Hampden-Sydney College Men’s Soccer – Coach Patrick Bain

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Bain from the Hampden-Sydney Men’s Program in Virginia. We talk about how they have a regional focus on their recruiting. He describes the wonderful college town atmosphere, and their all-male enrollment. Lastly, we discuss their staff’s relational style of coaching. Learn more about Hampden-Sydney College Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Patrick Bain from Hampton Sydney. Welcome coach. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. You know, I mean, now I, I played, uh, my, my division three soccer in, in the DC area, so I’m, I’m familiar with Hampton, Sydney, although never got the chance to visit campus or play, play you guys.

But, uh, you know, a, a fairly storied school. Uh, I think you guys were founded in 1776, so been around a few, few, couple, few years

Coach:. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That’s. 

Matt: Uh, but before we dig in more about the school, uh, let’s talk a little about recruiting. You know, obviously we’re talking here December 6th, um, season’s over and, and I think you guys are probably hot and heavy in the showcase, uh, circuit find finding players everywhere.

So for a Division II program, like you guys, when are you really starting to talk to players? Is it their senior year, their junior year? I mean their sophomore. When, when are you guys really getting hot and.

Coach: Yeah, it’s a great question. So I think for us, Matt, it really boils down to kind of two timeframes you’re looking.

You know, the identification timeframe. Then I think also the active recruitment timeframe as well. So for us that identifi identification timeframe can come really anywhere from, I would say the latter part of guy sophomore years, certainly junior years as well. But, um, as far as our timetable goes, you know, really actively recruiting guys, getting ’em on campus, um, evaluating them a little bit more thoroughly and really assessing them for [00:01:30] our program deeper into their junior year and certainly, um, their senior year as well.

So, yeah, and, and I think one of the big reasons why is. , you know, we, we like keeping tabs on guys who may be a good fit for Hampton Sydney specifically, but guys grow and they develop and they’re substantially different, right? When you see a kid play their sophomore year and who they end up being early within their senior year are certainly, um, two different players.

So yeah, it’s good to have tabs and identify guys that have some, some traits that might make them a good fit here at Hampton Sydney earlier on their career. But we’re more, I think, uh, serious about where’re recruiting guys deeper into their junior year and certainly early in their, in their senior season.

Matt: Okay. Well, I, I know this time of year is, is, you know, showcase Central, uh, and Tournament Central. So you guys, as, when you look at your roster, it’s fairly, uh, we’ll just say it’s regional currently, right? You know. Sure. A lot of, a lot of Virginia, North Carolina. But so what are some of the must hit tournaments for you guys that you’re making sure you’re at and, and evaluating?

Coach: Yeah, another good question. Um, I think for us, you know, we, we try, we’re first and foremost, we’re fortunate here at Hampton Sydney to have a staff of three. That’s not true for everyone in the division three realm. So because of that, we, we kind of try to derive from a no stone unturned philosophy, right?

Uh, we try to cover as much ground as possible, meaning that, you know, any major showcase, you know, on the East Coast specifically within the border state. So pretty much all of the EC L events, um, N CFC is, is a big one for us as well. But Bethesda MLS next events are all, uh, massive for us. But, you know, with, with having three guys on staff, the beauty of [00:03:00] it is that we can.

Hit all the nook and crannies in between as well. Right. So we hit the major events, but I think a lot of coaches would attest that recruitment has changed over the years and that you really have to be present in some capacity at a lot of major events, but also go to, um, you know, ID camps here and there, some of the smaller events specifically within, um, again, the border states and some of the more regionalized, um, events for us.

But, um, one of the things we’re certainly trying to do here at Hampton Sydney is continue to look. Um, you know, expanding our, expanding our roster and expanding, you know, geographically where we’re gonna be recruiting from. So, Hampden Sydney is undoubtedly a household name in Virginia, undoubtedly a household name, North Carolina, South Carolina.

But more and more as we go on, we’re finding that, you know, we think Hampden Sydney has something to offer for guys that are in Georgia, uh, Florida, and maybe even the Northeast as well. So yeah, any, anything within the border states is a massive event for us, but we’re expanding, you know, where we’re hitting more and more as time.

No, that’s great. 

Matt: Well, you mentioned camps. Uh, how important are camps? Do you guys do your own, does your staff work? Other folks camps? How does that all fit in? 

Coach: Yeah, um, absolutely. So we, we tend to hold two a year. So we do one traditionally, um, in kind of the winter spring timeframe, depending on other major events that we’re not clashing with.

And then definitely one, um, during the summer, typically July as well. So hosting our own ID camps is f. Getting guys on campus, having the opportunity to work with them, um, coach them, see them up close and personal, and also giving them an opportunity to check out Hampton, Sydney, what we’re all about in touring campus.

And facilities as well is massive. Um, but also, you know, other [00:04:30] ID camps are big for us as well, especially attending ones that are, that are like-minded, right? We try to plug into a lot of camps that make sense for us that might attract some, some guys that might be a good fit here at Hampton, Sydney. But yeah, I, ID camps are huge.

They’re not only getting on the road in the summertime, but definitely getting guys, uh, on campus for our own as. 

Matt: Well, whether it’s at a camp or, or one of these showcases, do you, do you guys have your hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player when you’re recruiting, and what does that look like, whether it’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff?

Coach: Yeah. Yeah, great question. Um, certainly there’s a, uh, you know, a, a benchmark of athletic ability, right, that I think any college coach is looking for. And those are kind of the big, the big three here, technical, technical, physical. So certainly there’s a baseline of ability that we’re gonna need across the front for he city soccer players and all of those categor.

With the next kind of tangibles being either the academic side and making sure that you’re, you’re a good fit here at Hampton City, at a high academic institute, um, that you potentially fit under one of our popular majors of business, pre-med, pre-law, classic sciences, et cetera. And then I think one of the big ones that, that you, you potentially hear a lot of coaches talk about is, is the character and the culture component.

Right? So that’s something they’re always evaluating. Uh, we tend to be fairly guarded, I would say, with our offers and making sure that we’re getting things right and making sure we’re getting the right guys on the boat when we progress forward. So there are certainly a athletic, you know, components that we’re looking for, and we’re always checking out guide GPAs to ensure that they’re a good academic fit.

But one of the bigger ones is seeing. How guys interact with their coaches, how they interact with their [00:06:00] teammates, making sure that we can get them on campus as well. And I think giving them a chance to show that they can be a good fit with our guys as well and see what feedback that our guys give in regards to these guys as well.

So yeah, certainly the, the culture and character component is, is at the top of the list and then there’s a baseline for academic and athletic ability as well. Okay. 

Matt: Well, Last kind of question that tends to be, uh, on the parent’s mind is, okay, what’s this gonna cost me? Um, so, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but can you just gimme an overview of, of, you know, cost of attendance.

What does the academic scholarship and other scholarship of financial aid packages look like over there at Hampden Sydney? 

Coach: Yeah, so kind of putting a plug in, I guess for, for all division three universities and that the big thing you gotta, you have to do is you have to go through the process, right? Um, you have to go through the entirety of the application process to really see what it’s gonna cost.

And Hampton City is certainly no different in that regard. Um, I think the sticker prices for some of these Division three and private liberal arts universities can certainly be staggering, especially when people don’t know how the financial aid operates. But what I can say is between, you know, need based.

Uh, merit based scholarship and then what we call regionalized or specific to the university scholarships as well. We find that we can make ePet Sydney extremely affordable for not only M State guys, but certainly out-of-state, um, as well. So, uh, again, I think the sticker price can be staggering, but for many you’ll find that if you’re able to go through the process and also show a really, um, thorough and express interest for whatever university it is that [00:07:30] you’re, you.

Pursuing, you can find that, you can make it pretty manageable, you know, pretty quickly. So, you know, again, if, if you’re able to go through the process, you’ll find that a lot of these places end up being a lot more reasonable than you originally thought. So yeah, we, we do a fantastic, fantastic job here at Hampton City, specifically with our merit base, need base, and certainly regionalized scholarships as well.

Matt: Okay, great. Well, let’s, let’s talk a little bit more about the school, um, itself. So, you know, we mentioned before it’s, it’s been around quite a while, um, and I know you, this, you’re entering your, I think, your second season there, so Right. What, you know, what have you found to be the really cool things about Hampton City that maybe folks wouldn’t know or wouldn’t learn just by clicking around the website?

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. Oh gosh. You could, you could point to a, a number of different things, right. Um, you know, first and foremost we’re. And Farmville, Virginia. So if you’re unfamiliar, we’re kind of in the geographic center of Virginia. We’re about 45 minutes to an hour outside of the Richmond area, which is certainly the larger, largest area that you would find in and around us.

So it’s a cool little college town with a couple other universities and colleges right down the road as well. And if I had to point to one or two things in particular, that really sets aside, I think, on not only a regional, but uh, potentially a national map as well, one of which would. Our academic rigor combined with our professional placement, which is really, really special.

And then also, you know, uh, being an all guys university, which provides some really unique opportunities in regards to the athletic side as well. So on the academic front, you know, we’re nationally ranked in a variety of categories. Um, you know, we have the second rated alumni networking system, the entire country we’re nationally ranked for our [00:09:00] professional placement, our career development.

Um, and essentially what all this figures and, and variables mean is that, you know, when our guys graduate from Hampton City, they’re going on to do fantastic things. So I. In comparison to a lot of places I’ve been and had the opportunity to, to work with, um, you know, one of the things Ham City does extremely well is make sure that, hey, we’re developing our guys and taking care of our guys in their four years of being here.

But I think more importantly, we’re looking after them, you know, for the next 40 years to come as well. So that alumni networking tree and, and what it can do and the power of it is, is really, really special here at Hamp Sydnee. And then the other piece, again, being an all guys school has, its certainly has its perks, right?

You know, we have a soccer specific bermudagrass field here on campus. We have a soccer locker room on a year round basis. We have an athletes only, uh, lifting facility, and we’re able to do things that you can’t necessarily find at all Division three universities. Um, you know, we train every day at four 30, which is extremely unique and our guys are able to have these things, um, at all time, which is really, really great.

So, yeah. Hey, but Sidney has a, a myriad of things that I think make it really special, but I think those are one or two that certainly make it stand out, you know, in our region. . 

Matt: Okay. Well, and you mentioned the academic rigor. So you know, we want students to, student athletes to be students , especially at D three level, right?

So how do your student athletes really balance the rigors of the academics as well as that of a collegiate sport?

Coach: Yeah, great question. Um, couple different things. You know, first and foremost is the size of hemp and Sidney is really, really beneficial to that, right? It’s an extremely high level accountability here.

You know, we’re only about a thousand students within all programs. So when you have that close-knit kind of [00:10:30] atmosphere here, uh, you, you’re able to, you know, forge those relationships with your professors. So, as I frequently say to the guys, you know, it’s a blessing and a curse, right? You’re gonna have a firsthand relationship with your professor.

You’re gonna be given the opportunity to develop a relationship. They’re gonna look after. the curse is if you, if you choose not to go to class on a campus this size, you know, people find out pretty quickly, right? Um, but also we have, uh, a number of, of things in place to assure our guys academic success.

We have academic advisors, we have tutors available on campus. We do academic check-ins as a coaching staff, the entirety of our first year, uh, players within our program as well. Um, so yeah, there, there’s a, a number of things that we do to assure that our guys are gonna have some additive success. And then also I’ll elude to the fact.

You know, the odac, the old Dominion Athletic conference, you know, geographically is, is not that diverse, right? So all of our, our, our matches are really a blast up and down, 81, an hour and a half, two hours, three hours max. And we tend to do a pretty good job of scheduling good out of conference, you know, quality out conference opponents that are close to us regionally as well.

And that’s super beneficial for our guys academics. Right? And this past year we had one overnight trip and we only really made an overnight trip, more or less for the experience. So our guys aren’t missing any class where, you know, in some conferences in the country you could be traveling, you know, from Virginia to Texas.

There’s quite some distance. But for our guys that feel that they’re able to balance it, um, you know, fairly, fairly easily, 

Matt: No, that’s great. Well, and, and you’ve alluded to it a little bit in terms of your practice time and, and then, uh, with the, the road trips. But can you walk me through what, what a typical week during the season’s gonna look like for a player in terms of, [00:12:00] you know, what meals, classes, uh, practice times, games, all that kind of stuff?

Just a, an average week, if you will. 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, certainly you, you, you’ve, you know, the buzzword is in season, right? And I think for us in season, outta season are, um, not substantially different, but certainly different. You know, in season we’re training, you’re playing matches six out of the seven days of the week, right?

Um, like most, most universities and. In the off season, our guys are doing strength conditioning programs, three out of the four days of the week throughout the winter timeframe in the spring timeframe as well, with the kind of big differentiators being in the winter timeframe. You know, our sessions are, are certainly led by, uh, the captains via obviously NCAA rules, legislations, and then in the springtime we’re able to get our hands on ’em again as a staff.

So, um, yeah, in, in season it really depends on the kid as well and what year they’re in. So seniors schedule might be substantially different. They might have priority on class. Some of those other pieces. So our senior guys might only have classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. They might have some more extensive labs that take a little bit more time on Tuesday, Thursday.

But generally speaking, yeah, our guys get up, um, you know, in that seven, eight kind of time slot a little bit earlier for the guys who have 8:00 AM and that really seven to kind of three 30 timeframe is engulfed with you, not only class and getting meals. Um, a little bit of free time for whatever college guys wanna be able to do.

And then kind of that three 30 to four 30. Preparation for training. So whether that be film, um, scatter reports, if we have, you know, upcoming matches, uh, group film, individualized film, um, could be a little bit more functional, individualized sessions for some [00:13:30] guys that are getting stuff before training.

Um, guys are getting rehab stuff in the training room. And then obviously the training itself and our training sessions, you know, tend to be pretty quick, pretty efficient. We like to get in and out and then get our guys back into the cafeteria dining hall for the night and. Packing up with our academics on the ladder end.

So yeah, again, the fortunate thing is that we can have that consistency, um, not only in season but in the off season as well. So we train every day at four 30, um, and being that we have our own lifting facility as well, and off season, it’s no different. So we do our lifting in the morning and we’re able to, you know, kind of coordinate with other teams.

And, um, being that there’s only nine, you know, nine varsity sports teams here at Hampton, Sydney, it’s, it’s, it’s typically fairly easy to do. 

Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about, about the team. Um, is there a roster size that you guys are shooting for each year that you find as ideal?

Coach: Absolutely. Um, for us, you know, we like to fluctuate right around 30 to 32. Um, That’s a figure that we feel, um, you know, we’re able to compete with. It’s super comfortable. We’re able to give guys a really good experience with three, three coaches on staff, but also, um, gives guys a really legitimate opportunity to compete.

You know, I think right around 30, 32, we feel that. Every guy on any given day could still have an opportunity to step in and be a part of a, of a match, whether it be as a guy who’s contributing minutes or starting, um, or whatever it may be. Um, and also we travel everyone as well, and we wanna make sure that, you know, a big part of the Hampton Sydney experience is, is the culture, is the comradery.

I think if you look at any sort of our success in recent years, some of the [00:15:00] successful, you know, moments that we’ve had, a big part of what we can attribute that. Is the close-knit nature and the camaraderie of the guys within this program. So, um, being able to, to travel everyone, make sure that everyone is having a really like-minded experience is really important to us as a coaching staff.

Um, so yeah, 30 and around 30, 32 allows us, um, to do those things. Okay. 

Matt: Now you mentioned that you, there’s three, three folks on staff. Uh, can you just talk a little bit more about each person and, and what their role is and, and how they help everybody? 

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. So I’ll start at the top, uh, with Coach Zo, obviously the head coach.

He’s been here for at least six years now and has really done, you know, fantastic things here at the program. You know, I can only take with so much credit being a part of the program for about a year and a half now, but let’s hit some, some major high points here. You know, in 20 19 21, 20 21 with 2020 timeframe kind of being.

That Covid block, uh, we were back Toback, regular season ODAC champions, uh, went on a 23 game on beaten streak in that timeframe and, and really hit a lot of benchmarks, not only for the conference, but certainly for the program as well. It’s really done a fantastic job. So, um, coach Nuso has been here for about six, seven years now.

Obviously myself going into my, uh, you know, releases my second year. So for, been here for about a year and a half now, coming in. Sowan, the University of South where I was there for about five years, had a really fantastic experience. And then, um, our, our youngest member on staff is Coach Lazo Van Stren, who’s his first year as well.

And super eager, super hardworking guy who’s done a fantastic job early in his, early in his career. 

Matt: Awesome. Well, in [00:16:30] terms of the, the team, can you talk about the, the culture of the team, your guys’ style of coaching, team style of. 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah, really good question. So, I would say that, uh, coaching wise, um, you know, above all else, what we really pride ourselves on here at h Sidney is being extremely relational.

Um, we wanna hold really, really strong relationships with our guys. We want them to feel like, you know, we do care about them, we do value them. Um, you know, we have fantastic retention within our program. We have fantastic retention here at the university. I think maintaining strong relationships with our guys is at the forefront of being able to do those things.

Um, so yeah, above all else, as a staff, say a philosophy or one thing that we pride ourselves on is having a good pulse on where our guys are. Um, yeah. And, and their, and their tenure of being here at Hampton City. So being relational is certainly key. Um, Regards to our playing style and what we, what we try to do.

You know, like I said, we, we have a really close-knit group. We pride ourselves on being a blue collar, hardworking controller, controllables kind of guy, you know, kind of guy here at Hampton, Sydney. And certainly that bleeds into our playing style. You know, we play a, a high pressing, high tempo brand into soccer.

Um, going out trying to win the ball of teams and their own end and getting the goal as quickly as efficiently as possible. And I think when you go out and bring in the right guy in the first place, right when you are bringing in a, a blue collar, when you are bringing in a hardworking, um, guy that wants to be the fittest, wants to be artist working, wants to be a physically dominant guy in the field, it makes it easier for us to be able to instill those, those values and to instill that, that that tactical side on the field as well.[00:18:00] 

Matt: Okay. Well, and we talked about the. Regular season, if you will, but, you know, it is December, uh, you were just saying you got some guys starting to head home, uh, or, or getting ready to here shortly. Sure. So what, what does the off season program look like for you guys in terms of what are kids gonna be doing between now and next August?

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, yeah, our guys, um, you throw the winter timeframe are doing strength conditioning three to four times a week with kind of two to three of those days, depending on the week being main, mainly strength driven and then one day being kind of a cardio heavy day as well. Um, in that timeframe, it’s a really good opportunity for our upperclassmen had kind of developed.

Or a rising upperclassmen, I’ll say, to develop some of their leadership. So they’re still playing. Um, they’re still developing on the field, you know, on a year round basis. But in that winter block, um, it’s certainly led by the captains we’re giving the go, those guys an opportunity to really step into a leadership role, and it’s always really fun and really interesting to hear from the guys at the end of the season.

On who our leaders are and who’s developing as a leader. And then also hear from them after the winter block as well, after they’ve just gone over a couple weeks, a couple months, where it’s strictly run by our upperclassmen. And it’s a, it’s a really healthy I thing thing as well because, you know, we spend three full months yelling at these guys, coaching these guys, and they hear our voices a ton.

So it’s a really good opportunity for them to get away from us and obviously go out and just be soccer players and enjoy competitive format with just, you know, obviously just the team without the coaching staff. And then that merges into the springtime [00:19:30] frame. Obviously, when we’re back, obviously performing as a team.

Coaching as you know, with, with the coaching staff, again, when we’re training, playing matches, um, a little bit more heavily and that materializes into. Our spring competition date as well, where we’ve done kind of a myriad of things with it. In the past, we’ve done one-off games against other D three opponents.

We’ve done, uh, smaller showcase, you know, days where we play three, four opponents at a time. Um, this upcoming year we’ll be playing another division three opponent and also a division one opponent and a singular day as well. So try to give our guys an opportunity to see some teams that they don’t traditionally see, you know, in the fall as well.

So yeah, our. Are certainly developing, competing, and playing on a full-time basis. I would say that the structure changes, you know, from coaching staff to players from time to time, but they’re always playing. And then I, I, you know, I think I have to put a plug in this web or saying that, You know, in the off season as well, you know, they’re still college students, right?

We, we want our guys to live life and life to the fullest. We want them to experience Hampton, Sydney, Hampton, and Sydney has some really fantastic things to offer, and it can’t just be soccer and soccer in school all the time, right? Um, so we wanna give them the opportunity to be social, to be, you know, play in Amaral basketball for fun, be a part of different communities, meet some people who aren’t on the team as well.

So, yeah, we, you know, take our soccer extremely seriously here. We take our academics extremely seriously, but in the same. We want them to have a really positive experience off the field as well. So our guys are certainly involved in different capacities on campus. Awesome. 

Matt: Well, you know, we, we’ve talked about a lot of things and, and covered a lot of ground, but, uh, I always end these the same way.

That’s what didn’t we cover? What, what else is there that you’d like us to know, whether it’s about the school, about the program, about [00:21:00] college soccer, recruiting in general, whatever it is. Uh, I leave you with the last word.

Coach: Yeah. Well, it could go any direction, right? Um, I think Matt, yeah. Above all else. Um, what I would want people to know is kind of the, it’s a really, really exciting time to be here at Hampton Sydney.

Right? I firmly believe that this is both and product. You can come here, you know, legitimately com to compete for a, a conference championship in a really, really competitive old Dominion athletic conference, but the same breath, um, you know, get a world class education. Like I said, I think that H City does an unbelievable job of developing these young men over the four year of being here, but also does an even better job of taking care of them for the next 40 years they’ve come.

So it’s certainly an exciting time to be here at ha. I’m thrilled to be here myself and I think ultimately we’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg and there’s really no reason why, um, you know, as a program we can’t be competing for higher and higher levels every year with some of the players we have in this program and some of the players we didn’t wanna bring in in recent years.

So, um, yeah, I would say above all else that it’s exciting timeframe to be here and, and that, um, it’s been a bit of a sleeping giant and, um, co doing as a recent is a little bit of tip of the iceberg for the program. That’s awesome. 

Matt: Well, I really appreciate your time and. And I think you’re gonna be down my way here in the not too distant future.

So he’ll, uh, we’ll have to connect, uh, and, and, and buy a cup of coffee and, and meet in person. 

Coach: So looking forward to it. Absolutely looking forward to some of the warmer weather, man. Appreciate that, . Exactly. 

Matt: All right, well thanks coach. Uh, best of luck. Thank you.