Kansas Wesleyan University Women’s Soccer – Coach Joe Schwartz
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Schwartz from the Kansas Wesleyan Women’s Program. We talk about how their alumni help in their recruiting. He describes the athletic success that cuts across all sports. Lastly, we discuss how for them, everything starts with culture. Learn more about Kansas Wesleyan University Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Joe out at Kansas Wesleyan. Welcome coach. Excited to be here. Yeah. Thanks for coming. You graced our podcast about, uh, oh man, it’s all, believe it or not, it’s almost been two and a half years. You were one of my first, I think, 10 guests, uh, at your prior school.
So, uh, we’re, we’re 250 episodes later now, believe it or not.
Coach: Well, glad to be back. I didn’t know I was in that elite group of the first. That’s right. Yeah. There
Matt: you go. Uh, well you’re, you’re now at Kansas Wesleyan on the women’s side and AI program there. How long have you been there now?
Coach: Um, it came in last March, March, uh, of 23.
So a little over a year now. And they have, I’ve really enjoyed it and excited to talk about it today.
Matt: Yeah. So what’s it like coming into a program in March, right? Like in terms of recruiting, you’re, you’re, you’re kind of late in that class, but I’m sure there’s people who left and you got to scramble, but then you’re also trying to do two classes at once because that’s about the right timing.
So, so how was it getting your first class in? What’s it look like now? How, how did it end up?
Coach: Yeah. So, well. It was a challenge coming in, in March, you know, at that point they didn’t have anyone signed. So, um, I, I had a contact with a few players obviously, and so they kind of followed me here and, and so that was great.
Um, but yeah, right now, honestly, I, I just [00:01:30] now feel like I’m kind of caught up with where I need to be. Like we have a, a couple of 25 commits already, um, starting to make that list of, of 26s and. And maybe, you know, jotting down a few 2027s that catch our eye to keep track of. So, um, feeling pretty good, but yeah, that, that first coming in in March, you’re right.
It’s super late, especially in the women’s game. Um, and, uh, but we got, we got a good group, even though we came in late, we were able to pick up some good players. Our retention was really high this year. Um, everyone, you know, the great thing about, um, how we recruit is that we’re really looking at people to come in and not just be.
Great soccer players, but great teammates and want to be a part of, of what we’re doing. So, um, I think that that’s always something that sets us apart and, and helps us retain those players because for us, the culture is the number one thing. Um, and so, um, but excited about this 24 class coming in. Um, we actually have our first team meeting, um, you know, through zoom coming up here on, on Saturday.
And so excited to kind of get on, have our first, you know, team meeting in person. Right. Like we kind of seize each other’s space a little bit. And, um, as we look to prepare for our, for our fall.
Matt: No, that’s awesome. Well, one of the things that I noticed is a little unique, probably, uh, at least what I’m seeing, uh, around the country, unique from an NAI roster is the lack of foreign players.
You’re actually almost all domestic there, which is [00:03:00] for NAI schools. Now I know it’s more on the men’s side, but even now on the women’s side, almost kind of a rarity. So where is it that you’re going to look for players? What’s, what’s your ideal kind of tournament showcase? What, where is it that you’re, you’re finding players and like to recruit from?
Coach: Yeah, no, I mean, there’s really no one place. We really look. Um, we have people from all over. We actually have two internationals coming in this year. Um, but even like, like you said, even compared to a lot of other in the eyes, it’s not a very large percentage of the of the roster. Um, so for me, it’s more about finding the right for me.
Player and person, like I said before, and whether that’s an international player or whether that’s, you know, um, you know, uh, a kid from Celina, which is, you know, where, where Kansas Westland is located at, um, you know, we have a handful of those on, on, on our roster. We have another one coming in and she was kind of a really late addition.
Um, you know, she kind of slipped under our radar for a little bit, but we’re really excited about her coming in as a, uh, hometown kid, um, you know, But, uh, and we also have a large alumni base that we recruit from. So we actually have, um, a D2 transfer coming in, um, because her sister committed to us at which it was one of our 25 commits and she was like, well, I want to play with my sister.
So she transferred in and, and her parents are both alumni of Kansas Westland. Um, and so, um, and there’s been a kind of a pipeline, um, historically from California, Arizona. [00:04:30] Um, that area. And so, um, we have a lot of alumni who have played here, you know, back in the, uh, 2000s and now they have kids that are about college age and they’re wanting their kids to come back and, um, to Kansas and play, which I think is a really cool thing.
Um, and says a lot about not just the program, but about the college.
Matt: Yeah, that is a, uh, uh, a unique but, but telling, uh, component there, uh, which is pretty cool. So, what about ID camps? Do you guys do any? Do you, your staff work any? Are they important to your recruiting at all?
Coach: Yeah, for sure. I mean, um, We, we try to go to as many, especially the local ones.
Um, and we’re, we’re lucky with where we’re positioned at in Salina. We’re pretty central in the state. So it’s about six hours to Denver. It’s a straight shot. So we go to a lot of camps there. Um, you know, we’re about four hours from Oklahoma city and Tulsa, which soccer is really big in those areas. And of course, Wichita has a big soccer, um, um, community, and we’re only about an hour and in Kansas city.
We’re six from, you know, um, St. Louis and, uh, and Columbia and Omaha, uh, Omaha, Nebraska is pretty close as well. So we, we don’t have to travel a lot to see a lot of talent from a lot of different areas. Cause obviously like it. When we go to Denver, we get a lot from, um, Western states that come to those showcases.
So, um, so we, we definitely [00:06:00] like to go to those local ones, especially the Kansas ones too. Um, but we’ll also, we’ll travel around. We’ll go to Houston. We’ll go to Florida. We’ll go to, to California and, and kind of see, Um, you know, spread our wings a little bit and not limit ourselves to just kind of one pool of players.
That makes sense. Um, so, but yeah, it’s huge. Uh, and I think for us, we want to see players, you know, it’s one thing, you know, Twitter has a great kind of recruiting. There’s a lot of accounts and things that can help with that. And it’s really easy to find recruits on field level or in CSA, but going out and, you know, talking to recruits, talking to their parents, that’s something that we really appreciate.
Like to do and and we’ll do more of we didn’t do as much of it as we wanted to this year You know with me and my staff coming in first year we want to get our you know, our our sea legs and get our feet under us and But we wanted to expand that and we are actually running our first ID camp And I think it’s the first ID camp that they’ve had on the women’s side for a while We just posted about it literally right before I got on this this call.
So Um It’s going to happen on July 8th. It’s pretty quick turnaround. I know that usually you get a couple months heads up before, but we kind of had an alumni who, um, is, uh, has been really successful, uh, in the college soccer and just in soccer in general, that’s going to come back and be a guest speaker for us and kind of talk about the college game.
And so. Uh, we just threw this idea together, but we’re excited to, to offer something. And, [00:07:30] um, definitely we’ll do more things in the future because one thing we definitely want to show off is, um, our community, our Salina community, but our campus and our facilities as well.
Matt: Yeah. Well, don’t, don’t forget to post it on the discover college soccer website for, for our camp listings.
But, uh, Um, let’s talk more about those facilities in the school. I’m sure there’s folks out there, not familiar. So, you know, what was it that kind of drew you in to, to Kansas? Was in, what are some things you found in that first year that are really outstanding about the, about the school?
Coach: Yeah, I think the two biggest things for me, uh, is the stability of the college, both from a financial standpoint, especially as a small, you know, private institute, you know, Um, you know, you see it all the time of unfortunately, colleges closing down or reducing, you know, cutting sports or things like that.
So, uh, you know, job security, that was, that was a big one, you know, obviously, um, but for me, it was also, um, the mindset, if you go on our website and, uh, and look at all the sports and all the success that we have, not just. You know, we’re not just a basketball school or a football school or, or a soccer school.
Um, you know, everyone, um, you know, is, is successful. I mean, we just won the commissioner’s cup for our conference, which is a really big deal. It basically, you know, wherever teams end in the, in the conference standings, right. Um, you get a certain amount of points for every sport. And, um, and this is the second year in a row that we’ve won it.
And we’ve won it four out [00:09:00] of the last five years. So that just shows how much emphasis we put on, um, not just a couple of sports being successful, but everyone being successful and, and a big part of that is, is our mindset. We want to be good at everything, whether it’s athletics. Academics going out in the community and being involved and, um, you know, talking about our facilities.
We, we have great athletic facilities, but honestly, our facilities in general are great. Our dorms are really, really great. But we just built new apartment style dorms. Um, and, uh, we had two players. They actually opened the spring and two of our players, um, we’re in them. And I kind of asked, I was like, is the hype real?
Like, are they really nice? Like, no, coach, they’re great. So, um, you know, we’re expanding our dining hall that will be done by the time that it started this spring. And it’s gonna be done by the time, uh, you know, students come back in the fall. Um, music department just got a whole new makeover, new rooms, the auditoriums almost completed, um, criminal justice just got a brand new lab, so, you know, we, we put money not just in athletics, but all over campus, our, our, our plan ops guys, they do a great job of making sure that everything is well maintained, everything’s clean.
And, you know, landscaping is, it, it’s just, it, it feels like a college and looks like a college when you walk on cam. So, uh, more specifically on the athletic side, you know, we have two turf fields. Um, that’s where we play. That’s where we train. They’re right next to each [00:10:30] other. It’s a great facility. Our locker room is right there.
Um, athletes don’t have to drive across town to, you know, go to games or train. They walk five, you know, five minutes. Uh, and, and they’re right there across campus at our facility. Um, our weight rooms getting updated this, this summer. I can hear him right now, you know, putting stuff, putting stuff in there.
Um, And, uh, and it’s, it’s going to be fantastic. And we’re adding a full time strength and conditioning coach to go along with that new weight room. So, um, so just excellent facilities. I mean, uh, you know, that’s, like I said, we get huge support for, you know, they want us to go out and be successful. Um, and on top of that, you know, our, our, we take our academic side of things very seriously as well, because I think any coach would tell you that, Um, it’s, it’s, you know, you’re in the top seven or 8%.
If you come in and play college, you know, from, from high school, um, you know, about seven or 8 percent get to do that. It’s even less of a percentage from that percentage that go on and play at the next level. So, um, you know, we do have a handful that are always interested, but most, and no matter what level of college you play at are going to be a professional and something else.
So, um, our athletic department just, um, boasted, I think it was a, 3. 23 overall for all our sports and everything. Um, GPA for, for this whole year, not just a semester, but the whole year. So, um, very successful both on and on, on and off. [00:12:00] The field and, uh, you know, and, and I think kind of going back to your original question, that’s really what drew me here is just, we want to be good at everything and we’re supported to, to go and do that.
Matt: Well, let’s talk about that, that academic success, right? I mean, it can be really hard for incoming freshmen to really, you know, Balance that as a fall sport. You’re you got to hit it right, right away. And you’re trying to be successful on the field. You’re trying to be successful in the classroom. So what support systems does the school have?
What do you as the athletic department do to make sure, uh, you know, students are successful, both both in the classroom and on the field.
Coach: Yeah. So I always tell my incoming, especially my incoming freshmen recruits, like your freshman year is going to be the hardest year because you’ve been good for a long time, you’ve been the top dog, right?
You’re getting lots of minutes on your club team, your high school team, all that thing, all those things. And then you’re coming in and everybody’s good. Right. It’s one of the, probably the first time that most of our players have had to compete for a spot because like I said, everybody’s everybody’s good.
Um, so we help prepare them in that way mentally, because that can be, that can be a little disheartening when you come in and you realize, Oh, I’m maybe not as good as I, I thought I was, or, or, you know, you had these great aspirations of coming in and. Being all conference for freshman year, right? Which isn’t impossible.
It’s definitely possible. I’ve, I’ve started true freshmen every year that I’ve been a head coach and that’s probably a trend that will continue. It’s just harder to do. Right. Um, so we definitely help prepare them both, you know, [00:13:30] physically with, you know, their fitness packet and all that stuff, but mentally as well, coming in as, as much as we can.
Um, this is what the game’s going to be like, cause you know, you’re here for two weeks and you start scrimmages and. And competing and it doesn’t really stop till, you know, October, November, hopefully December going all the way to nationals. Right? So, um, so it’s a long semester academically. Um, you know, we have a ton of support.
Obviously we do study hall. We have this great program where we can track everybody’s grades in real time. Um, and so we get alerts and things if someone, you know, um, struggling a little bit or, you know, doesn’t do well on a test. And so we can maybe help get them some more support if they need it. All incoming freshmen, and all students have this, but for freshmen specifically, they have a success coach.
So it’s not their advisor, which everyone has. It’s not their coach. It’s kind of someone outside of that. Um, to make sure that, you know, they’re doing okay, not just with grades, but just basic needs because a lot of times this is the first time that they’ve been away from home on their own too. So even like, are you doing your laundry?
Are you, are you eating enough? You know, um, Are you, you know, you know where the mail room’s at or where you need to go for student life, or, or if something breaks in your dorm, how do you get it fixed, that kind of stuff so a ton of support on on campus. You know, we have a great ministry program as well because we’re Methodist affiliated, it doesn’t mean you know you have to go to chapel or do that sort of [00:15:00] thing but that’s part of our heritage and we have all those things for for students who choose to.
To participate in those. Um, but you know, we have chaplains for each team that are just kind of a another resource there, whether it’s for mental health or or academics or just finding basic needs things. So and you know, I’m sure I’m leaving something out of support that we give. But, you know, one of the commitments that Kansas Westland has to any recruits that we’re bringing in is, you know, we don’t just want you to come in here and be a student.
We want you to be a graduate. So we want you to make sure that we retain you and, and you progress, um, all the way and have a very successful four years here at Kansas Westland and go on and do great things as an alumni, whether it’s enter the workforce or go on and get an advanced degree.
Matt: Yeah, that’s a great way to put it.
Well, let’s, let’s fast forward. Let’s say we’re, we’re in October. We’re in the heart of that. Conference season, kind of walk me through what a typical schedule is going to look like in a, for a week and for, for one of the players in terms of classes, practices, games, meals, all those things.
Coach: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, season’s hectic, you know, it, it, it is everywhere.
It’s the, it’s showtime, right. It’s the test. Um, and so, you know, for us, we, we train in the evenings, so we’ll either train at 4 PM. Yeah. Um, if, uh, because football is off because we share a facility with football and men’s soccer as well, um, or 6 p. m. So that’s kind of our training time and, um, we do that for a [00:16:30] couple different reasons.
Um, one, that’s when most of our games are, so it helps prepare the nervous system to compete at that time, right? Um, and then you don’t have to worry about missing class. You know, um, we don’t have any limits on what degrees that our students can pursue, um, because of, you know, practice time is at this time, you know, um, and so that’s a, that’s a, uh, you know, a big selling point for us is come in here and do what you want, and you don’t have to worry about missing class, obviously on game days if we travel, right, but, um, you know, our professors are great about working with students that do miss, you know, making up work or, or getting it done ahead of time.
So, um, and so, you know, typically we have our first team will play on Wednesdays and Saturdays. That’s a pretty typical schedule. We’re training those other days, um, typically do weights on Mondays and Thursdays. And when we’re doing weights, we’re not really looking to, you know, necessarily, you know, You know, get stronger.
It’s more of a maintenance thing. We’re doing a lot of aerobic work, and we want to make sure that we maintain that muscle mass, so it’s more of active recovery and maintenance during that, um, and again, that’s outside of kind of normal class time hours. And then, you know, our calf is open pretty consistently all day.
There’s a couple down times where they’re switching over meals and things, and we have a couple different options on campus for students to go and eat outside of the cafeteria. As well. So if it’s kind of a, maybe it, you know, we’re lifting it at two. And so the [00:18:00] cafeteria is closed. They can go and grab a protein and, and, you know, go back to their dorm on the way there with an easy swipe of their, of their meal plan card.
So, um, or credit card, if they choose to, to do that, you know, mom and dad can pay for it. Right. So, um, but, uh, uh, I mean, that’s a pretty typical schedule. Our reserves play at least once a week. That’s something that we’re really adamant about. Um, for me as a coach, I want my players to go in and play, you know, um, it’s, it’s great to train, you’re going to get better, but, um, you need to get out there and get meaningful minutes.
So our reserves will play at least once a week and it’s a fluid system. Um, you know, just because you start on first team doesn’t mean. You can breathe and relax. Like you, you’ve got to keep pushing yourself and being a great teammate and, um, and do what’s best for the team. And of course perform individually.
So, um, but that’s one thing that, that as a coaching staff, we’re really adamant about is everybody gets a chance to showcase what they can do. Um, because at the end of the day, it’s about what you do in the game. And are you effective in your position and effective as a teammate? Um, and sometimes, well, it’s just like taking a, you know, a test in school, you know, you can, some people are really good at taking the test and maybe not so good at the daily work and vice versa.
And, and, um, in sports, you know, especially in college sports, it’s very competitive, you’ve got to perform during the, during the test, right. During the game. So, um, but that’s just kind of a, a general day. Um, usually our Sundays are, or general week, um, you know, usually Sundays are [00:19:30] our day off and Um, we can get another rest day in there.
Um, and we will, but we firm believer in active recovery and doing that. And we have a very, our very own athletic trainer. Um, Ivy, who does a great job of taking care of players, both, you know, preventative injuries stuff, as well as, you know, helping players get back to a hundred percent that maybe picked up, you know, a little knock or something.
Matt: Okay. Well, you kind of mentioned some support staff there with the trainer, but you’ve got, you know, First team and reserve team. So what other staff do you have that help out with the team? What other staff, maybe in the athletic department that help out to, to help with all both teams?
Coach: Sure. So on my staff, I have a full time assistant coach, um, and, uh, we also have a, a GA, um, and, uh, and.
Rodrigo, he’s our GA and he does, he does a fantastic job. You know, I would consider him more of an assistant coach. He, he, he volunteers a lot of his time to do an extra things outside of, you know, what his normal duties are. Cause, um, he, he loves the team. He loves, he loves, um, coaching soccer. So, um, and coach Mike, my assistant, he, he does a great job of, um, you know, uh, kind of balancing everything and, and picking up, you know, the Um, players and what they need and and filling in the gaps for me because, um, you know, I would like to say that I’m on top of everything.
But, uh, but as a head coach, sometimes you’re, you know, things slip through the cracks. And so I have great support system from from them. Uh, we’re a great team and work well together. [00:21:00] Um, besides that, like I mentioned, we have our athletic trainer, Ivy. Um, she just does fantastic. We have a very nice system.
Um, They basically, it’s kind of like making a doctor’s appointment, they scan a QR code, they get their, you know, treatment time, they go in there and they get their treatment and get it done. So, um, and she works with them a lot about, you know, making sure that, you know, maybe they injured something, she’ll give them something else to do and waits that, you know, does the same thing, but maybe reduces the stress on whatever injury or knock they have.
Um, and then we’re excited. I mentioned it previously, but we’re excited on actually adding a full time strength and conditioning coach. And that coach will also have an assistant in there. So we’re excited to have them because, you know, as much as I think, um, the players love to hear me talk, I know that sometimes they want to listen to somebody else, you know?
Um, so to have that person in there and that’s their sport, that’s what they love to compete at. Uh, we’re really excited to have that. As a, as an option. So, um, and I would, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my wife. I mean, she, she takes care of a lot of the players. I mean, um, sometimes I’ll, I’ll come home and, you know, she’s, she has the players there and she, you know, she’s, she’s cooked for them or, you know, she’s, we have chickens, you know.
You know, in the middle of the line of so giving them eggs or something. So she’s a great support system. She’s actually a professor here at the college as well. So she kind of gets that they get another support system. There was someone from, you know, the academic side of [00:22:30] campus. Um, and, uh, and Several of them have had her as a professor.
And so, and, and they said that she’s pretty, she’s pretty great. So, uh, uh, which I’m biased, but if they say it, it must be true. So,
Matt: yeah, well, smart man, giving the wife a shout out there. Uh, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll make sure to clip that and send it to her. Well, let’s just kind of talk about you as a coach, kind of tell us about your coaching style, style of play you like to put together there and maybe just what you’re hoping with overall on the culture of the team.
Coach: Yeah. So like I mentioned before, the culture is the number one thing, you know, we, we know we have good players. Um, but we want to, we need to make a great team. And that means that a lot, you know, with great players, sometimes that’s hard to put the team ahead of yourself, but we’ve made one of the things we’ve focused on the most this spring is, is being all in with what we’re about.
And, um, we’re very pleased with the, where we’ve. Grown this past year, both in a stylistic sense, the soccer side, but more in a sense of the culture and what players, um, expected the program, um, and, and putting players in actual leadership roles where they’re responsible for driving the standards and, and, Making the team be what they want it to be, because the great thing about soccer is that it is a player centered sport, you know, as a coach, once we get into a game, I don’t have a ton of influence.
I can maybe make some tactical changes, make some subs, um, give a, you know, arousing halftime speech or something, [00:24:00] but the players still have to go out there and do it, you know, I can’t call it timeout or, or drop a play or anything like, like they have to go out there and perform, um, because all, all of my influence comes.
during the training sessions. Um, so the players, we really give them a lot of input in what we do and we expect them not to just perform on the field, but Form off of it in, um, you know, what we want to see in the culture, um, because they have big goals. And one thing we always talk about is, you know, we’re not the only team, um, in, in the, in the country or, or let alone in our conference that want these things too.
So what are we going to do? That’s going to separate us from those teams and how are we going to achieve that? And, and so we really come at what we, we want to do from a very cerebral standpoint of, yeah, it’s easy to say those things and we might feel really good if we go out there and we’re working hard, but are we working smartly towards our goals and our, and everything that we’re doing, are we, are we trying to achieve that?
And. Um, and we’re going to fail, we’re, we’re going to, you know, come up short some days and that’s okay as long as we learn from it and grow and, um, and don’t accept it so, but with where we’re at as a culture, you know, we’re not there yet and it, you know, For us, honestly, we never will be, you know, culture is something that you have to continuously work at and grow, um, or, or it, it dies, right?
It gets worse. Um, so that’s, that’s the number one [00:25:30] thing that we really strive to do day in and day out. And, um, if we do that well and we, we, we hold to our standards, um, our high standards each day. Um, through our actions, then we’ll do all the fun stuff that I’m about to talk about, right? The style that we want, I mean, we want it to be a very, very exciting style.
You know, we want it to be together. So whether, you know, um, for us, our style is situational. We prefer to possess the ball. We prefer to build from the back. Um, but for us, it’s about finding where that space is, doing it together. And when we’re defending, we all defend together, whether it’s a high press or a mid block or a low block.
We, as a, as a program, we should be able to adapt and, and change things up a little bit, but stay true to ourselves as well. So, um, one of the most common questions I get from recruits is what formation do you play? Um, you know, I think it is important to pick a formation and stick with it because, you know, it’s just more of a relationship thing, right?
You know how to work with these different positions in your position. But for us, the style is the most important thing. So, like I said, no matter if we play a 4 3 3 or a 3 5 2, you’re going to see a very similar type of possession based positional play style. That’s together, exciting, lots of energy, um, you know, and, and intense.
That, that, that’s kind of the descriptors of how I would define the [00:27:00] way that we play.
Matt: Well, coach, you’ve given us a lot of good info here. I’m going to end with one last question. And that is if you had just one piece of advice to give players going through this college soccer recruiting process, what would you want them to know?
Coach: I would say ask hard questions. You know, if you’re not sure what questions to ask, there’s a lot of great lists, you know, on, um, you know, online, um, but ask coaches hard questions.
Because you deserve the answers that they can give or, or, or not give. And that might help you make your, um, your decision a little bit easier.
Matt: For sure. And, uh, you can always check out the, uh, D C underscore soccer, Twitter account, the discover college soccer, Twitter account, because I just posted, uh, a thread on questions.
Cause I pulled all, all of you guys who have been on the pod before and ask for your favorites and that’s on Twitter now. So go check that out. But coach really appreciate the time. Uh, wish you the best of luck here in the fall season. And if you get down to, uh, any of the ECL events down here in Bradenton, uh, make sure you let me know.
All right.
Coach: Will do. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Thank you.
