Kaskaskia College Women’s Soccer – Coach Joe Basch

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Basch from the Kaskaskia Women’s Program in Illinois. We talk about his focus on local, domestic recruiting. Coach also shares about the recent upgrades all over campus. Plus, we discuss what they do in their spring, offseason training. Learn more about Kaskaskia College Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Joe at Kaskaskia College in Illinois. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Thank you for having me on. It’s good to be on, uh, part of your, uh, podcast here. 

Matt: Yeah, thank you. And, and of course, uh. As has happened over the last few years, me doing this, I’m, I’m running into a player that I coached against.

Mm-hmm. Uh, I won’t say unfortunately, I think you beat me, but, but we won’t, we won’t talk about that, but that’s all right. Um, well, you and I are talking here. It’s, it’s mid-May, uh, you know, as a junior college program, what. Where, where are you at in your recruiting class? You know, come mid-May. Are, are you, you still trying to put together those last few pieces or are you done and dusted and locked up for your recruiting class?

Coach: So we have one more, um, uh, partial scholarship available. Um, all of our full scholarships we’ve filled [00:01:00] up. Um, I always shoot for early spring is kind of the goal, um, in Illinois, the high school season’s in the spring. So, um. By the time they start playing, we’re pretty much done. Um, a lot of, uh, you know, kind of start recruiting process in the summer going into their, uh, senior year with most of ’em, you know, kind of heavy on the visits there through, um, kinda the summer, the, the fall’s a little more difficult ’cause we’re obviously in season and then do a lot over the Christmas break timeframe and then wrap most of it up by, um, early spring.

But like I said, we do have, we have one spot we could still fill. 

Matt: Okay. Now. How many do you look to have on, on your roster come fall? 

Coach: So we like to have be, um, 18 to 20. Um, would be ideal. Um, you know, minimum. You know, we’ve, we’ve had as low as 16, we’ve had as many as 20. So some, somewhere in that range is, is where we wanna be at.

We don’t carry a huge roster. [00:02:00] Um, but with recruiting purposes, I think that’s kind of a, a appeal to our program. You know, the players that are on our team, ’cause we don’t have a lot of players, they’re all gonna be able to contribute and, and help us win games. 

Matt: Okay. Now one, I guess. Different thing about your roster, at least from what I can see is from a JUCO perspective, is I don’t see any international on there.

Do you guys Not, uh, correct. Yeah. We’re not, not recruiting internationally. 

Coach: No, we don’t. Um, we, we, um, we keep it, um, you know, most of our players are, you know, the most, I would say three hours away. Um. We’re, we’re in a decent, um, setup. Um, just our proximity to St. Louis. Um, we’re only, you know, 60 miles from St.

Louis. Um, you know, and we, that’s just kind of been our, our philosophy. I’ve been here for, for 17 years. And, and, um, you know, we’ve kept it relatively local. You know, we also don’t go to Texas or Florida or California, that kind of thing either. We keep it all, [00:03:00] keep it all, you know, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, that kind of stuff is, is where our roster’s from.

Matt: Well, and I. I guess that makes it probably easier to choose what events you go to. So what are some of those events that you like to see players at? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean there’s, there’s several, um, in the St. Louis area. Um, you know, I don’t go to a ton of events. I mean, I do some, um, my assistant coach is a head high school coach.

Um, so, you know, Illinois, you know, we’re in the fall there in the spring, so she does a lot of recruiting, just teams that she’s playing, um, you know, that kind of thing. Um, and you know, with online recruiting, um. You know, and the, you know, videos and all that kind of thing, they’re sent out. I, I don’t do a ton of, uh, big events, but there, there’s some, down here in southern Illinois, there’s a big, um, uh, the frail cup, which is teams from Illinois, Missouri, um, and also Chicago area come down.

So I always try to make that one every year if possible. Okay. 

Matt: Uh, what about ID camps? Do you guys host any, do you or your staff work? Any, are they [00:04:00] part of your process at all? 

Coach: We do. Um, I’ve been to a few ID camps. We don’t host them here. Um, you know, our, our summer camp structure here at the college is, uh, primarily, um, youth oriented.

So we do a lot of, uh, you know, K through eight different camps, things like that. But we, we don’t host, um, we, we, we have done ’em in the past. Um, but last few years we have not done an ID camp. 

Matt: Alright. Well. When it comes to recruiting, kinda what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field?

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing you’re looking for is, um, you know, I think maybe a trait or two that really pops, you know, I mean obviously you wanna be an all around player, but you’re looking for that one big thing to make them stand out. Um, we like to recruit from programs that are used to winning.

Um, I think that’s important. Um, have that mindset. Um, I. You know, and then we, a lot of our recruiting, you know, as you can see in our roster is, um, you know. Same high school year after year. Our, our, our [00:05:00] competing high schools year after year. I’m a big believer in, um, recruiting kind of through our current players.

Um, you know, I, I think that you have coaches that’ll, every coach has the best player ever for you to recruit. Um, but if you actually go through your current players, I think they’re, at least on our team, they’re, they’re very, uh, blunt. They’re to the point, you know, they, they’ll tell me who the players.

That can contribute here and those who can’t and those who are, you know, good team players and this and that. So, um, I actually use them as a, as a big part of our recruiting. Um, I just, you know, trust their opinion and that’s kinda what we look for, you know. But again, for, uh, the big stress I would say is, um, players that are used to winning, players that, to, that have a desire to win, um, from their club or, or high school.

Those are, that’s the big attribute we’re looking for. 

Matt: Okay. I love it. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the school. Um, you know, you’ve been there 17 years, so you’ve got a, a good, a good handle on it, [00:06:00] I think. Yeah. So tell us, what are some of the awesome things about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t know just by going through the website.

Coach: Um, I, I think, you know, most recently the big thing is we really revamped our campus. Um, so the, our two main buildings where majority of our classes are held, we pretty much, I mean, it looks the same from the outside. If you were to drive up to the campus, it looks the same as it has. Been since I’ve been here.

Um, but once you go into the buildings, we’ve completely redone everything. In fact, this room I’m sitting in didn’t exist six months ago. Um, so we’ve really, you know, as far as the classrooms, the technology upgrades, um, just the, the complete, uh, I, I would say the openness for, for potential students, um, like these rooms we’ve created here to make it easier for the students to meet with, you know, coaches, financial aid people, academic advisors, um.

Just a complete, a complete revamp of our campus. Um, and then we’re also building on the backside of campus, our new, um, gymnasium training room, uh, coaches offices. And that’s supposed to be done with, uh, [00:07:00] by next October. So, um, I. The campus itself, I mean, for, for a school of our type, um, our facilities are, are definitely, I would say in the top 20 to 25% of, of junior colleges.

Um, and then the other thing, our location is good. Um, we’re obviously not in St. Louis, but we’re, you know, an hour to get there. We went to a city game last week, um, with the girls and I mean, it’s, it’s, I think an hour, five minutes to the stadium from our campus. So if you wanna do all the St. Louis, um. Big city stuff, you can do that.

Um, and also be in a, you know, smaller community, uh, as well. 

Matt: Okay. Now one of the things that, uh, you know, I. Players, recruits look at, especially when they’re choosing a junior college route, is the potential to move on and potentially play at four year schools. So kind of what, uh, what success have you had there with your players?

Is that something they look to do or, or what do players do when their time is, is done? 

Coach: I mean, some, it depends on the player. I mean, I think, um, I, I was [00:08:00] first, I think junior college kids get a little bit spoiled, um, with just the amount they have to pay. Um, it’s very, you know, it’s very minimal here. I mean, you’re, you know, if you’re a, um.

Commuting student, that’s, you’re just paying gas to be here. That’s all you’re paying. And if you’re, um, one that stays here, you’re just paying for the housing piece. Everything else is, you know, covered. So, um. But yeah, we’ve had great success. We’ve sent players to all different divisions, um, you know, from, uh, you know, division one schools all the way through, uh, division three and everything in between.

Um, we sent a lot of our players, our Division two and AI kids to the majority. Um, but yeah, I mean, it’s just, it’s just developing those relationships, sitting down with the players as really they’re heading into their sophomore year. Um. And kind of see where they’re at. I think that, that, that’s a big key, you know, is just seeing where they’re at, what they want to do.

And then, you know, we, um, also changed our academic advising for athletics. We have a, a woman that works strictly with athletics. Um, so she’s another piece of that, making sure those academic connections are there. But [00:09:00] we, you know, we put, I don’t know, 50, 60 players on, um. I think around 50 to four year schools.

We’ve had great success with that for those girls that wanna go on and play. 

Matt: Yeah. That’s fantastic. Well, let’s rewind it back to that fall season. Yeah. Kinda walk me through what, what does a typical week look like for a player in summer, winter classes, practices, games, all meals, all that kind of stuff.

Coach: Yeah, so we, um, try to get most of our student athletes done with classes. Um, 2 15, 2 30. Um, you know, it’s just kind of the, I think two 15 is where that block ends. Um, we do have, um, you know, some that do have clinical work. Um, healthcare majors are huge for us, um, at our college and just in general with female athletes.

So, you know, the nursing, uh, the physical therapy, the radiology, that kind of stuff, those are, those are big majors for us. So we do have to pretty, you know, it’s one of those things you gotta be flexible with. Um, you know, they’re, they’re okay to go to clinicals at different hospitals and things like that, but we, we train from 3 45 to, [00:10:00] uh, five 30 ish.

Um, you know, we try to play twice a week, usually ideally a Wednesday, Saturday, um, set up. Um, you know, and then we also have mandatory study tables for our, uh, freshman student athletes. Um. It’s kind of a reward system we have if their, if their GPA is really high after that, we kind of exempt them. But all the freshmen have to go initially and, um, in our, in our, uh, academic Center for excellence.

So, um, it’s, it’s a busy workload for sure. Um, but we also wanna balance it. I think one of the things I’ve learned in my, you know, 17 years of coaches, you wanna have a balance too. It can’t be, you know, soccer 24 7. They gotta be able to, to have a social life and, and um, obviously time for their academics too.

So we try to keep a. A healthy balance. You know, we don’t, you don’t, you don’t wanna burn ’em out, but you also wanna make sure you prepare to hopefully win some games.

Matt: Yeah. That’s, uh, that, that keeps ’em more interested when they get to win a few games. Yes. Definitely keeps ’em, 

Coach: yes. 

Matt: But they, um, 

Coach: yeah, I mean, you know, they’re, they’re, uh, they have a lot [00:11:00] going on. I mean, this, this generation has a, you know, a lot of stuff going on through their phones, if nothing else. So you gotta make sure they have, they have time for that too.

Matt: For sure. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the, the, the soccer side of things. Um, you mentioned it a little bit, but, but talk to me about the, you know, you got the players in the roster, but talk to me about the staff. What other coaches are there? Maybe what other support staff are in the athletic department that are helping out with the team and, and, and our involved.

Coach: Yeah. So our assistant coach, uh, Elizabeth Burns is a former player of mine. Um, I’ve been lucky enough to only hire assistants that have played for me, which I think is huge just because, um. I mean, obviously they, they know the competition here and they know me. So, um, uh, but you know, I’m getting a little older now.

I’m pushing 40, so, uh, she’s in her mid twenties, so, um, she’s, she’s a great, uh, a different bond with them, I guess. Um, and someone that, you know, I think can relate to them a little bit, a little bit more, um, than me sometimes on some certain topics. [00:12:00] Um. So with her, and then we have our, our academic support.

Um, we have a student athlete, um, like I said, academic advisor to work with them particularly. Um, and then we also have, uh, tutoring services, uh, face-to-face and remote, um, that the college provides to all of our, all of our students and our academic Center for excellence. So, um, and then our athletic trainer who’s on campus as well.

So, uh, we do have a, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not a, not a big staff by any means, but, um. You know, I think we, we, we make them, um, successful, uh, as best as we can on and off the field. 

Matt: No, that’s fantastic. Well, what about you? How would you describe kind of your style of coaching and the style of play you wanna play there?

Coach: Um, I mean, I can be intense, you know, I’m not gonna lie. I mean, you know, I, you know, it’s, it’s, um. It’s, you know, it’s a tradition of winning. You know, I guess I would say, I mean, that, that’s the biggest thing is just so they understand what our expectations are upfront. Um, you know, from the recruit visit till the first day there at practice, [00:13:00] um, you know, we expect to be winning program here.

Um, you know, we haven’t been national champions or anything like that, but we’ve been in, in and outta the national rankings and things like that. So that’s kind of where we want be. Um, but yeah, I mean, as far as, um. Style of play and maybe a little more direct, uh, than some, some coaches. Um, we like to emphasize our speed on the, on the outsides and, and really create, let our athletes go to work, you know, give ’em space to, to attack, um, especially, you know, wide players, outside backs, that kind of thing.

We like to really, uh, it’s an offensive mind style of play, I would say for sure. 

Matt: Okay. Well it. It is May, and I’m sure your, your kids may even be wrapped up for the school year at this point, but, uh, what is your spring or, or that non-traditional season look like? What are you guys doing then? 

Coach: Oh, in the spring?

Yeah, we do, um, uh, we train a couple days a week, um, start off with when they come back from break, a lot of fitness under work, just strength conditioning, that kind of thing. Um, and then we transition [00:14:00] into, um, some small group practices. You know, you know, kind of, it’s just one of those things to fit it in their schedule.

Um, in the off season we gotta kind of be creative with our, with our timeframe there. Um, and then we do, um, we did two small sided tournaments. We did a eight on eight tournament. A seven on seven tournament, which gives, uh, you know, obviously that’s a chance to play, but also gives them exposure to different four year schools.

The majority of the teams in those tournaments are four year programs. So, um, gives us different people to play in kind of a more relaxed environment, um, and lets them get noticed as well by the four year school. So that’s kind of, um, we do that through the end of April and then, yeah, this week is their finals week and uh, graduation is Friday.

So, um, we’ve pretty much wrapped up all the soccer. Um, until August when we start again in the fall. 

Matt: Okay. Well, I appreciate the insights. I’m gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for anybody going through the recruiting process right now, what would that be?

Coach: Um, to not [00:15:00] limit yourself, um, you know, be open. Well to different schools. You know, I think, you know, junior college a lot of times, you know, it’s kind of, people say it’s the, you know, kind of the backup option. Um, but I think junior college, it gives people the opportunity to, to compete, you know, and you really have to ask yourself the question.

I mean, what, what are you looking for in a, in a, in a college soccer program? You know, are you looking to just to be on a, be on a team? You know, are you looking to be on a team where you can contribute? Um, you know, and then obviously, um. I think the financial side of things. And then the, the other thing I would say is really, you know, the, the field level sites, the NCSA, um, those are phenomenal ways to, to get yourself out there.

You know, I spend probably too much time on those sometimes. Um, but I mean, just use the technology that’s available to you and, and market yourself to different, all different types of colleges. Do you find the one that’s right for you? I. Yeah. 

Matt: Awesome. Well, I really appreciate it, coach. Wish you the best of luck rounding out that class and, [00:16:00] uh, hopefully you can be, uh, getting back into those top 25 rankings in the fall.

Coach: That’s definitely the goal and appreciate you having me on. 

Matt: Take care.