Green River College Women’s Soccer – Coach Keith Bleyer
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Keith Bleyer from the Green River College Women’s Program in Washington state. We talk about the benefits of a junior college including a small roster. He describes the school’s unique degree programs including the ability to get a 4-year degree. Lastly, we discuss their core values of grit, respect and commitment. Learn more about Green River College Women’s Soccer.
[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Keith Bleyer from green river college up in Washington. Welcome coach
[00:00:09] Coach: Matt. Good to be here. Um, we’re, we’re literally on the opposite corners of the United States of America and soccer brings us together.
[00:00:16] Matt: That’s right.
[00:00:17] I mean, uh, at least in the, in the lower 48, we couldn’t be much farther apart, but, uh, but luckily, uh, technology helps us do that. Right. Well, uh, so green river is, uh, a junior college program up there. And, and when did you get the position?
[00:00:33] Coach: I got the position just over a year ago. Okay. I had a, I had a grant total of two players on the green river college women’s soccer team at that point.
[00:00:42] Um, they had been decimated primarily by COVID right. Uh, there was one full year in which every team in the NWAC, the Northwest athletic conference really good junior college conference up here, um, was shut. And, you know, that, uh, had a massive impact on a lot of these, uh, junior college program, uh, green river.
[00:01:02] I wasn’t the coach at the time, um, opted out of the second year, uh, just because they wanted to, uh, lean on the side of safety. Um, and they were fully online as a student body, so they didn’t feel like athletics fit in. Um, and a couple of the schools in the NWAC the majority of the schools, quite frankly, played it played, uh, after that.
[00:01:23] Year where they shut down. Uh, so, um, when you have a two year program mat and you don’t play for two years, How many players do you think you have ? Um, I was lucky to have the two that I had. Um, one was, uh, a student determined to go to green river college. Cause it’s a very good academic junior college. We call it the Harvard on the hill, which might be a stretch, but not by much.
[00:01:47] Um, and then the other, the other player, um, was, uh, committed to green river college and pretty good at track. So she ran cross country, which is a sport that did get back after one year, um, of COVID. So the first thing I had to do was get my butt out on the recruiting trail as quickly as possible. Um, and, uh, I spent, you know, the better part of eight to 10 months.
[00:02:10] Thankfully I have a lot of connections in the club game because I’m a director of coaching for a club up here. Um, and, uh, my favorite place in the world is a soccer sideline. So, um, I just brought my little, my little stool, unfolded it and sat my butt down as many matches as possible. I did drum up attention and support.
[00:02:31] Um, and lo and behold, 23 players came on board. Um, and you’re literally texting me on the, uh, the Eve of our very first max in three years. We got a friendly tomorrow. Yep. And, uh, just got off the training ground with the group. They’re really excited about it. Um, I have no idea how good we’re gonna be.
[00:02:52] none whatsoever. That’s okay. I honestly, Matt, I don’t care. Yeah. I mean, I really don’t care at this point. You’ve got kids who have, um, taken a leap of faith. They’ve thrown themselves into a program with a new coach, um, and they’re all aboard. Uh, and you know, we’re gonna be about meeting a standard, not about winning and losing, although they, you know, they go hand in hand in a lot of instances.
[00:03:15] But, um, I told the girls when we all got together in our first meeting, I said, this is a two year experience that you signed up. And, um, we’re gonna take it one step at a time, but tomorrow tomorrow’s a pretty big one. And I, I will admit to that first training section, you know, when you go from two players and then you start tapping shoulders and handing out your card and making phone calls and taking kids on the tour of the, the campus.
[00:03:40] And, you know, next thing you know, you got 23 when you roll the balls. On that first day, I got goosebumps, you know, and we’re just a tiny little junior college in the east side of Seattle. We’re nothing right. But, um, pretty big deal. So we’re excited about what, what lies ahead and, and, um, it’ll be, uh, a learning experience for me as well as it has been players.
[00:04:02] Matt: Well, not to, and not to jump too, too fast forward here, but you know, one of the most difficult things about being a junior college program is you you’ve gotta reload twice as much as a typical four year. Right? So moving forward, you know, I guess what is your, your plan of attack in terms of how you recruit?
[00:04:20] Are you getting inbound contacts from students? Are you, you know, are there tournaments? I mean, obviously you’re at D C so you’re at tournaments kind of anyway. How does it all look in terms of your recruiting process and what it’s gonna look like moving
[00:04:32] Coach: forward? Well, it’s tricky for me, first of all, because again, I had to bring in 23 players.
[00:04:38] So what do I do next year? Right. Do I bring in another 23? Obviously I don’t, I’m committed to keeping a fairly small roster. You know, some NWAC schools have over 30 players on their roster. Uh, my son is part of a division two college program. That’s got 30 players on the roster. So, um, when I got to 22 or 23, I decided I needed to.
[00:04:57] Or else they’d have to reinvent the squad every few years. Right. Um, so that’s, that’s something that I’ve really gotta kind of manipulate and, and navigate. Um, I won’t bring in a bunch of players next year. It’ll probably be between seven or eight and the odds are that one or two that we have with us will we’ll move on after a year.
[00:05:15] Um, but it is, it is harder, you know, that’s the, one of the things when I reached out before I took the. To a couple of my coaching colleagues. They said you’re constantly recruited. I mean, you’re constantly looking for the, for the next player, but isn’t any, any college coach, you know? Um, I, I kind of look at it that way.
[00:05:33] Um, yeah, you have to hustle a little bit more because you know, it recycles every two years. Um, but you know, I think once we reach the tipping point in bringing in this first. Um, I could then start to target specifically, um, positionally, what players do we need? Um, can we be a little bit more creative about what we’re doing, um, to, I think address one part of it, Matt is who do we bring into green river college, right.
[00:06:01] And anybody who’s interested in our program, number one, they want to be in it for the two year experience. And let me tell you what the positives are for that. You’re gonna get on the field right away at a junior parish. Um, you may not be a starter right away, but any. Of any, any ethical level I believe, uh, needs to get kids on the field in their first year.
[00:06:19] If it’s only a two year experience, we all know what the reality is. Kids sign up for a big four year program. No dis. But those kids, some of them don’t see the match field until their junior year. Um, that’s not the case with us. Um, and it won’t be the case even in, in, in year two. Um, so kids want to, uh, get on the field right away.
[00:06:39] Um, maybe that’s what’s next best for them, um, academically as well. Um, kind of that smaller class size and that slower step forward, a kid who wants to commute from home, that’s a big deal. Um, we do have an on campus apartment. And 16 of my 23 players are all living together as roommates, which is, I think fantastic from a bonding perspective, but we’ve got kids, I would say 80% are from within 40 miles of the campus.
[00:07:06] And then I’ve got a couple kids from Vancouver, Washington area, and a couple one from grants path, Oregon, one from Anchorage, Alaska. Um, so it’s, you know, I think the longer I’m in the job, the wider, I want to pass that net. Just because it, it opens a bigger player pool to you.
[00:07:25] Matt: And, and so, you know, again, a lot of folks are, you know, maybe unfamiliar with, with the junior college process.
[00:07:32] But when, when you’re recruiting, uh, a player, you know, what, what are some of those, uh, specific attributes, whether they’re soccer related or off the field related that. That are, you know, gonna be the ones that really help you sign a player versus, you know, the kid who’s looking for that, you know, D one experience and whatnot.
[00:07:54] So what is it that you’re looking for when you’re bringing in players?
[00:07:57] Coach: Um, good question. And, and I want start, what I think is the most important point for any young player looking to play college soccer, um, or anybody who wants to. Go behind the scenes a little bit, just because we are a junior college does not mean you can slide in with any old GPA.
[00:08:19] Okay. Um, now the reality is I could bring in a player who has a high school GPA of 2.1, but, and, you know, Not everybody has to be this way, man. I’m not gonna waste my time doing that. Um, because I believe you’re probably setting that player up for failure. They may not have enough time management skills.
[00:08:38] Maybe they need to focus on academics alone. Um, so when I went out. You know, the first question I asked any prospect was, what is your GPA? Now? The beauty of it is it doesn’t have to be 3.9. You know, you don’t have to be in the, uh, the top 2% of your class and have, you know, a list of extracurricular activities that rolls off the edge of the table.
[00:08:57] Um, but you’ve gotta have a GPA of above three in my mind. And that was kind of my barometer. So the first thing as I did is I is I wanted to, I wanted to make sure that we were bringing in players that could succeed academically, um, that have already kind of proven that they’re, they’re up for, you know, the all encompassing experience that is being a student athlete.
[00:09:16] Um, second thing is, and this is what probably gets me more excited, excited, um, is, you know, I get to find the hidden gem, you know, I get to find the players that aren’t on ECNL team. Okay. I get to find the players. Who do not have eight, 12 minute videos on YouTube because their dad has invested in a multi-thousand dollars camera, uh, by himself and has shot every single game of that child and put together highlights and listen, you’re talking to a soccer dad who has edited highlights for his own kid, right.
[00:09:52] My kid was ready for the four year experience and maybe was playing the game, you know, knew how to play that game aside from the game, um, which, you know, quite frankly, You’re lucky if you are that. So I’m looking for, you know, players that are maybe on the second team at a big club, the top team of a community club.
[00:10:13] Um, and we even have two or three players who didn’t play a lot of club soccer just cuz it wasn’t available to them in their community. But my goodness, I went and watched in high school soccer match physics, not a lot of college recruiters go to the four year schools for sure. I would go to high school maxes and I would watch, um, so I get to look for those kind of.
[00:10:30] Um, and we got a few of them and it makes you really excited, um, to watch them, to watch them blossom the last piece in terms of their profile for the player that we, that we we look for, um, is maybe that player that’s missing, just that one thing, whatever that one thing might be, and we can develop that.
[00:10:49] So I’ll give you an example. Um, athletic competitive sees the game really. But wasn’t in an environment where they got the technical repetition to the point where they could, they, they, they have mastery of the ball, right? So over two years we can help ’em with that. And I do not believe in those coaches to tell you that the kid, once he turns 13 years old, you can’t teach him to trap a ball correctly anymore.
[00:11:13] Uh, I think that’s rubbish now, you know, There are golden golden eras and golden, uh, ages there where I think you, you maybe get more advantage, uh, or more, more gain than, than another. But, um, another example too, Matt would be, um, a player who, um, maybe has. The technical ability like nobody’s business, you know, can bring the ball down every single time beautifully, uh, can turn in all kinds of directions can hit a good pass, seize the game really well, but athletically isn’t the standout, you know, and with all due respect to the best club teams I’ve ever seen, and the most successful ones, I’ve post a few of them.
[00:11:54] They got a lot of good athletes on those. You know, they can, they can stretch you and they can win that vertical foot races and those things. Um, I’ve got, you know, half of my team are the players who maybe aren’t quite as athletic, but they’re darn good soccer players and we could help ’em with that athletic piece.
[00:12:13] Um, and everybody in our program, I asked the first, the first question I ask after, what is your GPA say? Do you wanna play college soccer? Do you want to, what are your goals? We wanna push every player who wants to move on to a four year. We want to get them there. Um, but they have to have the desire too, you know?
[00:12:30] And the reality is that I think it’s something like two or 3% of kids who play club soccer, move on to the college game. So they have to have that desire and they find out real fast. If they’ve got enough of it.
[00:12:41] Matt: For sure. Well, the, the last question, uh, I want to ask you really for on the recruiting side of things is, you know, a lot of times the, the it’s the money that, that comes down to it, you know, in terms of, of parents and kids and junior college generally is a, uh, a more affordable option for folks.
[00:13:00] Um, so what is the overall. Tuition financial aid, academic athletic type of money situation at green river. Look like I’m not holding you to, to exact dollar amounts here, but just gimme a rough idea of, of what someone will be looking at.
[00:13:16] Coach: Funny. You asked me that question a year ago. I’d go. I have no idea, uh, crack course for me.
[00:13:23] Um, and, and I’ve enjoyed it and I can answer that. Pretty comprehensively. Uh, the first thing is yes, most junior colleges are very affordable place to go to school. Um, and the beauty of green river college, as an example is you can’t play four years of college soccer here, but you can get your bachelors here.
[00:13:43] We have four year programs and you can get a bachelor’s degree for less than $20,000 total. Okay. Uh, right now, you know, our tuition is just over $4,000. The last. Um, and, you know, compare that to the division three school that’s recruiting you that cannot give you any athletic aid. And their tuition is $55,000.
[00:14:05] You know, again, I’ve got all kinds of wonderful colleagues that coach in those programs and they would tell you that’s a, that’s a, a hurdle for them. Um, so that’s a great selling point for junior college is that affordability piece. Um, and then we have the apartment complex on campus that isn’t that much more.
[00:14:23] Let’s say you’re a kid from Bradenton, Florida, and you fall in love with green river college and you want to contact me and you don’t have a place to stay. You can get up here and you can go through a full year, um, of college soccer, getting on the field, staying in an apartment complex with teammate, working on an associate because it’s two year degree or a bachelor’s, which is a four year degree.
[00:14:48] And you can do it for about 10,000 bucks a year. Now that’s before. Few athlete or with what we call tuition. So every school’s a little bit different and there are limitations in our conference. The N w but I can give, I can give free tuition waiver to each student if I want to. Um, we have, um, a certain amount of those, but there are a lot of our players that are on free tuition waivers.
[00:15:12] It takes off about a thousand dollars from their tuition, which, you know, I’m not an expert at math, but I. A thousand off of 4,000 is 25% right there. Um, and then we have additional athletic, a too, um, that is of a certain budget every year. And I like to do it mad on a need basis. So we’ve got kids that can afford the $4,000.
[00:15:34] It’s not gonna make, ’em go bankrupt. Um, or their parents, I think more accurately. Um, but you know, you have the kids that express to me, you know, I’ll give you one example. We have a player whose, uh, father is a disabled. Um, and so they’re a single income family in a, in a pretty small town in Washington, and we’re helping them as, as much as we can.
[00:15:58] So, um, we don’t necessarily do full rides at green river college, but if you really need it, we can get pretty darn close.
[00:16:05] Matt: Okay. No, that’s great. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. You know, the old, uh, Harvard on the hill there. I, I went to Harvard on the Hawking, uh, for grad school there at Ohio university.
[00:16:15] So I’m, I’m, I’m familiar with, uh, with those great slogans. Are those the Bobcats?
[00:16:20] Coach: Yes, sir. Yep. Yes. Okay. My other job was sports broadcasting, so I had to know all the college mascots there for a while. Yep.
[00:16:27] Matt: Yep. That’s us some action. Uh, but anyway, so, so gimme some, some good insights. I mean, you’ve already done a little bit, you know, that you have bachelor degree programs there.
[00:16:36] That’s, that’s awesome. You know, but what are some of those, those really, uh, great things about your school that maybe I’m not gonna find just by clicking around the
[00:16:43] Coach: website? Yeah. Um, Well, the first thing is, you know, just the quality of the education. Um, it’s been known for 30 years to be one of the top junior colleges in the area.
[00:16:55] And sure, every coach is gonna get on here and say, you know, we’ve got a great school and you, you know, um, we’ve got everything that you. You need to thrive academically, but it starts with a small class size. So I think that’s a big deal. You know, my daughter is just, just finished her freshman year at the university of Michigan and she’s got a class of 400 people, right.
[00:17:13] So you’re not gonna find that at green river college, you know, you’re gonna ha find smaller classes, you know, that 10, that 12 to at most 30 to one ratio, which I think is, uh, a big deal, um, beautiful campus with all kinds of brand new classrooms. Um, New building. Uh, and then yeah, you can get on green river.edu and you can look at all the programs that are, that are offered.
[00:17:38] Um, as I mentioned, I think it’s 12 or 13 bachelor’s programs. So that’s, um, those are the four years. Um, and then you have associate degrees, which are the two year programs and they automatically transfer a lot of those directly into some of the, some of the four year. Um, just a couple programs that are really popular at green river aviation is a big deal, um, Boeings around the, around the block, right?
[00:18:02] Yep. Um, so anybody who’s interested in Aero science or having anything to do with aviation, it’s a great place to go. Our nursing program is very strong. Um, that’s been a popular one with our students. Um, and then we’ve got a couple fun ones like criminal science, you know, I got one, one player that tells me I want to be an FBI.
[00:18:21] Um, and, uh, this would be the first step for her, but I would also say that, you know, the general education that you receive at a two year school is a big deal. It can translate, or it can transfer to basically anything you want to do in year three and year four. Um, but I would just encourage students to do their homework.
[00:18:39] Right. And let’s be real. I’ve had, I’ve had players I’ve I would’ve loved to have join us. And they’ve said to me, But I want, I want to study this and I look at our list and I say, ultimately, we don’t have that exact, um, uh, discipline for you. So maybe you consider something else and we’ve lost players because of that.
[00:19:00] Um, and that’s okay. Um, because you want them to be somewhere where the academic experience is just as important as the athletic one. Um, can you as a player, picture yourself at that school without soccer. If you can picture yourself at that school without soccer. And that’s a place you can strongly consider.
[00:19:18] Yeah,
[00:19:19] Matt: no, the for sure. Um, well, so obviously you said tomorrow is the first, uh, the first match there for you, but can you walk me through what, what a typical week for a player would be during the season in terms of wins, practice, winter classes, you know, what, what else is there that they need to be doing kind of the, the whole day in the life of, but let’s, let’s go for a week.
[00:19:43] Coach: Yeah. I mean, That’s uh, yeah, that gets me excited, you know, um, uh, what the experience will be for our players. You know, we’re just getting through with our preseason and, uh, this just end preseason is a little bit more intensive than once you get into the rhythm of play. Um, our kids are walking around funny.
[00:20:04] the ones that, the ones that didn’t do the preseason work, um, the pre preseason work are the ones that are walking a little bit different than the others. Uh, but yeah, we. We’re fortunate. Number one in that, um, we have a soccer complex, uh, that’s about three miles from campus. One day we’re gonna have our own field.
[00:20:22] Um, so we have, you know, kind of, uh, right of first refusal with that location. And so we get to train when we want to, um, It’s hard. A lot of junior colleges will train at 5 30, 6 30 7:00 PM at night for a couple reasons. One, they can’t get on the field until then, right. Or two, their coach is not a full-time employee.
[00:20:42] And has that nine to five job. I’m lucky in that, you know, my other doctor, um, uh, job to allow for me to train in the late morning. So we’re lucky we train basically at 11, uh, every morning here in the preseason for about a month, five to six. Um, and then the, the, the student athletes have the rest of the day, um, to do what they, they need to do rather than wait around all day, uh, eat the wrong food, like come to training exhausted.
[00:21:11] Right. Um, so that’s kind of our, our, our training time. Um, during the preseason, obviously we do what we call past sessions with, which apply metrics and aerobics and speed and strength. We’ll do some stuff in our, our, we have a brand new, uh, athletic center called Iraq. Um, Try not to do two a days very much.
[00:21:29] So we just did it for the first week. So to kind of answer, I think, you know the question about the rhythm of the season. We have 23 games. We could play as many as 27. We basically played on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So once the season gets started, you can’t do a lot of training, at least not heavy load intensive stuff.
[00:21:47] Um, so basically the way it works is Monday’s a, a re-entry day we’ll have a training. Tuesday will probably be a, a, a heavier day, but you can’t go too crazy or too hard because you’ve gotta match on Wednesday night. Thursday’s recovery Friday. You try to get going again, and then you play again Saturday.
[00:22:04] It’s it’s, uh, it’s that simple and it, and it goes, I think we have one open, uh, Wednesday, uh, starting, starting next week. Um, what I like about what we do is, um, two things, one, our classes don’t start until late S. So these kids get to focus on soccer for six to seven weeks. Wow. And becoming good teammates, which is really important to us.
[00:22:28] Um, uh, making friends, developing relationships. Now, when those classes start on September 19th and we’re in the heat of our season, Y that’s gonna get tough for them. Um, but, uh, yeah, it’s, you know, You gotta ride kind of that wave. How much can we do on one day? Got a peak and now we’ve gotta recover and now we’ve got a peak again and it, and it never stops starting, starting tomorrow.
[00:22:51] Matt: Yeah, well that that’s that’s that’s, you’re the first person I’ve, I’ve talked to that has that, uh, nice extra time there in, uh, in August, in September. I, you know, everybody else it’s like, uh, starting, you just, uh, drink it from a fire hose cuz you gotta start so
[00:23:07] Coach: early. Yeah. And I remember it. I went to Santa Clara university.
[00:23:10] I play. I played there way back in the Jura era when dinosaurs wrong the earth. And, uh, I think we had 10 days, but what an important 10 days, those are, yeah, you get on campus early, you immediately get a support system in place with these new teammates. You get to walk around the campus so that when all the other freshmen show up, you know where you’re going.
[00:23:33] Um, but it comes hard and fast and there’s that management piece. We are very lucky, um, that we’ve. I mean, shoot we’re, we’re actually more than halfway through our season before the kids go to their first class.
[00:23:44] Matt: Yeah, that’s crazy. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, you know, about the, the soccer side of things.
[00:23:49] So obviously you’re, you’ve only been there a year, but is it just you, is there other staff, does the athletic department have any kind of other support staff that, that
[00:23:58] kind
[00:23:58] Coach: of help out? Yeah. First thing is I’m very lucky. Um, our athletic director’s fairly new to green river college and is really reinvented.
[00:24:06] And, and re-energized the entire program. Her name is Shannon Perel and she’s a soccer person really, really nice to have a soccer person in the, in the big chair. Um, she was a former division one assistant coach, uh, a, a player to a professional level. Uh, so Steve is excited about what we’re doing as, as I am that helped.
[00:24:27] Um, and then CNO obviously gave. Gave me the keys to the car and said, number one, go out and recruit players. But number two, think about what you wanna do with your staff. Um, so I have a lead assistant, um, and what a small world. It is her husband. John Perel is my assistant coach and he went to Santa Clara university, uh, came in two years after, or three or four years after I did.
[00:24:53] So, and he’s got a wealth of experience he’s coached at, um, at the division one level as well. Um, I’ve also got a couple volunteer assistants and those are great opportunities for, you know, less experienced coaches perhaps, or coaches from the club game are interested in, in the college game. So they help us out as well.
[00:25:12] And then really, uh, really happy to have a goal keeping coach, which is pretty rare at the junior college. Um, recently graduated from a division preschool here locally, Pacific Lutheran university, her name’s Natalie Robinson, and she works with our three goalkeepers on a, on a weekly basis. So we’ve got a good staff and, you know, the, the one thing that I’ve learned at the college level is, you know, if it’s constantly you, blah, blah, blah, they’ll tune you out.
[00:25:39] Right. I think that’s with any, any, any program, any team. Um, so to give those coaches a little, uh, a little ownership at. I think it’s gonna be really important. Plus we can, maybe I can focus on the bigger picture stuff. And these assistants then can really what I call coach and the flow and get to those individual moments with players and say, Hey, you know how we were talking about switching the point of attack.
[00:26:02] If you improve your angle here, we can get out a little bit quicker and those kind of thing. So, yeah, it’s a good, good crew. We’ve.
[00:26:11] Matt: No. That’s awesome. Well, you know, you mentioned a little bit, but, but how would you describe kind of your style of coaching and the te the style of play you’re trying to have the team, uh, implement
[00:26:21] Coach: this year?
[00:26:21] Hmm. Yeah. Um, thought a lot about it. And I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been in coaching for almost 30 years now. Um, and, uh, most of it has been in the club game. Um, and I’m big about I’m big on the educational piece and constantly. Um, contemporary, if you will. So, um, I took the old USA soccer license way back when, when you actually did more playing than coaching to earn the bag.
[00:26:49] And then I took the new, a coaching license about four years ago at the national development center in Kansas city. Very different experience. Um, so first of all, learning as much about the game as you can, because you should have strong ideas as to how you want your team to play and what your leadership style will be.
[00:27:08] But you can learn so much if you have kind of a growth mindset as a coach. So that’s the first thing, and I keep telling the players, we might change them in terms of what we do, especially since this is year one. Um, but there are a few things, obviously when it comes to, you know, uh, how you wanna operate as a coach, um, I believe in more positive than negative.
[00:27:29] Um, and I think a lot of coaches say that. And then if you actually. Put a camera on them, or, you know, you recorded what they were saying throughout the 90 minutes of a training session or a Mac. Um, you would find that four, four or five things are negative or critical or corrective and one or two are positive.
[00:27:47] Um, can we flip that on its head a little bit? Um, so I try to do that, um, Secondly, you know, you wanna, you wanna release the game to the players a little bit. So, um, even though there are moments where I’m very clear as to what we want to do, they have to have that, you know, that time of discovery on their own, um, where again, you release it to them.
[00:28:08] They solve problems because you’re not gonna be able to call a timeout 20 minutes into a game. And every, every player on the field has gotta be gotta be, um, a coach as well. And then I think the last thing that Springs to mind Matt is then it might be the death OFE, but I like to play beautiful soccer.
[00:28:28] Okay. Uh, and I, I could name names of programs and games and, you know, Systems of play, uh, that I’ve seen at the college level that are not attractive, um, that emphasize nothing but the physical and vertical play. Um, and it’s made the best athlete win. Um, you know, I’ve, I’ve fallen in love with, um, collective team soccer.
[00:28:57] So, you know, the path is the king. That’s a big thing for me. We’re gonna try to move the ball as quickly as we can. And teams that I’ve coached for the last 10 years have done that maybe even a little bit longer, um, sharing it, um, defending as a group, um, being aggressive in what you do, but also manipulating the temple of the max a little bit by moving that ball, um, with that packing game.
[00:29:21] Uh, and that way you can get forward in numbers. I mean, I could go on and on about it. But I won’t. Cause I’m sure you’ve got some other questions. Uh, yeah. It’s, um, it’s a commitment to that too. It takes bravery, real bravery. And if we go out tomorrow and our beautiful game, beautiful brand of soccer leads to a five mill defeat.
[00:29:42] Do I quit on it? And that’s a question for you. That’s a question for our player and for me, the answer is no, um, will be pragmatic, but the best teams that I’ve coached have made this break. Really hard to stick to it. You make a breakthrough and now all of a sudden you control the match and you talk about controlling the match for as much as possible.
[00:30:04] And the one way to control it is to have the.
[00:30:07] Matt: Yeah, that’s what, uh, I tell my daughter’s team lot. It’s like, it’s really hard for their team to score when you keep the ball, you know?
[00:30:14] Coach: Uh . Yep. Yep. And, and, and, you know, and, and it, but it’s also really hard to keep the ball when that team is high press. Yep.
[00:30:23] High press. Yep. High press. They come at you a hundred miles an hour. Well, what are the answers to those questions? Right? Um, the quicker you can make two passes. We talk about that a lot. Um, making another negative path to invite that pressure and play around it. You also have to be good technically, so, oh yeah.
[00:30:40] You know, if you’re not doing, if you’re not regularly working the ball along the ground and training opposed and unopposed, and then you think that’s gonna work on a match day, you’re kidding yourself. Right. Um, and you just have to stick to it. It takes real commitment. You know, we have, we have three core values.
[00:30:56] At green river college and you know, it’s corny, but it works. It’s DRC, right? The first one’s grit, we want tough players. And I think junior college players are generally gritty players. Respect is the other one. So that’s respect for the game and everything that we’re doing and what you represent being, you know, being much more than just yourself.
[00:31:14] But that third thing is the commitment thing. A commitment isn’t just throw up for training commitment is our identity, who we wanna be, the kind of soccer we wanna play, even when it’s hard. Um, Yeah. Get back to me in two months, but, but yeah. Well, that’s the idea.
[00:31:29] Matt: Well, look, you, you know, we’ve, we’ve talked a lot, we’ve covered a lot of ground and I really appreciate the time you’ve given me.
[00:31:34] So I like to end these kind of all with the same question and that’s uh, what didn’t we talk about? What did we miss? What do you, what else do you want to tell us whether it’s about the school, about the team, about the recruiting process, about soccer or anything else? Uh, I, I thought
[00:31:48] Coach: you, I thought you were gonna add to what I was ordering.
[00:31:49] So launch a Panera here. . I’ll wait until we’re done to there you go over. I, I feel bad using their wifi between training sessions without, uh, at least ordering a cookie or something.
[00:32:02] Matt: I mean, well, their broccoli and cheese soup would be, uh, tops on my list, but Hey, that’s alright.
[00:32:06] Coach: And that’s, that’s not a, that’s not a bad shout, um, doc, anything that you forgot?
[00:32:11] No, I, um, I would say that soccer is, um, soccer is a beautiful and simple. That we as coaches and sometimes players and yes, sometimes, you know, the administrators and the people around it. Sometimes we can make it difficult. It is a game. That’s the first thing you’re playing a game. Make it fun. Enjoy yourself.
[00:32:38] Be a little bit nervous, but not a lot nervous. Um, don’t feel extrinsic pressure. The only pressure you to place on yourself is I. Anybody who’s watching this. I guarantee you wants to become a better soccer player, wants to get to the next level. Um, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Um, you know, and, and, and I would say do it for the joy of it.
[00:33:00] You know, there are days that are tougher than others, um, but you’re out there to enjoy yourself. And if you can’t, if you can’t have one moment where there’s a big smile across your face, then you know, maybe examine why that is, um, that that would. I think the thing I would say, and then lastly, you know, what you’re doing is phenomenal.
[00:33:20] Really appreciate it. I’m sure that you don’t. You don’t live on a mansion in a hill because of discover colleagues, doctor.com. Okay. um, maybe you do, Hey, I dunno.
[00:33:31] Matt: No, my wife just online things.
[00:33:33] Coach: Yeah. Yeah. My wife just wonders your famous
[00:33:35] Matt: YouTuber. Yeah. I, I, I, if, if the, the P and L on this ever gets in the black, that’ll be a banner day.
[00:33:42] Let’s just put it that way. Yeah.
[00:33:44] Coach: no, just keep, keep doing what you’re doing. And, and, um, I appreciate it’s time. Um, and, and, uh, I hope a lot of people get. All the coaches that you talked to, I think, you know, you can kind of scroll through what you’ve done and you can pick out great examples. I know half of the coaches that you’ve talked to, um, and I’m sure you get something slightly different from all of them, but there’s gotta be a through line, right?
[00:34:04] There’s gotta be something consistent that I’m sure you’re hearing and that, uh, kids and other coaches should take away
[00:34:09] Matt: from. Well, and, and, and that’s really the goal. I think, um, you know, Everybody thinks they, they maybe they’ve talked to one coach or they’ve talked to their club coach and they’ve heard one bit of information and you know, it, it, the soccer world is small.
[00:34:26] I feel like it’s two degrees of Kevin bacon, not six or seven. Um, and, but you, you need. Diversify your, your information sources, if you will. Uh, especially when it comes to all the different divisions, all the different geographies, the, the girls’ side, different from the boys’ side. And, and there’s a lot of information there.
[00:34:50] Um, and you know, I,
[00:34:53] Coach: well, you know, Matt, just to, just on, on that quickly, you know sure. Um, number. Keep an open mind when it comes to the recruiting process. Okay. And I can give you, you know, I can give you some specific examples, but number one, Santa Clara university. And when I was there, um, we were very good.
[00:35:14] Uh, I had no idea what Santa Clara university was in 1987 when Mitch Murray, the assistant coach showed up and sat down at my kitchen table, had no idea. And this was, I think, spring of my senior year. Um, My son, he’s at a division two school in Colorado. He went a bunch on a bunch of recruiting visits and MSU Denver popped in at the very end.
[00:35:36] And he’s happy there. Um, also players just cause you have your dream set on division one that may not be the right place for you. All right. A division three school might be your academic dream school, but it may not have the soccer program that you. So keep, keep all options open, you know, and, and as I run the college placement program for the club around the corner here, I ask players to gimme a list of 30 schools and at least 10 of them have to be division one, at least 10 have to be division two.
[00:36:06] And the other thing to be division three and junior college and AI, or some mix of that. So keep an open mind when you go through the process.
[00:36:14] Matt: No. And, and, and that’s what I tell parents who ask me. I say the same thing. I mean, I, I, I switched, uh, you know, I, I had my deposit into a division one school, uh, and I probably, you know, I wasn’t recruited to play there, but I was like the preferred walk on status, whatever you wanna call it.
[00:36:32] Right. And so who knows, I, I probably, if I would’ve made it, not whatever, but, you know, I switched last minute to vision three because. I wanted to be in a big city. I wanted the academics they had, and I knew I could play, uh, play four years, not just be on the team for four years. Uh, good. And it was one, it was best decision I ever made and I, I wouldn’t wouldn’t change anything else.
[00:36:53] And I think stats came out. I saw today via Twitter that, uh, Roughly half of the kids who entered the transfer portal, didn’t find a new school. Uh, so it really is important that, that I think kids find where they wanna be for four years and not just chase where they think they wanna be, because it’s a big name.
[00:37:12] And then after a year, find out, oh, this isn’t what I want. Um, so those, those are, uh, sobering statistics, I think at this point. And so many people don’t realize, you know, you gotta find what’s right for you, right.
[00:37:24] Coach: Yeah. And you. Again, it’s no, there’s no clear shot. Yep. You’re gonna bounce around a little bit.
[00:37:30] Right. Um, and I guarantee you that, you know, uh, whatever soccer path you end up taking my mine included as a player and as a coach too, as I think back, um, it was not what I planned, but it’s been great. Exactly, exactly. And it’s, and it’s just all about, you know, enjoying the sport together with a group of.
[00:37:51] Matt: Enjoy enjoy the journey and the destination, right? Yep. Well, coach, I really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck in this first full season for you. We’ll, uh, we’ll check back in and see how you guys do and, and, uh, if, if you ever do make it down to, to IMG or Bradenton, uh, on the other side of the us, uh, gimme a shout.
[00:38:10] All right.
[00:38:11] Coach: That’ll be a long road trip for the green river Gators, but we’ll, we’ll make it someday. All right. Coming your way. Love it. All right. All right. I’ll get my soup now. All
[00:38:19] Matt: right. Thanks coach. Take care.
