Luther College Women’s Soccer – Coach Hollie Gray

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Hollie Gray from the Luther College Women’s Program. We talk about what he’s looking for in players both on and off the field. We chat about what makes their school unique amongst other midwestern colleges. Lastly, we discuss their offseason program and what style of play they focus on playing. Learn more about their program here.

[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Uh, I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Holly gray of Luther college in Iowa. Uh, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. Thanks for jumping on. So let’s dive right into it. Uh, let’s kind of talk about the recruiting trail here first.

[00:00:18] Um, when do you usually start hearing from players? Uh, you know, what year are they in high school and when do you start actually going out to watch

[00:00:26] Coach: players? Yeah, so, I mean, right now we’re in the dead of recruiting season. Right. And so juniors that junior year. Late sophomore year is kind of when I’m hearing from kids.

[00:00:40] Um, and so yeah, for me, I go out and I’ll watch it. Junior year right now. Um, sophomores, especially right now, also. So yeah, that junior years when I’m really hearing from legitimate interests that sophomore year is kind of, Hey, come watch me play. So, um, yeah, that junior, sophomore year. So how many

[00:01:01] Matt: inbound context are you getting on a weekly, monthly basis?

[00:01:05] Do you think?

[00:01:07] Coach: Yeah, weekly basis. We’re probably sitting at 15 to 20 domestics, um, and then a handful of internationals that are reaching out. And so, um, obviously around the bigger tournament time that starts to increase. Um, but yeah, on a weekly average, we’re probably 15 to 20. Which again for me is exciting, so.

[00:01:28] Okay,

[00:01:29] Matt: awesome. Well, what, what are some of the things you like to see in that first communication from a recruit

[00:01:35] Coach: I’m super simple. Um, and maybe it’s just like the age of everything, but for me, I need name, number, email, uh, And then what color Jersey are you wearing on the weekend? What’s your number on your team?

[00:01:49] Um, so yeah, I like to keep it super simple, these super long emails and I’m my captain of this team and I have a 4.0 national. That’s great. I’m sure you’re a great person, but for me, I like to keep it simple. Um, name Jersey, number, Jersey color, maybe a coach contact also, just because I like to say I’m the most nosy inquisitive person out there where I start calling people and getting connected there.

[00:02:17] So. Yeah. I like to keep things simple. If,

[00:02:20] Matt: if it’s not, uh, an email about an upcoming tournament or something, you know, they’re just reaching out cause they’re interested. You know, what, what else do you like to see? Do you like, do you like to see highlight clips or full game film or

[00:02:30] Coach: anything like that? For sure.

[00:02:32] For me again, highlight film is highlight videos are great. Um, again, some that like peak your interest type thing, um, getting full game videos, I’m actually gotten a couple of those and. When I get those alone, I actually get like very frustrated. Um, but the kids that I do love actually saying, or when they send me full game videos and they clip out all of their actions and timestamp all their actions, um, good and bad, which for me goes a long way in that peaks my interest even more.

[00:03:02] Um, and so yeah, if you’re sending me an email, just like coach, I’m interested in Luther college. I still need that game schedule, but highlight video, things of that nature is also great. So yeah, it’s all about getting interested. Okay.

[00:03:17] Matt: So where do you tend to spend your time on the recruiting trail in terms of like, what tournaments are usually going to, are you ever watching high school games?

[00:03:25] Anything

[00:03:25] Coach: like that? Yeah, so the majority of our girls are from. And so for me, that’s a short Trek up the road. And so high school season gets a little tricky for us just because Minnesota girls high school is in the fall, which is the middle of our season, but sure. I, again, I’m up there. Um, I’m actually going up there tonight also to watch a couple games and be around some things and some tournaments.

[00:03:51] Um, but yeah, we go to the big ones, right? The Jefferson cups, the ECNL showcases, um, The regional USYSA regional tournaments in the summer. Um, but yeah, then the Shattuck has the major clubs around us do their own tournaments until we get out to those, uh, Yeah. And then one or two national events every year also.

[00:04:16] So,

[00:04:17] Matt: uh, I mean, do you have a set player of numbers you’re trying to recruit every year or does it kind of varies?

[00:04:24] Coach: No. So it’s great in that regard at the D three level, I get to kind of set my own roster size. Um, and so I have that number in my head of like, what’s the ideal roster number. And for me, that’s 33 to 37.

[00:04:39] Uh, And so for me, I’m in that mold. Like I want to stay in that number. Um, but also what’s great is if I get 40 really good players, I’m going to keep 40 really good players on my roster. Um, and so yeah, for me, there’s not a mandated number, but in my head, I’ve got that 30 to 37, uh, Target. And so it’s all about replacing, um, and replenishing the cupboard as they say.

[00:05:08] So.

[00:05:09] Matt: Absolutely. Um, Obviously your so no athletic money. What’s the scholarship situation like, uh, at your school specifically kind of in the academic and other side of things.

[00:05:24] Coach: Yeah. So we’re academic, right? You hit the nail on the head. There were no athletic money, um, academic scholarships. And for me, our scholarships are big time.

[00:05:33] Um, And so it’s all academic merit based there, but we also have financial aid, the fastest starts to kick in. Um, and our school does really well with a couple other scholarships, again, kind of, depending on schools, diversity, scholarships, things of that nature that a lot of kids don’t even realize that they qualify for it until I started getting a little nosy and I asked questions and things of that nature.

[00:05:57] Um, but for their, like, I qualify for that and I qualify for this. And so, um, yeah, our school does a great job of giving that out. Um, and for me, that’s only gonna continue to increase. Um, we’ve had that conversation as an institution of what our scholarships going to look like moving forward. Um, and again, we’re starting to do some different things there, which again has me excited as a coach too, so awesome.

[00:06:22] Matt: So when, when you’re. Sifting through all those emails and, and you’ve watched a lot of games and, and you’re deciding who you really want to offer. What, what do you value most in terms of both on the field and off the field? So like on the field stuff, are you looking for the best athletes? Are you looking at soccer IQ?

[00:06:41] Like what, what are your top things?

[00:06:43] Coach: Yeah. For me. And that’s actually a great question. Right. And it’s interesting when kids ask that question, cause they’re like, oh, well, what do you look for? Um, and I always say like every culture. A player. Who’s got a really good first touch, right? Like, so kids are like, oh, you didn’t say how good is your first touch?

[00:06:58] I’m like, well, yeah, that’s a given. I want you to have a good first touch. Um, it’s a given, I want you to have a good soccer IQ. Right. And so for me, I look for right. Little things like how many times is a player checking their shoulder in a game. Um, how many times are they scanning the field and. How coachable are they and not coachable right from their coach, because I think that’s an easy one for players to say, oh yeah, my coach is telling me to do something.

[00:07:25] I’m going to do it. But how coachable are you from your teammates of all right, you’re a sinner. You’re a center, defensive mid dealer. Your center back is telling you, they need you to screen passes at a better rate. And you turn around and say, no, I’m not going to do that for me. That’s a player. I’m like, yeah, they’re not a part of our program.

[00:07:46] But if your teammates saying, Hey, I need you to do this. And you say, okay, I got you and you start to do it for me. That’s that’s ideal. Um, and so I look for those things on the field, off the field, again, because I’m nosy. I started asking like character questions. All right. What do they like to do? Who are they as a person?

[00:08:03] Um, I asked almost every player I talked to like, all right. If I were to call your three best friends, what would they say? All right. If I call your three, like least friends, what would they say about you? Um, because again, I think you start to figure out who kids are. And for me, our culture has a program is why we’re successful.

[00:08:25] Um, we talk about being a family and for me, a family isn’t though like rosy, like, oh, we’re always best friends. Right? A family is the. Yeah, we’re in the midst of battle. And like, actually don’t like you that much today, but I love you and I care about your success. Right. And so, um, I need people and I’m looking for players and people to come in that foster that and want to live that and breathe that.

[00:08:48] And so, yeah, those are kind of the things, um, coachability is a big one for me and not from a coach, but from a teammate. And then who are you as a person off the field? Um, And for me, getting kids on campus is important because they get to see us, but also our current players get to kind of all right.

[00:09:10] Well, can you, do we see you fitting in here? Are we going to enjoy you? Do you fit our values as a culture and as a program? Um, And luckily again, I trust my current team so much right now, um, that they come in like, yeah, we love her. You have to get her. And so that like added pressure for me is great. Um, luckily it hasn’t been too often where they’ve come in and said, yeah, coach, she doesn’t fit who we are.

[00:09:35] Oh,

[00:09:35] Matt: Well, that, that, that says a lot about your first instinct too. So that’s a good thing. Yeah, for

[00:09:39] Coach: sure. For sure. Right. Like, all right. Oh, this is gonna not go well for us down the road. So maybe we should part ways. And so, yeah. Yeah, for me, that’s important,

[00:09:51] Matt: uh, to that end in terms of like parting ways or, or other things.

[00:09:56] Do you, how did, how did transfers kind of fit into your, your recruiting or do you, do you get many in or out, and then also what, uh, how to walk ons kind of, do you, do you dig it, many of those, do you kind of look at it, having a walk on trout, et cetera?

[00:10:12] Coach: Sure. So the good thing is we don’t have many transferring out and I’ll kind of circle back to that one, transferring in where I’m looking at a couple of transfers.

[00:10:21] Um, but again, for me, It becomes a tricky dynamic of like, all right, you’ve been in college, but you haven’t been in our program. So you have that like maturity aspect, but does that maturity always correlate to who we are? Um, and so as I get down and closer to the end of the process with that, I set up phone calls and zoom calls and let them interact with our current players.

[00:10:45] Um, To kind of go through that thing. Um, in terms of walk-ons we do have tryouts in our pre-season schedule, um, our preseason times, sorry. And so in that it is for me, it’s a perfect trial cause it’s 10 days and you get full access to who we are as a program. And at the end of that, either you’re in or you’re out, um, That’s just a conversation.

[00:11:09] Right? And so some of those at the D3 level are girls who were emailed me saying, Hey coach, I’m coming to Luther. I played soccer in high school. Can I continue in college? And again, I do my research on the front end to say, all right, this is what you’re signing up for. Um, But I also opened it up to them there.

[00:11:29] Um, in terms of like girls transferring out again, for me, it ties back into who we are as a program and the family aspect of things. Um, and I was actually having this conversation with my girlfriend, not too long ago of, because we’re such a family, I think, and some coaches fall into the like, oh, girls, like I didn’t get my top recruit that crushes.

[00:11:51] Yes, that does bother me, but also what hurts me more is having somebody who comes into our program and says, yeah, I’m not like this. Isn’t it for me. Um, for me, that’s like, literally it’s like a sibling saying, yeah, I don’t want to be a part of this family anymore. I’m going to disassociate myself and that just like it crushes you.

[00:12:09] And so, um, we’ve been fortunate enough in that regard to not having, um, anybody transfer out. And for me, that’s super. Good. That’s awesome.

[00:12:19] Matt: Well, let’s, uh, let’s talk more about the school, cause I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there who. Maybe never

[00:12:25] Coach: heard of Luther, haven’t heard.

[00:12:29] Matt: So, uh, you know, I want these, these videos to really try to help people and understand more than just what they’re going to find on a website.

[00:12:36] Right. So, yeah. So tell me what, what is, what, what are the things that your school is known for the most awesome things about your school that I’m not gonna really find by clicking through the website?

[00:12:47] Coach: Yeah, for sure. And I think for me, it’s the people. Right. And so having gone to, um, I’m a Luther grad. And so I have that aspect in that relationship, but I was at a high level boarding academy, um, shot at St.

[00:13:02] Mary’s in Fairbault, Minnesota, another town that a lot of people I’m sure I haven’t heard of. Um, but I was born in Chicago and so I have kind of had like a bigger city, bigger lifestyle mentality. Uh, And then I came on a visit and fell in love with Luther in the sense that that people cared about you.

[00:13:20] Um, and again, for me, people are gonna listen to them like, wow, you sure it talks about caring and people and love and things of that nature. Um, but that’s Luther in a nutshell, the people and that’s, so that’s one for me. The second one is people hear. Right. And they think all flat corn field, things of that nature, which I can go on a whole nother rant about that.

[00:13:43] Just like when you’re thinking about that, you’re probably thinking of Nebraska, but for me, the Cora as a whole is it’s not Iowa. We’ve got Hills and Bluffs and it’s gorgeous and trails and things of that nature. Um, so the town, but also our school we’re connected. Our nursing major is one of our best majors.

[00:14:04] Um, one of the best in the country, because we are affiliated with a Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. And so that program is amazing and all of our nursing majors are leaving literally right. Pre pandemic right now, pandemic is making things a little bit, right. We need nurses. But all of our kids are leaving with jobs wherever they want, because they have hands-on experience in arguably the best hospital in the country.

[00:14:35] Um, and so those are kind of like the three big hitters that people, the location and our education, um, which I guess you can kind of find out online, but also you can’t really get a good grasp on, so yeah.

[00:14:49] Matt: Okay. Um, yeah, so I grew up in Ohio, but I went to school. I went to school out on the east coast and it’s amazing how, especially folks on the east coast don’t don’t have the best sense of geography past Pittsburgh.

[00:15:05] Right. So, you know, when I, whenever I was going home for holiday breaks and I was going back to Ohio, they’d be like, man, was that like a 30 hour drive? And I’m like, it’s not Iowa. It’s Ohio. It’s.

[00:15:18] Coach: For sure. The amount of people that think Chicago is the state and Illinois is the same.

[00:15:24] Matt: And it’s hard, you know?

[00:15:26] I mean, you guys are in Northern Iowa, which, I mean, you’re basically on the same latitude as Milwaukee. So it’s like, it’s like, wow, that’s farther north. You know, most people wouldn’t realize how far north that is

[00:15:38] Coach: pretty far north. What’s great again about our location is where I don’t have to tell people where as far north in Iowa, as you can go without being in Minnesota.

[00:15:47] Um, so we get that aspect and I’m like that we’re basically Minnesotan, but we’ve got the cool part of Iowa too. So yeah. So,

[00:15:56] Matt: you know, w at your school, how to student athletes kind of balance their studies and their sport commitments, what support mechanisms does your school have in place to help?

[00:16:07] Coach: Yeah, for sure.

[00:16:08] So what’s great. Again, for me being a Luther grad, I can speak to that, like on a more personal level and not just the, oh, this is what our players go through. Um, all of our teams operate in the. We’re here to support you, but also teams kind of manage themselves a little bit. And so what’s great is you have upperclassmen who are looking out for first years of saying, oh, you’re a bio major and you have professor X.

[00:16:32] I had professor X when I was a freshmen. Here’s what you need to know. Here’s how you study here. So you’ve got that support there. What’s also great is all of our coaches here don’t want, like, they literally don’t enjoy missing class at all. Um, and so this past fall, especially are the most classes. One of our players missed was three in the fall season.

[00:16:56] And that’s like not full days at his 12:00 noon class and 8:00 AM class and 11 class. That’s it. Um, and that’s common practice across the board for our school because of the value of being in class and important. Um, especially when we have smaller class sizes, our classes are 11 to one. Um, so you get that personal aspect.

[00:17:21] And so. Yeah, we’re not missing class, but also if kids start to struggle, right. We have academic alerts that every coach gets of just like, Hey. Stacy hasn’t turned in her past three assignments in her English class. Right. And so the professor has illustrated like, Hey, there’s a worry here. And in those cases, the professor talks to, um, the student, but also as coaches, right.

[00:17:46] We get to have that relationship of, Hey, what’s going on? Do you need help? How can I support you? Um, Along with all of the other institutional NCAA, um, safety nets and things of that nature that fall into place. So yeah, again, the perks of being a smaller school, we get to care for our kids. Um, And a deeper manner and we’d take pride in that, so.

[00:18:08] Okay, awesome.

[00:18:09] Matt: So what does, what’s a typical non-game day look like what’s a typical game day look like for you guys.

[00:18:18] Coach: Yeah, so I mean, the good thing is they’re not drastically different, right? Especially in season, um, it all consists of class. So in class eight to two 15, kind of in that timeframe in the morning, early afternoon.

[00:18:32] Um, and then. We’ll train for, I block off four to 6 34 to 6 45, um, for our players. And what that entails is practice, um, pre and post-game meetings, film sessions, and things of that nature. Um, we lift in season also there. So at lots off that time, uh, And then they have time at the end of the day after that.

[00:18:56] And they go eat as a team and they’re around each other and they do their homework and they hang out and they’re college kids and, um, make all of the best adult college decisions that college kids make. Right. Um, and then game days, that’s almost the exact same, just if we’re playing, we typically play.

[00:19:13] If we’re at home, we typically play at five. And so we’ll do a pre-game meal at one. Um, we’ll meet. Four, and then we’ll head out to warm up and go through the business there. Um, what’s great at the D three level, especially in our conference, our men usually do double headers and so what’s great. And it’s like, we play the Manor at our game.

[00:19:36] Um, and then we finish and our entire team is out supporting the men. Um, and then we go and we do training and recovery and all that jazz the next day. So. Yeah, it’s the best of both worlds. You get to be a student and you get to be for me, you get to be a top level athlete at the same time. So

[00:19:54] Matt: nice. Now w in terms of your conference and non-conference games, how much do you guys travel?

[00:20:00] What’s kind of your rate. Yeah. So

[00:20:02] Coach: the best part about our conferences, we used to be called it. I act so the Iowa intercollegiate athletic conference now where the arc, so the American rivers conference, um, Same schools we added in Nebraska Westland. Um, so that’s a six hour drive for us. Just if you think about Northern Iowa to the middle of Nebraska, uh, But everything.

[00:20:25] And then that word in the three hour range. Um, and that’s our conference schedule. Non-conference, we’re typically in that three and a half, four hours. Um, with every year us looking to do a larger. Um, an overnight trip. And so this past season, we went out to Kenosha, Wisconsin to play Carthage, um, and Milwaukee school of engineering in the future here, we’re looking to go down to Texas, um, to get a couple of games down there.

[00:20:53] And so that typically is opening weekend. Um, and so, yeah, we typically are in the three to four hour range. Again, allows us not to miss class, uh, which.

[00:21:04] Matt: No, that’s great. Well, let’s, let’s dive deeper than in, in the actual team and the soccer part of it here. So if you’re an incoming freshmen, how much am I playing?

[00:21:14] Can I expect to play right away? Or am I not? Do you guys, you know, with a roster of 30 to 35, you probably don’t have a reserve team or anything. Um, so how does that work is as a first year

[00:21:26] Coach: coming in? Yeah, so what’d I tell every first year, right. And I tell, actually tell our entire, everybody on our team.

[00:21:32] I don’t guarantee playing time for anybody. Right. And I think that’s a common practice for coaches. What I tell her, but if you deserve to play, you will play. And so this past year we had two out of our, um, class of seven. So two out of seven, first years playing every single game. Um, we also had a first-year goalkeeper who got action in a handful of games for us.

[00:21:53] Um, some which were extremely important. Um, and so, yeah. If her first year is performing the first year is going to play, um, how much that is. Again, kind of depends on the team, but again, right now, for me, if you can play, you’re gonna play and I’m going to find a way to get you on the field. Um, and a perfect example is that one of we had to end that we ended up changing our formation because we had our, what would have been our third outside back was performing so well and was coming into my office.

[00:22:25] And every day I was like, what do I need to do to play more? And I said, you need to do this, this and this. They need to do it consistently. She said, okay. And then she went out and did it consistently. So she got to play more. The problem was the other two outside backs. They weren’t dropping in performance.

[00:22:41] Right. And so I had to look around the team and say, okay, we’re going to change some things because she deserves to play. You both deserve to play. We’re going to do it. Um, and so yeah, first years, and again, I’m recruiting kids that can come in and play. Um, I tell her I’ve told her entire team or Turners my job is to bring in kids to replace them.

[00:23:02] Their job is to not be replaced. Um, and so I tell that to all the kids I’m recruiting to like, Hey, I’m bringing you in to replace people. Um, so yeah, that’s, if you’re gonna play and you’re gonna perform you kind of play. So, so you.

[00:23:18] Matt: You mentioned switching, switching formations, mid season. Um, what would you, how would you describe your, your team style play and your, your style of coaching?

[00:23:28] Coach: Yeah, so our style of play, like I, I equate a lot of who I am to my coaching mentors, um, but also who I am as a person and my personality. And so if you were to talk to my mom, I’m the oldest. Three. I had two other sisters being the oldest. I didn’t do the best job at sharing, um, which is great because it ties into like my coaching mentors.

[00:23:51] And so I don’t really like the other team having the ball. And so we’re high pressing and we’re all over the field to get the ball back. Um, but in possession, We’re keeping them all. We’re not this direct team doesn’t really fit who I am as a person. Um, and what I believe in and my coaching mentors there.

[00:24:10] And so yeah, with the ball, we want to have it and we want to be calm. Um, we want to play forward. Right. But playing forward doesn’t mean. Route one for me. Um, so what we say is, if you’re playing backwards, there’s a purpose, um, to go forward. And so, yeah, that’s who we are as a program and what we believe in who I am as a coach.

[00:24:32] I, again, hopefully it’s kind of coming through, like I don’t actually, I care a lot about the principles and who we are, but for me, Being a coach and a leader, a person. And so I’m going to be demanding on our team, but I also understand that there are good days and bad days. Um, and so I have to come alongside them and I’m not this yeller berating person.

[00:24:54] Um, It hasn’t ever been my personality, but I have been demanding, um, mostly because I’m demanding of myself. Luckily one of my mentors now colleague former coach is right down the hall. I was like, you were the absolute worst your first year here because you were so demanding on everybody, but you weren’t always as consistent as you are demanding and like.

[00:25:16] Okay. Yeah, that’s fair. And so now me as a coach, I’m still demanding, but I also seek my own consistencies and understand that if I don’t do what I’m telling our team to do, it becomes harder for them to follow me. And so, yeah, that’s what I’m after and that’s who I am. All right.

[00:25:33] Matt: So, you know, you mentioned, you know, mentors and other coaches and stuff.

[00:25:37] So how big is your coaching staff and what roles do they play

[00:25:42] Coach: for the squad? So this right now, we’re at, um, one full-time assistant and then we have. Uh, part-time assistant, um, the cool thing about our program and our school, again, our program and the men’s program here are super close. Um, and so our assistants get to work with both teams and what’s cool for me is that’s where I kind of got my, where I cut my teeth in the coaching realm, in that kind of position where I’m working with the men’s program and the women’s program and vice versa.

[00:26:13] And so with that, we have staff meetings every day before training. Um, we have staff meetings once probably every like three hours right now, out of season, just because we’re like, all right, we want to get back to coaching. Um, we want to get back out recruiting and so coordinating those things. Uh, we also have a full time or part-time goalkeeper coach, uh, And so that’s all, he’s also in our conversations, um, in terms of their day-to-day and their duties, their planning session, they’re in planning sessions, um, for training they’re in recruiting, right?

[00:26:47] Conversations of, alright, where do we need to go? How do we get out there? Could we need to see, uh, How are we getting on campus? Oh, she’s coming on campus today. All right. Here’s what I need you to do. Here’s what I’m doing. Um, and so for me, our assistants are massive to who we are and what we do and our success.

[00:27:05] Um, yeah, they’re super important extension of who I am and what I believe. And again, because that relationship is super important for our players. So

[00:27:16] Matt: yeah, for sure. Now you mentioned planning sessions and things like that. You’re in the off season right now. So what does, what does the typical off season program look like for, for players there?

[00:27:26] Coach: Yeah, so right now our players are again in that off season, that non-traditional part. And so right now they’re lifting three times lifting and running three times a week with our strength and conditioning coach. Uh, Which again for me, I trust them. They’re a part of our staff also, which if they listen to this, they’re probably not gonna be too happy that I forgot them.

[00:27:45] Um, so I’m also going to make a shameless plug for athletic trainers right now being a part of our staff and how great they are. Um, and so, but yeah, right now they’re lifting and running three times a week with them. And then we are fortunate enough to have an indoor facility here for our girls to play in.

[00:27:59] Um, and so they’re playing football three to five times a week. Um, just kind of, depending those two additional times. When they can get together and everything there. Um, and what’s great is that’s all optional, right? Like the NCAA says I can’t mandate that they’re there. Right? Our program is out of state where the girls are choosing our women are choosing to do that because they realize the benefit and this.

[00:28:25] Right. If they don’t do it, we’re going to fall behind which we don’t want to do. Um, and so that’s kind of where we’re at and then hopefully the snow melts off here soon, but it being February and my computer’s telling me it’s three degrees. That’s not happening anytime soon. Um, so

[00:28:40] Matt: our spring season, so yours, doesn’t say 79.

[00:28:44] Coach: No, no, no. I need to get down to the, I need to change my computer to Bradenton, whether I’ll say something, but although I do like the, the snow in the winter, my kids Ms. Snow. That’s for sure you do miss it until you see it every day for about four or five months. And you’re like, okay, I can go away now.

[00:29:03] But so yeah, up until like late we’ll go early April, I believe is when our first like spring session is, um, where I’ll get out with them. We’ll train three times a week. And during that time they’ll still lift, um, and condition with our strength conditioning coach before heading off to for summer break.

[00:29:19] So.

[00:29:21] Matt: Awesome. Well, this is a last question I got for you. This is the free for all. You know, what else would you like prospects, recruits, parents, anybody to know about your school, your program, or anything that we didn’t cover?

[00:29:34] Coach: That is a very, very broad, broad question.

[00:29:39] Matt: Well, you know, we covered a lot of ground.

[00:29:42] I don’t want to, I don’t want to, you know, make sure that you wanted to say something that I didn’t give you the chance

[00:29:46] Coach: to. Yeah, for sure.

[00:29:51] I think the one thing for me that I want prospects and parents and people listening to this to kind of, you know, take with them about Luther, but also right. And I’m going to make a shameless plug about B3 sports and just the college decision as a whole, um, is you’re finding the right fit. Right. And so I can speak to it a little bit on the personal level of, I was at a private boarding school academy academy where yeah,

[00:30:20] I went the one for a year and I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me academically, socially playing wise. And so all that’s to say, like there’s a right fit at every level. Right. And what’s great about our family and who we are as a culture and as a program, as a school. Is this the right fit for the majority of our kids.

[00:30:38] Um, and that’s an important process and it’s not an easy process. Um, but I think the coaches that are worth their stuff, um, they understand that and want to support kids to get to that level of like, alright, this is the right fit for you socially, academically, um, athletically. And you’re going to get everything that you need to get.

[00:30:59] And so. For me, Luther is at place, um, on a professional level, it’s the right fit for me. It’s the right fit for our team. It’s the right fit for our incoming class. And hopefully it’s the right fit for, you know, classes to come. Um, as we push on to. Make big things happen here and good old the core Iowa. So,

[00:31:21] Matt: uh, it’s great.

[00:31:22] I couldn’t agree more, you know, I, I played D three, but I coached at a D two school. Um, and, and honestly, the main reason I even started this was so that more people could realize how many opportunities are out there and to hopefully help them find. To find their fit because, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s one thing, uh, you know, people get that and that D one mindset and it, it’s not always the best, the best option, so yep.

[00:31:48] And again, for

[00:31:49] Coach: some, for some people, it is right. And for those, I love them right. Go for it. Um, but right now I have a girl on our team. Who’s got a triple major is an all region player. Has XYZ internship signed up. Yeah. You’re at the right place for you, which is great.

[00:32:08] Matt: So that’s great. That’s great. Well, coach, thanks for taking the time.

[00:32:12] Uh, hope hopefully, uh, you know, we’ll, you’ll get, you’ll get warmed up here soon and, and get, get some more people, uh, interested in Luther college and, and, uh, we’ll keep an eye on you and see how you guys do in the fall. [00:32:24] Coach: For sure. For sure. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Yup.