Carthage College Men’s Soccer – Coach Paul Leese
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Paul from the Carthage Men’s Program in Wisconsin. We talk about how he looks at a player’s decision making ability when recruiting. He describes their school’s balance between soccer and academics. Lastly, we the need for time management as a student athlete. Learn more about Carthage College Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Paul Lease from the Carthage Men’s Program up in Wisconsin. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thanks very much, Matt. Really happy to be here. I appreciate you taking the time.
Matt: Yeah, we’re looking forward to talking to you. I got a nice background there, especially with the lake.
I love it. Um, so let’s start talking about recruiting. Um, you know, it’s that time of year. Uh, Division three sometimes tends to go a little bit later than maybe some of the other divisions. So are you guys wrapped up with your 23 class? What does your timing usually look like with recruiting?
Coach: Yeah, it, it, it can do.
I, I’ve coached, uh, division one, division two and division three, and, um, and I think it, it really depends on your university and on your program. I mean, right now we are almost complete, um, with our, our roster for 23. There are still one or two players that I’m trying to bring in. This is my first recruiting class.
I arrived just last year. Um, really had the same program that I inherited of st um, so this is probably gonna be a. Maybe a heavier, a larger recruiting class than normal, just because there are a few changes I’m trying to make with the, the playing style. So trying to find players that maybe are a little bit of a better fit for that.
So right now we’re at about 10, 11 commitments. Um, but I’d still like, I’m, I’m still speaking to about three or four, um, players that I’d like to bring in. So I think probably around that 1415 number will probably [00:01:30] be our recruiting class for this year, which is a little bit higher than usual.
Matt: Yeah, for sure.
Well, in, in, and I know you and I were just talking how you’re, you’re kind of new to the northern, uh, part of the country, but have you figured out what tournaments and places you wanna make sure you get to, to, to check out players?
Coach: Yeah, it’s actually been, again, very fortunate with our location. I mean, here in Kenosha where we’re just 45 minutes south of, uh, Milwaukee, again, less an hour away from Chicago.
When you’ve got a city the size of Chicago and the talent pool, obviously that comes out of that area. It, it’s making it easy for me as a coach. I don’t need to travel that far. When I’ve been at other schools, sometimes you end up spreading that net so far wide. It’s a challenge to be able to really evaluate those players fully.
The fact that I can drive within the space of an hour and I can recruit and see players multiple times and get to know them and evaluate them really well, it’s actually made things a lot easier for me. So I think that’s why this initial recruiting classes has gone well and I’m, I’m really pleased with it.
Matt: That’s great. Well, do you, um, are you planning on, or have you done, I know you’re, you’re somewhat new, but, uh, any ID camps or do you and your staff work other ID camps? How does that work?
Coach: Yeah, both. Uh, again, I, I really think it’s a, a, a good opportunity for a, you know, high school player, um, you know, collegiate recruit to go ahead and attend an ID camp at a university.
You get to get a feel for the, the campus. You [00:03:00] obviously get to interact with the coaching staff, and hopefully you get a better insight into. The, the team and the playing style. So there are a number of, I’ve already been to a couple of ID camps here, you know, within the Chicago area. We also host two every year.
I do an ID camp, um, at the end of the fall, um, before the end of the fall semester. And then we also host Nike ID camp during the summer. For me, that’s the best way to recruit. Because not only do I get to have the players within a lot more control for me to coach them, put them in different environments that are probably more of a fit for our team and our playing style.
But again, the, the players now they get to see a greater insight into our program. I’ve always said one of the worst things about the recruiting standpoint, um, the recruiting process from the standpoint of the players, it’s usually one way from our side. We see them, we talk to them, you know, we, we go out and see them in multiple games.
How often do they get to really come and visit our campus? Get an insight into our program. So the more they can do that, I think the better that whole process ends up being and the better choice they make. Yeah, absolutely.
Matt: Well, whether it’s at a camp or, or watching games or wherever the case may be, do you have kind of a, a hierarchy of things that you’re looking for when you’re recruiting a player, whether that’s on the field or off the field attributes?
Coach: Yeah, I, I think now, you know, over the 20 plus years that I coach, I, I kind of have a model almost that you look for. And, um, the, the most important [00:04:30] thing generally ends up being the decision making. The players make on the field. Um, I’ve always been fortunate that the teams that I’ve had, you know, we’ve played very good soccer.
We’re a possession based oriented team. We like to control the game. We like to have the ball at our feet. So if we’ve got that, it’s all about the decisions the players are making. So right now, if a player, when I’m out recruiting, you know, has an opportunity to play forward and attack, But instead they go sideways or backwards.
That’s the decision making process that I tend to focus on there. There’s certainly an element of the technical ability in the, um, the athletic ability that has to be there. Uh, the college game. I played over 20, 20 years ago, longer than I’d like to remember, but you know, even back then, it was very intense and it’s just continually grown.
The level of coaching now at the collegiate level is very high. The level of youth coaching has improved over the last 20 years, so that the players coming in as freshmen are already at a higher level. That I think they had been 20 years ago. Um, so the athleticism and the technique has to be there, but then I’ll look up, okay, what decisions are they making and does that fit with the attack minded style of play that I want here at college?
Matt: So coach, when you are recruiting, are you talking to a player’s high school coach, their club coach a lot during that process? Or are you just kind of going through the family? What does that kind of look like?
Coach: I think it varies. Uh, and, and it depends as well.
If I [00:06:00] have a relationship with, you know, the high school coach or you know, the club coach and they know me and my style of play, my team, it’s easy to get a good sense of the player and evaluation. So that’s, uh, A relationship that I’ll, I’ll certainly utilize and I’ll speak to the coach then. Um, sometimes if, if, if I don’t know the coach well or he doesn’t know my program well, it’s very difficult to align the information that he may be, you know, talking to me about.
So then it’ll probably be more a little bit on the player, on the, the family. Um, so usually it, it really does depend. You know, I really do encourage the, the players that I’m recruiting to, to spend time to visit campus, to attend ID camps. So I generally do get a good feel for the time I spend with them and the time I spend around their family.
And, and that’s a big help. I think if you spend time talking to the parents, you’ll get a good understanding of how that player has been raised, and then obviously you’ll get a sense of the character that that player will bring into your program. You know, that, that, that’s definitely something that, that I do prioritize.
Now, uh, yes, we all want good soccer players, but I think ultimately you want good people in your program and people who understand, you know, my responsibility not only to the team, but. To the university, to the athletic department, um, to the bigger picture. And I think, you know, that mentality breeds good leaders and I want good leaders on the field.
I think good leaders help us make good [00:07:30] decisions during the 90 minutes and ultimately help us win games.
Matt: No, that’s a great, that’s definitely a great way to look at it. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, you’ve, you’ve been there a year now and, and like we said, you’re, you’re new to the north, so what have you found to be some of the, the best parts of Carthage and maybe some of the things we wouldn’t find just by going through the website?
Coach: Yeah, so now it’s been an enjoyable year. Um, I have spent most of my time in the south, so coming up north I was a little bit wary of the weather, but it really does remind me of being back in England. You know, the climate is very similar. Um, but equally it’s the people. I, I think the people remind me a lot of England too, uh, the Midwest.
I, I’m surprised I didn’t come up here a lot sooner, that the Midwest, the people are genuine. They’re hardworking, blue collar, you know, very. Selfless in what they do. So it is been very easy for me, very welcoming here. That equates to the players as well on the team. You know, I spoke about, you know, I don’t need to go too far outside of this area with Chicago, so close Milwaukee.
Um, and again, the character that those players bring to this team, it’s what you want in a collegiate environment, you know, hardworking, selfless, you know, sometimes I actually have to hold them back. They will run through a brick wall, you know, and sometimes you wanna say, hold on, that’s great. The desire is excellent.
But maybe we should find a door and make the, the path a little bit more easier for us. Um, so being here has been great, and that extends to the campus. Um, I, I attended, I went to a, a smaller private school. I actually played [00:09:00] at Furman University in South Carolina. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. That’s probably what made me want to stay in, involved in, in college coaching.
Um, but I’ve also coached a, um, a large state school when I was in Texas. So coming back now to car, we have 27,000, 2,700 students, sorry. Um, so it’s a good size. Um, we’re also in a great location, you know, kenosha’s over a hundred thousand people, but we’re very close to Chicago. We’re very close to Milwaukee, so that environment for our student athletes is fantastic.
They have such a good balance between their athletics and their soccer and also their academic piece and their future career path. Um, Just this morning on our website, we, we actually had one of our players, um, just had an article written about him. Um, he just accepted a position, um, with Keenan’s, uh, corporation of America.
And again, I found out that’s very common within our players and within a lot of the student athletes because they’ve got so much access to companies, whether it’s in the Chicago area, just on this side of the border into Wisconsin. There are so many opportunities for them during their four years.
Whether it’s internships, whether it’s shadowing, just to have that relationship, it puts them on a really good path for their future careers. So I’ve got a sense of that, that welcoming nature. You know, you look at the background here, I, I chose to put up the picture. We’re very fortunate that we have a fantastic campus, um, really beautiful environment, and I think the people that choose to work at [00:10:30] Carthage, They do so because of the people who are here, they want to work one-on-one with the students.
They want to have that smaller family community atmosphere. And I felt that as a coach and, and I think that’s the environment I want work in as well.
Matt: That’s fantastic. And, uh, that’s what I love about the Midwest and, and D three s. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a good combination, but, uh, I, I am, I am partial, so, um, well, and as a parent, one of the things I’m always gonna wonder about is, okay, coach, what’s this, what’s this gonna cost me?
Right. Um, so I, I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but can you just gimme a sense of general cost of attendance in terms of tuition, room and board? What kind of scholarships are available? What is a, an average student walk walking into.
Coach: Sure. So we’re sitting, and again, you know, that’s part of the, the environment we have.
We’re a private, high academic institution, so we’re sitting just below $50,000 a year all in as tuition room and board. So we’re around that 49,000 number. One of the great things, and this is something our President John Swallow, when I was in the interview process, I remember talking to him about, He has, again, a strong affinity with the student experience and for us, the student athletes experience.
Um, and he wanted to make sure that, you know, the financial side wouldn’t limit students from experiencing Carthage. So I know, you know, just going back three years, he made a, a concentrated effort. To reduce that [00:12:00] overall price and they really maneuvered a lot of things around within the college to make it work.
But that’s something that I know benefits are our student population. We do have a lot of financial aid available and, and this is the interesting thing, working, going from being at a division one and Division two school where I had a certain number of scholarships, that was great, but once they were allocated, I had no money remaining.
Whereas interestingly, here at Division three, because those scholarships are geared towards the entire student population, we always have some form of money available to everybody who we’re trying to recruit and bring into the program. So I would say generally speaking, um, you can expect to receive based on academics, based on overall profile.
We do a good job in trying to award, you know, I would say up to 50 to 60%. You know, grants and scholarships. So hopefully that does make it, you know, affordable for students that are letting get attending Carthage and playing, you know, sports.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s not bad at all. Well, and one of the things you mentioned was that that balance between academics and athletics, so what exactly is available for students to help them make that, that balance and be successful on both sides?
Coach: Yeah. Um, again, I think the benefit, you know, of a place like Carthage, um, where you have, you know, the ability to make better relationships within campus, that’s not only within classes and your professors, but there’s a lot of organizations that are here [00:13:30] to support the students. So there’s always an avenue, you know, if you need help in any, uh, particular area.
One of the things that I think is, is unique, um, to Kath is, I know it hasn’t been, um, I haven’t had this, um, set up at any other school that I’ve, I’ve worked at. We have an online system, um, that effectively allows. All coaches have access to it, all professors have access to it, all staff have access, and it’s almost an alert system.
You have the ability to communicate throughout the entire campus and send messages relating to any particular student. So if, for example, I have a player on the team that, you know, maybe just had an injury and might be on, you know, crutches or, or might have an issue with mobility around campus, I can certainly.
Put a note into the online system that now lets their professors know, Hey, this student is obviously having difficulty moving between classes. He may arrive a minute or two late. Please understand, this is what has happened and I get the same in return. Professors have the ability to send a note and I can get it in real time.
Whether they’re struggling in a certain quiz or or assignment, and it’s just something that we can use to try and get ahead of any potential problems that might be coming down the line, that, that’s unique and that’s something I, I really enjoy about.
Matt: Yeah, I think those, those systems are becoming more, more the norm, which I think is great.
I know I would’ve loved to have that as a, as a college Right. Coach many moons ago. But, uh, well, let’s, let’s [00:15:00] walk back to the fall. Um, can you take me through, uh, what a, a normal week would look like for a student in terms, okay, winter classes, practices, meals, what’s kind of the conference game cadence?
What, what would a normal week look like?
Coach: Sure. You know, and, and this is something, you know, all high school prospects, all recruits need to have a good understanding of cuz it is intense. Um, I think there’s a definite increase in the overall, you know, effort level, time management when you move from high school to to college, because you are here on campus, we almost have more control over your time.
We try and maximize what we can with that time. So during the fall, we obviously have a, a small period of pre-season where we arrive prior to the regular student body. Um, and we try and maximize that time. It’s never enough. But here, you know, I, I’ve chosen, we typically have a morning session. We’ll have an afternoon video or classroom session, and then we’ll have an evening session.
So two sessions a day. Three of you include the, the classroom session. You know, it’s very demanding. We try and make the early morning session more technical based, tactical based, and then the evening session will probably be a little bit more. Intensive with the, the playing and the effort. Um, but after pre-season, you know, once classes start, it’s very demanding.
We encourage our players to try and take all their classes during the morning, that way they’re free in the afternoons. They have a little bit of time around lunch if they need to [00:16:30] catch up on any work. If they need to visit the. Training room if they need any treatment, um, or if they need a little bit extra recovery for their, you know, their legs.
And then we train in the afternoon, we try and do that to give them a little bit of time. Sometimes I’ve switched and we train, um, in the early evening. Sometimes it’ll be in the afternoon. Um, but we wanna make sure that the players have enough TA downtime to mentally recover and handle the balance of their academics too.
So during the course of the week, um, it can get hectic. We play typically our games on a Saturday. Um, but we also have some midweek games in there too. So if you think about it, there is a mandatory one day off for all student athletes within the n ncaa. We typically try and manage that to be a Sunday, but it doesn’t always fall on a Sunday.
It could be a Monday, but if you take that Sunday. Monday allows us to get back into training, but that’s a re introductory phase. So you’re bringing the body back into a high intense environment. Tuesday could now be a preparation day for a game on Wednesday, so that’ll be a high intensity day. Thursday becomes a recovery day from the game on Wednesday, and you’re straight into a Friday preparation day for a game on Saturday.
So it really does come thick and fast, and that’s not just on the physical side. The majority of our classroom sessions during pre-season, we really focus on mentally how do you manage. It’s not just two hours a day of training in in practice. You have the preparation. We [00:18:00] want you to come in early enough to prepare your body to be able to train at a high level.
After you finish practice, it’s not just a quick shower and straight back to the dorms. You need to now help your body recover because you know we’re gonna be pushing it very hard again the next day. Then you’ve got to try and feed yourself, get that nutrition in. You know, we educate our players on making sure they understand how to.
Have the good nutrition eat healthily because that all contributes to them playing and performing at the highest level. And something that a lot of, you know, college students, you know, probably don’t even recognize the importance of is sleep. You know, they think they can stay up all night long, whether it’s doing homework assignments, playing video games.
Your body, if you are an athlete at, at college, you are pushing your body beyond what it really should be handling. So you need to give it the full time to recover. So if you build all that in, there’s not a lot of free time during the day. Um, and that’s where we try and educate our players most. How can you manage that timeline and still be able to give your maximum effort?
And that goes in the classroom as well as obviously on the soccer field.
Matt: Oh, some great insights. Well, we talked about your roster and, and bringing place. Is, is there a roster size that you’re trying to get to that you find is ideal?
Coach: Um, here at Carthage we’ve got a, a, a structure where, and, and it’s nice for me as a coach cause it gives me a lot of flexibility.
Um, we do have the first team and we do have a reserve team. So that allows me, I know in the past it’s always been difficult in the recruiting phase. [00:19:30] You may have a couple of players that you really like, they fit your program really well, but you know, they just need maybe a year to grow before they’ll really be able to help.
And sometimes if you have a limited roster, you’re not able to recruit and bring that player in. So with our reserve squad, we’ll typically have, from a numbers perspective, I like to have around 22 to 24 that we consider our first team. These are players that we fully expect to be contributing. My ultimate goal is always to have almost two players per position that you feel could start at any time, and you wouldn’t see any reduction in the level of quality.
So if you have an injury, if you had a suspension from a card, You’ve got a second player in every position that really could manage that and also help you through those Wednesday, Saturday games where you need a, a good rotation. But I’ve got the fortunate, uh, situation that we also have that reserve squad, that JV squad.
They also play games outside of the regular schedule. So this allows players who we really like, they fit in with our program. But they may just need a little year of, of development. They still get to do that. And that squad is probably around 15 or 16 that we like to carry. So again, that puts us at around, you know, high thirties, um, but there’s no maximum or minimum number that can, that can fluctuate a little bit years a year based on the player needs that we had.
Okay.
Matt: Well, what about staff? You know, what, what does the staff size for the team look like? What [00:21:00] are everybody’s roles there?
Coach: Yeah, so we have two assistant coaches here. I’m in the process. There’s been a, a, a changeover, so we’re bringing in a new assistant this year, which I’m excited about. Obviously I’m now building a staff that reflects our program, my playing star, my philosophy.
Um, so we actually have, um, a part-time staff member that is also, um, with our track and field program. So he brings some great insight, a lot of. The physical preparedness and physical training. He o he sees O overseas. Um, so that’s a great piece there. The other two positions, um, one of whom is a goalkeeper coach.
The goalkeeper position is so vital, it’s so unique. I wasn’t a goalkeeper, you know, I can, I can tell you. Keep the ball outta the back of the net. Uh, but there, there’s a lot of technical specifics that we need to have for that position. Um, so one assistant does primarily oversee the goalkeepers, and then the other goal, uh, the other, uh, assistant, we always work as a collective group.
I’ve always thought of, you know, the principal of having more eyes on a situation are better. So ultimately, if we’ve got three or four sets of eyes watching the group, We shouldn’t miss anything. And if those three or four sets of eyes all have contributing ideas, hopefully we’ll be able to maximize what we can get out of the, the players.
So, you know, with the staff, we, we spend a lot of time together, so I like. My coach is to be, you know, very vocal and [00:22:30] sharing ideas, very vocal and in, we’ll, we’ll have sessions where, you know, we’ll talk about what we’re doing, we’ll talk about our playing style of formation and opponent, and we’ll sit there for about half an hour and say, right, can we poke holes in what our game plan is?
Let’s see if we can find a way to, you know, to break it down so that we can obviously then strengthen it when we get into training sessions. So that’s been my philosophy with, with the coaching staff.
Matt: Okay. Well you’ve been super generous with your time coach and we’ve covered a lot of different areas and I always like to end this with the question of if there was one nugget, one piece of information, uh, that you would like recruits or families of recruits to know about the college soccer recruiting process, what would that be?
And with your vasa to Division one, division two, and now division three experience, I’m sure you got, you got something for us.
Coach: Yeah. And, and you mentioned there, you know, within all three divisions, uh, and, and I know a lot of coaches share the same, you know, perspective. Um, it really is for a, a potential recruit, a potential college soccer player, you need to find a good fit for you.
There are good and bad teams at every division, and there are different playing styles. The beauty about the game is that we all see it differently. There are many different playing styles. Um, you need to find as a collegiate player, a program that maximizes your strengths. You need to find a coach that understands what your strengths are and knows how to utilize them [00:24:00] from the soccer perspective.
Uh, I, I feel too often players will. Just sit back and wait to hear all the information from a coach. Please get out. Go and visit the the campus. Go and try and spend time with, you know, the players on the team. Try and sit down with a coach and ask him directly, you know, where do I fit in? You know, how can you improve me as a player?
Cause that’s the ultimate goal. If you’re gonna spend four years playing collegiate soccer, Let’s improve you as a player, and then ultimately, let’s improve you as a person. You know, make sure the school has what you’re looking for outside of athletics. Make sure that you have the opportunities that you want to help further your future career.
You know, parents, I, I encourage to be very active in that process as well. Um, I’ve now been at a, a number of different institutions, division one, division two, division three, and there are great aspects of all these different programs in different universities. Just make sure they, they fit what you are looking for.
Matt: Absolutely. Wonderful advice, coach. It’s one of the reasons it started the podcast was for folks to learn about all these schools that are out there and, uh, I couldn’t have said it better. So really appreciate your time. Wish you the best of luck in the fall, and if you make it down to Bradenton for any recruiting, uh, trips, gimme a shout and we’ll, uh, we’ll grab a pint.
All right.
Coach: Certainly will, Matt. I appreciate it too. And again, thanks for all the work you do in getting this information out to our players and their families. So thanks very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you.
