Colorado State University Women’s Soccer – Coach Keeley Hagan

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Hagan from the Colorado State Women’s Program. We talk about how camps are important in their recruiting. She describes how players embrace the structure of college and college soccer. Lastly, we discuss their three C’s – character, culture, and competitiveness. Learn more about Colorado State University Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Keeley Hagen from Colorado State. Welcome coach. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Um, You know, your season’s wrapped up and I’m sure you probably, uh, are going to some tournament this weekend. Uh, recruiting, cuz I think there’s a billion, uh, girls showcases for, for everybody.

So on the recruiting trail, are you, uh, are you mostly looking at 20 fours right now? Have you wrapped your 23 class? What does that kind of look like when you start really talking to. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean it’s, uh, we’re, we’re definitely mostly onto 20 fours. You never wanna close the door. Uh, cuz you know, for us, if there’s someone out there that can help us and we have a spot, then uh, we’ll definitely take a look at them for sure.

Yeah. 

Matt: Uh, in terms of tournaments, are there kind of the, the, the must must hit must be at events that you go to? . 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think the top two leagues right now in the country, um, are E C N L, which have been around for a little while, and then the girls academy. So those are kind of the main ones that we start from.

And then, uh, from a local standpoint, uh, anytime we can get out and around to watch our local teams in Denver or uh, even in Fort Collins here, that’s something we definitely do. Okay. 

Matt: Now, are camps a a big part of your recruiting process, whether that’s your own camps or you or your staff working other camps?

What’s that 

Coach: look? Yeah, so, um, Camps are definitely a huge recruiting tool. We’ve actually picked up one, uh, young lady [00:01:30] from um, a summer camp and, um, some of our ID camps as well. So we host a handful throughout the year and I think it’s important for young ladies to identify, Hey, what, what are my top five schools potentially and can I afford to go to camps cuz they’re expensive and we understand that as well.

Um, you know, from a price standpoint. Um, but it’s just like a glorified unofficial visit really, you know, we’re able to do, uh, camp tours. I mean campus tours, um, and then obviously, um, talk a little bit more in depth about our program, show them some of our, um, athletic resources. On top of that, they’re able to play in front of us and get that kind of exposure that you obviously don’t get, um, kind of that individual, um, You know, just being in front easier than the showcases.

So, um, for us, we definitely encourage young ladies to attend, um, as many camps as they can so they can do their homework on the school. Figure out, Hey, is this a good fit for me? Is it not? Do I like the coaching staff, how they coach? . Um, because at the end of the day, you wanna be at the school if you didn’t play soccer.

Do I? Do? I like that feel. Um, but then you’re gonna be around the team a lot, which we encourage our young ladies to work the camps. Um, cause that helps them learn as well. And then, do you like the coaches? So those are, those are kind of my three prongs of, hey, when you’re looking to make a decision, you wanna be able to, to have those answers pretty.

Oh, that’s 

Matt: great. Well, whether it’s at a tournament or camps or anything else, what’s your kind of hierarchy of things that you’re looking [00:03:00] for in a player, whether that’s on the field or off 

Coach: the field stuff. Yeah, I mean, I learned from, uh, one of my mentors is do you wanna play against them? Right. . Okay. And, uh, that’s kind of when you’re watching on the field, you’re like, oh man, I wouldn’t wanna play against that young lady.

And, um, obviously there are attributes that fall into that category, I think. , um, attribute number one is from an athletic standpoint, um, you’re gonna improve athletically. We’ve seen a lot of young ladies come through our program who are kind of an untrained athlete in the sense that they haven’t really been in the weight room, they haven’t been exposed to that.

Um, so from that standpoint, uh, you know, your vertical jump can improve quite a bit, but once you start to get more trained, You certainly have a little bit of a ceiling when it comes to athleticism. Um, also learned that if you don’t have speed, you’re chasing it. Um, so you, you definitely wanna be able to, um, notice a young lady that that is fast and speedy and not all of them can be that way.

So if you, if you aren’t necessarily fast, it’s, what else can you bring to the game that can separate you? And one of the things that we constantly talk about, really at all ages is, is how comfortable are you on the ball? Right? How is your technical ability on the ball, uh, with your first touch? Are you scanning?

Are you looking before you get it? Do you have a plan? Um, because really at the collegiate level, everybody’s athletic, right? And, um, the next separator then is, is how’s your skill level on the. And, um, that’s a, that’s a big one. Of course, [00:04:30] soccer IQ is the big one. And I think for our program, for me it’s, um, you know, another separator is your mentality, right?

So if you lose the ball, what, what do you do after that? Right? Are you gonna sprint to get it back? Or are you just gonna kind of put your head down and be like, oh man, I made a mistake. Really, really big difference in the type of player in their mentality. So those are the things we look at are. , um, also good teammates, and you can, and you can see that on the field.

You know, are they, are they giving positive energy? Are they giving high fives? Are they communicating on the field? So a lot of those intangibles, um, are just separators at the next level. 

Matt: Oh, absolutely. Well, in terms of recruiting, how much do you guys look into international players and how much has the transfer portal kind of come into play for you?

Coach: Yeah, so I’ll start the international player. Um, you know, I think Colorado State’s a unique spot where, um, the Californians, that’s obviously not international, but um, if they’re gonna get away, it’s, we have the mountains and we have a lake. Right. Well, it’s very appealing also to, um, Canadians, especially Vancouver because it’s a very similar.

Feel, not saying that it’s the same certainly as Vancouver, um, but it just has that draw from an outdoor standpoint. Um, and it kind of an adventure, um, area because you can do, you know, the mountains are two hours away from skiing. Uh, we have a reservoir 10 minutes from here that everybody goes paddle boarding, wake surfing.

And then of course we have the foothills of the Rockies where you have any number of hikes that you like, you love, [00:06:00] there’s trails everywhere. So if people like that, so I think that’s a draw. So from an international standpoint, um, when they see that type of terrain, they’re like, oh, this is, this is kind of a cool spot.

Um, so for us, we’re not, um, shying away from any opportunities to bring any young lady from anywhere. Um, they can’t specifically talk about the players that we have, but Sure. You know, across the board of New Zealand, Australia, I think they’ve been developing their, their young women, um, and their leagues, which has been great.

Obviously Europe is pouring more money into, um, the women’s game, which is, um, allowing for some of those young ladies to come over the Scandinavian islands. I mean, that’s, it’s so for us, Um, obviously we need to do our due diligence. Check out the video, make sure hey, we’re, we’re vetting as much as possible.

Because as much as it is a risk for them to come here, obviously it’s a risk for us to take them, um, because we want them to come and make an impact right away and kind of bring that international flavor, uh, that I think is really good for our American culture. Um, as you see in the N W S L and even in the World Cup, um, just the differences.

Um, uh, the next, the next part is the transfer portal. Uh, in short of the Wild, wild West. I think there’s like a thousand in there now. Um, and so, you know, for us and, and being a, um, new head coach here, it’s, um, you know, it, it’s actually been a great resource for us. Again, you really wanna do your due diligence cuz why are they leaving, um, when are they leaving?

Also matters. And especially with new transfer, um, portal rules. [00:07:30] Um, you know, you just, you just gotta be careful. Um, but there’s certainly some young ladies that I think it really helps, um, that hey, they have two, one or two years left. Those are more of the ones that we’re targeting, um, um, really that just wanna play.

And they were at good programs and maybe. , they’re a good player, but maybe they were just behind a superstar, right? And they just never really got that chance. Those are certainly the players that, uh, we’re looking to pick up. And it’s every day you’re looking at the portal and, um, reaching out. And just as you do in recruiting, you’re casting a big net, right?

And, um, you know, that’s, that’s what we encourage the young ladies to do is, Hey, you know, you gotta reach out to people. And then as it starts to narrow down, then um, hopefully you’ll get the right fit. 

Matt: Yeah. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school, um, just in case folks aren’t familiar with Colorado State.

You mentioned the, the fantastic location I’ve driven through once, uh, once or twice. But, uh, what are some other really cool things that you found? Uh, that’s a really good draw that’s, that’s great about Colorado State. 

Coach: Well, I’ll, I’ll give you a little backstory. My husband’s in baseball and whenever they have a, uh, opening day, um, it’s like a big deal in baseball and not as much in, in soccer.

So, uh, my first ever, um, opening day gift, uh, that he got me cuz it was, you know, for soccer, uh, was a longboard. . And, um, just to kind of give you an idea, that’s really our campus, and I’m not a long boarder. I’ve never grown up on a skateboard . Um, I feel really cool that I actually have one. Um, but it just kind of gives you an idea of how campus is set up, that you can go, [00:09:00] you can longboard through our campus.

It’s a, a biking campus. There are paths all through campus. Um, it’s, it’s basically one square mile. Um, so most people walk ride bikes, longboards. And then the crazy people have those one wheel, um, little machines that fly by and it’s like, you gotta look both ways. Uh, you’re gonna get hit. Um, but from that standpoint, just very outdoorsy community.

Um, you know, the a the athletics are all in, in kind of one general area, and then the academics are in another general area. Um, so it just makes it really easy to navigate from that standpoint. You don’t feel like it’s too large. It’s, it’s definitely like a medium, um, style campus. and then the town itself.

You know, when I first got here, I was actually pleasantly surprised at, um, you know, I didn’t know a whole lot about Fort Collins in general. Again, I think there’s like 180,000 people. Um, but we do have like a Lululemon, a Torchy’s tacos, uh, you know, one of those nice dine-in movie theaters, which for me, you know, those, that checks the boxes there.

So, um, and, and again, the, the fun part, I’m, I’m a lake person. You know, 10 minutes away we have a horse tooth reservoir, which is a seven mile lake. Uh, a lot of our players love to go out there, get on the paddle board, um, you know, kayak, uh, boats, everything. So you kind of get the best of both worlds of, hey, like let’s go hiking and there’s tons of hikes.

We can go biking. Uh, for miles and miles on the Putter River, you can do, uh, whitewater rafting, which is [00:10:30] nearby. . Um, so, so really if you’re like an outdoors person, and, and the best part is the sun shines about 300 plus days here. So although we’re sitting in winter and I’m looking at snow, uh, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and, um, you know, 36 degrees doesn’t feel, uh, like 36.

And I feel like I can say that coming from Texas. So , um, you know, I was, I was pretty fearful for the first year and I just said, you know what? I’m not gonna talk about how cold I am. I’m just gonna wear 15 layers. Uh, and sure enough I acclimated over time, so 

Matt: yeah. I feel I, I feel the opposite, but the same down here in Florida, you know?

Yeah. So, I, I get you. Well, can you, I know you just wrapped up your season, but can you walk me through what a typical week, uh, you know, big picture would look like for a player in terms of when’s practice, their classes, meals, travel for games that kind of. . 

Coach: Yeah. You know, and going back to my, my glory days, um, I think part of being a student athlete, um, is, is embracing the structure, right?

And it, it’s all about time management. And I think, um, we’re human beings and, and we love routine, or at least most of us do, or at least we do well in routine. Uh, so, you know, in the competitive athletic season, which for us is fall. . Um, Mondays are typically the day off. Not everybody does Mondays. Some, some other schools do Tuesdays, but we do Monday’s day off.

Um, Tuesday, Wednesdays are, you know, essentially preparation days for game Thursday. Um, and then Fridays are, you know, obviously recovery day, Saturday, [00:12:00] preparation for Game Sunday. And so within that, depending on, um, you know, we particularly trained in the afternoon because that’s kind of the time that we play.

Um, and it also worked better with everybody’s schedule. So depending on how. The roster sizes, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle to figure out, hey, who, who, you know, who has classes when, especially when they get into their junior, senior year. The class options just start to get more limited. And so we really don’t want people to miss.

So, um, they would go to their classes in the morning. obviously eat lunch. And then, um, our training time started at two o’clock and it’s typically a three hour time block, which includes film on the front end, um, just from a teaching perspective. And then, um, you know, finish, um, around five, if not before.

Some people maybe had a class at five 15 or five 30, and then they go home and eat dinner and basically hit repeat. So obvious. If we had games on Thursdays, we’d travel on Wednesday and then you’re gone for the whole weekend, uh, because of the Thursday, Sunday schedule. So that certainly made it challenging for missing, missing schools.

And our conference changed just this past year, from Thursday to Sunday. Uh, was Friday to Sunday. Um, so obviously just, uh, you gotta be organized from a, a school standpoint and be on top of your stuff and, um, you know, so many, um, institution have, have resources to be able to help young ladies with that, which is great cuz it’s a lot.

Yeah. No, that’s, that’s 

Matt: awesome. Well, you, you mentioned a second ago about roster, managing roster size. Is there an [00:13:30] ideal roster size that you’re trying to hit each year with? 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, for us, yes. And, and I think every school, um, you know, has certain parameters or stipulations. Um, you know, my general rule of thumb is it’s really hard to keep the bottom, you know, third of your roster happy because ultimately, um, their role isn’t probably what they want, meaning they’re not playing a ton or, or getting any minutes.

Right. . Um, so the bigger the roster in my opinion, the harder it is to, uh, manage. I think somewhere around the mid twenties is kind of a healthy range, uh, because you have to account for injuries as well. And, and that’s why at the end of the day, everybody on the roster has significant value, whether, um, they think so or not and whether they’re playing or not, right?

It’s when you go into a team environment, you have influence, positive or negative. So really trying to, um, teach young. You know, life lessons of when you get out into the working force, you wanna be that person, um, on the workforce or in the team of wherever you’re working in whatever your company, that people are excited that you’re gonna be on their team, not, oh gosh, here comes Susie.

Like, who knows how she’s gonna be. So those are the lessons that I think, um, when you, when you have a smaller roster, um, you’re able to manage that a little bit better. 

Matt: No, absolutely. Well, can you talk about your staff? How big is it? What role does everybody. 

Coach: Yes. So I have, uh, three staff members and that includes a volunteer coach.

Um, and then we obviously will have a athletic trainer, so that’s not included in our strength coach. [00:15:00] Um, we all, you know, I think again, a lot of institutions have nutritionists, so we have that as well. Um, just kind of those external resources that, um, help everything run right. Um, but within my immediate staff, um, I’ll have an assistant coach, um, shares.

La Chappelle Hansen, uh, she just got married, so I gotta change that in my brain. . Um, she actually played for me at Texas, um, and had been in the coaching ranks in high school for Texas and d had done really well. Um, so I was able to steal her away from there and she came with me on board right away. Um, and coach is anywhere on the field, which is awesome cuz she has that versatility.

Uh, and then my, uh, other recent hire, he’s not quite been here for a year. Josh Perham. Uh, he’s our goalkeeper specialist coach. I think it’s really important, um, this is just my philosophy and having an actual goalkeeper coach on your staff, um, because it’s such a specialty position. and if you don’t have a good goalkeeper, um, that’s makes it really tough.

Um, so for me it’s, it’s, um, they’ll get a significant work. Um, and especially in the spring, obviously in the fall they’ll be implemented into our team training a lot. Cause we’re, we’re preparing for games way more. But, um, uh, Josh works with the goalkeepers and then also additionally, uh, the back. . 

Matt: Okay.

Awesome. Well, can you talk a little bit more about your specific style of coaching and the team’s style of play? 

Coach: Yeah. You know, our style is to win, um, , you know, I, I, I kind of, I say that [00:16:30] lighthearted, but, um, you know, ultimately that’s why I was hired. Um, the game’s been really good to me personally in terms of checking the winning column.

Um, I’m a big believer in the process. If you do the process right, the winning’s gonna take care of. Um, you know, at our program, um, our staff goes to work every day and we talk about our three Cs. Um, that’s character, culture, and competitiveness. And character is, you know, getting the right young lady in here, um, right fit, uh, for us and is gonna do the right things on and off the field.

Um, from a culture standpoint, uh, culture is simply how you treat people. Um, relationships don’t stand still. They’re either moving forward or backwards, and obviously we. Um, really implement a culture, a positive culture where, uh, young ladies, uh, know what it’s like and, and how to treat their teammates.

And it’s, it’s so big because our sport obviously is a team sport. Um, but ultimately you, you’ve gotta take care of yourself first so you can be good teammates. So really educating young ladies on that. And then the last one is competitive. , it’s, um, for me that’s the fun part of coaching and, and kind of why you play is you get to compete and, and sharpen your edge and, and develop and grow and, and push people.

And at the end of their career you can just see how much they’ve grown because of that competitive environment, um, that we put them in. So, um, you know, I think from a playing style philosophy, I think every coach would say they’d love to play like Barcelona. Um, you know, at the end of the day, we wanna have an attractive band, uh, brand.

We don’t wanna just [00:18:00] smash it. That’s kind of one of the things our staff’s been, uh, Lightly joking about, because certainly there are times when you need to be direct. Um, but we wanna be direct with a purpose. You know, I think at the end of the day, um, if you can get the ball in behind right away, why wouldn’t you do that and create a one versus zero or one v one environment?

Right. Um, you know, I think the second piece is, um, if you can’t do that, just be purposeful on possession, um, and have players on the field that can, um, be decision makers. Right. And, um, I don’t wanna have robots and, um, I want young ladies to recognize what the defense is doing. How can they exploit them based off of their skill and um, their teammates around them.

Um, know what kind of runs need to be made based off the situation. So those are the types of things that we’re training, and it takes time. I think that’s the thing. You know, this past season, um, wasn’t, definitely, wasn’t the results we were looking for. We had eight ties, I think we’re a couple ties off the record

Um, but that’s what happens when you’re gonna get rid of, um, you know, the golden goal. Um, I think we saw that across the country. There were far more ties. Um, but at the end of the day, like from a positivity standpoint, I was happy with the brand of soccer and how we were improving. And again, just, um, our young ladies growing in and taking those concepts and principles that we’re trying to implement, um, within how we wanna play.

No, that’s 

Matt: great. Well, coach, you’ve been generous with your time. I appreciate it. Always end these the same way. And that’s what didn’t we talk about. What else is there that you want folks to, to [00:19:30] know, whether it’s about the recruiting process, about the school, about your team, or anything else? I’ll leave you with the last 

word.

Coach: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I think at the end of the day it’s um, You know, I’m very privileged to be in this position and very grateful for the opportunity. And as I said, the game’s been really good to me. And, and at the end of the day, it’s about, uh, managing these young ladies to help them become strong women so they can, uh, be leaders in the in.

In the real world, as we say. And, um, I think that’s, that’s the, uh, legacy that we’re looking to leave here at at Colorado State. And a lot goes into that, and it’s hard, it’s challenging. Um, but if we do the process the right way, then as I said before, the the winds are gonna, are gonna happen. 

Matt: That’s great.

Well, coach, we wish you the best of luck this off season in the recruiting process and look forward to seeing what you guys do next season. And if you’re at the Coach’s convention in Philly, January, please swing by the table. Love to meet you in person and wish you the best of luck. Great. 

Coach: Thanks Matt.

Appreciate your time. Thank you.