University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Men’s Soccer – Coach John O’Reilly

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach John O’Reilly from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Men’s Soccer program in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
We discuss how the recent eligibility changes and transfer portal are impacting recruiting, why Green Bay focuses heavily on regional recruiting through MLS NEXT and Canada, and what the staff looks for in players who fit their possession-based style of play. Coach also shares what makes UW-Green Bay an ideal environment for player development, highlighting its smaller campus, strong academic support, and resources that allow student-athletes to focus on improving every day. Finally, we talk about his player-centered coaching philosophy, the importance of finding the right program fit during the recruiting process, and why recruits should spend time watching training sessions and interacting with current players before making their college decision. Learn more about University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach O’Reilly up at Wisconsin Green Bay. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: Thank you. 

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I, uh- Of course … I think my, my old college assistant coach was one of the Wisconsin Green Bay women’s assistants many- Okay

many, many, many moons- Yep, yep … many moons ago, ’cause, uh, yeah, I’ll, um, um- Of course … but, uh, but good stuff. Excited to talk to you. We’re t- so it’s middle of July. Uh- Yeah … I mean, I mean, I just dropped my daughter off for preseason. Yeah, y- Although I know, I know the women start earlier- Which is weird … than the men

the 

Coach: women are getting going early these days, so, 

Matt: yeah. It’s, it’s nuts. So, so right now, kinda, how are you spending, let’s say, July in terms of your mix of recruiting versus mix- Yeah … of getting ready for the fall? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, this year was a little different, uh, with the World Cup. A couple events got pushed.

Uh, all the MLS NEXT stuff got pushed to, like, a month earlier. So it was like [00:01:00] their event that is, that is usually in early July was mid-June, so I did, I did that in June. And then I actually didn’t go to ESPN. I was out in San Diego. I didn’t go this year. Um, done a little bit. We do decently well in Canada, so I had a Canada trip two weeks ago, um, in July, around the 4th, and then I’m going up the end of the month.

But that w- it’s been a little bit of a slower summer. I don’t know if it’s- Partially because of the World Cup, partially because of, you know, just kind of specificity in recruiting and kind of getting a little bit more, you know, f- finding… And that was my third summer as a head coach, so kind of finding what, where I’m finding my players and what I like.

So I don’t know. But it’s been, July’s been kind of nice, been family time and just kind of general prep, getting ready for the season, a little, little kind of relaxed time before the, the whirlwind World Cup comes in in three weeks or two weeks or whatever it is. 

Matt: Absolutely. Well, uh, uh, we… You kind of brought up something that I…

You know, the girls’ side and the guys’ side are just so different in the way- 

Coach: Yeah … 

Matt: things happen, right? Mm-hmm. [00:02:00] Timelines- Yeah … process, the whole thing. So- Like 

Coach: different sports, like legitimately different. Play the same game, but they’re different sports. 

Matt: Exactly. So y- you know, you’re… I- I mean that’s… You’re seeing just hundreds of rising juniors on the girls’ side- Yeah

that are already committed, whereas- Yeah … you’re… I mean, how many, how much of your class of ’27 class is committed at this point on your- 

Coach: Yeah, we actually- Like, what’s the percentage? Like, how does it- We actually don’t have any… We don’t have, we don’t have anyone in our ’27 class, and that’s more so partially our t- we’re, we’re gonna be…

We graduated 10 seniors last year, so we had a really big… We kind of replaced that senior class with our, what will be our current sophomores, and then with freshmen, and obviously we’ve sprinkled in, so, you know, everybody does transfers and stuff like that. But, um, so we’re kind of like… I don’t… I mean, I don’t know how much you’re fol- obviously you’re following, but like five for five is going on and all that stuff, so it’s like, I mean, I have some, a couple friends that are in the recruiting world that, like, work on kind of like helping kids, [00:03:00] especially on the boys’ side, more so on the boys’ side.

But like, you know, it’s a, it’s a, it is a difficult time for ’27s just because, you know, pretty much not everybody’s gonna get an extra year, but it kind of is gonna go back to COVID times where, you know, if you like your team and, and you have a good group, you’re gonna… Your number one recruiting priority is getting those senior, those seniors will stick around for, for another season, because they’re gonna get granted another season.

So it’s kind of how do you… And then how do you manage that, right? If, if, like we’re a small… I think we have four seniors in the fall, so like all four of them are gonna have eligibility to play one more year if all four of them wanna come back. You know, obviously we’ll have some turnover. Um, not everyone’s gonna stay, but you know, it’s kind of you have to, for us, in the position that we’re in, we have to be kind of, I don’t wanna say careful, but we just have to be selective in the, in the ’27 class.

And the kids that we’ve talked to in the ’27 class, that’s kind of been the conversation. Like, “Hey, we, we have a small senior class.” That was even before five for five. We have a small senior class, so we’re kind of gonna sort of see where things lay and, and, you know, the, with the way things work there’s…

Kids are gonna [00:04:00] be… Kids would be in the portal p- regardless, and we’re not a huge portal team, but, like, you still gotta look, right? You still wanna know what’s out there. 

Matt: Well, so… A- and, and y- you’re kind of the, the first- D1 men’s coach I’ve talked to since the five for five thing hit. Yeah. So it’s kind of like a, you know, like everybody’s trying to figure out, okay, how am I- Yeah

how am I gonna approach this? But it s- Yeah … it seems to me, like if I’m in your shoes, right, I’m not doing anything till the season’s over. Yeah. Because I need to know- 

Coach: Well, every division one, two, and three senior is gonna get granted an extra year. So that’s, it’s not just division one, right? It’s gonna be- N- 

Matt: well, as of the ruling, it’s just division one.

Coach: Oh, so it’s just division one. So th- But- But I think the division two kids could- It’ll then, it’ll, it’ll have 

Matt: to, 

Coach: like it’ll- I would assume that a division, a four-year division two player would be granted a fifth year in division one, right? Same thing with three. And that’s what happened during COVID.

There were, there were s- good division two, three seniors that played four years, but then bumped up to division one, ’cause they’re like, “Oh, well, I got bonus year. Let’s see what happens. Like, give it a shot.” 

Matt: Yeah. And I, and I think you just give it six months and it’ll all- Yeah … it’ll [00:05:00] come out in the wash.

But it’s- 

Coach: Yeah … 

Matt: um, but it’s almost like you have to wait, because you need to see h- how many of your seniors wanna stay. 

Coach: Yeah. 

Matt: How many of your kids are gonna hit the portal. So you really gotta figure out- Yeah, yeah, yeah … your, your, your number. You gotta take what you actually get. And then the, the portal, the portal numbers this, this division.

Are 

Coach: gonna be insane. 

Matt: Insane. Yeah, 

Coach: astronomical. 

Matt: And, uh, yeah, it, it’s just, I feel bad for the ’27s. Yeah. ‘Cause they’re just- Yeah … caught in a- 

Coach: Well, it’s, whatever the kids were in COVID, it was ’21. Yeah, yeah. Those kids, it was the same thing. They were like- Right … “Uh, uh, where do I go?” 

Matt: Exactly. 

Coach: At least, like people are just like, oh, like if your team was good in ’20, why would you…

And then you can’t fa- really fault the coach, right? It’s like, if you like your team and you have a good group- Yeah … and you have the opportunity to keep them together, like obviously you take a- 

Matt: Sure … 

Coach: fifth year senior. So, so it’ll be, yeah, the, it’s an interesting, I would say this class is, is, is definitely an interesting time.

So like, yeah, I mean, we’re, we’re still actively recruiting ’27s and working on that, but I would say it’s not… Last year we were, like, that was like kind of- My, like, true first class, ’cause I took over, [00:06:00] like, in February, so it was like I had a class, but there were already guys committed and it was late for ’25, I guess it would be.

But we were hit, we hit, we hit it pretty hard for ’26, knowing that we were g- gonna be graduating a lot of guys, whereas ’27, we’re kind of just, like, sort of in the wait and see period and, and see what comes out. 

Matt: Makes sense. What you, you mentioned, yeah, when you look at your roster, you, you, you got a handful internationals hit, but- Yeah

a decent bit of Canadians, right? And then- Yeah … you mentioned going to MLS NEXT event. You didn’t- Yeah … go to ECNL, but- Yeah … it seems like you have in the past, so. 

Coach: Yeah. 

Matt: But, and then now you’re hearing more and more kids going almost, like, the UPSL or NPSL route- Yeah, yeah … in 

Coach: terms of… 

Matt: So, so how do you, h- how do you pick where to go?

How do you figure out- Yeah, yeah, yeah … okay, this is what I wanna do? Like, where do you- I mean, we’ve kind of like- Where do you find kids, right? I 

Coach: mean. Yeah. I mean, we’ve, we’ve done well. You know, our ’26 class is a mix of, I think it’s mostly MLS NEXT, one ECNL, and then, like, couple kids from, like, the second tier of MLS NEXT.[00:07:00] 

Um, and so we’ve kind of prior- I think we’ve sort of prioritized MLS NEXT. I mean, we’re very regional in our recruiting. It’s what, you know, we’re in Wisconsin, Green Bay, we’re not, you know, we’re, we’re not a national institution. So, you know, our prior, primary, primarily our recruiting’s in the Midwest, so you know, we, we have good relationships with all the MLS NEXT and, and, um, and the ECNL teams.

It’s just there’s, I would say, the Midwest- And what’s next is just a little bit stronger than East Snow. I mean, we have FC Wisconsin, you have Eclipse, you have some teams that do really well, but, you know, it’s kind of like, okay, FC Wisconsin’s an hour and a half away. Like, we can just go down and watch them play.

Um, whereas, you know, we got kids from this class coming in, we have a couple kids from Michigan, um, and West Next. So, like, to be able, for us, just with the distance to, I mean, Milwaukee’s the closest kind of hotbed, so it’s hour and a half, two hours. So if you go to an MLS Next event, you can see Minnesota teams, the Wisconsin teams, Illinois teams, and Michigan teams and, and, you know, even Indiana, Ohio, [00:08:00] stuff like that.

So that’s kind of, I would say probably why MLS Next takes a little priority, just because there’s a little bit more of a representation at the Midwest level, because their events are typically, like, national event, you know, everybody goes. Um, ECL kind of varies at who’s there, um, and where does MLS Next go, and everybody’s there for the most part, unless it’s playoffs.

Matt: So, so what, what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think everybody, every coach, right, you have to kind of like, you have your play style, you have your coaching style, and then it kind of trickles down into what ty- the types of players you, you, you want to get.

So, you know, we’re, you know, we kind of pride ourselves on, you know, it’s, it’s possession-based style, kind of, we call it, like, a pro style. I mean, I don’t think that’s, like, the right word for it, but, like, you know, we’re building on the back, we’re trying to possess, we’re, we’re trying to do things the right way.

So, um, as far as developing our players, so I think that’s kind of, like, our niche a little bit in recruiting is that we’re… Yeah, I mean, everybody needs athletes, everyone needs size. Like, you know, all these things are, are important. [00:09:00] But, you know, when we’re going out and recruiting, we’re kind of, I would say maybe gearing a little bit more towards, like, okay, are you gonna be techn- technical enough to play in our system?

Are you gonna be able to play under pressure? Are you gonna, you know, if you’re a defender, are you gonna be able to build out a back? If you’re a goalkeeper, are you gonna be able to play with your feet? Like, you know, things like that might be a little bit different for us than, than every program. I think that’s helped us just because, you know, when we, we go see, you know, we recruit an MLS Next kid, we’re kind of playing the same system and the same style that they are.

And, you know, y- you can like it or you don’t, it really doesn’t matter. But, you know, if you’re a kid and you’re kind of used to playing one way and, and you s- you go to a training session and you, you see a team play, it’s like, “Okay, like, this is kind of familiar to me and, and, and something that I enjoy.”

Matt: Okay. All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. You know, you’ve been there a good amount of years now- Yeah … as assistant coach and, and, and the head gaffer now. So what are some awesome things about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah.

I mean, I think what, what kind of like we– when we talk to recruits and we talk to our players and kind of the feel that we get for the [00:10:00] players is like, we c- you know, it’s a, it’s not a massive school, right? So it’s, it’s a state school, it’s affordable, but it’s not a massive school, right? It’s not 50,000 kids, it’s not 60,000 kids.

So there’s not a ton of distractions. There’s a lot of time to focus on the sport, right? So it’s, yeah, you- it’s the trade-off, right? You’re not gonna be, you know, it’s, you’re not gonna be– there’s not 700 bars and 10,000 kids going ev- out every night. But the, the flip side of that is like, you know, i-if you’re coming here to develop and get better and hopefully make it to the next level, like you’re gonna have the time and you’re gonna have the resources to do that.

So, you know, that’s kinda like how we phrase it, right? It’s like, okay, you know, this, you know, it does, you know, whatever you want out of your college experience is what you got out of your co- college experience. But kind of what we’ve sort of leaned into, and I think it’s helped, is like, you know, guys who really, you know, you, you wanna focus on the sport.

I mean, this goes back to even I, but you coaches, like, there’s like, you can do th- you have three things in college, you can do two of them while it’s, right? It’s like school, social, sport, right? So it’s like, that’s kind of the, the– we say, it’s like, “Hey, listen, like you’re gonna be able to focus on your sport [00:11:00] and if, if you want, you know, you’ll…

We do well academically, like a three five team GPA last few semesters.” So it’s like, is the social gonna be what you see in the movies? Probably not. But like, is that really, you know, is that really what you want? Like, right, you’re, you’re going to college to go to play soccer and go to school, so, you know, it’s still college, right?

You’re, you’re 18 to 22 or 23 or whatever it is. Like, it’s still fun. Like, it’s not like it’s, you know, completely boring or anything like that. But, but that’s kinda like what we’ve tried to sell is kinda like, you know, you come into this setup and you’re gonna have all the resources as far as like, you’re not fighting for field space if you wanna do extra work, you know?

There’s, there’s, there’s plenty of, uh, facility. Even we have a nice little small, like 40 by 40 indoor facility where guys do a ton of extra work in there. And, and, and our field we only share with women’s soccer, so it’s like, you know, if you wanna get out there and get extra touches, like you’re not getting run off the field by another team.

So, you know, that’s kinda like the, the model we’ve tried to create, and I think that’s helped in recruiting too, ’cause it’s like now the kids who want to do that are the ones that are coming. And so, you know, that’s kinda created a good culture as far [00:12:00] as like- There is this development aspect where the guy, the group wants to get better, and, and it’s not just one guy staying after training or doing something later in the day after we train in the morning.

It’s, it’s kind of the, a good group mentality of, of we’re here to get better and we’re here to be, you know, to, to improve and hopefully, you know, do well with the team obviously, but hopefully do well individually as… Uh, in s- in, in our college careers and afterwards. 

Matt: Well, a- and you mentioned, y- you know, that, that, that dichotomy of trying to be successful on the field, in the classroom- Yeah

and, and it sounds like you got some good, you know, facilities and things like that to help- Yeah … on the, on the soccer side. But for- Yeah … college freshmen moving in, you know, it’s- Yeah … hard. You’re overwhelmed. Yeah, yeah. There’s a lot going on. Yeah. So what other support systems are there to help them be successful in the classroom, 

Coach: but also- Yeah, I mean, I think just in-

you know, any athletic part … yeah, just in general, like I didn’t go to a big school, so I don’t really, I’ve never really worked at a big school, so I don’t have like a ton of experience with that. But I think, you know, just the smaller school vibe, right? You know, you’re gonna get to know your professors, you’re gonna have relationships with them.

You know, we have an academic advisor who has, he’s been [00:13:00] with us for a really long time, which is great, ’cause he has good, good, uh, relationships with the professors. ‘Cause you do… I mean, that’s the thing. Fall, I mean, you coach, it’s like, fall’s nuts. Like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s crazy, right? You’re on the bus, you’re playing, you’re practicing, you’re trying to go to sc- you know, you gotta go to classes.

So, you know, you miss a lot of class time and you miss things. So, you know, when you’re not in a… You know, it’s like our, I think our ratio is like 1 to 20 or 20 person- Yeah … average is like 20 or 25 in a classroom. So, you know, I think that helps, right? You’re not walking into, you’re a freshman and you’re in all intro and you’re one of 400.

It’s like, oh, nobody even notices why I’m here, and next thing you know, you wake up in November and you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t do anything every class I’ve been.” So, you know, it’s a little harder at Green Bay to kind of slip through the cracks just because it’s, it’s a small, smaller class size, a little bit more personal attention, things like that.

So I think that helps the athletes as well. ‘Cause they’re not… You know, the, it’s a, it’s gonna be a struggle for any freshman, whether you have big classes, small classes, right? It’s a, it’s an adjustment. So, but just when you have more kind of hands-on, um, [00:14:00] relationships and, and people are kind of aware of that, you know, you’re gonna, you know, maybe, maybe you won’t do the best, but you’re gonna still be in school the next semester, right?

Whereas sometimes you hear the, the horror stories of you’re, you know, just a number and you’re at this massive place, and next thing you know they’re, you know, they’re not in school anymore. So, you know, it’s, it’s a, it’s a good amount of attention to the, to the students in general, but the athletes as well, so that they, if they do have their freshman year struggles, right, it’s not drastic enough that it, that it puts them in a situation where they can’t come back.

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s fast-forward to October- Yeah … right? Heart of the, heart of 

Coach: the- 

Matt: Yeah … season in that conference, uh, schedule. Like walk me through what’s a typical week look like winter practices, game cadence, meals, classes. 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, uh, for the most, I mean- Kind of like men’s side, like non-conference has really shifted heavily to, like, the month before the season, right?

So we, we kind of get the majority of our non-conference games done. Um, and we, we [00:15:00] added a team this year, so we added two midweeks, so that kind of, like, not hurt, but like it’s just harder to schedule non-conference games over the season. So, you know, if we don’t have a midweek game, it’s, you know, we’re probably just going Saturday, Saturday in October.

So yeah, we’re kind of, you know, play the… get a home away, play the game, give the guys Sunday off. Probably do, you know, kind of a light- lighter session for the guys who played, get the other guys going on Monday. Typically Tuesdays we’ve been doing, like, an off day, and then, you know, maybe a lift or something like that.

And then, you know, kind of Wednesday we roll into game prep. And obviously if we have to travel, we might have to leave on Thursday or Friday for the game. But, you know, kind of, you know, you, you kind of, beginning of the week you’re kind of recovering, kind of getting over whatever happened on Saturday, hopefully in a good way.

Um, and then starting on Wednesday you’re kind of back at it and, and getting ready for that, for that next match up on, on the weekend. 

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the, about the team. You know- 

Coach: Yeah … 

Matt: you get the, you guys are, I’m guessing opted in on the 28-man [00:16:00] roster. Yeah. Uh, so we know what the roster size is- Mm-hmm

but what about the rest of the guys on the roster? Your coaching staff, support staff, what role does everybody 

Coach: have? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I think, like, it’s been funny, like, you know, I’ve been a head coach a bit, like we talked about. I’ve been at Green Bay and been in college coaching since 2008, so I’ve kind of seen it all.

Um, so I’m not young in college soccer, but young as a head coach and I think, you know, the interesting thing that, you know, college soccer keeps changing, right? Everything’s different and… not different, but like what’s, what’s the right way to go about making a team and things like that. And, and I think, like, you know, what we’ve sort of benefited from, from our approach and from, like, the way we recruit is we’ve kind of still leaned into…

You know, kind of talked about that ’27 class, a little weird, but like, you know, we brought in this, this group, we’re bringing in six freshmen, right? You know, we’re, we’re bringing in two freshmen, you know, two sophomore transfers. Like, you know, we’ve kind of found our niche as, like, okay, we might not be able to out-recruit somebody for a big time D2 or Division 1 [00:17:00] transfer who’s had success, right?

But we might, we can get in the mix for the 17, 18-year-old high school kids. So we still kind of see our program as, like, the way I would say it used to be, right? You get these 18 year olds in and you hope over four years you develop them and, you know, I think that’s kind of the thread that kind of runs through our program is, you know, we’re trying to- Keep college soccer, college soccer in a way, right?

We’re not, you know, uh, and I have nothing against anyone that, that chooses differently, but, you know, I think, you know, I played as an 18 to 22-year-old. I think that, you know, most of us that are in coaching played as 18 to 22-year-olds, right? And you can have outliers, right? You might have a 23, 24-year-old, whatever.

Um, but, you know, I think we, we try to, you know, recruit the guys that fit our system and make them better when they get here, and I think that runs throughout our coaching staff and, and, and kind of just, like, creates a theme that runs through our program as just like, “Hey, we’re, we’re here to kind of…” I guess it’d be old school in a way to kind of do it that way.

But yeah, I mean, [00:18:00] we… I mean, we’ll probably have… I mean, we could have… In the spring, we admittedly are freshmen, but like second semester freshmen, like we are spring ending starting six or seven freshmen. And, and that’s like, yeah, they’re the best, they’re the best guys. You know, they’re our most talented players are the guys.

It wasn’t like they didn’t deserve it or anything, or we’re trying to like rebuild or, or anything like that. It’s like, “Oh, these are the, these are the best guys. They deserve to start. It doesn’t matter that they’re 18 or 19 years old. Like, if they’re good enough, they’re gonna play.” So, you know, that’ll be…

The makeup of the team will be, yeah, it’s, I mean, it’s like, I think we have… I’m not gonna get it exactly right, but it’s like six freshmen, and then it’s like 12 sophomores and like, you know, five seniors, four- or five juniors, four seniors. Then, like, the grades are all like, what eligibility verse grade and stuff like that.

Uh, there’s a couple guys at red shirt, a couple guys with injuries. But, um, yeah, it’s a, it’s a… It’ll be interesting ’cause it’s a younger group and, and a group that is talented, but, you know, youth- like it’s a bunch of 24-year-olds. Like, sometimes it can be [00:19:00] tough. Uh, but it’s exciting. It’s kind of exciting.

Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, you mentioned the playing style that you guys a- approach. What about you in terms of your coaching style? What can kids expect? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think, like, you know, it’s still kind of that development. Obviously, winning is extremely important. Everybody wants to win games, win championships and things like that.

But I think my approach is kind of like less micromanage, more like see the big picture, right? So, you know, I’m not gonna- You know, everybody loses their head every once in a while. But, uh, yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m the coach that’s screaming on the sidelines in practice and screaming on the sidelines in games.

And, you know, it’s kind of like, you know, you, you know, you’re, you’re gonna … We’re, especially we’re asking these guys to do things that are pretty difficult, right? So as, as far as the play style, so mistakes are gonna happen and, and it’s our, it’s my job and our, you know, assistant Kyle and my job to work on those in training and, and figure out how we kind of eliminate them a- a- as best as we can and, and kind of balancing that.

So it’s kind of more of a, [00:20:00] you know, not … You could say like a, you know, it’s a sink or sw- Like, “Hey, you gotta, you’re either gonna figure it out or you’re not. I’m not gonna scream at you every day if you can’t figure it out.” It’s just at the end of the day, ultimately, you have to figure it out to be able to be on the field, and kind of using that as the carrot that motivates the guys as opposed to, to me yelling, blowing the whistle, get on the line and sprint or anything like that.

It’s kind of like, hey, like, you know, there’s gonna be 18 to 20

guys that play in a season, and then if you’re doing things right every day in training, you’re handling yourself appropriately, then you can break into that 18 to 20 guys. And if, if you’re not, then you just, it’s not a bad thing, right? It’s just gonna take you some time. You have to figure it out, and we’ll work as much as we can with you to, to improve on those things.

But, you know, it’s not, it’s not gonna probably be me. I can teach you and I can coach you, but it’s, it’s gonna be you that, that, that works in training, that gets extra work in and, and kind of spends that time, um, figuring things out. And I think that’s, that’s kind of a cool thing about that I’ve enjoyed as being head coach is kind of not, it’s not like I’m forcing it, right?

It’s, it’s kind of they’re kind of [00:21:00] driving the ship and I’m, you know, I’m obviously guiding them, but, um, it’s kind of on them to, to push themselves and get better. And, and they know that. It’s kind of like runs throughout the team, because we’ve had, you know, we’ve had guys that have started off in smaller roles that have grown into bigger roles.

We’ve had guys that were in big roles that have fallen off, that have dropped off, and it’s not anything due to, like, anything beyond, okay, which guys are, are putting the work in and getting better. It’s, it’s not playing favorites or anything like that. It’s, it’s kind of just whoever’s producing in training, and they’re gonna be the guys that are, that are gonna be on the field, so.

Matt: All right. It’s gonna 

Coach: be Well, hey- It’s 

Matt: that- I, I appreciate, uh, all the insights. I’m gonna leave you one last question, and that is- Yeah … if you had one piece of advice for anybody going through this recruiting process right now, what would that be? 

Coach: Oof. That’s, yeah. Uh, I’ll, yeah, yeah, I’ll just kind of throw out

I mean, I think the biggest thing, too, i- is identifying What, you know, just obviously there’s a, those, the advice as far as, like, picking the right school, the academics and, and that stuff, that’s kind [00:22:00] of, let’s just, well, that’s, leave that for the professionals that are good at that stuff. That’s your parents, that’s you, that’s your guidance counselor, right?

That, that, that stuff, like, what you wanna study, things like that. But as far as soccer, I think, you know, like, the big thing is, is really seeing what teams are like, right? Like, you know, when we have visits, right, the most important time for me on the visit is the time that the guy, the recruit spend at training and with the team.

With- but without me, right? I, you know, I don’t even really… You know, occasionally we have a kid come up in, like, the summer ’cause it just, like, works, and he wants to– He’s in the area, or he’s like, “Oh, you know what? I wanna come up.” But like, you know, I think that getting to know what a coach is like with his players and what the team is like with each other are super important, right?

‘Cause it’s like team is gonna be who you spend most of your time with when you’re in college, right? So what are they like off the field? Um, how, how do they interact with one another? How are they with each other on the field? Um, and then how that coach, how each coach kinda handles training sessions, right?

Games are, games are great to go to. It’s great to see the level. It’s great to [00:23:00] see the intensity. It’s great to see the athleticism, all the great things that we have about college soccer. But you know, training’s where the, the truth comes out, right? You’re gonna see you know, you’re gonna see, coach can say whatever he wants in a call or whatever, but, like, okay, are they working on this or, or, or, or things that you appeal to.

I think that honestly, in my opinion, that’s one of the coolest things that I’ve noticed in the last few years is, like, kids actually care now, and know, right? Like, I’m, I’m 43, so I played in mid-2000s. Like, I didn’t know, right? I, I didn’t know. When I was picking schools, I wasn’t like, “Oh, do you guys possess?

Do you…” Like, I was just like, “Oh, this is a good school, and the team’s good.” Like, coach was fine. Like, “I’ll go there.” Um, but it’s cool now when, when kids, when you talk to kids on the phone, when you have them on visits, they’re aware of playing style. They’re aware of what is gonna help them develop, how they’re gonna get better.

Um, and I think that, that, that, that’s a big testament to how much better the youth development has gotten in this country, where these kids are being coached in a much, at a much [00:24:00] higher level than offense to us old guys. But the, the way that we were back in the day, we were kinda just, you’d roll the ball out and play, and you know, it’s like, all right, the athl- more athletic team’s gonna win.

Um, and, and that’s fine, but you know, I think, you know, the, the growth of the development has, has been really cool, and, and ho- hopefully we’ll start to see it more, more and more in college soccer. But I think that’s, that’s the big… Yeah, big, big advice. Wrap it up. Meet the team. Spend time with the team without the coach, and, and watch the coach train his team.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. Well, Coach, really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck this fall. 

Coach: Thank you. 

Matt: If you, if you make your way down to Bradenton for any of the things at Premier IMG- Yeah … give me a shout, all right? 

Coach: Okay. 

Matt: And uh, we’ll get together. Awesome. All right? 

Coach: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Matt: Thank you.