Spartanburg Methodist College Men’s Soccer – Coach Doug Smith

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Smith from the Spartanburg Methodist Men’s Program in South Carolina. We talk about how much time he spends recruiting during his fall season. He describes the professional development classes that are included in the school’s curriculum. Lastly, we discuss their good size staff that is full of college coaching experience. Learn more about Spartanburg Methodist College Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Smith at Spartanburg Methodist. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: Thanks for having us. 

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. Um, beautiful part of South Carolina. I’m sure. Hopefully it’s a not as hot and wet as Florida is right now. But, uh, 

Coach: today’s a hot day. So, 

Matt: yeah, yeah, I bet. Well, it’s, uh, August here, you’re, you’re in the, the throes of kicking off the season. Um, as a, as an NAIA men’s program, kind of talk to me about your timeline of recruiting, like right now you’re, you know, it’s, it’s season you’re focused on what’s happening on the field, how much. Of your time, let’s say in a given week and maybe throw a percentage on it.

I’m not asking, obviously it’s not gonna be exact, but could throw a percentage on how much of your time is spent recruiting, say this class of 25 versus, you know, everything else. 

Coach: Yeah. So I think for our 25 is like, we, we’ve kind of focused on them in the summer, just to kind of identify guys that we, we, we really wanted to.

Kind of target, uh, we’re being a little more intentional about our recruiting this year, just because in the past, uh, you know, the school used to be a junior college, so they would take anyone. Um, so we get messages all the time and it’s just, it’s not fitting the level or the caliber that we’re looking for anymore.

Um, so with our 25, as we sent about 30, 30 to 35 percent of our [00:01:30] time, uh, during the week, you know, contacting recruits, um, constantly keeping up with them. We have our recruiting schedule kind of set pretty. Um, standard where we’re making sure that these recruits know that they’re important and there’s some of them that we really want, um, and as far as official visits as well, like the same thing, it’s, you know, we try to get one or two a month, uh, get them in here.

So, 

Matt: okay. Now, uh, are you, you have 26 is on the radar at all? Are you talking to any 26 is, or is that kind of, you’re waiting to wrap up some more 25 stuff first? 

Coach: I really want to wrap up the 25s. I mean, we definitely put 26s on our radar. If we identify some guys at ID camps, then we, you know, we put them kind of in our list of, Hey, that’s, that’s keep an eye on them.

That’s maybe reach out and talk to them every now and then. But our 25s are really main focus right now. Uh, we’re kind of trying to rebuild a little bit. So, um, that’s our, that’s our focus right now. 

Matt: Okay. Well, In terms of identifying players and all this stuff, is there, where are your favorite tournaments?

Where are your favorite places to go? Where are you, where are you finding these kids to identify? 

Coach: Uh, so we have some really good agents that we kind of talk to, some international agents. Um, you know, sports scholarships is one of the big ones that we, we kind of deal with. Um, but, you know, as far as the tournaments, we try to hit the ECNL next tournament.

Uh, we’ll be definitely be in Phoenix, we’ll be in Florida, we’ll be in Vegas, we’ll hit all those major tournaments that we can, um, [00:03:00] but We also get guys that are sent to us that, uh, are overseas that we might not have noticed before. So, um, we kind of have a streamline in Uruguay right now in Argentina that we’re, we’re kind of trying to tap into.

So, um, it’s not really one particular place that we go, but our level that we’re looking for is ECNL or ECRL and higher. Um, just like I said before, you know, in the past, it’s just kind of been like, Hey, if you want to come play junior college, come on. You know what I mean? It’s not the case anymore. We want top level guys.

So, 

Matt: okay. Well, you mentioned ID camps. Do you guys run your own ID camps or do your staff work, uh, other schools, camps, how important are our camps in that process? 

Coach: Yeah. So Spartanburg is really saturated with a lot of colleges. So, you know, we have some of the top programs in the, in the country here, uh, from division two to division one teams.

So we typically try to balance off of their ID camps. With my staff and I, we just took over the program. So we’re trying to build into doing ID cams. And that’s something that we’ll definitely do within the next year or two. But right now we really tap into us, the upstates camps. We hit North Korean camps, um, same with like limestone and all those.

So those top programs in the country is where we try to identify those guys. 

Matt: Okay. Well, in terms of whether it’s at a showcase or through recruiting agencies or ID camps or whatever the case may be, what is it that you’re looking for in a player, uh, both on the field and off the field stuff? 

Coach: [00:04:30] That’s a great question.

Um, you know, it’s not always about like, are they making the right passes? Are they doing everything that they’re supposed to do? Um, technically it’s how are they reacting when they lose the ball? How are they reacting? Um, Um, when their team’s down three, nothing, and they’re coming off the field, are they, are they sitting on a bench with their hands in their head or their head in their hands, or are they actually like coming off the field, trying to motivate their guys and get them going?

So, um, it’s definitely a mentality thing. It’s not just a technical thing. Uh, we don’t want guys that are going to be negative. We want guys that are positive and uplifting and constantly pushing their team to be better. So, 

Matt: okay. Well, you mentioned internationals, but. I know the one thing that’s growing and it looks like we’ll be growing even more with new NCAA regs is the transfer portal.

Now, I know being an AI, you don’t have exact access to that. But, uh, is recruiting transfers or as since you guys used to be a junior college recruiting junior college players. Is that part of your recruiting process at all? 

Coach: Absolutely. I mean, um, you know, we still have some connections in the junior college world that we we try to tap into.

Um, I think there’s a lot of talent in junior college that, you know, they just, whether, whether it is they couldn’t afford school yet or they just kind of need a year or two to develop. And I think junior college level is great for that. Um, this year we had about six or seven transfers that came in. Uh, we had two or three division one guys.

Uh, we had three or four division two guys. Um, we, [00:06:00] we definitely want to hit transfers. Um, I think that’s kind of a huge market, but I think to start out, we’ll be looking for those top level freshmen to come in and kind of make an impact. And then we’ll look into those transfers when, when we start making a national impact.

Matt: Okay, great. Well, is there a roster size that you find is ideal that you’re trying to hit? 

Coach: Uh, so we, we definitely are trying to do potentially a reserve team or JV team. Um, you know, originally we had about 33, 34. Um, that’s top level 3334 guys that, you know, we’ll probably all see minutes at some point during the season.

But with us looking at a reserve team, we’re probably gonna look to carry about 40, 44 guys. that will again, make, make an impact. And, um, you know, the reserve league that we’re looking to join is again, top, top level teams. It’s, you know, division one, division two teams with garter web, USC upstate limestone, Converse, uh, North Greenville.

So, um, it, it would be very good for these guys to develop and, uh, get, get into that, that first team role eventually. 

Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, you’ve been there. Well, you were an assistant. You left, you came back. So you must have liked it. So what is it that you really enjoy about the school?

What are some great things? Maybe we would, we wouldn’t know just by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, the school is a great, great community. You know, from our president all the way down to, you know, the freshman class. It’s just an [00:07:30] amazing staff and amazing student body. Um, it’s a very close knit community.

Uh, we actually just increased our numbers to about 11 or 1100 students, which was. a huge increase for us. Uh, we broke over that thousand student mark. Um, we’ve been in added, uh, you know, some more four year degrees. Um, sports management was one of the big ones that they added. So that’s kind of huge for recruits that, that love to get into that, that atmosphere.

Um, but I think what’s something really special about our, our school is, you know, the juniors They take what is called PDF classes. So it’s the professional developmental classes. So, whereas other schools might like offer resume building or interviewing, things like that, we actually include that in our curriculum.

And that’s something that, uh, is kind of mandatory for them to take. And, uh, we’ve seen a lot of success with it, uh, especially moving into businesses. And, um, you know, that, I think that group there is probably one of our strongest. staff that we have that, uh, they, they do a lot of great things and they get people connected with, uh, some big, big time companies in the area.

So, 

Matt: Oh, that’s awesome. Well, one of the hard parts of being a student athlete is balancing the student part with the athlete part. So what kind of support systems does your school offer to really help students be successful both in the classroom, as well as on the field? 

Coach: As I mean, another great [00:09:00] question.

I think that’s, uh, that is another strong point of our school. You know, we have tutoring available. Um, we have a place called the right place. So if guys are struggling with writing papers, they They can go up there and they’ll help them, you know, not write the whole thing for them, but they’ll help them edit it and figure out, hey, this is what you could do better, or you could word it a little differently than this.

We also do mandatory study hall hours. So, as a coaching staff, we’re there for them, we’re there to support them. And we always tell them, don’t wait till the last minute. If you need something, come talk to us. We’ll help you out. Uh, you know, at the end of the day, they are student athletes. So the student is first, they’re not athletes first.

And we make sure that they understand that that’s the most important thing is you may not go pro one day. You may be going to run a business and you need to be able to do that the right way. So. 

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but, uh, for us parents with kids going through this process and, and looking at schools, the almighty dollar tends to rear its ugly head.

So just give me an idea roughly of, you know, what, what, what does it cost for someone to go to Spartanburg Methodist, but also what kind of financial aid can they expect? Rather that’s academic athletic, what’s a normal. What does maybe a normal package look like for an incoming soccer player? 

Coach: Um, so it’s going to vary from, you know, internationals out of state and in state.

So in state, I think they have probably one of the best packages package deals that you could, you could get. [00:10:30] Um, right now the tuition sitting at about 31, 000. So we’re, we’re not very high. We’re not very low. We’re, we’re kind of, you know, the bottom 75 percent for, for cost wise. So I think we’re a very cost effective school.

Um, as far as like a package deal, you know, out of state kids, we typically try to package them with at least half tuition. Um, as for far in state kids, if they’re a 3. 0 or higher, we have a thing called a pioneer promise. So we’ll actually cover their tuition for them. So the only thing they really have to worry about is their housing and their, um, their fees.

So they’re only paying about. You know, 10, 10 to 14, 000. Um, and this is all before FAFSA. This is all before, um, any other aid that they might qualify for. So, uh, again, like you said, it’s not hard numbers and I’m not going to, I don’t want to be held firm to that. Uh, we do have very good package deals for, for internationals out of state and in state kids.

So 

Matt: No, sounds like it. Well, let’s fast forward here, maybe a month or two. You’re in the heart of that, that season. Walk me through what a typical week is going to look like for a player in terms of winter practices, meals, classes, game cadence, all that kind of stuff. 

Coach: Yeah, so, um, we’re very big on making sure our guys are up and at classes on time and doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

So we, we changed our, our practices to 6. 30 in the morning. So it’s 6. 30 to eight, uh, it gives them time to go get breakfast. Uh, and then [00:12:00] after that, they’re able to, to go to class straight at nine o’clock. So, uh, again, our academic advising has been really great about working with us on that and making sure that the athletes are able to get the practice in.

And then we get them to class. So typically they’re doing maybe two or three classes a day. Um, some guys don’t even have classes on like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they, they’ve kind of stacked it Tuesday, Thursdays. Um, but if we, we have a game, we usually have like a match day minus three starting on Monday.

Um, we move, you know, we do very technical aspects. We, we tend to break off functionally. We allow our attackers and our defenders to kind of work on their skills. Um, and then as we get closer to the game day, uh, we’re looking at what can we do to prepare for this team? So we do film, um, we do, um, analysis or opponent analysis, things like that.

So we, we prepare them the best we can, and we try to run this as a professional level, uh, program as we can. So. 

Matt: Okay, great. Well, let’s talk more than about the team. You mentioned your roster size. Uh, the rest of that roster is staff. So talk to us about your staff. What role does everybody play? What other support staff maybe are in the athletic department that help out with the team on a, on a usual basis?

Coach: Yeah, I mean, we’re, we’re extremely blessed to have the amount of staff that we have. Um, you know, my first assistant, Garrett Laurie’s coming from Western Michigan, which, you know, they’re a, they’re a top five team in the country right now for division one, which is a quarterfinals last [00:13:30] year. Um, so his knowledge, his expertise coming in, um, coming from his coach over at Western Michigan, uh, it, it’s invaluable.

So, uh, we tend to let him run the sessions. We let him kind of take control of that while I’m taking care of the bigger picture. Um, we have another division one assistant that moved over from Wofford. Uh, Joey. He’s, uh, kind of our role is he’s doing individual things. So he’s working with our players on an individual aspect, checking in with them, making sure that they have what they need.

Um, but he’s also, you know, kind of running our set pieces and running that aspect. Uh, you know, we have bradley, uh, curvy bristly, who’s just graduated from Erskine. We’re kind of giving him his first taste in the college soccer as a coach and we’re showing him what it takes. And he kind of runs the logistics for us.

Um, and then our goalkeeper coach, um, he, uh, you know, you, you Kenji Passius, he He was a two time All American here, a leading goal scorer in the country, an absolute asset for us. Ironically enough, he was recruited here as a goalkeeper. And then, uh, the head coach moved him up to striker and he ended up being the leading goal scorer in the country.

So, um, he’s actually a phenomenal goalkeeper. So he’s been running our goalkeeper sessions. And, um, you know, again, like I said, I’m very blessed to have such a big staff and, uh, excited to see where we can go with it. 

Matt: Yeah, that’s [00:15:00] great. Well, What about you as the head man? Well, how would you describe your coaching style and the style of player looking to play there?

Coach: Um, we, you know, we, we like to be very direct, uh, but we also like to build up. So we’re, we’re a program that, uh, we’re going to play a very high press. We’re not going to let them play around with the ball. We’re not going to let them be very comfortable. We’re going to put them under pressure. Um, but at the same time, if, if we need to kind of go reserve, we’re going to go a little bit reserved, but we like to put them under pressure.

That first 15 minutes. kind of give them a taste of what smc soccer is all about. Um, as far as like our style, like we look, we look for like a 433 or 442. Um, it really just depends on the team that we’re playing, what we’re looking to accomplish that day. Um, I like to be more hands on. I like to make sure that these guys know that we care about them, that their family.

That’s our saying this year’s family. We have it on our shirts. We have it everywhere. Uh, you know, we want these guys to understand, like, we’re not just here for soccer, we’re here for you on every aspect of, of life. So, uh, it’s a balance, like you said, you know. 

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, in terms of, you know, you get done with, with this season, you got the spring season.

You just kind of got out of that. And I believe you got hired enough to be able to have a spring this past spring. So talk to me about [00:16:30] what does an off season look like for you guys? What do you try to accomplish then? What, what should players be expecting? 

Coach: Yeah, in the spring. Uh, yeah, I mean, you’re kind of right or you are right.

I showed up in February season start about February 1st. So, um, I was able to really take these guys in the spring and and test them. Uh, in the off season, I look to challenge them with playing the local division one teams. So, uh, we were able to play Presbyterian third place. We played at the U. S. C.

Upstate. Um, again, both both very good schools in the Big South, but allowed us to kind of show these guys the experience of what a division one program looks like and, um, play against them. And we had very good results against them. You know, we lost by one goal against both teams. And, um, you know, we hit the post on the last 30 seconds against P.

C. And upstate made a huge save in the last 30 seconds as well. So, um, that’s what we really want to do in off season is test them, make sure that they Um, they know what it’s gonna take to get to that next level. Um, that we, we can’t just play these junior college teams and these lower level teams. We need to play some of the best in the area, so.

Matt: Okay. Well, coach, I appreciate the time. Got one last question for you, and that is, if you had one piece of advice or, or one nugget of information that you think all families, parents, players going through this process should know, what would that be? 

Coach: Um, I think the biggest thing that I would say is [00:18:00] if it doesn’t feel like home, if it doesn’t feel very comfortable, don’t make a commitment.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the best program in the country and you know, the, their number one and they’re winning national championships. If you don’t feel like you’re at home, don’t do it. You know, at the end of the day, you’re not going to be happy. Go somewhere that’s going to make you happy and, and you enjoy it.

We always stress to our recruits that. If we’re not the place for you, we’ll help you find a place. We’re not going to hold you somewhere that we feel like you’re not happy in. So, um, I think that’s the biggest thing is mental health and making sure that they, they are healthy, healthy in that aspect. So 

Matt: great.

Well, coach really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck here, uh, as you keep cranking on that season. And, uh, if you get down to any events in liquid ranch, uh, give me a shout. All right. 

Coach: Awesome. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate you. 

Matt: Thank you.