Blue Mountain College Men’s Soccer – Coach Caryl Vogel

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Caryl Vogel from the Blue Mountain College Men’s Program in Mississippi. We talk about what it is like to start a brand-new program. We cover their family versus factory atmosphere. Lastly, we discuss how he thinks all players should focus on finding the right fit. Learn more about Blue Mountain.

[00:00:00] Matt: Welcome to discover college soccer. I’m lucky enough today to be joined by coach Caryl of the Blue Mountain soccer program. Coach, how are you

[00:00:09] Coach: doing well, man, doing well, enjoying the beautiful morning here in Mississippi.

[00:00:12] Matt: All right, well, that’s good to hear. Um, well, let’s jump right into it. Um, blue mountain, uh, your NAIA men’s program there in Mississippi.

[00:00:22] When do you start recruiting players? Like what, what age are you really starting to look at players or, or even hear from players?

[00:00:29] Coach: Yeah, for me, it’s a bit different. So like with our program, just starting this past, this past fall, um, we brought in 28 players, uh, for the fall of 2021. So, um, The recruiting is a bit different, especially like going into next season as well.

[00:00:47] For us, like 27 of the 28 players are returning. Um, so it gives us. It’s a bit limited to what we’re looking. I think we’ll kind of get into the normal process of recruiting and filling those positions. Um, after this next season with some players will roll off, but, um, for me, typically high school junior high school senior year, um, is the perfect time for us to start looking at players.

[00:01:12] Um, especially like when we go to tournaments and things like that. And then players, you want to reach out to us via email and send us some video footage. It helps us out tremendously to kind of, to kind of open that relationship a bit earlier so that we can make sure that we have everything in place and, and those players have a chance to come and visit and do things like that.

[00:01:28] So they know that we’re the right fit for them as well.

[00:01:31] Matt: Yeah. I mean, obviously with being a brand new program, things are a little bit, uh, a little bit different, but, um, you know, I’m looking at, I’m looking at the roster, you’ve got, uh, you are represented with a bunch of community college folks. Um, so is that again, kind of, kind of be a little bit of a focus this year just to fill in some older players and, and bring some.

[00:01:53] Some depth into the team that that’s a little bit more

[00:01:56] Coach: experienced. Yeah. Yeah. That was the thing like for first year or starting your first year program, um, we wanted to bring in a mix. So like for us, we thought about a half and half ratio of, uh, junior college to incoming freshmen are somewhere kind of in that range, which is all kind of different now as well with the COVID exemption year and say, you’ve got, I’ve got players here.

[00:02:16] Classified as potentially seniors this upcoming year academically, but they still got that, that extra year to play. Um, so it, it is a bit weird, but yeah, for us to be competitive in the first year, we really felt we need to bring some players in with that experience. Um, that age it was, it was a good mix for us, but I mean, like going into next season and like right now we’re looking at some freshmen to come in as well.

[00:02:39] Cause we want to kind of fill those gaps. Um, and even number or close enough to even numbers in different classes as well, versus like right now we have a huge junior class or going into a senior class technically. Sophomore class and then trying to fill those gaps as well. So, um, but it is, it’s different for us too.

[00:02:58] And with roster size, so we don’t have a reserve or, uh, or, um, or a JV team. So like we try to keep running a roster size of 30 maximum of 32 players in total. Um, so if you look at that with 27, 26 guys coming back next year, it gives us a limited number of spots to feel. So it’ll take some time before the program gets to where it’s in that.

[00:03:19] I guess you call it traditional cycle players coming in and out. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:22] Matt: No, that makes sense. Well, and I mean, you guys did great. You almost had a 500 record in a tough conference right. At, right off the bat. So, so kudos to that. Um, one of the other things I saw on the roster is you’ve got a good mix international players, which, you know, tends to be typical of, of, of in men’s AI programs, especially.

[00:03:41] But, so how, how does international recruiting fit into your whole, uh, your whole recruiting profile?

[00:03:47] Coach: Yeah. So, so for me, international recruiting, um, put like the, I was like, I grew up in Mississippi, so I was a high school player and a club player in this area. Um, looking for opportunities to play after high school, after junior college as well.

[00:04:02] Um, so for me, I got understand, like you said, kind of the outlook of like NAI teams having a ton of international players for us. We’re just trying to find the best players who fit us, whether they’re from Mississippi, the Southeast. Somewhere in the United States or across the world. Um, but yeah, international recruiting is, it’s a part of what we do.

[00:04:21] Um, we were fortunate to find some guys across the world that really fit what we’re trying to do here. Um, and that’s the crazy thing you don’t think about it, like going into recruiting aspect? Like for me, when I was a high school player called player, I thought I was competing with the players I played with in club and in this region for spots on college rosters and.

[00:04:44] Not getting too deep here with like globalization and technology today, like recruiting, you’re competing against more than, you know, for those spots and those teams, you know, it’s, it’s crazy. Um, and, and for us at the end of day, like, like I said, we’re trying to find the players who best fit us and we best fit them.

[00:05:03] So it doesn’t really matter where they’re from, but you do have a larger pool of players to kind of, to kind of pull for.

[00:05:14] For sure.

[00:05:15] Matt: No, sorry for sure. It is tricky that that’s absolutely the way, uh, you know, you gotta, you gotta do it these days. Um, so. Now that other you’re, you know, you’ve had that first year under your belt and people are probably starting to reach out, uh, recruits, you know, thinking about attending blue mountain.

[00:05:37] What’s something you like to see in that first, uh, communication you get from a potential recruit.

[00:05:42] Coach: First thing is the proper coach’s name. Uh, so I, uh, had a couple of those, but I understand too, that there, these student athletes are busy and they’re trying to get their name out there to as many coaches as well.

[00:05:54] But something like personalized, I guess, like you’ve heard the generic kind of, you know, something that lets me know, you know, about our college. So like for me, like I’ve got a ton of. Um, from, from players that say, and this is not me bashing there’s people, but they’re just standing. Like, I seen the rich history of soccer tradition at blue mountain college.

[00:06:12] And I want to be a part of that established program. And I’m thinking guys we’ve just started last season said, um, and then they get like, I understand they’re busy and they’re trying to get themselves out to as many people as possible, but it does help when you can say, look, Hey coach, I know you guys have only had a program for a year and you just starting.

[00:06:33] And that’s something that I love to be a part of building. Uh, it just helps me know that you’re, you’ve done a little bit of research. Um, also like it helps me to like, To know what you want to study academically. We are a smaller college. Um, we’re growing in what we offer, but it helps me to know, like, if you have an intention of what you plan to study so that I know if we offer that for you, you know, it’s hard for me when we start the recruiting process, we don’t have engineering.

[00:06:59] So if a player says like, I really want to do chemical engineering, well, that’s, that’s something we don’t offer. So we’re, we’re not the best fit for that student athlete, you know? Um, so figuring those things out in the front end, that’s kind of all my checklists, like when I opened up communication with a player.

[00:07:13] Yeah, just, just doing a little bit of research. Like you don’t have to tell me what our record was or who are leading gold score was, but just the fact knowing that we were, we were a first year program would have helped or something like that. Right.

[00:07:25] Matt: Well, speaking to that checklist, you know, if you’re out recruiting a player, uh, whether that’s at a tournament or something like that, you know, what’s on your checklist, either off the field or on the field attributes, that that is really something you’re looking for in a player.

[00:07:39] Coach: Yeah, for us, obviously it’s different for each position. Um, but just like some kind of non-negotiables like when I talk to recruits, like if I have a zoom call with a recruit, like we’re doing now, um, the first one we talk about is being a good person. Um, cause at the end of the day, when students leave blue mountain college there for me, the men, the men are going to be employees somewhere.

[00:08:02] Husbands potentially fathers potentially, there’s going to, they’re going to be members of society. So like, we want to make sure that we’re bringing in good people. Um, especially like with our first year, last year, we knew there were going to be ups and downs with our first-year program. So we needed to make sure we had people who were mentally tough, um, players who were coming in, who were thought oriented of what can I put into this program versus what am I getting out of this program?

[00:08:25] Um, and it. I don’t know, I guess we’re, we’re very people oriented here. Um, so being a good person. So like, if I’m at a tournament watching a player, uh, in a match, like when, when a call, it doesn’t go their way or when the matches over and their parents walk up to them, just kind of looking at those little things of how they respond to their teammates, to their coaches, to their family members, um, is quite important to me.

[00:08:48] Um, and then as far as like playing ability for me, it’s speed of play. I think that’s the biggest transition from, from the high school level club. Um, I hear players say all the time, coach, I used to do this now I can’t do it anymore. And I think it’s something they’ve done differently when in reality it’s not them.

[00:09:06] That’s changed. It’s the environment they’re playing in. It’s changed. Um, and so that’s for me, it’s speed of decision-making. You don’t have to be the fastest player, quickest player on the field, but if you can make that split second decision just a bit quicker, um, that’s going to help you translate. At the next level.

[00:09:21] So for me and physical ability, so you’re looking at a player as a person, how they respond or interact with teammates, um, their decision-making speed of play and physical ability as well. So, and then AI as well, you have some, some older, I guess you’d say veteran rosters. Um, I would not be surprised. I looked up like the average starting lineup for, for, um, arsenal and the age there.

[00:09:47] I would. I would imagine something like AI teams, rival marshals, starting starting 11 to age, average age. So for us, it’s that physical ability as well. You have, you, can’t shy away from a challenge. Um, and you have to have that mindset of not afraid to play, um, up against someone, you know, don’t shy away from a challenge and things like that, but every position is different, you know?

[00:10:11] Um, but those are kind of some of the basics that we look at from the. Okay.

[00:10:18] Matt: Now being a new program and NAI, I’m sure the scholarship aspect of things is a little bit crazy for you right now. But, uh, we, you know, I like to, I always like to ask this question, so, so players know what’s going on at a school.

[00:10:32] So how do academic and athletic scholarships kind of fit into the grand scheme of things for, for your team at blue

[00:10:40] Coach: mountain? So for us. Every level is different as far as stacking ability. So like for us, we can’t set scholarships. Um, but that doesn’t, that doesn’t mean that we ignore the academic side of the student athlete.

[00:10:54] It just means, um, the money you’re getting it counts towards our scholarships. So, um, whether that’s academic or athletic money that goes towards our total. Um, but the thing too is we have. We have kind of policies in place to where if you are strong academically, um, it does allow us, or helps us to be able to offer a bit more money on the scholarship side.

[00:11:17] So even though we can’t stack you, you’re still have the potential to be rewarded for, um, your, your academic success as well. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s really confusing. Um, the scholarships it’s, it’s a numbers game, but, um, that’s what I try to tell students. Help me help you, if you have good grades, that that helps me to be able to help you go to college cost efficiently, you know?

[00:11:45] Matt: Sure, sure. Well, let’s, let’s talk more about the school itself then, you know, there’s probably a lot of people out there not familiar with, with blue mountain college in Mississippi. So, um, you know, assuming that that, that a player is doing their due diligence and, and clicking around your website so that they.

[00:12:02] Uh, send you an email telling you about your soccer history. Um, there, you know, hopefully they’re going to learn about blue mountain at the same time. So give me the inside scoop about blue mountain. What’s not on the website that that’s really, uh, that I need to know that that’s cool and awesome about your school.

[00:12:21] Coach: So blue mountain itself is a pretty old school. So it started 1873. So it’s an older product. I’m at college here in Mississippi. Uh, crazy enough. 2008, I believe is the year they, um, became a co-educational. So they allow men to attend the college, um, locally, uh, For a long time, it’s known as like a college for preachers and teachers.

[00:12:44] Um, but since 2008, it’s grown tremendously. Um, so like most of the guys that I have on campus are studying like pre PT, pre med business sports management. Um, so we have a lot of different programs that are offered. Um, Offered as well. So it’s a growing college. Um, and as far as athletics as well, it’s growing there.

[00:13:04] So we have a huge percentage of students on campus that are part of, of athletics. Um, we have like freshmen first year program. Um, they built this a 2,400 square foot locker room right here on site. Uh, we’ve got our own field. We’re, we’re putting in a training field next season. So that’s one thing that excites me about being here.

[00:13:23] Um, there are places you can go. As a coach and you feel like you might not have the full support of, of the college and community, but that’s something that we very, we are very, very fortunate to have here. So full support from, from the college itself, the community to get us the resources we need to be successful.

[00:13:42] Um, the college itself is relatively small. One thing that I do like about it. For me, it’s it’s crazy coach standpoint. Like with us being a small college, kind of in a smaller community, uh, it limits the distractions for the players. Um, so when it is time for us to focus on academics and to focus on, on soccer, especially when we’re in the middle of the fall season, there aren’t very many distractions, but we’re also.

[00:14:05] Isolated from, from areas as well. So like Memphis is an hour north of us. Um, we’ve got the university of Mississippi Ole miss, which is about 45 minutes away. And then like, I’ve got players, like some guys who went up to Nashville. It’s about a three hour drive, uh, for a USL trial this past weekend. And some guys scheduled the beach, which is about five hours away, uh, for spring break.

[00:14:26] So we’re not too far away from anywhere, but we’re also kind of off. Um, so that when it is time to limit those distractions, those are there. Um, and then as far as like student population size, it’s probably about 600, 700 students on campus. Um, so a bit smaller there, but for, for me, I kind of explained to players like factory versus family atmosphere.

[00:14:48] Like we’re not here to pump out people just as numbers. We’re here to pop out individual people who are prepared to be successful in life, you know? 14 to one suited to teacher ratio. Um, classroom sizes are small professors know you by your first and last name, probably your hometown, um, and a lot more about you.

[00:15:06] So if you’re looking for a personal connection, then we’re a good fit. Uh, if you’re looking to kind of fly under the radar and just get through college stuff, I’m probably not the best fit for that person.

[00:15:19] Matt: Understandable. All right. Well, let’s talk about the academic side of things. Um, you know, What are yours, your players, dude, balance that academic and athletic side of things.

[00:15:32] What kind of support systems does your school have in place to help help players be

[00:15:36] Coach: successful in the classroom? Yeah. So one of the cool things that we have here in call the teaching and learning center. And so that’s a, that’s an attribute or a resource that our players can use. Um, and it is kind of.

[00:15:48] Faculty led, but it’s also student led. Um, so in the second floor of our admin building, um, there’s a space in there where students can go in and receive academic counseling and tutoring, uh, in any subjects that they’re struggling. In. One thing that I tried to talk to players about before we started, it was kind of being proactive.

[00:16:06] Um, most players know where they’re going to struggle, um, just based off prior experiences and education. And so trying to figure out where they feel like they might have. I guess the biggest obstacles to be successful. Um, but the TLC or the teaching learning center is a great resource for us, but we have great faculty here as well.

[00:16:26] Uh, the track, the track, the student athletes, academic success. I have, I have access to those things as well. So, um, the way I can explain it to parents, especially when they’re sitting their players here, like I’m not, college is an experience for it’s a transitional time period. You know, you, you kind of go from being a young man into.

[00:16:47] And adult when you leave us. So there is a sense of accountability and ownership of, of one player’s education. Um, but in the day, at the end of the day as well, I’m a resource and I’m kind of a, um, I’m not going to say holding your hand through the experience, but I guess more of a push, you know, um, cause these what these student athletes do in the classroom, When they go in for a job interview one day, that’s going to be the first thing that those employees ask about, you know, so it’s extremely important.

[00:17:20] And I think sometimes we forget about that as coaches and student athletes, that we’re here to do multiple jobs, not just play soccer. Um, but that’s something that we try to really push for our student athletes to realize, like, when you thought a job application one day, you want to be able to put your GPA on there, you know, it’s, it helps you.

[00:17:39] In the process of getting employed. So it’s something that we, we really take serious. Okay, well,

[00:17:47] Matt: in terms of a regular day, day in the life of a player, right? Let’s, let’s talk about that during, during season, kind of take me through a week, uh, you know, what’s the typical waking up class practice. Game prep going to bed.

[00:18:02] You know, all those things kind of take me through a week for a player during

[00:18:05] Coach: season. So a typical week for us, especially like in conference, we play on Thursday, Saturdays. So depending on how that week structured, um, so like Monday and Tuesday, for us, depending on what the week previous would be, would be kind of a heavier session.

[00:18:19] Um, and it’s. Preparation now it is tough with Thursday, Saturday when you’re preparing, obviously for that Thursday match, but you also have that Saturday match in the back of your mind too. Um, but those are heavier sessions for us. So you’ve got class typically from eight till about 12. Um, then the players have lunch and then we have, um, roughly a two hour training session that afternoon and then they have dinner and then the evening time for the academics and the studies.

[00:18:43] Um, so that would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday would be a lighter. Um, going into that or depending where we’re playing Wednesday might be travel day for us. So like, if we’re going to Georgia on that Thursday, we wake up Wednesday class travel or leave a bit earlier and have a training session where we’re traveling to.

[00:19:00] Um, and then Thursday, I was the match day, Friday recovery day, Saturday, play again, and then travel home. So some of the weeks can be quite, quite tough. Like we talked about the academic side. I mean, if a student’s missing class Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, It does put a little bit more stress on them, but like I said, too, luckily with us, with the professors we have in the classroom sizes we have here, the professors are really, really good to work with our students.

[00:19:26] Um, and getting those assignments either done prior to the travel or post travel. But yeah. Are the weeks change because out of conference for us, we might play on a Tuesday, Friday. Um, one thing I am doing this upcoming season is playing more Thursday, Saturdays prior to conference so that we can prepare ourselves for that, that process.

[00:19:49] Um, I don’t think we this past season us going into conference hat and played a Thursday set are yet. And so our players physically weren’t used to that stress. Um, and also just kind of the. I wouldn’t say mental fatigue, but it’s just so quick of a transition. You play that, that Thursday, you’ve got one day to recover and one day to kind of get your mindset for the, for the following map patch.

[00:20:12] And in our conference, you might end up with William Carey on a Thursday, which is a top 10 program. And then university of mobile, who was the riders out for the national championship on a Saturday. So it’s, it can be quite brutal. Yeah, that would

[00:20:28] Matt: be a tough gauntlet right there. Um, so, so let’s talk more about the soccer side of things a bit.

[00:20:34] Um, you know, you, you mentioned you’re, you’re looking to carry around 30 on the team. Um, what about your staff? You know, how big is your soccer staff? What role do those folks. Uh, a typical year.

[00:20:48] Coach: They’re like for us, um, this past season, it was a bit smaller. We’re trying to grow it. Um, so I’ve got myself and then we’ve got a volunteer assistant, um, Martin Morphin who comes in and trains with us.

[00:21:00] Uh, we had a goalkeeper coach come in from a local club, uh, that would came in with us throughout the preseason. And then next year we’re adding another student assistant who will be another goalkeeper instructor for us. So about three. And then we’ve got another student assistant. Um, that helps us out as well.

[00:21:15] So, uh, as far as like full-time staff, it’s just myself, but we’ve got in the form of student assistants. We’re looking at grad assistant as well. Um, those resources there, uh, like for me with an educational background, I kind of. Kinda like a classroom ratio. If it’s, if it’s a one to 30 ratio, the players aren’t getting the attention they need.

[00:21:34] So the more staff you could add into it that gives each player more individualized attention. Uh, cause at the end of the day, it’s our job as, as a coach to improve each player individually. Uh, so I want to make sure that they’re getting, they’re getting what they need to be supported.

[00:21:48] Matt: Hmm. That’s good. So how would you describe your style of coaching, the team style playing?

[00:21:54] What kind of culture are you trying to build a with this new program

[00:21:59] Coach: playing style? Uh, I get that question a lot for our crews, like, Hey coach, what formation you ride and what’s your playing style? And I tell him my last season, it was a bit different, you know, recruiting 28 players to come in. I had two options I could recruit to a system or I could recruit the best players that could potentially.

[00:22:17] And then make a system that fits them. Uh, so that’s the approach I took in year in year one, I found the best 28 players. I could find that were great fit for us. And then it was my job as a coach to make it work for them. Um, year two, we kind of know more of what we have coming back. Um, so for us, it’s.

[00:22:36] Purpose possession. Uh, you hear possession of tell I’m like, we’re a possession based team. We’re going to play that back. Things like that. Um, for us, we’re not trying to skip the midfield every time we play. Um, so we’re not very direct, uh, for us, it’s about building getting the ball forward and then that kind of allows us to press a bit higher up as well.

[00:22:54] I mean, um, that’s something that we really focus on this spring and we’re focusing on still is how do we build numbers into the attack that allows us to, to press the ball? Cause you can’t, if you play direct. And the balls played 60 yards up in the field. You can’t go press that. You’re asking each player to, to move there’s too much running.

[00:23:15] Um, so, so for us, it’s a. Keeping the ball with purpose. Um, once we lose a ball quick transitions trying to press this out, the films we can’t, but those things to change, we are adaptive depending on who we’re playing and who we have healthy. Um, that’s one of the rigors of a college season. You have injuries due to the stack schedule.

[00:23:37] So depending on who we have healthy and who we have available and who we’re playing, it changes a little bit of the way we, we. Um, but for us, I guess when I look at it, you really have like two styles, more trying to keep the ball, play the ball versus direct. Um, we, we don’t really go the direct route. Um, so it doesn’t really fit us, but, but for me as a coach really harp on the defensive side of things, um, kind of the ugly parts of the game, I guess you’d call it the, the not.

[00:24:05] So you’re not going to get the statistics, you know, um, for, for some of the things that we’re looking for players to do. I don’t know, kind of, like I said earlier, more of that, what can I provide for this team versus what is this team given me mentality is, is kind of what we try to take with us.

[00:24:21] Matt: What, is there a particular culture that you’re trying to build there specifically?

[00:24:27] Coach: Yeah, there he is. Um, I right now listening to, or reading, I guess you call it on the audible. I listened to Carlos enchilada, he’s quiet leadership book. Um, and those are the, there’s a lot of things in that book that resonate with me. Um, culture wise, we preach the three things, person, player, and student, uh, or sorry, person, student employer.

[00:24:48] Um, it, it’s kind of, I call it like a holistic approach as to the culture here. I want these players to know, like at the end of the day, like I’m here for them, you know? Um, when you look at leadership or at least in my experience as leadership, you have two distinct different ones where coaches feel like the players work for them or coaches who work for other players.

[00:25:12] And so we really try to, it’s kind of a balance, you know, you can’t go all in one or the other, but it’s more. Uh, mutual respect versus operating out a fear culture here. Um, I just think you get more of the players and there’s more for them. There’s more you call it buy-in or, um, ownership of the team, you know, like they’re not playing, it’s not my team they’re playing for.

[00:25:36] It’s our team. And for us starting a program from the ground up, it’s kinda, it has to be that way because you come into a program with, with historic success and you’re like that. I’m playing for that history of this tape. You know, we’re more in the mindset of we’re making the history for this group. So it’s more of a us versus me mentality.

[00:25:56] Matt: Yeah, no, I like that a lot. That that’s, that’s a good way to look at it. Well, you know, we’re granted, this is your first one, but, but you’re in the off season. Um, so what, uh, what, what is your tip of off season program? Uh,

[00:26:10] Coach: So for us, we’re going four days a week. Um, so in, in AI you have a 24 week schedule throughout the school year and you could have, I think, two breaks into it.

[00:26:19] Um, so our regular season this year went 13 weeks with our players come in, in August the first, and then we went through our regular season. Uh, so we took a break after that came back after Chris. Um, the weeks that you lift and don’t use a ball, don’t count towards your, your weight total. Um, so we’ve, we’ve done a little bit of lifting without the ball to start back.

[00:26:37] And then now we’re back training four times a week. So two of those days is a mixture of, of weights and training. So we’ll lift for an hour and then we’ll come down to the field and do about a 45 minute to an hour technical session. And then the other two days, we kind of mixed in some speed, agility, quickness work.

[00:26:54] Um, but it’s more of a. Training day. And so for us, like concepts that we’ve been working on, like for this spring we started off with is it’s kind of building numbers into attack, like I mentioned earlier. Um, and then kind of where we’ll go to that is transitioning on how we press out of that build. Um, and then in addition where we’re allowed three play dates in the night, so in the spring, um, so for us, we’ll play on the 2nd of April.

[00:27:17] Uh, I forget the other two dates. We have three matches in the month of April, um, as well. So it gives us a chance to. What we’ve worked on this spring and what we’ve got coming back, um, in a traditional setting that would be, you know, you’ve got those seniors that roll off and those underclassmen diminish freshmen, sophomores.

[00:27:35] That’s their chance to kind of make that transition to where there’ll be in the roster next year. But like I said, for us, it’s we bring back w we didn’t, we hadn’t lost a starter. Um, we bring back everybody, so it it’s good for us. That’s one thing that excites me for next year. Like this spring has been great cause.

[00:27:53] I don’t know how the people watching this video are with, with the cost season, but August the first 28 gas came in for us. Uh, we played 17 days later. And so it was the first time many of those players were playing together. Um, The way I kind of call it, like we were building a puzzle this year. Um, but we didn’t have all the patients to start with.

[00:28:15] I mean, some players eligibility took a little bit longer than we were anticipating. Um, some players got injured and so we kept getting new pieces of puzzle of the puzzle put together as the season went on. But, um, once we finally got to figure it out, it was like the season was over. So it’s good for us to have this spring together, um, and just kind of grow, grow as well.

[00:28:36] No.

[00:28:37] Matt: That’s awesome. Well, we’ve covered a lot of ground, uh, but my last question is always the same here and it’s kind of the catch all. What, what else would you like prospects, players, anybody to know about the school, the program? Anything we didn’t cover? Anything you want to reiterate, do it as, as we close

[00:28:54] Coach: here, the one thing that I would reiterate is.

[00:28:59] And this, this goes for prospects, looking at the blue mountain college prospects looking and they, any college and any recruit I speak with, I kind of tell the same thing, no, what you want. Um, which sounds really, really easy, but as recruit, going into that process, you have a checklist, your, your parents have a checklist of what they want out of your collegiate soccer experience.

[00:29:23] Um, Is it, is it location? Is it cost? Is it student population size? Is it chance of immediate playing town? Like what are those things that are valuable to you? What are those things? What is what ranks on your list? Because that’s the hard thing for me. It’s when I’m talking to a player and I’m asking.

[00:29:41] Like, what do you want out of this experience? And they don’t really know, you know, it’s having an idea of what you’re looking for. Cause that’s going to help you out in the long run of when you’re looking at schools, finding the right fit for you. And I know I’ve used the word fit multiple times, but that’s kinda, that’s the big thing for me.

[00:29:55] Um, a smaller college in north Mississippi might not be the destination college for everyone, but I do know there are players. Th that will be excited to be here and are good fit for us, and that are gonna help us be successful on the field in the classroom and in the community. So, um, but it does, it does ultimately come down and it’s, there’s a lot of people who go into making these decisions.

[00:30:20] Um, and so it’s not just coaches reaching out to players, it’s players, knowing what they’re looking for and at college as well. So that you only got to, I guess you’d get multiple times to college, but this is where it’s all like, it comes around, you know, once. Um, that’s the biggest thing for me, like for me as a recruiter, like being proactive, um, and making sure that the players are excited and comfortable with the setting, they’re going to be placed in here.

[00:30:47] Um, because you don’t want to have players that come in, I guess half-heartedly, and that leads to issues down the road, you know? So, um, Like you kind of talked about the culture, you know, it’s kind of a buzzword today’s society as well, but it’s a really important thing, you know, it’s it’s you got to go somewhere that fits your mindset.

[00:31:09] You’re in, and I guess. Your core beliefs, coach. I

[00:31:16] Matt: think whatever you’re doing, keep it up. You’re doing a great job cause to, to walk in with a new program, into that conference with the seven to nine record and keeping all your players is, is, is a Testament. So I applaud you. I wish you the best of luck in your second season.

[00:31:30] Uh, and, and we’ll keep an eye on you and, and, and hopefully you guys be doing great things and anybody watching will, might, uh, might even, might even help you take it to that

[00:31:39] Coach: next. That would be fantastic. Thank you so much for your time that thank you.