Hamline University Women’s Soccer – Coach Michael Prunty
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Prunty from the Hamline Women’s Program in Minnesota. We talk about how they are always recruiting, and not just regionally. He describes the benefits of being in a big city. Lastly, we discuss how they continue to develop players using their style of play. Learn more about Hamline University Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Morning, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Michael Prunty from Hamline University in Minnesota. Welcome coach.
Coach: Well, thank you for having me.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I know, uh, the season’s over starting to, to to cool down, uh, up north a little bit.
I mean, heck, I’m, I’m in Florida and, and we’re, we, we haven’t hit 60 yet, so it’s a, it’s a cold day here for, for us Floridians.
Coach: Yeah. It makes it easier. It’s a swallowed in season when it’s snow on the ground.
Matt: Yeah, I bet. Well, let, let’s talk a little bit, you know, now that the season’s over, I’m sure you’re in full swing looking towards next year, and, and so recruiting is top of mind.
When is it that you’re really starting to talk to players and, and getting in into that? That routine. Are you just now really working on your 23 class? Is the 23 class almost telling, you’re working on 20 fours? How does that work for you guys?
Coach: Well, I don’t think there’s, there’s ever a time that we’re not, um, we’re not speaking to recruits.
Um, I think that’s, uh, we don’t have the, the dead periods or as, as limitations in some of the divisions. So, We’re always in contact with some, some side of recruits, be it our 20 threes, 20 fours. And then as our season ends, um, recruiting showcases in the Midwest are starting to pick up a little bit more.
So now we’re hearing from 20 fives as well as inviting us out to see them play. Um, there’s a couple events this weekend and then, um, going to California the next weekend. So, um, you 20 threes, 20 fours, and 20 fives are all on the docket right now, which. . Um, which is at times hard to [00:01:30] imagine that, you know, you’re talking to these sophomores in high school, but that’s just the nature of the women’s side is that recruiting does start a little bit earlier.
I know it’s, it’s stopped. It’s not quite as aggressive as it once has due to the rules, but, um, we still hear from, from young players quite often. Yeah.
Matt: Well, are there, you, you mentioned the, the Midwest show casings and stuff. Are there tournaments that are kind of on your, your must hit list every year.
Coach: Yeah. So, uh, I would say Silver Lakes in, in, uh, Norco, California, Soho Cal area.
Um, that’s an important one. So, uh, for Hamline University, though, we’re in the Midwest, um, we do well to attract, uh, student athletes from the West coast. Um, division three is, uh, it’s a, it’s a massive division, but it’s not as, um, it’s, it’s not as easy to find in the West coast. Um, California, Washington and Oregon has schools, excuse me.
The amount of schools and opportunities don’t match the number of players that exist on the West Coast. Um, and so oftentimes, you know, that is an area that we’ll head to. Um, so like I said, next weekend we’ll be in California for the Silver Lake showcase, and that same weekend there’s Surf Cup and November nights, which is in Carlsbad, California.
So all those things are massive times for, um, for institutions like myself, we will be from the Midwest out there, um, regionally, Kansas City. This is a big time for Kansas City. They’ll have three events in the Kansas City. Like on the next three weekends back to back to back. So they will stay busy with showcases.
They have, uh, the facilities in Kansas City are, are probably [00:03:00] unmatched as far as other places in the country as far as the number of all turf and lit facilities. I think there’s three or four complexes in that area that have upwards to 20 fields. So, um, a great place for, for coaches to go down and see.
It’s just, you know, at this time of the year, it’s a roll of the dice and what kind of weather we’re gonna get when we stay in the Midwest, um, for some of those showcases. But then as we head into the. Um, Martin Luther King weekend is always a busy one. Here locally in Minnesota, there’ll be multiple events.
Um, we do also frequent the Pacific Northwest, and so Pac Northwest is a club in the Seattle area that has a big event over that Martin Luther King weekend that we’ll also be at. Um, and then we, we head towards Phoenix in, in Las Vegas and February and March. Um, and then we start to stay a little bit local as we kind of head into the warmer, the warmer temperatures and when the fields, when the grass comes back here in Minnesota and we’re outside.
Yeah.
Matt: Makes sense. Well, what about camps? Do you guys host your own camps or does your, you or your staff work other folks camps? How does, how does that work?
Coach: Yeah, we do both. So we’ll hold, um, a summer and a winter ID camp. So we have an ID camp coming in January. Um, and that’s, You know, kind of our goal for that is as we’re starting the next recruiting cycle, some of our 20 threes that are still kind of deciding if, if Hamlinee’s a fit for them will be there.
But it’s more, it’ll be more of the 20 fours and 20 fives having a chance to come to campus. Uh, we’ll have another one then in the summer. Um, and that’s a good opportunity. We invite our incoming class to attend that as well. Um, it’s kind of a good check-in from the coaching staff. We get to, we get to see where they’re at in the summertime.
We [00:04:30] gotta see how everything is, if they have questions about, you know, um, the upcoming. and then obviously we start to then bring in our, our top choices for that next upcoming classes is there for the camp as well. Um, but then we also, um, work a lot of the local camps. Um, Minnesota has a really good, um, level of collegiality between the coaches.
Um, a lot of camps will always be offered to, even in the conference in which we coach, they’ll open their doors to all the, the coaches in the conference to come and watch. Um, so we’ll work Division two, division one, and other division three camps here in the area, um, to continue to identify.
Matt: Okay, well, whether, whether it’s a, a camp or, or one of the tournaments, kind of what’s, what’s your hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field or off the field?
Coach: Yeah, we, we’ve, we’ve kind of taken, um, these three ideas from Todd Bean at Tobo. We, we examine our players on their ability to manage the ball, so comfort on the ball, technical competencies, um, how they manage space. So again, looking at how they understand the game from a positional standpoint. The game is much more than just a ball.
Um, it’s just positioning that. And then how they manage themselves. So, you know, how’s, what’s their personality like? How, how do they train? Are they accountable? Um, respectful to their teammates, to the other coaches when we’re out and about? Um, it makes it, it makes it really easy for us to try to start to evaluate players when we’re really just looking for those three buckets.
Um, and that’s the thing is we understand that not everyone’s gonna fill all three. And so you say, we have a really good technical [00:06:00] player. Excuse me, really good. But they need help with space. Then that’s kind of where we come in. We help them with their development. Excuse me, I’ve been fighting this a cold this week.
Matt: It’s all right. It’s all right. My, my son’s home from school today. Same thing. I get it. So . Um, well, in terms of, The, the stuff that parents are, are interested in, which tends to be how much is this gonna cost, right? Yeah. Um, can you just gimme a, a, a baseline overview of, of cost to attend what the academic scholarships are like there, the other financial aid aspects of, of attending Hamlinee.
Coach: Yeah, so, you know, from our end, so as a Division II institution, obviously our awards are merit based on everything outside of athletics. So scholarship opportunities from fine arts to, um, excellence in a certain area of study. Um, our top awards will get anywhere from 30 to $40,000 off of off tuition, off total cost.
Um, our total cost with, um, tuition in room and board is around $58,000 this year. Um, so it, 90% of our student population receives financial aid and a hundred percent of our student population also has access to work study and other ways to make money when here on campus. Um, and so there’s still always avenues for our, for our students to receive some support in aid.
Um, I would say a, as I rate as being in other institutions like, like ham. Um, we are very competitive from a, a package perspective. Um, our scholarships are, uh, really do reflect the need that we have for the students [00:07:30] that we want. Um, if you are scoring really well academically and you bring other things to the table, um, our financial aid package will then will match that as far as, you know, how we view you and your important store institution.
Matt: No, that’s excellent. Well, can you, can you walk me through, uh, you know what, what a, what a typical. Day in the life of, uh, of a student would be during, during the season in terms of, you know, class meals, uh, practice, all those kinds of things.
Coach: Yeah. Um, we always say like, you know, during the season, all, all college soccer’s the same.
Right? Our athletes are, are busy six outta seven days. Um, they’re, they’re doing something. Typically we do afternoon training sessions, so we do have a men’s program here on campus, so we share a facility for training with. Um, so typically our training sessions will start either at four o’clock or five o’clock in the evening.
So, which means our athletes are in c from 8:00 AM till four. Um, and so that’s a mixture of labs and everything, you know, everything in between right up until four. So, um, what we do and how we view the academic pieces, our athletes know that. Attending class is priority one. Um, so they go to class, they go through the whole class.
There’s no leaving early to get to practice. There’s no, but I’ve got this. They, they stay in class for the entirety of their time, and then they come out to training. And so if that means they’re getting treatment for injuries on the field, we take care of ’em once they get outta class and come to our facility.
Um, this, that pattern, the nice thing about our training being [00:09:00] at four or five. One week they may be coming directly from a lab and they’re getting to practice right on time, but then the next week they have an hour in between. And so that allows us to balance a little bit of that. Um, you know, especially as a first year student athletes, there’s a little bit of anxiety and concern about being late and getting, getting to practice.
And so, um, actually having those different starting times every other week. Helps reduce some of that stress on them. Um, so we typically, that’s kind of like a typical day. The girls are in class, you know, obviously, you know, schedules vary to, some will only be in class Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Some will have Tuesday, Thursday off.
Some will just be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with a Friday off. There’s a lot of flexibility in our schedule, which is nice for them. In addition to that, our conference, the Minnesota Inter Ecclesia Athletic Conference, a lot of. Conference, um, competition actually resides in the Twin Cities where we are, so even a midweek away game.
So we’ll play either Tuesday, Saturday, or Wednesday. Saturday could be 10 minutes away from campus. So from an academic side and how that fits kind of into their, their world, um, they’re still not really missing a lot of class, even when we have an away game. Um, and I maybe that’s frustrating for some of them, but maybe that’s a relief for others.
Um, but it is nice that our conference, when we are going midweek away it is Yeah. Right down the road. Um, which makes it easy for the girls to balance their, their class expectations. They don’t feel like they’re missing nearly as much.
Matt: No, that that is a, that is a bonus for sure. Well, you know, tell me a little bit more about the school.
You know, a lot of folks may not be familiar with Ham, and I can go to the website, learn a lot, [00:10:30] but, but gimme some of the inside scoops, some of the good stuff that maybe I’m not gonna learn just by, by looking at the website.
Coach: Yeah, no, Hamlinee is, you know, you, you’ll see this on the, the website that it is the oldest institution in Minnesota.
So it’s kind of cool that it has the history and, um, there’s always the fun fact that I share with the recruits is that Hamlinee played the first intercollegiate basketball game, um, like in 1920 or something. So it, it claims to be the home of college basketball . Um, but I also believe that the score of that game was like nine to five
So I also think it was like the worst college basketball game, but it was the first. Um, but no, the, the institution itself. I would say the, the thing that makes it unique in, in St. Paul’s home to several small liberal arts colleges, it is a, it is a hub for liberal arts institutions and I think there’s five or six in our area.
Um, so the cool thing about our community is that. Our, our institution has worked very hard to reflect the world in which we live in. Um, sometimes liberal arts colleges can be a, a bubble, um, a homogenous bubble that doesn’t necessarily reflect the, the real world that our students will enter. Um, and so our, our present has really been purposeful about making sure that our students, one, um, know what the real world looks like from the challenges to the differences and, and thoughts and, and cultures.
Um, but at the same time supports our students. , you know, interest in social justice and supporting. Which makes Hamlinee a little bit different in, in our world is our, our, uh, our students are very active in the social justice world as Minnesota and the Twin Cities has been a massive hub for that in the last, the [00:12:00] last couple years.
So Hamlinee, that’s kind of where we start to separate ourselves. It is, like I said, an older institution that’s rich in history. Um, we do have graduate level studies, so it kind of brings that balance. So we’re at total enrollment around 3000, um, which 18 is undergrad and then you have another, another 1200 graduate.
Which includes a law school, um, other, other things along there. So it is, it is a good balance to that small liberal arts feel, but it also sits inside a major metropolitan area where you have access to everything you could want and need being in a cities of a million people. But at the same time when you’re on campus, it doesn’t feel like you’re right in the middle of a major city.
Matt: Yeah, that’s, uh, I, I went to a division three school very similar to that, uh, you know, big city, but, but small campus that you didn’t feel like, and, and it was, it was wonderful. I loved it. Absolutely. Well, we talked a little bit about academics just now, so, you know, especially for, for new, new college athletes and, and even season ones, it’s always a challenge balancing the academic side and the athletic side.
So h how do, how do your players manage that? What kind of support systems does the school have in place to help them?
Coach: So we, um, and this is kind of what, as we found through the years, is that everyone hand handles their academic load differently. Um, some, some wear their academic progress on their sleeve.
You can tell if they had a good day in class and or if they didn’t have a good day. And then others, you, you couldn’t tell the difference. Um, and so for that reason, We really treat them as individuals on how, how we [00:13:30] balance their, their load. Now we do require study hours for the girls to complete on a weekly basis that’s based on their gpa.
Um, all first year student athletes have a a certain number, certain number of, of hours they must complete, and then after their first year, it’s based on their cumulative gpa. So as long as we’re plugging along and he, our goals academically, um, those hours are reduced for. We also house that in the library.
So they go in and log their hours in that library, which happens to be right next to our student support center. So where they go for academic advising, where they need for tutors, they’re there all the time, logging their hours, and they have access to those services while they’re there, which kind of helps start to guide them as they’re starting to learn more about Hamline, like where are their resources?
Where, how do they get access to those? We do that with our study log. And then from how we monitor them is we also use soccer pulse, which is an app that I know a lot of programs use. And the benefit of that app is they’re able to put in where they’re at as far as their soreness, uh, their sleep, but then also their stress levels.
And so the good thing with that is we can start to see where they’re at with their sleep and where their stress is and if they’re having a rough day. And it we’re also able to track trends as well with them. So if they’ve had a bad week of little sleep and high stress, we can go to them and be like, Hey, it looks like you’ve really struggled.
What’s going on? Can we help you with something? What do you need help with? How can we support you? Do you need the afternoon off from training? Sometimes that’s a solution for some of ’em, like they just need a. be it. They need a break to go study cuz they feel like they’re behind or they just need a [00:15:00] mental like, and that app allows us to do that with all the athletes without us having to go one by one and ask them.
Um, but it also allows them to also share that with us without having to come up to us and have a conversation in front of their teammates. It’s a good way for them to continue to let us know where they’re at. Some are better with, um, the messages they provide. They’re like, it’s been a really rough week of class.
I’m really stressed. Others will give you nothing. Um, but again, it’s, it’s, it’s a very individualized way for them to let us know what they need and how we can support them. So it’s, it’s done wonders. I think it’s, I think the cool thing about division three is we always look at it this way as like, we, we’re not gonna ask you to sacrifice academics for athletics or athletics for academics.
We want you to be able to be good in both. And so whatever you need from our end to support that is what we’re here for.
Matt: That’s tremendous. No, I, I love that a lot. Um, Well, let’s talk a little bit more about, about the soccer side of things, right? And, you know, is there a, is there a roster size that you’re looking to hit every year
Coach: Yeah, I would say our ideal roster size ranges between 28 and 30.
Um, the reason for that is, um, The goal always is to be able to train 11 V 11 at the end of, of training if we can. Uh, we think that’s probably one. Um, you know, not everyone gets to play as probably as much as they want in their college experience right away. So we want to be able to have the numbers to be able to train 11 V 11 so that we can then also provide good video feedback for where their gaps are in their development.
Uh, it gets [00:16:30] tougher and tougher for them to see the clear pictures as the numbers get smaller. So we wanna be able to say, here you are an 11 V 11 setting. This is where you’re at in training. This is what we see. Um, and it’s also the best how we feel to also paint pictures for the upcoming opponents. So it’s a good balance of player development, but also game preparation.
We do use a range. Um, we’re a little bit different than some division three institutions where we. , we don’t have a necessary like number that we try to fill and offer spots where, let’s say we’re gonna bring in a class of seven. You know, I’m gonna go to a student athlete and be like, you know, I’m gonna offer you a spot I need to know by February 1st.
Um, . If not, then I need to offer to someone else. We choose to, um, give them a little bit more time cuz everyone’s decision making is a little bit different. Um, and so for that reason you get ranges. So that’s where our roster could be anywhere from 28 to 30. Cuz you might pick one up one way or lose one the other way by giving them time.
Um, but it does, in our opinion, Help with our retention. Um, the, we feel that the, the recruits are able to, to make a good choice and not feel like they’re forced into a decision either way. We don’t wanna lose someone either because we had a, we put a deadline on ’em.
Matt: Makes sense. Well, how would you describe your, your style of coaching team? Style of play?
Coach: Yeah. So we. We’re, um, God, it’s, don’t wanna say possession because that’s so common, but we, we tried to play in a positional way, so we, we want to control the game with the ball as much as we can. Uh, we, [00:18:00] we’ve really, you know, and, and I say this because this is, uh, this past season was my first year and was really the goal was to instill a true identity for the program.
That no matter who we play or where we play, this is who we are. Um, and this is who we’re going to be. Uh, and we chose to do this by controlling, controlling the game with the ball as much as we can. And so we choose this style of play for a couple reasons. One, um, we think it’s the best way for players to continue to develop.
Uh, we think that, you know, they’re still young. They’re still U 20 threes, 18, 19 years old. There’s still a lot of development left. And so we want to train and play in a way that’s gonna continue to push them as players. Asking them to play in a way that helps them understand. Problem solving. Um, how to, you know, how to create and exploit space.
All that stuff, we think pushes them a little bit more, um, than other versions of the game, in our opinion. The second thing is we think it’s fun. Um, sometimes the girls forget that it is supposed to be fun. Um, and a lot of us as kids went to the game because we like the ball, and so we want to train and play in a way where we have the ball, because that’s the enjoyable part of it.
So if you’re gonna commit to something for four years, year round, it should be enjoy. Um, and then I joke with some of the parents that they’re in the offices. The third reason is, you know, as much as we know, grandma, grandpa, mom and dad are gonna come see you play because they just love you and they love watching you play soccer.
We wanna play in a way that’s entertaining. We want, we wanna have an identity. We want fans. We want people to know when they come see us play that this is what they’re gonna get. Um, and so when we put those together, Our view on the game of [00:19:30] controlling with the ball and, and possessing and, and building as much as we can.
We just, we, we just don’t see it as another way to play. Um, so it makes it fun. Um, we, we tell the girls that we know that we’re choosing sometimes a tougher path. Um, how we’re asking you to play can be considered tougher and we’re challenging, but we feel it’s probably the most beneficial and the long run.
Matt: Okay. What about your staff? Is there, uh, Other coaches on the staff? What role does everybody play? What is the staff like?
Coach: Yeah. Yeah. So we had, um, this past year we had three, three assistant coaches in addition to myself. Um, we had, uh, more of a full-time assistant and then, uh, two part-time staff. Um, the, we had one goalkeeper coach as, as part of that part-time staff, and then another support staff as part of that.
So, um, our first assistant luckily, actually coached with me prior. Um, Coming into a, a new institution and a brand new team all taking on new ideas. It was nice to be able to, to bring an assistant coach who, um, who knew me very well and knew how I like to work and, and knew the style of play. Um, so while the girls were taking on all these new concepts, um, they didn’t miss a beat when they went to her.
So, um, yeah, we’re lucky to have the staff. We do. Um, they really care for our, our student athletes and they provide a good balance of balance of personalities and, and balance of backgrounds. That’s good.
Matt: Well, we’re now in the, uh, dreaded off-season time period, right. So, and I know d three’s got a lot more, uh, calendar restrictions when it [00:21:00] comes to off-season, but can you kind of tell me what is it, gimme a rough overview.
What’s it gonna look like now until, you know, the next pre-season?
Coach: Yeah, we actually just met with the girls, uh, last night just to kind of confirm what our, what our schedule looks like going through the rest of the year. And, excuse me, we. So the girls right now are in an individualized strength and conditioning part of the year.
So they’ve all been given programs that they’re able to do on their own. Uh, and that will go through November, up until January. So in our academic calendar, You know, the girls will have some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday. They’ll come back for two weeks, and then they’re gone again for finals and, and then the end of the semester.
So it’s very tough to get them back into a consistent groove as a group. So they’ll go on individualized work. So they have that, that will carry them through January. Um, at the same time, they also are playing foots hall. So we shift, luckily in Minnesota, we have enough gym space, uh, that we’ll move inside and we move to foots all more.
So they’re all playing foots all together, uh, twice a week during this period until the end of the semester. here at Hammond, we have a J term, which is a three week term that that happens before the second semester. So a lot of our student athletes, some will stay home for an extended period of time.
Some will be on campus, taking a class, some will study abroad. It’s used in different ways. So collectively we won’t be back till January 23rd, I believe, is where they start the second semester. So at that time, we will then get back together and work with our strength and conditioning staff. three times a week, and that will start January 30th, all the way to April, the end of April.
So they’ll go three times a week with our strength and conditioning [00:22:30] staff. Uh, they’ll play foots all in the morning, twice a week in addition to that. So they’ll go and play foots all in the morning and then move with our strength and conditioning staff. Um, and then following spring break is when we start to do our non-traditional spring season here.
So our conference sets us at, we get 30 hours over 16. And we’re allowed, uh, one alumni game right now. So our conference does not allow us to have outside competition. So that is about a five week period that we’ll play starting, um, late March into the, to the end of May, into the mid of April, where we’ll be able to play as a group and kind of reset and refocus for the next season as a group.
All right.
Matt: Well, I always like to end these the same way, you know, we covered a lot of ground, but what didn’t we talk about? What, what is there that, uh, you wanna make sure folks know that we didn’t talk about, or something you wanna reiterate, whether that’s recruiting the school, soccer side of things, anything?
I, I give you the last word.
Coach: Yeah. I think, you know, I, you know, as, as a, as a coach that’s worked at the NAIA division two, division three level, I think sometimes, you know, if you’re not from an area that has division three institutions, you don’t understand. Um, which is, which I, which I get completely, and I think, you know, we’re lucky.
The Minnesota Interscholastic Athletic Conference is one of the best Division three conferences in the country. It’s highly competitive with really good players and how, and how I describe it to athletes is that it’s not that soccer is less important or they came from a less competitive environment. It just fits in their list of priorities in a D.
it’s not less important, it just fits differently. Um, and I think, [00:24:00] you know, sometimes, especially in Minnesota, where we have a very good Division two conference as well. The quality of our, of our play at our level gets missed. Um, and so I think, you know, making sure that as recruits and anybody that’s looking at colleges, getting out and seeing the team play and, and really getting a feel for the level of play is important before you decide if a school or a level is a fit for you or not.
Um, I think you need to spend time in that environment before, you know, um, and I say that as a. Recruit in my days, who didn’t think it was, ah, nah, it wasn’t gonna be good enough. Um, and I quickly learned that, um, as I played it. So, um, I think it’s important. So I, I, I, I promote all the levels, but make sure that you spend time getting out and seeing those teams play as much as you can.
Matt: Couldn’t agree more. And, and, and I live in Florida where there isn’t a single division three institution, so I totally, uh, I totally hear you and it’s one of the reasons we do this podcast is to, so people can learn about these schools they may not be familiar with. So. Well, coach, thank you so much for your time.
Wish you the best of luck, uh, moving forward and, and be interesting to see where you take Hamline and if you’re in Philly for the convention, swing by and and say hello. All right,
Coach: will do. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Matt: All right. Thank you.
