Catholic University of America Men’s Soccer – Coach Travis Beauchamp
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Travis from the Catholic University of America Men’s Program in Washington, DC. We talk about how camps show him more about a player than just video. He describes the rare campus feel in a big city that CUA has. Lastly, we discuss how his staff and GAs assist with the program. Learn more about the CUA program.
[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer. I am extremely excited today. This one, this one’s personal for me to be co to be talking to coach Travis from my Alma mater. The Catholic university of America. Welcome
[00:00:12] Coach: coach. Now it’s great to be here. Thanks for adding
[00:00:16] Matt: glad you glad you can make it. And I broke my own rule.
[00:00:19] Normally with this fake background I made, I promised I would never wear a red shirt because it’s just too much red, but I had to break out the, uh, the Catholic university garb for today. So
[00:00:29] Coach: yeah, I think it’s mandatory. I really appreciate that. That’s good. We both have some Catholic gear on today. Sorry.
[00:00:36] Matt: Awesome. Uh, well, coach let’s just, uh, get right into it then. Um, you know, w back when I was playing college soccer, it was a, you had to hand write a letter, uh, to a coach and, and hopefully they got it and responded in some form or fashion, but things, these days are a lot different. So, uh, how many inbound contacts do you think you get in a day or a week about, uh, kids wanting to play?
[00:01:00] Coach: Sure. I remember those two. You’d write a letter and then you’d get a form. You know, questionnaire back a couple of weeks later. So it took a lot longer to do any of those things. But, um, nowadays the majority of, of, uh, our prospects will be sending emails. Um, it really depends on the time of year. You know, I were to average it out to 10 to 20 maybe a week.
[00:01:21] Um, you know, obviously as we start to look towards, uh, any, any kind of showcase tournaments and things like. Uh, that number will rise, uh, quite a bit just because folks are wanting to get their names out there. Um, but yeah, we’ll sift through probably anywhere from, you know, um, 10 to 20 and on an average throughout.
[00:01:41] So what,
[00:01:43] Matt: when, you know, you mentioned showcased tournaments, things like that. When are you going out and looking at players? What year in high school are you generally focusing on?
[00:01:53] Coach: Yeah, for us, it’s a little different, you know, obviously we’re a division three institution. Um, W w w we’ll always sort of keep them in our memory bank.
[00:02:01] So like this weekend’s a good example. We go out, uh, there’s a local tournament, so we’re going out to see some players, um, that we’re still finishing with with the 20 twos. Um, but we get there a little early and we have an eye towards our, obviously our 23. So we’re starting to build. Um, those names and those relationships now, um, I wouldn’t say not to start, uh, you know, if you’re 24, 25, so sophomore, even a freshmen.
[00:02:30] Um, but for the, on the division three side, that’s a little bit early for us. Uh, we’ll start having committed players probably. Um, the earliest for Catholic university is going to be towards the end of summer before their senior year. And like I said, the latest, you know, we’ll get them up until, I mean, if you look at our board right now, we still have four players that are there, um, that we’re waiting to make a decision on, you know, a number of different reasons for that.
[00:02:57] So it really runs. Uh, all the way, um, you know, start to finish, but typically junior year is when we’re really starting to key in, on players.
[00:03:07] Matt: And what do you like to see in that first communication from a prospect?
[00:03:12] Coach: Yeah, so the, the, for, for me, it’s really important to talk about Catholic union. So if you’re looking at two different prospects and an email comes in and this one over here is dear coach.
[00:03:26] Uh, you know, I’m interested in Catholic and then it’s just all about them. And then this one over here is dear coach Beauchamp and I really liked DC. I’m interested in engineering or business, or one of the programs that, that I think we do well. I noticed that you guys have had some success within your conference.
[00:03:45] Now, all of a sudden my interest is peaked because that prospect has done their homework. And so. We’ll sort of lean towards that one a little bit more. Um, it doesn’t need to be long, but if it’s more specific to that school, uh, the better off you’re going to be. Hey, I, you know, I have, uh, my dad went to Catholic.
[00:04:06] My grandparents, you know, I’ve been to DC and I really enjoyed whatever it was now. All of a sudden you’re thinking, okay, well this could be a good fit for us. Um, so those, I think if you personalize it a little bit, it does take much one or two sentences. Um, that’ll, that’ll help you stand out a little bit.
[00:04:23] Matt: Sure. Well, you mentioned going to showcases, so what, what tournaments do you like to frequent? What, what is your main focus when you’re out and about recruiting? Are you checking out even any high school games or anything?
[00:04:36] Coach: Yeah, it’s really, I mean, it’s, you never know, because year to year you think, you know, I mean, back when we were coming up, the Capitol cup was big and now it’s gone.
[00:04:47] Every year, it seems like, you know, coronavirus came in some of these tournaments that we sort of bank on and going to are not as relevant anymore with the teams that are coming. Uh, certainly for us, Jefferson cup Bethesda, Potomac are easy because they’re local. Um, but now with the. You know, ECNL has gotten much bigger.
[00:05:07] Uh, national league has gotten much bigger. So those two, uh, you know, we’ll, we go to those to have an opportunity to maybe see some, some higher level players. Um, so, and it’s also bang for buck because, um, you know, our budget, isn’t one where if we’re going to go out to Arizona or Texas, You know, we better yield some players from that.
[00:05:30] So, you know, we can go, but, uh, if we’re not getting players from those events, then we’re probably not going to go back. So I, you know, like Dallas cup is a huge event, but I don’t know that that’s really somewhere where we’re going to go and get players. So we may go down to Florida if we feel like, um, We’ve already got some players that are in the pipeline for us.
[00:05:54] And we’re like, okay, well, we’ll go down and check out an ECNL event because we know that there are five players that we’re still looking at. Um, those are important on the high school side of things. Uh, that goes into what I was talking about earlier. The majority of times it will go to a high school event is if we already know that there’s a player that we really want.
[00:06:15] And we want that player to know that we’re really interested. And so we’ll show up to make sure that they know that we’re, we’re sort of showing them the love. It’s rare that we’ll go out to a high school event to ID players. Yeah.
[00:06:29] Matt: Well, speaking of ID and players, do you guys run, I D camps how to other camps fit within your recruiting goals?
[00:06:37] Coach: Sure. So we, we do, we have two ID camps that we usually run one in the spring. So we have one coming up here in March and then we’ll do one in the summer. Um, th those are, those are a bit more narrow in scope for us because. Uh, we know that the players that attend those really want to come to Catholic. Um, we kept those, uh, 30 to 40 players because we want to get to know them by the end of that day.
[00:07:02] So those are important for us. Um, and then we also will attend camps in the summer, um, because it’s a really good opportunity for us to get to know players. So, you know, you go to a showcase. And nine times out of 10, those players are on their best behavior. So you get to know them from a soccer standpoint, but you may not get to know them as well from a personal standpoint, but you can’t hide if you’re at a camp for three days and you’re able to coach those players and sort of challenge them in a number of different ways.
[00:07:36] And conversely, they get to know you. And so sometimes we’ll get. You know, at the end of a Camp will, so reach out and say, Hey, you know, what’s w what are you looking at? You know, I know you were at, let’s say Georgetown, because I go to the Georgetown camp every year. I know you were at that camp, but, you know, have you, have you thought about maybe Catholic?
[00:07:54] And we thought about being in DC, those things, and then on the opposite side of that, maybe a, uh, a student athlete after the camp will say, man, I really liked this coach. So I’m going to reach out and just see what’s what the deal is with them. The more that they sort of keep their options open in that regard, the better it’s going to be for them down the line.
[00:08:13] Um, so I think camps can be hugely beneficial. Um, but they, I also always tell people there’s a caveat here that, you know, people aren’t doing this for. And so they have to understand that when they’re going to camps, sometimes, you know, I’m going to use like, um, aim high university. Cause that’s the NCAA test is always aim high university.
[00:08:36] Let’s say aim high university is a big time division one university, and they’ve got a three-day camp and they’ve got 400 kids going to that camp. That’s a tough one because they may be taken one or possibly two kids from that camp. So you have to really do a little bit of research in regards to what you’re getting into.
[00:08:56] When you go to these.
[00:08:57] Matt: Yeah. Well, you know, you mentioned a really getting to know a player in terms of, of, of on the field and off the field. Well, when you’re recruiting, what’s your hierarchy of, of traits both on the field and off the field. What are you w w what really makes a, a player kind of rise up the ranks in your.
[00:09:16] Coach: Yeah. I, I mean, you know, they have to be able to play. Um, so I, you know, I always say, oh, character is, is the number one. And it is number one. But you know, I’m not taking a really high character, um, player who at the end of the day is not, is not, uh, at the, at the level that we need. Um, so th that’s a big part of it.
[00:09:37] I will say that you have to recruit the individual. And we’re really fortunate at Catholic as you know, to, to be in a setting where, you know, we have a lot of families that want to be here. Um, so from that standpoint, we, we have, uh, maybe a better starting point than some other schools when they come for visit how they set the visit up, you know, how responsive are they when, when we’re trying to, you know, get in touch with them.
[00:10:05] Um, Uh, I’m trying to give some example. Oh, there, there was an example a couple of years ago where there was a, a player from another state and we couldn’t, we couldn’t get to really get in front of that player because there were too far away. We didn’t want to go and do a flight just for one player that we didn’t really know that.
[00:10:25] So to say, you know what, go out film, uh, get us some film of game. And so we get the film back and here in the film, the dad is, um, you know, yelling at some of the other players on the team to make sure that this player gets the ball. And it really turned us off. You know, we were like, whoa, you know, little things like that are.
[00:10:52] And, and, you know, I can’t really sort of emphasize that piece of it enough, you know, all these little things that come, uh, come to the forefront, you know, when, when, uh, when a player comes and sits with us or they make an eye contact, are they answering the questions? Are they deferring to mom or dad? Um, you know, when we talk to, to club coaches and things, asking them those questions about like, well, how do they respond to challenges?
[00:11:18] And I think those are really important. Because you can fall in love with a good player, but you got to make sure that you know how that player is going to be when they’re in their sophomore year and you’re dealing with them. One-on-one um, and I think that’s a tough one.
[00:11:33] Matt: Absolutely. Well, you know, you guys are division three, obviously.
[00:11:39] Um, so there’s no athletic money being, being doled out. Um, now I was lucky enough to receive academic aid, which is what allowed me to attend Catholic university. What, what is the, the aid situation these days, uh, for a lot of your players?
[00:11:56] Coach: Yeah, so. I don’t know that we have, uh, if we do, it may be one or two out of a roster of 30, um, that are not on some form of, of, uh, merit aid.
[00:12:11] Uh, so merit or need-based aid, uh, you know, we’re a private institution. Our biggest hurdle is the cost of attendance. So admissions, um, does a good job and, and you’ll hear this. If you’re, if you’re a parent or a student athlete, this is like one of the first things you hear, right? Like the better off, the better student you are, the better off you’re going to be.
[00:12:35] And that’s not just for Catholic that’s that’s anywhere. And so we’re on a sliding scale. So when we are going against, um, the best way I can sort of describe it. If you have a school that does not offer merit money and you are in the dreaded upper middle class, I’m just going to say, and you are not, um, up for, you know, some sort of need-based aid will, all of a sudden you get married from Catholic.
[00:13:02] Let’s say you get $25,000 off the cost of attendance. Now over a four year period. If you’re looking at that other school that you’re not. Need-based aid on that’s a hundred thousand dollars after four years. And so those are sort of the, the, uh, the families that we can really hone in on. But the bottom line is the better student.
[00:13:21] You are, the more money you’re going to get, um, as it relates to a merit based scholarship. And that’s one of the things that you want to really kind of investigate early on, because you can fall in love with a school. And then all of a sudden it’s like, you know, mom, dad, I don’t know if we can make this work.
[00:13:36] So when you start to realize how that works, the better off your.
[00:13:41] Matt: So, uh, how do transfers and, and walk-ons kind of figure into, to your, uh,
[00:13:49] Coach: Well, um, we’ve had, we’ve had a few transfers over the last couple of years that are really enhanced our roster. Um, and, and we’ve been able to do that because they have existing relationships with current players on the team.
[00:14:03] Um, it’s, it hasn’t been a ton, but we, we do have that. Most of our transfers are local. Um, you know, and, and sort of went away. To maybe a larger division one, they felt like they had a bigger opportunity and it came back. I think that’s becoming more and more prevalent these days. Um, there’s a lot more international influence at the division one level.
[00:14:24] And so a lot of the domestic kids are going because they, they see an opportunity and it may not work out. And so now there’s an option for them at, uh, at division three. So, um, but the percentage for us at Catholic is really small. And then in terms of walk-on. Um, you know, the, the reality of it is we’ve taken three walk-ons in my 15 years is really difficult because of the numbers and the majority of time, we’ll see players in the, uh, in the recruiting process.
[00:14:58] And we’ll say to them, look, you know, we’ll offer them a chance. So I said, look, if Catholic is really where you want to be. Come on and we’ll give you an opportunity to walk on, but we probably know somewhere that it’s going to be tough because there’s a walk on. You’ve got a. Better than the top 10 on the existing roster, if that makes sense.
[00:15:20] So if you’re in the bottom 10, you may be okay. But in terms of a walk on that’s another body that you have to sort of take care of within the, within the, uh, the program. So you have to really be an impactful player. And that’s why it’s more difficult as a walk on, um, is the reality of, I could say like, oh, there’s, you know, and there’s always a chance, but it is tough.
[00:15:42] Matt: Yeah. That’s a. It’s a different world from 25 years ago. When, when Catholic Catholic had a part-time coach, he couldn’t recruit at all. So we were all locked.
[00:15:52] Coach: That’s the other thing, you know, so much more now with, uh, you know, you click of a button and you can watch it watch film and, you know, you know how it is, the fraternity is so much smaller, so it helps for sure.
[00:16:04] To know folks. Well, you,
[00:16:05] Matt: you wrote last question on the recruiting side, you did mention it briefly, but international students, uh, are you guys recruiting internationally at all? Do you have a heavy international influence on your roster here?
[00:16:15] Coach: We really don’t. Um, I just don’t think that that the university is not set up as well.
[00:16:22] That way. Um, certainly financial aid is not competitive when we look at other other institutions. Um, and so. That’s one of th th they’re not that we don’t have an international footprint here at Catholic, we certainly do. Um, but a lot of times, you know, from, from a recruiting perspective, it’s, you know, it’s a word work smart, you know?
[00:16:42] And so, you know, I assume that if we really put our efforts into that, um, that that could be fruitful for us, but that’s a, that’s much more difficult. So we have sort of stayed where we have had a few international students, but it’s been a few and far between. Yeah.
[00:16:58] Matt: All right. Well, let’s shift gears here.
[00:16:59] Talk about the school itself now. I mean, I can, I could just talk about all this stuff, but that’s not why we’re here, so
[00:17:05] Coach: you can correct me, man.
[00:17:08] Matt: Well, it’s been, it’s been, it’s been a minute since I’ve been back, but, uh, and that school is. Uh, I mean, just, just the soccer field. That’s right. I’m just jealous of, of the field.
[00:17:20] You get to play on that. I didn’t get to play on any, but anyway, so, you know, the, the, the purpose of these videos really is to try to help, you know, let, let people in a little bit deeper. So what are some things, I mean, you you’ve been there 15 years, you gotta have some really good insight, you know, what are some things that are awesome about Catholic that I’m not going to find just by clicking around the website?
[00:17:41] Yeah,
[00:17:41] Coach: I think, you know, I would re I tell a lot of people, it’s a gut thing, right? When you, when you go around and you look at these schools, a lot of times you go and you go on a campus and it’s it, you know, you have a gut feeling about it. I always tell people it’s a lot like buying a house, you know, you go into a house and you sorta, amen.
[00:17:56] This is. And, and Catholic really has this, um, it’s a unique blend because when you’re on campus, it feels like you’re on a college campus and you walk off of campus and you’re in the heart of Washington DC. And I think that that’s something that you don’t find at other, uh, urban institutions, a lot of places you’re having to walk across, you know, major thoroughfares to get to class.
[00:18:21] And you’re actually a part of that. Um, The, you know, the city and here we are part of it, but we have our own campus. And I think that’s one of the things where you can tell people, but until you get on campus, you don’t realize just exactly what that means. I mean, we have a great amount of space here in an urban setting, which is just really, um, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty nice to be, to be honest.
[00:18:44] And you hit the
[00:18:45] Matt: nail on the head for me. I mean, it’s, it’s, you’re, you’re on campus. You look around there’s trees, there’s grass, and then. Um, I’m in the nation’s capital. Um, what’s that
[00:18:55] Coach: weird? Uh, oh, it’s the Metro Metro stop right here. So, you know, that is one of those things.
[00:19:01] Matt: That’s the fun fact I always blow people away with is, you know, besides the federal government who is the second largest land owner in the district of Columbia, the answer is the Catholic university of America.
[00:19:13] So you have that space, um, All right now, now to the stuff that, that, that is more school specific that I wouldn’t be able to answer, uh, these days, at least, but, you know, in. In the time that they’re there, how are students balancing those commitments between academics and their sport?
[00:19:38] Coach: Well, you know, we do have a large amount of student athletes, 30% of our, our student population or are athletes.
[00:19:47] And I, I really think that helps. Um, and that lends itself to a better relationship among, uh, you know, the athletes and maybe the professors that you wouldn’t find at other schools. Um, and I also, you know, to, to, to be perfectly honest, our, our students do better in the classroom than normal students. Um, and so I think from that, That really helps us.
[00:20:10] And we’ve developed those relationships because you know, our engineers are doing really well business architecture, you know, I could go on and on. Um, so from that standpoint, I think they, uh, their expectations as a student athlete when you come here. Um, and for the most part I know from, from a soccer standpoint, you know, our team GPA is about a 3.3.
[00:20:32] And so that goes back to that recruiting piece. If we know that that students are going to be a good fit. That’s easier for us because then we don’t have to hover over them. We know that they’re going to take advantage of, you know, being here at Catholic. I mean, I’d love to say the reason that we have a great program is because we, you know, people want to come and play soccer here, but it’s only one person.
[00:20:54] Um, you know, a bigger picture and I think our students, and for the most part, the student athletes that we have at Catholic understand that, um, which is different than certainly where I went to school. And, you know, there’s always an eye towards like, oh, Hey coach, I’m looking at this internship because I think this is going to help set me up for the next piece.
[00:21:14] So, uh, they do get it. And I think our professors do a really good job of cultivating that. Um, so it’s a good relationship. And I think they’re able to, to handle the commitment and the workload, um, even probably better during season than they are out of season. Because more time, the more time, you know, what is it, idle hands, you know?
[00:21:34] So, uh, we have to make sure that, um, you know, they they’re. No, it was
[00:21:40] Matt: great. I mean, I had, I had an internship every spring semester of my four years, so, uh, yeah, it was an excellent opportunity to be able to do that. So what, what support mechanisms are in place at the school to help support athletes? Both academically and athletically?
[00:21:56] Sure.
[00:21:56] Coach: I mean, we do have a faculty, uh, faculty athletic representative, uh, who works with, um, with the student athletes if needed. Um, there is a great, uh, System here you can get a tutor. Here at Catholic for 50 bucks for the entire semester. So let’s say you’re, you know, it’s a right brain left brain thing.
[00:22:18] Let’s say you’re taking a, a philosophy course, but you’re actually a business major because you’re required to take that course that you may need a little bit more help with. So you can go up, um, to, uh, the center for academic success and you can get a tutor and meet with that person once, twice a week.
[00:22:34] Um, for really a limited amount. And, uh, of money that is, and so I think that’s really helpful thing for us. And this is what I tell people a lot. Uh, our players are the best. It’s aides for the other players. You know what I mean? If you’ve got a guy who’s in, uh, in the school of business and we have a freshman, who’s looking at well, I’m in the school of business, but I’m not sure if I want to go finance, marketing, accounting, you know, whatever, maybe.
[00:23:02] Then those are the folks that are going to help them through that process. All right. Well, I took these classes. This is how I got my internship set up. And so now all of a sudden they’ve got tangible evidence of how that works. And I think that is something that I’ve been really proud of. And the fact that we’ve been here for over 15 years also helps because we’ve able to develop relationships with the lungs and things like that, where we say, okay, well, this guy is great.
[00:23:26] He can really help you in an internship. And once they get their foot in the door, that’s the toughest part, right? The toughest job is your first one. And so getting them to that point is I think really something that we do a good job of. No, that’s great.
[00:23:39] Matt: So w during the season, what, what’s a typical non game day look like from, from wake up to going to bed.
[00:23:47] Coach: Yeah, it depends. I think, you know, going back to that, uh, academic piece, one of the tough things for us is we, you know, we’re in the middle of the city, so we do have adjunct faculty. So sometimes classes are later on in the day. Um, so we may train in the morning, this past season, we trained, uh, in the morning on Monday.
[00:24:07] So we did Monday morning sometimes, uh, the players like that because by nine o’clock they’re done essentially with their day. Um, And, you know, they’ll come in locker room, we’ll usually do any sort of scouting report or film stuff after training. Because a lot of times, if we have training at six, um, you know, players are just coming from class.
[00:24:27] So they’re running up. We want to make sure that we, um, you know, get done what we need to do on the field. I will usually tell people on average, it’s about three hours a day. From the time you leave your dorm to the time you return, sometimes that’s more, sometimes that’s less. Um, and then individ. You know, if players want to come in for film, if a, um, some are taking advantage of the assistant coaches that are here can go out and get extra work.
[00:24:53] That’s always available. We open up training 30 to 45 minutes beforehand. I’m a self love to play, um, soccer, tennis. So we have the soccer, tennis nets. We set them up, just something competitive for the, uh, the players to come up and get their minds in the right space. So the Ray for training. Um, and so that’s usually what we would do on a non on a non-game day.
[00:25:14] Okay.
[00:25:14] Matt: In terms of game days, uh, you know, uh, when I played there, we were in a different conference than you guys are in now. So, uh, how much travel, uh, do you guys generally do what’s about the typical radius of your away games during the season?
[00:25:30] Coach: Um, with the exception of a school on a Baltimore, uh, who’s in our company, Every other end conference game is on a Saturday.
[00:25:38] So that’s been official for us because we do travel three to four hours for those conference games. Um, so what we try to do then is to mix in more localized teams for the midweek. So we’ll go, you know, Philadelphia is usually about as far away as we would go. And that’s about two, you know, two and a half hours.
[00:25:57] Um, and so. W that’s the good thing about where we are geographically is that we have enough good teams, uh, that we can play within that driving distance. That if we, if we kick off at seven o’clock on a Wednesday night, we may not have to leave until three. Um, and so, you know, th the players can be in class for the majority of the day and they don’t have to miss that.
[00:26:21] So, uh, that’s what we’ll do. Um, and you know, we do have, there’s a couple of schools in our conference. Um, you know, beyond four hours. So sometimes those are overnight trips. We’ll, we’ll head up on a Friday. Um, and we obviously will use that, uh, as a good team sort of bonding, uh, exercise. And I love it when we have the players together and pretty focused in that regard.
[00:26:44] So, um, but that’s only usually once or twice a year.
[00:26:48] Matt: Yeah. Okay. Well, let’s, let’s talk more about the team in, in, in, in and stuff. So you said, I think you carry around 30 on the roster. So if I’m an incoming freshmen, uh, any, any chance I’m seeing the field, how much, how much playing time should I expect coming in?
[00:27:04] I hope
[00:27:04] Coach: so. I hope so. Um, because what we tell the current players is that. Those players to come in and be, and be fighting for positions early. Um, usually every year we have one to two players, uh, in that first year group that will start or play conservable minutes for us this past year, we had more than that.
[00:27:25] Um, you know, I’d say it was four or five players that played a conservable mat from that. Now that was a really good. Um, we’ll keep, you know, this year because of COVID and guys stayed and things like that. We were a little bit more inflated. We have 33 on our roster. Um, we’ll graduate 10. We’ve currently got six that are committed.
[00:27:44] And like I said, we’re looking at four. If we yield half, that’d be two. So we’re, you know, we’re at eight, so we’re probably at around 31. Um, you always want. Two teams that can play against one another and you want to have four keepers to be able to go small sided and training. Um, so that gives a little bit of a, uh, of a sense of where, where things are.
[00:28:03] But yeah, I think, um, the, the freshmen thing it’s, you know, for us, uh, it’s more important. And this is, uh, this is a huge change from when, when I played and from when we played, I think, um, we, we make sure that those players are as comfortable as they can be as early on as they can be, because they won’t have confidence unless they have that level of comfort.
[00:28:26] So gone are the days. Like, you know, punting balls and into the woods and saying, Hey, you got to go get them. And things like that, you know, that stuff is we’re about being a part of the group as early as you can and, and, and feeling good about that. And I think that really helps us to get those players confidence earlier on in their career.
[00:28:45] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:46] Matt: W we will discuss what happened to us as freshmen. Um, So you earlier, you mentioned, uh, players talking, you know, working with assistance of how big is your, is your soccer staff and what role do those other coaches play?
[00:29:00] Coach: So we w there are three assistants that we have, um, one is, uh, is full-time.
[00:29:05] So he’s, he’s always here. Um, then we have, uh, another who’s, uh, works primarily with the goalkeepers and does a fantastic job. He was a graduate assistant for us. Um, and that’s that the graduate assistant is the person that’s here all the time that, uh, they can certainly rely on, um, uh, being here and being present for anything that they need.
[00:29:26] The goalkeeper coach was a grad assistant for us needed a great job. So, um, he’s transitioned into, uh, you know, working with the keepers. He’s here for training. Um, but usually he’s not here during the day has another job that he works with. It’s soccer specific. And then our final assistant, um, is more of a volunteer who played, uh, you know, he played a high level division three, um, and he really works well with the player.
[00:29:54] So I think it’s great because they all have somebody that they can relate to maybe a little bit better. Than than another. And so, um, and it, and it also helps because when we’re out at training, it can, you know, there’s always a different perspective that other coaches have that maybe you don’t. Um, so we’re, we’re really.
[00:30:14] Um, you know, I think we’re very fortunate in that we’re in DC. And so there’s a larger pool of folks that want to be involved in college soccer, um, that, that we can pull from. And it also helps to have more eyes on the road because all these guys love to go out and watch players. They want to be the one who says, well, I was the one who I deed.
[00:30:36] That’s right.
[00:30:38] Matt: Well, how would you describe your style of coaching and your, and your team’s style of play?
[00:30:43] Coach: Yeah, I think for us, you know, we set standards and have expectations, and those are some things that are really, um, you know, sort of non-negotiable items, you know, respect one, another respect, uh, is a big one for us.
[00:30:57] Um, and I feel like that’s where that’s our starting point. And then w with the coaching, um, you know, we really allow players the flexibility to be who they are. Um, and then within that framework, we want them to be the best at whatever that is. So, um, I, you know, I think that that’s, we don’t have enough time in the four years to really mold them into what we really want them to be.
[00:31:25] So what we, well, that’s not necessarily true. W what we want to do is to make sure if a player is great at being creative and taking players on one V1, we’re not going to say, Hey, you got to limit it to one or two touch. Every time you get the ball, because that’s not realistic for that player. And that player is not going to thrive, uh, here.
[00:31:46] So. You know, conversely, if there’s a center back, that’s a prototypical sort of piano mover and not a piano player. Then what we’ll say is go win, be a ball winner, chase people down. And then once you get it, give it to somebody that knows what they’re doing. And I feel like that really helps them be a better player and be more confident in the system and, and then helps us.
[00:32:09] We’d love to be able to. You know, but everyone says that I don’t want to play and knock it around, but you got to have close to 15 players that are at a totally different level to be able to get away with that day in day out at our level, because you’re going to have some teams that just press you and you’ve gotta be able to handle that.
[00:32:25] And the balls in the air and they play direct and you know, the best teams we’ve had here have been able to handle both. You know, a game where they go out and they’re playing and it looks really good and you love to watch it. And then there’s the next game is totally different and they can handle that too.
[00:32:42] And those are the teams where I look at and I say, okay, we’ve got something special because these guys can be able to handle that. So we’ve got a coach to that. Uh, if that makes sense. Yeah, no,
[00:32:52] Matt: um, you know, we’re sitting here talking in February, so it’s off season. What, uh, what does your typical off season program look like?
[00:33:01] Coach: So we’re, we’re limited by the NCA as to what we can do. So, uh, uh, uh, the majority of it is, is up to the, to the players. Um, we do have a strength and conditioning component. They come in, uh, right now they’re coming in Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings, uh, to get workouts in now, uh, those workouts can, anyone on campus can join.
[00:33:24] Um, but they are six 30 in the morning. The majority of the time, it’s only our blades and they’re in there. Um, and they’re going through, uh, a lifting regimen. And then on those other days, um, you know, they’re expected to make sure that they’re getting out and getting runs in and things like that. They should be playing.
[00:33:41] That’s another part of that recruiting piece. We have to be able to bring in players that are passionate about playing soccer, because. They should want to go play any opportunity to have, um, and that’s gonna make them better. Uh, then in the spring, again, we come back from spring break. We only have five weeks, 15 dates, and then one day of competition that we can’t exceed, you know, a certain, uh, um, the timeline it, so it’s really, we have one player right now.
[00:34:08] Who’s in Rome, who’s studying abroad. We tell players if they have the opportunity, certainly during that winter, The spring of their junior year to, uh, to take advantage of that. Um, but the commitment level is a little bit different on, on the division three side. And you talked about having internships and as much as we want them focused on soccer, they’re also here because we know that they’re going to do really well, uh, and whatever they’ve decided to do.
[00:34:32] So this is a good time for them to, to explore. For
[00:34:36] Matt: sure. Well, coach, I appreciate it. I got one last question. This is kind of the catch. All you get to, you get to just free form here. What else would you like, you know, prospects, parents, anybody to know about your program, about the school, anything like that?
[00:34:50] Coach: Everyone says that their place is a special place, right? So that’s what I’ll start by saying, you know, our, our place is a special place, but I think. I think what makes it special is, uh, the, the, the players, uh, within the program. And so I say that because when players and families come to visit, I think they see it in there and go, okay, well, you know, the hook is there and they’re as great.
[00:35:17] Um, but when they sit down with our. Players. And they talk to them after, you know, 30 minutes, they’re hooked, man. These guys really, they really love each other. They really care about, you know, um, what the other players doing. And we have a lot of different personalities, just like anybody else does. But I think the culture that players have been able to build here, build here, excuse me, um, is what really allows us to sort of.
[00:35:48] Uh, punch above our weight and, and those guys would when, when it’s time and they have to handle adversity, they do it together. And when it’s time for them to, to answer the call, they’ve developed relationships off the field so that, you know, it’s. Uh, unique. If you came out and watched one of our training sessions to see two players go at it, and I don’t mean like physically fight each other, but really go at it because you know that once that exercise is complete, they’ll go up to each other and either reveal each other.
[00:36:23] Put an arm around each other. And I think that’s the foundation for a lot of success in what we’ve had. So, um, I, you know, I know that’s not like a tangible, maybe as much like, oh, we’ve got great locker rooms or our athletics center or anything like that. But I think that really carries the day when it comes to, um, You know, to, you know, the people throw on family and brotherhood, but I think if you came and you had one of our players and you say, all right, you know, what is it unique?
[00:36:50] That’s what they would say. Well, I love these guys. You know, I’m always hanging out with them. We, we do everything together. Um, which I think is a really important piece of their experience. Absolutely.
[00:37:00] Matt: Well, I appreciate it. I’ll I’ll, I’ll dispel one last, uh, rumor that I always hear, you know, you say I went to Catholic university in DC and they go, oh, you mean Georgetown?
[00:37:08] No, no, no. It’s, this is a separate, separate school. It is a not Georgetown, although, although I wouldn’t mind having Brian’s, uh, success, uh, as a college soccer program, Georgetown has been doing great, but anyway, all right, Travis, I really appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time. Uh, and of course I’ll be following you from a bar, uh, down here in Florida and wishing you nothing but the best.
[00:37:33] Coach: Thank you. Thanks for having me. All right.
