Central Wyoming College Men’s and Women’s Soccer – Coach Ken DeCook

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach DeCook from the Central Wyoming and Men’s and Women’s Program in Riverton. We talk about recruiting both programs at a 2-year college. He describes the high-ranking academic programs the school has, even as a junior college. Lastly, we discuss things that potential student athletes should consider during the recruiting process. Learn more about Central Wyoming College Men and Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Ken from Central Wyoming. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: How are you today, 

Matt: Matt? Doing well, thanks. Uh, had the, had the pleasure of visiting Wyoming. I guess it’s been five or six years now, uh, and, and didn’t get quite to Central Wyoming, was just a little northwest of, of Laramie, but a beautiful, beautiful part of the country.

Uh, and I’m sure your school is, is, is just as beautiful. 

Coach: Well, we certainly have a wonderful atmosphere. Uh, our campus is green and lots of trees, although where we’re at in central Wyoming, we’re actually in high desert. So, um, I don’t think in the 2 years that I’ve been there, um, it is rain more than about 65 raindrops.

Um, you know, um, if we don’t water the grass, we don’t have grass. You know, but it’s it is absolutely gorgeous. You stand out on the front lawn of the campus and you see the mountain range in the background. Um, and it, it is pretty awe inspiring. Um, on my trip yesterday over here, I happened to be in Idaho Falls, Idaho, um, on the drive, I saw bears, moose, bears, moose, elk.

Um, uh, deer, you know, so, I mean, it’s, it certainly is in some [00:01:30] sense, the Wild West still, um, uh, but, uh, it is actually, uh, a wonderful place to play and go to school, um, and live, it, I, I thoroughly enjoy it here, and, uh, it’s, it does get a bit chilly in the winter, but, you know, Last year, we had one week of cold weather.

The rest was very reasonable. Most of the kids threw a hoodie on and went to class. That’s how reasonable it was, you know, no humidity, none of that. So it’s a great, great place to be. 

Matt: Well, and, and as, as you mentioned, you’re, you’re out on the recruiting trail now. Uh, I think you guys, the season, uh, has wrapped up for the most part.

So you’re, you’re hit as most junior colleges, uh, They have to do you, you’re recruiting twice as much and you, as head men’s and women’s, you got, I guess, four times as much recruiting than the typical college coach. So, you know, what is it that, where is it that you like to go? I it’s when you look at your roster, it looks like there’s a mix of domestic and international.

So, so what is your kind of overall recruiting philosophy there? 

Coach: Well, I, it, it somewhat depends honestly, Matt, on which team you’re talking about. Um, we do take a bit of a different. Uh, Avenue between the women’s team and the men’s team. Um, you know, right now, between the two, we have 18 different countries represented.

[00:03:00] Um, the men’s team is 70 percent uh, international players, 30 percent uh, American players. The women’s team, on the other hand, is somewhat a 60, 40 American or 65, 35 American kids. Um, and that’s, uh, We feel kind of the right mix for the women’s team. Um, and it could this fall might be even 75, 25 American girls.

Um, it just, it kind of depends on, on the dynamics of the recruiting season and how it goes. Um, I have some, you know, having done this for many, many years, um, I have some wonderful contacts with agents throughout Europe that I use that I get quality. players, particularly, um, with the men’s team. Um, our women’s team, we’ve been blessed this year with some great international players, but domestically the women’s players have been phenomenal for us.

So, um, you know, if it’s kind of not broken, we’re not going to try to Build something new. So we’re going to continue with that Avenue. Okay. 

Matt: Well, whether it’s a domestic player or international player, kind of what makes up the, the hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player, both on the field attributes and off the field stuff.

Coach: Well, you know, one of the first things that I do is, I really, you know, without a [00:04:30] doubt, man, and any coach that said this isn’t one of their priorities, I would kind of chuckle internally about is their athletic ability, you know, they have to be able to play football, soccer, uh, you know, they, they, they have to do that, but I’m also looking at, academics, um, ethics, moral character, um, and quite frankly, attitude.

You know, I’m not so concerned that when I’m watching a player, uh, that they make every pass perfect because I know that that’s not going to happen. I want to know how they react when it doesn’t go their way, whether they lose in a playoff game, uh, in overtime, like one of the teams did yesterday, Oh, that I was watching.

How did those kids react to that? How did that player react to that? Or how do they react when their teammate doesn’t get them the ball when it probably should have been played to them? You know, that’s also important to me. I want a good teammate. I want a good student. I want a good soccer player. So I realistically, I start recruiting and I know I’m a juco, but again because of academics at our school, I recruit the kids, start at the kids with 4.

0s and I work my way [00:06:00] down to 3. 0 and I stop. And then I go back and do the mix again. I will tell you straight away, right this minute, out of 63 soccer players on our campus, only two had below a 3. 0 GPA coming in. Um, and they were 2. 8 and a 2. 7. Um, when I asked the one player why, their response was, I didn’t put any effort into it.

I went to school and played soccer and, oh well, you know. So, and again, their test scores show that they’re, You know, didn’t put any effort in the classroom. Okay, that’s fine. And I like the honesty, you know, um, so we, we look at that and we look at their athletic ability. We look at how their speed, frankly.

They’re knowledge of the game, um, and we try to look and try to build that whole package together, um, and what I found is, is that by doing that, I eliminate some of the drama problems that coaches end up dealing with throughout the season and stuff like that, because typically they’re all there to do two things, play soccer and get an education.

You know, because the reality is less than 1 percent of them [00:07:30] are going to go play professional soccer. And I’ve had a couple of those guys, a couple of people do that, but in all my years, it’s been only a few. So yeah, that’s kind of where, okay, 

Matt: well, I mean, one of the things that I think a lot of players look for who go the Juco route is, can you help me get to the next level, whatever that level is, whether that, you mean you mentioned pro, but, but for a lot, it’s maybe continuing to play at a four year institution.

So kind of talk to me a little bit about how your players make that move, how many make that move, the, you know, what has some of your success has been there? 

Coach: Well, as you can Probably tell by my gray hair. I’m not a year old, uh, coach. Um, I’ve been doing it almost 30 years. Um, and by doing it, you know, we have lots and lots of contacts.

So if I’ve got a player and we sit down and we’ve already started our meetings, um, and talk to them about, well, do they want to play? Do they have an area of the country they would like to go play in? Or do they have a college that they are fond of that they want? So we sit and we gather that information and then I meet individually with every player about that.

And then we, we talk to them, um, about the schools and then we kind of start with, okay. Let’s look at this. And we asked them, and we asked them some of the same questions [00:09:00] I ask kids. Um, a high school kid, uh, into school. Um, and when I did seminars for the NEI and NCAA about recruiting, how big a school do you want to go to?

Um, I have a young man that’s a all region player. He played semi professional last summer. All that and I am like, how big is school? Do you want to go to D1 or and do we work that angle? Is he good enough? Certainly mid level, um, or do we want to look at some D2s or do we want to look at some NAIs? You know, because the quality of soccer is Similar depth may be a different discussion, but that top 11, that top 12 is similar.

So we go after that and, and last year of the men, every guy. that wanted to go on and play soccer had, um, at least one opportunity. Most had three to five. Um, the gentleman who only had one opportunity, frankly, was hurt most of the season, and he only played 42 minutes the entire year. But he went off. We were able to get him a very nice scholarship.

When you think about the fact that he only played 42 minutes. Um, and, um, the girls on the other hand, had between [00:10:30] 3 and 12 opportunities and, and, uh, again, we sat down, I have a couple of girls that were twins and they, we sat down with them and they had 5 different, we got it to 5 opportunities. And then, okay, ladies, I recommend that you visit the campuses, get to know the coach, find out.

And we, we help if you would coach them through that process as well, man. And they made this selection. They went to what I think was a great school, um, but also the best team. So, are they getting quite as much playing time as they? Hope for or wanted it? Well, I don’t know about that, but that’s, you know, again, that’s between them, that coach and, and the other players on that team.

And I, and, and I explained to them that they’re picking the best team, you know, um, the, the one young lady that had 12 opportunities decided not to play. And she was the best girl on the team. She’s because of some family dynamics and things of that nature. You know, um, and, and it was wonderful. We had one girl that had three Division II opportunities.

She decided that she didn’t want to go that far from home. She’s at home working and doing some online classes. So we will help them. That’s not a problem. Um, and [00:12:00] getting them there and I’m not beyond picking up the phone call a phone and making a phone call for that player. Um, we have the video for them getting that coach that information and giving them some realistic views on it because I also believe that’s my reputation out there.

And I don’t want to say, Hey, this is the next coming of Pele or Messi. And they barely know how to tie their soccer shoes, you know? So yeah, that’s kind of where we go. 

Matt: Well, and, and, you know, recruiting obviously is, is tough for, for, for all coaches these days, but one of the biggest. I think issues in higher education that a lot of people running through is just the cost.

Uh, you know, especially at these big four universities. So talk to me a little bit about, you know, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but what is it like to go to Central Wyoming? What, you know, some JUCOs have housing, some don’t. Like, just give me an overall picture of, of maybe what it’s like as a player from, from a cost perspective, uh, and that sort of thing.

Coach: Well, we have, you know, we have in state tuition, housing and food, is the same for everybody, housing and food, but we have in state tuition, then we have what’s called WUE tuition, which is that Western Exchange, uh, for the basically the mountain states, western Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota. And then we have out of state, which includes international.[00:13:30] 

So the international, if they paid everything, it’s 16, 172 for the year. A WUE kid is going to pay roughly 11, 000. An in state kid is 3, 000, 5, 000, 9, 000 for the year. Now, because we’re JUCO Division 1, we can then, soccer can step to the table and offer a scholarship. Um, again, one of the reasons why I recruit that better student is because I can stack academic money on top of athletic money.

So as an example, if any current year high school graduate for us with a 3. 5 GPA or higher, and again, I’m going to do round numbers if you don’t mind. Yeah, of course. It’s going to be get a 6, 000 academic scholarship. Well, if that happens to be from one of those woolly states, their tuition is 6400. So they’re paying 400 soccer covers, housing and food.

Now, you know, what’s really so from that standpoint, that’s very good. If that’s an international. They still get the same academic [00:15:00] if soccer covers housing and food. They’re coming out of estimated out of pocket is somewhere around five thousand dollars. So still very, very reasonable. Um, in state, um, there’s different dynamics because they don’t get the same academic scholarship and things like that, but it proportionally they pay about the same.

Um, but in state also Wyoming has what is called a Hathaway grant and things like that. So. It can be so you can get a WUI state kid. That’s I’m talking about Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, those states good student. They could basically come on a full ride other than 400 plus books. And most of the kids don’t have books anymore.

So there you go. You know, that’s what’s really neat about being at Central Wyoming is that I’m able to stack that on. I, my average. Incoming freshman this year, GPA on the men’s team was 3, 4 on the women’s team. I believe it was 3. 7. So they’re getting that academic piece. Now, we also bring in on the guys team.

We bring in some walk ons as well. So, okay, that helps us as well from a number standpoint, 

Matt: speaking of numbers, I mean, you mentioned, I think you said 62, 63 soccer players on campus. So is there a roster size that you find as ideal that you’re trying to hit each season? [00:16:30] 

Coach: Well, I want 24 women. This year we had 23 men and, uh, of the 23, four, five never touched the field because they were injured in preseason.

Okay. Yeah. And so, and when we were playing Western Wyoming, it was a 3 2 ballgame and two of my starters went out at that point. So, now I’m really down to only having a couple of subs left. Um, it, it, it, I, I need 24 women guy wise. Um, again, that’s as many otherwise letters of intent scholarships that we can offer at the D1 juco level.

Um, guy wise this year. I started with 42. we ended with 38. I would again, you said ideal size. I think it’s 30 to 32 to be honest with you. We just the problem with the more and the guys were great. Don’t get me wrong. The problem is, is doing both teams. I just don’t have the extra time. I don’t have the extra time to do a JV program.

I don’t have the extra field for it. I don’t have the, our practice field is tired and wore out by the end of the season with having two teams practice on it. So. I think realistically, 30 to 32. That way, if you [00:18:00] do have a few people that are injured now, ineligible for whatever reason, you know, you still got a basically a full squad.

Matt: Okay. Well, we talked about a little bit at the beginning, but let’s talk a little bit more about the school, uh, besides its location and weather. What are some of the things that you find awesome about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t know just by going through the website. 

Coach: Well, here’s, you know, what I’m recruiting and I talked to the kids.

Um, and I’m going to I’m on my on the way here just shortly to go. Truly. I’m going to offer for for girls scholarships here this morning. Um, we have 3. unique things about our school that many, many, most other colleges don’t have a unique thing. Number one is our kids don’t live in dormitories. Um, our players, we put four players and they share a two bedroom apartment.

So we have two bedroom, two players in one bedroom, two players in another bedroom. We have their own bathroom. They have their own full kitchen with stove, fridge. Uh, cabinets, sink, table, kitchen chairs, all that, they have their own living room. That apartment, Matt, is right on campus. It’s roughly a soccer field away from the main classroom building.

Um, unique thing number two is our dining hall is not your traditional cafeteria. Our dining [00:19:30] hall is actually a small restaurant. Um, so the kids go in and they have roughly four different menus to look at from the fry menu to a Mexican food menu to the daily special to the deli and the pizzas menu, the salad bar menu, they order what they want.

They cook it for them right there. And here it is. It’s if you want to call it fresh made to order. That’s what it is. Um, and the 3rd and unique thing, which quite frankly, many times is more important to mom and dad than it is to the players and the kids is that we are ranked. in the top 20 in the United States for academics and safety of all JUCOs in the nation.

So what does that all mean? We’re going to give them great education in a safe environment, quality food, quality housing, and they get to play division one football. I’m sorry, division one soccer. Um, uh, you know, so, We’re kind of a little bit different. We’re ranked the number one college in the state of Wyoming, and that includes the University of Wyoming for academics.

Um, you know, I’ve been to several schools and coached at several places, taught some of the universities I’ve coached at. And quite frankly, I’ll put our academics against anybody. Now, we’re not Harvard and Yale and Stanford. Please understand that. But we’re [00:21:00] also not You know, uh, as an example, there’s a school who I’ll remain nameless that’s on a niche rated us, by the way, who ranked 1 of the schools in our region, the 27th worst college in the nation.

So, I mean, we’re not your typical juco where we are giving you an opportunity, not only to play division 1, have quality housing and things, but we’re going to give you that great education and that can either. All the all our classes will roll to a four year school. Um, as well as we offer some four year degrees.

And here’s the other neat thing of us. Our nursing program at Central Wyoming College is ranked number one in the nation. Of all colleges with nursing programs, so you should see our, our health and science building. It’s the largest building on campus. It is phenomenal. Um, so I’m not scared to put academics there.

We’re there. Building the soccer program, it’s come a long, long ways in a couple of years that I got here before I got here. Um, they had to cancel the women’s program because they didn’t have enough players. Um, the men’s program was 15 players. We’ve put all that aside. We’ve got now a culture that believes that we can go win.

Um, and, and we’re still growing. We’re still struggling on occasion. [00:22:30] You know, we, we struggled last week and they were all in the regional tournament. Um, but that’s just kind of a growing pain, you know, and, and we’re getting there, man. And, and I think if. The kids really give us an opportunity. They will find that one.

They love it. Our, our kids are like family. They live. Together, they hang out together. They study together. Obviously, they practice and travel together. I happen to live in 1 of the 1 bedroom apartments on campus strictly because my wife and I haven’t gotten the chance to move there yet really because of mortgage rates and things of, you know, stuff like that.

Um, but, um, the school, quite frankly, is wonderful. And we’re building a soccer program that will compete with anybody. Um, we’ve, we do not play a easy schedule. Um, we played the number 2 ranked team in the nation this year. We’ve played, played the number 17th ranked team. I think, uh, we played last year. We played the 10th, the 12th, the 14th and the 19th ranked team in the nation.

Um, you know, and, uh, we, we, we, matter of fact, we played the 10th ranked team in the nation three times and got beat by three goals. So we’re close. Um, you know, uh, Casper College is ranked 17th in the country this year, and we tied that. Um, we played slick Salt Lake [00:24:00] City Community College ranked second in the nation for 60 minutes.

We were, we were actually out playing them. Now we ended up getting beat, but again, we’re getting there. Some of that is culture. Some of that is building that winning attitude and I don’t know, ferociousness, if you would, um, on the, on the field, you know, and so we’re, it’s a great opportunity for a lot of kids, man.

And that’s what we’re looking for. 

Matt: Okay. Well, you know, as men’s and women’s head coach, uh, hopefully, hopefully they give you some staff, uh, there. So talk to me a little bit about what other staff help with the teams and maybe support staff in the athletic department, uh, that help as well. 

Coach: Well, I have, I have a student assistant coach.

Um, as well as, um, we do have a full time trainer, athletic, certified athletic trainer on staff, a training room. Um, and so that’s kind of my staff. So it might sometimes feel like a one man band a bit, but generally, if I yell help, um, I get the help and the support from the athletic director, the vice president of finance and things of that nature.

Um, they do allow us to do a few things. I get some kudos because having 60 kids, having, you know, 50 kids around campus helps me. Do some other things and, uh, as well as we help out [00:25:30] with the other sports. My kids are volunteering to help out with a volleyball game tomorrow afternoon. Um, we do stuff like that.

We do, um, two fundraisers a year, one in the fall that directly benefits. Soccer. We help with the athletic department’s fundraiser in the spring and soccer last year sold 150 tickets to that at 100 a ticket. Um, so we, it is certainly a collaborative event there with us with soccer and throughout campus, whether it’s in the classroom or throughout the other sports on campus.

Matt: All right. Well, coach, you’ve been super generous with your time. I know you have a recruiting event to get to, but I’m gonna leave you with one last question. And that is if you had any piece of advice or 11 specific nugget that you hope perspective student athletes would know, what would that be? 

Coach: Well, I’m not sure I could answer that question in 3 minutes or less, probably closer to 3 hours, but I think they’ve got to decide.

Yeah. A couple of things. One, how far away from mom and dad? Two, how big is school? Um, and three, do they want to go somewhere where they’re going to play? Or, Earn time, meaning are they are going to, they’re going to go to a school where they help build the program or they’re going to go to Lindsay Wilson University or, uh, BYU [00:27:00] women’s last year and maybe get a few minutes and play, um, and, and then I guess the other thing I would encourage everyone to do is don’t discount the JUCO in your area or wherever you want to go to school because, you know, It is generally a great cost of way, a cost effective way to go to school and many of those schools will give you the same education for insignificant money, just like my kids here from, uh, Utah and Idaho, they’re coming for, you know, 500, you know, and, and I’m, and, and that’s a great way.

And they’re great, great soccer kids. Um, you know, and, and, and, uh, You know, in Wyoming, 4 or 5 hours is close, you know, as opposed to, you know, uh, Chicago or Orlando, 4 or 5 hour, you know, 5 hours from Orlando, you’re in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, you know, so that’s a whole different discussion. Um, but with us, our closest game is 2 and a half hours.

Um, you just got back. And, uh, from a regional game, it was 11 hour drive, you know, so we’ll, we’ll have next fall. We’ll have a 12 hour trip and an 8 hour trip. So, you know, that’s all part of the thing, you know, that’s all [00:28:30] team bonding and hanging out and things that you tell your grandchildren in 30 years or so, you know, so, um, and I mean, my, you know, My personal grandkids call and go, how’s the bus ride?

You know, and well, what, how did you do today? Uh, things of that nature. So that’s, those are things that the experiences that you will never, ever lose. And to me, that’s all about playing football and having that experience, uh, being on that college team. 

Matt: Absolutely. Well, coach really appreciate the time.

Wish you the best of luck, uh, on the recruiting trail and for next season and, uh, good luck. And thanks much. 

Coach: Hey, thanks, man. It’s a pleasure.