Georgia Gwinnett Men’s Soccer – Coach Steve DeCou
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach DeCou from the Georgia Gwinnett Men’s Program near Atlanta. We talk about how he looks at culture and character when recruiting. He describes the location and size of the relatively new campus. Lastly, we discuss the staff and their roles. Learn more about Georgia Gwinnett Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Steve from Georgia Gwinnett College, welcome coach.
Coach: Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. I’m excited to talk to you about school, just, just outside Atlanta, right? Are you guys, uh, I think up near Lake Lanier. Is that correct?
Coach: Yeah. We’re in the Northeast suburbs of Atlanta. So if you know Atlanta up I 85, exit 106.
Matt: All right. All right. Well, I’ve driven through it many times and, uh, and at least that northeast part. That’s that’s the really nice part. That’s what they say. Unlike the traffic in downtown. We’ll skip that.
Coach: But, uh, we won’t talk about traffic.
Matt: Anyway. Um. Well, you know, we’re talking here middle, middle of November. You kind of just wrapped up your season. And one of the questions I know recruits are always asking is at least during the fall, how, how much are you actively recruiting while you’re in the middle of the season?
Coach: Recruiting has to be as a head coach, your, your best trait. So to me, it’s a 24, 7, 3 65. Um, do we communicate with guys? All the time, not exactly, but it’s 1 thing we’re always working on. And so, like, this year’s class, we’re, we’re graduating 13. and so we’ve been, um, even more vigilant with our recruiting, trying to make sure that we’ve got guys in place for the spring to kind of continue on with the culture.
As well as getting the guys in for the fall, uh, but no, it’s a, it’s [00:01:30] a, it’s a, like I said, 24, 7, 365, you’re always working at recruiting as a college coach. That has to be your best step. Your best skill for sure.
Matt: Well, so I’m guessing you’re, you’re, you’re going hard here on the class of 24. Um, when, when is your goal to kind of quote unquote wrap up?
The class in terms of, uh, having it mostly mostly done, because obviously there’s always exceptions that come in later on. But but in terms of, do you have a goal for when you’re when you’re trying to close it out?
Coach: Yeah, by April 1, that gives you time to get guys through the admissions process through the eligibility center.
And it allows some, you know, in case there’s any setbacks or issues, you’ve got some time, maybe to go to plan B. Um, we actually had, this was about 2016, we lost a couple of guys in July and we’re able to get a couple all Americans in. So, it’s not how you want to go through preseason on the phone with the admissions the whole time, but it can happen.
But in an ideal world, it’s April 1, then you can focus on the team building the preparations for that season.
Matt: Well, and, and you’re lucky being an NAIA school that you don’t have that same, you know, June 15th of junior year restriction that, that a lot of the, you know, the division one, two schools have. So are you, how much of your current recruiting is class of 24 versus looking at 25s, [00:03:00] 26s, et cetera?
Coach: I’d love to say that we’re ahead of the curve and are already into the 25s, 26s and 27s. But at our level, and I think it’s with guy soccer in general, um, I start to hear. So, like, the 20, the 24th, uh, we started to hear from them basically in the spring of their junior year. Uh, we’ve been in contact with some guys, um.
That’s the local player, the international player. We’re just hearing about them now for the coming fall or even for the spring. And so it just depends which, um, grouping we’re dealing with is when we hear from them. Um, when we do go to ECNL games, things of that nature tournaments, I can go talk to the 25s, 26s, 27s.
I can go talk to a U9 player if I really want and I don’t have to worry about it. So it’s kind of some of the advantages we have.
Matt: Yeah. Well, you mentioned international. And when you look at your roster, folks can see that it’s pretty heavy on that international side. So how, how does your international recruiting work?
Are you doing that mostly via video? Do you have, are you lucky enough to be blessed with a budget that allows you to go overseas? Or, or what is that kind of dynamic and how you choose domestic versus international?
Coach: Um, we would prefer all domestic, but if we’re going to try to win a national championship, we’re finding that some of the best local players are either one getting picked up by professional academies now, or they still have the dream of going division 1, which if you’re capable, by all means, do it.[00:04:30]
We’re able to get being an NAI school. Um, and if you have a 2. 3 GPA, you’re automatically eligible a lot of these international kids because the academic and athletic piece are separate. They don’t necessarily have some of the best grades coming out of high school, and we’re able to step in and give them a platform to get their education and play at a high level.
You kind of look over my shoulder, you can see the jerseys, the white one right there, the number 9 crim to Mimi. Was the first team all American for us this last year got signed by Atlanta United to he did not have the grades to play in the NCAA. And so we gave him that platform. And so, um, yes, we do have the budget.
Uh, we do get overseas because talent is 1 thing, but we highly value culture and character. And so I want to be able to look a guy in the eyes. And figure out if he’s going to be a good fit for us, because I can watch on a video and see if he’s got the talent, but is he a guy who’s going to come in and he’s going to work hard and be a good citizen off the field.
That’s as important to us as as the talent and so we try to travel. It helps when your assistant is from Dublin and the flights are pretty cheap when we can get him home. But, um, you know, we’ve I’ve sent my assistants to South America, Africa, Europe. We’ve been all over. Um, it is 1 of the perks of the job.
I love to travel, but we want more local guys because those are the guys whose [00:06:00] parents and friends and family are going to be sitting in the stands. They’re going to be the ones who tend to want to donate when they leave. But we’re just looking for guys who want to be here. Have a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
Um, and, and are good footballers, but good people and good students because, uh, we’ve got a story. 1 of our best ever captains came from Germany. He barely was eligible in the, but he graduated magna cum laude was just a picture of what you want a Georgia student athlete to be. And it’s not because the school is easy.
It’s just because he was motivated. He worked hard and got the job done.
Matt: That’s awesome. Well, in terms of when you’re recruiting domestically, kind of what are the places you like to go, the tournaments, uh, et cetera, that you’d like to see to look for players,
Coach: I’ll be honest, Matt. Um, Up until this past year, we just stuck to Atlanta.
I mean, one, there’s enough talent within my backyard. I mean, some of the best club teams are within a stone’s throw of our office. And so we would get out to ECNL games, the old DA games when that was going on. Um, I’ve had players that are currently working for, or have played at Atlanta United, uh, in some form or capacity.
And so we’re, they kind of help us out with, with regards to that. One of the changes this past year, and the reason I said why things have changed is, uh, any state now that borders, Georgia, it’s in state tuition. We’re state school. And so you’re talking about an 11, 000 [00:07:30] decrease in the cost of tuition. So, when we look at what we need now, I’m able to, um, spread the net a little bit further because I found.
Back in the day days, or we’d go to Disney, we’d go to IMG. I was watching Georgia teams. I’m like, why am I spending all the money to drive? Okay. Yes. It was to go to Florida in January or December can be nice. Uh, but why am I going there to watch the local kids? So we make sure that we just try to get out and through our network of coaches in the club world, the Juco world, we’re just hitting Atlanta.
Okay.
Matt: Um, well. I mentioned we’re down here in Florida. I’m I live, uh, that, that Stone’s throw from, from premier soccer, which I’m sure you’ve been to a number of times. So we’ve got Georgia Gwinnett on my daughter’s potential is because of that 11, 000 tuition knocked down. That’s for sure. But, uh, yeah, for sure.
Well, what about ID camps? Do you guys host your own or do you or your staff work other people’s camps? Are they part of your recruiting process at all?
Coach: Yeah, we’ve not gotten our ID camps off the ground where they want to be that’s on the to do list, but you also got to understand our programs. Only we just finished our 12th season.
And so I just find it’s easier right now to go out and work. Other people’s camps. We hit a lot in the metro Atlanta area. Uh, we do some in the surrounding regions, whether that’s we do go to some division 1 camps. We go to some club camps that they put on their ID stuff. We get out to put our name out.
Um, yeah. I just find right now it’s a little bit easier, but that is on [00:09:00] the, uh, to do list for down the road.
Matt: Gotcha. All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I’m sure there’s folks not familiar with, with the college. Um, you know, you’ve been there for, uh, I believe you started the program, right?
10, 10 years ago as first head coach. So what are some things that you find are really awesome about the school? Some really good stuff that maybe even we wouldn’t know by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, college was founded in 2005, so it’s still got that whole new car smell to it. All the buildings are new.
Our department, the athletic department was founded in 2012. We are not your typical NEI program. In that we’re in a suburban setting. We’re quite large enrollment. This fall is 11, 900 and change. Now, when I worked at other institutions, how I would recruit against that, I was like, yeah, but you’re just going to be a number.
Nobody’s going to know you here. Class sizes are average between 25 and 30 students a class. So you get that small, intimate feel where I’ve had professors reach out to me this semester talking about players. Some have been positive. Some have been we need to help so and so with doing more work with regards to that.
So you get that personal feel to it. Um, but then it’s also the large school and you’re in a great area. We’re in the suburbs of Atlanta. So you’ve got everything you need within walking distance of campus. You’re, you know, [00:10:30] without traffic 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Atlanta with traffic. It could be 3 days to get there.
Um, that is 1 of the problems. Um, but. It’s it’s a school that has been set up to, you know, help students succeed. And so the professors here, they’re not about the research. It’s about the teaching. Um, we’ve got a great administration here. That’s allowed us to do great things. It’s growing. We’re in the process of building a convocation centers.
We’ll be adding sports. We’ll be adding to the atmosphere on campus, whereas a lot of schools in the state have had dwindling enrollment. Ours continues to grow. And so, uh, cost is very cheap. Um, in state tuition and fees for the years, less than 6, 000 dollars. And so that’s 1 of the big selling points. We have is the way the economy is today.
Um, we’re able to help all different families achieve the goal of getting that college education. And with some of them, we’ve got examples with some of our players that we’ve been able to change the dynamic of a family. Had a player on the very 1st team, um, if you live, if you live at home and you’re full pal and hope a lot of the educational lottery money, this guy made money.
He was got a check from the school every semester. His parents were originally from Mexico. He started once he graduated with his business degree, started a garage and was able then to sponsor his parents so they could get their citizenship. [00:12:00] Now his little brother is in school, or I think maybe just finished up.
Um, and so we’ve changed the dynamic of a family based on a college education, not just one, but the whole family for generations. And so that to me is one of our, that’s better than any championship. We’ve won any games we’ve won. We’ve been able to go through this, to be able to help affect positive change in the community.
Matt: No, I absolutely love that story. Awesome coach. Well, as you mentioned, the, the academics, right, is, is a key component of, of the college process. Uh, not just getting to play soccer. So how do your student athletes really manage the balance between the demands of playing a sport and the demands of the classroom and what support systems does a school offer to help them with that?
Coach: Yeah, the school offers it’s called the academic enhancement center. It’s a tutoring center that’s always available on campus. Professors will have tutoring sessions available. What I found is probably best is the team. So, an upper class business major is going to one help the younger guys. Which professors to take because not everybody is on board with missing classes for, for travel or games or whatnot, but then they also help each other.
They tutor each other. And they’re, they’re probably the biggest support system. Um, I’m not a firm believer in study table because I, in life. You don’t have people coming behind you all the time, pointing you in the right direction, [00:13:30] telling you what to do, forcing you to do it. You have to learn to be able to manage yourself.
Now, having said that, when we do know that somebody’s coming in or struggling and maybe need some help, then we point them in the right direction. And so when we get those. Key moments, maybe midterms, and we’ll see a class isn’t where they need to be, or we know somebody’s coming in who maybe isn’t one of the best students, then we’ll put a plan in place for them.
But our goal is that after your 1st year, so you’re able to manage yourself, um, for the last 5 years, we’ve, we’ve received the, the, the team academic award. Or team GPA over 3. 0. So not bad for a bunch of guys who run around and get smashed in the head with soccer balls. Um, and for a guy’s team, that’s exceptional.
But it’s not because of this great plan we have in place. It’s we’re just constantly encouraging them to, um, as we say to win. And winning is not just on the field. It’s in the classroom. It’s be the best you can be. It’s winning in the community. It’s, you know, getting out doing community service. So, um, we want them to be adults who can manage themselves.
And so the school has ample opportunities available. You know, we’ve got the faculty athletic rep in the department, our assistant AD for internal ops does a great job of helping set up things being a sounding board. And so, um, because of all those processes and plans we have in place. On top of guys, you just got to get out and do it yourself.
That’s what we’ve been able to have such great success.
Matt: Well, let’s, let’s take it back a couple of [00:15:00] weeks. Assume that we’re in the heart of the season there. Can you walk me through what a typical week would be, uh, look like for the players in terms of when classes are meals, practice game cadence, all that kind of stuff,
Coach: um, about six or seven years ago, we changed our practice structure.
We used to train in the afternoon and I found that. Sometimes guys, class attendance was not what it should have been. And so we switched it over. We trained at eight o’clock in the morning. So you get out of bed. The first thing you’re doing is you’re rolling into the facility. You go in, uh, we have training.
You do your, you know, get yourself ready for the day. You get onto the field, you have your 90 minute session, a couple times a week in the fall, we’ll have a lifting session. So by 11 o’clock or noon, you’re done with the football side of things. Then you can move on to the rest of your day. Academics, maybe a part time job, things of that nature.
We tend to play on average. One to two games a week, uh, midweek and a weekend. And so, um, all those are obviously excused absences. And we’ll, you know, depending on how far we’re traveling, uh, we have gone places, you know, we flew out to Iowa before. We’ve flown to Denver. Um, we try to keep it pretty much though our travel into the Southeast so that we’re not missing as many classes.
Uh, but now with everything going online, you can, you’ll see guys on the bus, you know, doing homework, turning things in. Uh, you’ll get to the hotel and guys can, you know. Take care of their classes with [00:16:30] that. So that’s just the change we’ve had since coven and I like it in some ways and dislike it and others, but, um, that’s a typical fall.
We’ll start about August 1. they’ll come in for preseason. The national championship is, let’s just say that for Saturday in December, so you could be going for up to 4 months straight. Then we’ll come back, classes will start June, sorry, January 8th. Um, we’ll start lifting a couple weeks after that and then in February when it’s not so cold in the morning, you know, it’s in the 40s, then we’ll jump back outside and that’s one of the enjoyable things we have here in Atlanta.
We can train outside on the turf field year round we don’t have to worry about. I’ve been in places where you know you’re shoveling snow off the field to try to get a session and we don’t have to deal with that. But then it’s you know through the spring you’ll play three scrimmages. Um, and then it’s summer, you’ll have a summer lifting program.
And before you know it, your four years are done.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. It flies by. Um, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team and the soccer side of things a bit. Um, you know, we talked recruiting and you said you got 13 graduating. Is there a roster size? That you feel is ideal that you’re kind of trying to hit each year.
Coach: Uh, somewhere in the 24 to 27 range. Um, like a lot of NAIs, we do not carry a JV program. We do not have a second team. I’ve done that before, uh, at other schools. And that’s one of the great things I have here is I don’t have to. Um, so managing that many guys [00:18:00] this last year, we had 31. But that was knowing that I was losing such a massive class.
I wanted to try to get on the, on the front foot when it came. So I wasn’t going to have to replace all 13. And so, uh, we brought in a little bit larger of a crew. Um, and so that’s kind of where we are with that now.
Matt: With when you’re managing all those players, you gotta also have a good staff with you. So can you tell me a little bit more about your staff?
How many folks are there? What their roles are? What other kind of maybe support staff that, that you have that are part of the team? Oh,
Coach: yeah. So I have one full time assistant. Uh, he’s been now with me almost eight years. Um, he’s my right hand man. He does an unbelievable job. I have, then I’ve got, let’s see, four volunteers.
Uh, one of them has been with me for 12 years. Um, he’s actually the chaplain with Atlanta United. And so he’s kind of our character coach and he was an all American striker. He played professionally indoor. So he, his job actually is extra practice player. Uh, he’ll work with the forwards, but if we ever need somebody else to jump in, he’s the first one to grab a bib and do it.
I’ve got a goalkeeper coach who’s a volunteer local club coach. Um, I have a former player who’s finished. He’s kind of as an O. P. T. So it’s that after you graduate, he’s an international. They get that 1 year to work. He works with a local club team, works in the business side with that with coaching and then is helping with our strength and conditioning.
And then I have another guy who’s local who just, yeah. [00:19:30] Wants to get involved with coaching with college coaching. And so he’s volunteered his time and they’ve done a great job. I mean, uh, three of them have, sorry, two of them have their a license and the others are working on their licenses. So I’ve got great coaches who are experienced, knowledgeable.
There’s days I let them coach and I just manage the bodies and I help, help the guys with that. On the support side, I’ve kind of already mentioned that we have the academic pieces, but we also have, uh, we only have six sports at the school currently, but we have three full time athletic trainers. Uh, so we get great coverage there.
We have the strength and conditioning coach who works, you know, some schools, it’s an ex football, American football guy who sets up programs like that with us. It’s, it’s soccer people. Uh, and so they’re. Workout plans are tailored perfectly for what we need. Um, the only thing I think I’m missing is a director of ops that I’d like to hire and, uh, and a tech guy to, to break down film for me.
So, you know, with ID camps and those two positions, I get that I’m set. There you go.
Matt: For sure. Well, can you tell me a little bit more about the continental athletic conference that you guys are in? It’s a little bit unique, uh, compared to a lot of the other conferences around the country. Uh, so, so tell me a little bit about that.
Coach: Yeah, unique is a good way to put it. Um, I called it something else and got told it’s, it’s just not traditional. Um, so the Continental Athletic Conference, [00:21:00] we’re basically independents. We all have their, um, in the semifinals this year of, of the men’s tournament, you had a team from obviously Atlanta with us, a team from Miami.
A team from Washington, D. C. and a team from Omaha, Nebraska. Kind of difficult to play everybody during the regular season. So it gives us the freedom to go out and build our own schedules how we want. I use that as a positive and that we’ll go play anywhere from five to eight top 25 or ranked or receiving votes teams.
And in a normal year, even if we don’t win the conference, our RPI is so high that we’re able to get into the national tournament. We vote come together in November and that’s where it becomes a conference. That’s your path. To the national tournament, there’s an automatic qualifier the last couple of years.
Uh, we’ve had 2 bids to the tournament to automatic qualifiers this year. We just had 1. so the negative is I have to schedule all basically non conference games. The positive is. I get to schedule who I want. And in some conferences, you might have one or two very good teams and a bunch of teams that are not so strong.
Well, I don’t have to worry about that. I can go schedule, um, all the top five teams in the country if I want to help our RPI grow. So the positive is we get freedom to schedule who we want. The negative is we don’t have a built in schedule like some conferences do. There’s one [00:22:30] that’s a local NEI conference around here.
I think they have 16 teams. We only allowed 18 regular season games. So you already got 15 of your game scheduled every year. And all you got to do is find those extra 3. I’m looking to get on who’s available. What’s what’s going on early in the year. We’re able to do things a lot of like Labor Day tournaments classics like that.
Um, it’s October can be a bit of a. Issue that’s, that’s our challenges is scheduling in October, but I like it personally because it allows us the freedom to schedule who we want and to put together a schedule that can, they can prepare you to win championships because ultimately that’s what it’s about.
Matt: So, how does, and this is more just my own curiosities, how does the qualifying for the conference tournament work when obviously, you know, you might be. Oh, and two in your conference, but 15 and two overall, and somebody might be two and oh, and their conference, but two and 12 overall. So it’s not, is it conference standings RPI?
How did, how did they figure out who actually makes the conference tournament?
Coach: Um, we use the same criteria that the NEI uses for the national tournament. There’s primary secondary criteria. So it’s record. But I might be 15 and two, but I’ve played no one. You might be eight and eight, but you’re four and four against the top 25.
So in the, in the committee’s mind, you give more, but that’s, that’s another, it’s a record against top 25 where you are versus, um, receiving votes teams, uh, where you are in [00:24:00] the MRPI. So the, the, that there’s, there’s, uh, I think it’s like eight different criteria we use. Some of them are like the secondary criteria would be like conference record.
Well, if I’ve played for conference teams, and you’ve played one that doesn’t count, so we use it that way. So it’s not just a popularity contest. There are some countable, the countable criteria that we use that is used by the national office. Everybody knows it when we’re going into the season, and you build a schedule that can help you hit those points.
And that way, then that way, we know who’s available. I’m sorry, who’s going to qualify and. That information is relayed throughout the year.
Matt: Okay. Makes, makes sense. All right. Well, coach, you’ve been generous with your time. Really appreciate it. I always like to end these with one final question, and that is if there was one piece of information, one nugget you wish every parent, player, family going through this college recruiting process knew.
What would that be?
Coach: cast your net far and wide? Don’t downplay based upon division. Um, there are great programs at every level. And what is your goal? If your goal is to become a professional, it can be done from any level. If your goal is to get a great education. Then you’ve got to find the right school for you because there are great fits at every division men’s soccer is a unique animal in that regard in [00:25:30] that in other sports, you have to go certain divisions, but cast your net far and wide because, um, using Georgia Gwinnett as the example, we are a hidden gem.
And I say, we’re the best non power 5 program in the country. We’re 1 of them based on facilities, location coaches. But if you just turn your nose based on the four letters at the end of our name, the NAI, you could be missing out on an incredible experience. And so if you’ve cast that net far and wide, I mean, I’m kind of going through this right now with my daughter.
She’s a junior and we’re looking at a bunch of different schools. Uh, but make sure that, you know, you just find the best fit for you. That is not always athletically related as well, uh, because something could happen and your career could end. And is that a school you could see yourself attending, even if the sports side of things is taken away?
Matt: Absolutely. Couldn’t have said it better. Well, coach, wish you the best of luck, uh, wrapping up this recruiting class. And, uh, if you do make it down here to Bradenton for any of the tournaments we’re hosting, give me a shout. We’ll get together. All right. Will do. Thanks, Matt.
Coach: Appreciate it. Thank you.
