Carnegie Mellon University Women’s Soccer – Coach Yon Struble

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Yon from the Carnegie Mellon Women’s Program in Pennsylvania. We talk about why the transfer portal doesn’t really affect them. He describes their unique, high academic environment. Lastly, we discuss their standard week’s schedule during conference play. Learn more about Carnegie Mellon University Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Yan from Carnegie Mellon university in Pittsburgh. Welcome coach. Yeah, thanks for being here. Uh, we’re talking here after Thanksgiving, uh, end of November. Unfortunately, uh, you’re, you’re now done with your season, although a great season it was this year for sure.

Um, so we’re coming up on the December 1st weekend. So are you going East coast or West coast on your recruiting visits? Cause it looks like we’ve got, we’ve got the, the GA event in California and you got, uh, a big event in, in Raleigh and you may be going to either one, but in terms of, are you hitting recruiting heavy now that the season’s over?

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, honestly, we don’t miss a minute, you know, we, uh, always plan it, we plan for the best plan for the worst, you know, so. And obviously the worst being, you know, getting knocked out of the tournament. Um, so we’re dividing and conquering this, uh, weekend. Chris was my, my associate head coach.

Chris, he was at the surf conference, slumber lakes. Um, he stuck around for the week and he’s going to go to the GA event up at Norco. And I will actually be in Tennessee this weekend for the ECNL event in Nashville. 

Matt: I even forgot that one. Yeah. You got in Tennessee and you got, uh, Raleigh. So, um, so. You guys are, uh, I’ll say a bit different, um, on a couple levels 1 just from the academic standpoint, right?

I mean, Carnegie Mellon’s just just an amazing academic [00:01:30] institution. And then, in terms of division 3, you guys are, you know, just a top top program. So are you just looking at 24 right now? Or is 24 pretty much wrapped up and you’re looking at 25 kind of what is your timeline? Uh, in terms of of the recruiting cycles, the next one question.

Coach: I mean, it is we are fairly unique in many ways, like you said. Um, so we were done with the class. 24. we typically wrap up in the summer as best we can. Well, sometimes we’ll pick up a late player for variety of reasons, but. Again, typically we’re done in the summer, so we will finish the class of 25. That’s actually what we’re focusing on now.

And we’ll still watch 26s and 27s that write to us. It’s always funny when, uh, I get, uh, even eighth graders. I always want to be an electrical engineer. I’m like, really? And as an eighth grader, always. Okay. Um, but, uh, yeah, so we’ll, again, be focusing on 25, but we’ll watch 26 and 27 next year and we’ll, same timeline, more or less wrap up.

Next summer in July for the class 25 after our camps, and then a lot of that is actually academic more than athletic. It’s at that time we can get some feedback from admissions, nothing set in stone, but feedback from admissions how we can progress with a player at that point, and it is at that point that usually have the end of the year grades from the junior year, so a completed transcript through junior, and then there’s senior year classes which I need to have to make sure that what they want to major in will be the right fit.[00:03:00] 

Okay. 

Matt: Well, you mentioned camps to you guys, do your own ID cams to your, your staff work, other camps. How important are they in your overall recruiting process? 

Coach: Um, Chris, we’ll get out and do more camps. He’s, he’s, he’s the hustler. Um, but you know, he’s great. He’s such a great face for the program and he’s just a wonderful person, excellent coach.

I’m very lucky to have him on staff. I feel, um, having said that. Um, everybody in our roster has come to one of our camps. Um, it’s a little different here than other camps, you know. I get a lot of questions, are you working this camp or that? And my response is, I don’t, not because I don’t want to, it’s more because I’d rather be here at my camps, where I feel the value is at, if Carnegie Mellon were my top choices.

Um, the other camps, I can’t necessarily anticipate how much I’m going to work with an individual. We’re here and I can guarantee them they’re going to get, you know, basically now three, two days, half day, full day, half day of my undivided attention. And we’ve been, you know, it works. I mean, you know, it’s not a perfect system.

I know players will fall through the cracks and go to other schools and be like, Oh, I missed that when they were here. But, um, you know, we really feel like it’s, it’s a, it’s, it is the best way to see if they’re a good fit. Soccer wise come to our camp because they actually get to work with us and see if we’re a good fit for them as well.

Matt: So, you know, I mean, you have a, a unique challenge again, in the fact that you got to find, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re a top program. So you’re looking for the top soccer talent, but [00:04:30] also the top academic talent, right? And, and, you know, I’m sure it may be even harder for your, your, your, your guys coach versus the girls coach.

Cause girls tend to, you know, just have that, you know, That grade focus a lot of times more often than not, but, but how do you kind of manage, you know, when you’re at a camp or at an event trying to figure out, okay, this is somebody who ticks all our boxes, both on the field and off the field. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, it’s not easy.

Uh, what I try to do over the past year or two is when they write me for the first time. Ask them what do they want to study? Again, I feel Carnegie Mellon is unique, maybe not from all schools, but most in that, like when you apply to Carnegie Mellon, you don’t apply to Carnegie Mellon University, you apply to Tepper Business School, College of Fine Arts.

So each school has a slightly different requirement academically. Um, you know, for instance, some are surprised when I tell them the requirements for Tepper. Um, they consider business a science here, so you, they’re asking that you take the highest level math and science courses, for the most part, that your school offers.

Um, so that’s a little more difficult to know exactly what classes are taking, but so again, I try to get ahead of it when they first write me. Hey, coach screwball. I’m going to be in Tennessee this weekend, um, and I’ll respond if they don’t already tell me. What do you want to study here? And then I can give them that information and they can make a decision.

If they can take, get those classes in before they graduate or not, so hearing from players earlier actually helps because then they can kind of shape how they’re going to [00:06:00] progress through their high school because every high school is a little different as well, what they offer in the timeline and how to do it.

Um, so I try to get ahead of that as best we can because, you know, we I don’t want them to come to camp, my job, I’m not trying to just take their money, I really want kids to come to camp that not only can play here potentially, but realistically can get in, because it’s not fair to them, and I go, oh, thanks for coming to camp, and thank you for your money, but, you know, you can’t get in, so I’m sorry, so like I said, I try to get ahead of that, and again, that’s why we use camps to get to that soccer point and then say, okay, let’s look at your transcripts, look at your test scores one last time before we take that next step.

Matt: Okay. So, in terms of. Um, you know, it looks like when you look at your roster, it’s, it’s very national, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re everywhere and it sounds like you’re going to tournaments all over the country. Um, do you guys ever really look at the transfer portal? Anybody interested to say, Hey, we want to, we want to switch over to Carnegie Mellon or are you pretty much focused on, on the incoming freshmen?

Coach: Um, yeah, I don’t, we don’t really go to the transfer portal because of the COVID waiver for the past. Two, three years we’ve been getting, you know, graduates that are saying, Hey, I’m going to look at grad school. For instance, we had two on the roster this year and they were wonderful. Um, uh, we, in addition to a third that stuck around for her fifth year, we had one that stuck around for a fifth year, two years ago, and I think we’re gonna have one more this [00:07:30] fall or next fall, hopefully, um, but no, we don’t really go to the transporter because it’s really hard to transfer as an undergrad.

Uh, if you haven’t taken the classes and got the test scores, if you submit in high school, then it’s. Unlikely that you’ll still get in now. Um, so unfortunately the transfer rate is pretty low. Unless you’re going to a like institution, then it’s a little different. But even then, it’s just very difficult.

Not impossible, but difficult. So the grad students have the best chance right now because it’s not undergrad. Their classes are pretty full once they get through the admissions process. Well, 

Matt: I, I, I’ve We were talking beforehand. I, uh, 30 odd years ago, I spent six weeks as Carnegie Mellon. So I have, uh, a taste for for the school and it is awesome.

And, um, but I think folks usually know that it’s also not not the cheapest school in the state of Pennsylvania or or in the country. So, um, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here. But what, what, what would somebody be looking at? Coming in, you know, you’re, you’re, these are high academic achievers who might be getting big time academic money somewhere else.

But maybe not at Carnegie Mellon. Uh, so what, what is it, what is just a normal kind of student athlete coming in on your team, looking at in terms of, of costs, what kind of financial aid, all that kind of stuff? 

Coach: Um, honestly, I don’t talk money with families because my personal philosophy is really not in the business.

How much, you know, and so that, and others will ask, [00:09:00] I know, you know, prior coaches in the women’s program, they had one of the first questions they would ask is, can you afford it? But something is a big turnoff, you know, at the day, that’s the family’s decision, you know, and some will tell me like, this is too expensive.

And I, 100%. 100 percent respect that. You know, you have, I always tell them, you have to put your pillow on your head at night and feel comfortable about your decision. Specifically as we’re talking about financially right now. So, um, I would say they’re across the board, you know, we have families that can write a check and we have families that really rely on the financial aid they get, which is need based here.

Um, I’ve had players apply for scholarships, you know, outside Carnegie Mellon and come up with a pretty substantial amount of money. Um, as women engineers, as an example, you know, there’s a lot of scholarships out there for them if they, you know, do some research and apply. So, you know, and then we have everything in between.

Um, you know, the big thing we talk about in our admission, we talk about what we return on investment. Our return on investment, I think, is very high. You know, when our students graduate, they’re doing very well. You know, that’s one thing I can put my head on the pillow at night and say, okay, I don’t, I’m never compromising a player by recruiting them here.

They just have to decide if it’s the right fit and, like you said, can they afford it. Uh, and some can’t, and you know, uh, but I also find a lot of the players that look here are looking at like institutions that have, um, similar financial aid, you know, uh, philosophies. So they kind of, they kind of know what they’re getting into, I guess you could say.

Um, and again, you know, if they can’t, it just comes down to they can’t afford it. I respect them. I totally understand. 

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk more about the school. I mean, obviously I know a lot about it, but I’m sure there’s folks who don’t [00:10:30] or not even, uh, know about the, the history and the reputation, but you’ve been there a while now, you kind of, what are some awesome things that you enjoy about Carnegie Mellon that your players enjoy?

Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know just by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, well, there’s some fun traditions, you know, like, uh, You know, perfect example is the fence, right? So we have this painting of the fence. And anybody can paint the fence, but there’s some rules. So you have, you can’t, you have to paint it after midnight.

You can’t use spray paint. So you’ll see sometimes just cans of paint set next to the fence. And to be clear, it’s not a big long fence. 30 feet long, maybe 40 feet long. Um, but it’s your traditional wooden post fence. Now, if you look at it, it looks like it’s this enormous post, but that’s, that’s because there’s so many layers of paint on it.

Um, so student organizations will paint it, you know, based, you know, everything that’s going on now around the world, you’ll see, you know, political statements on there. As long as they’re appropriate, they’ll stay up. There has been inappropriate things put up there. They had to paint over, um, to keep your, your painting up there.

Whatever you decide to paint on their colors, logos, et cetera. You have to have two people in this box around at all times. So like I’ve come in. During pre season and there’s people in tents so they can constantly like a fraternity sorority as an example Constantly have people sleeping in these tents.

So they always have somebody in there So their sorority or fraternity organization stays on that fence for as long as they want. So it’s pretty fun It’s pretty funny to see some of the things that will go through to [00:12:00] keep their sign up, you know Keep their painting up there there was one year where An art student took a big chunk out of it.

I’m talking like You know, two feet long and like a foot deep. It’s, it’s very thick paint and, um, people are an uproar. You know, you messed up our fence. Um, you know, it’s a fun little one. You can’t miss it. It’s right in the middle. Um, and apparently it goes back to when Carnegie first started the school.

It started off with CIT, Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is our engineering school. And then not so far away was a building called Margaret Morrison, which was more or less for the women. So CIT was supposed to be for the men, Margaret Morrison for the women. Um, again, the story is that when Andrew was starting the school, well, his mom, uh, Margaret, uh, said, look, you’re gonna do something for the men, you gotta do something for the women.

So it was a professional school for the women in Pittsburgh. And you wouldn’t tell now, but again, apparently, there used to be this bit of a ravine that there was a bridge that would cross. From the CIT to Margaret Morrison, the students would hang out on that bridge and I guess watch the road go by. So when they took that bridge out, they put this fence up as kind of a memory of it to kind of place to go and hang out by the fence and, you know, socialize.

So, you know, like I said, I think that’s probably one of the most visible ones on campus that, you know, people see it. They’re like, okay, what’s the story behind this? A lot of fun. 

Matt: I painted the fence the summer of 94. So yes, I can get behind that. Yep, yep, yep. Too, too funny. Um, [00:13:30] well, and, and we talk about really the demand, the, the higher academic rigor right at, at Carnegie Mellon and, and you know, going from high school to college and, and being a college athlete as hard as it is, uh, I’m sure it’s even harder at Carnegie Mellon.

So really, how, how do your students really balance the demands of both being an athlete and, and a high performing, uh, you know, in the classroom? 

Coach: Yeah, that’s because of the reputation of Carnegie Mellon and because of, you know, what we’re trying to achieve, you know, our dreams here with the program.

That’s probably one of the questions I get asked most. Um, over the years I’ve kind of simplified it to soccer is the balance. You know, uh, there’s a lot of schools out there similar to Carnegie Mellon, very high rigor, you know, and my, my, my personal feeling is to go to schools like this without something else is very difficult.

Because you have no outlet, you know, we have a lot of wonderful international students here, you know, and I’ve talked to some of them because I teach soccer class, you know, and they’ve been really good. I’m like, Hey, why don’t you, why don’t you try it for the men’s team? You’re fantastic. Like, I’m not allowed.

I’m here to go to school and that’s it. But just that, right. Um, because there’s so much to experience at any college or university. So, um, like I said, my personal feeling is it is the balance. There’s times where I’ve said players, you know, they go, okay, you know, you look a little stressed. Do you need to go study?

And sometimes they’ll come up to me and say, Hey, can I, I’ve got three tests tomorrow. I can’t make practice today. Can I go? I’m like, absolutely. That’s why you’re [00:15:00] here. But other times I’ve tried to send them home and they’re like, no, I really need to get out and run around a little bit today. I’m like, well, all right, well, if you need to leave early, let me know.

And you know, they’re pretty good about asking. So. You know, like I said, I really firmly believe it is a balance, you know, when you get on campus here, it’s immediate family, you know, they’re here to help you, they’re here to support you, they’re here to tutor you, you know, uh, guide you along. So, like I said, and I really believe it is the balance.

Now, is it easy? No, like you said, um, we have, you know, a pretty tremendous support network within the university as well, which I know is very helpful for all of them. But, you know, I think ultimately they all know that I know that they’re here to go to primary school first. Soccer is, you know, kind of the icing on the cake.

And then if they need to miss something, I completely understand that they know I support that. 

Matt: Well, let’s take it back to, you know, maybe mid October or something middle heart of the season, kind of walk me through what a typical week would look like for a player in terms of when our classes practice meals, game cadence, all that kind of thing.

What, what, what would one be in for in a normal week? 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, October is conference, so that’s fairly unique and we’re pretty unique conference in that. I think we’re the only conference that flies the games. Um, so I’ll kind of weave that into that. So, um, We’re pretty lucky. You know, we have our guests on the football field, and then we have our soccer specific soccer field.

We share that with the men in the fall, so we obviously can’t both practice at the same time. We do have a moratorium on classes from [00:16:30] 5 to 6, so we do have a small time block of time where there’s no classes that are supposed to take place. So, that’s obviously the prime time, so we always want to take that time for training.

Um, so if one team’s practicing from 5 to 7, the other team will potentially practice from 7 to 9. Um, you know, and like I said before, you know, if somebody has a lab in the evening, which they do, they’ll come late to practice, leave early, and in some cases, unfortunately, not be able to make it that evening.

Now, in the event that we have too many that we feel is going to impact the quality of the practice, we’ll actually go in the morning. So we do have some morning practices. Uh, we usually do that morning practice the day after day offs, unless they get the better of us. They kind of, I always tell everybody, they have a love hate with morning practices.

They hate to get it up. But, it’ll hit, it’ll dawn on them like, Oh, wow, I have all afternoon off. I can get something to eat, take a nap, get some homework done. You know, do a little something else. So, you know, I just have a love hate with it. Um, now, We, our conference kind of did a nice thing where we used to have double game weekends, play on a Friday, Sunday, we do that twice.

They did split that up, but, um, we still have some of those throughout the fall. So we’ll have one next fall. We will be gone Thursday through Sunday. So we’ll fly out Sunday to actually, I can’t remember, but we’ll fly out on a Sunday, I’m sorry, flying on a Thursday, play Friday evening. Travel again, Saturday, play Sunday, and then fly back home Sunday night.

You know, non conference, I do my best not to schedule games that are going to take them away from [00:18:00] class. But obviously with conference games like that, they’re going to miss a little class. Thankfully, we have good relationships, you know, with deans and professors. So I propped her exams and quizzes on the road.

Frequently, almost every trip we take. So, uh, then we do, we do work well, you know, our, our, the professors on campus. And so it allows obviously the students to take a little stress off. It’s still stressful, but take a little stress off knowing that they can take it on for, uh, you know, the team males obviously are weaved into that, uh, you know, we do have a wonderful strength and conditioning staff.

So the, during the fall, they’ll lift twice a week and in the spring they’ll lift three times a week. But, uh, yeah, I mean, that’s a typical week. You know, throughout the week, you know, we obviously have days off. Uh, we, we try to give them, you know, sporadically throughout the fall, an extra day off in time, so they have, you know, to really recover.

But, yeah, that’s kind of, that’s kind of a typical week, you know. Nothing’s, nothing is exactly the same every week, but we do our best to work around players schedules so they’re not missing practice. 

Matt: Okay, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. I know we were talking recruiting before, but is there a, is there a roster size that, uh, that you’re trying to hit each year you find is ideal?

Coach: That’s a tough one. We were just having that conversation. We have a lot of talented players here, but you know, obviously game day there’s only 11 that are truly happy. So we hover around 32. [00:19:30] Uh, this year we’re at 33, but you know, we had some grad students come in and we felt we had the potential. They were going to be positive influences and they again, excellent, um, you know, we toy with going a little lower.

I think the challenge we have with the number is, you know, I tell me we start with 32 and then usually I have goalkeepers. So, then that brings down obviously 28 field players and unfortunately, at any given time, we’ll have. One or two true injuries when they’re out, maybe somebody was hurt, they’re just coming back, somebody’s sick, you know, they’ve got, you know, freshmen tend to get sick on every campus in the country.

Um, and then you just have some again that are missing for class, you know, they, again, that’s why they’re here. So we quickly go from 32 to 22 in one practice, and now we’re like, hmm, can we play 11 11 today? I think so. So, uh, so having a larger roster is, is pretty important, uh, for all those reasons. Um, so it seems daunting, but

Matt: So in terms of coaches, I mean, you mentioned Chris and, and that kind of thing, we were talking about roster size, but what about the roster coaches? Who do you have helping out? What are their roles? What about other staff, maybe in the athletic department that help out with the team? What does that look like?[00:21:00] 

Coach: Yeah. So there’s myself, my associate head coach, Chris Moraga. We have an excellent goalkeeper coach who. And frankly, on any given day, take the program and run the session. You know, he’s outstanding. Michael Zausig, uh, you know, our, uh, our trainer, I can, you know, he’s 100 percent part of our staff, you know, uh, Sal Vallejo.

He’s, we’re pretty lucky to have, he’s been around. It’s a major university. So, you know, so, so again, we have an excellent staff. I mean, again, I mentioned earlier players are injured and he does everything he can to get them back. In a healthy way. And it’s tough. It’s tough to get through. It’s a real, you know, it’s a reality of college sports.

Um, you know, we have, um, the head of our strength and conditioning staff, Al B. Narrow. He’s excellent. We’ve now started to integrate more sports psychology. Gentlemen, Denado are going to really utilize more of his strength as we become more involved. Yeah. I mean, we got, you know, pretty deep staff, I think, and incredible support from the administration and what we’re trying to achieve as a program and as an athletic department.

Matt: Well, now you specifically though, as, as, as, as the head gaffer here, what, how would you describe kind of your style of coaching and the team style of play you’re trying to implement there? 

Coach: Yeah. Um, you know, I think I read this somewhere online. I think I’m, I’m, I’m tough, but fair, you know, I would tell everybody I’m not an easy coach to play for.

Um, you know, [00:22:30] demanding, I mean, and it takes demands to achieve, you know, the dream of winning a national championship. But, you know, I try to be fair with what we do. Um, not every, you know, it’s tough. Everybody has their perspective as a player, and I understand that. Which is, you know, why I always say, uh, you know, it’s so important to communicate, right?

So, try to encourage players to come talk to me when they’re confused or have issues. And some are better than others, and you know, the ones that are better, we move forward. You know, the ones that are kind of difficult, they become difficult. But yeah, I mean, like, you know, there’s, you know, like, I stole this quote from somebody a while ago, you know, he said, he looked at him and he said, you know, coaches are like a pitcher of water.

You know, the players are like a little shot glass. We’re just going to keep pouring that water in there. Some is going to stay in that glass, some is going to flow out. But hopefully, the parts that you need stay in that glass. You know, I kind of like that. At some point, you know, we give a lot of information.

Looking back in the fall, this may be a little too much information. So, we’re going to have to make some adjustments on that. But, uh, you know, we want players to continue to develop here. You know, I think some coaches have a philosophy. You know, they should be technically sound by the time they get to college or, you know, we firmly believe we’re going to continue to work on technical areas year round.

Um, you know, others will maybe separate. Here’s our starters. Here’s our, you know, our bench players. But, you know, I firmly believe that everybody is equally as important. Um, so everybody’s integrated in every session. We don’t separate starters from non starters. They’re mixed in. Um, and don’t get me wrong, there’s certainly times like we’ll play 11 11 where all right, we’re going to take a look at the starting 11 and [00:24:00] move players around from there.

But, you know, try to be as equitable as I can, but end of the day, not everything’s going to be fair and even, but, you know, we do our best. Okay. 

Matt: Well, we’ve talked about a lot. You really appreciate all the info you’ve given us. But, uh, last question here, and that’s if there was one piece of advice, one nugget of information you wish all parents, players, families going through this Um,

Coach: I’m going to kind of, uh, uh, well, number one, they should probably know that for division three programs, they can communicate at any time. Um, that’s probably one of the biggest things I get a lot of players say, you know, I know you can’t talk to us yet. I’m like, well, actually, we can talk to you at any time.

And having said that, you know, along, and along with that would be, you know, players should reach out, you know, they should be the ones communicating, they should be the ones making the email, you know, whatever, where they’re communicating personal, you know, dear coach, I’m interested in university because it’s a good school and you have a good cycle program, it’s a little generic and tells me that you’re running that’s about 100 people, 200 some cases, um, you know, so be specific and, you know, um, Because, you know, we read your emails.

At least I do. And I try to get some feedback as best I can based on those emails. So, you know, we want to make sure that you’re writing to us, you know, for just because. You’ve seen our school on the list somewhere, or you’ve heard, we have a good computer science program. Like why else? It’s gotta be some depth to [00:25:30] why you’re interested.

And I think that goes for any school. 

Matt: Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck to you and all your coaches on your recruiting trips this weekend. Uh, and if you get down to Bradenton for any of the events down here, uh, Lakewood ranch, Florida area, give me a shout.

We’ll, uh, we’ll grab a cup of coffee or something. All right. Sounds great. All right. 

Coach: Thanks coach. Thank you.