Fresno Pacific University Men’s and Women’s Soccer – Coach Jaime Ramirez
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Ramirez from the Fresno Pacific Men’s and Women’s Programs in California. We talk about the high percentage of recruits that come to train with the team beforehand. Coach also the community of people on campus who truly care. Plus, we discuss their extensive staff that cover all areas of both teams. Learn more about Fresno Pacific University Men’s and Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Ramirez out at Fresno Pacific. Welcome coach. Thanks Matt. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for being here. You know, talking before it’s great. Of course, the soccer world is two degrees of separation, uh, I think, as I’ve mentioned on this podcast before, and one of my good buddies is, is out there in the Fresno area and you know him real well too, which is great.
So it’s great to talk to you and, and. You’re gonna give us some unique perspective. One, because you’ve been out in that Fresno area for a long time, but also you are the director of soccer there, meaning you’ve got your hands in both the men’s program and the women’s program. So we’ll get to hear a little bit of perspective on both sides of that, which is great.
Um, so we’re talking here, it’s June 10th, uh, when we’re, when we’re speaking. And, um. As a division two program, both men’s or women’s. Just outta curiosity on your timelines, are you, are there still a couple 20 fives that you’re closing and on? Are you guys done and [00:01:00] dusted? You’re, you’re on the 20 sixes fully, or what does that look like for you guys right now?
I.
Coach: Yeah, I, I believe that with the new format, um, with me as director and a couple of us, uh, we’re associate head coaches now, they’ve been promoted to, uh, to head coaches and a handful of staffers that they brought in this year who has been phenomenal for both of our programs. Um, our recruiting has been nonstop and we’re pretty much done for 25.
We’re already. On the list of 20, uh, you know, 26 and, and some 20 sevens, you know, that we can identify locally particularly, and as you very well know, I mean with, uh, with the media and, and communication being what it is right now, we’re getting bombarded with, uh, you know, 20 sevens, 20 eights.
Matt: Uh, yeah, because, because it, now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the, the change was made now where in division two, you can make phone calls now [00:02:00] before that June 15th date.
Right? You just can’t have the visits. Is that how that works now? Um, I believe
Coach: so. Yeah. Uh, I believe so. I’ll, I’ll, you know, the, the, the ever change in legislation of the ncaa, I mean, we get an email every month, uh, telling us, uh, you know, how things are changing. And, uh, a lot of it is driven by, uh, division one, uh, legislation and, and proposals and those kinds of things that take place.
And, and so we’re just, uh. Every, every week waiting to hear from our director of compliance, um, in terms of any of the changes that take place. And I know we have to adhere to them, but, uh, no, I mean, I, it is, I mean, we can, uh, you know, can contact kids, you know, the unofficial visits are always there, you know, for kids to, to come and make and bring their families, et cetera.
And, uh, you know, the official visits, uh, uh, in their senior year for one training, 48 hours, uh, on campus, all that kind of thing that, that’s still in place.
Matt: Well, speaking of that, I mean, how, how, you know, I think [00:03:00] there may be some misconception out there as to how, how often that happens. So just gimme an idea.
Uh, let’s say your incoming class of 25, either both on the men’s and the women’s side, how many of those players came for an official visit trained with the team, which is that unique Division two, you know, uh, allowance there. So, so how, how many of your, of those classes did that?
Coach: Well, I can tell you that uh, on the women’s side, 80, 85% of them did.
Yeah, we had a lot of kids on our campus and, uh, you know, a couple of ’em, it, it didn’t work out, but, uh, it was so important for us to have, uh, the entire family come and get the campus tour. You know, we have our student athletes give the, the campus tour, which is fantastic because they, they know the layout of the campus.
They know the ins and out of, uh, dormitory life cafeteria. You know, the social aspects of, of the campus. Um, either the training, the training was the training. A couple of ’em, uh, did a great job and some of ’em were a little more nervous than [00:04:00] others. Um, and, um, you know, it, it worked out really, really well for us to be able to do that.
So yeah, a lot of ’em did. On the, on the men’s side, we recruited locally, and I would say locally, uh, the 90% of the kids that we brought in. Um, are gonna, are gonna be on the, on the roster this fall.
Matt: Okay? Wow. All right. Um, one thing I think I was not expecting when I looked at both the men’s and the women’s rosters there, was it, it was not.
International heavy. Yeah. There’s some sprinkling of international players then, but you know, these days D two especially, you know, gets a lot of, a lot of run on the international side. So, so are you guys really focused on the, the, the local and California markets or is it just, just happenstance that this is a random year where maybe there wasn’t a large international presence on the roster?
Coach: Well, the, the, the international presence. Culture is [00:05:00] gradually changing in some programs, you know, with, uh, um, community colleges being strong, uh, here in California with uh, um. MLS next programs, uh, the ECNL academies, et cetera. We’re getting a lot of kids that are very talented and, uh, they’re not costing us as much as international players.
And traditionally for us, we’re not like some of the Midwest schools or at some point, uh, the Alliance internationals, you know, the hope, um, um, up, up, not hope in national, sorry. Um, um. Poll names up in, in the Bay area, um, where they had, you know, 14, 15 internationals. Ours has been, uh, sprinkles. In fact, my, my national runner up, uh, teams have had three or four international.
Pinpoint the high schools here in the Central Valley [00:06:00] of the kids that started and there were six to eight of those, um, you know, locally. And so that’s been our tradition. Uh, yeah, some years we’ve had, uh, 5, 6, 7 internationals. It’s worked out that way. But never as heavy as some of the Midwest schools, the south, or even some of the east schools.
You know, we went to a number of years ago to Ohio to play R Grande NAI Power. We were still in NAI program, and I think the only American kid on the team was the goalkeeper. And maybe, and maybe not, but, uh, they were all international and, you know, and we fared well, I mean, I had two, I had two international players, you know, Mari Nunes and Pablo Campos, who, who were very, very good.
And, uh, you know, we happened to have, uh, gotten the, the win at their place. But, uh, uh, and then we saw them get the national tournament, you know, and it was even a better result for us at the national tournament. And, uh, and, and they, and they have beaten us, they’ve beaten us in 2003 in the national championship match.
[00:07:00] And in that, uh, squad in 2003, I only had, uh, three international players. One of ’em happened to be the national player of the year, but, uh, that always helps. But yeah, so, so, so, so that’s part of our culture. We’re, we’re Central Valley heavy, and, and that’s our focus. And, uh, you know, sprinkles of SoCal Kids, Norca, NorCal.
Um, every once in a while we get a kid out of, out of state that’s interested in joining us and, you know, we’re certainly open to them, uh, you know, coming in and doing that. We’re getting some from Arizona, some from Utah, Idaho, that kind of thing. But, uh, just sprinkles here and there too.
Matt: Okay. Well. Whether it’s, you know, NorCal, SoCal, local E-C-N-L-M-L-S International, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field?
Coach: Well, I, I think, uh, it, it’s, uh, it’s fair to say that, you know, we want kids that are academically strong. We want them to be academically strong. Yeah. We, we, we obviously looking for ballers, right? And [00:08:00] those. You know, they, they, they’ve got five to 10 opportunities to go somewhere. Um, and we’re gonna just get in line.
Um, and a lot of these kids that are, that are playing, uh, you know, E-C-N-L-M-L-S next, et cetera, um, you know, they, they, they, they’ve been fed, uh, information about D one, D one, D one, D one, and, and the reality is that, uh, in many cases, and you know, this, we’re just as good as they are. We’re just as good as they are and whatever prestige falls, uh, on the D one programs, you know, we get it, we understand it, but, uh, we know that what we have to offer here in a small, private, uh, faith-based institution, um, as far as the education.
As far as the academic goes, as far as recognizing that for the majority of them, it’s a means to an end. We wanna get them their degree, we wanna get them to have an experience, we want to get them to, to battle and to, and to, uh, you know, prepare themselves to make that, uh, that dress up roster on [00:09:00] home, uh, you know, dates.
And then to, to make that travel roster, um, you know, and, and, and try to, try to do what the NCAA division two, uh, uh, slogan. The motto is, you know, life in the balance kind of thing. You know, let’s face it, we’re gonna get sprinkles two or three kids that are gonna go to the next level, you know, USL one, USL championship.
Maybe MLS is getting harder and harder now, you know, to, I mean, we are so international, uh, now with, even with MLS now that, uh, the domestic kid. It’s gonna be a little more difficult to, you know, to do that. We have a, a local kid that, uh, that happened to, to do really well. Uh, max Ted, uh, um, yeah, came out of, uh, out of high school here, I think, went to immediately, I think went to San Jose Academy, San San Jose Cooks Academy.
And then before you know it, he was in, uh. Uh, where was he? Uh, Columbus. I think it was Columbus. Yeah, he was in Columbus. Yeah. Yeah. Columbus. And then I think he, the one cup. Mm-hmm. If I’m not mistaken. And [00:10:00] then he’s on the national team starting left back, I believe now. Yep. So those are the exceptions.
However, they, they are the little carrot that’s dangling because everybody wants to be a max. Yeah. And, and they feel like it’s, it’s D one is, is is the way to go. And it’s not necessary. We just signed a kid, uh, last year to our local professional team here at Fuego that was a junior for me, and he says, Hey coach, I know I’m gonna finish my degree and I wanna be a pro.
So he ended up signing. And so that’s, uh, uh, those are some of the. The realities that we face. Um, and the fact that yeah, and it’s a small, private, faith-based institution, we can still get players, uh, into the next level, uh, if, if they have the ability.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s great. Well, you mentioned roster. Is there a roster size that you guys are, are trying to hit with each team each year?
Coach: Uh, no. No, because, uh, let’s face it, I think something that, uh. That is fair for us to say and to be honest [00:11:00] with, is that we’re, we’re a tuition driven institution. That’s the, that’s how we operate and it’s our goal to help the institution by recruiting, recruiting kids. We’re, we’re open and honest with ’em to say, Hey, it’s gonna take you a couple of years to, uh, you know, to develop and we’ll help you in a, in every way, any and every way we can.
Knowing the percentages of kids that are actually on rosters at the national level, being, uh, so low that we do pick and choose which kids are we going to. Give them the opportunity to come here and be honest with them about waiting out a year or two. Um, yeah, there are those kids that, uh, are a rarity, a freshman that’s gonna come in and get significant minutes.
Right? Because they should, I mean, they’re 17, 18 years old, you know, and that’s been proven around the world. The more and more these days that those kids can, can compete and if they can compete at the pro level, they can compete at our level. And so, uh, we’re, [00:12:00] we’re, uh, we’re looking at those kids. Um, in fact, the, the, my two top players right now, uh, gonna be seniors, came in as freshmen.
One of them local outta Lindsey, California, and the other one came out of, uh, hope Academy here out of Coalinga via, uh, Brazil. Um, he, he, he spent a couple of, a couple of years, uh, in, in American school here. And from the get go, you know, they probably have gotten in recent years, the most minutes since they were freshmen and now, and now they’re, they’re arguably the top two wingers in, in, uh, in our conference.
Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, let’s talk more about the school. Um, you know, you, you’ve been there a while. You got some great insights for us. So what, what is it that you find is, you know, awesome about the school? What stands out? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going to the website.
Coach: Yeah, I, I think everything that we advertise on the website manifests itself in people.
[00:13:00] Um, and we have a fan, fantastic professors, uh, people that, uh, that care for individuals care, care about, care about changing lives. Um, yeah, our, our, um. Professor to student ratio, we advertise that. Uh, but the reality is that in that, in some cases, I think if we’re 16 to one, in some cases, you know, eight to one because of the majors, because of those kinds of things.
And so it becomes. More of a seminar lecture, more of a uh, uh, you know, small group, one-on-one kind of a thing where, uh, you are not lost in a crowd and you better pay attention or you know, or you do pay attention because. You are in that, uh, more intimate personal space to where the subject matter becomes, uh, um, uh, alive, so to speak.
Right. And I’ve been, you know, I’m a, I’m a professor also. I teach in the kinesiology [00:14:00] department and I get groups of eight and I think some of my biggest classes were in the low twenties in, um. And in the PE methods class for, uh, uh, liberal studies majors. And so, um, you, you just don’t see that. And, uh, I’ve heard it.
Uh, I, I, I speak at the local clubs, um, to parents, uh, in the recruiting process. You know, we, we do seminars, you know, for them and, uh, we bring individuals from outside and they talk to us about, yeah, you know, the first time I know individuals, young, young men and women that have gone to college. And they’re in the lecture hall with, uh, 200 kids.
And sometimes you don’t pay attention when you’re, when you’re lost in a crowd of 200 kids, you know? Uh, which by the way, you know, it, it, it is my understanding that, uh, you know, and because I’ve been there, I went to, uh, Cal State la I went to Fresno State, took some classes there to finish my degree here, Fresno Pacific.
And you, you, you still have a responsibility to pay attention, [00:15:00] but it doesn’t compare to that individual. Um, attention that you receive from professors here and staffers, whether it’s admissions, whether it’s financial aid. I mean, if you, if you have issues with your, uh, with your scholarships, uh, with your grants, et cetera, you know, you can just walk down, you know, under yards to, uh, you know, you don’t, you don’t have to go.
A quarter mile, half a mile down, uh, uh, in another department, uh, like in some places, you know, to, to get to the place you, you, you, you need to go. Um, and so getting, getting that, uh, that familiar personal touch by every staffer, uh, on campus, even though you know, this mat, we are in the, um. Technology world, social media, et cetera, that has separated us a little bit more from the, the [00:16:00] personal contact because of the kind of campus that we have.
Uh, we still, we still practice a lot of that and it’s, uh, it’s wonderful to see our, our, our students, um, and student athletes. Um. Be more relational with various groups within our institution. And I think, I think that’s a plus.
Matt: Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the staff. You mentioned it a little bit at the beginning, but you know, you said it’s a, it’s a somewhat of a unique, uh, setup there now with you as director of soccer.
So talk to me about both staffs, men and women. Who all is involved? What role does everybody play? What does that look like?
Coach: Yeah, on the women’s side, we have coach, uh, Roberto, uh, Hernandez. He is the coach, the head coach now, and, and I hired last year when I, when, when I first took over, it was, uh, director, head coach.
And associate head coach. So, you know, they were helping me out and I went out and recruited a staff. Uh, you know, I have a [00:17:00] wonderful, um, a gentleman that has been with me probably nearly 30 years since I was, since I started a, uh, a club, a youth club program here on our campus, um, back in the, in the mid nineties.
Carlos, ADA, uh, he’s been my assistant. He’s been a techie, a recruiter, uh, runs sessions when I’m not there, you know, goes to convention with me, goes to, does recruiting, uh, for me. So he is been sort of a jack of all trades, uh, you know, for, you know, for me. And, you know, he’s, he, he is a strong part of our staff on both programs, so he helps with that.
I had to go out and recruit a goalkeeper coach, and you know how hard that is. Uh, these days, goalkeeping expertise, it’s hard to find. And so I found a young lady that, uh, was here in town that had played at, uh, was from SoCal, had played at, um. Um, Morgan. Morgan, um, Lark is, is her name. Uh, she had played at Fullerton.
She had a little bit of professional soccer here in the US in Europe, [00:18:00] um, was running, uh, along with her husband Miles. I was running a, uh, uh, private camp, uh, type of instructional, uh, academy. I contacted her, I said, Hey, you wanna be a, a college coach? Yeah. She joined us. So she’s our go, uh, goalkeeper coach now.
Her husband is gonna be one of our, uh, uh, technical development, uh, uh, coaches for, for the women. And um, and then we have, um, we have another gentleman that, uh, that helps us with, uh, match analysis. You know, he’s, uh, coach Nester. He’s gonna be coming in and, um, and helping us out with, uh. With scouting of our opponents, you know, doing those kinds of things.
So, you know, coach, uh, Hernandez has done a good job of bringing it together, a solid staff and one of our current grads, uh, um, uh, a young man by the name of Kevin, uh, Clawson, just finished our, our men’s program. Uh, he, he has to do his, uh, his, he has to [00:19:00] teach here in the area. Five years in a low income school because he got a grant to pay for his teacher ed program.
And so he’s asked to be a volunteer coach. So we have a, we have a wonderful staff, you know, with, uh, on, on, uh, on the women’s side of, uh, of coaches. And, and as you very well know, sometimes it’s not easy to manage staffs. You can have a lot of people helping you, but you also have to, uh, have to align yourselves.
And the good thing about, about this is that a number of us come from this program. So we understand the culture of the university. Uh, we understand the game, we understand the, uh, the principles of play, the philosophy, the mission and vision, uh, of the institution, that we can transmit that to the, the new coaches that are coming into, uh, to the institution and, uh, and in turn have more, more, uh, individuals that are transmitting that to the players as well.
And so that’s good. Um, on the, on the men’s side. A new young coach from our area, Cameron Roki, who was a [00:20:00] CIF, uh, central section champion for a number of years here, uh, at a Clovis North High School, one of our local powerhouses of, uh, of soccer here. And, uh, um, he joined, uh, our staff, um, well liked, well respected, and immediately his impact was felt with the recruiting, the recruiting of, of the local players.
I mean, it’s almost like, uh, um. Jaime Ramirez 2.0 because he, you know, he’s a young guy. He’s the young guy that is in, in, he was in that culture right now. I was doing more recruiting, you know, and, uh, I did some high school here, uh, you know, as well, a number of years ago. But, uh, but he, he was, uh, uh, he’s well connected, and so he immediately brought in a handful of guys that, uh, that made us, uh, contenders again, you know, uh, COVID and post COVID.
Uh, you know, we, we had, we had a, a good. A good COVID season. I thought that if, uh, you know, we won the North pod, I think I thought if we would’ve played the Southern pod and the Hawaii pod, uh, little [00:21:00] three team tournament, uh, you know, to, to determine the conference champion, it would’ve been very interesting.
But, uh, um, but post, post COVID, ID. You know, we, we suffered a little bit. We, we, we didn’t get the results. We were playing really well. We just didn’t get the results. And I think with this change and with the help that, uh, that we’re getting from, from Cameron and his staff, he brought in a, uh, a young man who just finished his professional career.
Um, Vian, BJ and Ilian played, uh, I mean, he was the first, uh, 18-year-old signed, uh, um, by Liverpool, Liverpool Academy. Um, and went and played professionally in Europe and then came back and played in Portland, I believe. Played in San Jose, played for Sacramento Republic. And then, uh, I signed up to play for Fresno Fuego.
I don’t know if you knew this, but I was the Fresno Fuego coach for the first four months. You know, I went in there to put the program together and then I said, okay, you guys take it and I’ll, uh, I’ll go back to the [00:22:00] university. And, uh, and he, he played the first, uh, a couple of years with them. Super good friends with, uh, with, uh, Cameron Roki and, uh, you know, since their youth and, you know, came on to, on staff and, and you know this, when you have a young, uh, former professional that, that still can get in there and mix it up, that that talks to the kids.
The kids listen. Yeah, the, the, the kids listen, man, because it, that’s, that’s what they want to be. And, and I’m a believer of that from, from my days as an assistant coach. When I first became an assistant coach, I just finished playing for the, uh, Los Angeles, a aspects of the old North American Soccer League.
And my coach says, okay, you’re gonna show them everything. I’m gonna tell them what to do, but you’re gonna show them, uh, the way it was done in LA professionally and. You know, two national runner up, uh, finishes, uh, later, you know, it made sense to me that that was the model. So I did that with my brother and I did that with my son [00:23:00] Orlando, and I did that with, uh, with others, uh, uh, and in the past.
And I believe that model, that model works. And so Cameron’s doing a great job of bringing in that. And we just hired a, a former, uh, um, all America professional goalkeeper, uh, turned pastor. Um. Here in, uh, uh, in, in, in our area. And, uh, and I think, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s gonna be great for, for our goalkeepers as you, like I said, goalkeeping.
Goalkeeping is, uh, it, it’s a difficult, uh, area to, to recruit in the country. Um, in the country. And then, uh, and so we’re, we’re excited about, uh, about that by the way. We, we brought him on because, um, uh, our former goalkeeper Froy, uh, just got, uh, signed with a youth academy Goalkeeping of, uh, New York Red Bull.
Um, who’s, who’s coaching direct, uh, goalkeeping director there is Jeremy proud who graduated from Fresno State when Fresno State dropped the [00:24:00] program in 2003, and he played for me with the very, very first Fresno Fuego. Okay. Um, and so anyway, I mean, you know, it’s kind of full circle kind of a thing, so,
Matt: yeah.
No, I mean it’s, it’s, it’s a very. Extensive and diverse staff, that that covers a lot of ground, which is great for both programs and kind of having you with your hand in both. That just makes it even better. Well, coach, by the way, our,
Coach: our current goalkeeper coach Ryan Kenny, uh, Ryan Kenny was, I think he was on the.
Youth, uh, national team programs, you know, those kinds of things as a goalkeeper. Uh, fantastic, fantastic, uh, uh, young man and, uh, eager to help, uh, help this program. So,
Matt: no, that’s terrific. Well, coach, really appreciate it. You’ve given us a bunch of information here on, on the school and the programs, and I’m, I wanna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for anybody going through this recruiting process, man or woman, uh.
Trying to play at the next level. What, what would that [00:25:00] one piece of advice be?
Coach: Uh, be honest with yourself. Be honest with yourself about your ability and, and be prepared to take your game to the next level. In terms of commitment, you know, we’re allowed 20 hours a week to train. Um, I don’t know how many kids are putting in 20 hours a week right now.
Um, you know, that’s, that’s four hours, five days a week. Some are. Some are, and we know who they are. But if, if, you know, if, if you’re putting in eight, if you, if you’re training three times a week, you know, with your club two hours and you go down and kicking around every once in a while and you, you still have talent and ability, imagine what you could be if you’re out there every day kicking a day off.
I always, I always encourage kids, you know, I direct a club here and I mean, I talk to them. You know who wants to be a pro? Everybody raises their hand, right? You know, who wants to go to college? Everybody raises their hand and yeah, you get all, you all get to go to college. By the way, everybody goes to [00:26:00] college in this country that wants to, but can you play?
And so put the time into it and, and be honest with yourself. If you put the time into it, you can make a case for yourself.
Matt: No, it’s, it’s great advice, coach. Well, hey, I really appreciate it. Thanks for the time and, uh, hopefully, uh, I’ll make my way out there to Fresno someday and, and we can, uh, meet face to face.
All right?
Coach: Absolutely, man. Coffee, dinner, whatever, man. And it’ll be announced, I promise. Okay, man.
Matt: All sounds appreciate the time. Sounds. Thank you. All right, man. All the best.
