Tusculum University Women’s Soccer Program – Coach Fyffe
Today’s conversation is with Coach Fyffe of the Tusculum University Women’s program. Tusculum is Division 2 school located in Tennessee. Coach Fyffe is a great person to talk to about Tusculum, because besides being a coach, she was a student and played soccer there. We discuss how their school goes about recruiting and what they look for in players. She gives us some insight into what it’s like being a student-athlete at Tusculum. Lastly, we discuss what their team style is and what it is like to be a player there. Learn more about the TU program here.
[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. I am excited to be joined by the Tusculum University associate head coach, Coach Vanessa. Thanks for joining us today.
[00:00:09] Coach: Thanks for having me.
[00:00:11] Matt: Um, well, so we’re gonna spend a few minutes and kind of talk about your recruiting process, uh, and then more specifically your school, because I bet there’s a lot of people out there who even know where Tusculum is. Um, and, and then of course your team and, and, and, and how things are going there. So, but let’s start on the recruiting side of things. So, you know, if, uh, if a recruit comes in, what what’s, what’s some of the first things you like to ask recruits during that.
[00:00:42] Coach: You know, um, especially if I’m talking to like a, maybe that classic, for example, right now we’re talking a lot to like those 2023s moving forward.
[00:00:51] I always want to ask them where they are in their recruiting process, depending what time of year it is. Um, a lot of that will help us as coaches kind of figure out, you know, Are we early in the recruiting process? Are you late? Have you done a lot of college visits? Like, and I think too with asking that question, it kind of helps me gauge how comfortable are there going to be?
[00:01:08] A lot of times when I’m recruiting, I get kids like I’m their first college phone call. And if I know that I can kind of maybe navigate, help them be more comfortable and more relaxed and just kind of be like this, just like a conversation with your friends versus, you know, if maybe they, this is like their 10th call, we might have a little bit kind of a little bit more flow versus me kind of helping them along in that conversation.
[00:01:29] So you say,
[00:01:30] Matt: great. Well, that makes sense. So, so you said 23, so that would be current high school juniors, correct. Um, so obviously NCAA rules say you gotta be a rising junior to, to be able to have the two-way conversations. Correct. So when, when do you find that you start getting. Kids reaching out. And when do you start looking at kids?
[00:01:55] Is it before that rising junior timeframe or is that, yeah,
[00:02:00] Coach: we definitely, um, we’re probably right now, majority looking at 23s. Now that being said, uh, I’ll definitely, if I’m at a tournament and let’s say I have a gap in my schedule, you know, uh, you know, I watch juniors all day, but I have two hours before I want to go to dinner.
[00:02:16] I’ll definitely walk over to maybe a younger game. Um, normally it’s, it’s probably more that you’re coming up just because it, depending to where we are in that recruiting process. Uh, but that being said, I’m always looking for players. I’ve been in fields where I’m watching a game and I’m like, you know, I’ve seen enough of that.
[00:02:35] I turned my head and I don’t even know what age they are, but I’m like, you know, you hear the parents cheering and you hear things going on. It kind of just pulls your direction over. So, uh, we’re always, probably looking at that next year’s recruiting class, but I don’t lock ourselves in when we’re recruiting.
[00:02:49] You know, if we find opportunities, I know I was out recruiting this fall and I saw a 24 and 25. So, you know, some girls like that, we just, some games I really enjoyed. Um, I’ve had some eighth graders contact me and I’m like, I love that. You know, their gumption. I know they’re looking at colleges and everything, but it’s obviously, like you said, I can’t conduct with
[00:03:09] Matt: them yet.
[00:03:10] That’s my kid. Cause so we live, we live three miles from the premier soccer complex in Bradenton. So all the big tournaments roll through. So we, you know, Yeah. You see an ECNL event a couple of weeks ago.
[00:03:22] Coach: I do like something that we can do is we can communicate on the behalf of camps. So I know like when I get some of those younger players, I do put them kind of into a folder for a camp folder and be like, Hey, they’re already interested in us.
[00:03:34] I definitely, I love players reaching out to us and I’m more likely to send, Hey, come to our camps and stuff. Cause that’s something we can communicate when it gets into that summer.
[00:03:42] Matt: Right. That’s great. Great to know. Um, so what, what are some of the. Well, maybe what are some of the questions you hear from prospects that you, you kind of give you, give you pause, right?
[00:03:56] That you’re just like, whoa, what, what,
[00:03:59] Coach: w I think one of my favorite questions over the year, I, I had a player I’d be like, so what does the nightlife like? And I’m just like, oh, that’s probably one of those questions you want to ask the teammates, you know, jokingly. But, um, or sometimes when they it’s. Some recruits come with questions.
[00:04:16] It’s not as much with the questions they do or don’t ask a lot of times when mom or dad are asking all the questions. To me, that’s a big red flag because, um, you know, I want the, I want the recruit to end up in a place they want to be not where mom and dad want them to be. And sometimes it doesn’t always align.
[00:04:32] So a lot of times when we have like a recruit coming on a visit, And they don’t talk at all. Mom or dad does all the talking to me, that’s a big red flag. Maybe it’s not so much with the questions that the recruits asking, but if mom and dad are kind of carrying the conversation, obviously we want the parents involved and we want, you know, we want to make sure it’s the right fit for everybody, you know, on all levels financially, academically athletically.
[00:04:52] But I think for me, that’s always a big red flag cause it’s kind of, it gives you kind of a little bit of a warning of what the future might look like.
[00:04:59] Matt: Makes sense. So with that communication, how, what, what is the method of communication that you prefer? Do you prefer email, text, phone, probably
[00:05:08] Coach: starting off.
[00:05:09] And I’m like, when I first talked to her crew, it’s going to be mostly through email. So a lot of it, uh, you know, they’re going to get me an email. Now that being said, um, I was at the damn old school, which I just like to talk on the phone. I I’m a coach. I love to talk. So. I kind of try to match what the player’s comfortable with.
[00:05:25] Um, I have players that like to talk me purely through texting phone calls are just not their thing. They’re not comfortable on phone calls. So they prefer, you know, surprise. Uh, they prefer to do texting, but, uh, when I first recruit a player, it’s going to be a lot of emails back and forth. Once we kind of get into that process, maybe we’re looking at inviting them to come in for.
[00:05:43] We’re going to have a phone call once or twice before that. And then just kind of texting the further we get into it. Probably the more likely it’s going to get kind of more mainstream with texting and more phone calls.
[00:05:53] Matt: So how many inbound contacts do you think you get in a week, a month, a year from, from potential recruits?
[00:06:03] Coach: Um, during early on, we’ll probably start off with getting somewhere. Like right now, I’m probably getting about 20 to 30 emails a day. Of recruits looking to that are interested in dusk glove. Now I don’t believe all of those are actually a hundred percent interested if that blanket, email that we all send out and they’re hoping for a response.
[00:06:22] And once they get a response from me, they’re probably not going to follow up with a more serious email, uh, for are probably more serious recruits. We’re probably looking at five to 10 in a week.
[00:06:33] Matt: So how, how does, how would a recruit stand out from the generic blast email? Like w how do you use, what do you see as the difference between the, okay, this person’s actually interested versus this person’s.
[00:06:49] Coach: Yeah. That’s yeah, that kind of like the blanket email. Um, I always something that really tells me it’s a blanket email when I get like coach five or Mr five, I get that a lot, which you would, it tells me they didn’t even look at my website, you know, our, what our team’s website. They found out that I’m a female coach.
[00:07:04] That’s a big blanket email to me. Um, but something that would show me that you’re interested, I’ve had recruits be like, Hey. I saw you played X team this past Wednesday, you guys won. Congratulations. It’s kind of taking those extra steps. Like if you’re, if you have a school you’re really interested in, you should kind of be doing some research.
[00:07:22] So if I’m emailing a team during season, maybe say, Hey, I saw you beat so-and-so congrats. Good luck on Saturday versus cause that just shows me that it’s not just them just sending an email. They’ve taken some time on their hands. Do a little research and be involved in our program. It was social media and stuff.
[00:07:38] It’s not hard to look up on Instagram who were playing and all that. So
[00:07:42] Matt: right now, what about, uh, when you’re looking at players, you know, obviously you can’t go see every single player, probably the contacts you, so, uh, when it comes to like video, like, are you getting highlights? Do you prefer full game tape?
[00:07:59] Like how do you. Um, a
[00:08:02] Coach: lot of, I like highlights, um, just because I, we, like I said, we get so many emails a day, especially if you’re somebody that I’ve not seen before, send me highlights first, send me short highlights. And when I talk about highlights, nothing drives me more crazy. When you have a highlight video.
[00:08:20] Where it’s like five feet around them. So they make a pass and I have no idea of the past was successful. I have no idea if they scored the goal, it was a beautiful form on the shot. But, um, I always have to tell parents when they’re doing highlight video, we want to see the play. I, it doesn’t. I want to see the player, not just receive the ball.
[00:08:38] I want to see how she moves off the ball, you know, after she passes it, did she move into space or did she stop running? You know, things like that. So a lot of times, sometimes what I find with highlight videos, they zoom in real tight, but there’s something to be said to show me the space, show me her soccer IQ within the video.
[00:08:53] Uh, sometimes positionally, it differs a little bit, a lot of times, like with goalkeepers, for example, you might get a little bit more gameplay because we don’t have as much, or you might get less depending on the position, but highlights are probably the best way to kind of initially send a video. If I want more, I’m going to ask for more.
[00:09:11] Makes
[00:09:11] Matt: sense. So do you, is there like a set number of players that you try to bring in every year? Or how does. How does the numbers game, I guess, or a numbers
[00:09:22] Coach: game, we’re looking to always replace what we’ve graduated, so that, so the number will flux. So if I have, you know, if I’m graduating five seniors, I at a minimum, I’m going to replace those seniors.
[00:09:33] And then depending on the year, I may go one or more one or two more, depending on what our team’s needs are, you know, did we have injuries? Did we have transfers? So it’s a lot of. Every year, there’s this internal team things happening, and that’s really good to reflect the kind of the recruiting numbers I’m going to have for that next year.
[00:09:49] Matt: And then for your school specific, cause you guys are NCAA division two, right? Yeah. What, what percentage of, of those players are getting some, some form of, of athletic money? What, what
[00:10:05] Coach: pretty much, um, everyone on our team is getting some kind of. Percentage of athletic money. Now that being said, they’re going to get, you know, we always start off with academics first, so they’re definitely gonna get an opportunity, get good grades.
[00:10:18] Cause that’s where, you know, I think for especially division two, uh, and like, uh, division three grade are so important and they support for division one because the better your grades are the more opportunity for academic ones. And then we can add athletic to that afterwards.
[00:10:32] Matt: So that, that was gonna be my next question.
[00:10:34] So are you, so you guys generally speaking, you’re, you’re going to try to see what kind of academic money they might get and then work with the athletic side of things to, to help get the best package for the kid. Correct without killing your budget. Right?
[00:10:49] Coach: Right. It’s kinda, it’s like, it’s always a balancing act.
[00:10:52] We want to help you. Obviously we want to bring in top talent and we want to help all those, you know, all of our players that we bring on and help them, you know, carry that load also. So, um, they’re definitely going to look at those academic opportunities. First. I always tell recruits we have recruits that will take the sat more than once because it can help.
[00:11:08] You know, um, obviously gain more academic opportunities, but, uh, when we’re, again, when we’re packaging, we’re going to kind of see what the, what the academic opportunity is, and then kind of go from there.
[00:11:18] Matt: So when it comes to recruits, what, what is your, I guess, hierarchy of value, right? In terms of their ability, their athleticism, et cetera.
[00:11:28] What do you guys, what do you value the most?
[00:11:31] Coach: Uh, for me, I think my number one thing when I’m looking at recruits is character. So when I’m watching a player, when I go watch a team, I just show up for work. Um, you know, if let’s say the girl, she starts the game with her coach pulls her, how does she come to the bench?
[00:11:47] How does she address our coach? I’m looking for all those kinds of little intricate things that, um, will help with our team. Chemistry will help with, you know, the player adjusting to our team kind of philosophies and everything, because I’m a true believer that not that athletics ism and like, talent’s not important, but character can make a big difference.
[00:12:06] Cause you know, sometimes with these players, They’re coming into a program where they’ve made, not where they’re coming from a program where they’ve been probably like a top player sometimes and coming into a program, we’re creating all top players. Some of that adversity can be hard. So I like to make sure that you know, their character, they break character, um, that they’re okay.
[00:12:24] You know, if a girl is as a ball on the field, how does she respond? You know, she just give up, does she go after that ball? You know, she kind of like, oh, it’s over. He, does she hang her head? Uh, Probably that’s one of the first things work ethic and character are definitely probably the two top things I’m looking for.
[00:12:39] And then once we kind of check those, kind of see some of those things, uh, we then we’ll move on to like, you know, what kind of speed do you have or, you know, what kind of ball skills do you have? How are you going to fit in a position that I need to fill?
[00:12:53] Matt: Okay. So outside of the recruits that, you know, everybody usually thinks of, right.
[00:12:59] You go to a tournament, you see a kid, you talk to them, you know, they’re graduating 23, all that stuff. What about transfers and walk ons? How do those kind of fit into your school specifically?
[00:13:10] Coach: Yeah. Um, we, we definitely have open gyms. We had several, uh, walk-ons over the years. Uh, you know, sometimes we’ve had girls that do.
[00:13:19] For whatever reason they, you know, they relate into the recruiting process. So we’re always welcome to have players come and walk on and give it a go. Uh, sometimes they pan out. Sometimes they don’t. It’s a lot about the player. You know, I find a lot of times players come into a situation with certain expectations.
[00:13:36] And sometimes when those expectations aren’t met or they had a different idea of what college soccer would be like, maybe it’s too much of a time commitment, or maybe it’s not enough or whatever level it is they want, does it match up with the mindset they have? So we definitely have walk-ons come on.
[00:13:50] We’ve had transfers come over into the program over the years, but I would say with transfers, it’s not as often just, I don’t know, it was just kind of where we are located or kind of the division we’re at, but we are open to all the all players.
[00:14:04] Matt: Makes sense. All right. Well, let’s, let’s dig into it a little bit more, uh, about the school since we’ve talked about most now, the division two school I coached at was in Southwestern Indiana.
[00:14:15] So we played some schools from Tennessee. So I, I knew where, where, uh Tusculum was, but, you know, w what would you say, what are the three things your school is most
[00:14:25] Coach: known for? Um, first and foremost, we’re the oldest school. So our school was established in 1794. So we’re definitely a very historic school.
[00:14:36] Uh, that being said our campus, I love our campus. It’s all that old brick as you kind of can see my picture behind me, it’s all looks like that break all the buildings match, and it’s a beautiful walking campus with really old trees and everything. So I think that’s something really well known about our campus.
[00:14:51] Uh, the other thing about our campus that I think we’re really known for is about, uh, helping first time college. So those students that, you know, mom and dad, maybe didn’t go to college, especially from like, uh, locally or regionally. So we’re definitely a funnel for those kinds of students looking to continue on to maybe somewhere where their parents haven’t been.
[00:15:11] And then a third thing about our school is we’re a civic art school. So. We’re looking not just to make better students, but to make better people and the experiences you get within the universe, you’re going to hopefully build on that and, you know, grow, grow the person that comes in. I always try to tell our players, you’ve got to leave 10 times better than you came in, you know, with this whole experience.
[00:15:28] That’s
[00:15:29] Matt: awesome. That’s awesome. Well, you know, one of the, one of the, again, um, purposes of this interview series is. People learn stuff that they’re not going to find just by clicking on your school’s website. Right. So, so, okay. Those are, those are three really great facts about the school. What are three things that are awesome at school that most people wouldn’t know or that you’re not going to find on the website?
[00:15:50] Plus what are the hidden gems about
[00:15:52] Coach: your school? Yeah. Um, I think the, the number one thing. There’s something that you just, you can’t don’t know unless, you know, it’s just the community at our university. I, myself, an alumni. Um, I’ve been coaching here at telecom for several years. Uh, I played here actually and you know, did that, all that.
[00:16:09] So, uh, our community here is I think is I put it up against an aid community. Our professors come out to gauge. Our student body is very motivated and supporting each other. We have a large student athlete population, but you know, I just, there’s no way I walk across campus. I’m not seeing a friendly face, you know, so everyone knows each other.
[00:16:28] It’s a nice, a nice tight knit community. And like, if you need help, people are willing to help you. If you need something. I know, like it’s kind of funny. I see players all the time, not even mine. So walking across I’m like, oh, Hey, how’s it going? Just the community on campus. I’d put it up against any community.
[00:16:43] We just, I love it here. That’s one of the big reasons why even as a student attracted me to Tusculum has just that nice tight knit community air here on campus,
[00:16:53] Matt: you brought up, uh, the word support and that, that kind of leads me to the next question, you know? What types of support mechanisms does your school provide?
[00:17:02] Whether that’s on the athletic side of things in terms of strength and conditioning or nutrition or on the academic side, tutoring,
[00:17:08] Coach: et cetera. Yeah, we, um, we do have like a strength and conditioning coaches that help our programs in the weight room and agility and stuff like that. Uh, we have, uh, when it comes to academics, we have like a tutoring center, so, and that’s free to all students.
[00:17:22] They can go there, they can get help with their classes. They can, uh, you know, they can actually tutor. To student tutors, which I think is really cool. So it’s students tutoring students that maybe have already had the class, which I think gives them insights. So you’re not just teaching what’s in the book, but maybe you actually had that professor.
[00:17:38] So you can be like, Hey, I had professor Smith, she really focuses on the definitions versus just being like, here’s the book, you know? So I think that’s really, really unique. Our school does a really good job of just supporting our students for their mental health and their physical health. So we definitely have different, um, avenues if students have different needs, depending on where they are or what they’re dealing with, that they can get help in all realms,
[00:18:01] Matt: which is great.
[00:18:02] And, and so with. You know, what, how, how specifically at your school do student athletes balance their studies in sport commitments?
[00:18:12] Coach: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, most of our classes, we are kind of, kind of between that eight and three window. We do have a few labs. I’ll run into that four to six, but for us that, with like soccer in the fall, um, our practices are normally like three to five or five to seven, depending on if we’re going first that day.
[00:18:29] Cause we share a complex with our men’s team, which has really. ’cause like on practice days, we don’t really conflict with class schedules at all. We, we make it, we, we, as a program really focused they’re student athletes. So they’re here to get a degree and they’re here to play athletics and that’s kind of a bit of the hierarchy.
[00:18:48] Um, but it’s a balancing, like you said, and you know, it’s a matter of making sure that those kids are missing class and they don’t have to. So we really try with our, with our scheduling to work with that. Obviously there’s going to be game days where we have to drive like on a Wednesday. Um, we have to drive maybe to a further way game.
[00:19:05] So during the fall, a lot of our students take only morning classes. We don’t, we don’t require that, but they do that on their own. Um, on Fridays we normally just have labs. So that helps a lot for Saturday travel. So students aren’t missing school class on Friday or anything, but it’s really nice because, um, with being at a smaller knit school and like kind of that.
[00:19:24] But tight knit community. Our professors do a great job of working with our student athletes. As long as our athletes are communicating with their professors, they’ll, they’ll do what they can to help each other out. Uh, we’re looking for them to be successful on the field in the classroom and outside as a person.
[00:19:39] So, um, our schedule overall works really well with our academics and I think our academics do a great job of working with our.
[00:19:47] Matt: That’s great. You mentioned travel. How, how much does your school tend to travel? And how does that factor in on
[00:19:54] Coach: our, in our conference, our games are on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
[00:19:59] So most of our Wednesday games are kind of, they try to keep in our company. Those Wednesday games closer as a, probably like a two to three hour window. Some of our Saturday games, I think our furthest game away is like five hours. So that’s going to be like an overnight, most likely we normally have one, maybe two overnights in a season, depending on how our schedule for home or a way more often.
[00:20:17] But, uh, we do travel when we travel as a team, we travel on a bus normally. So the players, you know, they go to the locker room, they grabbed their stuff. They get on the bus. They do their, a lot of them do their homework. We have a wife, we know the wifi coach buses. So they do a lot of that when motion and everything.
[00:20:32] So it’s, it’s nice because it’s kind of like, they get that balance of a lot of the way travels on the weekends. So that way they don’t have to worry about class.
[00:20:41] Matt: That’s good. So, so what would a typical non-game day look like during the season versus, you know, a game day?
[00:20:50] Coach: So, uh, they probably have one or two classes on a day, depending on how they’ve designed their schedule with their advisor.
[00:20:56] Uh, that may be they’ll have like a. A lot, like for example, one of my players has a class from like eight to 10 and then 10 to noon. And then she’s done from noon to three. We would have practice at like three to five and then sometimes we’d have video on certain days of the week and other days they might have, uh, weights just kind of, depending on the days of the week, but it’s kind of like, we try to have class time and then kind of soccer time.
[00:21:19] And then we might have some team bonding or team video time, depending on the day of.
[00:21:24] Matt: Okay. Um, now let’s talk more specifically about your team, right? Um, and, and that kind of thing. So if, if I was a, uh, an incoming freshmen, uh, w should I expect any playing time? Is there a, do you guys do a reserve team? Uh,
[00:21:42] Coach: that kind of thing.
[00:21:42] So we’re very much a. Uh, kind of competition breeds, better play kind of program. Uh, if you can help us, you’re going to play. That’s what it comes down to and playing time is earned. So for example, uh, we had several freshmen starting in our defensive line this year for playing 80 to 90 minutes. And then.
[00:22:02] It just because they were the best thing for our team at that time. So we class status doesn’t affect your playing time. Your effort affects your paying time and your attitude. So that’s a big part of it. That’s always a really good question for recruits to ask about, you know, having freshmen, did they get playing time?
[00:22:18] We do within our program. Uh, if you went onto our website, we do have a larger roster. So that being said, we do carry a reserve team to give them opportunities to do. And get a chance to get some playing time that maybe they wouldn’t get. Cause they’re just not prepared yet for that level, from a club to high school to college.
[00:22:33] So we do have a reserve team that does play a several games scheduled during the season. So that way they can have an opportunity to play other college, to preserve teams off. Well,
[00:22:42] Matt: that’s cool. So how many do you try to carry on your main roster or total roster?
[00:22:50] Coach: Um, it depends on travel and things like that.
[00:22:52] On average, our roster size is probably going to be varying between 24 and 28 for our first. And
[00:22:59] Matt: then would all of those travel to an away game or just a certain site? They all would. Okay. Cool. All right. Um, well how about, what about staff? How big is your soccer staff and what roles do each of you guys play?
[00:23:13] Coach: So we have our head coach. Uh, we have a graduate assistant and then we, from some years we have a volunteer assistance. I’m just, we don’t. So normally we consistently have free on staff some years we have four. Um, I would say obviously our, our head coach, uh, he predominantly is focusing on our first team eyes to go.
[00:23:33] So she had, had kind of float between both teams and then our GA is kind of the assistant coach with our reserved. Okay.
[00:23:42] Matt: Um, how would you describe, you know, your, you specifically in the head coach, but you’re, you’re, you’re coaching staffs style of coaching, as well as your team’s style of play. How would you describe that?
[00:23:55] Yeah.
[00:23:55] Coach: Um, I think my, my players would probably describe it as honest and optimistic. Uh, I’m very much a straight addict kind of coach. It’s just who I am. I’m not much for sugarcoating. Um, I, as a player, I appreciated the coaches that were. Not as a blunt, but just honest with me, I think it’s easier to deal with kind of criticism or, you know, critiquing.
[00:24:15] Um, that being said, I try to, as a coach, anytime I’m coaching my players and like, you know, I’m saying, Hey, you need to do this. I don’t just tell them what they’re doing wrong. I tell them why we need to do it better. So hopefully kind of putting those two things together helps them mentally kind of come over that hurdle of.
[00:24:32] When I’m, when I’m coaching, I’m a very energetic kind of bubbly. And you see, I talk with my hands a lot and I talk fast. So that’s just kind of just who I am all the time. Yeah. It’s just who I am. Um, so that being said, uh, when we go to practice, especially if I’m running a session, I don’t necessarily put like time limits on sessions.
[00:24:49] Obviously we have a window that we got to get practice in and out of, but if I have a drill set up, we’re going to stay on that job until we see. Now, so sex can be defined different ways, done different drills. I can make adjustments, maybe the Joel’s too small. So make it a little bit bigger so they can find success, but we’re going to come out.
[00:25:06] I kind of always tell our players, you know, the soccer field is our sanctuaries. You’re going to come out, you’re going to respect the sanctuary. You know, you’re gonna respect the field. Let’s get busy, let’s do business, but we’re going to have some fun along the way. So, you know, if you’re not enjoying what we’re doing, then it’s not, you know, there’s, nobody wants to be on the field and being grumpy and not enjoying it.
[00:25:24] We try to make it fun. We try to have, um, aspects of competition and everything. I always think it’s more fun when you’re competing. It’s your teammate, whether it’s relays, you know, whether it’s, you know, playing 11 to side, whatever it is, putting those competitive elements in it, I think also help it kind of elevate it.
[00:25:39] Matt: Well, what about, what about style of play in terms of regular gameplay? What, how do you, how would you characterize yourself?
[00:25:45] Coach: Um, I would definitely say style play. We are very, a very direct kind of team. We’re looking to move the ball forward. I always tell our teams, we want to minimize collateral damage.
[00:25:55] So as much as possible, we’re trying to play in the other teams have, uh, depending on, depending on who our team is that year, um, as a staff we’re not locked in to, we’re only going to play X formation. So I’m going to use the tools in my tool belt. So if I have more midfielders, I might play a heavy midfield information.
[00:26:15] Maybe I have more stronger strikers this next year. So maybe I’ll play a more front kind of loaded formation, but, uh, no matter what formation we play, when it comes to style or point, very direct trying to get the ball.
[00:26:28] Matt: Cool. So, you know, it’s, it’s January, I’ll be at the last day of January. So you’re in off season.
[00:26:34] It’s
[00:26:34] Coach: already the end of
[00:26:35] Matt: January. So tell me about it. Um, so what, what does your off season program look
[00:26:40] like?
[00:26:41] Coach: Yeah, we, um, the girls have been here for about a week, so, um, right now we’re running prac practice kind of like mini hour sessions with our team twice a week. They’re lifting twice a week. We have.
[00:26:53] Conditioning twice a week. So they’re, um, they’re pretty much going before hours. Uh, there, during this time of year, we can normally give, or we’re allowed to have eight hours before you declare our spring season. So we’re definitely utilizing probably about seven of those. Okay. So it’s, they pretty much have something going on every day, except for the two days that they’re off.
[00:27:16] Matt: Uh, so dad’s
[00:27:17] Coach: really am sorry. Uh, it’s really important for us because the way we kind of look at it is, uh, you know, we’re trying to set the foundation for fall. So as much time as we can get with them now, Uh, it he’ll help them, you know? Cause they’ve got to set the foundation now because unfortunately, as you probably know this coaching college soccer, they go home over the summer and you’re like, that’s that most important time.
[00:27:37] So we try to get them as ready as possible now. So when they go home, if they stutter a little bit or, you know, if they maybe get a little distracted, it won’t hurt as much when we come back.
[00:27:47] Matt: Absolutely. This has been awesome. You know, we’ve been talking almost a half hour, so I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, but, uh, so what, what else, you know, is, is out there that you would like any potential prospects out there to know about your program, your school, or anything?
[00:28:06] Just kind of free, free butterfly.
[00:28:10] Coach: I know, I always try when the recruits, you know, we as soccer coaches, we talk to recruits all the time. So I just, I always like to tell recruits, you know, when you contact us, it’s, it’s something that we’re used to. So don’t worry about being like awkward, you know, like I know for them a lot of times, especially if they’re just starting the recruiting process, it can be scary for them.
[00:28:28] Cause I know it feels like they’re making. They are making a very big decision, but I always try to tell them, you know, at the end of the day, just call us. We’re coaches are humans too. It’s kind of, sometimes I think they get this thought in their head that, you know, Oh, gosh, probably of these college coaches that I don’t know if I’m ready for that, but we love to talk soccer just like mom and dad, just like your friends or your teammates do so.
[00:28:49] Definitely when you’re reaching out, you know, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid just to have a conversation with us. And I guess the other thing, not necessarily about Tuscaloosa, but just about the recruiting process is, you know, just. Uh, I truly believe as a college coach that there’s a program out there for everybody, whether it’s my program, another program, a different division, but don’t get caught up on kind of that tunnel vision.
[00:29:11] I think sometimes happens with recruits, especially, uh, they get very focused on like one thing and they miss out on opportunities that are maybe available to them. So definitely when you’re first starting off that shirt as a recruit, you know, Be open to everything. And then as you get further down the line, get closer to signing.
[00:29:28] Obviously you’re going to kind of funnel that in to smaller. Maybe it’s like a more niche thing, but in the beginning, I’d say, look at all, divisions, you know, look at all levels and be honest with yourself. I think your, hopefully your club, coach, and the coach that you’ve had can be honest with you and kind of help evaluate you where you think you might have great potential and, uh, figuring out finally kind of, um, what kind of college experience do you want?
[00:29:50] You know, um, I’ve had players that are totally fine. I’ve come into our program. They’re totally fine playing just for the reserve team. Like that’s kind of the commitment they could make with everything else going on, but I’ve had other players that are, you know, that aren’t even happy on the bench. They want to be on the field.
[00:30:04] So when you go through that recruiting process, before you kind of go start talking to coaches and making visits, kind of maybe have an idea of, you know, what kind of, what, when you think of your college experience, What do you see it as you want to be on the field? Do you want to be a supporting player?
[00:30:17] Do you want to, are you okay with just being on the bench and different players have different needs? So I think just kind of being open with yourself and having those conversations, maybe your friends or your parents to kind of give yourself an idea of what you want will definitely help you. Hopefully find the place where you’re going to be for four years, which I, you know, we try to do that.
[00:30:32] That needs its own.
[00:30:34] Matt: Awesome. Well, Hey, I really appreciate your time coach and, uh, wish you guys the best of luck in the fall season and in all your spring endeavors. And, and, uh, hopefully, you know, this summer we may, uh, we tend to drive north to see family and things, and we make our way through Tennessee.
[00:30:53] We’ll have to stop by and check it out. Awesome. Well, Hey, I appreciate the time. And, uh, and hopefully we’ll, we’ll see each other in person, so.
[00:31:01] Coach: Yeah. Yeah. Have a great thank you for having me. It was, it was a good time. Awesome.
[00:31:04] Matt: Thanks.
