Central Penn College Men’s Soccer – Coach Chris Hartman
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Hartman from the Central Penn Men’s Program in Summerdale, PA. We talk about what it’s like recruiting multiple classes as a new coach. Coach also shares about the school’s unique 4-term academic calendar. Plus, we discuss his approach as a player’s coach focusing on ensuring two-way respect. Learn more about Central Penn 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 Hartman from Central Penn. Welcome coach.
Coach: Oh, thanks for having me. Yeah, be here. Yeah, thanks
Matt: for, thanks for being here. Uh, I’ve, uh. I grew up in Ohio, driven through Central Pennsylvania, uh, more times than I can count, having gone to school on the East Coast and just back and forth on, uh, on the various, uh, east west freeways running through, uh, through pa.
But, uh, yeah. Right. Um, you know, we’re, we’re talking here end of May. Um, I guess as, as a. Smaller program. Are you, are you fully wrapped up with your class of 20 fives ready for the fall? You still got one or two left hanging, or where does that stand for you guys?
Coach: We are, well, we’re kind of in the midst of getting things, trying to finalize.
Um, but I took over the program late March, so that kind of put us [00:01:00] in a, uh. Really in the late kind of, uh, late kind of end of things in recruiting. Um, so some of the guys that were in the, with another, the previous coach that were kind of waiting, like waiting to see what happened, uh, they kind of changed their minds.
So we kind of had to restart, restart our process. So that’s, we’re kind of hopefully wrapping some stuff up, but, uh, I think with, with the school, we’ll kind of get some Lee. We’re kind of notorious for getting some late recruiter, late newcomers anyway, to the program, so,
Matt: okay. So have you, I’m assuming, uh, although your, your focus is filling out this season, you’ve already, uh, got your eyes on the 20 sixes as well.
Yes.
Coach: Yeah, we already looking at 2026, uh, especially for me being. Um, kind of looking at, all right, what do we got currently in house? Then what are we gonna do for fill this, the current 25, the fall roster. Then? But yeah, like, all right, let’s look at 2026, kind of looking [00:02:00] there. So we’re, we’re doing a bunch of stuff.
We’re looking, we already had an ID clinic before, before named the head coach. Um, and then we’re doing one coming up in the, in this. Hardly, uh, uh, late June, really, uh, kind of looking at there, um, and then doing a bunch of showcases and things like that.
Matt: So, so, I mean, you, you, you mentioned showcases. I guess what, what are the, the hotspots?
What are the places that you have on your calendar to make sure you get to each year to, to find players
Coach: curious each here? Um, well, I mean. This weekend we’re going to do Potomac, um, outside dc. Um, that’s a, that’s a big tournament for us. Um, we also, we have all FC Delco. Um, there’s Penn Fusion. There’s I think where we’re essentially located here in Harrisburg.
Um, there’s just so many good tournaments in the area that we can just really hit those tournaments. Um, we’re close to classics. PA classics. Um, [00:03:00] and they always have good showcases as well. They always have a nice winter showcase. Um, and then we can always go down to Jersey as well for EDP showcases and things like that.
So those are, those are some of the hot, hot hotbeds that we go to. Okay.
Matt: Well, and, and I understand this year it’s a little bit of anomaly coming in so, so late, but, uh, let’s just, if you had your druthers, you know, what is your ideal roster size that you want to go into a season with?
Coach: Roster size. I mean, right now I’m hoping to have, uh, 25, uh, but if I can have 25, 30, that’d be great.
So that way we could have a, uh, uh, a good, a good competitive training camp. Um, and then good season, I think, uh, I’m, this is my, gonna be my third year and usually about halfway through the season we have some good. Uh, good competition, but we also have some injuries that we get and then we kind of hit a law where we’re, we’re struggling a little bit with players with in nagging injuries and stuff and to have that good, [00:04:00] a good solid number so that way we can kind of rest those players, uh, going into postseason would be great.
Matt: Yeah. Okay. Well, whether it’s at an ID camp or one of these showcases, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field.
Coach: I’m looking for a player that is, uh, has high quality skill, high quality compete, uh, uh, soccer, iq, um, someone that can communicate well on and off the field.
Um, and I look at the kind of the intangibles really of like, I. Their body and language, how they carry themselves, how they communicate with the coach, how they communicate with their teammates, the, all those little intangible things there, uh, just beyond their soccer skill. Um, I mean, I think I’ve been doing this man, been coaching soccer for so many years now.
You can kind of take a quick look and like at their soccer school and be like, Hey, can they handle it at [00:05:00] this, at this level? And be like, yep, they can do it. Do it there. Now what’s the other stuff? Um, all right. That other stuff is the stuff that’s not the coachable stuff, but can they carry themselves academically at a school and all those extra things that, like non soccer related that they can do here?
Um, that’s the stuff we kind of look for. Um, yeah, that’s the kind of player I’m looking for. Somebody that can handle themselves and really, there’s a, there’s a lot of stuff that goes into it, so, yeah.
Matt: Oh, without a doubt. Well, let’s talk a little bit, well, I guess one last question on the recruiting side, again, as a new kind of new coach coming in, does the transfer portal or junior college recruits or international recruits, does that come into play for you guys usually at all?
Or is that something you’re looking? It
Coach: does. The transfer portal portal, uh, comes in, uh, a lot because I feel like we’re that kind of school where the even. [00:06:00] Even before the transfer portal. Um, but I mean, we’re that kind of school where kids can, players can come in and be like, I’m not ready for division three.
I’m not ready for that. Division two. Um, or I may be struggling in that in the NCAA type program, but I still want to play at a high level, um, that we’re, that type of program where you can come in, get your, get your academics straight. Learn how to play, how to, how to handle academics and sports, all that type of stuff.
Um, and then get all your, get all that stuff together here, and then you can transfer back out to another school. Um, and that’s kind of our, I feel that’s kind of our program and how we can help help players do it, uh, and grow here. Instead of like, I mean, last year we went to the national championship and we’re runners up.
We won our conference. We’ve been in the conference championship two years. So we have a quality of program, um, to kind of help programs get stuff together, [00:07:00] get back their soccer IQ and things like that, and are just develop.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s, it’s fantastic. Um. In terms of, uh, the school itself. Let’s talk a little bit more about that.
You know, some folks may not be familiar. You’ve been there a few months, but, uh, yeah, kinda what, what drew you to the school? What are some things that you found are great about the school? Some things folks may not even know by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah. Well, central Penn is, I mean, it’s, it’s very small school.
Um, I mean, it’s a very small campus. Um, but it’s, it’s. I would call it a, a very unique, very quality, quality school. Um, really known for the business programs, health programs here. Um, and it’s a four, well, I call it, it’s four terms school year. So you’re going to school four times, four terms throughout the year.
So you go about 11 weeks, two weeks off, so you can get your degree in about two, three years. Um, [00:08:00] while doing that, you’re getting quality soccer and you’d be out, um, in your profession, in, in a quick turnaround. Um, I think what we’re, where we’re located in Harrisburg, which is close, close to Hershey, um, a lot of things in the area to do, uh, I think, yeah, that’s kind of the program.
The school in a nutshell, really.
Matt: Okay. Well, you mentioned this, uh, a little bit ago and, and it, I fully agree that, you know, one of the biggest challenges is being able to manage the demands of, of being a college athlete, but also in college as a student, right? Yeah. So what kinda, what support systems, uh, are in place there?
How do your players really manage being successful on both ends of that spectrum? Separator?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think what. Is really unique about the school and is there’s, they have success coaches, um, which are kind of, it’s above a [00:09:00] pro professor. They kind of, they check in with, with the students and say, Hey, how are things going?
Um, we get alerts to say, Hey, this student may not be meeting, they’ll. Doing the work that’s up to their potential. And they kind of work with the success coach and professors, even in, even in the classroom, if something’s going on, the professor will reach out and say, work with the student and be like, Hey, what?
This isn’t, this isn’t your normal, typical work. Um, and that’s kind of, um, unique to the school because you have really small classrooms. Um, and that’s, that’s, that’s some of the beauty. I mean, I think our students are, um. Really blessed in that area. And having the smaller classrooms and working with the professors more one-on-one.
Um, I mean, they can kind of know the professors a little bit more intimate than some of the other schools. I. In that, in that, in that regard. Um, and I think this, the success, this what we call success [00:10:00] coaches, um, are even a, an extra help. I mean, we have mandatory study hours, um, during, during the school, during the, uh, season.
So that way those students can manage those those times. Um, so that way they have their set hours for academics as well.
Matt: Okay, well, let’s, let’s fast forward to say October, right. Heart of that season. Yeah. Uh, walk me through what, what do you see a typical week looking like for players in terms of winter classes, meals, games, practices, whatnot?
Yeah.
Coach: Yeah. We, yeah, typical, a typical week is usually, you know, they get up. I mean, I think this year, the typical Mondays, they didn’t have any class, which was kind of nice. I. Um, I know for me, going to school was like, eh, I’d love a day off from classes. Um, so typical Monday, they would have no class. Then we’d have a, a training about four o’clock, go about two hour, an hour and a half [00:11:00] and two hours.
Um, and then usually I have usually three or four trainings per week. Uh, game midweek, and then usually game Friday or Saturday, um, usually they’d have two study study hours during the week. Usually during common hour, um, we’d have, uh, uh, some type of team meeting as well in prep for the week. Uh, just kind of review what’s going on during the week, um, review some kind of general topics, maybe, um, hey, this is what’s going on the week, how’s everybody feel?
Um, and then just to kind of discuss some non-top, non soccer type of things as well.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk more about that soccer side. Um, we talked about a roster size, but what about the rest of the roster? AKA, what other staff are there? Uh, yeah, there either for the program or maybe a athletic department, support staff, anybody who’s helping out with the program and [00:12:00] what are their roles?
Coach: Yeah. Uh, we have, we have two. Two assistants. We have, uh, uh, a main assistant and then a grad assistant that help. Um, they help, uh, uh, they help the spring with our, with our practices, run some sessions, um, do some, uh, basic warmup and, uh, speed and agility type of stuff. Um, and then we have a, a, um, athletic trainer that is actually part of the, uh, sports, well, the health program.
He, so he is a, a professor as well. So he has, he’s pretty much on campus and that we have them readily available, um, at the field and things like that. Uh, sports staff, we have our, you know, our athletic department is, is top-notch. Um, they’re very involved in, in the day-to-day program, um, of the, of our teams and kind of keep us, keep us in line and let us know what’s going on.[00:13:00]
Um. I’m trying to think what else we’re looking at adding another coach. Uh, for, for the, for the season. Uh, last year we had four, uh, with the change of coaches, um, looking to keep, bring back, get another, another coach this year, so another assistant.
Matt: Okay. Well what about you? Uh, how would you describe your coaching style and the style of player you’re looking to play there?
Coach: Uh, my coaching style? Yeah. I’m more of a, uh, um,
I feel like I’m a player’s coach, um, where I kind of work with them to kind of figure out, um, building relationships with them to kind of say, all right, this is, this is what we’re gonna do. Uh, x’s and nos. Yes, I’d like to do this is kind of work within a system and things like that. Um. I know in the past the type of system we played, I we’re looking to kind of similar kind of [00:14:00] aspect, but I also keep more, a little bit more possession.
Um, fan of, fan of keeping the ball. Um, not so much running gun, but just depending on how, what players we have in dynamics of, of the team. Um, but I think overall what we look for, what I look for in building in those relationships is, um. Running the team is kind of being the, the figure where you res respect each other, um, and they respect what, what kind of demand I put on them to be like, this is the product that we need.
This is the product that, this is the demand I’m having on you. So that way we can have the product on the field. Um, sometimes it’s a little harsh, sometimes it’s a little, it’s a little, uh, little soft. But that’s what’s, what’s what we need to do.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, I know you came in kind of in the middle of spring, but, but talk to me about what a, maybe what next [00:15:00] year’s spring, what’s a typical off season gonna look like for, for your players?
Coach: For players? Yeah. Uh, well, I mean, for us, for this, for our, for, for us, we only get so many weeks throughout the season for soccer. Um, so it’s adjusting and kind of adapting. All right. We get so many weeks in the fall and we only get like two weeks in the spring this year. So it’s looking, we’re looking at that, how many weeks we get.
Um, this spring we actually had two weeks and we were able to get a, a little, a scrimmage in against a local club team, which is a, a good thing. Uh, ideally what I would love is to get a, a scrimmage against the college team, uh, so that we can actually be a little bit more, have a little more competitive spring.
Um, and we do some weight. We have. Once the season’s over, you get a couple weeks off, then you get some weight training, uh, running, all that fun stuff. And then you get this, the ball [00:16:00] work. I know the players get together as well. Uh, they play in a indoor league and we kind of do our stuff in the spring for a couple weeks.
So, you know, practices, foot skills, all that fun stuff. Okay.
Matt: Well I appreciate all the insights. Gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for, you know, somebody going through this college recruiting process, what would that be
Coach: for? My advice is kind of meet this, meet the coaches, meet the players, take a tour of the campus, um, sleep in dorms, eat the food, experience it, um, kind of.
If you can play with the team, play with the team, get to know them, uh, because they’re gonna be with, you’re gonna be with them for four years, um, four plus years, depending on what’s going on. Um, and they’re gonna be, essentially, they’re gonna be your family for, and you’re gonna go through a lot with them [00:17:00] forever.
Um, and they can be your friends for, for, for a long time. So I think that’s, that’s important. Um, I know from experience that you. You, you go through a lot with them and to be able to talk about it and share those experiences is, is something you’ll live, you’ll remember and enjoy. So,
Matt: yeah, absolutely. Well, coach, really appreciate it.
Wish you the best of luck here. Wrap it up, that 25 roster and getting that first full season under your belt. Uh, hopefully you guys can get right back to that national championship game for the U-S-C-A-A and uh, hang, hang a banner.
Coach: Yeah, definitely. That’d be great. Looking forward to
Matt: it. Alright, thank you.
All right, thanks.
