Louisiana Tech University Women’s Soccer – Coach Steve Voltz

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Voltz from the LA Tech Women’s Program in Ruston. We talk about his recruiting mix of international, club and junior college. He describes their STEM focused school with great people and local community. Lastly, we discuss their fearless style of play. Learn more about Louisiana Tech 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 Steve from the Louisiana Tech Women’s Program. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah. 

Matt: Thanks for being here. Excited to talk to you. It’s, uh, you know, January, uh, the season’s wrapped up, but it is the height of showcase season.

Uh, I mean, you just had Disney wrapping up, ECNL a couple of weeks ago. Um, As, as a D one program on the women’s side, where do you stand right now in your, in terms of your recruiting calendar? Is, is 25 locked and loaded and you’re just only looking at 20 sixes or kinda what, what does that calendar and timeline look like for you guys?

Coach: Uh, so we’re actually in a pretty good place that we’re now almost exclusively starting to look for 27s. Um, and so we just came back from Montreal last night, went to a big showcase there. Obviously, we’re going to go to ECNL Dallas in a couple weeks, which is [00:01:00] just down the road for us. Uh, we have a recruit on campus actually right now, that would be potentially a late addition for 2025.

But overall, with the roster size right now, We feel we’re very, very good. We don’t need to make additions. We’d like to make additions if it’s the right person, the right fit. So we’re not going to force the issue. Then for 26, we’re only graduating one player right now. Uh, again, at the end of the day, you never know if a player then decides to move on after the year.

But right now we have two commitments for 2026 and hopefully going to get one out of this Montreal trip here in the next week or two. And then we are at 27 players potentially done for the year 2026, which again, puts us right at that new 28 benchmark. 

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, in terms, I mean, you mentioned Montreal and ECL, Dallas, kind of what are your, you know, must hit spots?

Where do you [00:02:00] like to go to see players? What does that look like for you? 

Coach: So we really try to use our staff and, and send them, you know, over different places. I handle most of the international recruiting. Stephanie came to Montreal as well, but Chris went to the GA event, ECNL. So we try to hit a little bit of everything.

Uh, being so close to the Dallas area helps us to watch a lot of regular season, ECNL games as well, and, uh, catch a few of those. Uh, but we also don’t just, uh, you know, Blanket everything and hope to hit we’re a little bit more targeted. Maybe that has to do with our Uh where we are with recruiting But also that we want to use our budget wisely and make sure that we hit it So ecnl all three of us are gonna go We actually went to the juco national championship this year for the first time To see if we could find an older more mature play that would kind of break up that, you know Graduation timeline so we don’t have classes like last year where they were at 10 [00:03:00] graduate last year.

So from that standpoint We, we mix and match a little bit, you know, GA, ECNL, International, uh, JUCO. And like I said, Dallas area allows us to be there, you know, high school level is even very, very good in Texas, obviously, as you may know. And so from that standpoint, we hit, um, those events as well. 

Matt: Okay. Well, and, and you look at your roster and you got a nice sprinkling of all of that in there, right?

The international side and now you’re looking at Juco. I mean one, you mentioned it a little bit, but it’s, it’s kind of entered the conversation a lot more these days and that’s the transfer portal. How has that, has that changed the way you, you recruit at all? Is it, is it Just something that’s kind of there and and and you’ll use it when needed or what’s it look like for you guys?

Coach: Yeah, it’s for us. It’s more use it when needed. So when we recruit players We talk a lot about the commitment from us to them over the next four years and as well from them to us And how do you handle adversity? Because you will face some [00:04:00] sort of adversity and and getting out of your comfort zone a little bit in college so is that for you a Excuse to run and then find the next best opportunity and or is it something that, hey, this is an opportunity for me to grow, um, and, you know, become a more, uh, important part to, to the, you know, our program, uh, the next year then.

And so we have those conversations even in the recruiting process quite a bit. Um, you know, we can all have, you know, there’s no right or wrong answer, but at the end of the day, we’re personally not you. Trends of the transfer portal. Um, but we use it when needed. So last year we needed some help at the goalkeeping position.

We’re able to find that in the transfer portal. This year we, we have two additions in the transfer portal and that’s it. One is already announced. The other one will hopefully be announced in the next few days. And that’s it. And, uh, we always kept our roster around a 28 number anyway. So it really, we [00:05:00] weren’t forced to ask players to leave, nor did we want to, to add a lot, and we’re also big believers in development still at this level.

So if we recruit players. then we’re kind of accountable to them as well. So, you know, we, we believe that you were good enough coming out of, uh, club and high school. So now it is our job to continue to get you ready for the next level. And if you struggle after your first year, the easy answer is already right.

Get out, we’ll find the next solution. Maybe have somebody else prepare somebody and a little bit older. We’re a little bit different. We want to continue to prepare these players. And sometimes it means we have to be a little bit more patient. But I believe that the players and that are here feel also then more invested into us as good as see how we’re invested into them.

And that’s, again, it’s not about right or wrong. It’s just about, that’s who we are as people and who we are as a program. 

Matt: Okay. Well, whether it’s. Club, high school, international, juco, whatever, uh, what kind [00:06:00] of, what makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player that wants, you know, that makes you want to offer them one of those 28 coveted spots, whether on the field attributes or off the field stuff?

Coach: Yeah. So we’re, we don’t care about geography, right? So let me know. So that’s the first thing we don’t care where you’re from international. We have players from Utah coming in Florida, uh, you know, East coast, Missouri. So we’re all over Canada, obviously Germany. So from that standpoint, that, that is not a deciding factor.

The first deciding factor is who are you as a human being? That’s just real simple. You know, do you fit the qualities of a person that we’re looking for that fits our culture, fits our, you know, our style of who we want to be and who we want to represent our program, our university. Second, obviously, is, you know, what’s, what’s the need on the field that we need to fill?

Um, we, we do look for the best players available, but certainly also need to fill some specific needs at times. [00:07:00] And then the last is, you know, the profiles obviously are, you know, are you, if you’re an international or youth international, you know, we’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of those that represent their national teams, uh, at the youth level, uh, here in the U S yeah.

ECNL and, and, and, and GA is really where I’ve been putting our focus over the last couple of years and been pretty successful. So now our roster, you know, reflects that a little bit, but geographically we actually only have one player from Louisiana on the roster for. Fall coming up, um, Texas, and then like I said, geography, we’re spread all over the place.

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I’m sure folks not familiar with Louisiana Tech. You’ve been there a few years now. What are some of the awesome things about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Um, yeah, actually, you know, the thing is always that don’t check out the website so much and just check out the town.

Come and get to know the people because our place about the people website will tell you all the great things, you know, obviously academically stem [00:08:00] school heavily on the sciences, but we also have an awesome business school, an education program. We have a little like, uh, I guess they call a laboratory school.

I think K through fifth grade on campus. If you want to become a teacher, uh, Uh, it is a proper campus, meaning that is a traditional campus, right? Where everything is kind of together, very walkable, bikeable. Um, and, you know, we have a wide variety of majors academically, you know, biomedical engineering. A lot of the signs are very, very strong.

But our athletes, you know, we have education majors, we have sports management, marketing, we have kinesiology, we have engineering majors. So we have a little bit of everything and we’re super proud of our women as, you know, maintaining a high GPA and doing. And next at graduating again, this last year, 10 of them.

So we want to make sure that our, our academic standards meet, uh, our, uh, you know, requirements and what we want our women to do, which is succeed at the next level in the professional life. Okay. [00:09:00] You know, it’s a small college town. You know, we’re in the South, so football matters, you know, other sports matter too, but we’re trying to cut out our niche.

Uh, we don’t have men’s soccer here, so we kind of have the, uh, the, uh, opportunity to maintain our field for ourselves and use it whenever we want. We have a beautiful facility here, so, uh, we, you know, we hope that people come and check it out and realize that it is kind of like a gem down here where once you hear and see it, you tend to fall in love with that place.

Matt: I bet. Well, you mentioned, uh, you get the feel to kind of do with it what you will when you want to, so walk me through, let’s say we’re in the middle of that conference season, walk me through what’s a typical week look like for a player in terms of when our practices, meals, classes, games, the whole thing, what’s a normal week look like?

Coach: Sure. So for us, Monday tends to be our traditional day off just with the Thursday, Sunday kind of schedule. Right. So Monday would be a day off. And then usually [00:10:00] Tuesday morning and Thursday morning, our weight days, we, we lift twice during the season. And then we train, uh, Tuesday, Wednesday, uh, travel or we’re at home on a Thursday and then Friday, Saturday again, train and then play Sunday or traveled on Saturday potentially.

And then we’re off again Monday. We trained usually in the afternoon. So that, uh, about 4 30, the players can go to dinner, study hall, whatever they have going on, and then be in class in the morning, midday, like, so that they’re done, like just after lunchtime. And if they have any treatment that need to take care of, uh, as well, you know, film is sprinkled in there.

We try to, you know, use the 20 hours that are available as much as we can. Um, and with our academic advisors, we’re, we’re, we have a lot of help to get. Our athletes out of class so they have a little bit of time before training and get the right schedule done so they have everything they need to do to be physically and mentally ready for [00:11:00] training.

Matt: Okay. Well, you mentioned study hall and, and, you know, one of the hardest things I think, especially for high school students becoming college athletes, especially at the T1 level is really learning to balance the demands of the academic side of things as well as the soccer side of things. So what all do you guys do?

What kind of support systems are there in place at the school to make sure your, your student athletes are successful, both in the classroom as well as on the field? 

Coach: No, absolutely. And again, I think our GPA is give, you know, give credence to the what we’re doing. We’ve had a 3. 5 or above. I think seven, the last seven terms for our student athletes.

So they’re doing an outstanding job. Basically, it starts with the academic advisor that we have. Uh, available to them. That helps them with scheduling. Make sure because in conference USA we do travel extensively and tend to fly a couple times a year as well that they are taken care of when they miss class, what they need to do.

Um, so the academic [00:12:00] advising side is there for them. Um, and then we make sure that on the road that they have study hall set aside. All freshmen are required to do eight hours of study hall a week. And we are a quarter school, by the way, so we don’t have to traditional semester. So we have three quarters that they go to the summer quarters and off or free for them.

And so that, um, when, uh, you know, we have exams coming up maybe towards the end of the season or so that they’re, that they’re prepared. But if you do get good grades, 3. 0 or above after your first. quarter after your first term, then you’re excused for study hall. Then on top of that, we have tutors specifically for each area.

So if you’re struggling just in math or a certain class in chemistry, that you can also see tutors that are more specific towards your subject area. 

Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about, about the team. Obviously you guys will be under that 28. roster limit, uh, [00:13:00] starting next year. But besides players on a roster, there’s staff.

So talk to me about your staff. What role does everybody play and maybe what other support staff are in the athletic department that help out with the team? 

Coach: So we’re, you know, I have three full time coaches, uh, myself, um, have Chris Harvick, uh, he’s been with me on the men’s side before as well. So I’ve known him for some time.

He’s outstanding. And just, you know, somebody again that I asked when I was here as the interim coach to say, Hey. You know, I got basically a three months job interview. I need somebody I know I trust. Can you come in and help me? And he was, he put that same trust back into me and came here, you know, he was up in, uh, in the Northeast, New Hampshire at that time, and he came down to Louisiana.

I said, all right, let’s go for it. And really, I think the thing that sold him and what is one of his strengths is just the video side of things that he loves watching the game. He loves scouting as well as watching our training sessions. So we film everything. We use two platforms, one that’s required by the NCA and then one for us to allow our [00:14:00] players to observe themselves for us to observe the players.

And then make sure that they get the feedback they want. So Chris does that a lot and has, uh, obviously some recruiting responsibilities, but he does a lot of the scouting report evaluations, film sessions. He plans them. We talk about it together. Obviously, once the clips are ready, then we go over them together.

What do we want to hit? What do we want to, um, focus on, which allows, uh, you know, Myself and other coach tend to be a little bit more free, uh, and let him handle the technology part. He also handles our GPS monitoring system, where we track the players, you know, movements, mileage, and so on, what they get each game, each session, to make sure that we’re hitting all our marks there.

Stephanie, uh, Starr joined us last year. She’s been incredible in her first year already. She deals with the goalkeeper specifically, uh, on the field, but again, has input with everything as well. Um, And then she also does a lot of like the logistics stuff a little bit, helps us with the [00:15:00] travel a bit and make sure that everything is done there.

But it’s been absolutely phenomenal. Her first year here for us as well. And then we have, uh, Kay, who’s our full time athletic trainer travels everywhere, every game, every session is there we have. Lucky enough to have our own training room in our facility. So we don’t need to go to any other building or stand in line behind, you know, the football team or anybody else.

We have a training room here in our facility, which is fantastic that the players have access to and get treatment. And then we have Jared, who’s our strength and conditioning coach and works with our players in the weight room, speed, agility, stuff, fitness, stuff like that. 

Matt: Well, what about you? How would you describe your coaching style and the style of play you want to play there?

Coach: Yeah, style play. You know, I always use the answer. We’re fearless for better or for worse. So we’re going to try to press. We’re going to try to build out of the bag, but you’re not going to see us try to sit in and hope not to lose. So, uh, you’re not going to get a long winded, super [00:16:00] tactical answer here and try.

Be the next Pep Guardiola. That’s not, we just feel that we want to have players that are comfortable on the ball, that enjoy playing the game. Look, soccer is a game. That’s a player sport coaches prepare them during the week, but game day, you got to make decisions. So we, you know, not joystick coaches that try to handcuff players.

By constant, you know, you got to be there. Got to do that. It’s like the game is so quick. And so I said, you have to be able to make decisions quickly. We trust our players. So from, you know, personally type, we want our players to know that we believe in them, that we trust them, give them a little confidence.

They don’t have to look over their shoulder after a mistake to say, like, am I going to get yanked off the field? It’s more like, how do you respond? So the style of play, again, we want players that are comfortable on the ball. If we. can and need to possess it because the team is sitting back. Then we want players that are able to do that.

If a team presses us and we need to be a little bit more direct to get, find a space and behind, can you recognize that and have that [00:17:00] opportunity? But, uh, we want technical players that seek the ball. The one thing that really frustrates us as players that kind of don’t want the ball. You know, we want you to be able to find avenues to to receive the ball and help us progress the ball forward as quickly as possible.

Once we have it there, then, uh, if we turn it over, we’re going to be able to press and counterpress quickly respond to that. Um, and then personality type, it’s always hard to describe yourself, right? That’s, isn’t that other people’s job to describe? Um, no, I’m not a yell and a scream. I don’t believe in that at all.

You know, we’re teachers and I’m yet to find a teacher that yells and screams like, Hey, you know, two plus two is four. No, like, Hey, it’s you educate, you hold accountable. Uh, but you show a lot of love to your staff and to your athletes. And, uh, I think we try to create an environment where players know that they’re respected, cared for, held accountable and challenged.

At the same time, you know, love is always, [00:18:00] you know, accountability to love is not just letting players get away with that. That’s actually the opposite. You know, letting them know where the boundaries are, letting know where, what the expectations are, how to being held accountable for even little things, what not just a classroom conduct.

We’re fortunate enough to have just an incredible group of young women that believe in each other. And even last. When we had a very, very, very tough year, the one thing that everybody said, and even our fans and admin that watched that, you guys never quit. You just found a way to keep competing. And sometimes soccer can be a cruel sport.

And, uh, so from that standpoint, we have a group that believes in each other and we are. You know, a staff that wants to make players feel like that they’re in an environment where they’re challenged, but also safe and respected and not just a number. And I think that’s something that we want to continue to preach to our recruits and visitors as well as like, hey, you’re coming in here somewhere where it’s not going to be easy.

We’re going to continue to [00:19:00] challenge you. But you’re also not just going to be discarded after your first mistake, you know, because we’re in a university, we’re in an educational setting. So, you know, the education part sometimes gets forgotten, um, where I think we’re responsible to prepare players, not just for a win that Thursday night or Sunday afternoon, but also for what are you going to do when you face that You know, like three years down the line in the real world.

And have we done our job to prepare you? And I think that’s gets overlooked at times. And that’s something that I take personally, very seriously and our staff does. So, you know, we have an open door policy for our players too. They can come in any time. We have three required individual meetings with that.

We, I do a frequently infrequent, uh, call it. Just coffee chat where I just come out and said, Hey, I’m going to sit here for an hour. Come and join me. And I’ve had, you know, eight, 10 players come out, have nobody come out one or two, but we [00:20:00] talk about everything else, but soccer. I want to know, you know, how’s the family, how’s, you know, what’s, what’s going on?

How’s the dog, whatever, whatever you have going on in your life. How are you other hobbies, other interests. And we just chat. And so that. The mantra that we use is, you know, connect, communicate, trust, sacrifice. So if you, if you’re willing to connect and then communicate, you build trust. And when you build a trust, then you’re willing to sacrifice.

And once you’re willing to sacrifice, everything else becomes a lot, lot easier for you. 

Matt: Love that. Well, like I said, we’re, we’re talking here in January. So it’s kind of the start of the quote unquote, non traditional season. Uh, what does your spring season look like for the players in terms of what they’re doing and when are they doing it?

Coach: So again, we’re in the quarter system. So we’re a little different. We’ve been back in school since January 4th, and we’re already in the middle of our winter quarter term that started in December. So we’ve been going with that. Type of training, which is the eight hours a week, [00:21:00] right? Four on the ball, four with the strength conditioning coaches for a little bit.

Now, when we got that till February, the latter part of February, and yeah, that just spent a lot of time honing individual skills. You know, we have a smaller group right now in training, you know, because we had a large group graduate, our transfers won’t join us till March. So we have to wait on them a little bit longer and we have one long term injury still out, but so now.

More touches on the ball, even though it’s only an hour of training, you tend to get just as much touches as you would in a two hour session with a bigger group. So we really try to focus on that and just physical development, whether it’s, you know, freshman coming and finally learning, you know, what the D one standard is like, and, you know, just getting physically stronger, fitter, all those things always play a factor.

Um, so we’ll continue to do that. Till the end of February and then in March, we maximize those five spring days of play days that we have [00:22:00] and, you know, more regional, more local competition, but it’ll be, it’ll be strong and good. And, and, uh, we play those five, five match days, um, middle of March till middle of April, somewhere around there, right before Easter.

And then we’re able to train a little bit more before we head out in May. 

Matt: Okay. Well, coach, really appreciate all this insight. I got one last question for you. And that is, if you had one piece of advice for any student athlete going through the college recruiting process right now, what would that be?

Coach: Okay, maybe a little bit long winded answer, because I, I, again, I, we, we meet young women all the time and families and the, the two pieces of advice is find your own journey. Don’t compare yourself to others and what they show and post and do and whether they, you know, commit on June 15th, you know. That’s not it.

Find yours. And we tell our players, even players that want to commit to us, right. It was like, go see as many schools as possible. Talk to [00:23:00] coaches, you will know where you want it. You will know where you fit in. And I guess I let people steal that one. But the one thing that I asked recruits consistently is like, and I tell them, there’s no right or wrong answer.

Don’t overthink it. But it’s like, what. Do you think the opposite of fitting in this and I get some amazing answers and they all look and they want to impress, right? So I get that and I just tell him the opposite for us of fitting in is belonging Fitting in this act if you try to fit in you try to be somebody maybe that you’re not belonging.

It’s just easy It happens, you know it you feel it, you know where you are We have one of our 25 commits call me two days after a visit. It’s like Steve. I belong This is where I want to be and then that doesn’t mean that the people around you It won’t impact you and help you change a little bit over time and grow, but that’s at your pace.

You don’t feel like you have to do it. It just happens, but you have the same opportunity to not have that impact on the coaches and then [00:24:00] athletes around you. So really, my advice is always just trust your own journey and, and don’t feel rushed and pressured. And the more people, you know, around you, or let me rephrase that.

I apologize. Surround yourself with people that one. To ask what you want and what you need versus telling you what you should do. It is not up to an adult to tell someone, you should do that, you must ask, and then give advice to help that young person out to find the right journey versus, oh, you have to go there, you have to do this, you have to decide now, hey, here’s an offer, you have one week to decide, like, we’re dealing with 16, 17 year old young women, we have to understand that.

their process a little bit different. So that’s us. I’m not saying that’s right. I’m not saying that’s wrong. It’s just that works for us. And we want to make sure that the young women that decide to be here, decide to be here for the long haul. And because again, they feel like they belong. 

Matt: Love it. Well, coach, really appreciate the time, wish you the best of [00:25:00] luck in this spring season and wrapping up all that recruiting and, uh, hopefully you’ll get, get be hanging those conference USA banners in there soon.

Coach: Uh, you know, we’re, we’re a minute away from that, but we’re trying to, what I love is just that we believe in, in, in our journey and our path. And, uh, We have an opportunity to do a lot of great things here at this place. We have great admin, very supportive staff all around campus. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you and then put Louisiana Tech and the Bulldogs out in front of you guys and all your listeners.

Well, thanks so much and go dogs.