California State University – Los Angeles Men’s Soccer – Coach Michael Erush
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Erush from the Cal State LA Men’s Program. We talk about his recruiting timelines as a D2 men’s coach. Coach also shares about how his players balance academics and athletics. Plus, we discuss how his style changes as the roster changes. Learn more about California State University – Los Angeles Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Michael at Cal State la. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thanks for having me.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I mean, I’m on the west coast to Florida. You’re on the actual West coast, but uh, I’m sure our weather is probably fairly similar except way more humid here in Florida this time of year.
That’s for sure. The usual.
Coach: The usual.
Matt: Yeah, exactly. Um, well I appreciate you jumping on. I mean, so, and, and this is gonna be ignorance on my part, so I’m just gonna blatantly ask and be ignorant, but did I hear right that they’ve changed the rule now for division two, that you don’t have to wait until June 15th anymore, or is that.
Coming up or is that something just proposed or, or, I would love to,
Coach: I would, I would love to hear that and, and hopefully it’s true, but I haven’t. Alright. Um, my compliance director, but, hey.
Matt: Alright. So well. With things changing so fast these days in, uh, in [00:01:00] our college soccer world, right? It wouldn’t surprise me, but at the same time, there’s so much false information.
I figured I’d ask somebody ’cause I saw it and I’m like, there’s
Coach: so much going on and so much change daily. It’s hard to keep up with everything. Well, I, I saw somebody post
Matt: it and I was like, I don’t think that’s right. I still think it’s June 15th for, for D two now still, but, you know, I don’t wanna, you know, I, so, uh.
I’ll have to go double check on, uh, the NCAA website, call, call all my compliance friends and see what’s going on. But, uh, but we’re talking 10 days out for June 15th, so I guess as, and obviously men’s weights a little longer than women’s, you know, I, I got a daughter. We’re in the mix, so I’m used to the women’s side more right now.
But are you completely done with 20 fives or are you still kind of. Finishing up. ’cause you know you like most men’s D twos, you got some internationals on there. They tend to be even later than usual. So I guess, where are you at with 20 fives? 20 sixes. And how much in 10 days will you start focusing on 20 sevens?[00:02:00]
Coach: Uh, 20 sevens. I’m not even done with 20 fives. Um, okay. That’s what I thought.
Matt: But I, I, you know, I had to ask
Coach: for 20 fives. Um, we’re still looking to add three or four more players, uh, so we are late. We’re always kind of waiting, um, for the D one train to go through and, and kind of for transfer, you know, portal now, uh, 20 sixes, you know, here and there.
Very minimal. Um. You know, because once you say Cal State LA then a lot of other schools get involved. So I just kind of wait, um, and, and see kind of how the cards play out because we are selective. Um, we can be selective and, and you know, I. We created a culture here of championships, so we want to continue that.
So it’s a, it’s a, it’s an interesting recruiting timeframe here at Cal State la. Um, I wish I would, if I could, I would love to be on the D one and, and commit 20 sixes now. Um, but you know, I’m in no rush. I [00:03:00] wanna make sure I go through the process with each kid thoroughly and making sure it’s, it’s the right kid for the right, uh, environment.
Matt: And I appreciate that and I, and I want, I want listeners to understand this. Cal State LA Men’s program is Perennial Powerhouse Top Program. You’ve done an amazing job there and. He’s still looking at 20 fives on June 5th, 2025. Like, so it’s IT folks who are out there saying, oh my God, you gotta, if you’re not getting calls on June 15th, it’s, you know, the, the world’s gonna end.
That’s just not the case, especially on the men’s side.
Coach: Matt, I could also add, just to give ki kind of the student athletes some advice in this regards is. I kind of talk, talk about different phases of recruiting. You know, you got the D one, uh, may one through May 15th, you got after the fall season transfers, then you got the spring transfers.
But there’s a big push. Internationally and domestically right now with, you know, [00:04:00] kids with academic issues or whatever the case may be. So for the 20 fives out there, it’s, it’s there is time, believe it or not. You know, I just talked to a 25 yesterday and he was surprised by like, wow, Cal State LA’s still looking at three players and it’s not because.
That’s what I want, but that’s just kind of how, you know, everything falls through, uh, in, in recruiting, you know, PE kids come and go now, um, with, with everything that’s going on in the, in the college, uh, recruiting landscape.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. And it, and it is, you know, I, I do our, I recruiting stuff for our club and, uh, you know, I’m seeing the, the messages and the coaches calling and coming and going and yeah, like you said, it’s in today’s landscape, especially on the men’s side with the transfer portal, internationals, et cetera.
It’s just a different timeline. It really just, it is a different timeline. So I
Coach: truly feel bad. I truly feel bad for the 20 fives, you know, even the 20 fours, 20 fives. Maybe 20 sixes. I truly do feel bad for them, um, because the opportunity is [00:05:00] so, so minimal. So my, you know, recommendation is if there’s an opportunity, don’t close the door.
That’s really important for, you know, I used to coach club for 18 years and I would tell all my kids, it’s like, don’t close the door. Have open communication. Be honest and upfront with the college coaches because yes, you might be dreaming for school a. And school a, um, you know, there’s hundreds and thousands of players that want to go to that school.
So it’s about being a little bit more open-minded and realistic of the opportunity that’s that’s ahead.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. So with that being said, where, where do you like to go to see players? Kind of what, what tournaments are you usually at? What, where are you finding maybe your international players?
What’s the, are you, are you always re refreshing that transfer portal window? Like kinda what is your, your process in terms of finding players?
Coach: I mean, it’s, that’s a great question, Matt, uh, for us here at Cal State la Yeah, we, you know, we have an advantage with the transfers because again, we’re a four year school.
We’re lo [00:06:00] our location, the tuition cost is probably the lowest in the country. Um, so there’s a lot of perks to the transfer market. They’re older, their grades, you know, so it helps us out, uh, in regards to kind of, you know, a true freshman, we kind of go everywhere, you know, we go even. I mean, we go to UPSL games every weekend to see players.
Um, we go to junior colleges, we go to Easton L events, obviously myself going to the MLS, uh, event next weekend. So we’re almost turning every rock we can to see if there’s a diamond in the rough anywhere we can. So we’re always looking. Um, you know, I check almost every single email. I’ve built relationships with placements.
Placement company slash agencies on the international market. I don’t have the budget to necessarily travel internationally. So it’s, you know, it’s kind of word of mouth of the process of the current international student athletes. Then they go back to their countries, they go back to their, you know, clubs, they go back to their placement, got agents and saying, God, what a great experience at Cal State la.
And kind of [00:07:00] that’s what we’ve started here in the last. Three to five years, and we wanna make sure that the kids are having a great, great experience because we believe in if, if one kid has a great experience, then obviously we’ll have opportunities to get, you know, players from that country, that agencies, uh, going forward.
Matt: Yeah. No, that makes a lot of sense. Well, what about ID camps? Uh, do you guys have your own, do you or your staff work exterior ID camps? How important are they in your overall recruiting process?
Coach: Yeah, I mean usually, you know, we’ve always had two or three kids on our roster that have come to our ID camp.
Um, you know, we charge very minimal. Comparing to other college ID camps, um, because of our kind of, uh, community and where we’re located. So ID camps, you know, is kind of invite, no one flies into our ID camps. It’s all Southern California, Northern California. Um, you know, sometimes they vary from 40 players to 70 players.
We don’t bring any other college coaches. It’s kind of very [00:08:00] intimate, um, for just to evaluate local players, um, that maybe are playing on, you know. Lower club teams or don’t have the exposure, uh, to get what looked at or recruited or scouted by us. So we, we typically invite kids that we like their email, we check their email, we call it a good email.
Then we’ll have a conversation with them saying, Hey, great job on the email communication. We’d like your video. Uh, we’d like you to come. Um, we tend, I tend to ask staff not to mass email, um, just ’cause that’s not of who we are. Um, we’re not about, uh, quantity. We’re about quality.
Matt: Okay, well, whether it’s camp, uh, MLS next tournament or video or UPSL game, kinda when you’re, what is it that you’re looking for in a player both on the field and off?
Coach: I mean, again, tech technical ability, speed of play, um, you know, off the ball is the body language, their attitude, how they’re communicating, how they’re presenting themselves. [00:09:00] Um, you know, on the tactical, if I’m looking at, if I’m looking at a defender, I don’t wanna see as a attacking contributes, uh, con uh.
Attributes. I wanna see his one V one defending. I wanna see his, um, distance passing. I wanna see his heading ability. So every position, obviously we have a kind of a recruiting guideline that we kind of look for ki for kids to, for our roster. So defenders do this, midfielders do this forwards. Obviously this goalkeepers are this, so it’s really important.
Technical speed of play, first touch, second touch. Um, you know, do they play quick? Obviously, yes, we all coaches love, uh, athletic kids. Um, but you gotta mix it up with, with athletes and soccer iq, high soccer IQ players as well.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s, um, talk a little bit more about, well, I guess in terms of roster.
Is there a roster size that you like to hit each year that you find is ideal?
Coach: I always smile with that question, Matt. I, I think that’s a great question [00:10:00] because obviously the D 1 28 roster for the schools that opted in, um, does it affect us? Yes and no. Uh, I really, you know, I really don’t look at the resume of a transfer.
Oh, you’re a D one at this school, or D two. I look at the video and then I have multiple zooms on kind of. The, the personalities and how they present themselves. But my roster is obviously, I think 40 to 45% international. Um, and the rest are kind of from California. We are every year. It, it varies. I don’t like to be at 35.
I. If there is a local kid that’s part of our community that I see potential in, then I’ll obviously, you know, bring him in one or two players of local and redshirt them. Um, you know, so we have an advantage with the cost of tuition and, and being who we are, sometimes 35. Uh, right now we’re at 29. Ideally the numbers between 28 and 32.
And that’s what I’m saying, you know, at the beginning of this podcast is I’m looking for three or four more players. Um, so yeah, so ideal is [00:11:00] 28 or 32. Last year was 35. The year before that, you know, uh, was 36. My first year as the head coach we had 21 new players. Um, so the roster was big. So, you know, just to add to roster though, is I, I challenge all, you know, the student athletes that want to get recruited is, is go do your research on the rosters.
Like if I have. Seven forwards that are sophomores and juniors. I’m not gonna bring in a, a forward, you know what I mean? So it takes a little bit more work on, on the student athlete’s point of view to see what needs, uh, that particular school needs.
Matt: Yeah. Uh, absolutely. Gotta do the work. Um, well let’s talk a little bit more about the school.
Um, you know, you’ve been there a few years, kinda what do you find is, is awesome about Cal State la Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, I mean obviously it’s, it’s known for not only men’s soccer, but ath athletically. I think we’re, we’re one of the top D two schools in the country.
Uh, academically we’ve had, we have, uh, very [00:12:00] challenging engineering, uh, programs. We have business programs. Um, I think we also, we on the men’s side don’t necessarily have a nursing. Uh, students, but I think we have one of the top nursing programs in the country, uh, which is key. Uh, located obviously about 10 minutes, uh, east of downtown Los Angeles.
So location-wise is good. Um, but I would say, you know, we’re, we’re known, we were, you know, we were the Olympic Village in the 1983 Olympics. Um, the biggest positive for me as the men’s soccer head coach here is we have a great partnership with LAFC. They’re on our campus. Um, obviously they have their own performance center, LA FFC two, and I share the same facilities or training facilities.
So in regards to that, you know, there’s very few schools that can say they have a, you know, a professional team on campus, let alone a reserve team, a pro team. So that’s on the, on the soccer side of things. And like I said, academically, business school, kinesiology, um, are, are very challenging. But we’re, we’re [00:13:00] very, um, lucky to have the programs we have here.
Matt: Okay. Well, uh, one of the biggest hurdles, uh, especially new freshmen coming into college have, but even transfers and internationals is, is really striking the balance between academics and athletics. So what kind of support systems does a school have to make sure the, the student athletes can be successful both on and off the field?
I.
Coach: Yeah, we’re, uh, our academic advising center does a great job with providing all student athletes, not just men’s soccer, but kind of a guideline of how to be successful. Um, you know, I’m very fortunate this year we had our highest team, GPA, we had a 3.47, uh, team, GPA. So again, that’s, and, you know, being student athletes, so balance is very important.
I wanna make sure all the student athletes that I work with, um. Have time off to study. Um, especially, you know, the internationals that are here for maybe, you know, 2, 3, 4 years is making sure that they explore in the spring season. In the fall it’s a little bit [00:14:00] more demanding in regards to that, but there’s also an NCAA rule where, you know, we’re required to give them one day off for rest recovery or academics.
Uh, sometimes depending on our SC calendar, we’ll give them two days off. Um, so I try to plan kind of a periodization of, you know, if we have one game a week, then maybe we could do two days off. So it just depends on what season, if we’re in the fall or in the spring. Um, but balance is huge. We have academic resources.
We obviously have, uh, mental health resources. We have a health center on campus. We have three gyms on campus, uh, which is important. So again, I’m always looking after my student athletes. Especially in today’s society with, with so much going on. So again, for me, balance is, is really important. And I even call it if they need a, a pro day or a mental day and too much is going on, I literally will tell ’em to take a day off, like catch up with school, go to the training room.
As long as you’re communicating and being honest. I truly do believe in that because then they’re healthier, they have a healthier mindset, which then they’ll perform better as well. [00:15:00]
Matt: No, that’s great. Well. About the schedule. Walk me through, you know, what does a typical week look like in October? Heart of the season, kinda when is training classes, meals, the game, cadence, all that kinda stuff.
Coach: Yeah, so we train every day between 12 and two. Um, we do have student athlete priority registration here, so I most of the time ask kids, you know, 11 to. 2, 30, 11 to three have that offer, training room, treatment, um, recovery, uh, gym workouts. So that’s kind of our timeframe. And because of priority registration, um, the kids can do 8:00 AM classes through, you know, 11 o’clock or we, they can do, you know, three o’clock on, they can have night classes, they can do hybrid, half online, half on campus.
And, you know, I would almost say yes, fortunately most of some of our guys do full-time. Online still post COVID. Um, they’re trying to kind of narrow down of like, Hey, you have to at least have [00:16:00] three classes on campus. So, um, we’re, we’re very fortunate to, to have hybrid, to have all online. Um, and then obviously, you know, timing wise could be morning at late afternoon or even evening.
Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, let’s talk about the team. You know, we talked about roster size, but let’s talk about the rest of the roster, your coaching staff and, and other folks that maybe help out with the program. Talk to me about who’s there and what roles do they play.
Coach: Yeah, so I’m very lucky. I have a, a full-time assistant, associate head coach, Dallas Jie, um, who is responsible for recruiting video analysis.
I also have, you know, unfortunately the, the budgets here are limited. So then I have a stipend assistant coach who works with Goalkeepers, who works, you know, admin, and then I’m very lucky. His name is Eric limus. Then I have a couple of volunteer coaches as well. Um, Arthur Jasow. Uh, I have Gustavo Gomez who are local community.
Uh, they’re club coaches or club directors in the community. So we have a [00:17:00] great relationship. You know, we have kids come out to our games walkouts. Um, and then I’m also interviewing, uh. A new volunteer coach, just a, a coach that’s moved out here back to Southern California. Um, so that’s kind of the staff going forward.
Um, I’ve, I’ve coached Eric before. Um, he was one of my club players, Dallas, and I started here at Cal State LA as assistants in 2018. I. Um, we, in 2019 went to the national championship game, lost in the finals, uh, in 2021. We, we won the national championship, uh, and then our head coach moved on. Uh, and then I became the head coach in 2021.
And then here we are heading into our, you know, sixth season together in 2025.
Matt: Awesome. Well, what about you? Talk to us about your coaching style and the style of play you’re looking to play there.
Coach: Yeah, I mean, again, every recruit tends to ask that question. I, I do a very, I won’t say awkward, it’s just different.
I won’t say what our style of play until I recruit the kids that are [00:18:00] in my program and I get to know them thoroughly inside and out in regards to tactical ability, technical ability. So again, I’ll just give you an example because we have so many players here every single year, like I said, one year we had 21 new players.
This year we have 16 new players. So I can’t tell, you know what we’re gonna do? 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 3, 1, 3, 5, 2 until I know my players very well and sometimes, you know, it’s, it’s unfortunate ’cause we only have a week or two to prepare in the preseason. Um, so in that week or two, we’re literally living in the office.
Looking at practice film, looking at our scrimmages, saying, okay, Joe needs to play right back, or, so I, I first build a roster, then I get to know them, then I implement, uh, a formation as a style. I’ll tell you from the last two years, we were a 4, 2, 3, 1 team. Um, we were, you know, people like to use possession oriented, but we were.
We like to have the ball, uh, we like to defend. Uh, you know, we, we led the country in shutouts and least amount of yellow cards. Um, so again, people tend [00:19:00] to think, oh, that’s boring. They’re just gonna defend. But ultimately, my job’s not to give up gold and, and I’d like to win. So if you don’t give up gold in your organized defensively, attacking wise will come with, with the, the, what the opponent’s given us.
So that’s kind of how I look at it. Every game’s a little bit different in how we can execute and, and get the result we need.
Matt: Love it. Well, you’ve been super generous with your time. I don’t wanna keep you too long, but, and you did give me some, you passed along some really good advice at the beginning, so let’s end it with some good advice too.
So, apart from what you’ve already said, if you had one piece of advice to give, you know, anybody going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be?
Coach: Don’t give up. Um, and don’t close the doors. Like I mentioned at the beginning, I, I think it’s really important, and I’m just being very transparent, is it’s so hard for, you know.
For, uh, seniors to get placed in a college, no matter D one, D two, D three, and a, [00:20:00] whatever the case may be. So it’s really important. If you’re an event and there’s a school out of nowhere that comes to you, don’t close that door because there might not be there. It’s so complicated and challenging. Now, like we mentioned, the transfer portal.
You know, I look at transfers probably first to be honest. Then I look at junior college guys. So again, club soccer, it’s very, very hard to get the exposure and the. Roster spot or scholarship dollars, let alone with kind of the landscape of, of youth soccer and how the landscape of college recruiting has changed.
So, again, don’t give up. Um, it could be frustrating at times. I would say be patient, um, and don’t close the door, you know? So keep keeping any, any option is a good option.
Matt: Yeah. Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Wish the best of luck. And, uh, if you get back down here to, to Bradenton or IMG for any of these tournaments or something, make sure you gimme a ring so we can get together.
All right,
Coach: man. I appreciate you.
Matt: All right, take care.
Coach: [00:21:00] Yeah.
