LeTourneau University Men’s Soccer – Coach Tim Lee

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Tim from the LeTourneau Men’s Program in Texas. We talk about how they are trying to creating a national footprint with their recruiting. Coach also shares about the recent transition in program leadership. Plus, we discuss how spring is a balance of training and academics. Learn more about LeTourneau University Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer, and today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Tim from LeTourneau Men’s Program. Welcome coach. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for being here. Now, uh, I, I think this is, this is good ’cause I, you know, I’m almost 350 episodes in, and I’m not sure, I have actually talked to a real live grad assistant as part of these interviews.

Definitely done head and assistant coaches, but you know, as, uh, as a lot of folks know GA’s or, or. You know, a, a big important part of the coaching staff, so it’s good to, to talk to someone who’s going through it from, from that angle. So I appreciate you being on. Yeah, of course. So, you know, we’re, we’re talking, you guys just had graduation, so the spring season’s wrapped up, uh, you know, you’re, you’re hardcore focused on, on the fall, I’m sure.

So as a Division three men’s program. Kind of give me a state of the union in terms of where are you guys [00:01:00] with recruiting? I’m assuming, you know, you’re either totally locked in or just finishing up that maybe last player something on the class of 25. When did, when did that happen in terms of, you know, your timeline of locking up the class kind?

What did you see in that first year as a ga? There? 

Coach: Yeah. Um, well first, uh, I think we’ve been in a good spot. Um, I think compared to a lot, a lot of other, um, division three institutions, um, we have kind of a niche in terms of the players that we like to recruit. And so when we look at players, um. Obviously for us, the, it’s a holistic, uh, approach.

And so the academics, um, also then fitting into the culture and the family that we have here. Um, and then obviously the soccer piece, it’s, it’s last in that list, but doesn’t mean that we, we don’t care about it. And so, um, I think when we look at those things, uh, we were able to figure out stuff really quickly for us.

We had majority of our 2025 class committed kind of, um, by the end of. [00:02:00] Last December. And so I would say maybe we had two or three additions after, after that. Um, just, you know, kind of as we carefully considered going through what the re remaining spots looked like. And then obviously with, you know, every end of year you have a few turnover of players and trying to, trying to fill in the holes with that stuff too.

So I, I would say that majority of our recruiting process and timeline, we, we try to get, um. Players to have their commitments and decisions by the end of December of their, of their, um, first semester of senior year. 

Matt: Okay. All right. Well, and with that being said, are you generally, like right now focused? I, I mean obviously you’re focused on the class of 26 is assuming, but how much of say.

The class of 27. Are you looking at, from a D three men’s perspective, I know that like the timelines [00:03:00] are a little bit shifted, so how, how much effort, like if you had to put a percentage on it of in the next six months right through, between now and the end of the year maybe. Mm-hmm. How much of the recruiting effort will be spent on 20 sixes versus 20 sevens?

Coach: Yeah. I would say it’s honestly probably a good. Close to 50 50. If, if I were to take a guess, because, um, again, with the 26 is currently a lot of these players that we’ve, um. I’ve been in contact with and identified already, you know, it’s now really trying to get them on campus, trying to get them, um, to be here, present with us, meet the team, meet the coaching staff, maybe hop in a training session.

And so, um, you know, obviously there’s players and with the whole transfer portal and how that affects, you know, all, all different institutions all over the place, I think. There’s always gonna be, um, special cases here and there with last minute stragglers and whatnot. But I think in terms of where we’re at with our 26 class, I think a lot of it is, um, [00:04:00] continuing to build the relationships with the players that we’ve already been in contact with.

And then I’d say we are more in the identification phase of the 27 class, um, if that makes sense. 

Matt: No, absolutely. Well, and you guys are, um, you know, I mean. I would say a little bit unique for a, a division three program and the fact that even though you’re in Texas, your roster is fairly well represented outside of Texas even so where, where is it that you guys like to go to do this player identification and following up?

What tournaments are you hitting? Kind of what’s your focus there? 

Coach: Yeah, no, great question. I think so we, you know, talking with our head coach and our staff, we really like to, um, just, we’re trying to create a national presence more and more, um, in terms of building our program and, and being well known, um, not just in the state of Texas.

Um, as you know, Texas is saturated with clubs and schools and, you know, I think, um, it’s a good place and there’s a lot of good competition. Um, and. High level players here. Um, but yeah, we, we do have, like I said, a niche in terms of, we’re a big, [00:05:00] uh, STEM institution and so, you know, our engineering majors, aviation majors, um, that like a lot of our players that.

Come Tono, even from out of state, um, know the rigorous, um, and, you know, high kind of reputation of our academics. And so, you know, they, that’s what they look for and that’s why they’re here. So I’d say we have a good pool from, you know, states like California, uh, Tennessee, uh. Um, I would say even on the East coast, we had a kid from South Carolina come last year.

Um, and so we, we don’t really limit, um, I would say our, our net we kind of cast a wide net and, and see what we get. Um, in terms of. The showcases and events that we like to be to. It’s probably a lot of those, you know, ECNL, um, showcases and MLS next, uh, fest if we can. And so I’m really trying to create a national, um, just presence of being at all those events as much as we can.

And then connecting with players and, uh, even looking into players, not from just the state of Texas, I’d [00:06:00] say. Our roster right now. Um, currently it’s split probably 55, 45, uh, in terms of 55% being from, from Texas and the other 45% being from out of state. Um, and then we kind of do that intentionally as well.

I think when we look into the, uh, culture that we’re trying to build, the, the reality is if you have everybody coming, you know, from Texas and is local, um. You know, when you have a, a longer weekend or whatnot, everyone’s going home and everyone’s trying to, you know, just, um, be back with their families.

But we really do wanna create that family environment here, um, in Longview for, for the boys. And so as we, as we recruit, you know, if we have players coming from outta state, you know, it almost kind of forces them to be plugged in and connected with the community that we have here. Um, even the guys that are local, it, it kind of allows them to.

Use this opportunity to kind of help those guys coming from outta state get acquainted with Texas. Um, and the culture here, I would say. Um, [00:07:00] and then also just from a soccer side of things, it gives us a good perspective of, you know, there’s, there’s, there’s talent everywhere. And, um, even the soccer culture is different in a lot of different states.

So I’ve come, I’ve come from playing overseas in, in Virginia, Ohio. So my journey’s been, you know, I know, I know a lot of what that, um, difference in, in culture, soccer culture looks like. So. 

Matt: For sure. Well, what about camps? Do you guys do ID camps or do you or the rest of your staff work ID camps? Are they part of the process at all?

Coach: Yeah, we just hosted one, uh, earlier this May. And, uh, currently this summer, uh, we’ve, with our coaching, uh, staff transition, we’re trying to just, uh, figure some things out. But our goal is to have one, pretty much one in the winner, one in the. Spring and then probably one in the summer is how we, we like to approach it.

And so that’s, uh, moving forward 2026, uh, 20 20 26. That’s probably the route, the route that we’ll go. [00:08:00] 

Matt: Okay. Well, in terms of whether it’s at a showcase or a camp or, or any of these things, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you guys are looking for in a player both on and off the field? 

Coach: Yeah, so I can tell you kind of from what our.

Like I said, our program looks for, um, we are a Christian institution, and so, um, I think the way players carry themselves on and off the field, um, we, we look into that a lot. Um, obviously, like I said, the soccer piece of it is, it’s there, but, uh, what I. I’ve come to realize, uh, you know, in, in the last year is I think there’s a lot of good players out there and, and, and a lot of players that, um, can play the game and know, know how to do things, um, and can be special.

But, uh, for us it’s really about finding like holistically the right fit. And so, you know, we can have players that. Are really good soccer players, but, um, whether it’s personality wise, academically, or even just culture wise, we, we, we don’t see aligning with the program. And so, um, [00:09:00] yeah, I think when, when we talk to players, obviously the soccer piece wows us and gets us interested in them.

Like whether it’s their highlights, the showcase, the game that we go to, that’s kind of what draws us into, uh, looking into the player. But once we do do that, uh, for us it’s really about relationship building. Um, at, at least for me, one of my big things is I think I, I connect well with players having been, you know, in that recruiting process not too long ago myself, I, I understand what players look for, what they, you know, what they consider during this time.

And so I, I like to be someone that can just be a resource for them and build that relationship with them, help them walk through the process. Um, you know, selfishly, I hope they end up here and, you know, playing for us and, and doing well, but. Even if they don’t, you know, I really wanna help them kind of be, be able to find the best fit and best spot for them.

And so, like I tell all the players that I get on a phone call with or have a conversation with, it’s really about, you know, um, me helping you as a re be a resource for you and, and helping you find the best fit and, um, really getting to know you as a person, [00:10:00] um, as much as we do as a player. 

Matt: Okay, great.

Well let, let’s, in terms of the roster itself, is there, you know, and so I guess one thing you gotta. Make known you, you, you’ve been there a full year, but you guys, like you said, you just had a coaching transition. You could have a new coach or you have a new coach now. So do, have you talked about, uh, roster size at all?

What you, what he’s interested in, what you guys feel is kind of the ideal number there? 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, none of it really changes a lot of how we’ve done things in terms of. The culture standpoint, the the way, you know, our athletic director has done a really good job in terms of making sure this transition has, is, is smooth and has, has gone well.

And so I don’t think a lot of that will change. Um, even with our play style, we try to, we try to be a team that we want to have the ball, we wanna play a brand of soccer that’s, you know, fun, attractive to coach and play and, um, you know, we’re not. Direct a direct team by nature, we want to have the ball and, and break down teams and, and create space.

Man, manipulate the [00:11:00] space. And so we, we like playing. Um. Uh, a brand of soccer that’s attractive and fun to watch and, and coach. And so when it comes to, you know, the, I’d say the logistics of how we run the program, you know, roster size will still be around that, um, 33 to 35 range, I would say. Uh, we don’t, we don’t have, in terms of, I.

From an institutional standpoint, we don’t have a, you have to hit this many players, uh, in terms of, you know, um, enrollment and stuff like that. The university’s in a pretty good spot. Um, so for us it’s really about bringing in the players that we feel can help us and, you know, whether you’re coming in as a freshman, as a transfer, whatever that looks like.

Uh, we want players that we feel like can make an immediate impact for us, whether it’s on or on or off the field. And so I’d say, yeah, roster size would look around that 33 to 35 range, 33 is ideal for us. You know, that’s three players in each position. Um, and so, um, I feel like if it goes below that, sometimes you struggle with numbers when injuries and that [00:12:00] stuff happens.

And then if it’s, it’s, if it’s over that it’s, it’s, it gets a little hard to manage. So, um, I think that’s a sweet spot for us right there. 

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school for some folks who maybe don’t know about the school. You’ve, you’ve now been there a year and, and I’m sure you’ve learned lots of cool stuff, but I’m sure there’s also some things that just drew you to it initially.

So talk to me about that. What have you found that’s great. Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through the website? 

Coach: Yeah, no, for sure. I. I’ll start with what drew me down here. Um, so before I came down here, I was coaching at a, at a club team, uh, out in Fredericksburg, Virginia. And, you know, had a director role straight outta college, which, you know, was a huge blessing.

And I worked with kind of the younger, um, UU 12, U 14 teams. And so that was kind of how I got my foot in the door, uh, as a coach. And then as I considered, uh, what good options, uh, would. Would be there for me. As you know, stepping into the collegiate, uh, coaching side of things, I think I was [00:13:00] drawn specifically by the, the potential and the growth phase that TER University is in right now.

So in terms of like when I came to visit down here in Longview, um. First the weather was beautiful for it being like in February. You know, I was used to cold winters up in Ohio and Virginia during that time of the year, so I enjoyed the weather. It gets a little hot in the summer, I’m not gonna lie. But, um, I liked the weather down here.

And then when I came and visited, um, there were so many projects that had been, uh, taking place or started. They, they broke ground on a new multimillion dollar indoor track facility. Uh, they’ve renovated, like we have a new. Uh, weight rooms specifically for athletes, kind of, uh, built within the last year.

They’ve renovated all the indoor spaces and so a lot of these things that, um. In terms of facilities, the investment being made, the resources being poured into the university, uh, were very encouraging for, for me, when I came down in a visit, you know, I wanted to be, [00:14:00] uh, in a, in a place and a part of an institution where things are growing.

So, you know, in the last three years, enrollment’s been going up every single year for the university. Uh, you know, like I said, there’s multiple projects, um, donations, uh, donors fund, like all and, and financially. And just from a student body perspective, everything’s kind of in a healthy spot in a growth phase where unfortunately, you know, for a lot of private, you know, institutions, that’s, that’s not really the case since COVID.

And so, um, that’s where, you know, that. That was a big encouragement for me coming down. And then, like I said, the relationships is, is the second biggest thing for me. It’s, it’s where I felt connected to, you know, uh, the people down here and the athletic, whether it’s the athletic department, the faculty, the staff, and um, even just the players on our roster.

You know, I think there’s a, there’s a special family. Kind of close knit environment here, um, at Lano. Um, especially with it being maybe a smaller campus [00:15:00] compared to other schools that, that, you know, you know everybody that you see and you know, everybody, um, cares about you. Everybody wants, uh, success for you and the best for you.

And so you really feel that when, when you’re a part of, of things here. 

Matt: Okay, great. Well, let’s fast forward to the fall. Um, you know, you, let’s say you’re in the middle of that conference season. Kinda walk me through what’s gonna, what, what’s a week gonna look like for a player in terms of winter practices, games, classes, meals, all that kind of stuff?

Coach: Yeah. Uh, I will, so I’ll say for us, we have. Around 15 ish engineering majors on our, on our roster. And so, like I said, being a STEM institution, we, we understand that there’s, there’s a heavy workload in terms of academics that we, um, see that our kids go through. Um, but also we, we demand a lot from them.

You know, our team goal in terms of our GPA is we have to be above a 3.3. Um, and that’s, that’s been the [00:16:00] standard for the last three years. And so I think when, when we look at the day, uh, in their life, we understand like soccer is gonna be a big piece of things, especially in season, but we don’t wanna consume their entire time, um, outside of class with soccer.

So I’d say they’re probably with us specifically as a coaching staff, anywhere from I. Three to four hours a day max, four hours. Uh, and so they’ll wake up usually depending on their first class, eight or 9:00 AM grab quick breakfast, go to classes in the morning, uh, have lunch around noon-ish. And most of them will have, uh, labs, especially our engineering majors kind of early into the afternoon.

And so we will start our weight training Monday, Wednesday, Friday is when we will be in the weight room. They will go from four to five, just a quick hour in and out. You know, they’re working with our full-time strength and conditioning coach in the weight room. Um, making sure that it’s not, we’re not [00:17:00] overworking them.

And a lot of it’s gonna be recovery, injury prevention stuff, especially during season. And just maintaining the, you know, the strength and conditioning that levels that we do have. Um, and then they’ll be with us, um, out on the fields from. 6, 6 30 to eight. So that’s kind of, it’s, it’s a late practice. Um, but that’s just because they have to, you know, go through their whole schedule in terms of school and homework and classes and, and, and the earlier in the day.

And so, um, yeah, after that, you know, we, we encourage our guys, you know, we have them go to study hall hours during the day because, you know, if you’re getting done with practice at eight o’clock. And then hitting the showers, grabbing dinner, you know, it’s 9:10 PM and you know, it’s not really the best time for you to be productive with your academics.

And so, um, we encourage our guys, you know, find time during your day, time management is gonna be really important for you to kind of knock that stuff out before coming to practice. And then, um, yeah, so we’ll train an hour and a [00:18:00] half to two hours, depending on what we’re working on, um, in between games. So this next year we’ll be playing.

Friday, Sunday, because we’re moving to the sc, which is a new conference, and they play Friday, Sundays. And so we’ll be doing a lot of, uh, recovery during that Saturday in between games. I would say, uh, a lot of the, uh, training and, uh, even in the weight room is gonna be geared towards recovery and keeping our guys fresh at the end of the day.

You know, if they’re not healthy, um, there’s, there’s nothing that we can really do. 

Matt: Right. You mentioned a strength and conditioning coach, and obviously you’re the ga, so just talk to me about all the staff that’s there that’s working with the team and as, as well as the head coach. 

Coach: Yeah. So our new head coach, uh, incoming, uh, started um, May 15th.

So a few days ago was just announced a TJ Milby. So he, he’ll be coming in. Um, really excited for him. A good friend of mine, uh, we both went to the same university, uh, Cedarville University up in, uh, Ohio. And so, and that’s kind of how I knew [00:19:00] him. Um, there wasn’t really any overlap, but you know, through, I.

Alumni and friends, you know, kind of got to, uh, have a, have a good friendship and relationship with him. And so he’s coming down as, as the new head coach. Um, and then, so yeah, I’m, I’m the assistant coach here. We have a Coach Wright, who is uh, kind of a volunteer assistant at the moment. He’s Longview legend.

He’s played for the university. Way back in the day. And he coaches at Longview High School right now, uh, for, for the boy, for the boys team there. Um, and then he kind of works, you know, with our goalkeepers helps, um, a lot of practice stuff during the fall. And then we have our full-time strength and condition Coach, coach Lucas Mason.

He does all the kind of data management, you know, workload management and the, uh, the sports science specific stuff, whether it’s. Programming, you know, their lifts and all the weight room stuff, our GPS data, he does a lot of that stuff for us. And so he’s, you know, big asset to the team for us, for sure. Um, and then, yeah, that’s pretty much, you know, the, the four of us [00:20:00] really.

Matt: Okay. Sorry about that. Um, okay. Well, I. You mentioned this a little bit before, but, you know, talk to me a little bit about, um, you know, what, what would normally happen in a, in a spring season, right? Like, what’s that off season training gonna gonna look like and, and what are players gonna be focused on when they’re, when it’s not that fall competitive season?

Coach: Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is, uh, especially, you know, being part of the division three, um, is we do. Understand now, like this spring is awesome time for our guys to really hone in on their, their classes, their academics. And so I’d say most of our, our players will take maybe one or two extra classes, um, and load up their credits during the spring semester.

Um, so we only get [00:21:00] eight weeks to train as a division three institution. And so we’ll train basically four weeks before spring break, four weeks after spring break. Uh, we’ll go. Three days a week compared to, you know, six days a week when we’re in season. And so it’s, it’s a little bit lighter in terms of the days that we go, but, you know, I, I think the intensity, um, perhaps even some of the work workouts and, and the training that we’re doing is gonna be a little bit more, uh, geared towards strengthening, really pushing them and helping them build muscle and, and, and, and, uh, build their stamina because we want to.

Make sure that they’re heading into the summer, um, in a good position to maintain that and then come into the fall ready to start. So the spring, a lot of it is again, with our strength and conditioning coach, he’ll do a lot of the, uh, the fitness tests, the, the lifting, which kind of ramps up a lot more in terms of.

The weights that they’re doing and how, how they go about really putting on muscle and, and becoming stronger, more explosive and more, more [00:22:00] agile. All that stuff is geared towards, um, building them in the spring. And then the on field sessions, I would say will work a little bit more specifically with individual players and positions and, and small groups so that we’re, we’re working a lot more on the technical development side of things where, you know, players feel like, Hey coach, I need to work on this.

Um, or we where we feel like, Hey, I. Like you need these, these things, um, um, sharpened before the next season. So we’ll work a little bit more, um, closely on the, on the technical side of things where obviously in the fall it’s gonna be a lot more tactical and geared towards, uh, the game and, and the conference and the opponents we’re playing.

I. For sure. Makes 

Matt: sense. Well, hey, I, I appreciate you kind of peeling back the curtain behind Leto and letting us know about it. I’m gonna leave you with one last question, especially as someone who’s kind of just wrapped up their collegiate career, but also helping young men. Uh, start there is, if you had one piece of advice for anybody going through this process right now, what would that be?

Coach: Yeah, um, [00:23:00] I would say. Personally for me, I think, um, as, as I look through my, my journey and relate it to a lot of the, the players that either, you know, we talk to or we’re looking at, um, there, there’s always, there’s a good fit for you wherever. And it, it’s, it’s out there somewhere. Um, you know, be diligent and, and, and reaching out, looking, um, praying, uh, seeking, seeking advice, seeking counsel.

Um, those are things that really helped me. And, you know, just because you, you knock on the door somewhere and it doesn’t open, doesn’t mean that I. It’s done and it’s over and you don’t have anything left that, you know, there’s really, there’s really somewhere out there for you. And there’s, you know, plenty of institutions, plenty of, uh, great players.

And again, it’s, I think it’s really about fitting the, the best fit for you holistically, you know, can you see yourself there after four years? What I like to tell, you know, our incoming players and what I wish I told myself, um, you know, when I was looking at this entire processes, um, I. [00:24:00] I should not, or you should not have your entire identity wrapped up around soccer, because at the end of the day, you know, it’s a, it’s a great, great, um, sport to be able to play and, you know, it brings community and it has all these benefits, whether it’s, um, I.

Helping you go through college and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, you know, soccer, it can be taken away from you. Uh, god forbid someone gets injured, something happens, you know, um, to you where you’re not able to play anymore. Um, do you still see yourself fit in with institution? I. Um, holistically, do you still see yourself being able to go through four years, um, of your, of your, of your time there?

Um, even if the soccer piece was taken out of the equation? And so that’s something that, you know, I think is really important for guys, uh, to look at. Um, we don’t, we don’t, we tell our guys we don’t want their identity to be wrapped up around soccer. Um, it, it is a good thing. It is a bonus. It is a, something that, you know, drives us.

I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for soccer as well. Um, but I think there’s more to every single, [00:25:00] uh, school and every player that, um, outside of just soccer, that we really want to be able to learn and, um, and, and grow and wrestle with those things together with them too. And so, um, that’s, that would be my advice.

Matt: All right. Well I really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck with the new coach and wrapping up your ga and uh, hopefully you guys will, will maybe hang that, uh, the first conference banner of that new conference too. 

Coach: I appreciate it, Matt. Thanks for your time. 

Matt: Thank you sir.