Faulkner University Women’s Soccer – Coach Colby Phillips
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Phillips from the Faulkner Women’s Program in Alabama. We talk about the mix of qualities in a player that he recruits. Coach also shares about how there is a community at the university that is always looking out for you. Plus, we discuss how they work a lot on recovery in a packed schedule. Learn more about Faulkner University Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Phillips at Faulkner University in Alabama. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thank you, sir. Appreciate you having us.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. Excited to talk to you. Last summer I did a big, a big drive through, uh, Alabama and, and other states with my daughter looking at schools, went through Montgomery, but unfortunately, I, I missed out on visiting Faulkner.
So we’ll be excited to hear all about it from you today. Um. We’re, we’re talking here early June, um, as an NAI Women’s program June 9th. You’ve been there a year now. Just curious, are you still getting a couple 20 fives, uh, finishing out the class at this point, or are you done with that? You’ve moved on and you’re rocking and rolling On the 26th is, I think we’re in a spot where
Coach: we’re, we’re totally cool with what we have.
Um, and you know, we’re still. Like the hook is still baited, um, you know, still out [00:01:00] there because we do have a little bit room to grow. We lost, um, I lost 11 seniors of graduation last year, so, uh, you know, coming in my first year, um, it’s great to have that experience, but then they all leave at once. Kind of breaks your heart a little bit.
Um, but I still think yes, sir. Like, like you were saying, I think right now, obviously for us, the main focus is next year as far as recruiting, but. There’s no reason why we couldn’t add right now, for sure. Okay.
Matt: Well, and you know, not unlike a number of NAI programs, you got a, a decent number of, of international players on there.
So is is, is some of that late, uh, recruiting, perhaps internationals ’cause they just tend to be later in the process or is it just kind of everybody?
Coach: It could be. I think right now really the only one, there’s only one more that we’re. Um, that I think is a realistic possibility. It just happens that she is an international, but, um, you know, we lost basically all of them to graduation this past [00:02:00] spring.
Um, so a little bit of reloading in every category. Um, I kind of, I’ve been wording it as, um, kind of have a, a sprinkling is what I’ve been calling it. Mm-hmm. Um, and really being specific and selective, um, with that group and. You know, being careful with, with that just as, just as like we would be with, you know, the local girls.
But yeah, I think right now. Like you said, like a lot of ’em are making that late decision. Some have reversed the decision. Um, so we’re definitely still open right now. We have a little bit of room to grow, for
Matt: sure. Okay. Well, whether, you know, you’re, you’re focusing on 20 sixes, maybe even talking to some 20 sevens or, or whatever the case may be.
Uh, where is it that you like to do, uh, your recruiting? What events do you like to go to? Where, where can folks see you out and about looking for players?
Coach: Yeah. So we start here and we work our way out. Um, you know, my, one of the big things I wanted to do when I came in was, you know, really focus on here out as far as our local [00:03:00] girls.
I mean, I’m from Alabama, I’m from the north part of the state and Athens area near Huntsville. Um, you know, that area’s just exploding with, um, and it’s always been a good talent for, um. I think the girls sports have always been really, really good in that area. And soccer is kind of becoming, I mean, it kind of, it basically is at this point the number one sport, um, on the girls side.
And I think if we can start here, work out towards, you know, you got Birmingham right above us. My wife’s from that area, and then you got Atlanta two hours away. Um, Birmingham’s like an hour away. You know, my area, Huntsville, Athens area is two hours and 20 minutes. And then south of us, you know, you’re at the beach in two hours and we have some Pensacola girls on the team.
Um, the Florida area. So we’re in a good spot. I think if we can kind of work in that little circle there, you know, up to Huntsville, over to Atlanta, down to Pensacola and up, but really starting here and, and as the epicenter and kind of working out like a, um, you know, like a ripple in the ocean as it goes out.
I think we can, we can really do that and [00:04:00] it’ll make us more sustainable, which is an issue I think the program has, has had. Um, and I think, you know, we, we want the girls when they come here to be here. For this is what we do. We don’t want ’em, we don’t want ’em here the whole time. Or if they’re transfers is however many years they have.
But you know, we want ’em to come here and stay here. And as far as places that that go, I really focused on, um, high school because I was a teacher and I kind of speak that language. And I think right now that’s very undervalued area. Um, everyone rightly so, you know, you go to showcase and stuff, but I, you know, I didn’t grow up playing club.
I don’t really have a lot of the relationships with the clubs that maybe someone who has been in that speaks that language, use that phrase again. Um, and for us it’s about finding some value where maybe things are overvalued, undervalued. And, and for us, we, I really feel like we can’t just be another.
Name on the sheet, um, at a, at a showcase ’cause it’s just not gonna happen. So while we would [00:05:00] send somebody to something that’s local, I think, um, this spring we spent a lot of time going to high school practices and just talking to the coaches, talking to the girls, you know, casual. That’s more of a casual setting.
Um, you know, you’re with your buddies, um, all the times the coaches. I’ve been, I mean 99% of the time the coaches have been like super opening and even the 1% they’re just like, you wanna come out here? And I was like, oh, yes sir. You know, we’d love to. Um, and it just helps start that relationship and you get to see the seventh grade all the way through the seniors with some of these smaller schools, and you can build that relationship super early.
Um, whereas a lot of the time with the club, I feel like it’s almost like a fire sale with some of ’em, you know, they’re trying to make decisions. And I’ve only been here a year, so like. I need time to, to kind of build and, and get to know this group. Um, like we were asking like the 27, 26. And for us, the more like the one-on-one time and the, the more time we can spend, um, kind of working our way out that way.
I think for us, at least at Faulkner, [00:06:00] it’s gonna be better.
Matt: Okay. Well what about ID camps? Do you guys do your own or do you or your staff work? External ID camps at all.
Coach: I have in the past. Um, and when I was working in Maine, I went to, I did like the University of New Hampshires and I did see like a ton of, of value in that.
But it’s, you know, we’re not, I think, I think there is a lot of value in that for, um, like a bigger school than Max more like of a magnet that’s just kind of, you know, kids come to that all the time. I haven’t done that for us. I feel like, um. One of the phrases I use for it is I’d rather have, um, you know, that one hour with 40 girls and 40 girls for one hour, um, on, and I know the best thing about it’s getting the girls on campus, but, um, if I can make that into 40 individual visits, 20 individual visits or whatever, I, I’m gonna spend the resources doing that instead.
Um, you know, I just don’t. We, we will get, you know, if we had it, we, we’d get some people to come. I’m not saying we wouldn’t, but again, it’s like the value thing. Where are we spending our [00:07:00] time? Where we gonna get the most value of? And I feel like Faulkner is the kind of place where if we can do that personal one-on-one, me and my assistant coach, if, if her and I can give the tours ourselves, can take ’em out the lunch ourselves.
Spend time with parents given the walking around the campus. Like that’s gonna be time better spent for us. Moneywise timewise, um. And so that’s, that’s where we’re putting our focus in, um, really since I’ve got here in the summer too. So, not that I’m anti that, it’s just for us. I just think that it works, it works better, um, for us to kind of do that on an individual basis, if that makes sense.
Matt: Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, I guess whether it’s, uh, at a tournament or high school game or, or whatever it is, you’re, you’re seeing players kind of what, what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field? I.
Coach: Um, athletes, um, is kind of the biggest thing as far as on the field.
You know, somebody that even if they may, you know, not be 10 outta 10 technical, which, you know, I’m saying [00:08:00] that those will grow on trees, but at the same time, you know, at this level, everyone can do certain things or they can pass, they can shoot, um, you know, they, they no decent spacing. You know, obviously people come in, they need to be coached on a couple things, but you know, at this level.
Just like you would the top high school, top club level. You know, people can, can do just about anything. You know, your keepers are good with their feet, your center backs are good with their feet. Boards can do a little bit of everything the folks can do. So we we’re, I think I’m willing for sure. System wise to, if someone, maybe they’re not like the most technical person, but they’re the athlete, they have the stamina, they have some of those natural things that we, um, are looking for.
And then you add in those personalities, what I call like 10 out of 10 personalities, you add that. ’cause the time on the field is like, you know, less than like 2% compared to the time they spend, you know, just living on campus and why it’s super important to us and it’s a big deal, like time-wise, it’s really not.
Um, and that’s a. It’s kind of a different way to look at it maybe, but like we’re saying like, what can this girl give us over [00:09:00] four years? And if she can give us that big plus off the field the whole time, like we’re willing to big time go for that. You know, that’s, that’s an investment that that’s gonna pay us back, you know, very, very quickly.
Um, with all the time they’re gonna spend on campus and the influence they’re gonna have on, you know, the current group and then future groups too. Off on the field for sure that the athlete, um, you know, if someone, like I said, maybe lacking this much in like a technical thing, but they have that athleticism stuff, you know, we can, we can coach that, we can work with that.
Um, you know, it fits as long as it fits the system, which, you know, when you’re, I’ve been in a year now, so I can be a little bit more, I guess not, I don’t know specifics to the right word, but selective maybe. Um, and we want to be able to keep doing that more and more as we go on. Being able to look, okay, does this person fit what we want?
Yeah, they do. But do they fit this specific position? Yes. No. Um, you know, off the, off the field stuff is, is something we see right away and we make that decision very quickly. And then it’s either a thumbs up, thumbs down, and we, we kind of move [00:10:00] on. Um, you know, Faulkner’s a place. And I feel like, um, you know, that’s super important.
It’s a place where, you know, if you want to come here. You know, we want you here and we’ll, we’ll find a way to get you here. Um, I think it, it needs to be that kind of place. So without being too generic, you know, I think number one, athletes love, you know, girls say, oh, I play volleyball too. I play basketball.
That’s great. Um, you know, I grew up doing baseball and soccer cross. I drank cross the country in college, so like. Um, that’s my, my background’s a little different too, so I, I love seeing the girls that kind of get after it and do different things. Um, you know, it kind of helps ’em be a little more well-rounded and a lot of ’em are pretty good at managing time too, which I failed to, to be good at that.
I think I’m probably still pretty bad at that. And it’s amazing to see the girls we have being able to balance all that. Um, it’s pretty impressive. So I’d say in a nutshell, that’s basically what we, what we like to have for sure.
Matt: Okay. Well, when you check out the website, you notice that you’ve got a varsity roster and a reserves roster.
Kind of talk to me about how that all works, how many total players there are. How, how does that, [00:11:00] how do you recruit to that? What’s that look like?
Coach: Um, it’s good questions. I feel like that answer’s always changing them for me, um, because it’s. It’s, I don’t dunno, it’s not really trial and error, it’s just a sequence of events.
Um, and some of it’s different. Some of it’s the same. Um, so my assistant coach, Ainsley Lockwood, who just finished up her fifth year playing here, she was a graduate assistant. She’s gonna be full-time assistant this fall. So she’s kind of gonna be over, over that reserve team as we’re calling. Um, you know, the school kinda wants us around like 20 for that group and 24 for the first group.
And so we, we know we have fluidity. Between the, one of our current captains, um, started out on that team two years ago. So we came in and it was right away. I, I saw, you know, is this somebody we need off the field and on the field? And so we made her a captain this past spring. So there is, you know, the fluidity between the two, two through teams, um, and the reserve group, you know, they’ll play other teams in our conference that have, have that too.
They’ll play some local club teams. [00:12:00] It’s, it’s all one group. When it’s time to play, when it’s time to get down to specifics, we will work with them separately. Um, so a lot of girls. Um, but at the same time it gives ’em a good opportunity. You know, they’re eligible for the academic money, um, from the school as well as a little bit for the athletic side.
And I think it really helps. And what I’m trying to do with it is really, really, really focus on that local, um, that local group. ’cause it’s a resource for local girls. Um, for sure. And we al we’re already seeing that, um. Right away. I think the group we have coming in, they’re all from, I gotta think about it, 15 minutes.
One one’s probably more 30 minutes down the road. Um, but like, that’s, that’s big. And if we can do that every year, I’m smiling. You know, that’s, that’s fantastic because those are the girls. They’re gonna stick around. Um, and they have those personalities that, that we love and they’re just gonna be fun to be around.
Um, and I think Ley is gonna do a really good job of that too. So that’s kind of [00:13:00] that balance. Um, you know, it helps you have numbers here or there, and we’ve got several girls from that team that are knocking at the door for the first group. Like they’re already basically in the door. I’ll just put it that way.
And, you know, that’s credit to them. Um, but yeah, that’s kind of how we wanna use it. You know, the school is asking us to do it and we’re gonna do the best we can with it. So that’s, that’s kind of the, the way we look at it.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, I’m sure folks not familiar with Faulkner there in Montgomery, but, uh, you’ve been there a year now.
I mean, you’re, you’re from Alabama. So tell us what, um, what are some things you found to really enjoy about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website, I.
Coach: Yes, sir. Um, so I’d never even been on campus until I started working here. Uh, US North Alabama folks, we always say when we go through Montgomery, we’re headed to the beach.
Um, ’cause I went to a really small high school and stuff, so I never really came down, you know, really past Coleman, the Coleman area, but Birmingham, I. Um, and so when [00:14:00] I played in college, I played at a small school in Tennessee. We, we played here, um, and we didn’t play ’em on campus, but like, that’s really my first, that’s a girl in our, one of my high school classes.
Go, go here for volleyball. So I had, you know, I’d heard of it and we played down here and played the school. Um, you know, the place I went is kind of a sister school freed Hardman University, um, in Henderson, Tennessee. And so they, we kind of see it as. A couple like Harding too, Harding University in Cy Arkansas.
That would be another sister school. So the school itself is, um, it’s a Christian NAI school private school. It’s affiliated with the churches of Christ. And, um, so I spent several years as a, a full-time preacher, um, also in, in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in Monroe County for the Mountain Delia Church of Christ, and worked as a youth minister.
Um, minister, minister as I called it. Um, and always, it’s one of those things when you, when you stop doing it, you never can really stop doing it. You know, it’s similar to coaching, honestly, or teaching, you know, you just can’t, someone asks you to help you, you’re always gonna say [00:15:00] yes. Uh, it’s just kind of ingrained.
Um, but so being here a year, not having basically any ties to the school, man, they, it is open arms like day one for me. You know, coming in with my wife, um. And my, uh, at the time he was three, he is a 4-year-old little boy, Silas. Um, you know that, that’s huge, you know, like, ’cause it could very much have been the opposite way, you know, standoffish and the girls were just like straight away and the school was just straight away.
And I’ve had so many mentors here on staff. Um, one of ’em just poked his head in a while ago that have helped me to, um, other coaches and helped me to kind of settle, um, athletic directors. Just super supportive. And you know, when I’m recruiting, when I’m talking to girls, I say it’s the kind of place where everybody’s got your back.
Um, because they’re all looking out for you. You know, they all have that Christian mindset where, you know, they’re not gonna throw a Bible at you, but at the same time they’re looking out for you and they want the best for you. Um, and not because if anything, other than just ’cause that’s what they want.
Um, they think they’re just good folks and. [00:16:00] I guess I’m a little biased now ’cause I’ve been here a year. Um, but I mean, they really are. Um, it’s kind of an oasis here in town and I think a lot of the, the, the people feel that way and it’s just nice to see, you know, on campus there’s always something being improved, something being built.
Um, you know, our facilities as far as our field and stuff are just, it’s crazy. Nice. We’re super lucky. Uh, you know, we share it with football and men’s soccer, but we have that nice little turf facility out there. It’s kind of tucked away. Um. Huge bleachers, press box. Like, it’s, it’s really, really nice. We feel lucky to, to be able to play out there.
But yes, sir, for the school. Um, definitely think it’s a unique place and, you know, not, it’s not for everybody as far as, okay, hey, I want a big school. My brother went to Auburn, you know, just 45, 50 minutes down the road. Um, so like, I, I get that, but you know, if you’re looking for that smaller place, this is it.
A hundred percent. Um, and especially if you’re looking for that Christian side of things and having, you know, chapel and Bible class, like. This is it. I mean, just stop what you’re looking for because this, this is [00:17:00] gonna be it. Um, if that’s what you want. If you don’t, it’s not for everybody. I understand that, but if it’s what you’d like, absolutely.
A hundred percent.
Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s say rewind to October, the heart of that conference season, you’re in the midst of everything. Kind of walk me through what does a typical week look like for your players in terms of, you know, what’s the schedule of classes and meals and practices and games and all that stuff?
So,
Coach: so like you said, like the heart part of the conference as far as when we’re in the meat of things is, it is tough ’cause it’s Thursday, Saturday, so you really only have that that one day. And I think it’s especially challenging for teams that have the double travel days. Um, you know, you’re not, it’s not like you’re traveling seven, eight hours, but you know, if you’re having to go play away in Georgia, you know anywhere from three to four hours and you sleep that Thursday night, have that Friday, and you gotta play the game that Saturday.
Emphasis on the Friday is always the recovery time for us. Um, that’s just like, there’s nothing we really can do to get [00:18:00] better that day other than recover. And that’s a big thing we can do to get better. So we really, really try to focus on that. But the rest of the week, you know, with Sunday we have off, so your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, um, you know.
I think this fall our schedule is a little bit different. We’re gonna be doing the, the earlier morning practices. ’cause again, we share a facility, um, with football and men’s soccer. Um, so we have that morning time. It’s great ’cause we’re the only women’s team that uses the field. So we have an all to ourself, um, you know, nice and, and cooler in the Alabama, in the Alabama heat, even into that October.
Um, you know, it’s. We had a guy from New Zealand here last fall on the men’s team, and he was looking around, he was asking me when the, um, when did the colors of the leaves ever change? Mm-hmm. And it was like October. And I was like, just gotta wait, man. Like it’s gonna happen. But it was still, it was still pretty hot.
Um, but for the girls, you know, we would practice early in the morning, you know, to go to class. Um, we’ll use a couple of those days to do, uh, recovery in the gym. So we have like a guy who’s strength and [00:19:00] conditioning. We especially use that Friday to, um, do some. I dunno if sometimes he does the yoga, sometimes he does the stretching.
Sometimes he kind of combines it all. But that’s, I mean, that’s huge for whenever you’re playing those day rest and or game, rest game. And then, you know, Sunday, hopefully, you know, everybody’s just kind of putting their feet up after church and just taking you a long nap. Um. Once that starts it’s recovery, honestly takes precedent over almost anything.
So we hope to try to use that time from preseason to, you know, conference to really build up and to, you know, be able to sustain that and then make sure we’re using a deeper proof than just the 11 because we’re gonna need everybody. Uh, you know, you can’t just necessarily go 90 minutes hard and then have one day and then nine minutes hard and expect to have the same kind of.
Line graph there. Um, you know, we love it. I think some players probably can, but to do that a week and another weekend, another weekend, another weekend, it really [00:20:00] kind of starts to take its toll. So I think the recovery is a really big deal and I think we can utilize the film and the classroom side of things more during that time.
Um, so we’re, we’re covering but we’re not just sitting around, you know, we’re trying to use our time a little bit more wisely there. Um, we do quite a bit with that. Um, I think the girls have really enjoyed that, but. Yes, sir. That’s kind of the way we look at it. And, uh, nothing too out of the ordinary as far as the time and the schedule.
We have practice, the girls have class, but um, we just try to try to use it wisely and we usually try to keep our practices pretty, pretty short. Um, short and intense rather than, than long and arduous.
Matt: Oh, makes sense. Well, we talked about, uh, a little bit about o other staff. So, uh, you say you have an assistant coach who’s gonna help with the reserve team, but, uh, you know, are, are there any other staff?
Are there any other folks in the athletic department or in the school that kind of help out with the team and offer support in, in any way? I.
Coach: I think definitely support as far as, you know, being there for when we need them. But it’s me and my assistant [00:21:00] coach Ainsley, and then, um, we’ll be having a, a GA for the fall.
Um, so that’ll be, that’ll be nice. Um, you know, having that extra person because the two different teams and having kind of somebody to help. We’re not just like one-on-one, you know, we have somebody with us. Um, ’cause honestly it’s tough for us, but the girls deserve that. Like they, they deserve having the attention and, and getting the, the attention and the coaching that they need.
So it’s, you know, having that extra person’s gonna be huge. It’s gonna allow us to do even more, uh, enjoy doing. I enjoy it a lot, being able to do the smaller groups and the positional groups and stuff and, and getting to talk and, and doing more like one-on-one stuff. So that’ll, that will definitely open that up a little bit more for us.
Um, and you know, I think that’s pretty solid, having assistant and a GA for now. Um, I think that’s, that’s great. And. Um, you know, I think if we needed something, I think this is the kind of place too where we could probably ask for it. And if we show that yeah, we, you know, we can live up to it and responsible with it, I think we could, we could probably get that, you [00:22:00] know, ’cause uh, we do feel very supported by our, um, by our higher ups for sure.
Matt: Oh, that’s great. Well, all right. What about you? How would you describe kind of your coaching style and, uh, maybe the style of play you’re looking to implement there?
Coach: Yeah. Um. I would say it’s extremely press heavy. Um, very basketball, we take a lot from basketball. Um, took a lot from, um, you know, that kind of no, no huddle style, um, or being back in high school.
And that was, that was really big back when Oregon and like Cam Newton was at Auburn and that was a big, big deal where they were trying to speed everybody up. And so when I first started coaching, that’s what I wanted to do. And, and pressing just kind of. Fit the, you know, hand in the glove with that. And so we, we do that.
We take a lot from basketball. Um, there’s a coach down in, uh, I really like to, to watch Jim Crutchfield Nova, Nova Southeastern down in Florida. Um, you know, he does a lot of very interesting things and why we can’t do like the exact same things. It’s more of a [00:23:00] principle thing. Um, you know, what are they trying to do?
What, what can we do to replicate that? How can we speed people up, make ’em, make mistakes, and be really comfortable playing at that. Pace. Um, every single time, you know, I mentioned, you know, we wanna do things a little bit differently. You know, we wanna try to zig when someone else zags. Um, a, a good comparison that I’ve kind of been using lately is that I kind of want us to be the team that in, you know, in American football, when they go play a team that runs a triple option, everyone just hates it.
Um, ’cause like Georgia Tech, army, Navy, like you don’t know, they’re the only teams that do that. And so when they go play these teams, they have to practice differently that week. They have to look for their things that are different. And it just so happens that that’s what, what we wanna do anyway. But I want us to try to really, really kind of lean into that and own it as our thing and make it, you know, something that we’re really proud of.
Um, and we, we were able to do that quite a bit last year. We were able to score five goals off of the other team’s goalkeeper alone last year. By just pressing her and, and getting in face and, and deflections and, but just from the goalkeeper alone, you know, I, I told ’em, I was [00:24:00] like, if we can get one, I’d be happy.
And then they got one in the first game and I was like, oh no. You know, I, I don’t know if my incentive, they, they got that pretty quick. I’ve gotta come up with another incentive. Um, but that was great ’cause it showed the girls, you know, what, what it can look like, you know, with the maximum running. And we don’t expect to do that.
You know, I don’t even, you know, if we got one more, I’d be happy this year. I. But getting those types of, of goals and turnovers and, um, the girls really kind of embrace that and you kind of have to look for, as, you know, like a different kind of player when you’re, when you’re doing that. Um, and know, so that’s why I think it, when you, when you heard me answer the previous question about the athletes, maybe that makes a little more sense now.
Um, and we really look for that in every single position. Uh, doesn’t matter, you know, uh, it’s more about the person and the athlete, um, than the, oh, I played this position and I’m pigeonholed to, you know, to this thing. It’s like, well, you know, what else, what else can you do? Maybe you fit this in the system you’re playing now, but for us, we see you as this.
And that’s something that, um, you know, you can get minutes right away doing [00:25:00] this. Whereas maybe other one, you know, we have somebody that’s a little better suited for this. Um, but we do a lot of. To get technical, it’s more ball oriented slash man oriented, pressing, you know, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll change it up as we go.
Um, we try to call it out on the fly even, uh, similar to like a basketball style possession ball goes out of bounds. Hey, let’s switch to this, let’s switch to that. Um, keep people off balance. The girls really kind of enjoy leaning into that. Um, kind of taking ownership of it. And it’s, it’s one of those things where, you know, if I was asked to coach one more game in my life, that’s how I would do it.
So, you know, I, I wanna always. You know, be passionate about it. And that’s something I’m, I’m super passionate about. Um, and I’m always willing to change, like one of the big words that we have is like opportunistic on the board. Um, you know, always be that. So if this works in this situation, do it. You know, if we have some kind of set play drawn up, but there’s someone standing wide open, facet to ’em.
Um, and that’s a really simple thing to say, but you know, if we can try to translate that and always be switched on and looking [00:26:00] for those opportunities, mainly with our pressing like. That’s what we want, and we wanna always be opportunistic to, to find the easy things, but also to be set up and be able to work when that team’s gonna knock the ball around.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You know, what, what can we do to force them to, to speed them up, to make a mistake, and then to kind of, to go the other way with it. Awesome.
Matt: Well, coach, really appreciate the time. I’m gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any, you know, girl, going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be?
Coach: Good question. Um, I think naturally we think about ourselves. One thing I wish I would’ve just done more was just visit more, you know, like talk to more people. You can read about things and um, you know, you probably get an okay feeling of it, but I think talking to players on the teams is, is probably something that we undervalue a little bit.
When we give tours, we always get the girls in the summer. It’s obviously difficult, but we always have the girls, we do our own tours, missions does tours, but we, we do our [00:27:00] own and we’ll have the girls take them to their own dorm rooms themselves and say like, Hey, this is, you know, maybe you have a stock room that you show or whatever, but like, no, this is where we live.
You know, we, you sit down and eat with them at lunch. This is what we do. So I think the girls and, and anyone, girls or guys that are there looking to. To go somewhere and talk to the players, even, you know, talk to ’em. If you go to practice with ’em or camp with ’em, whatever. Get in their ear a little bit, you know, get their number, talk to ’em.
’cause see, the coach is gonna say something and, and that may be totally right. The girls may see me a little differently. They may be able to tell you, um, they also live on campus. They work on campus, they go to school on campus and they play soccer. I didn’t go here, I didn’t do any of those things here.
And even if I coach your a hundred years, they’re gonna be able to tell you always better. So I would, I would encourage anyone looking to go anywhere, um, you know, talk to the boots on the ground. Sometimes that’s, that’s the coach, that’s the assistant coach, but like talk to the players. I think they can give you a super, super good insight.
And I wish I would’ve had done that more at more [00:28:00] places, um, just to get different perspectives, you know? Um, so I would say, you know, just do that, try to make that personal connection with some of those players and they’ll be able to, to give you a really good insight and, and some firsthand information.
Awesome.
Matt: Well, coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck here in the, in the fall, and, uh, if you ever get down to any of the events down here in Bradenton, uh, gimme a shout. All right? Yes, sir. Thank you. Take care.
