it. I think that’s, those are the two main things.

And in the middle, there’s all this soccer and you know, what formations and all this, but a lot of it’s a lot of it’s, uh, a lot of it’s hocus pocus. The reality is every top team in the world has really good players that are on the same page. That’s what it is. And we have really good players and we try to help them be on the same page.

And you do that. You’re going to be successful for sure. 

Matt: Well, look, you, you’ve, you’ve been generous with your time. I know you’ve had a busy day. Um, I got one last question for you. Um, and this is to any parent [00:27:00] player, student athlete, anybody who’s looking to, to play in college, to take their game to the college level, especially D one level, if you had one piece of advice, one nugget that you would want them to know, what would that be?

Coach: Interesting. You know what? It would be, I don’t think you’re going to expect this. It’d be stop playing video games. And because if you want to be excellent. Like you need to start thinking about what is my time management, right? What does my day look like in terms of being excellent at sport? Right? You would never, if I, if I said to any parent, your, your child, if your child is going to be an unbelievable concert pianist.

I think every parent would know, boy, I better get a piano and my child is going to need to be on that piano five, six hours a day. I might as well forget naps because my child is going to be on that piano. They are going to be going right. There’s no other way to get there, right? There’s no shortcut to the 10, 000 hours.

There’s no, uh, you know, uh, short, there’s, there’s one recipe for excellence and it’s. Putting the time in now, it’s got to be the right time and it’s got to be, it’s got to be constructive, but fundamentally you got to put the time in. And I just think, um, you know, the desire and the, the, the, the, the want to be good and want to do well in sport has got to be matched by the time you put in.

And so. You know, time [00:28:30] management. If you’re spending more time on video games than you are real soccer or real sport, like it doesn’t have to always soccer when you’re 10 years old, it could be playing lots of sports. But if you’re out, active, moving, using your body is is outweighed by the sedentary time, then you’re going to have a hard time being really, really good.

So I think that’s the biggest thing. I think just finding that do your school. And then after school, before school, after school, you are yeah, More active than you are sedentary. And that’d be the biggest thing people need to change. Awesome. Love it. 

Matt: Yeah. Great advice. Well, coach, wish the best of luck as you wrap up the conference season.

And, uh, and hopefully we’ll, we’ll get to see it in the tournament and maybe, uh, Well, maybe, maybe get a good draw and have to play, uh, down here somewhere. And then I can actually come, come see you play in person, but we’ll, or, or if you get down here for one of the tournaments on the recruiting trail, maybe we get to get you to the IMG cup or something, but, uh, 

Coach: So sounds good.

And, uh, we’re going to focus on, on the episode game on, uh, on Wednesday and then, uh, see where the, see where the season leads us, but, uh, The guys are working hard and, uh, you know, we’re in a good place. So we’re just going to keep, just keep staying, uh, focused. And, uh, we remind the guys all the time just to stay humble and hungry.

And, and, uh, some of my friends make fun of me for that, but, uh, I don’t care. Well, that’s what you need to be. You need to be humble and you’d be hungry to do well. And, and, and that’ll take us a long way. 

Matt: Love it. Well, I, Hey man, I appreciate you. Finally, we finally made this happen. It took long enough, but I appreciate it.

Uh, even, even making the [00:30:00] change in your schedule. So thanks, man. Uh, and as you know, I’ll be rooting for you and we’ll see each other soon. All 

Coach: right. Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Thanks. Bye.