Michigan State University Club Women’s Soccer – Coach Dan Jury
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jury from the Michigan State Women’s Club Program. We talk about exactly what is Club soccer at the college level. He describes their roster make up and who runs the program. Lastly, we discuss the amazing opportunity college Club soccer presents for players to continue playing.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Dan Jury. Welcome coach. Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Now I know you’re, you’re also at d o C of a club, uh, there in Michigan. Is that right?
Coach: Yeah, I’m one of the directors of Cap City Athletic, uh, 1847, right here in East Lansing, Lansing, Michigan.
Matt: Okay, awesome. Well, the, so maybe I might, might be asking, okay, Matt, why are you putting a D O C on Discover College Soccer for interviews, but you are also a college coach in a, in a different way. We’re gonna inform some people of a different kind of college soccer today. You are the Women’s Club soccer coach at Michigan State, right?
Coach: Correct. Yep. I’ve. For boy, it’s, I think going on 20 years now. Oh, wow. Okay.
Matt: Well then, then you’re a perfect person, uh, for this interview and can help, uh, folks learn a little bit about club soccer. I think if you start it, you, so that means if it’s, if you’ve been to 20 years, that means you’ve been coaching, uh, since about when I stopped playing club soccer.
Uh, so for folks that don’t know, can you just explain. Club soccer is at a, at, at Vision One school.
Coach: Yeah. I think in most cases, um, and I really haven’t looked at the structure at a lot of other schools, but in most cases it’s part of the inter, inter intramural department. Um, and then depending on which school you’re at, the level of competitiveness can vary [00:01:30] quite a bit.
Um, you know, even within our own, our own division here in the, the lead that we play in, um, you know, there’s, there’s a big disparity in. Competitiveness from top to bottom. So, um, at Michigan State, we’re part of the intermural department. Um, it’s a very competitive team. We just started a second team, uh, two years ago now, right after Covid.
Um, so we’ve got that option to, to bring in more players now have two different really types of teams and, and teams that are looking for, or players that are looking for something maybe a little bit different between the two. So,
Matt: so. So fo so folks know, uh, most folks know I played division three college soccer back in the late nineties, but I also played a year of division one club soccer when I was in grad school.
Obviously on the men’s side at Ohio University, which is another D one institution. I don’t think we actually played Michigan State when I was there on the men’s side. I know.
Coach: Uh, play now the, the real Ohio university, right?
Matt: The, the, the, the real. Ohio University, the one that’s green and white, the one that was founded before the other one, and the one that doesn’t have, uh, uh, a complex here in the state of Michigan.
Coach: There seems to be some confusion on what the two different schools are called. The, uh, the school down the road from us. Yeah. The other school has Ohio, so yeah, just. We’re all clear on that. I
Matt: I appreciate that. I appreciate that. We, we have, we have similar colors as you, [00:03:00] uh, you know, we’re, we’re the green and white.
We’re, we’re bobcats. It’s, uh, it’s all right. But, uh, but so as you said it, it’s in the intermural department. Um, so in terms of the governing body then, and, and again, I know the answer to this, but it’s not the NCAA. Right. Who’s running, who’s running club soccer, uh, when it comes to your league, national championships, all those kinds of things.
Coach: Yeah. So, um, like I said, we’re part of the intermural department, but then we’re part of, at least here in the Midwest, there’s a league called the W M A S C, the women’s, um, I believe it’s Midwest Athletics. I’m gonna get it wrong. It’s changed a few times, but, um, the W M A S C runs a regional league, which includes, um, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois.
Um, I believe that’s it. And then that’s broken into four separate divisions, uh, north. North, south, east, west, I believe. I think one of ’em is actually Great Lakes. Yeah. Great Lakes, north, east and West. Um, then above that you’ve got a national organization called Nersa, um, that oversees all club sports, collegiately.
Um, so it’s not just soccer. They do, they run national championships for all the, the different club sports that are out there. , [00:04:30] but we don’t really deal with Nirsa until, unless we make the national tournament. So we go through our regular season, which is put on by the W M A S C. They host a regional tournament at the end.
Um, the, the division winner, um, the, the, sorry, division winner and second place from each of the four divisions makes regionals along with the next four highest, um, power ranking teams from regionals. And then through the accumulation of power ranking points throughout the season. Um, we usually send. Uh, four to five teams out of our region to nationals.
Um, the number of bids is different within different regions. Different regions select their national, uh, qualifiers different ways. Um, but at least for ours, it’s a power ranking system in, in regionals.
Matt: Okay, so in terms of, um, You know, I mean, you mentioned a lot of schools there that, that you would play.
Um, I’m looking at your, your schedule and, and all that kind of stuff, and you’re playing other big time schools. You mentioned Ohio State, uh, you know, Iowa, uh, the other, the other Michigan school, whoever it may be. Um, but. What is the commitment level like, because, you know, everybody talks about if it’s D one, it’s really your job.
It’s, you know, you’re, you’re in a lot of ways, you’re an athlete first and then you’re a student. But what is it like being a, a club soccer player?
Coach: Yeah, I think, again, that’s something that’s gonna change a lot based on which school you look at. So I, I think. I’d preface it by saying, if, if you’re interested in club soccer, you [00:06:00] really have to do your homework just like any other, uh, prospective student athlete and seeing what that school offers in terms of what their club soccer program might be like.
Um, but I think ours is fairly standard. Maybe not a great word, but, um, we trained three days a week. Um, we start, uh, we have tryout to welcome week. I’ll start at the beginning. We have tryout to welcome week. Um, we typically will start play. , um, that first weekend after Labor Day in the fall, and then our league games will continue through, um, mid to late October, followed by regionals.
Um, and then nationals are the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, prior to Thanksgiving week. Um, and that’s where all the, the teams from across the nation are coming together for that same event. There are some lower levels of club soccer as well. Like our second team doesn’t play in the same conference as us and doesn’t have the ability to go to nationals.
Um, they’re in a separate all Michigan League. Um, but we train three days a week in the fall, wh which is our primary season. Uh, we train twice a week in the winter. Indoors, we’re fortunate enough to get the indoor football building, uh, field once a night or once a week. And then we have a, a smaller turf room that we can use on campus as well for a second night.
Um, and then in the spring, which is typically from spring break till just prior to finals, uh, we’ll train twice a week, play some friendlies against, um, smaller varsity [00:07:30] teams. Um, and then this year we’re hosting a tournament for the first time as well. So we’re bringing some teams in to have a, a little bit more of a spring season.
Matt: Nice. Now, in terms of the game schedule, as you mentioned, like the main season, um, what’s that like, and, and how is the team, when are the games, how’s the team traveling? What, what’s the whole kind of season look like?
Coach: Yeah, so for us here in the Midwest, uh, and in our conference, it’s typically, I think most teams are trying to play like a Friday, Sunday schedule.
um, you know, get some games on Friday evenings against the teams that are fairly close. Um, do Sunday games. Uh, we try to avoid home football games. You know, the, the, the girls that are are playing for us are, are coming to Michigan State. Um, because they liked Michigan State as a school and this is where they wanted to be, whether it was, uh, you know, the size of the school, the, the majors that they offer, um, whatever else it might be.
Soccer wasn’t number one because a lot of these players could be playing varsity at a number of different programs. Um, So we try to keep a, a Friday, Sunday cadence, um, as much as we can. Our travel. We’re fortunate here in, in our, our division that we don’t have a ton of travel and what most, I think all of our teams, except for two opponents are here, um, in Michigan.
Um, team travel for us at Michigan State at least, is all up to the players. Um, so it’s players driving to games and carpool into games, things like that. Some schools have the use of their university vans. [00:09:00] Uh, we’ll see a lot of that more at the regional tournament where they’ll be able to take a, a university van there.
Two of ’em. Um, don’t see that quite as much for the individual games. . We’re also fortunate that within our region, even when we’re playing out of our division, where we might have to go to Madison for regionals or, um, you know, down to maybe Ohio State, we can still make those as a day, day’s drive, um, and not have to fly anywhere.
The only time we fly is to nationals. Um, and that’s where things start to get. A little more expensive for players. You know, the airfares on them. Uh, hotels are on the players. It’s all pay-to-play for the players. So that’s where the, uh, the expenses kind of come in there.
Matt: Well, and that was gonna be on my next question was, was about money.
So it’s, it’s a pay-to-play model, and of course there aren’t, nobody’s getting an athletic scholarship to the school or covering any kind of tuition or anything like that.
Coach: Right. Yeah. We’re not part of the athletic department, um, in, in that regard. So there’s no athletic money. Um, I can’t do anything to help with academic scholarships either.
I’m not an employee of the university. I actually, I, I did this for a number of years, probably the first 15 or so years as a volunteer. Um, and then at one point the girls decided to start paying me on their own and, and give me a small stipend at the end of the year. Um, so in no way am I speaking for Michigan State during this.
I should probably qualify that. Call later or a assist letter in the mail. . But no, I think, again, I think we’re fairly standard across the, the landscape in that, um, the [00:10:30] average annual dues are probably around 300 for the year. And then that will go up if we go to nationals, because you would get your own airfare.
Um, you know, we’ll put four girls in a hotel room, so we’ll divide each hotel room by the, the four players and, um, things like that. And then the cost of the uniform obviously is on the players. Okay.
Matt: Well, in terms of the players themselves, you know, I, I mean, how many, how many people are coming out for tryouts?
What’s the background of, of some of the girls on the roster? I mean, you mentioned it, uh, earlier, you know, a lot of these girls could probably be playing at other college programs, you know, so kind of what’s, what does that level look like as, as someone who, who is the d o C of a club and has seen a lot of kids coming through, uh, and playing at different.
Coach: Yeah. Uh, roster makeup’s all over the place. I, I’ve had D one, uh, players transfer to Michigan State and Play Club instead of, you know, trying to play with the varsity team here. Um, and we’ve had players that, or just this year we have a freshman, uh, that came in that was, um, committed to play Xavier. Um, but then after an a c L injury, kind of reprioritized some things and decided Michigan State was where she wanted to be and, You know, all the way down to, we are just losing a six year, uh, player for us.
Um, who never played club soccer growing up. She was a tremendous basketball player. Uh, cross country volleyball, you know, did all the sports in high school, was from a small town. But she, she’s [00:12:00] been a, a four year contributor for us, um, in the last really three years has been a starter and, and been tremendous for us.
So it’s all across the board, but the majority of the players. Um, are coming from strong youth programs at our level. Um, and then could have been playing, you know, anywhere D one to D three, uh, N A I a, junior colleges, things like that. So we’ve also had a number of players that have, um, come to come to the club program and then walked on to the varsity program.
Um, So it’s a good middle step. We had one player that transferred from Ferris State, uh, played for us for a year and then walked on that winter, I should say, played for us for a season, then walked on that winter to the varsity team here. So, um, you know, it’s, it’s another opportunity to kind of continue to develop and grow.
Uh, maybe even showcase the, the varsity coaches at that school. Um, what, what you can do and prepare you for a winter walk on opportunity.
Matt: Yeah. And actually that happened to me, uh, or one of my high school teammates, you know, we were, uh, we were a pretty good high school program and, and he was a year older than me and he says, I’m going to Indiana, and I mean, this is during the Indiana hey days.
And it’s like, okay, you’re, you’re good, but you’re going Indiana. I don’t, I don’t know, you know, he wasn’t recruited to go to Indiana. He played a year club as a sophomore, made the varsity team and was. Team captain and national champion of senior year. So it’s definitely something, uh, that can be done. Um,
Coach: so same [00:13:30] thing with the, on our men’s side, you know, we’re close with our men’s program and, uh, and they had a kid transfer in play with the men’s team for a while, prepare for walk on tryouts, and he’s on their varsity team now.
So.
Matt: Well, I mean, and it is, And besides the obvious differences, right? You’re, you’re, you’re not training every day. It’s not, uh, you’re paying for your own stuff. You’re no weekday games really, unless it’s a, you know, a Friday night or tournament stuff. Um, it truly is, uh, kind of that next step down in terms of commitment.
But like you said, it’s not necessarily the next step down in terms of level of play, uh, in a lot of instances. , you know, what would you say would be the primary, uh, benefits for a student? Or, or what are some of the, what have the players said to you in terms of, I mean, you’ve been doing it for a long time.
What have they gotten out of it? What have they enjoyed specifically about the club environment that, that maybe they’re not gonna get either at the higher level varsity or even at the lower level? Just intramurals.
Coach: Yeah. . You know, I, I don’t wanna disparage anybody because I, I think everybody is looking for their own thing, right?
And if you’re being, um, mentored well in the college recruiting process, you’re being told to find the right fit. Uh, regardless of division, regardless of governing body, whether that’s NCAA or a I, um, So it’s, it’s really about fit. And, and the players that we’ve had transfer back from division one [00:15:00] programs and play for us, it wasn’t a knock on that program.
They left. It was more about what Michigan State as a school could offer. Um, whether that’s being closer to home, whether it’s a major that they wanted, whether they got to a program, whether it was D one or or D three, that it just wasn’t a good fit. They, they didn’t want the everyday training. They realized, you know, they didn’t wanna have to.
Pretty much give up their life in the fall to that sport. They wanted to be part of a, a, a sorority, um, as, as much as I tease our girls that go to the sororities, um, but, you know, a, a business fraternity as well. I’ve had a player missing some practices the last couple weeks because of a business sorority, uh, a business fraternity.
Um, You know, again, the major not, you may not get to a school to play soccer that has the major that you really want, so you’re gonna have to move on. Um, so wherever that is in your process, whether it’s prior to enrolling at a school or whether it’s after your sophomore year, . Um, and whether that’s for, for like you did, you know, coming back after your, your four years and getting a master’s degree somewhere, Hey, I’m gonna finish up here and play two more years.
And we’ve had that as well on the women’s side. So it’s, it’s really about fit, you know, and I, it’s what as a, a youth club director, constantly talking to our players about, all right, we’re, we’re removing division and governing body from our convers. and we’re going to make a list of how far away do you want to go?
How big of a small a school do you want to go to? What type of city? You know, all those things. And then we’ll find a school that fits. And if that [00:16:30] player is somebody that keeps talking about division or governing body, then there becomes a point where, you know, I can’t help you anymore. So, um, And maybe that’s my, my biggest speech or my, you know, that to the kids that might hear this is it’s all about fit.
And, uh, and you gotta find the right fit for yourself and you’ve gotta take some of these other things out. You know, I, I cringe these days when I scroll through Twitter and I see kids that are, you know, I’m committing to a D one program and the D one comes out before even the school or thanking coaches.
And it’s, it’s cringeworthy to me to see some of that. Yeah,
Matt: I would, uh, I would agree, right? Fit is something I, uh, talk a lot about on, on the pod and, and when talking to players and, and part of the reason I even started this podcast was that there’s a lot of schools out there people haven’t even ever heard of.
And I wanted to make sure that, that folks could, could hear about ’em, learn and, and have hear from the coach, from, from directly, from the horse’s mouth as, as they say, and, and maybe make the, the best decision for them or think about a school, or even, like you just said, a type of school. Enrollment, location, whatever, whatever those things are.
I agree. That’s uh, that’s where I’m, I’m usually asking people to focus and not worried about the other stuff.
Coach: Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a whole nother side to, to club too that you don’t get as a, a varsity player, you know, varsity player. You’re, you’re handed your schedule, you’re handed your uniforms, you’re, you know, [00:18:00] you’re, you’re taken to games.
And one of the things that it becomes very easy for me to write letters of recommendation after college for a lot of my players because they were the president of the team. So they were responsible for our schedule. Somebody else was res uh, responsible for logistics and nationals. How many rooms do we need?
You know, how are we getting from the airport to the hotel and a city that we’ve never been to? Um, you know, things like that where they get ownership over that and. as much of a control freak as most coaches are, and me included, you know, that’s where I’ve had to take a step back and let them have those things.
Still try to advise and say, Hey, maybe that’s not the right way to go about this. Think about this. Um, But it gives them that whole other side of, um, the college experience that they can use on a resume. And the number of players that I’ve had come back to me after an interview and be like, all we talked about was club soccer the entire time.
They didn’t ask me about my academics, , you know, and, and it’s, it’s great to hear because then they can speak to the leadership attributes that they’ve developed and, and, uh, some of the other things they’ve done.
Matt: No, I, and I think that’s, that’s wonderful because it is really a player driven. Entity Right.
As, as as you said. And it’s, um, you know, I came in as, as the old guy, you know, as the grad student, but, uh, . But it was great because the guys that were in charge of the club, they, they ran everything. They, they had, like you said, had the buses, had the schedules, you know, did [00:19:30] everything that needed to be done.
And, you know, with me in grad school, I didn’t have as much time as those guys did, uh, with their , with, with, uh, being able to contribute in that arena for the team. But it was, uh, it was great. to be able to make those friendships, those bonds travel together, like you said to some schools that, you know, I mean I remember, I don’t know if you guys have played up at the Northwestern field right there on Lake Michigan, but Yeah.
You know that that’s a cool site. You know, that is a cool place to be and, and it’s just another one of those college experiences that, okay, maybe you didn’t, you know, get to play on the, on the main varsity D one team or, or whatever. But there are those options available and, and that’s why I wanted to have this conversation cuz I think.
Probably both agree. It doesn’t get talked about a lot. Um, no. Or, or what does get talked about? People just assume it’s intermurals. Right? It’s, it’s, you know, yeah. It’s one sorority playing the other sorority, uh, on a Tuesday night in the rec center, and that’s just not the case. So, um,
Coach: yeah, I think, you know, I’ve brought some players up locally from our youth club to see what the level is like, and they’re all very surprised that, you know, club soccer at the college level is being played.
That competitive level. Um, you know, and when we get to nationals, like I said, in, in, within our region, there’s, there’s a big difference between some of the, the bottom schools that maybe don’t have a coach, don’t take it quite as seriously. Um, up to the top schools like Michigan, Michigan State, um, grand Valley here and Michigan, Ohio State has a very good women’s program.
we’re seeing [00:21:00] more and more teams come up too. I mean, we’re, we’re adding more teams seems like every year, but the depth is getting better. But then across, you know, we hit nationals and, and you’ve got U C S B who won five straight national titles at one point, um, actually until we won ours, in two 12, and we’re able to stop that run.
Um, but, you know, uh, kale Poly that won this year, there’s D one athletes out on that. In those games and they’re very, very highly competitive games and skillful games. And, um, yeah, it, like you said, that’s why I wanted to come on here and I was excited that you asked me to, cause I think it’s a, a great opportunity for a lot of players.
That just aren’t aware of it, whether it’s their youth clubs aren’t aware of it. Um, you know, their parents didn’t know about it. But I think if you reach out to your network, you’re gonna find somebody that played club sports in college and they can talk to you about the experience. Myself, I played rugby for, um, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee as a club player.
Um, you know, we played right on the, on the lake, on Lake Michigan is where our pitch was. And, um, you know, seven guys shoved into a little, uh, silhouette minivan driving down to, um, Savannah, Georgia for a tournament. You know, , it’s, those are experiences. Those are the things I remember. And so I. Glad I can kind of give some of that back too now.
Matt: No, that’s amazing. Well, coach, I really do appreciate the time and the insights and hopefully this will help people understand a little bit more about the club soccer environment and maybe make the, the right choice and, and find the right fit for them. So I really do
Coach: appreciate it. Yeah, well thanks [00:22:30] for getting it out there.
I, I appreciate it and I know, uh, our girls will be excited when they get to hear that I was on here talking about ’em. . Thank you.
Matt: Awesome. Well best of luck coach. Thanks.
Coach: Thanks.
