Bryant & Stratton College Men’s Soccer – Coach Darren Wynne

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Darren from the Bryant & Stratton Men’s Program in New York. We talk about how they have a heavy international roster. He describes what it’s like playing in the USCAA. Lastly, we discuss how they have a good-sized staff. Learn more about Bryant & Stratton College Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach win an appropriate name, uh, for the Bryant and Stratton college, uh, men’s team up in Rochester, New York. Welcome coach. Thanks, man. How are you doing? Well, thanks. Appreciate you being here. Uh, November 1st, uh, almost postseason time for you.

Got one more left on the books. Um, but, uh, you know, it’s funny. Uh, one of my interviews, uh, not too long ago with my buddy, Mike Seabolt over at Missouri State, and he is loaded with international players at the N. C. A. A. Division one level. I looked at your roster just now and, uh, we’ve got a few, you’ve got one player from the States and oddly enough, he went to Greece high school of all things.

So even, even his high school, uh, was internationally named. Um, so talk to me a little bit about how you recruit, uh, and, and, um, you know, I’m judging by your accent. You’re not from upstate New York. Uh, so I’m guessing that might have something to do with it, but, you know, tell me a little bit about your recruiting and how you got the roster.

You have now. 

Coach: Yeah, so, uh, you’re right there. I don’t have a, uh, an upstate New York nasally accent. And I do apologize to all the upstate, uh, New York people. Um, but, um, I’m actually from Dublin, Ireland. I moved here in 2005, spent 9 years in Syracuse. Um, and then, uh, another 9 years up here. So, November 1st, [00:01:30] you’re right.

It’s known up here already. So, uh, I’m from Dublin, Ireland. We might have to go indoors to do a bit of training to keep it at least somewhat warm before Saturday’s match. Um, so getting back to the recruiting. So, uh, recruiting for us, um, or for me, obviously, being a, an international, uh, person, um, I’ve actually kind of gotten really, really well.

Versed in the recruiting from previous colleges that I was at. I was at a small junior college down in Auburn, New York, about 45 minutes away from Syracuse. I took that position over after being at SUNY Oswego for three years and came into the program and looked at the program as a whole and said, like, you know, this is what I could do.

Obviously, with international connections back in the UK and Ireland, I was able to bring in about seven or eight players that first year. Um, they went from 0 and 15, um, previous years for three years. And then we went to 19th in the country, my first year. So, um, obviously the international players is actually a really, really good addition to a program because it obviously gives that intensity and passion and skill wise and soccer IQ.

Um, but then obviously, you know, we, we supplemented those with a couple of American players that done really, really well for us as well. And we started off the program well, and at the end of when I kind of moved on. We had, like, 36 international players on the program. We were 4th in the nation. So, uh, recruiting wise, we look at, obviously, soccer IQ or football IQ, how, how well they play as a player and do they make good decisions?

Um, and then also we look at [00:03:00] the fact of. Are they a good person and do they actually know what it takes to be a student first and an athlete second? So, um, across the board, we look at that, but we do have, um, a Spanish kid on the team. We got from Madrid, fantastic player. He’s actually our baby of the team.

He’s only 17. He’s turning 18 in a couple of weeks. And, uh, you know, the recruitment prospects from for Rose for next year’s, we’re already working. There’s a board right behind me with a lot of names on already. 

Matt: Okay. So are you. Are you only looking internationally? Are you doing recruiting in the states?

And if you are doing recruiting in the states, kind of where, where are you looking? How do you find those players? 

Coach: Yeah. So we do look locally as well. Um, in Rochester, it’s kind of like a hotspot for colleges, um, within maybe, uh, A 30 mile radius of where we are just kind of a little west of our south of Rochester.

Um, there’s about 15 other colleges. So we’re always trying to, you know, buy for the best player in the area and whatnot. Well, unfortunately, um, you know, not a lot of people know that we actually have an athletic program here at Ryan Stratton. Um, I started the program three years ago and we started off with 15 players.

Um, we have 43 at the moment. So, um, you know, we’re currently number 1 in the country at the USCA division 1 level. And when we come to recruiting, we look at, obviously, a lot of the programs around the local area, [00:04:30] but we also look at, like, field level and CSA. And try and get some players from that standpoint as well.

Um, I don’t always want to have international students, but it’s always good to be able to have a high level soccer IQ within the team, whether they’re Australian, German, Irish, American. It doesn’t make a difference. We’re looking for the best players. 

Matt: So talk to me a little bit about U. S. C. A. A. I mean, I’m familiar, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people who aren’t right.

Everybody kind of here’s the 1, 2 and 3 N. A. I. Even junior college, but U. S. C. A. A. Is kind of sitting out there. So you mentioned there’s. Your division one. So it looks like there’s two divisions in USA. What are the differences? How many schools are there? Scholarships? What does that kind of look like? 

Coach: So, right now, in the division 1 for USA and the USA as a whole, based out of Pittsburgh, it’s the small colleges conference.

So, there is a stipulation of actually a many enrollments that you can actually have at a college level to be kind of fitting into the USA mold. Um, but they also do a really, really good job of, um, dual affiliate in colleges. So, for example, Shaw University out of Raleigh, they’re an NCA division two team.

They’re also, um, a division one, uh, USCAA affiliate team. So we actually played against them a couple of weeks ago and they were very, very good and gave us a great game. And we were lucky to lucky enough to win two one, but, um, USCAA is, is. A great, uh, [00:06:00] national association for small colleges that are looking to get into sports.

Um, and they can bridge the gap between and help with enrollment as well, because they have a good connection with the, um, and they, they actually bridge the gap between the likes of. Um, you know, Division 3, Division 2, NCAA, and NAIA Division 1. So, there is colleges that are all dual affiliated that are playing with us in the USCA and VIME maybe for a possible national championship.

So, um, in the Division 1, there’s about 16, I believe, and I think in Division 2, there’s about 40 or 43 teams. So, at the Division 2 level, they’re not allowed to give athletic scholarships. It’s only academic. And then, um, at the division one, we’re allowed to give athletic and academic. 

Matt: So in terms of, you know, obviously if a school’s dual affiliated, they have to abide by.

Those rules as well in terms of scholarships and stuff, but for someone like you, who usca is the only thing you guys do, you know, what, what are those scholarship limits or what does that kind of look like? What, what would an average student walking into your team be looking at from an athletic aid package and academic aid package?

What kind of, what does that financial situation look like?

Coach: Yeah, great question. So let’s talk about the academics first. And that’s something that’s really kind of strong in my mind. Because again, when we look at, [00:07:30] um, what we want, we don’t want a player to come in and just be football or soccer all the time.

You have to get Student 1st athlete 2nd, um, when it comes to admissions, we look at, um, 1 of the biggest pitchers is their GPA. Now, we can accept the player. That’s their GPA is at a lower number. Um, that’s okay. Because the academic support that we give those players are actually is really, really good. Um, so.

Anything from 3. 2 upwards up to a 4. 0 at a high school GPA, we can actually give up to 10, 000 as a year. So within New York, our sister schools within New York only offer, we offer two year degrees and also four year degrees. So, um, if you decide to stay for the four years. Um, we can give you that 10, 000 all the way through for your four years.

So athletically we’re looking at probably close to about, um, 40 to about 50 percent of a scholarship. Now I’ve had kids in the past where they’re like, Oh, well, I want a full ride. You know, to be fair, I’m one of these people that I think that is, is really honest about what I see as a coach or as an athletic director.

Um, I think kids these days need to learn the value of the dollar and understand that they have to walk to get what they want in life. Like, I came here to the US with two backpacks, um, on vacation and played at a game [00:09:00] down in Syracuse and then got offered a job, a visa. Took the opportunity and 18 years later, I’ve worked my behind off to get where I am today.

Um, but on the other side of it, I think, you know, giving out full rides doesn’t really kind of happen too much anymore. I know a lot of Division 1 college coaches, um, Ian McIntyre down in Syracuse, um, I, I believe, uh, we had a conversation in the past, and if he, if he’s looking at giving a Division 1 full ride to an NCAA student, They want to be playing on their international team for their home country.

So I feel the same way. I feel that kids have to understand that, you know, if you want to work and get to that level, you really have to up your game. But not only that, but in the classroom as well. 

Matt: Oh, it makes perfect sense. Um, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, and you kind of mentioned earlier, you said sister school, so.

And Stratton has multiple, uh, campuses, but they’re different schools. So talk to me a little bit about that. What, what kind of makes Bryant and Stratton unique? 

Coach: So we were established in Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, about 160 years ago, and then moved into the Buffalo area. And we’ve had some, uh, formidable, um, uh, how would you say alumni, uh, people that have taken business classes here at Brighton Stratton, um, Henry Ford, um, uh, J.

B. Reynolds, um, tobacconist, um, and then we had, uh, John D. Rockefeller [00:10:30] as well from the Rockefeller Plaza down in, in New York City. Now, um, with what we’re saying about the campuses, um, four different states, Ohio, New York, Virginia. And also, Wisconsin, we have 19 campus locations within those 4 states. Um, and we’re a small colleges, uh, like school.

So we, the way we talk about it, we look at kids and how they do academically. If they’re in a big enrollment class, if they graduate from a big enrollment class, maybe their academics haven’t been as good, but then we look at it collectively. And holistically, and make sure that we put the best product out for all the kids.

I’m on calls every Monday and Thursday with any student athletes that I need to talk to regarding their grades. And then we put an action plan together by Thursday, then we kind of report the action plan and make sure that we. Academically put this, this, these kids into the right areas, right school, right tutors, everything else.

So the academic support is fantastic here. And I feel, and I believe that’s the best I’ve actually seen in the 17 years that I’ve been coaching college here in the United States. Now we do offer a wide variance of different degree programs. Two of our top ones are business and nursing and collectively we do offer associate’s degrees in both and then also offer the bachelor’s degree in business as well.

[00:12:00] We have a 92 or 93 percent pass rate on the NCLEX. For nursing, so the nursing program is very demanding and athletes are not told not to, if you want to be an athlete, you might not want to choose nursing. You know, when it comes down to it, because it’s so demanding and it’s a little different from other colleges.

We do offer a three semester window across the course of the year. We do, um, September to December. And then we do January to end of April, and then we start back up in May and go May all the way through till about mid to late August. Um, and you know, you can actually get your degree probably in about bachelor’s degree in about three years.

Matt: That’s awesome. Yeah. In terms of. You know, you mentioned before, it’s a student athlete total package, right? You got to be ready to go on the field, ready to go in the classroom. So can you walk me through what a typical week during the season looks like? So, you know, this week you got a game on Saturday.

So when are classes, when are meals, when do you practice? Kind of what’s that look like during the season? 

Coach: Great question. So, um, let’s start at the start. So we usually come in about three weeks prior to the start of our season. We usually come in about 30 days. Well, the I 20 process allows us to come in 30 days prior to the start of school.

So, um, we’re allowed to come in on December 7th, oh, sorry, August 7th this year. And, uh, we started practice after we’d done our eligibility on August 8th. We started practice on August 9th. [00:13:30] And then, uh, we went two days for about 10 days, and then we cut it down to one a day. So when we look at that as a training, um, and kind of class, like, kind of, uh, measurement, we.

Kind of, we look at, like, okay, the kids need to be done at a certain time. So if we can get kids done by one o’clock, they can go eat and then they start practice, um, probably about two. Um, our boss picks us up, brings us to our training facility. And then from there, then we, um, we get on our way for two hours, get stuck in.

Um, you know, obviously pre seasons a lot. We are actually, we actually had them do a lifting program prior to coming in. Um, which was actually wrote by a friend of mine back in Ireland, Anthony Lynch. Um, who’s a celebrity personal trainer in Europe. And, uh, he was able to, you know, uh, chat with the players and make sure that they’re doing the right things over the course of, um, 12 weeks.

And, uh, we’ve seen great gains with that up to 12, 15 pounds of muscle on a little skinny kid from Europe is not, not too bad. But then, obviously, when we get into it, we’re a lot, a lot of running, a lot of ball work, a lot of tactical training, a lot of technical training, and then we kind of really get in and playing for the last, like, 35, 40 minutes of the training session, um, just to make sure it all flows as well, because we want to have an end product, and 11 v 11 is always the best way to finish off your practice.

Matt: Absolutely. Well, in, in terms of the team, let’s, let’s shift gears, talk a little bit more about the soccer side. I mean, you’ve got a fairly large roster. [00:15:00] Do you have like a reserve or JV team or is it just one big, big squad?

Coach: No, we actually have a reserve team. We’ve done it this year. Um, we’ve played, um, some Division 3 schools, uh, locally in the area or, uh, maybe like an hour away up in Buffalo.

We’ve played a few junior college first teams, um, and actually beat them as well. So our reserve program, the level of our reserve program is actually really, really good compared to, you know, some of the local junior colleges around the area. Um, we’ve played, uh, NCA Division 2. JB teams as well as division three, and we’ve, we’ve done really, really well against them.

So to keep them playing, we’ve played about 12 games plus two scrimmages. And then right now they’re going to be training with us until we go to nationals. And then when we get back, um, they’re going to be, uh, finishing up their things before they head home, um, about late December. Um, but like constantly looking at getting into the gym.

Lifting getting stronger, so there’s their program is our 1st year pilot. You know, we just tried it out this year to see how it does see how it did done really, really well. So I feel that that’s something that we can continue on for next year as well. Okay. 

Matt: Well, we talked about how big the roster is, but what about.

Your staff roster, you know, how, how, how many other coaches do you have? What role does everybody play? And are there other support staff, maybe in the athletic department that help out with the team? What’s that look like? 

Coach: So currently right now we have, uh, four coaches and we have [00:16:30] myself as the head coach of the first team.

Um, and then the reserve team coach is also my assistant coach, Gianni Bassani. He takes the, the reserve team to their games and, um, collectively, we will not want to send the same message about how we play. So all of our coaches, uh, two other coaches down as well, Quinton Rogers and Tyler commit. And then we also have a goalkeeper coach as well.

So if we’re running a session and we need to break up the teams at the four, whether it’s possession, small sided, um, we have the enough staff to be able to do that and do it well as well. 

Matt: It sounds like it. Awesome. Well, we’ve. You know, talked about a lot of different things here. And, uh, the one thing I always like to end with is, you know, and you’ve had different college experience.

So if there was one thing you would want players, parents, families, uh, that are going through this college recruiting process to know, what would that be? 

Coach: Um, I would say this as well as how long, how long do we have my, 

Matt: um, that’s why I try to boil it down to one. I get a pick your favorite. 

Coach: I’m going to say, um, I know a lot of kids want to go to a program that’s successful and my former Irish international coach Morris Price turned around and told me if the grass is not always greener on the other side, but if you water your own grass.

It could be better. So what I would say is if you’re looking [00:18:00] to and you want to play straight away. Maybe looking at a two year school or even a combination of a two and a four year school where you could transfer out could be better because you’ll get a lot of playing time. Um, because I know a lot of players that I’ve had in the past go to these big schools and they’re a part of the team, they’re training, but they haven’t seen the field at all this year.

And that’s one thing that I think experience is going to, like, take control of that and be able to elevate you as a person, um, or as a player. So I think getting experience playing is always a good thing. Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, when I was playing with my club team, I also played men’s football and played from U14 with a men’s team.

And that, that, that experience of level of, like, players that you’re playing against as well is, is something that’s, like, Elevated my game across the board as well. So I would suggest if you’re looking at a school and look at their roster and you see that there’s five or six players ahead of you, that might not be the school that you want and have not only three, but have maybe 5 to 10 schools that you would want to play at.

And again, you know, you look at it from the standpoint as well. Do you like the coach? Great. Well, if the coach moves on, do you like the school? Could you see yourself getting a degree there? You know, that’s, that’s a couple of kind of little bit of tidbits advice from Darren, um, just kind of, you know, being able to make sure you pick the right fit.

Cause at the end of the day, [00:19:30] you might, you might be the right fit for that college, but the college might not be the right fit for you. 

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, coach really appreciate your time. Wish you the best of luck in this last, uh, last match of the season and in the, in the post season for

USC AA, uh, and really hope, uh, you can, you can bring home the championship banner this year. Coach: Fingers crossed, Matt. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. 

Matt: Take care.