Florida Gulf Coast University Women’s Soccer – Coach Jim Blankenship
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jim Blankenship from the Florida Gulf Coast University Women’s Soccer program in Fort Myers, Florida. We talk about how the Eagles are adapting to NCAA roster changes, the transfer portal, and evolving recruiting timelines while continuing to build one of the ASUN’s top programs. Coach shares why Florida Gulf Coast’s ID camps play such a significant role in recruiting, what qualities he looks for in prospective student-athletes, and why the university’s academics, campus, and support systems make it such an attractive destination. Lastly, we discuss the program’s high-energy style of play, the resources available to student-athletes, and Coach Blankenship’s advice for recruits on taking ownership of their recruiting process. Learn more about Florida Gulf Coast University Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Blankenship down at Florida Gulf Coast University. Welcome, Coach.
Coach: Thank you. Appreciate you having me.
Matt: Yeah, glad to have you as well. We, you, you and I have, have known each other for, for a hot minute. And, uh- Yeah
I was just telling you, I took my other daughter down there for a campus tour on Tuesday, and we’re talking on Thursday. So, uh, I have a fresh view of campus, and I’ve been around the whole thing in my head. And, and you’re at a good spot there, let me tell you.
Coach: It’s a good week, right?
Matt: Yeah, yeah. Well, and you’ve been there now, mm- Been-
a few years, huh?
Coach: This’ll be year 20.
Matt: That’s crazy, man. Congrats. Uh, that’s- Yeah … good stuff. Um, so you are the man to tell us all about Gulf Coast, but let’s start, uh, let’s start by talking about the, the team right now. I mean, they changed the, the pre-season rules, so you get some extra time. How’s that been for you guys?
Coach: It’s been phenomenal. You know, so we got that extended two weeks where you’re, you know, the transition period. And I gotta be honest, it’s been phenomenal. You know, because we, [00:01:00] um, unfortunate or not, you know, we usually report August 1st, and we’re playing August 5th. So you’ve, one, you gotta hope your kids are really coming prepared, which they do.
But as you know, nothing prepares you for, you know, South Florida, where it’s 100 degrees, and you got a game in five days, and coaches like me are trying to crush everything into about four or five days. So it, we’ve been blessed with it. You know, it’s, I think it’s been phenomenal for our players to keep them fresh, to not overload them with, uh, anything.
And it’s also been great for our staff. You know, you get a little bit of a life, too. You know? So it’s not like you’re fr- here from 6:00 AM to midnight- Yeah … trying to get three, three days in.
Matt: Yeah. Uh, for sure.
Coach: So smart, smart move by the NCAA.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah. No, uh, well, like I say, I dropped my daughter off, uh, two weeks ago, and it’s like, wow, you’re there for six weeks before classes even start these days.
Yeah, yeah. So it’s, uh, it’s a little nutty. But, uh, hey, what are you gonna do?
Coach: Completely different, but I think it’s gonna wind up being a, a real plus for a lot of, a lot of programs.
Matt: Yeah, yeah. I think you’re right. Uh, hope- hopefully it also eases on the injury prevention side of things, too, which, uh- Yeah.
That [00:02:00] was a- … the roster limits is kind of important, right?
Coach: Yeah. We’ve all, we’ve all gone through it. As I’m sure you’re gonna hear, you know, we, we paid that price a little bit last year.
Matt: Yeah, yeah. I remember. Yeah. Well, in terms of, you know, you’ve got, uh, you- Besides getting ready for, for now, you’re, you’re gotta be getting ready for the, the next year with recruiting, right?
And the kids that are graduating and, and all that stuff. I mean, I know you can’t have, uh, you know, the June 15th hit and, and are you guys looking, uh, now with this whole five and five thing, with, with the transfer portal and, and all these things, are, are you still ramping up two years out? Are you more maybe one year out now?
Or what’s kind of been your mindset around it with all these changes happening?
Coach: Well, the, the changes have been, you know, it’s kept us on our toes. It keeps us young. As you know, with a roster of 28, you know, that was, uh… And, uh, you know, that was a, a transition that was a bit challenging. I look back at this a lot like the COVID, you know, where it’s kind of unknown.[00:03:00]
We’ll get through it. Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Now they throw this on us a couple years later, you know? So a little bit like COVID, you know, where you get thrown of, okay, roster 28. We’ve been blessed that we’ve always carried around 28, so it wasn’t a huge thing for us. But obviously, you know, in the recruiting world where we’re recruiting two years out, it, uh, complicates that a bit, you know?
So we’ve slowed down the recruiting a little bit. We’ve kind of trying to manage it. Now, you know, this year they throw us the five-year rule. Uh, you know, we have four or five kids that are seniors, so we’re in conversation with them exactly what they wanna do and how they wanna do it. You know, so it has definitely slowed the process down.
Um, you know, and, uh, you know, nobody’s played a game yet, so you’re not sure if you’re recruiting two kids or four kids.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Coach: And, and you know how se- injuries are in the college game is… So you know, I say you’re never done recruiting, but this one’s definitely put a little bit of a, a challenge to it where, you know, as you try to manage your roster, uh, it’s, um, [00:04:00] it’s kinda cool.
You know? Yeah. It’s y- you’re a little bit more of a coach now. You’re almost like a GM of a, of a team. Yeah. You know? So it’s got challenges to it, but I think ultimately it’s gonna be better for the c- better for the, the kids that are playing, and ultimately it’s gonna, you know, it’s the roster managing is, uh, is, uh, kinda intrigue- intriguing, challenging, and, and new and ultimately I like it.
Matt: Yeah. Okay. Well, that’s good stuff. Well, i- in terms of that recruiting, um, you know, I think- Domestically speaking, it’s, it’s predominantly you’re probably looking ECNL and, and GA, and luckily Florida’s a hotbed. You look at your roster, it’s, it’s heavy Florida. But kinda what, what are the events you like to get to?
Where are you looking? Where, where are you finding players these days?
Coach: Well, to be honest, we try to do everything. You know, obviously Florida’s our, our backyard and, and we’re blessed that there’s a lot of talent in Florida, so we try to get out pretty much everywhere. Um, and of course we try to do e- every ECNL event and every GA event.
You know, so [00:05:00] we try as much as we can to get to everything. Uh, and blessed to have really good assistant coaches, you know, so that helps. Uh, Alex Ing, who’s my associate, uh, was with US Soccer and the scout- one of the scouting directors for US Soccer, so, uh, a rich history of knowing pretty much everybody in the f- in the US.
And then we were blessed to bring on two new staff members in, in January. You know, we have Austin O’Connor who was the recruiting, uh, recruiting, uh, coach at Florida Gators, and also the goalkeeper coach of Florida Gators. You know, so felt like we, you know, got a massive upgrade there. And then also brought in, uh, Aaliyah Skinner, who was the, was, uh, from Jacksonville but played at Virginia Tech, goalkeeper at Virginia Tech and played for the Houston, Houston Dash.
So you know, feel like with that level of coach, they’ve seen it all, they’ve played at an incredibly high level, they’ve coached at a high level. You know, so we’re blessed that we have a group of four that pretty much are out everywhere. W- we try [00:06:00] to roll over every stone.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, I think one of the first times you and I met was, uh, at your, at your camp.
You guys have an amazing, uh, set of camps there. H- how, how important h- has kinda the ID camp thing been for you guys in, in your recruiting?
Coach: Uh, it’s massive. You know, we just finished one last weekend. You know, so for us, uh, if you look at our roster and our kids, we put a ma- a huge emphasis on it, um, because it’s more than just being a player, it’s a connection, it’s what, what you do, the energy.
It’s a little bit of everything. But if you look at a roster, we’ve been blessed with probably, I’d say probably 60, 70% of our roster now are kids that have been through our camp, where we had the chance to work with them, got to know them, see how they are on and off the field. Um, you know, so I put, I put a, a, a massive emphasis on that, and I think we’ve been blessed.
‘Cause if you, like I said, if you look at our roster, we have, every year we’ve had kids that we’ve picked up from our camp, where maybe, you know, we see them on the sideline for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, a half of a game, and we go, “Ooh.” [00:07:00] You know, we don’t know much about them, where you come down here and you’re doing a two-day camp or even our three-day camp is, you get a chance to really kinda see them, uh, and see kinda their makeup and how they interact with the players on our team.
Because a lot, our players come and do the camp as well, which is nice.
Matt: Yeah. Well, whether it’s a camp, whether it’s in that 45 minutes on the sideline, kinda w- what makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field?
Coach: Uh, there’s a lot. I don’t know if we have that kind of time.
But, uh, the CliffsNotes of that is obviously when we go to games, we want players that pop out. You know, somebody that stands out. Could be, you know, athleticism, uh, competitive spirit, you know, how they’re gonna react when things are not going well, how they, you know, at the end of the game, are they still…
You know, they still got a lot of juice in the gas tank. Uh, I mean, there’s a lot of things. We want competitive kids. We want athletic kids. Our team is made up a lot of really good athletic- pieces that got pace, and we try to, you know, again, you’re in South Florida, where it’s super hot, you know, so we try to knock the ball around.
We try to control it. [00:08:00] We try to dictate tempo. So we’re looking for kills that, uh, kids that are very comfortable on the ball as well.
Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the school. Y- you know, I mean, I know it’s, uh, I think described as one of the newer public universities in the country, even though it’s not, uh, as new anymore.
Uh, but, but still new. But, um- Yeah … y- you know, you’ve been there for 20 years. Kinda what stands out to you? What are some of the great things about the school? Maybe some things that we couldn’t find out going by the website.
Coach: Yeah. Um, you know, state university, state of Florida, we are the new school, or, you know, we’re about 30 years old, but the new school in this Florida state system.
I, I think one of the big things academically, the resources we have here are phenomenal. Um, the uni- uh, the, the professors have to be working professors, meaning they have to teach the class. So if you get, you know, you’re gonna get 20 to 30 people in the classroom. Once it exceeds that, it’s going to be an, a, you know, they’re gonna open up another section.
So you’re not dealing with where, you know, a lot of schools I’ve been at where, you know, you get 300, [00:09:00] 300, 400 people in a classroom. You’re a number. Here, you know, you’re gonna be known on a first name basis. Um, again, location, location, location. I mean, you’re, you know, you’re in South Florida, where 300 days out of the year, you work, you’re, you know, it’s sunny, the sun’s in your face, the wind to your back, and you get to go year-round in shorts and T-shirts.
Um, also the dorm situation, uh, you know, there are apartments on campus, four bedroom, two bath dorms, fully furnished kitchens. And oh, by the way, it’s a, you know, a 10, a 10-yard walk to the beach. You know, you’re on… I mean, it’s everything. If you look at it, you get a chance to come down here and see it, you’re gonna be blown away.
You know, it’s 770 acres, half are preserved, meaning it’s n- you know, it’s that natural feel to it. You’re walking around. There’s, there’s critters everywhere. There’s, you know, there’s a lot of things where you’re going, “Wow, I can’t get that anywhere else.”
Matt: Yeah, yeah, and having just been there, I, I can fully, fully vouch for that, that’s for sure.
It’s good space.
Coach: It looks brand new. Yeah, yeah. I mean,
Matt: you wouldn’t
Coach: know. It looks brand new.
Matt: Yeah, and you got other building e- even happening there with the new nursing school coming online and, uh, stuff like [00:10:00] that, so.
Coach: Yeah.
Matt: Well, you know, one of the biggest challenges for a lot of student athletes is making that transition, right, from high school to college, and the demands put on them academically and athletically.
What, what support systems do you guys have to make sure they’re successful both on and off the field?
Coach: Well, the, uh, you know, we’re blessed that we have a phenomenal working group here, you know, a full-time academic advisor that meets with the kids regularly. I, as a coaching, my assistant and I, we meet with every single kid on our team once a week.
So you’re in on the couch, so it’s not, “Oh, I’m into the principal’s office.” So we’re trying to continue, we’re trying to- You know, build that relationship where you, where you’re comfortable. And we’re also, you know, we have a huge responsibility to the parents. We’re taking care of their child. There’s nothing more important in the world right now.
Um, you know, so we, uh, you know, we build our team on communication, trust, and it’s a relationship, and that’s what it’s built on. You know, and it is, if you get a chance to see it, it’s, you know, our players sell our program. You know, our team is super tight. What we do as a group is [00:11:00] important to us, um, and how you feel.
Like, you know, we, uh, we tell our, I tell our kids all the time, just we have a ton of respect for what you do, b- you do a lot, and obviously if they know we care and we feel for them, they’re gonna do more. And we ask a lot of those kids, you know? So we try to do as, as much as we can to make sure that they understand they’re not a number, and that we want them helping us build this-
Matt: I love it.
Well, let’s fast-forward to, say, October, heart of that A-Sun s- season. Walk me through what is a, what, what does a typical week look like for the players in terms of when is meals and practices and classes and game canes and all that kind of stuff?
Coach: Yeah, so, you know, we, um, like everybody else, you know, we pretty much play on Thursday and Sundays.
So Monday’s your day off. Um, we train 10:00 to 12:00, uh, pretty much is our time slot. We’re usually done around 11:30, 11:40. Um, Tuesdays are probably your heavy workload. Wednesdays we’re doing [00:12:00] video to start our day, you know, so 10 o’clock we’re probably doing, we’re doing video with our team from 10:00 to 10:30 on what went well over the weekend or what we w- want to work on.
So we try to break down film for our team and rehash that on Wednesdays, and then we’ll train and prep for Thursday’s game. So that training’s usually about 45 minutes to an hour. Uh, Thursday morning we’re doing a little re- w- walk through, uh, for about 30 minutes and doing film on the game that night.
Uh, play Thursday night. Friday we’re doing a recovery training with our strength and, you know, with us and our strength and condit- conditioning coach. Saturday we’re doing a prep for Sunday’s game. Saturday evening we’re doing, if we’re on the road, we’re doing a Saturday evening. If we’re at home, we’re doing a Saturday morning of r- you know, prep for Sunday with tactical of who we’re playing and what we’re doing, you know?
So once you get into the season, it kind of flies.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, let’s talk a little bit more then about the team. I know we talked, you guys, 28 roster. Uh, you told us a little bit about [00:13:00] the, some of your staff, but kinda w- what kind of rounds that out? W- what roles does everybody play? Are there other, other support staff that are helping with the team on, on kind of a daily basis?
What do they
Coach: do? Yeah, I mean, we have everything, support staff, everything that you have in any Power Four in the country. You know, full-time academic staff, full-time medical staff, full-time strength and conditioning coach. Um, you know, we’re fully staffed in this as a group, you know, so you truly have everything, you know, um, our CAPS program.
I mean, you r- literally have anything and everything that you need. Very much like any other school you’d go to in the country, any Power Four in the country.
Matt: Okay. Well, what about you? How would you describe kind of your coaching style and, uh, the style of play you like to play there?
Coach: My coaching style. I, um- I’m a…
Yeah, good question. I, I’m pretty demanding, you know? So our, our expectation’s quite high. You know, we won the, we’ve w- won the regular season title or the cup at the end, the tournament, 14 out of the last, or 16 out of the last 10, 18 years. [00:14:00] So the expectation here is pretty high. I am go-go, you know? High energy.
Uh, we don’t do those three, four-hour sessions that you hear about all the time. We do about an hour and a half, so when we’re out there it’s really important that we kind of bring it, you know? So our team, we’re a pressing team, super athletic, really good on the ball, and that’s kind of us. We wanna be… We wanna break lines and get the goals.
I think we were, like, top five in the country in scoring goals last year. Um, we wanna, we want the ball down the other end as much as we can have it. Um, and we’re blessed with those kind of players, you know? We got super exciting kids that are su- are a- athletic and get after it, and that’s kind of us.
It’s, you know, we want, we wanna compete against all the big boys and, you know, we don’t have all the resources those teams has, but we make it up in w- effort and energy.
Matt: Love it. Um, all right. Well- In terms of the off-season, right? Like, we’ve, what, what does that typically look like for players that spring, that non-traditional season?[00:15:00]
Coach: Yeah, so we usually, you know, we come back usually around the first week in January when school starts back up, usually around anywhere from the 8th to the 10th. We get back, we come back as a team. We usually meet two days after to start back our pre-season, or, you know, our January calendar. Um, and we’re a little bit bigger on our strength and conditioning part with our strength coach, Pops.
Uh, so they’ll go three days a week with him. We’re usually pretty much every day Monday through Friday for two hours, and the weekend’s off unless we have a game, and then we adjust it, you know. So want them to have a little bit more of this, obviously the student experience. But we, you know, we get after it.
We usually s- like I said, start beginning of January, we usually then start our 20-hour process, usually around the first or second week in February, and then we’ll have five, six games, depending on if we can pick up an international game. And then we usually end around April 12th, 15th, somewhere in there.
You know, finals are usually last week of April, and then w- our kids are usually gone by the beginning of, you know, that first [00:16:00] week in May is graduation, then they’re done.
Matt: Wow, okay. All right. Well, Coach, I really appreciate you giving us a lot of info here. I’m gonna leave you with one last question, though.
Okay. If you could give just one piece of advice to any girl going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be?
Coach: I would say no one’s gonna market yourself like you market you. So continue to send the emails. Uh, and, you know, do your homework. Send the emails, send the video. If you’re going to a tournament, get that schedule out a week before.
Don’t do it the night before, ’cause we’re, you know, we’re usually pretty packed, and we usually, obviously, leave the day before. So anything that we get, you know, that day of or day before makes it really difficult to kinda give a fair shake to you and see you. But yeah, is continue to do your research on the universities and, and get yourself out there until somebody tells you no, you know, is…
There’s a lot of opportunity out there, and there are a lot of amazing programs out there, so there’s a place for everybody.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. [00:17:00] Well, Coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck. Uh, hopefully I can get down there for one of your games this fall, and, uh, we’ll see you soon.
Coach: Yeah, appreciate it.
Thank you. All right, thank
Matt: you. Let me know when
Coach: you’re down.
Matt: I will. D- don’t worry about that. All right.
Coach: All right, thank you.
Matt: Yeah.
