Cape Fear CC Women’s Soccer Program – Coach Ponton

Today’s interview is with Coach Ponton of Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC. Coach Ponton used to be on the Men’s side at CFCC, but has just made the transition over to the Women’s program. We have a great discussion about how community colleges can be a great option for many prospects. We talk about how his program looks to reload talent way more often than a traditional 4-year school. Lastly we focus on students shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss going to a 2-year program and transferring to their desired school later on. Learn more about the program here.

[00:00:00] Matt: Well, this is Matt from DiscoverCollegeSoccer.com. And I am excited to be joined by coach Ponton from Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina. Coach. Welcome.

[00:00:11] Coach: Thank you for having me.

[00:00:12] Matt: So we coach and I were just chatting for a quick second beforehand. And so, you know, as of last year, coach was on the men’s side of the program and has now subsequently switched over and is now the women’s coach.

[00:00:23] So we get kind of both sides of the coin. So, so it’s an even better, uh, Better bits of information. Cause you can talk, uh, talk about both. Um, so you know, want to run through a couple of things here first, just about your recruiting process, and then we’ll talk some about the school and then, uh, and then on the team side, and maybe, you know, if you haven’t had any seasons yet on the women’s side, maybe we’ll talk about the men’s side, but that’s okay.

[00:00:47] Um, so, um, you know, a lot of times, kids don’t necessarily their first thought isn’t oh, community college option. Right. Um, but the fact of the matter is there’s usually more scholarships available right. On the, on the community college side of things. And, uh, and they can knock out some of that, uh, those early courses, uh, that, that everybody’s got to take and really position themselves.

[00:01:13] Uh, for, for a great future by going to community college. First, I know when I was a coach, I, and I need a game ready players. I went in and was recruiting the community. College is hard, so it’s a, it’s a great stepping stone for a lot of students. Um, so w what is it that, that you like to ask your recruits, uh, during that first contact?

[00:01:33] Coach: Uh, honestly, I don’t ask them many questions. Uh, once I find someone that I like, I will bypass them and I will answer any questions that they have, but I will bypass the player and I will go to, I will find their high school coaches and their club coaches contact. And I will talk to the, I would talk to the coach because they don’t want to send me someone who’s aliability.

[00:01:56] Yeah, just the same as a community college, because you don’t want, you know, we’re honest when it comes to speaking to a four year school coach, we’re gonna tell you what you’re going to get. Uh, because you know, I might tell you, you probably don’t want. Or her, you know, th that you, maybe you should look at this player instead, you know, or are you willing to deal with the headache to take that quality of a player?

[00:02:15] And so I don’t normally start off by asking any questions. Now, if you’re talking like via email, if someone emails me, normally they make the mistake of not linking their highlight videos. And so that’s the only that if you’re asking me what is my first question that is in a, can you simulate your highlight?

[00:02:37] Okay. But if you’re talking like net to the next step, I’m probably going to there. I’m probably bypassing the players. I’m not wasting time talking to them. Right. No,

[00:02:45] Matt: that makes sense. So, so that kind of dovetails into two other questions I have is one. So you, you like to see highlights. Do you prefer just clips or full games?

[00:02:54] Coach: Clips? I don’t have time to watch a full game.

[00:02:57] Matt: Fair enough.

[00:02:58] Coach: Fair enough. If I, if I really like you and I know I’m not going to get to see you say, uh, talking to someone who’s like hours and hours away and they don’t have enough highlight videos, maybe they only have like one highlight video. Then I may ask for a full game.

[00:03:12] Uh, but chances are, if you’ve got three, four nice highlight videos that are somewhere in a three to five minute range, you know, and or if you’ve got one and I can see you in person, or if you’ve got none and I can see you in person, I don’t need to see a full game. I really don’t have time to sit down and watch full games unless I’m, unless I have it scheduled to go out and recruit myself.

[00:03:34] So.

[00:03:36] Matt: What about preferred method of communication? Are you, uh, are you an email guy, a phone guy, a text guy. What do you like to

[00:03:43] Coach: initially email it? Because I don’t want players that I’m not interested in Texas. Fair enough because it, and it sounds, that sounds a little harsh, right. But I mean, just being truthful, right.

[00:03:57] It just the same. They probably don’t want coaches that they’re not interested in texting them. And so I would rather let’s, let’s start via email and we can go that way first. Uh, and then if I’ve gone past, uh, at least it starting to express some interesting. Uh, I’ve probably already talked to your high school coach.

[00:04:18] I’ve already talked to your club coach. Like I’m already done all that. Now we can text back and forth. Gotcha.

[00:04:24] Matt: So you mentioned, uh, seeing players in person, where is it that you spend the majority of time when you’re out? What, what tournaments do you go to? How far away from your school do you

[00:04:35] Coach: travel? So we’re not a big budget team, uh, community college.

[00:04:40] That’s, that’s the main difference that I’ve come to realize because when it comes to. We can compete with almost anything from like lower DI to mid D2 to mid D3, mid NAIA, like down, and we just don’t have the budget. So the, the big tournament, like the term that you will see me at every single year is the NCFC showcase formerly known as CASL.

[00:05:05] And the reason that that is because it’s two hours away from. And so like that’s hands down. I don’t have the money to go to Disney while I would love to make that trip down to Florida. Right now I’d love to come visit y’all. But what I, what I always joke is is I’ll make it down there and then I won’t make it back.

[00:05:24] Uh, you know, but, um, I’m intending to go to Jefferson cup. And one of the reasons that I go to that one is that’s near where I am. And so I can, instead of a, I can save some money by spending time with family and stuff like that. And it takes some time to enjoy seeing family, uh, while I’m up there. But I don’t go to Jefferson cup every year.

[00:05:43] It kind of depends on, on where’s my team at that point. And I know we’re going to go in this direction and we can get back to that. But like we discussed like a lot of people don’t consider community college or. I might go and see a sophomore junior that I liked, but they’re not even considered community college most likely at that point.

[00:05:58] So if I’m already good and set by the time that Jefferson cup rolls around, I’m not going up there for that trip and spending that money, uh, within the team’s budget to go look for seniors when I’m already good to go. Uh, so the NCFC showcase a hundred percent every year. And then I normally am invited to other colleges ID clinics, like four year schools of every division.

[00:06:21] They invite me out to their ID. And then I hit every high school team in the area. My main source is my ID clinic. I’ve never had an ID clinic where I did not pull players from that. I did not pour multiple players from, so for me, it’s not a moneymaker. Like it helps contribute, but I only charged $40 for my clinic.

[00:06:45] And now the rest of our athletic department has mimicked. And charging $40 per player, where if I go to a four-year school, they’re probably charging at least double that. Oh yeah,

[00:06:57] Matt: for

[00:06:57] Coach: sure. My ID clinic, I hit all the high school coaches NCFC showcase occasionally Jeff cup or some, uh, or some other tournament.

[00:07:06] And then four year schools that’d be clinics.

[00:07:08] Matt: So, you know, the one thing that probably people don’t quite think about is, you know, uh, community colleges is to your programs. So you actually have to. Basically double what a four-year school does. Cause you’re turning out that many kids in half the amount of time.

[00:07:24] Right. So when is it that you start, I guess, looking at players, what, what grade are they when you’re starting to watch them and maybe keep track of ’em? Uh, or does it, I’m wondering if it starts later for you just because, you know, you’re, you’re waiting forever, but everybody’s going to make those decisions and then you, you kind of get.

[00:07:47] Coach: It does, you can I’ve, I’ve come to find that you can try and make a move for a player, but they still have like pipe dreams. And you know, you try and explain to them that that’s just not the scenario, but if you came to me and you got the, you got the playing time, you saved money, you know, then you may, you make gain interests.

[00:08:12] I mean, I pull players every year. They get offers, maybe not scholarship offers, but get offers from schools of every division. Every year, I have one player that had a D one school and pick them up at D2 and D3 at NAIA. It never fails. Uh, but they, they end up coming to me, but I normally don’t end up really recruiting players until like the second half of their junior year in high school too, like early senior year.

[00:08:37] Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t go earlier that I don’t try to go after someone early. I just know that it’s almost like wasted time. Does that make sense? Absolutely. So

[00:08:48] Matt: with that being said, are, you know, is there a specific. Quote, unquote type of player you’re looking for, whether that be, um, you know, you go to the, you go to the showcase, castle, whatever, and you get the sheet of the team and, you know, is there something on that sheet that says, okay, this is probably a good prospect for me, whether that be grades, test scores, uh, or anything like that.

[00:09:14] Does that kind of drive your you’re targeting?

[00:09:17] Coach: Oh man. I mean, look, look, look at what I got right here. You know, you, you bring that up. Look, look at it. I guess stuff. This is, this was from that tournament. This last one, before I made the move over to the women’s side, I was still going for the men’s side at that point.

[00:09:31] Uh, but, uh, you know, when, when I, when I go, normally there’s a reason I’m at a game because as we discuss like budgeting and whatnot, normally I would have an assistant coach there with me at the showcase. I will make a priority to go see people who made a priority to email me. And so, uh, or for example, I, this one, I’m not gonna show like everything, but you know what?

[00:09:59] This coach is a division one coach at a nice program. And he had me come out to watch three of his guys. And there was a fourth one that was a junior that I really liked. And so I went out to watch those. And, you know, as, as a two year school, we do have a lot of turnover. Not because, you know, players quit or quitting or anything, but it’s true.

[00:10:23] Your school. Yeah. You’re you’re, you’re gonna, you gotta replace at least half your team pretty much every year. Yeah. And so I make a priority to go see everyone that makes a priority to see me. And then I make a priority to, for that showcase guys that are in their senior year. I go watch them first so I can fill my squad out because at that point I have a good idea of how many players am I losing?

[00:10:45] So how many players I’m gonna need to replace? You know, that’s less than a month after my season’s over. I got a good idea of what’s going to be going on for the following fall for me. Uh, but yeah, always a priority to. W, you know, go see the players that email me first and preferably, hopefully those players have sent me a link to their highlight videos that I already have a good idea.

[00:11:06] And then once I’ve scheduled that up, then I’ll go try and look at either coaches that have communicated with me in the past, go watch their teams or go watch in-state teams. Because while I had the most out of Staters that I’ve ever had this past fall, Uh, still, typically in state are the only ones that are looking at because they’re the only ones that have heard of us, maybe.

[00:11:28] Matt: So, so that actually brings me to my next question. So you, you, you already answered that. You’re primarily in-state, but I mean, how many inbound emails do you get from prospects every week or month?

[00:11:42] Coach: Not a lot, man. I’m not gonna lie. Like it, um, more, I’ve noticed more on the men’s side and the, on the women’s side, but more internationals.

[00:11:50] And we are probably the only school that you will ever hear of that does not accept international. I have nothing to do with that. It’s not that I don’t like internationals. I had plenty of great guys from, you know, different countries at my last college that I was at when I was an assistant. Uh, but our school just doesn’t want to deal with the visas to my understanding.

[00:12:08] And so to me, that’s a perk to players that are wanting to get immediate playing time. Uh, if they would understand like how internationals are normally older and they’re normally a little more serious, um, cause they’re coming around the world. Uh, you know, it, I would probably get, I get more than one a day for sure.

[00:12:32] I mean, there’s, some days I’ll have like three to five a day, but since moving to the women’s side, maybe cause I’m recent recently moved over to the womens side, but I’ve noticed that it is nowhere near that on the women’s.

[00:12:46] Matt: So, what is it? What is your, your scholarship bucket? How many scholarships do you have to give?

[00:12:52] And is there a mix of, of academic and athletic aid available for players at the junior college level? Okay.

[00:12:58] Coach: So there is, depending on where you are, that’s a school to school thing and it, and it’s a school to school thing on how much scholarship money that they have. I, you know, you have. I mean, what is it?

[00:13:10] 18 scholarships. I think junior college. So it’s some obnoxious number that I will never, ever hit. Right?

[00:13:19] Matt: Yeah. Maybe it may even be like 24 now {NO IT’S 18}, but, but, but that’s the limit that the NJCAA puts it in, but the school has to decide to fund that. Right. So, so how, how many has your school decided to fund for you?

[00:13:37] Coach: So, unfortunately, due to COVID, we had to cut back on finances and scholarships is what took the hit. But prior to that, uh, normally you would say that I had have five to six guys on. Somewhere between like a 60 to 75% scholarship. And then I had, I had one player that, and I don’t like to give scholarships to freshmen.

[00:14:06] I like to give them to the sophomores. I would rather hold all the money and give it to proven sophomores. Then give it to a freshman that is just not prepared for the college game yet. They, you know, in the end you’ll get the same amount of money. Right. You’ll get the same amount of money in the. But I’m just going to withhold it for the guys that would come in and prove themselves academically, as leaders and whatnot.

[00:14:31] Uh, but I had one guy that I put on. Like, I was like, what are you paying this semester? And I gave him every penny. Now you’re talking. He was an end, Stater and instructors here at Cape fear are normally paying somewhere between like 800 to $1,300 a semester. Oh, wow. So it’s not a lot. Right. You know, that, that’s what he was paying.

[00:14:53] And I’m like, tell me what you’re paying and we’ll get that covered. Uh, but normally, normally I would have guys on, uh, you know, somewhere between like a 60 to 70% scholarship and, and, uh, I never withdrew scholarships. I never had to withdraw a scholarship from anybody, which I’m thankful for, because I know that at the division one level, they will withdraw from you real fast.

[00:15:13] Um, but we don’t offer academic scholarships because our school’s already so affordable. Right. So,

[00:15:19] Matt: and well, that’s something, somebody can look up on the, on the website. I like to try to hold this to a questions. People can’t find easily on the website because that’s the whole purpose. Right. So, um, well then let’s talk, let’s talk about your school, right.

[00:15:32] Um, you just mentioned that. So what, what would you say are the three things that your school is most known for?

[00:15:40] Coach: I mean, my school is known for being at the beach for being a very large, uh, enrollment community college. And then honestly, it’s known for its nursing and trades. Okay. So we have like the top nursing program in the state.

[00:15:58] And then if you look at overall enrollment, so there’s a few of them make a mistake, they’ll pay they type in like undergrad enrollment. Well, that, that cuts out all of your training. Right. So our undergrad enrollment is somewhere around. I don’t know, honestly, I don’t remember. But our overall enrollment is just under 30,000.

[00:16:20] Matt: That’s all site there.

[00:16:22] Coach: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So, I mean, it’s not, this is not like a crazy large like city, like Atlanta, or even like Raleigh. It’s nothing like that, but I know it’s definitely, definitely bigger than what I was using. Uh, so it took some adjusting to being an area this large, but a legitimate. I could get in my truck right now and drive to the beach while we’re on the zoom call and be standing on the beach within 15 minutes, easily, probably less.

[00:16:52] And so like that, that’s one thing that is attractive, but not to everybody, not everybody’s even concerned about that, but that’s definitely one of the things that we’re known for when the players come here. And it’s honestly why most of my players didn’t want to transfer on after playing a couple of years here.

[00:17:08] Fair enough.

[00:17:09] Matt: Well, so. What’s something about, that’s just totally awesome about your school that people wouldn’t wouldn’t know from a map or wouldn’t find on the website kind of like what’s the hidden gem.

[00:17:21] Coach: I think it’s just very personable. Like, you know, the, the classes, everything, while it’s a large enrollment school, you got to think that all those people are divvied up within trades and whatnot.

[00:17:30] But to me, as long as you’re willing everybody in our school, especially within the athletic department is very personable. Like if you need something. Like I, I got an email. What was it? Two weeks ago? Like, let us know if any of your athletes need a tablet or a laptop for the semester. Like stuff like that.

[00:17:48] And so like, to me, For a community college, like they’re definitely willing to support that. And my big thing is what I appreciate is that the end of the day, cause I mean, I used to coach in the NCAA at the end of the day, none of my players should be in debt, you know, and if they are, it is such a small chunk that you could take care of with a part-time job working for just a little while.

[00:18:12] Matt: That’s definitely a bonus. So you talk about maybe, maybe hitting a part-time job, but specifically at your school, how do your student athletes handle the balance between school and, and plan ball?

[00:18:26] Coach: For the most part, most of them, as long as they come in and they handle what they’re supposed to do, they’re fine.

[00:18:30] You’re always going to have a player who’s going to fall through the cracks. And it doesn’t mean that I’m not monitoring their grades. We actually have a good, um, I’m trying to think of a, you know, software where I, I, you know, I I’ve got my phone sit on my tablet. I could pull my tablet up and in less than a minute, pull someone’s grades.

[00:18:49] And, you know, that allows me to monitor the grades, but it’s on the professors to update those grades too. But it allows me to keep a decent idea of how each player is doing academically. I would say that most players do well, uh, and definitely come in with the right mindset of like, they get the good grades, let me perform on the field and then let me get prepared to transfer on normally your DC.

[00:19:09] Do you see, do you see like a freshmen burnout towards the end of the actual college season? Because. Unlike at a four-year school where freshmen’s minutes are going to be limited. Freshmen quality freshmen is going to come and start and they’re going to be getting heavy minutes. And you often see towards the tail end of the season, those players, they start to burn out a little bit and there’s nothing that can really be done about it.

[00:19:33] But what I have noticed is you don’t see that from them when they’re sophomores, because they have, they know the weight of what’s going to be coming in. It’s

[00:19:42] Matt: a learning curve, for sure. So, yeah. You mentioned that, that the staff’s very personable and the professors are putting the grades in. So you’re able to see what’s going on.

[00:19:52] What other support mechanisms does your, does your college provide for student athletes? Is there, is there any sort of,

[00:19:58] Coach: so we haven’t, we have tutoring and we have, we have, uh, you know, the library staff has great. Uh, I go in there and get books for my kids. And they’re, they’re like super helpful. Like you just tell them what you need and they will walk you over to find whatever it is that you need, but are a handful of my guys every semester.

[00:20:17] Like, Hey, I need some help with tutoring with this or that. And they always end up finding the help that they need. I just point them in the direction of the tutoring. And that’s pretty much all I have to do. And so I’ve noticed that that’s very beneficial to the athlete to take it upon themselves, to understand that grades are huge, especially if you want to transfer on.

[00:20:38] Matt: That’s good. Now at, at a community college, are there dorms, are kids staying on campus or are they finding off-campus housing? So at

[00:20:47] Coach: some, there are, and it’s on, there are not at my last college. There was, but here there are not. So I have a deal with an apartment complex here in town, and I do not force my players to deliver.

[00:20:57] But it’s an ideal area centrally located and they’re going to be living with teammates. And so, and I, and I got them a nice little deal, um, by, you know, working with the apartment complex. If I bring X amount of players over, you’re going to give me X amount of a discount. And that was just me sitting down with them.

[00:21:14] And, and I had my players at another location prior. That was a good, uh, A good location, but the apartment complex was not a standard for student athletes. And so my guys were like, coach, you got to get us out. And so I was like, all right, I’m going to get on it. And I found this other location and I’ve had my guys there for two years and they really like it prior to that.

[00:21:36] And my first few years, I just let the guys go over. And then I heard guys were spending like over $200 more than what, you know, Andre to $200, more fun and rent them where I located them at now. But like I said, I don’t require any of them to live there. I actually have two of the guys, they live back behind me where I live.

[00:21:52] And so they can, they can go about wherever they want, as long as they’re getting to practice and stuff. You know, if your car breaks down or you want to. Uh, you want a carpool with somebody or you just want to hang out with the guys. It’s a lot easier if you live right there together. Sure.

[00:22:06] Matt: So what, what does, what does a typical non-game day during season look like for one of your players?

[00:22:14] How does the, the scheduling of classes and practice kind of coincide?

[00:22:19] Coach: Yeah, so, I mean the typical week would look like this, so it would be Monday morning, 6:00 AM. And then Monday evening, and then they would, so that would be like six to seven and then they might have 8:00 AM classes. Then classes would run on and off from eight to about 1 30, 2.

[00:22:36] Uh, the latest that they should probably be getting out of class about two 15, and then we would have Monday evening practice, uh, from three 15 to five 15, and there’ll be expected to be there by three o’clock. And then Tuesday is the same thing. Uh, three 15 to five, 15 Wednesdays only game days, Thursdays, like our wildcard day, depending on how Wednesday went.

[00:22:56] And we’re like, where are we on the road that could be study hall. That could be a day off. That could be like a recovery session. It’d be a full on practice film. I mean, it’s just a wall. Friday’s normally the slowest day a week, except for 6:00 AM. Uh, not hard fitness, but you know, dynamic movements, mush and stretching foam, rolling, stuff like that.

[00:23:14] And then Friday evenings, just like walk through a film, uh, three 15 to five, 15 Saturday game day, Sunday off. And that’s your standard week? Uh, How, how

[00:23:23] Matt: far do you guys travel for, for games?

[00:23:27] Coach: Uh, I mean, typically all games are like a one day thing, but that means we’re getting back late and that’s something that a lot of players are not used to it.

[00:23:36] They’re not used to like that grind of getting up and leaving early in the morning and then getting back like crazy late at night, uh, sometimes after midnight. Uh, but normally. You know where we are going up to Virginia, to South Carolina, some trips take over five hours by the time that you stop and you feed the players and then you get some location, it could be over five hours.

[00:23:55] Uh, and then we, we will probably have like maybe one overnight trip during the regular season where we’ll do like a double header. Okay,

[00:24:04] Matt: well, let’s, let’s, let’s rotate now to talk in a about, about the team and, and about how you guys play. And I understand that, you know, you’re on the men’s side, this past fall, and now on the women’s, but haven’t played a season yet with them.

[00:24:15] So feel free to, to answer, you know, like how you did it, you know, how you were doing with the men’s side, but how many, how many players do you like to typically carry on your squad?

[00:24:25] Coach: 24 to 26.

[00:24:26] Matt: Okay. And then. How big is your staff. You mentioned a assistant earlier. How many, how many coaches do you have on

[00:24:34] Coach: staff?

[00:24:35] Normally two to

[00:24:36] Matt: three. And those are part of what you said, volunteer assistance or part-time system. And you’re technically, you’re a part-time coach, which means you are you generally speaking only on campus then? During season, are you there? Part-time throughout the year.

[00:24:53] Coach: Part-time throughout the year.

[00:24:54] They let me come and go as they want. Uh, as, as I want, uh, today I’ve been working at home and that’s where I am. Now. I can get a lot more work done, just sitting at home, uh, then. Taking that extra time to just drive to the office, sit down and do the exact same work. I do make sure that I’m showing up at the office here and there and make sure that I’m getting things done often.

[00:25:14] I’m showing up at different hours than a lot of the rest of the staff is, but I mentioned that I pop in and get things.

[00:25:21] Matt: So, you know, we’re, we’re talking it’s February 1st. Uh, so it’s, it’s the off season. So what, what is your off season program look like for

[00:25:29] Coach: your players? So right now I’m not, there was like no girls returning hardly at all, like a hand, like a handful of, so I’m really in the works of rape, really rebuilding the program and moving in the direction where.

[00:25:44] Us as a whole, as athletic department wants it to be, it’s always been a successful program, but we’re trying to push it back past just being like a top 20 program. And so that’s what my goal is with the program. Had I still been on the men’s side today would have been day one practice of the spring and we would be practicing Monday through Thursday.

[00:26:03] Every day, every week. So they’d have Friday, Saturday, Sunday to get a job. I really like my guys to get jobs. And then we could play as many, four year schools as we want within four days. And then we would have like a one day of community service. And then we would have probably been working like once a spring ID clinic.

[00:26:21] And then we would have like an alumni game, which would be the very last Saturday in April, which is where we. Okay.

[00:26:29] Matt: Awesome. Well, so in terms of, uh, the actual, you know, game gameplay, right? So how would you describe your style of coaching your, your team’s style of play?

[00:26:41] Coach: So I’m not an overly aggressive coach, but I’m also not one.

[00:26:45] That’s just going to sit down. Uh, um, I like to really stay in neutral. I like to not yell at people. I like to hold it in my back pocket that way, when I do react. You know that either it’s gone really, really good or it’s gone really, really bad. Right. And so I like to hold my emotion back a lot. Uh, that way I feel like if you’re in my experience, if of your sideline screamer, when you, when you really need to get their attention, Uh, there, then they’re not gonna respond.

[00:27:14] And so I like to really just sit back and evaluate, and when I need something delivered to the team, I would deliver it through a player or through a sub that where the other coach doesn’t hear me, trust me when I stay on silent. And I hate the other coach given directions. How am I? Okay. And that’s what they’re about to do.

[00:27:31] Uh, but, uh, our style is not long ball, but not like, hi. I because you get a mix of, of standard of play. And for me, I like all my players to get playing time. That doesn’t mean they’re going to play every game. Uh, but. It’s more like switch the ball when we can knock it around a little bit and then let’s get up the field.

[00:27:55] Matt: Okay. Well, um, this has been awesome. Appreciate it. Well, you know, I don’t want to take too much more of your time, so I guess I’ll wrap it up with just one last question, you know, is there anything else you would like, uh, prospects or anyone else to know about your school and your program?

[00:28:11] Coach: Yeah, I mean, the thing is to me, promoting players on is easy.

[00:28:15] If you come in here and you get a 3.0 GPA. And you’re like a decent player within our program. I could probably find you a scholarship somewhere. I mean, typically the average player is going to get somewhere between 10 and 15 for your schools pursuing them. The below average player is going to get somewhere between like five and eight schools per se.

[00:28:37] If you come in and you’re a stud I mean, I had a guy that had 20 for school schools pursuing him, and I had another guy that had 32 schools pursuing. And actually both of those players didn’t go on to transfer anywhere. And why did they not go on to transfer anywhere? I know, right. That’s mind blowing because of the location.

[00:28:53] They found it a lot more attractive just to stay here. Uh, you know, they, they had already, but like I said, I like my guys to get jobs. And so they had, they had come here, they had really gotten into the workforce. They, they probably found a passion of some kind. And that’s honestly why I built a semi-professional team, which I’m working on.

[00:29:09] I’m not sure if I’m going to be a return it for a second year, but I built it because I had so many quality players that had like, even up to full ride scholarships that didn’t want to go anywhere. So in six years I sent 14 guys on to play. I could have easily doubled that. Had guys been more willing to go on to play some regret it after they don’t transfer.

[00:29:27] Uh, but, and then some don’t, you know, it’s, it’s a personal thing. Some guys don’t even go on to finish their bachelor’s degree. They just wanted to come and get their associates degree to kind of learn more about themselves and get college playing experience. So, you know, why not your classes probably costing half, if not a third of what you would have been paying for the exact same class, you know, like English one 10, right?

[00:29:50] That class you’re going to pay like three times as much from that class editor at one of the four year schools, two years, it’s like two hours down the. So at least you could have come here, live at the beach, save some money and taking the exact same class and kind of learn a little bit about yourself.

[00:30:04] I don’t know about you, but I definitely changed my major and most people change their major at least once,

[00:30:08] Matt: right? Yep. Yep. Same here. I, uh, yep. Swap, swap, swap my major too. And I think the last that I ever heard it was like, it was on average, like two and a half times kids change their major. So yeah,

[00:30:21] Coach: somewhere like that.

[00:30:22] Right. So why not come for two years and figure out what you want to do? And get a Le learn a little bit more about yourself before looking to go on, especially because they’re going to have more free time here in regards to working. I really pushed them. I want them to work. I want them to network. I want them to build those connections so that when they do need a job, they have references and whatnot from their time while they were here.

[00:30:43] But to me, that’s a big proponent of, of what I do here. While we look for the results. I look for growing them as young people first, because in 10 years, you know, when, when they’re 10 years old, That will tell me really how successful like our program was and how well they did and their time here, because I mean, I’ve had seasons where I left the men side as the second winningest.

[00:31:05] And I had seasons where we did really good. And then like this past season, I went most of the season without a goalkeeper. Both of them had serious injuries, like bad, like really bad, uh, kind of like, hopefully not life altering, but we’ll see. Uh, and so, you know, you have seasons like that where it’s very unexpected to be like, oh, this seems quality.

[00:31:24] Uh, but you know, I’m excited for the change of the women’s side. Uh, my first year in the college ball, wasn’t the women’s side of the game. So this isn’t like foreign land for me. Uh, but yeah, that’s kind of, if I was lying, wrap-up like what, what the park of looking at our school, it’s more so than I come in and say money play right away.

[00:31:43] And then, you know, unless you’re getting a look from an elite division one school, chances are, you could come to meet for two years and then turn and go to that same school that was pursuing you in the first place. Oh, that’s

[00:31:54] Matt: great insights. And I appreciate your time. And, and, you know, given, given us a look at a, at another kind of school, cause like you said, it’s not always top of mind for kids to think about junior colleges, but uh, but they provide an excellent resource and, and, and you can help them find that next best school that maybe was a little bit elusive or not easy to find as a high schooler.

[00:32:17] So, uh, it’s awesome. And uh, and I wish you luck on the women’s side. And we’ll, hopefully we’ll check back in with you, see how you guys did, and maybe, maybe some, some extra recruits will see this video and, and give you, uh, an email with, uh, with, uh, with a link to their videos.

[00:32:34] Coach: That’d be nice. All

[00:32:36] Matt: right. Well, thanks coach.

[00:32:37] Appreciate it. And, uh, we’ll talk to you again soon.