Southern University Women’s Soccer – Coach Jeremy Fontenot
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Fontenot from the Southern Women’s Program in Louisiana. We talk about trying to find the right mix of traditional recruits and transfers. Coach also shares about the history and the family atmosphere of both the school and the conference. Plus, we discuss how they bring their unique roster together as unit. Learn more about Southern 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 Jeremy at Southern University. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate your, your invite.
Matt: Yeah, no, it’s great talking to you. I’ve had the pleasure of, of talking with several of your swac counterparts over the last few years, so good to, good to get another one under the belt.
But, uh, but hey, so we’re, we’re talking here, it’s, uh, June 11th. Um. This, this won’t be live for a little while, but, but, so I wanna set the stage, but at this time of year, just outta curiosity, are you completely done with your class of 20 fives or is there still maybe one or two hanging out there right now?
Coach: Uh, I always say it is always one or two hanging. We just got, uh, we are done. But you know, if that one or two come and say. Hey, I am ready. I’m committed, and they look good to fill in and we going to go get ’em. Um, but yeah, we’re definitely done for the most [00:01:00] part.
Matt: Well, w with that said, how, I mean, is there a roster size that, that you find is ideal that you’re trying to hit each year?
Or is it, is it fluid just based on the year?
Coach: Well, um, mostly, most of the years it been between 28 30, um, you know, but you know, when they’re, they’re coming to a point where they are forcing about to force us to that, to that cap. So, I mean, I, I’m really good with 28. Um, the thing is, is just making sure that, you know, we stay healthy all the way through the end.
And that’s just been my biggest mindset. I mean, 28 to me is good enough. Um, I just think, um, when it comes down to, uh, as they getting older, um, body is getting worn out a little bit, you have to think about those injuries, whether they big or small, uh, and things like that. So, um, you know, we try to do our best in the.
[00:02:00] Non-conference games in, in, in the conference games to try to max not maximize the players, um, uh, playing time, but get it to a point where we are using multiple players, even if we have to sit somebody out and things like that. So it’s just going to come, I think when it come down that 28, it’s just gonna come to a point where you want to, uh, look at those lists, small things more than, uh, just trying to win those games at that moment.
Matt: Yeah. No, that makes sense. Well, in terms of recruiting, I mean, if you look at your roster, it looks like you, you know, you have some, some kids from junior college, you have some transfers, obviously does. The transfer portal has been nuts, uh, over the last couple years. So, so how does that kind of come into your, your recruiting mindset and, and how you go about, uh, each year?
Coach: Well, I mean, you have to look at it from the higher point. They still want us to win, so, [00:03:00] uh, but I’m always been the coach to bring them in and give them that opportunity where they want to develop that, that it can develop in, in the game. So it, I don’t think it changed. Um, but it also depends on what I have.
Like last year we lost 10 seniors. Um, so of course, you know, we’re going to go more in the transfer report more, more in the junior college era, but this, this year coming up, we only losing four. So if everything look good, everything sound good from our end, you know, we might go. We’re more freshmen than next year.
So it, it all depends. Um, but the goal is to still win and everything. So it’s all about what, uh, what can get us to that point where we competing for, uh, competing at the end.
Matt: Okay. Well, when you’re looking for those, uh, a more traditional freshman recruits, where is it that you like to go? What tournaments are on your [00:04:00] must hit list?
Where are you looking for players?
Coach: Everybody gonna say those, the, the GA and, and things like that. Um, you know, I love the Houston and Dallas everywhere, the whole Texas area. I love the, um, go out there. Um. We, we, we are a lot of international, especially in the Canadian area, uh, where we are building some relationships.
Um, I have some relationships in Florida with my assistant coaches, um, you know, being out there, um, and like I say, the, the international boat, but you know, we don’t. For us, being that in this level with us, um, you know, we don’t hold out with no area. We just, you know, we’re just recruit as, as we see fit for us in there as the, with the see fit for the team and everything.
You know, I have a few players from the California area and everything. Um, but, but you know, the biggest areas is, is trying to stay close in the home and things like that.
Matt: Okay. [00:05:00] Well. Whether it’s, uh, well, I guess next, sorry, next question is, do you guys do ID camps, uh, or do you or your staff work? External ID camps.
And how important are they in your overall recruiting process?
Coach: Oh, at that, we do have one we always do at the, uh, end of July, which we’ll have this year, July 26th and 27 and everything. But I, I think our, our biggest mindset is going to these ID cameras. Um, my assistant coach right now, she’s a, she’s down the street at LSU, um, I do a few of them, um, where they’re, um, you know, I just did, um, one, um, in, um, Italy.
International soccer camp, uh, with exact sports, where that was a, a, a good fit, um, for us with some players that, you know, normally we won’t be able to see. Um, but we able to bring in, I do, um, camps with, um, CCSU, um, and things, things like that. But [00:06:00] for us. I think on the HBCU side, um, doing camps and everything, I think it’s more of, um, mixing it up every year.
Um, I’m actually wanna work on something where it’s a whole H-B-H-B-C-U camp where all the coaches can come and everything and they be able to see all us at once because we talking about, um, minimizing funding for, for the coaches to get there, but also. Bringing more funding in from the camps where we think that if I’m able to do it and do it the right way, I’ll be able to give a little money to each school where if it’s something they need, uh, where it’s equip equipment or anything like that, where able do it.
Um, so it’s something that, that’s a project we’re, we’re working on right now. Me, a couple of coaches are talking about it. Um, you know, at first we don’t even have to get everybody all in, but we definitely want the [00:07:00] white schools to, um, uh, find ways to build out programs where, you know, we, we are able to compete in this new NCAA.
Matt: Yeah. No, that, that’s great. Well, whether it’s at a camp or watching a game at ECNL or some other place or whatever, what kind of makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field?
Coach: Um, so I, I tell, I tell people all the time, you know, we all going, all gonna look for that, that great soccer player, uh, we all gonna look for that player that’s, uh, get on the field and work real hard.
And whether they technical or tackle, they got at the athletic, whatever it is, we all going to look for that. But when you are coming to A-H-B-C-U, it’s more, um, can you fit in? And everything, um, being that it is different being, you know, all our HBCUs are very close and family oriented and everything. So when you’re, when you are coming in [00:08:00] here, it is unlikely where, you know, you are just thinking about soccer or thinking about just school and everything we’re, you have so much outside stuff that can be a distraction, which is at every school.
But you know, that distraction could be, uh. Us just doing something together as a, um, as a unit, um, uh, community service and things like that. And, and we, we find that a lot of players have never seen that side. Um, so it is, it’s a, it’s something that we, we do when we come out down the recruiting is, you know, not just.
Talk about athletics or talk about your grades, we talk about everything, you know, um, how your lifestyle is, you know, so we look at that. We look at even getting to sometimes getting to a point with your parents’ lifestyle and everything, and who they are. And things like that. And that’s just more up to making sure that we are the right fit for you and you are the [00:09:00] right fit for us that all of us are comfortable in and everything.
And so, uh, I think when it comes down to Southern, we, we go that extra mile to, to just build that relationship and not just build a soccer relationship. And things like that.
Matt: Okay, great. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Maybe some folks not even familiar with Southern there in Baton Rouge.
Um, you’ve been there a few years now, kind of what are some of the, the things that stick out to you as excellent about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website.
Coach: Oh, we are, we are who we are. We are Southern. Uh, I mean, I grew up around this area, uh, um, born and raised out in the Baton Rouge area, and, uh, this was my gold school.
You know, when you talk about me, everybody know about the band. Uh, talking about the band. We, you know, I used to sit outside and listen to him and everything. Um, we talk about, um, the tailgating [00:10:00] football experience and things like that. You know, we, we, um. Grew up around here, where we walked around the, um, school, but when it come down to this, the university, when it on soccer side and things like that, nobody really know that we even had a soccer team, which we was, uh.
Came in in 2003 and I still to this day, um, just the other day, I think that was, uh, Monday I got the question, like the lady said, I didn’t even know Southern had a sock because I had a sock shirt on. I didn’t know Southern had a sock. And then she asked me was I wearing the dead? I said, well, I, I’m the big dead, you know, but, you know, those type of things, um, that a lot of people don’t know.
Um, and it’s because we don’t get out as much as we. We should and everything. Uh, some people could say funding, some people could say a lot of things, but it’s just something that we never really did. We go catch catch games as [00:11:00] we, we see fit and things like that, and build relationships that we see fit.
But the, the overall, the bluff is going to be the bluff. We’re going to be a family school, uh, where we are very close. I could walk around and, uh. You know, speak to people and have conversations like, you know, we grew up together and things like that. Um, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s something, it, it is more than, um, just a university.
It’s a, it’s the history, the family oriented, uh, and the, the lifestyle we just live. It is just, you know, it’s something that you gonna always make memories about. Yeah, that’s one of the questions I could keep going and going. Yeah. Yeah. Over and over. I’m, I, it
Matt: sounds like it, I’m sure. I’m sure. Well, yeah. So I
Coach: wanted to go ahead and just stop, but I mean, that’s, that, that’s who we is.
We, we are selling and, and that just, that’s who we are. Oh, I love it. I love it.
Matt: Well, [00:12:00] you, you know, mentioned this a little bit earlier and, and, and I’ve got some, some firsthand experience. My daughter’s gone to a, to an H camp at an HBCU and, and, and. Mm-hmm. And I’ve talked, like I said, I’ve talked to several of the coaches in, in the swac and, you know, it is very much a unique, uh, a unique conference, unique schools.
Yeah. And, and, and with all that history. And so talk to me a little bit about. About being an HBCU in terms of, you know, creating a soccer program. ’cause when you look at the rosters across all the swac schools, it’s, it’s way more diverse than just, uh, you know, what, what pe what maybe is the demographics of the school itself, right?
So, so how does that work? How do people, you know, nav, how do you navigate that as a coach and how do the players kind of navigate that as recruits coming in?
Coach: Well, I mean, uh, we as a, as a coach, I look at it more as, um, the love we have amongst [00:13:00] each school. You know, uh, we are a family with the other universities in the HBC, in the swac and everything.
I could go, you know, I go call coaches in our conference and have a conversation. I’d go eat with ’em and things like that. Once game time start, we are robberies and everything. Everybody look at us as. Grambling robbery or Jackson State robbery and things like that. And yes. You know, those, those, one of the games that I don’t have to get the team ready for those ones.
They, they was, they wake up ready to play. Um, but every team we play in the conference, we play it as like, as a rivalry game. And you know, we find something that they done did, or something that, something about their school that we talk about all week where we say, Hey. Hey, you don’t like these people over here and everything, but at the end of the game it’s, it’s, it’s, hugs are fun because at the end of the day, you know, some of these younger ladies came from the same club or the same [00:14:00] high school.
’cause we are recruiting our recruiting area. You know, at one point was so tight where I probably talked to somebody on every. In the conference and everything. So, um, you know, when they came for a visit, they probably visit with a player that, you know, that was coming in at the same year or they met the, the returning players that was already here.
So it’s still, you know. Even though we are Southern, they are, uh, um, the other schools, it’s still just like a big old family and everything. Like I could go play Howard today and be like, man, we gonna play this as like a robbery, robbery game because of what we had, um, years ago and things like that. So I, that that’s, that’s the.
Amazing part about the recruitment. The amazing part about, um, being at the HBCU is because it’s a, it’s a family thing that we can [00:15:00] steady keep talking about and things like that. I got a guy that went to ACO and he tell me every year, man, we gonna get you. We gonna get you. And after the game, I give ’em a call and, you know, I wait till next year, you know, or something like that.
But you know, when I watch, um, Alcorn recruit. This year, I’m like, man, they, they, they don’t look bad and everything, but that’s the love that I have for each and every school. And I think that’s the same. Each coach would say the same thing and everything. Uh, you know, so they gave me the task to be the, uh, oversight of soccer this year and, and, and meeting just to say, just to say, Justin, say, well, that might keep him busy from, um, trying to win and everything.
So, uh, but. That’s part of it and everything. What you don’t, I don’t think you see at other conferences and everything. Um, because, you know, they, they don’t really talk to each other. They don’t do the things like, we have a great relationship on and off the field. No, that, that’s fantastic.
Matt: [00:16:00] Well, let’s talk about the team a little bit more.
We, we talk roster size, but talk to me about the rest of the roster. Who else is on your staff? What roles do they play and maybe who are some of the other staff in the athletic department that help out with the team?
Coach: Okay, well, that’ll be all day. You want me to talk more? Well, just a
Matt: few.
Coach: Let’s get the top, the top couple.
So, so, uh, my assistant coach, coach Ika Wright, um, you know, she’s from Jamaica. She has, uh. Uh, been big for me. Been here, uh, I’ve been here nine, so she’s been here eight years, and that’s like my right hand. Um, you know, she take cares a lot. Um, then we have Coach G uh, he’s like our volunteer assistant. He’s more of the, the.
Uh, the mental side, you know, he one that calm everybody down into game day. He, he be the loudest. Um, but, you know, those two has been, coach G been with me for three years, going on three years. So [00:17:00] those two have been great for me. But we have, man, I, I can name all day on the, the, the support staff that we have.
Academic team. Uh, my oversight, uh, uh, Lashaw de Sturge, she’s been great for me. Uh, uh, all the way up to their staff, the ad and his staff and everything. Finding ways for us to, uh, compete and everything. Uh, academic team, making sure that everybody’s eligible, uh, communication, compliance, all those things.
You know, strength and conditioning coach. Uh, we’ve been. She been with us for three years and you have seen their strength, their, uh, with, even with, with the training staff, their ability to stay in the game a little longer with them. Um, so, and like I said, we could talk all day about that, you know, the support staff in the athletic department has been, like I said, been great.
The coaches, even coaches from other sports, you know, and when we talk about those things, those things we look forward to at Southern where we don’t look for, uh, ’cause we know [00:18:00] our fans going to come. Um, we look forward to the part where we see other athletes and other coaches at the game, and that’s what, you know, make our, our school so great is that, you know, when I, you ain’t gonna see too many times the football coach is at the, at, at a, um, soccer game.
Or, you know, the, the head basketball coach in the stands, uh, one of the loudest ones and everything. You’re not gonna see that too, too much, you know? But you, if you come to the bluff and, uh, and, and get in the stands at a soccer game, softball game, we are all there and our players are there and everything.
So that’s that. But my roster, oh man, this is about to be a new roster. Uh, we lost, we lost 10 seniors, like I said earlier. Uh, then four more players in the transfer reporter. Um, so we are bringing in 16 new players. Um, we also, um, had two players, um, [00:19:00] last year that didn’t play, um, due to injuries. Um, we, uh, so, so basically, basically we are only returning really 10 players.
And everything. Uh, but we were returning our, uh, lead leading center back, uh, Alyssa Romero, which she, it is the crazy part. She, she won a championship at Grambling State, left Grambling State and came to us last year and won a championship with us. Uh, and so she, she’s one of our biggest leaders. Uh, um, that’s, that would be returning.
Um, and, and you know, I laughed with her. I just told her the other day she had, we had a, something that we did last year and I went back and looked at it. I told her, I said, you need to get on that website and changed that, uh, profile because it was a profile, her and her grandma jersey. Uh, so. You gotta go change that.
We, we can’t, [00:20:00] uh, promote you and you have that journey. Oh coach, lemme go ahead and do that right quick. Uh, but we still laugh about those things, but when it come on the field, watch her grow. Uh, even from the time I, um, even last year when we finished the season two, now to watch her grow because she know that we lost those 10 seniors and she have to step up and be a leader and everything that been great for us.
Um, and we haven’t even started the season yet, but, um. You know, we have a lot of, uh, players that, uh, Nate Roberts, she’ll, she’ll be back in our center mid area where, um, she came in from a junior college and was kind of started out slow. Um, ’cause she couldn’t score. She was frustrated, things like that. But she’s, she’s been working hard.
Uh, and like I say, the one, uh, GIA, GIA Johnson. Johnson missed the last year season due to ACL injury, but the year before that, she made second team hall conference. [00:21:00] Um, so we happy to have her back. Uh, and we have some more we could talk about, but like our, um, transfer group, uh, coming in, I think we got some good players coming in.
Uh. And we got some good freshmen coming in. Um, so, uh, not gonna bring too much on they, they part ’cause I don’t want them to see it. And they put, I put pressure on them. Understood. Understood. I, I think, I think as a, as a team. Yeah, this is my biggest, uh, my biggest task as the head coach this year is bringing that big class in and making sure that we all come together and try to get that as early as possible and everything we know, we’re gonna have those moments where, uh, it’s not going to look good.
We’re gonna have the pieces, but everything won’t look good in front of us. But, but stand, stand up to the task. Gonna be our job as the coaches and not, and making sure the players understand that it is. It might. It [00:22:00] might come the first day, it might not, it might not click in until we get to the tournament, but we gotta stay together and, and, and make sure that we are playing hard and you know, just getting closer and closer with each other.
And I think that’s the game of soccer.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Love it, coach. Well really appreciate your time. You giving us a lot of great info. I’m gonna leave you with one last question and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any, any girls going through this recruiting process right now, what would that be?
Mm-hmm.
Coach: Uh, the biggest thing I tell players all the time is know where, be comfortable, where you’re going. Um, don’t go to the university for that coach, um, go to the university ’cause you want to be at that university. Um, with things are changing so much. Uh, with the ncaa you want make sure that you, you find a home.
Um, don’t just rely on soccer, rely on that, that school to get you that, that degree and everything. But in the meantime, you [00:23:00] know, for the soccer side, you, you just have to work and know that you all work. Um, you know, e everybody don’t go D one. Uh, but I tell people all the time that they have some schools that can compete or beat some D ones around here.
So. Don’t be afraid to listen to what they have to say to you and, and open your, open your mindset to go to those universes. But you know, just the biggest thing in that whole process is just keep working.
Matt: Love it. Love it. Well, coach, thank you so much. Wish you the best of luck. Appreciate you. Hopefully you’ll get back to that NCAA tournament this year, and uh, if you get down to any events here in Bradenton, make sure you gimme a shout.
All right, sir.
Coach: Will do, will do. I was down there two, two summers ago, uh, at the IMG camp with Yep. Uh, what’s that exact? And we did that. Uh, and the crazy thing was right after I left. That’s when the storm happened in, uh, think [00:24:00] down Sarasota. Yep. And, uh, so I was, I was grateful to be out of there, but you know, I prayed for y’all, uh, during that time.
I appreciate it. We had too many,
Matt: too many storms this past year, so I’m hoping this summer’s a little bit better. All right. Thanks guys. I hope so.
