Denmark Technical College Men’s Soccer – Coach John Mills
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Mills from the Denmark Tech Men’s Program in South Carolina. We talk about the challenges of recruiting at a two-year college. He describes the benefits of a technical school degree. Lastly, we discuss their small roster size and his adaptive coaching style. Learn more about Denmark Technical College Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach John Mills from Denmark tech. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Matt: Appreciate it. Thanks for being here. I mean, uh, watch Denmark yesterday in the euros, but, uh, but you’re, you’re, you’re a little bit different.
You’re, you’re down in South Carolina. Um, so You know, we’re, we just hit the old June 15th deadline, which, you know, got a lot of people excited to be able to talk to division one, division two schools. Um, the nice thing about junior colleges, you can talk to anybody pretty much any time, but I’m guessing calendar wise, you’re pretty much just focused on the 25s right now, maybe even trying to close out some 24s.
Uh, what’s your normal kind of recruiting calendar look like in terms of timing?
Coach: Yeah, honestly, I am trying to close out some 24s. I’m probably, um, you know, especially with, I think with transfer portal and, and, you know, the way college soccer is recruiting is going today, I think decisions are being made a lot later.
And, and so for you to go to a junior college and a junior college in our region and at Denmark, it’s probably even later. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s two weeks, two weeks before, uh, and this happened last year. Two weeks before, uh, school starts and I’m still talking to some guys about trying to come.
So I’m trying to close out 24s. Um, really haven’t started on [00:01:30] 25s. My, my recruiting schedule really, I will, I will talk to a lot of guys during season, but as far as going, I mean, just as a time crunch, as far as going and seeing guys. It’s very difficult during that time. Um, and it really starts, it starts in November when, when our season’s pretty much over.
Matt: Yeah, no, that makes sense. But speaking of going to seeing players play, I mean, you’re kind of in a hop head, they’re kind of centrally located between a lot of great, great places where there’s a lot of soccer tournaments. So what are some of the places you like to go, uh, see players? Uh, what are your, what are your must hits?
Coach: Yeah, so with with Denmark Tech, you know, we’re a state school, we’re a junior college, we’re a technical school. We’re also an HBCU. We’re one of nine junior college HBCUs in the country. And so my recruiting is very, is very targeted in a lot of ways. I try to stay in South Carolina as much as I can. And one of the one of the issues that I have is that Um, technical schools have to have certification to get international students.
Didn’t know that when I signed up, it’s a Homeland Security thing. And we don’t have that in, we don’t have that certification. So all those emails that I get from, you know, from Germany and Denmark, well, Denmark, yeah. Uh, but, uh, you know, all these, you know, Germany and, and wherever [00:03:00] else I. I can’t even talk to him because it, I, it won’t do me any good.
So I, I, you know, I do South Carolina United. I do, uh, CISA, which is up in Greenville. I go down to Charleston, a bunch, um, you know, Atlanta, North Carolina. Those are the places that I really hit.
Matt: Do you ever do ID camps? Uh, whether that be on your campus or, or others, or your staff or anybody to look at camps as a place to recruit?
Coach: Yeah. When it comes to staff, it’s me, and it’s me, and it’s me. So that, that’s, that’s the way I, I think a lot of junior colleges go well, and, and me especially, you know, I talk, talk to the guys that I, that I compete against, and they may have an assistant here or there. We are a program that is, we’re gonna start our fourth season, and I am honestly the third coach, and I’m only, I’m the, I’m the first coach that will have two consecutive seasons.
Um, so that that’s that’s been difficult. Just a little continuity has been difficult because of that. Um, but, uh, what was the question
Matt: camps just camps?
Coach: Yes. So, yes, actually, I rely on camps a tremendous amount. Um, I do go to the club camps that are around here. You know, like I said, South Carolina United just had one a few weeks back.
Uh, serve had one back in November and December. Um, I do a camp and I, [00:04:30] I think I do mine just a little bit different. Um, I don’t charge for my camp. Um, because I’m really looking for players. I’m not just looking to fill my coffers. I’m not looking to make a, you know, make a buck off these guys. I’m looking for kids that really want to come to Denmark tech because they’re, they’re kind of few and far between.
And so I want to make sure that they see the campus, they see their competition and, uh, really have an opportunity to, you know, to find out what Denmark tech is all about.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s great. Well, I think a lot of times folks have lost, uh, or they think that coaches have lost value in seeing high school soccer games.
But, uh, how does that fit into to recruiting at all?
Coach: Yeah, actually, I tend to go to a lot of high school soccer. One, I also coach a high school soccer team. Um, in the, in the Lexington, South Carolina area. And so I’m always, you know, my guys on my team kind of get upset with me. Cause I’m always talking to their guys after the game saying, Hey, why don’t you come, you know, I also coach at Denmark tech lunch, come out and see us.
So, you know, I know what my guys can do. Um, so it’s always good to see somebody else, but, um, my wife gets a little, uh, you know, missing me a little bit. Cause it seems like in high school season, I’m gone just about every night. It’s so it’s, uh, you know, I, I do a lot on high school. Plus, I think for us, for Denmark tech, we are a school that [00:06:00] has got to find that diamond in the rough.
You know, I’ve got to find that kid who doesn’t go to the big conglomerate school is not going to a state championship school, but it’s still a solid soccer player. And so I’ve got to go out into the rural areas. And, and look for those, those kids and see, see them.
Matt: No, I get it. Well, you mentioned, um, you know, your state school and all these things.
And I think some folks don’t quite, uh, maybe understand the full, uh, value cost effectiveness of, of a junior college sometimes. So, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but, but give me an idea of what, what it’s going to cost. One of your incoming players. To come to school and get a two year degree there.
Coach: Yeah, so one of the things that’s different between Denmark and some of the other two year schools, like USC Lancaster or USC Union, is that we actually have on campus, those are South Carolina JUCOs, is that we actually have on campus housing. So our prices are a little bit higher than theirs. Just because they don’t add their theirs is just tuition.
Ours is ours is tuition room and board and we’re right at right at 15, 000. Um, so it’s, you know, it by the time you get Pell grants and by the time you get. South Carolina lottery money. Um, you know, it gets down to, and then what little soccer money I have or [00:07:30] anything else, um, you know, it’s a manageable fee for someone.
Um, all too often kids, you know, have been, had been fed a line in that they’re not going to have to pay because they played soccer and that’s just. Well, at least at Denmark, it’s, you know, for, uh, for a local kid. And even if I’m trying to get a kid from out of state, it’s just not going to be true, you know, schools in the end, it’s a business and they’ve got to make their money some way.
And I think small schools, even more so. So they’re, they’re going to get, they’re going to get a few dollars out of you here and there.
Matt: Yeah. Well, that’s all right. That’s still very, definitely very affordable. So let’s talk a little bit more about the school is you’re, you’re coming into your second season.
So, you know, what was it that kind of attracted you to the program? What are some things that you find are awesome about the school that maybe we wouldn’t know about or that we wouldn’t learn from going through the website?
Coach: Yeah, so we are a technical school and, um, that means we have a lot of the, you know, cyber security.
We have a lot of the computer programming, but we also have construction welding and we have this tremendous program for linesmen. We have this whole field where it’s nothing but electrical poles with different, you know, with different setups. I think it’s kind of cool. And so I think I target kids. That know that they’re not your typical academic student.
They want to go and get their hands dirty. They want to go weld. And they know that in two years, they’re going to [00:09:00] walk out of there with a welding certificate or attrition certificate. And in three years, they’re going to be making, you know, they’re going to be making decent money. Um, that’s what I try and sell for them a lot.
Um, you know, I took a, took a kid on a tour the other day, uh, went through our cybersecurity professor. And, uh, and he was like, you know, we just, we just had a kid hired from last year’s class and he’s making 120, 000 at Savannah Riverside. For cybersecurity, and he’s 20, you know, 20, 21 years old. And I’m going, um, where do I sign up for this program?
Because I need to change jobs , you know, so, so there, you know, if, if a kid, you know, the, the idea of higher education has really changed, you know, Mike Rowe , you know, it, it really has. And, uh. I think we’re part of that. Um, the idea of going and getting a trade and, you know, becoming your own owner of your, of your, you know, plumbing business is, is, you know, it used to be kind of looked down on.
I don’t think it’s looked down on anymore because man, I need a plumber a lot, you know, so I think that’s, that’s one of our sales.
Matt: Yeah, no, I mean, I couldn’t agree more. There’s some really great, uh, technical opportunities out there and a lot of them can get you, uh, you know, six figure jobs real quick, uh, especially in things like, like cyber, uh, the welding and the linesman, that kind of thing, so that’s awesome.
Well, let’s [00:10:30] fast forward to the fall. You know, we’re in the middle of the season. Can you walk me through what a typical week’s going to look like for a player in terms of winter classes and practices and game cadence and all that kind of stuff?
Coach: Yeah. So, you know, if we started on Monday, you know, they’re going to have classes on Monday.
We’re practicing Monday afternoon. Um, we tend to have about four, four 30 practices. Try and get them done before the cafeteria closes. So they have an opportunity to eat. There’s not a lot of places to go eat out in Denmark, other than the subway, the McDonald’s and the Hardee’s. So, um, you know, uh, so they need to hit that cafeteria and make sure that they’re, you know, plus they’re paying for it.
So I need to make sure they get their chance to get into the cafeteria. Um, you know, we’ll practice, we’ll have, we’ll have a game Wednesday. Uh, we’ll probably take a day off, you know, Thursday or Friday, depending on what we do. And then we’ll have a game on Saturday. But our practices tend to be, you know, late afternoon.
Um, that’s at least in the middle of the, in the middle of the season.
Matt: Okay. Well, and normally, you know, when, when I talk to a big four year school, uh, we talk a lot about academic support services and, and what, what’s there to help kids through that, um, I’m sure there are some services like that, but it may be a little different because it’s, uh, you know, if you need, if you need tutoring and, uh, you know, Climbing up a telephone pole.
I’m not sure how that works, but, but, but, uh, but just talk to me a little bit about, you know, making sure what the school does to help make sure these [00:12:00] students are successful in the classroom as well as on the soccer field.
Coach: Yeah. So one of the things is we’re very small. We’re 650 students or about that.
And, you know, there’s only really two, two classroom buildings, you know, a number of different, uh, uh, of tech buildings, but two classroom buildings. So, um, we have, we call academic champions. Um, one is our head basketball coach. Um, coach Scipio is a great guy and he just, he is, he’s just always. You know, they all all freshmen have to take his his freshman class.
So he knows them all and sees them as they come in and out of out of the building. Um, he has actually set up a little, uh, a little pantry in the back of his of his room where he’s got, you know, he’s got food and snacks and things like that. Because. You know, there’s a lot of times athletes need a little bit more and, uh, you know, or, or don’t get in that cafeteria because of, of whatever reason.
And so we’ve gotten the opportunity for that, but he’s also there to, um, uh, you know, to make sure that they’re at, at, at classes. You know, and and again, since we’re such a small school, everybody knows everybody. And when I say that, I don’t just mean the professors, but our, our administrators know, know our kids.
And we’ll, you know, we’ll, you know, we’ll be on top of them if they see that they’re not making it out. So there’s a lot of, you know, there’s a lot of fathering and mothering of our kids in that aspect. I guess [00:13:30] that’s a good way of putting it. But at the same sense that, you know, they’ve got to do their own work, you know, and they’ve got, they’ve got to stay on top of it on their own.
Um, that’s part of growing up. That’s part of being a college student. Um, so, you know, there’s just there is other different tutoring opportunities and, you know, academic help. But I think the big thing is just the, the, the family atmosphere, the togetherness that we, that we have there. Everybody knows everybody.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s fantastic. Well, let’s shift gears, talk a little bit more about the soccer side of things. Um, I mean, in terms of the team, obviously you’re, you’re the guy, you’re, you’re the head coach, but, but filling out that roster, is there, is there a roster size that you’re trying to hit that you’re looking for on the team?
Coach: Yeah. So, you know, so last year I walked into my first practice thinking I was going to have uh, 23 players and I had, I knowing, knowing that I had a couple that weren’t going to be there that first day because of planes and things like that. Um, but I had 11 show. I had some guys that just, you know, had actually called me on Thursday and then just never showed up.
And, um, that was, that was difficult. That was hard to take. Um, we ended up with about 15, had a couple more that, you know, that I had one that got homesick and left. And then I had one that was just not academically eligible. So we played most of the season with 13 players last year. And that was difficult, especially because of those 13, the two on the bench.
One was a guy that just came out. I’d put an [00:15:00] open call and he had never played soccer. So literally he’s a college soccer player and he had never played before. Um, you know, and, and God bless him, man. He tried the best that he could, but he just wasn’t a soccer player, you know? And, um, then the other one on the bench was actually a, a brother of two of the other players.
But he was 16 years old. He had graduated from school early and decided to come and play with us as well. And, and, you know, he’s 16 and, and if you know anything about junior college, man, there’s a lot of kids, there’s a lot of internationals that are, you know, 22, 23 and they’re freshmen and he’s 16 going up against them.
And, you know, again, man, I, I was proud of me. He did the best he could 16 years old and he’s kind of slight. I would love to have 24 right now I’m at about 16. Um, I’ve got about four more that, uh, you know, that I still think that I, that could possibly come on. But, um, you know, recruiting, it’s, it’s difficult there.
It’s, um, you know, it’s the, the school is, is in a very rural area. So if you’re looking for city life, if you’re looking for the party life, You know, kids are not going to go there. Um, it’s an HBCU. So, you know, that, that has its own, uh, advantages and disadvantages. Um, you know, the two year school and the, and the, and the technical school also, [00:16:30] you know, kind of, kind of funnels out some other players as well.
Well,
Matt: and, and on that note, on the HBs HBCU side, uh, you know, let’s dispel maybe some misguided notions in the fact that, uh, You do not have to be, uh, an African American, uh, to, to attend an HBCU. Right. The it’s, it’s, it’s open to anybody and there are opportunities, right?
Coach: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, my, my team this year will probably be about a third white, third Hispanic, and third, third African American, which is, which is great.
I think it’s a great mix. And, um, you know, some of the kids that. That are there. They knew that they wanted to be, uh, well, honestly, welding program is fantastic. So they knew they wanted to go into welding and that’s why they came. And it was like, I’m going to play soccer also. So it, you know, that aspect of it is really, is really neat.
Um, no, they, it, it, it is, uh, you know, it’s historically black. That’s what the, that’s what the term is. And so it doesn’t have to be that way. Um, Can, you know, completely. And so again, I’m about a third, a third, a third.
Matt: Okay. Yeah. Um, well. You as a coach kind of talk to me about your coaching style, the style of play you’re looking to implement there.
And, and, and what’s that going to look like?
Coach: Yeah. You know, I, um, it’s funny cause I, a lot of people will have this question, whether you’re going through an interview with that or, you know, your parents want to know what type of, you know, what type of style you have for [00:18:00] play. And man, I realized, especially this year, a lot of it depends on, on your opponent and what the talent is you have.
Um, we had to play a counter attack for the most part. Last year, um, we had to bunker down. Um, there were a lot, you know, a lot of the play was mostly in front of our net. Um, but, you know, so we had to count a lot. Um, we ended up having the leading goal scorer in our, in our region. Um, even though we were a counter attack.
Um, it’s just the way it’s just the way sometimes how the game went. would kind of dictate that. Um, I am, as far as a coach, um, I rely on the guys on the field to help me dictate how the game is going to go. I had one player in particular and, you know, he would just yell over to me and say, we need to change, you know, we need to change out of this formation and, and we do it, you know, and it was, it was because he had the feeling for the game and maybe I wasn’t seeing it.
So I’m, I’m very, um, collegial when that, when it comes to that, you know, I listened to the guys, I listened to their heartbeat a little bit on, on how we, uh, on how we attack things, um, how we approach things. Um, you know, I, as far as the coaching, I, you know, I [00:19:30] think the biggest thing is just developing that relationship with, you know, with those players.
So they feel comfortable in, in talking to me in that way. You know, there are a lot of guys, a lot of guys out there, and I probably would have been one that I would have never told the coach. Hey, you know, this guy needs to come off or, you know, or we need to go, you know, we need to change formations. I never would have told coach that, you know, but that’s, that’s the way I was brought up and that’s the time period that I came in these guys, they have opinions and they have, and they have knowledge.
I mean, honestly, my guy, Drake, man, he was, he was a coach on the field. He’ll be a great coach. So, yeah.
Matt: Awesome. Awesome. Well, coach, I really appreciate your time and, and insights. I got one last question for you, you know, uh, as a, as a college coach, what advice, what, what one nugget would you want anybody going through this recruiting process to know as, as they go through their recruiting journey?
Coach: Yeah. I think the thing that I tell people is, um, one, like you said earlier, uh, off screen was, uh, you know, don’t, don’t burn those bridges. And, you know, don’t burn those bridges cause you never know when it’s going to come back to you and burning a bridge could be not returning a text. You know, there’s so many times I, uh, I text kids and it’s, you know, I just want, you know, want to know what their thoughts are and, and I don’t hear back from them and that, you know, maybe that’s, that’s today’s kids, but, um, yeah, just don’t, don’t burn that [00:21:00] bridge.
Always respond. Um, I think that’s the, that’s the biggest, biggest piece of advice I would give to someone’s make sure you’re responding.
Matt: Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck as you wrap up your class and good luck this fall season. All right.
Coach: Great, man.
Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.
Matt: Thank you.
