Marietta College Women’s Soccer – Coach Zack Votra
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Votra from the Marietta Women’s Program in Ohio. We talk about what it was like to recruit during his first year as coach. He describes how the campus feels like home. Lastly, we discuss their tremendous staff and facilities. Learn more about Marietta College Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Votra down up in Marietta. Uh, I’m in Florida, so you’re, everything’s up, uh, up a Marietta in Ohio. It was down from where I grew up. So instantly my head still says down. Uh, so welcome coach. Thanks for being here.
Coach: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Matt: Yeah. Well, I was lucky enough to talk to, to your predecessor, actually, uh, I guess last year. Um, so it’d be good to talk to you. You’re in your first season, I guess you started in, in March. Is that right?
Coach: Yep. Got here in March, hit the ground running right away.
Matt: So coming in, in March, did you still, were you still working on closing out that class of 23 roster, or was that pretty much already done and dusted?
Coach: Yeah, so there were a few kids that were were already committed. Um, so it was kind of a matter of just making sure that they were still locked down and and coming. Um, we did add a couple. Um, we brought in a girl from New York, um, was on the roster and then we brought in a goalkeeper from Kentucky actually.
Um, so we added a few, but for the most part, it was pretty much done at that point.
Matt: Okay, so now that, now that your fall season is over, we’re talking here November 9th, uh, what is your… Kind of recruiting calendar looking like, what do you know about, I mean, signing day was yesterday for, for, for some folks, you know, on that front, but are you, [00:01:30] you know, when do you think you’ll have, I mean, do you already have commits or when do you think you’ll have your class locked down?
Kind of what’s your, your timeline that you think you’re working with this year?
Coach: Yeah. So we’ve already got seven committed for the class of 2024. Um, that we’re super excited about. Uh, I was fortunate to, to get out to a few events in the spring where I got to see them play and. Um, we kind of, uh, escalated the process for them.
We, we moved it along pretty quickly and got them in here and had all sorts of contact with the team and visits and phone calls and all that sort of stuff. So. Um, we have seven committed for 24. We’re looking for a class of about 13. So we still have a few offers out on the board, um, with some people who were expecting to make decisions by December.
And then, you know, as that kind of wraps up, we’re still going to be looking for a couple more pieces as we head into the spring. Um, but we’ve got a lot of events on the calendar right now. So I’m hoping to, you know, have the class pretty well wrapped up again by the March sort of timeframe. Um, but the bulk of it is, is really done already.
Matt: So, wow. Okay. Well, you mentioned events. So what, what events did you check out in the spring? What are you looking at getting into now? Kind of what’s your must, must hit list. Yeah.
Coach: So the big ones for us in the spring, um, coming in in March, you know, we did Jeff cup and we did blue chip. Those were kind of the two huge ones.
Jeff cup allowed us to identify. Um, a ton of potential student athletes and then blue chip, uh, was really the one that let us see everybody who was already kind of interested or, or already committed. Um, so those were the two [00:03:00] big events in the spring. Unfortunately, coming in in March and I missed a lot of the really big ones.
Um, I was lucky to bring a nice list with me from St. Lawrence from where I came from so. That helped a little bit as well. Um, but just going forward in the fall, um, you know, I’m actually leaving today to go to Cincinnati for the Gateway Showcase. Um, my assistant is at FC Delco right now. Um, she’s going to be at PDA next weekend.
Um, then we have Thanksgiving break and the beginning of December, I’m going to Tennessee for the EC& L event. She’s going down to, uh, the Visit Raleigh showcase. Um, then there’s a few smaller events here in Ohio that we’re going to hit, uh, in the beginning part of December as well. But then it’s the Florida Swing as soon as we get into January.
So there’s several events down in Florida that we’ll be at as well.
Matt: Well, hope, hopefully we’ll see you here in Bradenton at the E-C-N-L-R, uh, event. Uh, I’ll, ill 100% be there in March. All right. Well then, then you and I can, uh, grab a cup of coffee when you come down in March. But, uh, you, you mentioned having a class of 13.
Uh, is, is there a roster size that you find is ideal that you’re trying to hit?
Coach: Yeah, so it kind of fluctuates. Um, I always tell everybody I take between three to five goalkeepers. Um, four is ideal from a training perspective. Uh, I tell everybody I would take five if we have the right group of five people.
Um, you know, obviously only one of them really plays. So, you know, we have five people that are all really going to push each other and be super [00:04:30] supportive and. Understand what their role is and how they bring value to the program aside from just playing time. Um, and we would carry that many, but the real number that I kind of focus on is, is right around 30 field players.
Um, so, you know, give or take one, um, on either side of that number. Uh, and the reason for that, that I found is, you know, just through the course of a college soccer season, where there’s so many games in such a small timeframe. Um, you know, you’re running into. Not always like larger injuries that are holding people out, but sometimes you just got people that, you know, they just picked up a small knock and they just need a day or two off before they get back into things and.
You know, training 11 V 11 is super important for me. It’s something that we try to do almost every day. So, uh, to be able to have the numbers to do that, not just have 22, but, you know, have 23 or 24. So you can rotate people around, um, really helps with those sorts of things. And then, you know, at the division three level, you’ve got people who are.
You know, sometimes coming a little bit late from class or they’re leaving a few minutes early because they have class or whatever it is, so it just makes it easier to accommodate those sorts of things when you, you know, you have the numbers to do so.
Matt: No, it makes sense. Well, in terms of. Still on the recruiting front and the players you’re, you’re looking at what makes up your kind of that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff.
Coach: Yeah. So, I mean, I look for the same things that everybody else does, you know, how’s your [00:06:00] technical ability, you know, your athleticism. You know, your attitude, those sorts of things. But, you know, I’m also looking at like, how are you interacting with your parents after the game? You know, are you carrying your own bag off the field or are you right away, handing it to them and giving it to somebody else to carry?
How are you interacting with your coaches, your teammates? That sort of stuff. Are you communicative on the field? Um, but then aside from that, like in terms of actually playing, like I look at a lot of stuff off the ball. Um, you know, what are you doing defensively? And, you know, that’s not just breaking down one V one, but you know, are you trying to force players into specific areas?
Are you checking your shoulder and seeing where your teammates are? Are you trying to get into passing lanes and, and break things up? Um, and on the attacking side of the ball, you know, are you looking around and seeing where your teammates are moving? You identifying? Um, you know, spaces that you can get into or spaces that you can create.
So as much as everybody kind of looks at the, the, on the ball stuff and kind of the immediate players that are involved in things, I want to see what you’re doing when you’re kind of away from the plane. And I think that’s kind of, you know, sort of the next level for a college athlete, you know, everybody can identify those, those first few things that you do on the ball.
But when you get here. The speed of play is much higher. And those are the things that are going to affect that.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I always tell people it’s the biggest jump every time is speed of play, right? Um, So let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, you know, you’ve been there, we’ll say nine months [00:07:30] now.
Um, kind of what were some of the things that drew you to the job that you found are really great about the school. Maybe some things we even wouldn’t know just by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, to be honest with you, I tell this to every single recruit who comes on campus. I wasn’t looking to leave St.
Lawrence when I did. Um, that was home for me. I grew up there in upstate New York and, um, you know, I had been around St. Lawrence and the programs pretty much my entire life. So I really loved the team there and everybody that I worked with. So, uh, you know, I just knew it was time for me to get a little bit of interview experience and that’s really what I was looking for.
Um, so I tell everybody, you know, I got the phone call. to ask if I wanted to interview here. And I said, yeah, I’d love to. And I had to look it up because I honestly didn’t even remember applying. I didn’t know anything about Marietta. Um, so I looked it up, you know, I, I did the phone interview and then, you know, they, they offered me the on campus and, um, I said, yeah, this is exactly what I’m looking for.
You know, I’m looking to get this, this sort of experience. So I came down and honestly, it took me about 10 minutes of being on campus to be like, yeah, this is, this is what’s going to draw me away. Um, you know, just the campus is, is beautiful to begin with, um, the buildings, um, you know, the landscaping, all that sort of stuff.
It’s just a really nice campus. Um, and it has a nice, like, homey feel to it. I think that’s what kind of everybody who’s, everybody said who’s been here is, you know, this just kind of feels like home as soon as you get here. Um, so that’s been a really important piece, but for me, um, what did it, [00:09:00] were the facilities.
Um, you know, right now I’m sitting in an office. Um, that has our, our head men’s coach right across the hall. Uh, there’s a conference room right next to me. And then we both have full time assistants and they are in the same hallway. Um, from there, the rest of the building is made up of the men’s locker room, which is incredible.
Our locker room, which is equally incredible. Um, we have a small turf space with a tech ball table in it. Uh, and then we have a weight room, and then we have a second weight room right next to us. And that’s this whole building. So, it is all soccer all the time. Nobody else is down here. Um, it is about a 30 second walk from our locker room to the field.
Um, which is awesome. There’s, there’s no football lines on it. We’re not sharing it with anybody else. It’s just a soccer specific facility, which is pretty incredible. Um, and then, you know, you kind of look around at some of the other sports. Baseball has an incredible stadium. Um, it’s all turf brand new, uh, softball.
They just invested a ton of money. They’re going to be getting a new stadium here shortly. Um, the basketball arena has a four screen jumbotron. I don’t know of many division three facilities that have anything like that. So. Um, you know, football has an incredible stadium as well. So just the investment in facilities and athletics was pretty incredible.
And then, you know, just looking at the success of all the other teams, uh, you know, women’s lacrosse. Is only like five to seven years old right now I think and they just hosted a playoff game [00:10:30] this past year so they’re doing really well. Women’s volleyball is currently second in the conference, they won coaching staff, the year last year, women’s basketball was in the sweet 16 this past year.
So, softball hosted regionals. So, you know, all the women’s teams do really well here and the men’s team soon to, you know, football’s. Eight and two right now, I think, um, basketball was in the final four a couple of years ago. So, you know, men’s soccer was in the playoffs again this year. So all the teams do really well.
So it was just a, the investment in athletics and the support from the community and the department were all things that were just a super draw for me. No, yeah.
Matt: That sounds amazing. Well, I mean, obviously players are there for school and sport. Um, and, and for a lot of people, it’s a, it’s a tough. Balancing act, right.
To the polo on both. So kind of how do your student athletes manage success in both arenas and what kind of support systems does the school offer to help them with that?
Coach: Yeah. So the school has a ton of, of support systems, you know, whether it’s the writing center or the academic resource center, you know, all those sorts of things, you have a career center.
There’s every, you know, resource under the sun. And I think the big thing with that is, you know, most schools have that stuff. Um, The big thing is that, you know, most students don’t realize that those resources are available to them. So, one of the things that, that we do in the program, um, anybody who was [00:12:00] under a 3.
0 for the last semester, um, or anybody who is new to the program, whether that’s a transfer, a freshman, uh, whatever it might be, uh, they come in once a week and do a 15 minute academic meeting with us. Which is really just us checking in and normally it’s about two minutes of them saying, yeah, my classes are going well, I don’t really need anything.
And then, you know, 13 minutes of just kind of hanging out and chatting about whatever. But every once in a while it’s, you know, yeah, I think I might struggle with biology, this was something I had trouble with in high school, and now we start to point them towards all those resources, whether it’s peer tutors or, you know, the Resource Center, all those different things.
you know, that we can point them towards. So, uh, we do pretty well. I think we had a 3. 5 team GPA in the spring, something like that. It was pretty close right around there. Um, and you know, the, the kids are super dedicated. I’m really flexible with that stuff. So, you know, if they’re struggling, they just need a day off or whatever it is, they know that they can just tell me and, and they can take that.
Um, you know, soccer’s kind of become one of those things that. They really enjoy being at again, you know, whether it’s training or lifts or whatever it is. So, um, you know, I know they’re not trying to pull one over on me when they, they just need a day, whether it’s because they had a tough day or, um, you know, because they have a lot of work to do.
I know that they, they very seriously need that and they don’t want to miss anything. So it’s pretty easy for me to give them that time off.
Matt: No, that’s great. That’s yeah. One of the things I loved about D3 soccer for sure. Um, [00:13:30] so you, you kind of just wrapped up your season. Take me back a couple weeks.
Let’s just say we’re in the middle of the conference schedule. You know, what, what would a typical week look like for one of your players? Just in terms of everything, meals, classes, practice, game Cades, just, just the whole kind of thing. Can you walk me through a week?
Coach: Yeah. So, I mean, it kind of just depends on the day and what they have for classes.
I would say on average, they’ve probably got two to three classes a day that are kind of spread out. Um, you know, there’s several dining options on campus. Um, so, you know, I know they spend plenty of time there. They’ve brought me song every once in a while. So, um, you know, that’s a nice perk as well. But, uh, typically, you know, we were training Mondays at 7 p.
m. Um, we elected to train Mondays and Thursdays at seven, because that was, um, you know, the time that we played most of our matches at, uh, and then Tuesdays. And Fridays, we were training at 430, uh, just so we could have that extra recovery time before the match on Wednesday, Saturday. Um, but from there, we were also lifting, uh, Mondays at 6 p.m., so we would lift at 6, go out and train at 7. Thursdays, we would lift at 6, go out and train at 7. And then Fridays, we were training at, er, lifting at 3 o’clock, so we could go out and train at 4 or 430. Um. So lifting is a huge portion of our program. Um, you know, we have a strength and conditioning coach who works with us remotely.
Uh, and it’s, it’s been, you know, a [00:15:00] huge part of our, our success in the past season and the improvements that we made. So, you know, that’s been really big, but, um, you know, for them. Like I said, they’re they’re in class most of the day, they’re catching up eating whatever they got to do, they get some time to do homework in between them, you know, then it’s hitting the training room for whatever they need.
Fortunately, we didn’t didn’t have a ton of that there wasn’t a huge need for the training room with us, which was great, but then. You know, they’re down here for a lift and then straight out to training and, you know, then they’re going home, probably doing a little bit more homework and going to sleep and doing it all over again the next day.
Matt: Awesome. Great. Well, you know, one of the things that, uh, parents like me, we’re going through this whole recruiting college process look at is that that price tag, right? Uh, what’s this going to cost me now? I’m not going to hold you to any hard numbers here. Uh, you know, you haven’t even been there a year, but can you just give me a rough outline of.
You know, what do you, what does it roughly cost tuition and board everything? What, what does a normal soccer player look at? Obviously you don’t have athletic money, but what are some of the aid types and academic scholarships and that kind of thing?
Coach: Yeah. So, um, you know, we’re all merit based. So all in, you’re looking at about 52, 000 a year.
Um, you know, and that’s the sticker price. And I think everybody kind of says, don’t, don’t get scared by the sticker price because you got to look at the discount rate. Um, On average, I would say, you know, we’re bringing in pretty good students. So anybody [00:16:30] who’s over at three, six is looking at some of our top scholarship dollars, which really is.
Um, you know, cutting that overall cost in half, you know, and then there’s obviously some of the smaller scholarships that you get that, um, you know, there’s some people who are are coming to school and, you know, they’re paying less than 10, 000. You know, there’s some people who are in the 20 to 25, 000 range.
So, it kind of just depends on, you know, what your, you know, the family financials look like in terms of, you know, federal aid and different things like that but in terms of the merit aid, the school offers. Thank you. You know, we have some pretty generous scholarships. So, um, you know, we’ll get people in the, in the range of 20 to 30, 000, you know, kind of coming off of that sticker price, which is, was pretty big.
So, um, you know, puts us closer to that state school sort of price. No, that’s great.
Matt: All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the team. You know, you said you’re, you’re, you’re bringing in your hope to bring in a class of 13, right, which, uh, which is a big one. So, um, what is that? Going to look like moving forward in terms of, uh, number of kids graduating.
Do you, do you have any kids that are transferring out, staying for that fifth year? Do you look at the portal coming in kind of, kind of what, what does that look like for your, your breakdown?
Coach: Yeah. So for us, I’ve got it on the board right here. Um, we had eight seniors this year. Three of them as of right now are [00:18:00] planning to come back for a fifth year.
Um, so we’re losing five. Um, so we had a roster of 26. Um, so, you know, we lose five, that brings us to 21. We bring in the 13 where we’re sitting at 34, which, um, you know, is where we want to be with the four goalkeepers. So, Um, you know, it puts us right there the following year, we have eight seniors again, plus the three grad students that are leaving.
So it’s going to be another big class of 11. So, um, you know, just looking at it, really, the current sophomore class was pretty small with six of them. And then the current freshman class was was pretty small with with just four of them here now so You know, it’s going to be a couple big classes just for the sheer fact that the last two classes that came in were, were really small so, um, you know, we’re in pretty good shape I think for 24 especially keeping the three players that we are, they’re pretty, pretty important players.
We did lose a few key pieces that are going to graduate, which we are sad to see them go I think. You know, every time we see them, we chat about that fifth year trying to convince them, but it’s hard to tell somebody who’s going to go make as much money as they are to stay in school for another year. So, um, you know, we’re happy for them and proud of them for what they’re doing.
But, um, you know, we’re excited about 24 and, you know, our 25 classes shaping up as well. We have a few offers out on the board already and a few players that I’m pretty sure we’re going to get. So, you know, [00:19:30] we’re excited about that class too.
Matt: Great. Well, in terms of filling out the roster, there’s always the staff part of that roster.
You mentioned you have a full time assistant, which is great, especially at the D3 level. So what else? Can you just give me a little bit of a snapshot of your staff, uh, full time, part time, even support staff folks that kind of help with the program that might be somewhere else in the athletic department or shared services?
Coach: Yeah. So we have, um, you know, we have three full time athletic trainers that, that are helping us a ton right now, too. Um, we’re actually working on hiring a couple more when they’re fully staffed, there’ll be around five full time trainers, which is, uh, which is pretty awesome considering the number of sports that we have.
Uh, so that’s a huge piece. Um, you know, we obviously have support staff up the hill and the normal athletic building. We kind of live in our own world down here with soccer, which is pretty cool. But, um, you know, we do have, uh, an athletic sort of secretary up there that helps us with all the travel and different things like that.
Myself and Daniela who are both full time down here. Um, and then we do have, you know, like I mentioned the, the strength and conditioning coach that we hired, who really is kind of like part time. Um, but he works with us remotely. So we use an app called train heroic. Um, you know, I chat with him daily about what we’re doing, uh, and how things are gonna work and he programs are our strength program for us.
And, um, you know, the team has full access to him. They messaged with him all the time and go back and forth. They can send him videos and stuff so he can help correct what they’re doing and different things like that. So that’s been a, a huge bonus for us [00:21:00] as well. Um, and then I’m working on actually getting strength and conditioning certified myself.
So I work as a, a proxy a little bit in the weight room while, so, um, you know, we’re pretty fortunate with the, the staff that we have. There’s not a lot of places that, you know, can say they have a, a soccer specific. Sort of building an area where they have everything they need. And, you know, you have two full time coaches that are dedicated to you all the time.
And then we, we also have the third, third, um, part time person that we just really made our strength coach. Um, you know, it’s, it’s kind of up to us what we want to do with that. We could hire a part time assistant, but no, I found the strength portion to be the most valuable thing that we could do.
Matt: No, that’s great.
Well, in terms of on the field activities, can you kind of give me a little bit about your style of coaching and the style of play that you’re looking to implement there?
Coach: Yeah. So I always say it’s. Probably better off asking somebody else what my coaching style is. They can probably give you a more accurate description.
Um, you know, I try to tell the kids I’m not a big yeller screamer, at least not, not at them. You know, you’re going to hear me raise my voice so you can hear me, but you know, that’s pretty much it. Um, I’m here to help them and make them better. So in terms of, you know, what training looks like and what we want to do, um, you know, we’re constantly in.
Uh, activities where they have to make decisions, you know, I don’t want like scripted passing patterns or things like that. I want them to have to make real time decisions and, [00:22:30] um, you know, be able to improve on those decisions as they go through. So, you know, we start every training session with the, uh, you know, the FIFA 11, which I think most, most teams are doing these days.
Uh, and then we set up two small sided grids and. For a specific amount of time, just depending on, you know, what our periodization looks like, uh, they’re going to play small sided without any coaching. So, uh, typically on like a Monday where we’ve got two days before we play. You know, they’re doing the people 11 and then I’m saying, all right, you guys have eight minutes, go play small sided.
And I’m just kind of sitting back and watching and not saying anything. So, you know, they get that time just to themselves, to have a little bit of fun and, you know, make some decisions right away. And that’s really kind of the theme for, for training for us. Um, from there, we might go into something like, uh, 11 to be seven, you know, whatever it is where we can work on some.
Really match specific sort of scenarios and things that we want to kind of hash out and work on. Um, but everything is is super decision based. Um, in terms of the actual style of play, you know, I think like everybody else, I want to keep the ball. I want to knock it around. I want to build out of the back, um, where I kind of differ with that than some others.
I would say is that I don’t want to do that at the sacrifice of going forward. Um, you know, the way we’re trying to build and. kind of play is to set us up so that we can make a penetrating pass and get forward as quickly as possible. So, you know, if we’re playing somebody with a really high line that wants to just let us go route one and pump it in over the [00:24:00] top, we will do that all day long and, and whatever we have to do to score goals.
But, um, you know, at this level, you don’t see a ton of that, but, um, yeah, so we want to keep it, we want to. We want to make it look nice, but not at the sacrifice of going forward and scoring goals. Yeah. And then defensively, you know, I want to try to high press teams too. I think it’s, uh, particularly in women’s soccer, um, it’s just, it’s important to get out on the front foot and, and be, uh, proactive with the way that you play.
And it’s more fun, to be honest, and when you’re having fun doing what you’re doing, you’re, you’re typically better at it.
Matt: Love it. Absolutely. Well, um, you’ve been generous with your time. Don’t want to keep you here too long. And, uh, I always like to end these the same way. And that’s if you had one nugget, one piece of advice that you would like every parent player family going through this college recruiting process to know what would that be?
Coach: Just don’t put your value on, on playing time. You know, put your value into what you’re going to get out of the program and and what you’re going to be able to give back to the program is something that we focused on really heavily here. You know, we actually go pretty deep into our bench really often, but without the You know, I would say maybe eight to 10 kids at the end that maybe aren’t seeing as much playing time as they’d like, you know, we can’t do what we do.
So, you know, there’s, uh, everybody kind of brings their own, their own value and their own [00:25:30] piece to a team. So, you know, find a home for you where you’re going to be able to do that, whether that’s on the field or off of it. Um, you know, no matter what, that’s going to be on the place where you can provide value to, and they can provide value.
Awesome.
Matt: Well, coach. Congrats on your first season, uh, getting that under your belt and hopefully your recruiting goes well and you come back even stronger next fall. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. We’ll see you down here in March. All right. That’s the plan. All right. Take care.
