University of Wisconsin – Platteville Women’s Soccer – Coach Tom Corcoran

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Tom from the UW Platteville Women’s Program. We talk about how he plans his events across the year. Coach also shares about the top notch engineering program at the school. Plus, we discuss the staff and everyone’s role. Learn more about University of Wisconsin – Platteville Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Corcoran from the University of Wisconsin Platteville. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Hey, how you doing? Happy to be here. 

Matt: Thanks. Doing well. Excited to have you on. Um, we’ve had a few of your fellow Wisconsin, uh, schools like Lacrosse, Stevens Point and Whitewater on, so let’s just add to the mix, right?

Coach: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Some good schools, so really competitive athletics and all, all across Wisconsin, so some good division three schools out there. 

Matt: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and the cool thing is you’re helping out on both the men’s and the women’s side. So we’ll get, uh, some, both perspectives here, but, um, you know, we’re talking early December last weekend was, uh, you had, at least on the girl side, you had the ga out at Norco.

You had East El Kansas City, you had the Raleigh showcase out east, like it’s college showcase season. So what, what does that mean for you guys? Uh, where do you. You know, tend to spend your time this time of year. [00:01:00] 

Coach: Yeah. So I, I guess major, like staff wise, we have, uh, Eliza, who’s the head coach on the women’s side, and then Jesse, who’s the head coach on the men’s side.

And then I’m the associate head coach, coach for both. And then we have more of a stipend and assistant on both sides. So we do our best to make sure that we kind of share the recruiting around, um, especially when it’s, uh, trips out of the region. I was actually, uh, yesterday, I got stuck in Dallas overnight a couple nights ago.

Um, I ended up getting back yesterday from Norco, so I was out in. Me and our, our goalkeeper coach, were out in Northern Cal, oh, sorry, in, uh, Norco, California, which is about, um, about an hour from la. It’s about an hour east of la um, for the GA showcase. Um, so super tons of talent out there. Um, we went out there in the summer as well, um, and got a lot of traction on, on recruits, especially girls that have gone out there from the Midwest, um, to that area to play in the, in the GA showcase.

Um, we did not get out to MLS next on the guy side in Arizona this weekend. We’ll probably do one of those in the spring. Um, [00:02:00] and then, um, ECNL was in Kansas and we did not do that. We had a choice. We were gonna do ECNL in Kansas City or we were gonna go, um, California and. I dunno about you, but I would rather go to California.

So, we’ll, we’ll do one of the ECNL ones in the spring, probably head down to Dallas or maybe the one in Florida in January. Um, that would probably work better for us on a schedule ’cause it doesn’t conflict with anything GA wise. Um, 

Matt: but yeah, so I. And I’m gonna ask this on the girls side, just ’cause that, you know, I got a senior daughter, so I’m, I’m much more familiar with the girls side, but, uh, but I it’s the same, same kind of question for the guys, but what for, especially for, for like a D three program, like you guys, competitive solid conference.

Good, you know, you guys are always fighting for it. What, how do you decide between going to, let’s say, a GA event versus an EC L event versus. An RL event or Yeah. A-U-S-Y-S event or, or that kind of thing. 

Coach: Yeah. Well, I don’t know [00:03:00] if it’s necessarily deciding between them. It’s more looking like over the year and, and saying which ones can we do and where can we hit the teams that we wanna see, um, at different points.

So like, for example, the ECNL showcase that was in, in, uh, Kansas City this weekend. Um. There’s one of those, as I said, in Florida in January, there’s another one in in February in Dallas, and they’re pretty much the same teams that we would watch in Kansas City. Whereas that GA showcase that was in, um, and, and the Champions Cup that was in California this weekend, it’s gonna be pretty tough for us to see those teams again till May.

Um, so that, that’s the choice. That’s, that’s the choice we made. So, um, and then obviously USYS is more, um, is more regional for us. Um, like we would. Do more instead of doing more scheduled events, it’s more like pop-up events, like college showcases that are hosted by the local clubs that we have in the area in like the Chicago regions or Milwaukee regions.

Um, and then also they might, they [00:04:00] might kind of double up as, you know, some of those Eastern l and GA programs that we might see in the, in the Aspire, which is GA obviously. And then the, the RL programs at ECL may also take part in those more regional showcases to get more exposure. Um, which is, is always good to see them there.

So, and a lot like the ECNL GA don’t, don’t do it on their side, but the ECNL events, they double those up. So like Florida for example, um, I think they have one in Orlando, like the 11th to the 14th, and then it’s like the 13th to the 16th out in like Bradenton or something. And then Dallas is like, you know, so East and L do a really good job with that, where you can kind of hit both.

You know, from our, like, ’cause from a division three perspective, like RL is also important to us. Like, you know, to be able to see those teams play as well. ’cause the top end of that is really good. Um, so to be able to hit both will be good for us. Um, so yeah, it’s just about like looking at the 12 month calendar and kind of see, especially, I mean, I have a 2-year-old, I have a family, so being able to like schedule out and see where.

See where we’re going for the spring. [00:05:00] Um, makes it a little bit me, easier for me family-wise. Um, so I, I think we do a good job of that and just, just making sure that we, we see what teams are aware and, and hit them all if we can do. 

Matt: Okay. Well, well, let’s talk timing. Uh, when you’re going to these events this time of year, how much.

How much of it is looking at 20 sixes or are you done with 20 sixes and you’re only looking at 20 sevens? Kind of, what’s that timeline look like for you guys? 

Coach: Yeah, so 2026 we’re pretty much done. We have nine freshmen on the women’s side committed, and then we have six freshmen on the men’s side committed.

So we’re in a pretty good spot. Both, both ways. We’ll, we’ll probably end up at 10 on both sides, but we still have roster offers out there at the minute. Um. So we’re, we’re pretty much done. Now, if somebody, like for example, if I watched the team this weekend, a, a u 19 game, and somebody popped up and they were a good fit for the program and I felt like they would, they would like as a staff, we just felt like they would, they would.

Impact us right away. Then at this point of the recruiting process, we would probably look into it now. Um, but in terms of 2026, like it’s [00:06:00] more of that like kind of transfer piece to be honest with you, and adding to the roster that way. And then, um, going out to these events at this point it’s, it’s mainly focusing on that junior class, um, like kind of bulking up that junior class, um, on both sides.

And then, um, and then starting kind of like that 2028 cycle, to be honest with you, in, in the division three world, like. We’ll watch sophomores and, and you know, those 2020, those 2010s who will be coming into school at 2028? I, we’ll watch them, but it’s more like our, our, our conversation with those girls and guys are gonna be a lot different.

Our conversations with the 2027, like 2020 sevens. It’s, you know, if we feel like they’re a good fit, athletically, it’s more visits and that’s the conversation we’re having. Whereas with the sophomores, it’s more like, send us your schedule so we can see you play again, and then maybe we can get you an ID get you to an ID camp in the summer.

And that’s kind of like our conversations with those. And then, as I said, 2026 is more, is more like, unless we feel like they’re gonna be an immediate. And [00:07:00] like, you know, they’re gonna compete right away to get on the field. At this point of the year we’re, we’re, we’re pretty much done with those 2020 sixes.

Matt: Okay. Well when it comes to, um, the recruiting process, you kind of mentioned camps are, so do you do your own IT camps? Do you guys work external camps? How important are they in the process for you guys? 

Coach: I think, I think super important and like people who ask me for advice in the recruiting process, I always tell them to make sure that they.

Um, like hit the ID camps up of like four or five schools in the summer. I know it can be an, an expensive process and it can be timely, like being able to do that as a parent especially, but like I always suggest like you get to see coaching styles, you get to see campus, like obviously the coaches get to see you play as well, so you get to see it in that environment.

You get to meet the team. So I think ID camps are like really, really important. Um, from our, from our perspective anyway, we, we do two, um, in the summer for the men, and we do two for the women in the summer as well. Um, both day camps, usually Fridays in the middle of summer. Um, [00:08:00] and they’ll run from like 9:30 AM We’ll do a session in the morning, we’ll do like a tour kind of program talk, um, get to meet the players, things like that.

And then we’ll have another session in the afternoon. But I’m pretty much. All four of them that we run in the summer will run like that. Um, and then as a staff, we do get out in the summer as well and hit up, um, other camps we’ll do, um, pretty much every summer I’ve done the badges camp. It’s about an hour away.

Um, coach Jones does an awesome job of that. Um, and they get 400 probably within the region there. So being able to do that has been, has been good over the last few years for us from a recruiting standpoint. Um, other than that though, like any other like kind of division three program, like we won’t.

Won’t obviously attend their ID camps. It’s more kind of like the big schools, like the big 10 schools, the division one schools that are hosting three to 400. Um, we’ll go do those over the two or three days. Um, but again, like from our perspective, there’s gonna be kids there that we’re already working with.

So just being able to see them play again, see them in a, like playing environment, um, them see our [00:09:00] coaching style as well to see if we’re a good fit, um, for them is, is, is key. So I, I love ID camps. I, I think they’re, I think they’re great. 

Matt: Well, whether it’s an ID camp or one of these showcases across the country, when you’re looking at players, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field?

Coach: Uh, I guess a little different on both sides. So on the women’s side, we’ve kind of shifted our attention just, um, slightly obviously. We, we came in, um, I came in three years ago and Eliza was the head coach three years ago. Um, so we’ve had three falls together and, um. Our attention has shifted slightly.

Like, you know, I think any coach that goes and coaches college, they want immediate success. They wanna be able to build something quickly. Um, which I think we were able to do pretty quickly. Like we kind of got a few wins right away. We kind of climbed the, the conference leaderboard pretty quickly. And I think it was down to kind of the way that we, we kind of shifted our attention recruiting wise, um, to be able to bring in, [00:10:00] um, players that can impact right away.

Um, whereas now we’re kind of in a, like more of a, more of a position where. We’re a little bit more stable. We have our classes set, you know, we have, you know, seven or eight, nine players in each class. Whereas prior it was like, we’d have like one in the senior class, we’d have like one sophomore just because of the coaching changes we were at.

So just being at that stability point now, um, is a, like, it allows us to, to focus in and on specific players that we want and specific abilities that we want within a player. Um. So I think on the girls side, like athletically, like that’s key. Like instead of us, like when we’re going through the process with, with girls and even like when we speak to club directors about like their teams and coaches, a lot of them will ask like, what positions you looking for?

You know, are you looking for a striker in your 2027 class? You looking for like a defender? Whereas like for us, it’s more, it’s more focusing on like a player profile. Like how do they, like, how do they fit athletically for us? Like if they can play right wing, like how do they defend? Like [00:11:00] could we shift, shift them into a right back?

Um, like I was speaking to a co a couple of coaches this weekend at the, at the California showcase. Like I probably, and my guess is like half of our team at some point during the high school and club career have played ika. That’s, that’s my guess. Like.

So, so instead of like searching for actual players, like we look for more of like a player profile. So like. Are they tidy on the ball? Like first and foremost, are they athletic? Like, do they do the basics really, really well when they do it in games, when we see them play a second time? Is the way that they’re playing very similar, have they improved at all, you know, over that time period, like the six to 12 month time period, we might see them play again?

Or are they kind of like, you know, staying stable? Um, ’cause that’s important, right? The progression piece. Um, so I think, I think that’s the, the key on, on the girl side, whereas on the guy side, um, the process is a little bit later for one, right? Like. Like we we’re probably done with our women’s, like we, we had nine commits by like the end of August, for example.

Whereas [00:12:00] like, we might have had like one at the end of August on the guy’s side. Um, so the player profiles a little bit different since we are recruiting ’em a little bit later. But the athleticism piece has to be there still. Um, with the way that we, with the way that they play, um, the, the men’s team, again, same thing.

They have to have to make sure that they do the basics right. Um, little bit more position focused than we do on the girls side. Um, like it’s a little bit more likely that if we recruit a striker from a club team or a high school team, that they’re gonna come in and play in that forward role. It might not be like the central striker role, um, but like, it, it might, could be more of a winger role.

It could be more of like a tan, attacking the fielder role for us, depending on where we’re at. Um, but again, athleticism piece, um, it is huge for us. Um, and then yeah, off, off the field. Um, I think we do a pretty good job of speaking to club coaches and high school coaches. There’s always gonna be things that you miss.

We speak to like high school counselors, um, Jessie and Eliza do a good job of speaking to even like professors and [00:13:00] teachers in high school to just get a real like kind of perception of, of like, you know, an all around perception of how like a kid is, um, when they go through high school again. That same piece is like.

When you saw them play like in, as a sophomore or like when they were, they were in your classes as a sophomore, what are they like now as a senior? Like, have they improved? Have they changed as a person? Um, so I think that’s, that’s key off the field as well. Um, we recruit like academically for us. Um. It’s not a secret.

Like Platteville, Wisconsin. Platteville is majority engineers, like, I think like 40% of the school. We have like seven, 8,000 students at the school and 40% of the school’s engineers. So it’s like, it’s kind of like its own school in itself. Um, and usually they are very much like high performers, um, for us on both the men’s and the women’s side.

Um, so obviously for a showcase and there’s somebody interested in, in Wisconsin Platteville, it’s pretty likely that they wanna study engineering as well. So that piece as well. ’cause like [00:14:00] bringing in, bringing in students academically, Matt like, like if you get an engineering student that is really, really good soccer and finds a good home and feels like it’s a good fit, like being able to retain those student athletes for those four years and having them as seniors, if they’re engineering students is pretty likely.

Um, as long as obviously they have a good experience. So, um, the engineering piece is huge for us as well, so. Okay. I guess that’s three points. Yeah. 

Matt: All right. Well let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, you’ve been there a few years now, kinda what have you found to be just awesome about the school?

Something stands out, something that maybe we wouldn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, obviously the engineering piece is huge for us. Like having 40% of the school is engineers. Um. It is a, is a big recruiting point. I would say probably 50% of our men’s roster. We carry 34 on the men’s side at the minute.

Um, and probably 17 to 20 of them at any given time are engineering students. Um, we have different engineering majors. Um, so that’s a pretty big, you know, attractive piece of the [00:15:00] school. And then, uh, on the girls side, we probably have. We carry, we have 34 at the minute, and probably seven or eight of them are engineering students as well.

So again, just a, it’s a, it’s an important piece of the school. Um. We’re obviously a state school, so, you know, being able to get that price point right for a lot of student athletes that are within our region is, is key. So if you, if you’re inside of Wisconsin, obviously you get instate tuition. So that’s big for us.

Um, ’cause you know, at some point you’re competing with like even junior college prices at that, at that, at that point when you recruit an instate. Um, and then we do have, um. Uh, Minnesota, uh, uh, tuition price as well. And then we have Iowa and Illinois, so it kind of like hits kind of like our borders. And then, um, I believe Indiana’s might be in there as well.

They get their own price and then everything else is considered like out state, basically. Um, so, um, um, international students, [00:16:00] um, we’re, we’re pretty, we don’t really have any international students. Students on our, on our side. Um, but yeah, the in-state tuition is, is key for us. Um, I think like on the women’s side a little bit more, we have probably seven or eight transfers currently on the roster and pretty much all of ’em show up to our campus and that are coming from those division one and division two schools, and pretty much all of ’em show up on our campus and say that these facilities are better than where I’m at right now.

Um, so like the facilities is a huge recruitment piece for us. The school, um, the administration do an incredible job of giving us coaches everything that we can in terms of strength and conditioning staff, athletic training staff, um, all the facilities that we have as well, like the, the accessibility to them as well.

Um, we have a practice tour field. We have a game tour field. Um, and as I said, incredible weight room as well. Um, to be able, like for our athletes to be able to use, um, like, like the Wisconsin badges come in, for example, [00:17:00] like for like 10 days to two weeks in like the, in like the start of August and do their preseason training camp at Platteville.

So like, I think one, one side is like the athletic facilities are good enough for them, but like everything else outside of that. The academic piece is like, like, ’cause they use like the classrooms to be able to do their film sessions. They use like all of the dorms and the housing, you know, all that on campus.

So, um, just the facilities and the amount of like, amount of attention that the, the administration of the school put into those, um, is key as well. So yeah, engineering piece is huge. Facilities is huge for us. Um. All right. 

Matt: Yeah. Awesome. Well, let’s walk us through, you know, a typical week, say in the heart of that conference season.

You know, tell me about when our classes, meals, practices, game cadence, all that kind of stuff. 

Coach: Yeah, so, um, typically our girls team will practice first. So I’ll be on the field from, we’ll go [00:18:00] three 30 till five, typically with the girls, and then, um, five till six 30 with the guys. So I’m typically on the field from three till six.

Um, our student athletes will have classes. I think they start at like eight and they go, um, until 2 30, 3 o’clock. We make sure that all our guys and girls are done pretty much by, by three o’clock. Some of them, if they’re, especially if they’re like seniors and they’re like biology majors, they might have like a lab that’ll run over a little bit.

But pretty much all of ’em will done be done by 2 30, 3 o’clock. That’ll allow ’em to get to like training room, maybe get a lifting quickly before they head out to the field. Um. And then, um, especially with the girls, but like the girls program I’ve done at five o’clock every day since we have that like practice turf field, so we can stay away from football since they’re on the, on the game field.

Um, so the, the girls can go get ice baths after they have enough time to do studies, be part of clubs, um, which is, which is also like the student athlete experience. Like being able to be done at five o’clock every day. If you have a p typical practice day is awesome. Um, we do have a soccer suite on campus as well, so the girls during the day like, don’t.[00:19:00] 

Show up to like the classes and go back to the dorms and then go back to classes and then go back to the dorm or, you know, sit in like the student student lounge. Um, they will come and hang out in the soccer suite, which is great. We have, um, it actually used to be the, the old athletic training room on campus.

It used to, we got new athletic training rooms. It used to be the old athletic training rooms. So you kind of like, you kind of walk in on the right hand side. It’s like the girls’ area with like coaches’ offices with like TVs, couches, lounge areas, tables. And then on the left side, it’s kind of like, there’s like fridges.

Um, with some stuff in there and then again, coaches’ offices, and then a guy’s area where like if you walk into the guy’s side at like, I don’t know, probably today I think Unit United or on this afternoon, if you walk in this afternoon, there’s like 10, 15 guys watching like the Manchester United game in there.

So like having that experience as well as a student athlete to be able to like be with the team all day and hang out and like, um, us as coaches as well, like being able to connect with the student athletes during the day as well, and not just like them seeing us at practice and then seeing us again 24 hours later.

Then seeing us again [00:20:00] 24 hours later, like we’re able to connect with the student athletes in a different way as a college coach, which I think kind of builds like a more of an organic

culture, I would say, throughout the roster as well. 

Matt: Alright, awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about those teams. You mentioned the roster size. Um, I forget which, whether it was for the guys, the girls, but it, what are the two roster sizes you’re trying to hit? I would say, 

Coach: yeah, mid thirties. Like our, like our goal every year is to make sure that we have like eight to 10 graduating.

Like if we have eight to 10 graduate every year, we feel like we’re doing, doing a, doing a pretty good job. Um, and then eight to 10 freshmen, and then here and there we’ll bring in transfers like one or two a year. So it kind of. Varies. 

Matt: All right. And then talk to us about the, the style of play that, that you guys are trying to play on, on kind of both sides there.

Coach: Yeah, so, um, guys, um, on the guy side, I would say it’s, uh, it’s kind of a hybrid. Like we’ve shifted a little bit this [00:21:00] year. Um, like our formation shifted slightly, uh, depending on the game and depending on who we

played against, um, um, style of play, like. Like, if I’m ever touring somebody and like a parent’s like, hey, like what, what kind of style? Like, I, I just say like, winning style. Like, that’s like kind of my, my answer. Um, so like, you know, especially like on the guy side, there’s gonna be games where we absolutely control the game and we have like 25 shots and, um, we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have most of the possession, whereas there’s gonna be other ga other teams that we play within in our region and even in our conference where it’s gonna be, the ball’s gonna be in the air.

It’s gonna be a ton of set pieces. Um, you know, you’ve gotta be really, really physical in these games. So, I don’t know, I, I just. We’re not naive enough to think that we can step on a field with really, really good teams and, and, and be able to like really, really like, you know, control them. Um, so we, we feel like we, we obviously do a good job in every game of, of, of [00:22:00] competing like as a roster, especially on the men’s side.

Like we, we, we compete with everybody, but we set the team up in a way to win. And that’s, that’s, that’s like our goal as a co, as a coach and staff on the girls side. Um. We, we are pretty unique in the way that we play. We are, we’re very athletic, we’re very forward thinking. Um, we’re very direct, um, in the way that we go forward.

Uh, we utilize set pieces a ton. We train them all the time. Um, and we recruit that way as well. Like, so be, so being able to just like, you know, recruit those student athletes that fit that system. Um. Again, within our region, I think it’s a secret. Like we, we don’t play a typical back four. We play more of like a sweeper stopper.

So we’ll play, you know, if they’re playing like other team are playing, say 4 3, 3, we’ll play three markers and, and then we’ll play a sweeper in behind. Um, and that’s kind of how we, we set up our back four. Um, and that, that sweeper is more of like. Can be more of like a ball playing center, center back. Um, most of the time they’re, they’re pretty [00:23:00] available on the ball, but also like very athletic, be able to like double up sometimes and be two V one.

Um, and then again, be that like kind of direct piece, um, for us as well. And then our wingers are super quick. Our Fords, um, are pretty direct and pretty aggressive as well. Um, and then kind of like the talk that we have on our recruiting as well is like, like unless you can defend one v one, like, and unless you can attack one v one, like, it’s gonna be really, really, really difficult for us, for you to get on the field.

Um, ’cause again, that’s our, that, that’s kind of our system. So whenever we watch ’em, we, we recruit players, like we identify them athletically when they go forward. So like, if you’re a winker. And you have the position and you’re out on the right wing and your one v one, like, are you gonna go backwards to your right back and like be really safe?

Or are you gonna be really aggressive and drive at them and take a risk? Whereas defensively, you know, that piece as well is like if your left back’s going forward, like our expectation of you like the right wing, you have to go with them and you have to track them. Um, so a lot of one V ones like we do without a ton in training.

Like we’ll do a lot of three V three stuff, four V four V four stuff. [00:24:00] Um. And, um, you know, I feel like as a, as a, as a program, it’s worked pretty well for us, so, okay. 

Matt: Well coach, really appreciate all the insights. Gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for anybody going through the college recruiting process right now, what would that be?

Coach: Yeah, good question. Um, I would say. Like, the big thing for me is like, leave your options open as, as wide as possible. Um, like, and others, we, especially on the on, on the guy side, like we deal with a lot of the guys that are like, have the kind of D one, our boss mentality going into the recruiting process.

And there’s a ton of good players and there’s a ton of good schools that they, they would be good fit at. But like, like the, the, the piece of advice I’ve gave is like find somewhere that you can see yourself like for four years. So like we’ve, we’ve lost girls and guys with this as well, but like. If you’re not gonna play soccer at that school, like are you gonna stay?

I think that’s like the, the big piece. ’cause like if you are hurt, if you get injured, um, again, if that soccer piece doesn’t work out for [00:25:00] you, like, are you gonna lose like 15, 20 credits along the way and have to pay, you know, so I understand like the transfer piece and, and having to. Having to leave schools like that, that happens all the time.

Like we, we obviously recruit student athletes to transfer as well, um, and, and find new homes. But like for, for going into, especially like from the division three perspective, like going to a school where you can see yourself being there for four years and again, like if you are not on the soccer program, like do you, do you feel like this school would be a good fit for you?

Matt: Absolutely agree. And as a former D three player myself, gotta love it. It’s a great spot for folks. Why did you play? I was a Catholic U out in dc. 

Coach: Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. 

Matt: Cool. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Good, uh, good luck battling your, uh, Wisconsin winners and, uh, I appreciate it. Thanks. If you get down to, to Bradenton, uh, that’s where I’m at, so gimme a shout.

Uh, all right. Yeah, I will do. 

Coach: Yeah, I think that’s, uh, I think that’s middle of, middle of, uh, January, early, 

Matt: early to mid January. Yeah. For the [00:26:00] girls. Yeah. 

Coach: So yeah. I’ll, I’ll hit you up. All sounds good. Take care. All right. Thanks Matt. Appreciate it.