Emporia State University Women’s Soccer – Coach Jane Grimley-Gunn
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jane from the Emporia Women’s Programs in Kansas. We talk about taking over a program and filling a roster. She describes the school’s fun college town. Lastly, we discuss their spring season with their returners that focused on individual training. Learn more about Emporia State 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 Grimley at Emporia state in Kansas. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thanks to have. Thanks for having me.
Matt: Thanks for being here and no folks, your eyes don’t deceive you. This is episode two with coach Jane, as she has moved from Missouri S and T over to Emporia.
You, you joined the illustrious list. It’s probably up to, I don’t know, it might be 10 now, uh, of folks. I’ve I’m on round two of interviews because of, of job changes. Um, so you started in March of this year. Is that right?
Coach: Yep. March.
Matt: Coming into a new program, division two level recruiting season, et cetera, what was it like in terms of keeping current recruits, getting new recruits focusing on 25 is like, what’s kind of been your focus of timelines in the last four months?
Coach: Well, we’ve been kind of behind. It felt like just. Because of all of that. So when I came here, there were six players who were recruited by the previous coach will be sticking with the program. So that was a good starting point. Always a relief to not be starting from ground zero in March. And then we were able to pick up a handful of players since then.
A lot of it was transfers just based on the timeline. So Juco transfers to division one transfers, and that helps just because they’re. Process was a little bit slower [00:01:30] as well, but now we’re really focusing on 2025. And we feel like we’re even a little bit behind there because I mean, I’m sure you’ve seen and talked to a lot of coaches about all of the commitments and some of them have already had their classes wrapped up.
So we’re always going to be playing this game of catch up, you know, from the start, but I think we’re getting to a place where it’s a bit more proactive now.
Matt: So, you know, it’s been about a month since the June 15th, when you could talk to 26 is where you guys, did you have a handful that you reached out to, to try to keep that going at the same time, or, or is it really like, look, we just got to put one foot in front of the other right now.
Coach: No, we did. And that’s where it gets crazy because we’re still talking. There’s even a 2024 we’re talking to still now, which is like, it’s July. So it’s crazy to start now with the 2026 is in June where some of them are. Farther ahead than the most current class, so it really depends on the kid, but we didn’t want to put ourselves in a bad spot with that 2026 class by not starting at a pretty normal timeline with them
Matt: now, you mentioned getting in a couple transfers, obviously taking over a program and needing to fill rosters.
That’s a great bucket of immediately available. Quote, unquote, battle tested, perhaps, uh, players, is that something that you see yourself still looking at moving forward or do you look, or is that kind of a, you know, we, we broke glass because of emergency type of thing.
Coach: Yeah, I think a little bit of both to be fair.
[00:03:00] I think we’ll be in a better spot where we’re not relying on transfers as heavily because right now it was a little bit make or break, but. I think at the same time, there’s going to be a ton of quality in the transfer portal, and we’ve had a lot of success here with JUCO transfers. There’s a ton of good junior colleges locally, so we’ve got a few players already on the roster who are returning from different JUCO situations, so I think that’ll always be a good pathway for us.
Matt: Okay, well, when it comes to the traditional four year student, um, you know, you’re, you went from Missouri to Kansas, so you’re still kind of in the same neighborhood, but is it, does it change? At all the tournaments, you go to where you’re looking for players, that sort of thing, or is it kind of the same?
Where do you like to go?
Coach: It’s a bit of the same because I think the level is still pretty similar, but the biggest difference from Missouri S and T to here is the academic rigor there. It was super engineering stem heavy here. It’s very general. And I think the kid we get here is a bit more, uh, Soccer focused in some regard where S and T was like academics first, and it had to be, because it was just that hard.
So we’re changing a little bit of where we’re looking, but it’s still, it’s still division two. Right? So it’s still kind of the same kid.
Matt: And with that, I mean, you know, everybody always asks, okay, do I have to play ECNL to get to this level or GA or RL or now, you know, you’ve got NPL, EDP, you know, I mean, I can’t keep track.
[00:04:30] Um, Where do you find a majority of your players are coming from from a club perspective?
Coach: We’ve had so much success with the GA, but that’s also because I coached in GA, my assistant coached in the GA. So we’re really familiar with it and they’ve just done a really good job establishing relationships.
And if you kind of look at the different pathways, they still have a good level and good number of D1 commits, but there’s a lot more variety in the D2, D3, NAIA there, where. I mean, we’d love to focus all of our attention on ECNL, but is it a reality? Like, you gotta know who you are, right? It’s probably not going to be the easiest, though we’ll find a few here and there.
And ECRL, I think, is comparable to GA. We’ll get a handful from ECRL as well.
Matt: Okay. Well, Did you, you know, coming in in March again, type time frame, did you guys try to have an ID camp? Are you having one this summer? Is that something you plan on doing in the future? How important are camps in your recruiting process?
Coach: I love them. I think from both ends, I think it’s great to have the kid here and work with them directly, but I also think it’s important for them to see our training style, our coaching style. If they’re going to practice with us every day, it’s got to make sense in both directions. So we had one till June, June 30th, and we have one July 27th.
So the first one’s always interesting because you’re figuring it out as you go. And there’s little hiccups and stuff, but I think it went great. And we’ll pretty much repeat the same sort of setup schedule everything for end of this month. So I’m, I’m [00:06:00] excited for that one. I think now we kind of have our, our routine going with it and should be a bit easier.
Matt: One of the cool things about division two is the ability for players to quote unquote, try out train with, with teams. Is that something you guys do? If you do, is that strictly a spring activity or also fall during the season? Or how do you approach that? Because you have that ability that, you know, D ones don’t have.
Coach: I love it. I think it’s. Once again, it’s great on both ends, and I think it’s really important to see how their skill set translates into our environment, especially if they’re in, I don’t know, a league or in a team where it’s very different to our playing style, or the level is very different, because sometimes it’s hard to compare when it’s not apples for apples.
So we’ll do that both spring, fall. Um, we’ve already got a handful of plans for the fall of kids coming for a visit throughout the day and jumping into training in the evening. And that will count as their. Try out per se.
Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, amongst all that recruiting stuff, what is it that you’re looking for in a player on the field and off the field wise?
Coach: Yeah. So we have four core values here. I think we kind of look at some of those elements in the person as well as the player. So creativity is a big one for us that goes in both playing style and a little bit of the person. So we like risk takers, attacking players. People who can do something that’s a little bit different or offer a different skill set, and we’re brave enough to take a risk.
Um, and some of our others are [00:07:30] ownership and empowerment and things that are a little bit more on the person. And we give a lot of control to the players in a lot of different ways. They’re engaged. They have the opportunity for feedback. They have specific roles. So the person has to also be able to fit into that, be self sufficient, be organized, be responsible.
Um, we, we can’t afford to. Sacrifice the culture in any regard. So if that part doesn’t make sense, then we won’t move forward with the player.
Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school, uh, you know, four months in, what have you found that you really like? What are some of the things that drew you to the program initially?
What can you share with us about the school?
Coach: Yeah, I, 1st of all, so far, I’ve really enjoyed it. So the thing I like is it’s very, there’s a lot of different major programs. There’s over 200 different programs and still very small class sizes. So you get this. Nice combination of being like a midsize school with lots of options, but still getting enough one on one attention and feeling comfortable.
And like, it’s got that college town feel. You could walk out of class, walk down main street, there’s coffee shops and restaurants. And it’s just very homey, comfortable. Like I could live my life in Emporia. I probably won’t live here forever, but I could, and I would be content. So it’s just a really nice town environment and just vibe here.
Matt: Well, Let’s fast forward. Put you in October, heart of that conference season. You get to a tough conference. You guys are in, [00:09:00] um, but you guys are coming off a successful season that took you, you know, decently into the NCAA tournament. So what do you see the schedule being like for your players in terms of classes and practices and game canes and all that stuff?
Coach: Yeah, it’s we’re actually working this out today. So it’s a bit intense. I’ll say the fall is just it’s so crazy. It’s such a fast period to we don’t have a long build up. We jump right in. So our weekly schedule is pretty, I guess, intense. We have a lot of morning sessions. We train often at 6 or 7 a. m.
which is just a lot. And it’s just, you know, it’s a grind. It’s tiring. But then we’re also like, if you can get through that. And you can get through your classes, you’re, you’re, you got, you know, you’re going to make it through. You’re going to be all right. So, yeah, we’re looking at a handful of morning sessions, some morning lifts, a lot of film review, just busy days up until our Friday and Sunday games.
It’s nice to at least have that kind of set where we know towards the weekend as the week tapers off, we’ll be able to focus on those top opponents like you’re saying.
Matt: Well, in terms of, uh, the team, obviously you’re, you’re building this roster transfers and whatnot. And it looks like there’s a couple international, but not something heavily that you’re recruiting into, but is there a roster size that you feel is ideal that you’re trying to hit each season?
Coach: Yeah, right now we’re at 26, which is a lot. Lovely. Happy with that. The only downside is we only have two seniors, which is fantastic and a challenge. So, [00:10:30] we’ll probably increase our roster next season just because it won’t be, you don’t want to get into the routine where you’re only recruiting two per class.
It probably doesn’t make sense. But then we’ll get back into somewhere under 30. That’s always the goal is to be around 26 to 29 would be perfect.
Matt: And what about the rest of your roster in terms of staff? Have you been able to build that out? What other staff maybe are in the athletic department that help out with the team, et cetera?
Coach: Yeah, we’ve just, I think, finalized our assistant position. It was a process and he’s finishing up the final paperwork, so that should be announced pretty soon. So we’ll have him, we have a graduate assistant who’s returning from last season, which is super helpful because he already knows the players pretty well.
And he’s had some experience in the conference. And then I brought my assistant. He’s also my husband with me from Missouri S& T. So we’ve got four coaches on staff. We’ve got an athletic trainer who’s dedicated to us. In season and she’ll take a different sport out of season and a strength coach who does us and men’s and women’s tennis.
So we’re his primary focus. So that’s a staff of about six plus a few like student assistants and helpers who are pretty solely focused on our program in the fall.
Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, new program. Is it, is it new coaching style or, or are you going back to the well, just talk to us about your coaching style and what kind of style play you’re hoping to implement there in the fall?
Coach: It’s going to be different. So their previous season had a great year, but there was a super dominant forward Mackenzie DeMarco, who was a lot of the focus of [00:12:00] Emporia State and rightfully so. She did fantastic, scored a ton of goals. Um, But she’s graduated, so we kind of do have to make some adjustments now, and it will probably be a bit more of a team effort, a bit more reliant, I think, on everyone kind of contributing, sharing the love a little bit, and playing a more, I guess, a group style of soccer, as opposed to just focusing on a single target, because I don’t think we’ll have necessarily one sole goal scorer.
Matt: Okay. Well, You kind of sort of had a spring, not a full one. So what, what do you see next spring looking like in terms of what you plan on doing and how that would look for the players?
Coach: That’s going to be so much better. So this spring was tough just based on the timing. Everything was last minute and we didn’t have a huge returning squad.
So now we’ll return 24 players and that makes for an awesome spring where it’s going to be basically the same group. Now really diving into some of the topics. You don’t have the luxury of covering as deeply in the fall, more individual development, small group sessions, things where we can really take the time, break it down, work with players one on one where obviously in the fall, you know, It’s going to be more team tactics, um, preparing for the next opponent, really focusing on the schedule as opposed to the spring where it’s a bit more free.
Matt: Now. I will say, uh, obviously besides the discover college soccer, tick tock channel, you know, you have [00:13:30] one of the, one of my favorite other soccer channels. Uh, so if you’re, if you’re on tick tock, be sure you follow coach Jane. Um, but obviously with social media being as big as it is right now, kind of taking it back.
I recently pushed out a survey to college coaches, which hopefully, hopefully you saw, uh, but okay, great. So, so you were in there. Um, How, how important in the recruiting process do you think social media is for players right now?
Coach: It’s actually crazy. So I was having a conversation this weekend with a division one coach who we’re talking about a specific player who has a fantastic social media presence.
I was like, what do you think her projection is? Cause she’s a player we’re interested in, but I think we might be shooting our shot too high. And he said, Basically, because she’s so good at marketing herself, she’s going to get an offer that maybe exceeds her ability. Something that probably wouldn’t come across the table because she is relentlessly on Twitter, making graphics, making videos, reaching out, texting.
She’s just so good at it that it just shows her interest, her intent, her potential upside if she’s putting this much effort into it. So for me, that was a really interesting takeaway where I was like, wow, I might not get. A kid who I think would do really well at our level because she’s just that good on social, that she’s marketing herself to the best schools and someone is gonna like, like what she’s doing and potentially pick her up for that reason.
Matt: Yeah, and [00:15:00] It’s funny. One of the comments that, that I got was, you know, cause I asked coaches their feelings when someone posted, uh, something, whether it was a visit or an offer or, or whatever, um, would you ever be swayed by seeing a post by a player in terms of, oh, wow, they got an offer from this school.
Coach: Yeah,
Matt: I got to jump on it or or I got to up my offer or yeah,
Coach: 100 percent Yeah, I think it’s I don’t know necessarily if you always make a decision, but you’re always thinking about it. It makes you maybe process it a little bit differently. And I don’t think it hurts. I think the only time where I could see it being a problem is if it’s too many.
Post like too many offers and where it’s like, is she really interested in any school at this point because she’s got 20 offers and she’s posting about each one. But if it’s a local school in the conference that, like, we want to be each year, it’s going to make me think, I’d rather have her on my team and play against her.
Matt: Fair enough. Um, in terms of. The. Now this is my personal opinion, but I have a feeling you might feel the same way, or maybe not of the social media networks. Which one do you think has the most value for a student athlete right now?
Coach: I think Twitter or X, I guess, whatever [00:16:30] you want to call
Matt: it. It’s still Twitter, but it’s going to be,
Coach: yeah, right.
But that one I like is it’s more, it’s a bit professional, like, and you can. Just really relate information nice and sharply where I think an Instagram is good for more of your personal side. I think Tik TOK can be fun for like videos and just getting to know someone, but I haven’t really seen it as much as in a recruiting aspect.
So I would say Twitter for now.
Matt: Agreed. Agreed. All right. Well, coach, I really do wish you the best of luck in this first season. I’m going to leave you with one question. Um, and that is. If you had any piece of advice for potential student athlete right now, if there’s 1 thing you, you want them to know as they’re going through it, what would that be?
Coach: Yeah, I think be able to ask the hard questions. I think that’s always the tough part is maybe being told. No, we’re getting an answer. You don’t like, but. Not asking the question out of fear of what the response will be because then you’re just going to be wasting your time and kind of hanging in the balance and something else great may come along that you ignore because of that.
So I would say don’t be afraid to ask the coach the hard questions. Ask them where they think you would fall in their roster. Is there an opportunity? Is scholarship a possibility or potential? Um, it doesn’t hurt to be direct and show that level of maturity and really come across with that level of professionalism.
Just by, you know, really figuring out what you want in the future and getting the answers that you need.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, coach, I really appreciate the [00:18:00] time. Wish you the best of luck in this first season there at Emporia. And if you do happen down to the ECL event down here in Lakewood ranch, uh, let me know so we can get together.
All right.
Coach: Perfect. Sounds great.
Matt: All right. Thanks.
Coach: Thank you.
