Indiana University – South Bend Women’s Soccer – Coach Bobby Barnes
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Barnes from the IUSB Women’s Program. We talk about how he focuses on local recruiting and spotting talent nearby. He describes how students are able to get a top degree from a smaller school. Lastly, we discuss the support the team gets from staff plus others at the school and in the community. Learn more about Indiana University – South Bend Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi
everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Barnes up at IU South bend. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thank you very much for having me.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I think, man, I haven’t been to South Bend in probably 35 years, uh, when I went to a Notre Dame Blue Gold game, uh, when, when Lou Holtz was coaching, but
Coach:, uh, it’s a couple years ago.
Matt: Yeah, just a few. But, uh, you know, when I was coaching, I used, I worked the, uh, the IU Bloomington Camps. Uh, they’re, they’re the, the, the mothership, but, uh, but you guys are, are an NAI program up north there in Indiana. So how is that in terms of, you know, I guess right now being, we’re talking February recruiting, what’s your calendar like being, being an NAI program and, and kind of where do you sit right now and how you’re, you’re getting.
Coach: Your roster set up, found it, found a little bit of stability, uh, to help start the program in 2019, right. As you know, COVID pretty much hit and, uh, it’s been a crazy road up until this point and now, you know, when teams weren’t even playing, trying to pull kids in without a recruiting base, but, uh, we’ve had, uh, had 15 kids come in last year, seven or eight kids come in, players come in this next year and, uh, You know, just still, you know, finishing up a couple, [00:01:30] you know, 2024 but the 25th and 26.
It’s nice Grand Park down there in Indianapolis. You know, Westfield is only about an hour and a half away. So using travel down 31 to catch quite a few of those games. Um, you know, really focus on a lot of the 2025 and 26 is but, uh, you know, things are going well and got a nice recruiting base and, uh, you know, looking forward to it.
This weekend, for sure.
Matt: Well, but besides, uh, You know, Graham Park, which, you know, is always a hotbed in the Midwest there. What are some of the other events you like to get to places you like to go? Kind of where, where’s your, your must stops?
Coach: Yeah, I tell you what, the reputation of, you know, with the IU, you know, it’s an IU education, so.
If you go to Bloomington or South Bend, you’re getting the exact same degree, which is the marketability. The professors are incredible. I think almost kind of a little bit of an advantage. You know, the average class size is one professor to 15 students, which is which is incredible. Even the university was set up.
It’s like almost during the depression. It’s like, how can we give a degree to the north? side of the state. And then Chicago is only an hour and a half away. Michigan is about five miles away over the border. I’ve done incredible, uh, some nice recruiting out of Ohio. You know, I was at Ohio Wesleyan for 19 seasons and the tuition [00:03:00] rates are getting up to 60, 70, 000.
And when we have an in state tuition at 7, 000, even with the Ohio kids, it’s only 10, 500 for tuition, uh, really focusing on, uh, you know, Western Indiana has been incredible. Illinois has been outstanding. And then, you know, Michigan and Ohio, they’re strong points and almost everybody’s going to be at the, uh, cross roads, you know, tournament and Indy, uh, watching a lot of the, uh, you know, local.
Uh, even up in Chicago, kind of call that local as well, watching their club teams play and then just going over the border in Michigan, you know, it’s been great. There’s a time where it’s, if we had a little bit more national base, kind of go down to Disney and stuff like that, but it’s just a, you know, almost a waste of time when everybody’s playing right here.
Matt: Sure. No, that makes sense. Well, does the, I know for NAI, it’s a little bit different, but does, does, The transfer portal, junior college recruiting, international recruiting. Does that kind of come into your purview at all?
Coach: Well, what’s interesting is with, you know, like the international, I know some schools are kind of built that way.
Basically it’d be an out of state, uh, student and. You know, our out of state and even out of our the quadrant like we’ll give a tuition remission with Ohio, Illinois, Michigan. So it’s nice that it’ll knock it off about [00:04:30] almost half, which is great. But a lot of even the international students, they’ll just say, Hey, we have a budget of like 8, 000 per year 10, 000.
It’s like that. You know, we’re not funded where we’re going to give out a lot of money internationally, and there’s so much talent here locally like to give them top priority anyway, so that really does not play into my recruiting.
Matt: Okay, well, what about ID camps? Uh, that seems to be all the rage these days.
Everybody’s. Got their own, but there’s some of the, the multi school ones or anything like that to you or your staff. Well, 1st of all, do you guys have your own ID camp? Secondly, do you and your staff work other ID camps? Kind of is that part of your recruiting equation?
Coach: Yeah, there was a time, uh, you know, prior.
Occupies, you know, private job, uh, you know, would go to other maybe other schools. I do camps. But what’s great is we have benefited incredibly. I charge absolutely nothing started this in in covid and I would hear from a club coach. It’s like, man, my players, they’re paying an exorbitant amount of money and basically 100 kids show up and they could really care less about my kids.
And with my D camps, I think we brought in about 15 or 16 two falls ago, and I think 13 pretty much committed, you know, on the spot. They were highly valued, highly recruited players. You get around the players, the coaching staff, you know, the alums, you know, that graduated the year [00:06:00] before, and it’s just like, hey, you know, I love the location and we’re in a great college town right next to.
Little bit lesser known institution of Notre Dame is just two miles up the road. But, uh, you know, great college town. And once they get on campus and, you know, kind of the nice thing is somebody’s like, Hey, it’s not costing 100 some odd dollars. I’m gonna bring a buddy in. And sometimes you just, you know, you get some great players that come in.
you know, with their friends. And it’s just been one of the biggest and best recruiting tools we’ve had. And like I said, it’s it’s not money driven. We just want to get the top players on campus. And it’s, you know, you get in front of the, uh, staff you get with the players. And I think especially coaching female athletes, you know, the comfort Of, you know, the players you’re going to be playing with, I think it’s very, very important.
And I think a lot of those players have picked that up. It’s like, Hey, I want to, this is who I want to do battle with.
Matt: Yeah, no, I love that. Um, well, whether it’s at camp or crossroads or at any of these things, kind of what makes up the hierarchy of, of things you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field attributes or off the field attributes.
Coach: Yeah. You know, obviously you’re looking for a different position, different type of players. Obviously athleticism is a, it’s kind of a good start. Um, even along with that, you know, what’s your movement, you know, your first touch movement off the ball, how engaged, how engaged are you as a player, a member, you know, one of my favorite recruits throughout the years.
It was her third [00:07:30] game playing a college team. They were up three zero and the ball is going out of bounds and she’s sliding out of bounds, you know, to save it, picks it up, hits a nice ball and to have that kind of determination and just that type of energy. You know, what, what do you bring to the game?
And if it’s an outside back, are you, are you getting into the attack? If it’s a forward, how hard are you defending, you know, midfielders, kind of your vision, you know, just, just kind of those players are trying to take the game to the next level and, uh, playing with a lot of passion.
Matt: Yeah, that’s good, good stuff for folks to hear, especially a position specific.
Um, well, let’s, you know, let’s talk a little bit more about the school, you know, kind of it being. Uh, I call them branch campuses, but, uh, you know, that’s what I think, hopefully most people call them, but kind of talk about what, what makes the school itself unique and, and some awesome things you found about it, but also kind of weaving in, how does that fit into it being part of IU?
Coach: Yeah, I tell you what, and it’s neat with the, uh, being part of IU, the name, the education, you’re getting a Big Ten education. So it is a huge benefit, you know, being under the Indiana University name, which is tremendous. What’s, what’s great about IU South Bend from, you know, being in a good college town.
Um, we have about, especially coaching women’s soccer, we have about a 65% [00:09:00] Female population, they can, females can major in whatever they like, but we have from dental hygiene, we have nursing, we have education, we have some, uh, degrees that are just very attractive to, uh, female soccer players and their grade point averages are off the roof, uh, and the wide variety of majors that we have.
The, uh, professors are all teaching their courses, which once you get into bigger institutions, they’re usually doing the research and have graduate assistants doing their work. So every single professors teach in their courses, they take a lot of time and effort and energy. And it could be from our, we have a great medical program and our head of the Dr.
Dranek in the medical department spend so much time and effort, even with every single recruit, uh, they really value the individual and they’re the ones that are writing, you know, your recommendations. You know, for further opportunities, and it’s just a kind of a tight knit community. Um, but a wide variety of, uh, educational opportunities here on campus.
That’s great.
Matt: Well. You mentioned the academic side of things and a lot of incoming student athletes into college, that’s where they struggle, right? Balancing the demands of a college soccer program and the academics. So, how do your student athletes really balance the two and what kind of support systems does the school offer to help them?
Coach: Yeah, it was great. First and [00:10:30] foremost, uh, you know, obviously the academics are top on the list. Along with that, I would say how they balance that, um, even talking with, I’ve had a player this past season. She came in with 72 credits, college credits in the dental hygiene. And I’m like, are you going to dental hygiene?
It’s like, Oh no, I would have had that degree. Basically. She’s this, she’s only in her second semester. And she’s like, no, I’m getting my full doctorate in dentistry. So, you know, be the high, high tier. And this is a freshman talking to me about sorting out her schedule shifts. And he’s taken a lot of upper levels and during the first semester may take 12 credit hours.
You know, she even asked the question. It’s like, Hey, I’m talking with my advisor. Uh, class offer on Tuesday and Friday. I know we have a bunch of games. I don’t want to miss this lab on Tuesday. So how about Friday practices? I’m like, usually it’s a pre game, so we’ll practice before and after. So here is an extraordinary student, uh, planning her her first semester schedule, uh, in a very rigorous, um, and then in the off Like right now, uh, it’s nice and kind of a nice thing with NAI with the training in the off season, we’re pretty much going February, March and April instead of the 15 practices, one play date.
So, uh, it’s very advantageous and even just the enjoyment of coaching your athletes in the off season has been great. Um, [00:12:00] but then I would say in the, you know, in the spring, especially we have from nursing degrees to dental hygiene. Obviously, they’re, they’re taking quite a few courses. That’s, uh, they’ll take probably a few extra credit or extra classes.
and they’re all over the place class wise. But I know we’re going like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and then Friday. We’ll have an extra session for people that have missed throughout the week. So nice time bringing in two or three players to kind of make up, uh, you know, maybe time missed with the team. Um, so it’s just kind of working around schedules, but making sure You know, the academics are first and foremost, but then, you know, working with their schedules and any reason for me to get out of the office and knock the ball around.
It’s always enjoyable. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt: Can’t argue with that. Well, do me a favor. Let’s rewind back to say October, kind of the heart of that conference schedule. Can you walk me through what a typical week for a player is going to look like when our classes meals practices, the game canes, what would a typical week look like?
Coach: Gotcha. Uh, absolutely. What’s kind of nice. Our classes are Monday through Thursday and basic Fridays are off. Um, and sometimes there’ll be labs scheduled on Friday to open up those majors with, you know, science oriented. Um, but basically a typical even go back to kind of preseason we come in right around August 7, two weeks before school [00:13:30] starts.
Um, and then kind of another nice advantage. We can have games in August, so I think this next year, maybe we have one, the 23rd, the 27th 30th, so it’s kind of opens up our schedule a little bit. I know there’s times where maybe we’d have a Tuesday game and then maybe do a term in a Saturday, Sunday or Friday, Saturday.
We obviously don’t have to do that when we’re stretching out 18 regular season games and then two scrimmages. Uh, so a typical week, you know, it’s basically two weeks of preseason. Then our game start, um, let’s say Monday practice four to six Tuesday. Same thing Wednesday game. Uh, practice four or six on Thursday.
Friday, we go 10 to noon and then Saturday game and then Sunday’s off. Uh, and it’s nice with our travel. Obviously, nine games are pretty much home. And then we have from Holy Cross here in town. We played ST Mary’s. We have Bethel goes, you know, in a very short, uh, and then, uh, most of our Chicago schools were in the Chicago land conference about an hour and a half away on average.
So it’s not not too bad traveling. Uh, and then we have ST Ambrose and Davenport, which is about 3. 5 hours. You know, we’ll just go there on a Saturday and Uh, Viterbo joined our conference there up in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Almost got to catch the Ohio state now being a Notre Dame game, but then Viterbo joined our conference on that same exact day and I’m [00:15:00] traveling six and a half hours, uh, Miss and very exciting game.
Well,
Matt: well, I don’t know. I, I would never choose a college football game over, over a soccer game. So that’s just me. That’s just me.
Coach: I just want to do everything, man. Exactly. Right. When Columbus comes to South bed. Yeah. Yeah. Just not enough hours in the day.
Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team.
Um, You know, is, is there a roster size that, that you’re trying to hit that you find is ideal?
Coach: Man, oh man, a few years ago, it’s like, Hey, I’ll take 11 healthy bodies and coming out and that we’re in a great, great situation. It’s amazing how. You know, just the how the program has grown. I think right now with recruits have about 27, you know, which is great.
Uh, you know, some of the players, I would say kind of non non recruited. They’re great kids. They’ve been huge to the program. We would not be around if we did not have those just die hearts just facing adversity and they’re rearranging schedules. But uh, You know, the way the recruiting has gone the last couple of years, I would say we’re at about one and a half, we’ll be at basically two kind of recruiting cycles to two classes on the teams.
But, you know, I’d say, you know, between maybe 25 and 30 and, you know, have two or three goalkeepers. Uh, [00:16:30] and, you know, field players and you’re going through injuries. But, uh, you know, I still think we’re probably if we have another big, you know, recruiting class, you know, next year, the year after, just to kind of solidify and tighten it up and don’t like to have too many is just tough, tough being on that far side of the bench sometimes.
Matt: Absolutely. Well, besides, uh, a roster of players, uh, there’s the staff. So talk to me about your staff. You know, how big is it? What roles does everybody play? What kind of maybe other support staff are there in the athletic department that help out with the team
Coach: with, uh. Our training staff is unbelievable, uh, Kara and Lauren and Trista, they do amazing job.
They’re part of Beacon Health, and not only is our head trainer, you know, our head trainer, but also on faculty. She gets a lot of the trainers for the area high schools and even colleges, and she’ll even fill out with some of the area colleges. Uh, so great, great staff and going through COVID, they were worth their weight in gold.
Um, but I have Jay Fraymiller, who was an area club coach, worked with, uh, and actually went to Purdue, area club coach, high school coach, South Bend, did great things with, uh, Adams High School, you know, took them, they were battling teams like, uh, St. Joseph and Penn High School, two great programs, even nationally where.
I think it was, uh, Penn was the national champion 2017, but he’s a great coach and, uh, on staff working with the goalkeepers and myself, and, [00:18:00] uh, then have some, um, some area coaches that are helping out on the recruiting side. I have Mitch Hebron who’s out in, uh, Western. Indiana, he’s an Ohio guy from Cleveland, the Internationals.
And uh, he sent me some tremendous players and I think he’s taken over a semipro team and, uh, uh, a club out in western Indiana, Valparaiso area. So it’s just great having a little, little bit of a pipeline and just some help. Um, but other than that, you know, it’s pretty small. You know, operation and, uh, and even to help out the students from the tutoring to our library system is incredible.
It’s almost impossible to fail. And I think our team GPA was a 3 with everybody’s, uh, kind of the beauty of coaching female soccer players. You really don’t have to worry about that.
Matt: Yeah, that’s, uh, it’s usually the most, most female, uh, soccer coaches have that, that benefit, at least the ones I’ve interviewed.
Coach: That’s for sure. That’s right. That’s right.
Matt: Well, now, now I got to train the guns on you though, coach, kind of, how do you describe your, your style of coaching, the style of play that you’re looking to implement kind of that team culture? What’s that look like?
Coach: Uh, uh, as a forward, you know, playing the game, I love a good attacking style.
I’m a big Liverpool fan. And, uh, I would love to at some point mimic that. Obviously we played quite a bit of defense this past season, but just, uh, you know, going forward dynamically, uh, uh, can we attack from [00:19:30] multiple positions? Um, The I would say more or less players coach, you know, I’m gonna work with you.
What can we do to fulfill your goals on and off the field? Uh, you know, if we need meetings just to help you out or just, you know, making a fun, enjoyable environment. Uh, you know, we’re going to goal quite a bit. A lot of on the ball, not doing tedious, uh, You know, just setting up a million cones and trying to take the player in the crazy dimension.
It’s like a, you know, as a player, basic coaching is like a fire player. What kind of environment? What I want to be in and had a player. You know, come in from another institution, and it was a little bit different, a little bit more tense, and I don’t know how to put it, and she’s like, man, just the progression, just the enjoyment, the battle, and we did quite a few from 1v1s to 3v2s, you know, kind of going out, it was pretty rigorous, and she just absolutely loved it, and uh, you know, let the, let the players work, and let them kind of solve problems on their own, and come out afterwards, and see, see if we could get, just get better every day.
Matt: Awesome. Awesome.
Well, we’re talking in the off season and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, uh, that you have a little bit more freedom, you know, being part of the NAIA with your off season. So just real quick, kind of tell me what does that off season entail? What does it look like? What are the players going to be doing?
Coach: This is great. We’ll go, uh, like I said, probably Monday, Tuesday, [00:21:00] Thursday, four to six, and then we’ll have some fitness on the off days. And once again, trying to respect, um, you know, the player schedules, uh, trying to, you know, we’re, we’re trying to get fit. I’m not. You know, it was kind of interesting. Even when I was at Ohio Wesson, where we had some extraordinary teams and we’re playing a lot of division one teams and even competing, beating nationally ranked teams.
And we’re just going three or four times a week, maybe for, uh, you know, that they’re trying to keep their grades up and then, you know, these other teams are, Hey, well, we have plies at 6am we’re lifting at 7am. We’re having a practice for four hours. You know, it was just like, you gotta be kidding me. So you guys are putting.
40 hours of work week in the off season. You’re probably burnout just mentally and physically stressed. So kind of, you know, in the off season still want to get some touches, but definitely want to, you know, get a nice fitness base, you know, for the off season, but doing it in a, you know, I think in a realistic manner, um, where.
And, you know, if they’re getting good grades, enjoying themselves and obviously still keeping fit, I think that’s a, that’s a good balance. So we’re going three times a week and then, you know, fitness, whether they’re in pairs or small groups, they’re getting together player, have a player that was coming up a slight illness, like, Hey, I want to go home for the weekend.
It’s like, absolutely. You know, it’s not like we got you for the whole time, but you know, once you get back, you know, get back into the swing and, uh, we have [00:22:30] three. Um, we have two scrimmages. We have Kokomo and buddies up in Adrian up in Michigan, they’re going to come down and then we have Vansilla which is a local community college, you know, coming in so we’ll have games, you know, in April, when the weather breaks a little bit.
So, okay.
Matt: Awesome. Well, coach, you’ve been generous with your time. I really appreciate all this information. I got one last question for you. You know, you’ve been in the college soccer game for quite a long time. So I’m sure you’ve got some, some great information. So if you had to boil it down to just one piece of advice that you’d want to share to, to any recruits listening to this or watching this video, uh, what would you want them to know?
Coach: Man, I think one thing is just love the game. You know, figure out why you play the game. Don’t put the stresses on that. I play great. Or maybe it’s a pair, maybe it’s a fan, you know, just, man, I think Ronald Dino’s just always play with a smile on his face and you could just see that love of the game and the passion for the teammates is basically enjoy every single moment of the game.
And through COVID, you know, isolation and not playing, that was an absolute, like a prison. I know for myself, you know, for others, but just keep, keep loving it and be a great teammate and go after it. Give it all you got and don’t worry about it.
Matt: Love it. Well, coach, really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck as you wrap up all your recruiting and your spring season, and hopefully, [00:24:00] uh, get back after it in the fall and get some more wins.
Coach: Matt, I appreciate that. And anytime you need anything, let me know. Likewise. Take care. We’ll see.
