Lebanon Valley College Men’s Soccer – Coach Charlie Grimes
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Grimes from the Lebanon Valley Men’s Program in Pennsylvania. We talk about how he looks to recruit the right type of player. He describes the school’s great job placement record and the school’s ROI. Lastly, we discuss how he makes sure to have a roster size that gives everyone a chance. Learn more about Lebanon Valley 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 Grimes from Lebanon Valley.
Coach: Welcome coach. Thank you.
Matt: Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. I’ve, I’ve had the pleasure of talking to the women’s coach. Uh, they’re probably a couple doors down from you, but, uh, always good to be able to cover both programs at a university.
And, um, you got a, a nice program there in, in Pennsylvania, and I guess I was, I was looking at your bio. You’ve been there just, just a few years it seems. Uh, I think, what was it, 18? Something like that.
Coach: That’s right. That’s right. Just look at the gray hairs and get an idea how long . Well,
Matt: and you were an assistant there, uh, before you got the head job, and I think folks might know the name of the head coach that you were an assistant under.
Coach: Is that right? Yeah, I think most people do. Yeah, of course. Uh, yeah. It was a great opportunity to. To learn, um, and be mentored by Mark. And we’re still good friends, you know, to this day.
Matt: So, um, well, and, and for and for those who, who haven’t checked out your bio, the mark that he is referencing is the father to, uh, captain America himself, Christian Pulisic, right?
That’s correct. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, so that’s, that’s awesome stuff. Well, let’s, uh, let’s dive into, Your program and, and what you got going there. So it’s January as we’re talking and, and the heat of showcase season is, is upon us. So are you guys, uh, still wrap up your 2023 class or you’ve moved [00:01:30] on to 20 fours?
What does that kind of look like for you in terms of timing?
Coach: Yeah, so for us, we are. Basically finished with our 2023 class. There are a couple players, um, that I’m waiting to hear back from on final decisions that we’ve offered spots to. But either way, we’re, we’re really in a good position with our, our recruiting class for the fall.
And our roster, uh, is pretty much. Set at this point. So my assistant coach is, I have to admit, it’s not, it’s not me. It’s, it’s everybody working together and, uh, they do a great job. Tim, Mel, Andrew Rodinsky. Dan Haynes. They helped me a ton with, with everything that we do within our program. And, uh, we’re in a really good position, you know, with our recruiting process.
And, uh, we’ve started to, to look at 20 fours now, although it’ll be interesting because, uh, our roster in the fall, um, we still have the potential of using the covid year for some of our seniors next year. And, uh, as of now, Majority of them do wanna return. So, um, we may not be able to bring in too many the following year.
So we’ll have to be very selective, I think.
Matt: Yeah, I know that, that e everybody I’ve talked to, that, that whole covid year thing has just really kind of put everything in flux, uh, from a year to year basis. So, uh, I, I can completely understand that. Well, , do you have a kind of a list of tournaments that you make sure you get to each year to, to do your recruiting [00:03:00] or, or how does that look for you guys?
Coach: Yeah, to be honest, um, you know, we’ve gotten a lot more selective over the years with what we go to. Um, so Tim Mel has been with me, uh, For the entire time that I’ve been the head co-chair he played for me four years and has now, uh, been my assistant coach for, I guess I would make it 14 seasons. And, uh, he is basically our recruiting coordinator and handles a lot of the, the initial work.
They’re figuring out what tournaments are best for us to go to, um, making connections with, uh, do CS and, and. So the combination of, um, you know, him deciding what’s gonna be best for us to attend, we run two to three ID clinics here on campus throughout the year. We found those to be very beneficial as well.
And the majority of our recruiting classes, um, will have players that have attended our ID clinics. So it just gives us an opportunity to work with players on our campus, um, be able to see them in, you know, in our environment using our methods. It’s been very beneficial for us. Um, I would say, you know, we, we go to some of the major showcases around the, the mid-Atlantic region obviously, but I would say not as many as we used to, maybe 10, 12 years ago.
Just because we’ve gotten to a point where I think just our process is, is much smoother and we’re able to be more selective with what we. Okay.
Matt: Well, and you, you, you mentioned the camps and, and kind of I [00:04:30] guess focusing more on that mid-Atlantic region. Um, one of the questions that that always comes up, uh, around college soccer is, is how important is the alphabet soup, right?
The, the MLS next versus ec n L versus ec, cnl, R and eedp, and sure, the list goes on, right? So how much stock do you. Put into that and or does that affect where you go to look at players or, or anything else like that?
Coach: Well, I mean, it certainly plays a part, but you know, for me personally, we’re, we’re just trying to find the right guys for our program.
And so whether someone’s mlsnext, E C N L or or, or something else, if they’re the right fit for us, then they’re the right fit. And if they’re not the right fit, they’re not. So we’re we’re more looking. Obviously who they are as a player and whether they would fit our style of play and, and uh, what we’re looking for in terms of the types of players we wanna bring in, but also academically, that’s obviously something we’re looking at right away.
Do they fit the academic profile for Lebanon Valley? Do you know, do we have the major that they’re looking for? Um, what’s the return on investment for them academically? And, and the third piece for us that’s just as important is the, the culture. Or character piece. We, we want guys that are gonna add value, um, to our program.
And so we don’t want to, we don’t wanna compromise in any of those areas. Uh, so, you know, we could [00:06:00] have an m l s next player who’s phenomenal, but if they don’t check off the boxes academically and, and character wise, then we’re probably not going to be interested in them. So, uh, for us, yeah, I would say those, those letters are not as important as it probably is to some other people.
You know, again, I, I rely on our coaching staff and I think we do a good job of being able to go and watch players and identify, um, on the field players who are able to fit into our style of play and are the types of players we’re looking for. And to me, that that’s not really a matter of, you know, what league they’re playing in.
Okay.
Matt: Well, how would a, a player who might be interested in, in your school, kind of get that ball rolling? Yeah. Um,
Coach: So the first thing is obviously we, you know, there’s different ways we get in touch with players. Some players reach out to us first. Some are recommended by, uh, you know, coaches that we have connections with.
Some are recommended by players. Um, but then we’ll also when we’re out watching players, we’ll, you know, we may be there to watch certain players in, in a game and, and we noticed someone else on the field and maybe we’ll make the first contact. But basically the way the process will work is we, we want players to be able to, um, fill out our questionnaire so we have their information on file, we can check out their academic profile.
Just kind of have an idea who they are as a person, as a player, as a student. Um, from there, you know, we want them to visit campus and be [00:07:30] able to see what the L V C campus has to offer. Learn more about not only our program, but the campus and their major. Um, and we’ll invite them to our ID clinics if they haven’t already attended.
Because again, like I said earlier, that’s a, a really effective way for us to evaluate players and for them as. To get to know us and see, you know, what I’m like and my staff, what we’re like in, in a training environment. So I think the combination of all that’s really important. So for us, we’re trying to get that done as much as possible.
Junior year, uh, going into, uh, fall of their senior year, and so that we can begin to make decisions during that, that senior year, fall time period. Um, now exactly when, you know, ideally we like to be done around November, December, but there are instances where, where we go into January of a player’s senior year before we’re finalizing.
Matt: Okay. Well, in terms of the school you mentioned, uh, return on investment, which I think is a great way to put it. And I think a lot of parents and players, you know, would help them to look, look at it through that lens. Right. Um, so I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but, but can you just give me a, a rough idea of what that financial commitment looks like in terms of, you know, what kind of, what are the.
The cost that go into it, what kind of financial aid opportunities are available, et cetera, specifically for Lebanon Valley?
Coach: Sure. So the first thing I like to tell people when we talk about return and [00:09:00] investment is, you know, L V C has been ranked number one in the state of Pennsylvania for all colleges and universities for four, going on five years for job placement.
So at the end of your college experience, you know, majority, if not all of our players are not going on to play professional. So therefore we want to, we want to help them go onto whatever they are going to go professional in, and we want them to be able to line up a, a job that they’ll enjoy that will pay them well.
And l VC’s proven to be, you know, second to none in terms of being able to do that. And, and so I think that’s where we start when we say return on investment, the time, the effort, the money. That a, a student athlete is, is investing to be here, they’re going to get a great return on that in terms of job placement and not only having a full-time job, but um, a job that’s gonna pay them well and, and start them out, you know, in a really good position in terms of their career.
So the initial sticker price sometimes can be a little scary for people, but I think at the end of the day after, uh, you factor in, uh, the merit. Academic scholarships that we offer, um, grants that are offered, departmental grants visit grants, things like that. I think at the end of the day, um, the final cost for a lot of, uh, student athletes to attend L V C is pretty comparable to other institutions out there.
So we always encourage people to not panic at the initial sticker price, but to let the process play out and, and [00:10:30] to look at what the final cost is going to be. And oftentimes people are pleasantly surprised by that. Now again, we can’t guarantee that we’ll be equal to or less than than certain competitors, but at the end of the day, what we can promise our players is that we are going to, you know, invest in them within our program.
We’re gonna invest in them as a person and as a player. Um, and we can also tell them that, you know, the return on investment that they’re gonna get from L V C as an institution, the, the data that’s out there, you know, speaks volumes for that. And as I mentioned, not only being number one in Pennsylvania, but L V C has been number four, number five nationally for job placement as well.
So among all colleges and universities, that’s, uh, a pretty significant statistic.
Matt: Yeah, it’s, it, it’s very impressive. And, and like I say, you’ve been there for, for a number of years, so you’ve got some incredible insights. So besides the, the amazing job placement record, give me some, some things that make Lebanon Valley a great place to be that maybe I’m not gonna find just by going through the website.
Coach: Sure. I mean, I think the people. That are in this community and on this campus are definitely a huge part of what makes it special. Um, you’ll find a very welcoming campus. You’ll find a campus where you’re going to, you know, get a very personal touch. Um, people are going to know who you are. They’re going to want to know who you are, and they’re going to continue to, to want to, to see that you’re doing well.
So they’ll check in. So in a, in a good way, and maybe for some people, this is a bad thing. You can’t [00:12:00] hide here, right? So you, you’re not, you’re not gonna be a number or a statistic. Um, people are gonna know you on a personal level. It’s a great area. South Central Pennsylvania. We’re not far from big cities, but, but it definitely is a rural area.
Uh, you know, for me, I grew up around here, so I’m, I’m used to this and I, I like this, this type of a setting for people that are used to or want looking for more of a city. I would say, and, and I always tell people this, when you’re on campus, you’re not gonna know the difference. Um, but, you know, in terms of a safe, uh, friendly community, I don’t think you’ll find a better place.
And again, we’re not far from, whether it’s Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, dc, et cetera. Um, it really is a, a pretty easy, you know, commute to, to get to any of those places. So for someone that wants to, to leave campus and, and find a bigger city, you know, they’re able to do that as.
Matt: Yeah. And, and, and you’re right, pretty much right next to the state capital as well.
So, so you gotta Correct. Got that going for you. Um, in terms of the academic side of things, you know what, when you’re a college athlete, especially a new college athlete, that can be some of the, the most challenging things is balancing the commitments between your sport and your studies. So how do your players do that?
What kind of support systems does the school have in place to, to help student?
Coach: Sure. Great question. So I guess the number one thing for me is we have to make sure we get things right in our recruiting process. [00:13:30] And what I mean by that is, you know, we want to bring in student athletes that want to be here.
Academically, students that want to go to class, that want to do well in their work, that want to achieve a high academic standing. So if we have players that that don’t want to do that, then I would first question where we went wrong or what we missed during the recruiting process. Now, it doesn’t mean that players don’t need support and help at times they.
But for the most part, the players that we’re bringing in, um, they have high academic standards for themselves and they don’t need to be pushed an awful lot to want to achieve, you know, the, the grades that they get. Um, the college does a, a great job. They do have a tremendous, you know, Series of resources on campus from tutoring and study pods, et cetera, to help those students that, that need extra help.
And we try to do that within our team, especially, you know, first semester of freshmen, we will offer some study halls within our team where our upperclassmen will kind of help those players acclimate to, you know, college life because it is different. And even if you’re a, a really good student in high, Whether it’s on the field, soccer or off the field, academically, there are adjustments that need to be made.
And so we try to help our players do that. But again, I go back to the, the very first thing I mentioned, and that is we wanna bring in the right players. The right people. And if, and in doing so, that means good students who, you know, want to go to class and want to do well [00:15:00] academic. Yeah.
Matt: No, that makes a lot of sense.
Well, let’s, let’s take it back a little bit to the fall, um, and kind of it being in season. Can you kind of walk me through what an average week for a player would look like in terms of, you know, when are they getting up, going to class meals practice, which the, the game cadence, that kind of thing. What does that look like for a player during the season?
Coach: Yeah, sure. So, I mean, we have guys in various majors, so depending on that, their schedules are different. And one of the interesting things from our end logistically is actually finding time when we can have our whole team together. Uh, because may be hard to believe, but that’s, that’s a definite challenge, um, depending on the day of the week.
But a typical schedule would be, Players are going to class. Our team spends a lot of time together, so they eat majority of their meals together. Um, they spend a lot of time together off the field as well. Um, training for us is typically, uh, three 30 or four o’clock start in the afternoon. That can fluctuate depending on schedules.
If we need to adjust, you know, we will. And a typical game schedule for us is play midweek, whether that’s Wednesday or sometimes a Tuesday game, and then again on Saturday. Sundays are day off on a weekly basis. And so we’re, you know, guys get into a nice rhythm and, and I’ve found that personally, you know, our players it find it easier to manage their time and to stay on top of things during our season because the, the season itself kind of [00:16:30] frames the time that they need to study and, and spend on schoolwork for them.
Whereas in the spring semester when they have a bit more free time, it requires a bit more discipline on their. to be able to create that study period. So yeah, I mean, our guys, when we get into the fall season, uh, it really is just a, you know, I think a well-oiled machine and that guys are used to class, come to training, eat together, go to the library study, do their schoolwork, go to bed, get up the next day, do the same thing, and we try to mix it up to make it obviously fun.
So throughout the week, it’s, uh, you know, a little bit. Not always super serious. You know, we want to have fun, but we want to define fun, uh, in a way that that works for us. And so it, it is fun for us is taking things seriously, but also, you know, smiling, laughing, making sure that we’re enjoying the process along the way.
Matt: No, that’s great. Let, let’s talk a little bit more about, about the soccer side of things and y. . You mentioned your staff, we’ll talk about them a little bit more in a second, but is there a roster size that you find is ideal that you like to try to hit every year?
Coach: Yeah, I would say it’s not an exact number, but for me, somewhere in the mid to upper twenties, I would say maximum 30.
But generally if, if someone would go back and look at our rosters over the years, we’re generally in the mid to upper thirties, so that’s three to four goalkeepers. Maybe [00:18:00] 24, 25 field players. Um, again, it’s not a hard number that we would never fluctuate, you know, a couple spots either way. But I personally like to have a roster size where each player on our roster has a, a genuine chance to see time on the field.
It doesn’t guarantee that a player’s going to play. It doesn’t guarantee, obviously, that a player’s going to. Um, but if the roster size gets to be too large, I think it pretty much does guarantee that certain players are never going to play. And so for us, you know, we’d like to keep it within a framework where we feel, um, it, it allows us to create training sessions that are, that are most effective and efficient, but also, again, give our players the opportu.
If they are playing well and they’re performing well and they, they have a, you know, a positive attitude, they will be given opportunities, uh, to get on the field. And so we’ve done that. I think if, if anyone looks again at our box scores, um, oftentimes over the years we will play 2021 field players in a match.
So again, maybe not everybody. Um, We are definitely, uh, use, utilizing the majority of our roster from game to game, but it is still based on performance. So, you know, if someone’s not playing well, they’re not, you know, gonna be guaranteed minutes just, just because it all comes down to performance and, and we’re trying to constantly help our players improve and grow [00:19:30] both on and off the field.
Uh, but for us, again, the roster size I think allows us to give everybody a legitimate shot at doing.
Matt: No, I think that’s, that’s a great way to look at it. And I know you said before your staff is, contributes a lot to the program. So if you can just walk me through, you know, how big is your staff and what roles kind of does everybody play?
Coach: Yeah, so three assistant coaches, so Tim, Mel, our recruiting coordinator, um, helps with, with other things as well, but that, that’s one of his key, main roles and does a great job. Just, you know, understands the recruiting process well, having played for me and, and been with me my entire, uh, career here, in essence, you know, he knows me and this program, uh, better than anyone else.
And so, you know, I can rely on him. Um, without hesitation, uh, when it comes to any facet of the program, but especially with recruiting and finding again players, student athletes that are the right fit for us. He does a great job. Andrew Rodinsky, another, uh, former player of mine. Both he and Tim were goalkeepers for me.
Um, Andrew joined us, uh, on staff a few years ago now, and, and is mainly our goalkeeper coach. Helps us, uh, with the recruiting process with Goalkeepers. Does a great job giving our current goalkeepers daily, you know, specific goalkeeper training and just an experience that makes them feel special. [00:21:00] Again, helps out with other facets of the program, but that’s his main role.
And then Dan Haynes, who joined our staff, uh, about four years. Uh, four or five years ago, um, really has, has been, you know, a great addition to our staff. Helps us with our social media, with his backgrounds, uh, helps with recruiting. Helps with leadership, training and development. And then also, um, really does a great job helping our players, you know, with resume creation, editing, um, helping prepare them for job interviews and, and again, what life is gonna look like beyond the L V C community.
So I, I love our staff. These guys, you know, it’s a really, really fun staff to be around. I mean, we laugh a lot together. We we’re all on the same page in terms of, um, you know, the vision and the identity, uh, that we have for our, for the program. These guys do a, a great job of supporting me and supporting our players.
But they’re also extremely competent. And, you know, without hesitation, I can, I can ask them to, to do anything. I don’t, I don’t need to check up on them because I know they’re going to do, uh, the job well and, and, and do what needs to get done. So I feel like our players are really fortunate to, to have a staff, um, where, you know, it’s not just me, but these other guys that are really strong and we, we each have different strengths.
So I think that’s another beautiful thing about our staff. We compliment each other well, [00:22:30] um, I can be pretty intense at times, a, a as the head coach. And so these guys will compliment, you know, at the right time to just, you know, put a smile and a laugh in the room when it’s needed.
Matt: Oh, it’s, it’s always a good thing.
Sometimes you gotta have that, uh, good cop, bad cop when it comes to to a coaching step. Well, coach, you’ve been really generous with your time. We’ve covered a lot of things and I always like to end these with the same thing, and that’s what didn’t we cover. What else do you want people to know, whether it’s about the college recruiting process, your school or, or anything else in general?
I’ll leave you with the last word.
Coach: Uh, that’s a great question. I mean, I think, I think we covered all of the, the main, uh, things I think related to, to L V C and, and the college soccer. But, uh, for me it’s. You know, being in this position and being able to be part of a, a game that I love, sport that I love.
Um, and at the same time, being able to use that as a vehicle to positively impact young people. Um, being able to work with, as I said, with my staff, with guys that I, I really get along with well and enjoy their company. You know, our players are tremendous over the years, I’ve, I’ve said this many times, but I feel.
Our players just are, are really special, uh, people, not just players. And, and it’s just su such a blessing to be in this position and be able to, to do what I do, um, be able to work with the people that I work with. Uh, Lebanon Valley’s a, you know, a great university campus. It, it’s, uh, [00:24:00] a tremendous place to be.
I, I love the. The coaches that I get to work with here, the administration, my athletic director, um, very supportive of everything that we do. And it’s just, uh, as I said earlier, a, a really personal, uh, fun place to work where, you know, you get to know everybody on, on a deep level. So for me, you know, I, it’s a job, but it’s, I don’t ever.
Wake up thinking, oh man, I gotta go to work today. It’s, it’s fun and exciting to be able to, to come to work and do what I do. So anyone that’s interested in Lebanon Valley College, I would encourage them to, to reach out. They can contact me directly or, um, you know, we’ll get Coach Miller, our recruiting coordinator in, in touch with them.
But they would fill out a questionnaire, um, maybe look at attending one of our ID clinics and, and then certainly from there we’d, we’d continue the process. So, but thanks, thanks for having me today. It. A pleasure to be on here and, uh, appreciate the time.
Matt: Yeah. And we appreciate you, coach. Wish you the best of luck with, with this off season and the upcoming fall season.
And, uh, we’ll keep an eye on you guys and see how you’re doing and, and maybe have a follow up here in a bit and, and see how everything went. Sounds good. Thanks man. All right. Take care.
