Allegany College Men’s and Women’s Soccer – Coach Mo Pratt
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Pratt from the Allegany Men’s and Women’s Programs in Maryland. We talk about what it’s been like rebuilding both programs. He describes the school’s strong academic programs that truly provide value. Lastly, we discuss their possession oriented style of play. Learn more about Allegany College Men’s & Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Mo Pratt from Allegheny college of Maryland. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thank you, Matt. Thanks for having me.
Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. Uh, nice seeing your face. So you reminded me the last time was a couple of years ago at the coaches convention, uh, and you were at a different place then.
Now you’re, you’re at Allegheny, uh, and, and charging up both the men’s and the women’s programs for this fall, huh?
Coach: Yes, indeed. Uh, it’s a little bit of a challenge. It’s as I found, uh, actually my last year at Potomac State, we did both the men’s and women’s. I was the head coach of each. Um, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a little bit of a physical and, uh, and a mental challenge in season.
But, you know, uh, aside from that, it, it is functional. It’s doable. So, um, yeah.
Matt: Well, and I think probably when I talked to two year college coaches, you know, one of the biggest challenges overall is just recruiting, right? You got to recruit twice as much as everybody else because they’re only there for two years.
And, uh, and you’ve had a, you know, a specific challenge there at Allegheny with the, the team’s taken, taken last year off. So how’s it been going? What, 12 months to really. You know, the, the teams recruited up and, and, and how’s that gone for you?
Coach: Well, I, the focus obviously from the, from the start was to, [00:01:30] was numbers.
So, you know, numbers alone, we needed. We needed enough, uh, enough women and men, you know, for each team to, to get up and run and get going. I think the formula for small college and for, for two year small college is to really do well in your region, in your local area, in your region, and get as much of the, the top soccer players out of those area, that area that you can.
And add to that from outside out of state and, uh, even some international, uh, players, um, we’ve been really successful. It’s anybody that’s. Uh, done, uh, you know, that has recruited men’s and women’s any sport in college will tell you it’s, uh, 2 different animals recruiting men and women, uh, based on supply and demand, uh, you know, female soccer players are in high demand.
And they are in the college world, and they’re a little, uh, they’re a little less on the supply side. So, um, we’re, we’ve done really well on both sides. I think we’ve gotten some really nice talent locally and from within the immediate region where I’ve struggled a little bit on the women’s side, at least for this season is bringing in some of those out of state.
Players, I think that will come with experience once we sort of are a known commodity, so to speak. And, uh, but we’ve done pretty good with that on the men’s side numbers wise. I think we’re at a comfortable spot with both [00:03:00] teams. Um, you know, definitely with the men’s team and, uh, on the women’s side, I’m comfortable with where we’re at now.
We’re in the low to mid teens would like to bolster that a little bit, but, uh, through experience, I know that we can get through a season with that and and I think successfully. So.
Matt: So what would you say is a, is a target roster size for you given, you know, given your druthers, what would you like the roster to be at for both teams?
Coach: So I end up with two measurements there. Every time I have this conversation, I think 17, 18 is the perfect number for management purposes, managing your way through the season, managing your personnel. Um, Developing, of course, on the, in the junior college world, 1 of our biggest responsibilities, I believe, is to continue development.
I mean, that that’s anywhere. Uh, you know, that you’re coaching on the collegiate level, obviously, you’re all if you want to win, you have to develop your players, but. You know, a lot of athletes are using the junior college model as a, a leaping point. You know. Spring to the, you know, under a good four year program.
So we have to keep an eye on the development side. So I think if you’re in that 17, 18 range, you can develop by the athletes really well. Everyone’s getting ample playing time, you’re keeping everyone happy. Good for, uh, probably a little better for, uh, chemistry team atmosphere. Uh, the other side of that is I believe if you’re in the 22 to 24 range, of course that opens up some other things that you can [00:04:30] do.
From a training perspective, and, um, you know, obviously you can, you know, scrimmage and so forth. One, you know, one note with that, you know, back to the, you know, it’s, if you’re at a four year institution, and you have 20, 24, 26 athletes on your roster, it may be a little easier to keep some of the players that aren’t getting as much playing time happier, because, you know, You can sell sophomore season, junior season, senior season, you know, we, we don’t have that luxury here.
You know, people are, they’re a little antsy if they’re freshmen and they’re not playing because, you know, the end is near already, you know, and they, you know, they want to make a name for themselves and, you know, and, uh, move on to a 4 year school. So there’s a little added pressure there. So, so again, I guess I, I’ve always been, I’ve never have been able to answer that question.
With one number, it’s always sort of two, two ways to look at it. You know,
Matt: fair enough. Fair enough. Well, In terms of recruiting for teams that didn’t have a team last year, per se, so how has your mix? Were you trying to find a mix of freshmen, sophomore, or was it pretty much all freshmen? Or how did that? How did that look ?
Coach: fortunately on both sides? So I’ll start with the women 1st. We’ll address it that way. I was a little luckier on the women than that. As far as our institution, there were some students here, some, you know, some ladies that showed up [00:06:00] for, you know, in hopes of a team being started for the fall of 23 and, you know, they stayed on.
There were just happened to be a couple, a couple other young women here that were. That I knew of from the region that were, I knew that they were soccer athletes and, you know, pretty nice quality athletes. So there was some people that I could pull in that were already here at the college that’s worked out really well for us.
Um, and so that’s really a good balance of, of they’re all 1st year soccer players, but some of them are about half of them are 2nd year students and. We have a lot of allied health programs, nursing, dental hygiene, physical therapy assistance, some other programs here that essentially while we’re a junior college, they turn and, you know, we only offer associates degrees, but we have a lot of students that are in those.
Programs essentially turn out to be 3 year program. So they may even be a 3rd year student here, but they’ll still be a 1st year participant. So, that’s worked out about 50 50, as far as incoming brand new, traditional freshmen and and returning students on the men’s side. We weren’t we weren’t quite as lucky with returning athletes.
There were some guys here this school year that were here for soccer. We didn’t get to play in the fall of 23, but all of those guys have graduated and some of them have left, you know, they were in career oriented programs and they’ve already have, you know, You know, jobs starting their careers, they’re moving on.
So I, you know, I lost them. [00:07:30] Most of the athletes that are coming in for the men’s team are true freshmen. I do have a few transfers that were, there’ll be second year participants, but they played at a four year schools last year. So,
Matt: okay. Well, when it comes to recruiting, what is it that you’re looking for in a player, both on the field stuff and off the field attribute wise?
Coach: Um, really, uh, I believe the. I, I sort of go for character 1st. I, I really do. And it’s the 1st question that once I’ve sort of turned on to an athlete, uh, recruit a new recruit, whether that’s the athlete himself reaching out to us. Or if that’s, you know, through a, through a coach or recruiting agency of some sort, I always try to go there 1st and sort of try to figure out a little bit of.
You know, is the student is this soccer player a good student? Because, you know, that’s I think huge. They’re taking care of the things on the academic side. They’re responsible for that. That goes a long way into being able to focus on managing the whole team. And, uh, and again, being able to focus on soccer a little bit, and really just the quality of the character.
Are they, you know, are they going to be good teammates? Are they going to be, are they going to be good contributors to our program and to our campus environment? So, again, if they’re doing that, I think it makes the soccer side so easy. Then from there, you know, really, um, you know, we [00:09:00] all want, we all want superstars.
You know, I, I, I want super hyper talented individuals also. Um, but. I look for that, but, you know, really, honestly, I will take someone who’s willing to put in the work and to, uh, obviously is competent and a good soccer player, but, you know, sometimes if you’re, uh, you’re more willing to work and, and, you know, put in the grind and do all that, I think you may be a little more valuable, you know, I’ll take that sometimes in lieu, I’ll take it all the time in lieu of, you know, hyper talent, you know, so.
Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, you, you’ve been there a year now. What, what, what drew you there? What are some of the awesome things you’ve found in your first 12 months there at school?
Coach: Yeah. So, and there was a lot to learn. First off, I have a really good, uh, I’m an, I’m an alumnus at Allegheny college actually, and played soccer here, um, decades ago.
We’ll, we’ll word it like that. Cause it was quite some time ago. Um, and it is, uh, I, I’ve always, I grew up in Allegheny County, uh, here in Western Maryland. I, uh, and I’ve lived, you know, almost my entire life here, uh, aside from a few months here there, but, uh. Um, at any rate, um, so I’m familiar with the institution.
Um, it was, it was a little bit of a coming home. Um, so, uh, you know, more than happy to do that at this stage of my life. I’m happy to be coaching and happy to be able to at least [00:10:30] make that part of my career. I have other, you know, uh, other duties as assigned here. I have a couple other job titles. But, uh, that’s good.
I can make my career here. It’s close to home. It’s close to where I grew up. I’m familiar here. Um, some of the things I knew a little bit of this just from being, you know, I’ve been knowledgeable about the institution just because I’ve lived close to it and kept track the whole time I’ve been here. But.
Some of the things I think that really drew me in is, um, um, we are, it’s academically, the programs are really strong here. I think all community colleges nationwide, you can easily say that we’ve done a good job of shrugging or, you know, getting rid of the. The, um, I don’t know how I want to say it. You know, there’s always been the, you know, the feeling that community college and junior college was a compromised education, you know, or I don’t, I don’t believe that to exist really anywhere now.
And it definitely doesn’t exist here at Allegheny. I think this is high quality education, a lot of career based programs. Um, you know, people are leaving here at 2 years with, uh, with an associate’s degree and they’re, uh, they’re entering very nice and frankly lucrative careers. So that’s good. The value that the education here is wonderful.
We are through the lot of hard work. Um, over the course of decades by some really good [00:12:00] people, um, Allegheny college is really fiscally healthy. Um, and we all know that doesn’t exist everywhere in higher education. So that’s good. It creates a wonderful environment here on campus from a member of the workforce, you know, and, uh, the, you know, the positive effect that that has on the student experiences.
You know, we could talk about that all day long and it’s and never, you know, categorize the whole thing. It’s, it’s just a wonderful spot right now. So excited about that. Another note is there’s, uh, you know, of course, I look at everything through soccer lenses, but, uh, athletics in general, there’s, there’s just been a, a very, uh, rich and, um, uh, very successful athletic tradition here.
Um, over the years, you know, um, a lot of that revolves around, uh, men’s basketball and baseball, but the fact of the matter is the athletic department in general is doing it. So, you know, I’m sort of happy to be a part of that. And, you know, we really want to move these soccer programs into that same category.
Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, let’s fast forward to, uh, to October. Uh, you’re in your heart of that, that season and you got both teams there. Kind of walk me through what you envision a week, uh, will look like for players in terms of classes, uh, practice times, game cadence, that kind of thing. [00:13:30]
Coach: Sure, we’ll try to set the schedule.
Well, I, I, I guess we’ll try to set the schedule up, the game schedule at two games per week every now and then. Unfortunately, the JUCO season is pretty compact and from start to finish, so every now and then you end up having to play a three game week. I prefer not to do that, but that’s the, it’s really the nature of college soccer in general.
Definitely N-J-C-A-A soccer. So, um, you know, there’s a manage, so load management during the season is, is real, you know. I feel like my experience coaching in, uh, in JCA is that seems like we’re, we’re recovering as much as we’re, uh, you know, we’re always a recovery practices, you know, as. As far as, uh, you know, as much as, you know, prepping for the next game, but in general, um, you know, we are pretty much 6 days a week, uh, throughout the year.
Um, you know, you’re looking at 2 hours of training every day. We do like to stay with the in season weight training. I just think that’s, uh, too valuable for, uh, for, you know. Uh, on the load management side and for. You know, to avoid injury and so forth. So, um, you know, the day in the life of a student, you know, you’re, uh, you know, you’re going to classes.
Hopefully we can get most of the classes scheduled in the morning early. It frees up the afternoons. Doesn’t always work at small colleges. You know, you have those labs and some other things that are in the afternoon. So sometimes the compromise has to [00:15:00] be made there. You got to education 1st, get that taken care of.
That means you’re a little late for training that day. That’s just just the way it is. And then, you know, when region 20 here, we’re, uh, you know, most of our games are within a 3 hour drive of we’re on the Western end of that. So a lot of our opponents are in the Baltimore D. C. Metro area. And a little further east of that.
So, you know, that’ll put us out at about a two and a half hour drive. So, you know, travel days, they’re not bad, you know, they’re, uh, you know, we can leave in the middle of the day, usually around lunchtime and, uh, we’re back before midnight usually. So, and then, uh, right back at it. So it was a little roundabout way, but yeah, we’re, you know, if we get our two games in, in the week and, you know, three or four trainings, that’s about where we’re at.
So,
Matt: okay. Well, let’s talk about the teams themselves a little bit. Have you been able to build out a roster of staff that’ll, that’ll help with each team? What’s that look like?
Coach: Uh, very good. So I have, I do have some staff. I actually am still looking and I know that I realize that’s a little late in the game, but I would like to have a dedicated assistant for each team.
Um, 1 in particular, I mean, that I’ve literally known since I was a teenager. So really good rapport. They’re happy to be working with him. I’m happy for what he brings to the table. Uh, really. More in as much as soccer, but, you know, life in general. So I think you’ll really good influence on [00:16:30] the, on the athletes.
I know it will be and another assistant coach that I’m happy to get to start working with and to learn a little bit, but I would like to build that out a little bit with luck. I believe I’m bringing in a. A goalkeeper coach, that’d be a little more goalkeeper specific and can actually work with both teams.
So, um, that’s where we’re at. You know, it’s always a little bit of. We’re all again, this is a small college world thing, especially when you get into the assistance, we’re very close to being volunteers, you know, as far as the, you know, what it pays. So it’s a. It’s a little, it’s a challenge sometimes to, and we’re not, we’re in a little bit of a smaller, uh, you know, population populated area, you know, I think here in Allegheny County, I believe we’re less than 70, 000 residents and county wide, you know, so, and the whole region is that way.
So. Um, you know, you just, uh, it takes a little while to find the right people and put them in there, you know? So,
Matt: yeah, for
Coach: sure.
Matt: Well, what about you? How would you describe your coaching style, style of play you’re looking to implement there with the players?
Coach: Uh, my style of play, I like to, you know, I, I possession based, probably that comes out of the mouth of.
You know, 90 percent of the soccer coaches in the world. Uh, what I do, I, you know, I covet possession. I like to, I like to, you know, persuade our teams to play that way. I do like to play high pressure and the force force the pace of play, especially in [00:18:00] the, in the opponents defensive 3rd and in the midfield area.
From there. I like a really redundant defensive system. I, you know, I like everybody to sort of, you know, angle angle centrally and, you know, drop deeper than the ball and, you know, let’s, you know, support your team and support your teammates and, you know, high pressure on the ball. I don’t like, I don’t like the opponents with the.
With additional time on the ball without pressure, you know, so, um, and, you know, as far as, you know, coaching style, I do believe that I’m, uh, you know, maybe I, I guess I’ve mellow with age a little bit, but, uh, I think I tend to think that I’m a little more. Um, certainly I’m mellow, but, uh, compared to the, you know, the Mo Pratt of 30 or 20 years ago, 25 years ago.
But, um, without a doubt, I, I’m certainly more understanding. And, and, uh, you know, I just sort of like to give the athlete the tools to have the to come to the conclusion that I have drawn. And, you know, I, I really like. It speaks a little bit to the athletes that I like that I usually find that I enjoy most.
I like athletes who like to understand. It’s one thing to do what the coach is asking you to do and to do. I like when they really want to know why, you know, [00:19:30] why are we, why are we doing this? What is the rationale behind this? You want it? Fine. Please explain to me why, because I like that, because I think with that understanding, I think it makes for a, you know, it makes for a better, uh, well rounded athlete and, uh, and I think it creates, uh, from a team perspective, just a better product on the field when everybody understands what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, you know, so I guess we, I like to focus on the, the cognitive side of it as much as I do the physical, you know.
No, I like that.
Matt: All right. Well, coach, really appreciate your time going to leave you with one last question. Uh, and you know, as someone who’s been around the college game for a while, if there was one piece of advice you could offer to folks going through this recruiting process, what would that be?
Coach: Yeah.
Recruit yourself. Um, do your homework. Find yourself some target schools and then you’ve got to be your number 1 advocate. Um, even if. Even in my world, and, uh, probably, I think if you took anybody in the small colleges, whether that’s for your. Small colleges or, you know, even for us, we have to have, you can’t, it’s hard to keep track.
Sometimes we may have. A 100 I’m sure there are programs with a couple 100 potential athletes recruits in the hopper and it’s just hard to keep track of [00:21:00] everything. It’s hard to keep on it. And I find that the athletes that are that are advocating for themselves are the easiest for me to recruit and you build that rapport with the coaches and the coaching staff as you go through that.
And I think you’ll get better return on your investment if you’re again, if you’re out there advocating for yourself. So. Yeah, absolutely.
Matt: Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck here in the fall and your, your first two, two seasons, men’s and women’s and under your cap, uh, for the Alma mater.
So good luck. And thanks again.
Coach: Look forward to it. Thanks, Matt.
