Ohio Northern University Men’s Soccer – Coach Chris Matejka
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Chris from the Ohio Northern Men’s Program. We talk about how he likes to evaluate recruits during their warmup. He describes the positives of their small town campus. Lastly, we discuss his honest and upfront coaching style. Learn more about Ohio Northern University Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Chris Matejka from Ohio Northern University. Welcome coach. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Uh, I got that soft spot for the Ohio schools, uh, having grown up, not too far from, from Ohio Northern.
Um, but let’s talk about, uh, recruiting side of things. To start off, um, we’re, we’re talking here at the end of March. Uh, so for a D three school like yourself is 20, is your 23 class kind of wrapped up and you’re moving on to 20 fours or what’s kind of your, your timeline when you’re recruiting around now?
Coach: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, this time of year we’re kind of, We’re doing both classes, but we’re pretty much done with the 23 class. We’re lucky enough to get a pretty good jumpstart on it. Um, but we typically, you know, 20, 24 wise and, um, juniors, we have them visit, you know, sometime between January and March, um, for the first time that they can come onto campus.
And then, you know, we, we’ll invite them back several times, but, um, we’re kind of in that stage now where we’re wrapping up 23 and, uh, just having the 20 fours visit and get exposed to the campus and learn more about us.
Matt: So when, when you’re recruiting, I mean, is it primarily the, the, the pool kind of starts when, when kids reach out to you with, with interest or, uh, are you reaching out to high school coaches and club coaches and, and seeing kids at tournament?
Kind of, what’s that mix look like?
Coach: Yeah, it’s, I mean, the [00:01:30] pool is, is based on, I think a couple different things. Um, you know, it depends on the club, it depends on the region that they’re from, but, There is a, a good amount of us reaching out to club coaches, club directors, um, you know, just getting schedules tracked down.
It’s, there’s so many leagues and so many competitions now that we have to, we have to juggle all that, um, at the forefront and just know going in, okay, this is how we’re, we’re, we’re heading the, the recruiting class. You know, we’re gonna try and get to as many showcases as we can, but I, I’d say it’s a, it’s a good mix of.
Those that reach out to us and us that, you know, we reach out to the, the individuals or we reach out to the club coach, Hey, who do you recommend? You know, we’re really looking for a goalkeeper. We’re really, really looking for a, you know, top goal scorer, you know, whatever that, whatever the case may be, whatever, um, positional need we have.
Um, we’re gonna try and communicate on the, on the at, at the forefront and try and get a, a kickstart on that. But, um, if somebody does reach out to us and we get their schedule and, and we like what we see, then obviously they get added into our recruiting pool in, in the recruiting class.
Matt: You, you mentioned showcases, so are there kind of, of the tournaments that are on your must visit, uh, list each year that you’re going to look at players?
Coach: Oh, for sure. Yeah. There’s, and, and it’s evolved. It’s changed a little bit over the years, but you know, the, the big ones, um, any nation league event, any ecnl event are the, are the big ones that we’ll circle every year and add to the calendar. I think MLS next is really starting to gain a lot of attention and a lot more college coaches are going to that, um, across [00:03:00] all divisions.
It’s not just division one. I mean, I, I think the last few mls, next events I’ve gone to, there’s been a, a good amount of Division three and N A I and division two schools as well. Um, I think for showcases though, Crossroads, blue chip in, in Ohio, or you know, Indian, Indianapolis, Ohio. Um, you know, the Jefferson Cup is next weekend.
So we’re, we’re gonna do our best to get, get to that. Um, but yeah, any, any of the big Midwest showcases, um, are, are always on our calendar.
Matt: So, and I’m asking this because I, I will probably take this and clip it out and post it for people because it’s a, it’s something I wanna make sure folks understand.
When you go to an event, let’s say you’re going to Jeff Cup next weekend, what is the ratio of players that you’re going to see because there’s been some contact ahead of time versus randomly taking in a match and finding a player that looks interesting to you?
Coach: Uh, with, without, really, I haven’t. I’ve gotten into the schedule too much of that event, but a, a typical event, I mean, I’m gonna, I’m gonna put out, you know, I’m gonna circle all the teams in our region first.
Um, that’s kind of my strategy. That’s how, that’s kind of how our staff handles it. We look at. You know, the, the best clubs in our area, the best clubs in our region, you know, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, maybe some Illinois. Um, and we’ll try and see them first. And, um, and obviously anybody that we’ve, we’ve had on campus before, they’re gonna be at the front of our list.
[00:04:30] Um, I would say it’s probably 75% of. Players that we’ve identified or that we’ve seen already, or top clubs that we know of, or maybe there’s a club director or club coach that’s reached out, reached out to us about a certain player that’ll be at the, that’ll be the, the bulk of the teams and games that we see.
I would say we probably save 25% of our time to go watch a, a random game or, um, a team that we’ve never heard of before. Or maybe it’s the, the field side by side of the one that we’re at, we might be able to, to stay and watch a, a game or two. Um, But it’s primarily, the bulk of it is those that we’ve identified before already.
Maybe some of those that have reached out to us, um, or just the top clubs in our area. Okay. Perfect.
Matt: Well, Whether it, uh, I guess before I ask the next question in, in terms of recruiting, do you guys do camps? Do you or your staff work other camps? How do camps fit into the whole process for you?
Coach: Yeah, camps are a huge, huge part.
Um, especially recruiting wise. It’s, it’s awesome to get some of our top prospects onto campus, um, get to work with our staff, get to meet some of our current players that might be working, um, working the event. But we have two ID camps in the summer. We have one in June. Uh, it’s, it’s June 20th through the 22nd, and then we have a July 18th through the 20th.
ID camp as well. So we put together two over the summer. Um, and then, we’ll eventually we’ll put one together in the winter as well. For those that maybe couldn’t attend over the summer, they had, uh, regionals or nationals or vacation or high school stuff going on in the summer. We’ll, we’ll put one, um, put one on in in the winter.
Um, but [00:06:00] those are three A camps. They’re overnight camps. And, um, I get, again, they get exposed to the campus, they get exposed to, you know, what the next level is like. It’s not. You know, it’s just our staff. So they really get to work with us for three days. They get to know what our sessions are like, how we operate, um, what we look for in a player.
Um, obviously have some classroom sessions thrown in there as well. It’s not just field sessions. Um, but by the end of that camp, they, they pretty much know, okay, this is what Onu is like, this is what their coaching staff is like. This is how they handle a training session. This is how they get the most out of a training session.
So that’s what we look to look to do.
Matt: Alright. Well, don’t forget to post those camps, uh, on Discover College Soccer for sure. Um, Well, whether it’s at Camp Showcase, anything, what kind of makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s off the field stuff or, or on the field attributes.
Coach: Yeah. You know, I, I think I’ll kind of head this with just talking about when I go to a game, um, to, to scout a player or a team, I try to get to warmups. I try to get to. You know, the early stage of a game if I can. Um, but sometimes I’m not always able to do that. So I, I have to fit in a hierarchy of things that I like out of a player individually.
Um, I think it always starts with the technical side. Um, technical ability first, touch control, um, you know, overall awareness, vision. Um, but, uh, you know, being composed I think are all super important. And if I can see that in. One or two plays. I, I mean, I, I think they kind of stand out to me. Um, it doesn’t take me a whole [00:07:30] lot, a whole lot of time to figure out, okay, this, this guy can, can play for me, or he can play for us and help us.
Um, but that’s, that’s kind of where it starts, is the technical side. I mean, we, we always try and put together the most technical players, um, on the field. We try and put the, the most technical side out there. Um, I think athleticism kind of comes in secondary. Um, I’m not really looking at the, the tallest player necessarily, but somebody that can.
Withstand the, the rigors of the game. Um, they have good lateral movement. Um, they obviously are, are physical enough to, to handle the college game. Um, cuz not everybody is ready for that. So, you know, we, we look at that athleticism, um, obviously their speed, their agility, their fitness. Um, but the, going back to my initial point about watching them warm up, I can see a lot of that.
But what I also see is their character. I see. Are they the first to show up? Are they the one leading the charge? Are they the ones, you know, getting their team warmed up and ready to go? Or are they the guy that’s last, last to step on the field? You know, are they, you know, they, they’re last to put their shin guards on the, their coaches having to get on them about showing up on time.
Um, you know, are they on their phone when everybody else is on the, on the field? I mean, there’s a lot of things that. We as college coaches have to take in and witness. Um, and if I can’t go to a game and maybe I, I go to a training session or some sort of combine or Id camp that, you know, that’s not on our campus.
I’m looking at those things like I’m, most of the time I’m not watching them on the ball. I’m watching what they do without the ball. So I think that’s one of the things that recruits [00:09:00] and, and families, their parents alike don’t understand is that sometimes I’m not even there to watch them play with the ball.
I’m watching their demeanor, I’m watching how they carry themselves. Are they uplifting or are they super negative? Are they a detriment to their team? Um, are they, you know, working alongside their coach? There’s a lot of intangibles that we look at, and sometimes we take it in a short snapshot. I mean, it’s, I might not be able to watch a player for 90 minutes, so if I can see that in a 10 minute chunk, okay, I’ll circle them and then obviously come back to it later and watch them play again.
And if they replicate that, then obviously I, I think that they’re gonna be a good fit for us if they are a total. Maybe they’re coming back from an injury and they’re, and I don’t know that, you know, then, then I like to see them a third time or a fourth time before I feel pretty confident that, okay, this guy can help us.
Okay.
Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Obviously I’m, I’m very familiar with Ohio Northern when I’m sure there’s some folks out there who aren’t. So you’ve, you have a, a unique, uh, perspective. I think you’ve been there for quite a few years if you include your, uh, stint as an undergrad, right?
So, yep. Um, Kind of give us what are some of the things that you find are, are awesome about the school that maybe I’m not gonna learn just by clicking through the website.
Coach: Yeah. I mean, the first thing that stands out, um, is our location. So a, a lot of schools, especially in our conference, are in. Heavily populated, you know, metropolitan areas, um, where there’s a ton of people around.
There’s a ton of [00:10:30] things to do. O n u’s kind of nestled in a, you know, a pocket of northwest Ohio where an hour and a half from some big cities where an hour and a half from Columbus, um, you know, close to two hours from Detroit, two hours from Cleveland. Um, you know, we’re, we’re not too far away from some of the, the more populated areas where the top clubs are playing and, you know, the bulk of our roster is made of, of guys from those areas.
But, We love our location, we love our area. We’re kind of secluded and, and, uh, remote in a small town. Um, it really allows our students and student athletes to focus on what they need to do. Um, you know, I think we have a track record of. Both academics and athletics. So we become a really good balance of both.
Um, but I think that’s, that’s kind of the thing that I like to start with because, you know, nobody really knows where Ada Ohio is. Um, we love being in a small town. We love being in the middle of nowhere. You know, a lot of people can view that as a negative. Honestly, for me, it’s a positive. Um, there’s less distractions.
It’s very safe. The campus is incredibly safe. Um, and really again, you, you, you’re set out to get a degree in four years or six years if you’re a pharmacy student. And, uh, everybody graduates on time and. Um, you know, I think our job placement really speaks for itself. Um, the return on investment speaks for itself, so we’ve got a lot of top professional degrees that really stand out from the typical liberal arts type of a school.
We’ve got four colleges that make up the university, so we’re, we’re a pretty unique school. Um, we’ve got some, um, top academic, top, you know, Students that wanna be the best students that they can be here. Everybody wants to be [00:12:00] successful. Everybody’s gonna push you and challenge you. And, um, it’s a really remarkable environment.
It’s a very challenging environment and I think that translates well to, you know, the soccer field. Um, soccer players in general have really good grades and, um, you know, if we’re recruiting the right type of person that, uh, is a good person, is a good student, they’re gonna fit in really well here. And, uh, you know, before they even step on the field, they’re already challenged.
Every single day. And I think that just that, that speaks volumes because when we we’re playing in a big game, we know that these student athletes can handle, um, adversity, handle time management, handle the rigors of being a college student day in and day out. Um, being in a, being in a challenging environment.
So it’s, it’s honestly pretty easy once we get into a training situation. I mean, they’re, they’re pushed and pulled and dragged every certain direction. Um, we know what we’re gonna get from them every single day.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, you mentioned the, the academic rigor. So, you know, for a lot of college, uh, athletes especially, you know, ones that are just coming from high school, it can be challenging balancing the academics with the athletics.
So what do you guys do to really help with that balance and what support systems does the school offer to help student athletes?
Coach: Yeah, so each, each college within our university kind of handles it differently. There are, um, And honestly, we don’t run into a lot of academic issues. You know, we, we don’t really, we, we recruit, um, really good students.
Um, you know, our team GPA was a 3.31 last semester in the fall. Um, so honestly, [00:13:30] I, I don’t want, we don’t run into a lot of, uh, You know, guys that are struggling are falling behind. We see their midterm grades and obviously we check over those things, but we don’t, we don’t do study tables. We don’t believe in, you know, just checking on grades every week and every day.
Like obviously if somebody’s falling behind, there’s a ton of resources on campus. I think the main one is just approaching their professor, forming a really good relationship with a professor, and I think we, we give them tools from an early stage that. That’s, that’s one of the most important relationships you’re gonna have on campus from day one, is just forming a really good rapport with your, with your professors.
Um, and not only that, your advisor’s going to help you as well. Um, there’s tutoring sessions available. Um, there’s office hours that each professor is going to put on. Um, but again, I think the resources that they’re gonna tap into our individual to that college, a college of business student is going to be totally different than a College of Pharmacy student.
Um, but if somebody is falling behind, obviously they can turn to the coaching staff. But we put a lot of the responsibility on their shoulders as students, and, um, and they knock it outta the park. They do a really good job. Um, if they do fall behind, my first question to them is, did you approach your professor?
Did you talk to him or her about what you’re struggling in? Um, did you go over all the notes? Did you talk to your teammates? Um, a lot of your teammates that you’re taking class with, are you, are you forming your good relationship with the, the upperclassmen that have already done those classes? You know, can you get notes or textbooks or.
Um, previous exams and things like that that you can study off of. So there’s, there’s a lot of work that we do behind the scenes, but honestly, it’s, it’s on the student and, [00:15:00] um, I think that’s what’s necessary, that if they’re gonna be responsible for their schoolwork, I think they’re gonna handle life that much, that much better off.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, do me a favor, take me back to the fall, um, and give me a, a typical week in a snapshot, right. When, when are your student athletes. Waking up, going to class, uh, going to practice. What’s kind of the game cadence like? What, what does a typical week look like?
Coach: Yeah, a typical week, so most of our games, um, especially in the conference, are Wednesdays and Saturdays.
So, but a typical day is, you know, they’re going to class from, you know, 8:00 AM until two 50 pretty much every single day. Three o’clock, um, is when they usually show up to the locker room maybe a little bit earlier. If, if they’re done with class, maybe they need to get some treatment from the at room. Um, maybe they just wanna hang out in the, in the locker room and, and catch up with the teammates.
Um, but, you know, typically three 15, we’re starting with the team meeting. Um, we’ll watch some film. Uh, we’ll talk about the week’s goals. We’ll, we’ll reflect on the previous game or the previous training session, and. And, uh, and just really put things out there, communicate. That’s our, our time to provide updates.
Um, and, uh, and really just, you know, kind of switch off, so to speak from classes and really get focused on what, what the task is at hand, if it’s practice, practice or a game. The locker room is where, you know, we just kind of get everything out there, air everything out. Um, but three 15, you know, we’re done with that.
3 45, maybe four o’clock at the latest if we’re, if we have an extensive scouting [00:16:30] report on an opponent. Um, and then we’re on the field about four. We’re done by 5 45. They’re showered, ready to go to dinner at six and, uh, and then the, the rest of the day is, is off for them to catch up on schoolwork, um, hang out with their, with their roommates or, um, you know, just have a lot more free time.
And, um, yeah, so that’s, that’s a typical day, obviously. Again, games, you know, a lot of our midweek games are at seven o’clock, so you know, we’re getting into the locker room. Right around that same time, um, you know, we’re usually starting our warmup about an hour and 15 before a game, or at least we’re, we’re having a team meeting at that time and we’re stepping on the field about an hour before kickoff, having about a 45 minute, you know, warmup session.
Um, in that team meeting before the game, we’re probably gonna reflect on our scouting report that we put together the day before. Um, so our, our line of thinking is two days before a game we’re working on ourselves. We’re diving into things that, and topics that are relevant to us and our strengths and our weaknesses, things that we need to work on.
Um, and then the day before a game is, is pretty much solely based on the opponent. What, what they’re gonna give us, what, what it’s gonna take to break them down. Um, we’ll kind of set pieces, we’re gonna look at things like that. And then obviously game day we’re gonna. We’re gonna try and take care of business, and then we repeat that cycle again.
Thursday day after a game we’re working on ourselves. And then Friday, the day before Saturday, we’re working on our opponent again. Sunday is our, is our day off. That’s our recuperating recovery day.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, [00:18:00] uh, about the team and, and I guess this kind of goes back a little bit to recruiting, but is there a roster size that, that you find is ideal that you guys are trying to hit every year?
Coach: Yeah, I think we’re, you know, we’re unique. We have a pretty large squad, so we have about 45. Typically, we name a varsity training pool of roughly 30, um, 30 to 32. And then roughly with reserves. Our reserve team, who plays a separate schedule, they have games of their own, uh, training on their own is, is usually around 15.
Um, it’s a really, really good number for us. Um, what’s pretty common at this level is injuries, and I think if we expect to. You know, stay in the top 25, compete for a national championship every year, compete for conference championship every year. We have to have a much deeper squad. Um, everybody has to be ready to go.
I, I think, you know, if we look back at two seasons ago, we had close to 42 injuries, um, last season, which was an average number of injuries. We had 30. So we’re, we’re able to, we’re able to, um, have a next man up mentality, but we have a larger squad because we wanna have a deeper squad. And it really helps us, um, So that’s, that’s our, our number of what we look for every year, about 45.
But, um, from a typical recruiting class, I mean, it’s eight to 10 roughly. I mean, there might be a couple, you know, transfers that come in or, you know, I, I, it, it kind of depends each year, but usually eight to 10 is what we look to bring in each year.
Matt: Okay. Well, what about staff? How big is your staff? What role does everybody play?
What other kind of support staff works with your team from the [00:19:30] athletic department?
Coach: Yeah, for sure. We have, so we have three full-time coaches myself, and then we have two full-time assistant coaches. Um, then we have a part-time goalkeeper trainer, um, who’s pretty much working with our, our goalkeepers every single day during the fall.
Um, almost every single day in the spring as well. We also have a, a strength and conditioning coordinator that works with several teams within our department, um, but sets time aside in the off season and during the season to make sure that our guys are recovered well. And um, it’s one of the main reasons why we went down in injuries this past year is we invested a lot more time and effort into the strength and conditioning regime over the summer and into the off season.
And, Um, it’s really helped us. Uh, we have an athletic trainer full-time that’s with us every single day, at every training session, every game, both home and away. Um, we have student managers that work with us. We have, I think three, three student managers. So any film means that we have both on the road, at home, um, you know, equipment management, apparel, um, We have catapult vests that we use.
So we, we do a lot of monitoring of mileage and, and work rate over the course of the season. So we can kind of dive into the statistics a little bit more with our student managers helping us. So we have a, a pretty large staff, but it’s a, it’s a well-oiled machine. I mean, we have high expectations, but we have a lot of people helping us.
So there’s a, a, a reason why we’re successful. It’s due to the, you know, credit to the, the staff that works hard every single day, both in season and outta season.
Matt: Yeah. No, that’s for a division three [00:21:00] program. That’s a, that’s an amazing, uh, staff. I think a lot of, a lot of coaches would be jealous of having those resources, so, so kudos and, and I’m sure that is partly why you guys are, are so successful.
I mean, the third round of the NCAA this past year. That’s awesome. Well, let’s talk about you specifically. Can you give me some insights into kind of your style of coaching and the style of play that you, you hope to have the team play?
Coach: Yeah, I’ll start with, you know, kind of the character that I wanna, I wanna bring to the table every day.
It’s, it’s honest, it’s upfront. Um, I tend to not sugarcoat things. I want to be very obvious in my approach. Um, obviously there’s a, a diplomatic approach that some players can handle things differently. Some are, You know, a little bit more aggressive, some need, uh, a little bit more fire under them. Um, some are pretty laid back.
I mean, every player is different, right? I mean, let’s, let’s face it, there’s no, uh, two players that are exactly the same. So, you know, I’m, but I’m always gonna try and be the same as much as I can be. Um, most of the time it’s, it’s gonna start with conversation. Uh, I’m a firm believer in communication that I think it’s better to overcommunicate things and.
I love to have individual meetings. I love to have small group meetings. I love to have team meetings. Um, it’s, it’s our chance to really connect from coach to player. Um, but I, I think it always goes back to a conversation. Every, every issue, every problem, every good thing, every bad thing always can, can come back to a conversation.
Um, so I have individual meetings often, um, [00:22:30] I try and connect with. Each, each player, every single day. Um, both varsity and reserves. I, I think there, there’s always an effort there, but it’s always, it always goes back to honesty. I think that’s one of the main ways to build trust is to, for me to just put it all out there.
And, um, you know, I don’t think there’s any time for toxicity. There’s no time for, you know, how come I’m not playing and how, you know, how come that guy’s playing more than me? Like, we don’t have time for that. I mean, it’s, it’s, uh, It’s a long grueling season, but it’s a hundred miles an hour. I mean, every single day is just go, go, go.
Um, so we have to put it all out there. We have to maximize our time that we spend together. Um, they are student athletes, so we have to recognize that as well, that they have their rigors that they have to go through the rest of the day. I understand that being an alum from here, um, understanding what their schedules look like and, and the academic demand of them.
So I, I know that heading into that. So it’s, you know, I can, I can level with with them a lot more, but I also wanna get to the point and, um, And have them understand what we’re looking for day in and day out. I think, you know, in terms of style of play, it’s, again, we go back to the technical side of things.
I think technical ability means everything. Um, but we’re gonna try and put together a, a system that relies on possession. We wanna dominate the game possession wise. We want to, we wanna have the ball, um, we want the ball at our feet. That’s the way that we recruit. We recruit technically gifted players, smart high soccer IQ players that understand.
Why we do film and why we put together skying reports. And, um, but we also want a good mix of guys that [00:24:00] just wanna get the job done and, and wanna, and, and care a lot about the program and, um, care a lot about the school and care a lot about the team and the program. So, you know, I, I think it, it goes back to trust.
We, we want to trust in each other. We want to trust in our teammates and trust our coaches. And, um, but it, it always relies on possession. We wanna possess, we want to. Put forth the best system that’s gonna help us win games. In some games that’s different, it’s a different formation or it’s a different tactic.
Um, you know, that’s, that’s why we watch a lot of film. We make sure that our guys understand it though each day so in possession. But we wanna dominate the game. Okay.
Matt: Well coach, you’ve been generous with your time. We’ve covered a lot of ground, and the way I like to end these is if you could give parents and players out there who are interested in playing college soccer, One piece of advice, one nugget, something that, that you hope that, uh, they know going into this process.
What would that be?
Coach: Oof. Spend a long time talking about that. Uh, advice for parents. Uh, be realistic. I understand and coaches understand that club soccer is expensive and that you wanna see a return on investment. And I think there’s a big push, especially at the bigger clubs. To get your son into a Division one program, you have to understand that there aren’t that many Division one programs that are going to just take on, uh, an 18 year old senior that [00:25:30] Yeah.
Has club experience that’s played their whole life. There’s a certain percentage of players that make it at that level. So do your research, but more, more importantly, be realistic. There’s, for instance, 415 division three men’s soccer team, so there’s a. A wide variety of teams out there that can, you know, accommodate these young men.
And, uh, everybody gets sold on that. D one, D one, D one, um, resources at the division one level yeah, are obviously greater than division two or division three, but the, the margins between all the divisions are not that large. And I think that’s the one thing that parents don’t really know that much about is what’s the, the difference between D one and D two or D two D three.
And they kind of stack up the D one is always gonna be the best. Um, yes, they have athletic scholarships, but you know, the coaches have a lot more on their shoulders and pressure to win games. And if they don’t win, they’re, they’re gone. And, uh, so there’s a lot of turnover at that level and there’s a lot of international students that play at that level.
And there’s only a one year guarantee that you’re gonna have that scholarship, you know, and so there’s, there’s just certain nuances of all the divisions that the parents aren’t. Always taught, and sometimes the recruits themselves aren’t, aren’t always taught. So just be open-minded, be be realistic, and, um, and do your research.
Those, uh, I know you asked me for one, but I kind of gave three there. That’s all right. I’ll, I’ll take it. Be realistic. Do your research [00:27:00] and, uh, be open-minded, I think are the, the three things that I wanna say.
Matt: I couldn’t have said a better coach. I really appreciate your time. Wish you the best of luck in, uh, in getting back to the tournament, uh, in the fall.
And if you ever do any recruiting down here in Florida, gimme a shout and, uh, and we’ll get together.
Coach: All right? All right. Thanks so much. Thanks. Thanks for this. Yeah, thank you.
