Randolph College Men’s Soccer – Coach Adam Godwin

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Adam Godwin from the Randolph College Men’s Program in Virginia. We talk about how recruits can break through the noise when contacting coaches. He describes how their school has a different class schedule which helps his student-athletes. Lastly, we discuss his team’s high pressure, counter-pressing style of play. Learn more about Randolph College.

[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Adam of Randolph College in Virginia. Coach. Welcome to the program.

[00:00:09] Coach: Thanks for having me, Matt really thankful to be here.

[00:00:10] Matt: All right. Well, I, you know, I, I played my ball in, uh, in DC, but lived in Northern Virginia for a long time.

[00:00:18] And it rolled through your, your picturesque town. Um, but we’ll, we’ll talk about the school and all that stuff later on, but let’s start off talking about just how you do your recruiting. You know, you guys are division three schools, so I know things are, are different than say a division one division two, but when do you use.

[00:00:36] Talking to players when the players generally start reaching out to you, uh, in the recruiting process.

[00:00:42] Coach: Yeah, I think. I think what my experience has been. And I guess to provide a little bit of context, the vast majority of my career has been at the division one level. Um, uh, although I’ve just finished my fourth year at division three.

[00:00:54] So as I, as I’ve kind of, as you can imagine, the division one level is quite accelerated and you you’re talking to players, uh, younger and younger and at the division three level, that was probably something that I. How to not adjust to in a, in a negative way, just start to understand, okay. How does it happen here?

[00:01:09] And I think probably where I’ve gotten to, for example, we’re sitting here and it’s April, you know, April 20, 22, you know, and I think I’m constantly amazed. How many, 2022 high level 2022 graduates are still looking for a home? Uh, I think for us, probably in the last month we have. What I would say truly began our 20, 23 schedule or cycle.

[00:01:37] So I think in an ideal world for me, I think we probably start our cycle about 18 months out. So, um, let’s for the easiest way of saying that is, is the summer that’s just gone. That’s when we probably started to build our 20, 23 list, if we want to call it that. Once we get here kind of about 12 months out, then we’re really starting to hit it, hit it quite hard.

[00:02:01] So I think, yeah, it’s about 18 months, uh, prior, but with the reality of us really, truly digging in deep to the next cycle about a year out, if that makes sense. Yeah, no,

[00:02:12] Matt: absolutely. And how many, you know, and it will say an average week at obviously this ebbs and flows based on a million factors, but.

[00:02:21] Averaging it out. How many inbound contacts are you kind of sorting through on a weekly basis?

[00:02:28] Coach: You know, I think, I think there’s, there’s probably two answers to that question. Um, because in terms of inbound contacts, Not hundreds of week, but, but a lot, you know, I mean, upwards of 50 emails a week now, or more now the problem with that is those aren’t quality contacts.

[00:02:51] You know, those are, we’re just getting blasted by the, um, whether it’s international, um, companies that are trying to get us kids or whether it’s domestic ones. And they’re just so, so we’re from. We’re a small division three school in central Virginia. We’re getting companies, email us with kids from Arizona, Colorado, North Dakota, Southern Cal.

[00:03:15] And it’s like, does that kid really wants to come to a small division three school in Virginia? They might, it’s a really great school with a really great program, but you can’t tell me that they’ve, they’ve reached out and they’ve told you to contact us. So the other side of the question is how many quality content.

[00:03:34] Do we get a week or a month? And. Obviously that number is a lot, a lot smaller, but they’re certainly the ones that are more interested in trying to reach out to and spend my time with. So when I get a blast email from one of these companies afforded to an assistant coach, they, they file that email address, address into our system.

[00:03:52] And guess what we do, we just blast them back. You know, they go into our campy man or something like that. Cause I know, I know they’re not actually that interested, but when it’s a kid where I have a quick glance and again, listen, I’m probably giving each team. 10 seconds, you know, I’m just going through him out quick little I’m really what I’m looking for in that email is have they actually said my school’s name, you know?

[00:04:13] Um, have they said anything that might indicate whether it’s all record or a big win that we had or, um, or, um, a program? Uh, a major maybe then I can say, oh, okay. This kid actually does have a little bit of interest in us very specifically. You know, so the question, the answer to the question is we probably get 50 to 100 emails a week, but all of those, maybe five of them contacts.

[00:04:43] And I think, I think that’s, I think that’s probably good advice for any kid that is looking, yes. Coaches get bombarded all the time, but if you could just do a little bit of effort, you can pretty quickly get yourself into the top 5%, um, of those emails that are coming in.

[00:04:58] Matt: No. That’s great advice.

[00:05:00] Something that I definitely, uh, hammer home with people when I’m talking to them about the process. So what about conversations with club coaches? Are you having a lot of those when, when it comes to either finding players or midway through the process, when you’re kind of validating a player.

[00:05:19] Coach: Yes, I think it’s, it’s certainly a conversation we have a little bit later down the line.

[00:05:23] Do you know what I mean? Cause, um, again, you know, as much as we’re getting blessed and I always feel like the club coaches are probably getting blessed, you know, that’s their job club coaches get paid quite a lot of money. Um, and so yeah, they, they, part of that job is to advocate for that for their students or their student athletes.

[00:05:41] So, um, but yeah, in a lot of regards. Perspective, you know, I trust my own eyes and my own understanding of the game to sort of evaluate a player. Then when we reached out to. So the club coach it’s it’s yes. For a little bit of, Hey, what’s his character? Like what’s his attitude, like how, you know, and all those different things, you know, and honesty as well.

[00:06:04] Hey, who else is interested in him? You know, is he getting a lot of looks? Is he, is he a long way down the line with w with somebody? Um, and things like that? So, certainly from my perspective, it’s probably a secondary, uh, Communication. Um, I think it’s probably a lot of college coaches reach out very early in the process and there’s any right or wrong way to do it.

[00:06:23] Uh, and I think, um, I think I would say an underutilized contact is the high school coach. Um, oftentimes I think as college coaches were obsessed with, with the club side of things, uh, maybe rightfully so, generally speaking, the standard is, is higher than high school. However, you’re the high school.

[00:06:43] Particularly in the high school season, obviously sees this kid every single day might, might have a class or two with them every week. And that’s someone that will often try to reach out to as well, because they don’t the high school coach doesn’t get quite so much love. Um, but they have pretty greater access to the kid than, than, um, than their club coach does.

[00:07:03] So, so we’ll reach out to our high school coach as well and try to get that information. No, that makes

[00:07:07] Matt: sense. Um, well, between club and high school, so what. What are your key events, whether it’s club tournaments, or is it high school games or there could be the, I remember when I was coaching high school in Virginia, you know, w we played down in Richmond for the final four, whatever, like what, what are the places you’re going out to see players, uh, that are, that are kind of always on your, on your list?

[00:07:33] Coach: Yeah, I think probably the easiest way to answer that is, is we’re always trying to see players in the. Quality environment we can, you know, so, you know, obviously, you know, in the current environment, that’s probably MLS next, you know, so we’re trying to watch MLS next games, the environment after that is probably, and, and, and then obviously, you know, then you’re looking at things at the CCL or, or whatever else exists, you know, NPL and things like that.

[00:07:59] So I think the answer number one is we’re always trying to watch the players that are playing. At the most competitive level, because that’ll just give us the best indication of, of, of their ability to translate that across to the college level and things like that. And listen, there’s a lot of high-level club soccer.

[00:08:16] That’s probably better than a lot of college soccer. You know, I think sometimes college coaches come across a bit preachy as if we’re coaching in the premier league or something, and we’re really not, you know, but, um, but yeah, I think. High school games. Honestly, I don’t go to a lot of high school games.

[00:08:32] I think, I think the high school game situation would be, um, a little bit similar to the, it’s almost a secondary thing where in all honesty, I would probably go to a high school game more to really make sure kids to try to make sure that kid knows how much I value them because you know, 75% of high school games.

[00:08:52] 5 6, 7 0. You know what I mean? There’s each high schools maybe got one or two really quality games on their schedule. Um, and so, yeah, we’ll, we’ll, those are the ones we’ll look to go to, but you know, if I’m, you know, in just using some local schools, I’m very rarely going to go to watch Jefferson forest play Appomattox, you know, it’s just, it’s gotta be 10 nail and there’s just gonna be zero value in watching that game.

[00:09:19] So, so again, I think that. For everybody really, but it’s kind of the time and reward thing, you know, as coaches I’ve got, I’ve got two young boys at home, a wife at home, you know, when I, when I go out recruiting, it’s absolutely gotta be worth my time, uh, to go do that. So, so that’s kind of how we make that, how I made those decisions.

[00:09:38] Matt: Oh, mate, that makes sense. What about camps? How to camps figure in whether they’re your own camps or are you guys as you and your staff out at other colleges camps to look at players? How does that.

[00:09:49] Coach: Yeah. Uh, I’m a big believer in, if you want to go to a certain school, go to that camp, go to there. Um, you know, so for example, we’ve got an ID camp here, actually this Sunday, and it’s like, um, yeah, if you want to play at Randolph college, you, you need to go to that camp.

[00:10:06] The, the coaches are there. They’re going to evaluate you. for me is the absolute truth of a lot of these camps way. Lots of schools out them Mo most coaches are going, cause they’re getting paid to go. Okay. So, so I’m trying to think of an example. I don’t know. I think I’ve signed up for a camp recently and frankly they pay me 300 bucks to go to it and yeah, I’ll go to it.

[00:10:32] And I might see a kid, you know, Might reach out to that kid, but it’s totally different when a kid comes to my camp and is on my campus. And that’s when I know a kid is interested in us because I think what is really what’s really true about recruiting these days is, is really the emphasis is now on the prospective students or recruit the school.

[00:10:54] And so I think there’s real. I think as, as each kid is going through their own process, they need to try to narrow it down. Try to get a narrower list as possible. So for example, the 20, 23 class right now, they should be really saying, what am I top four schools? They might have 10 schools on the list.

[00:11:11] What am I top four schools? You need to find a way to get to that camp. You know, you need to get in front of them and eliminate that school or get eliminated by that school, if that makes sense. And if all four of those schools fall through, yeah. Now, now go and try to find some of the other schools on your list.

[00:11:27] But I think the way I put it mine. You have to become more than a name in my inbox. Like I’ve got, I’ve got hundreds of names in my inbox. You, you need to become a person and you become a person by coming onto my campus or coming to my ID campus some or working really hard to help me see you play in person.

[00:11:49] Do you know what I mean? And I think, I think too many kids, probably 80% of, of prospective student athletes, they send out these big blast emails and they think that they are in the recruiting process. And then not that they’re just getting deleted out of people’s.

[00:12:04] Matt: Yeah, I get, you gotta get from the inbox to the whiteboard, right?

[00:12:09] A hundred percent. Well, when you’re, when you’re out evaluating talent, whether that’s at a tournament or your camps or whatever, what’s kind of your hierarchy of what you’re looking for, whether that’s on the field or off the field, uh, characteristics.

[00:12:22] Coach: Yeah. I think, I think on the field, Your ability to sort of, uh, I think the phrase we use get on the ball, stay on the ball and solve the problem is, is really, really big.

[00:12:31] Just the way we play every, you know, when he plays a comfortable in possession of the ball. Um, I think another thing that’s really important to us is we’re looking for players that can make the ball go forward. You know, I think, I think this is pretty true. Around the world, but I think youth soccer is full of pretty good players that are able to play sideways and backwards.

[00:12:52] Well, I don’t need any more players, like sideways and backwards. I got like 15 of those on my team right now. You know, I need, I need players that are going to make my team go forward and be, be brave with the ball and, and things like that. So I think those are some key things we’re looking for. And then after that is, if it’s just general, you know, I don’t want to over-complicate it.

[00:13:09] It’s just, can they compete, you know, Uh, or the impact in the game positively, whether it’s as a sense of back defending very well and all of those different things, or it’s a six, is the game going through them a little bit with a tan, are they finding, you know, within their role, are they positively impacting the game or are they getting beat every single time or are they turning the ball?

[00:13:28] Three times on a forum or, or whatever it is. So I think there’s just that general that you play in the game and impacting the game. Um, but then after that, yeah, just a few specifics within the, that we look for and it probably just centers around bravery on the ball and, you know, you will be willing to get on the ball and then are you willing to make your team go forward?

[00:13:46] I like that.

[00:13:48] Matt: So the, the, always the, the uncomfortable question of, of, of financial, uh, aid and those kinds of things, obviously D three, no scholarships. So, but what specifically at your school does the overall financial aid situation look like? What can someone expect if they were coming around off?

[00:14:08] Coach: Yes, super question, because I feel like Rambo more than a lot of places I’ve been at.

[00:14:12] It’s so unique for. For each kid it’s really unusual now, you know, I think, uh, I think like everything, I think probably the number one recommendation for every student athlete, particularly on the boys side is where you’re going to get, even at the division one level where you’re going to get your most scholarship money is through academics.

[00:14:32] Um, you know, even the D ones already got 9.9 scholarships. You know, you, if you’ve got a 25% athletic scholarship that would represent a huge athletic. In men’s soccer. So, so where you’re going to get your, your aid is, is through school and academics. Um, and so, yeah, we’re like a lot of places. So I think, for example, our highest, uh, financial aid package is about $15,000 a year.

[00:14:56] And you have to have about a 3.8 GPA to get that. So, so, um, listen, 3.8 GPA in high school, that’s a piece of cake. I mean, most of that is showing up every day and, and paying attention. Um, so Randolph. $36,000 a year. That’d be about 15 grand jury. You’re down pretty quickly to 21. I think the average student here is paid.

[00:15:22] Out of pocket, whatever out of pocket means in the region of about 16,000 a year, I think, which is pretty standard. I think, as you look at small private division three schools, um, I think the thing I would say about Randolph college, if there are people looking kind of, um, specifically as we will, we’re rarely going to be your option.

[00:15:44] Um, but I’d like to think that. We would at least be a competitive, um, option. But, um, but listen, I think if you’re a 2.5 GPA kid, it’s, it’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s difficult to get those, those players here simply because the financial aid just doesn’t come in in a way that’s significant enough.

[00:16:04] Matt: Right, right.

[00:16:04] Okay. Well, let’s talk more, more about the school, you know, once, once somebody is a, they’ve gotten that great financial aid package cause uh, you know, they were good in school, so they’re going to get some money they’re going to show up. But, uh, besides that, what else is awesome about Randolph? You know, besides what I’m going to find on the website, give me the inside scoop of, of why Randolph.

[00:16:24] Coach: Yeah, I think, I think the way I listen, it’s just, it’s a small school. For me, it’s the way I like to talk about it. It’s the small school. Like this is the small school. If you are, if you are interested in a place where you can Excel athletically, Excel, academically, this is the school, uh, the small school to go to, you know, I think the class sizes, uh, you know, something.

[00:16:47] You know, less than 20 kids in a class or something like that. You know, if you have issues, I think our, our, uh, our faculty has ranks of like 17th in the country in terms of accessibility and some things like that. So, you know, if you’re a student that, that really thrives or needs that more individualized attention, this is the school for you.

[00:17:07] Um, because you’re not going to get, if you’re struggling, you’re not going to get palmed off to a teaching assistant or a graduate assistant. You’re going to be able to go and see the professor directly and things. Another thing that’s really unique about us is we have a new curriculum, which we call take two, but instead of the traditional sort of take five courses over the course of an entire semester, we split the semester into two.

[00:17:28] So the first seven weeks you only take two classes. And then the second seven weeks, you only take two classes, which is great because it just allows you to focus much more intently on, on two courseworks. Um, We also have Wednesdays off now because of that schedule. So you only go to, you only go to class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Wednesday’s a day for you to get some extra sleep or get some extra rest or get caught up on some work or some reading or whatever it is.

[00:17:56] So that’s been really, really great for us and yeah. And I think the other thing I would say that I really love about the school is we’re pretty close to the student athlete population being just over 50% of the school. And so what that means is you’ve got an awful lot of peers that can relate to, you know, half the kids in your class, a student athletes as well.

[00:18:15] So yeah, when you’re tired or when your schedule is pretty busy, you’ve got a lot of empathy in that room. Cause there’s a lot of student athletes that know exactly where you are. And then that kind of has a knock on effect of it. So the faculty as well, because now when the faculty look out at their costs, half that gets a student athletes.

[00:18:30] So they have to have a lot more understanding and a lot more empathy as well. I think it’s, I don’t think it would be unfair to say that a lot of college faculty. Um, have a love, hate relationship with athletics, you know? Um, but I think what’s, what’s what I’ve seen turn around over the last four years is our student athlete population has grown.

[00:18:46] Is, is that empathy from the, from the professors, uh, to be more helpful, more understanding, uh, more accommodating. So. So it is. And, uh, and then some other bits it’s in a fantastic college town. I think Lynchburg, Virginia is one of the best college towns in America. It’s it’s absolutely, you know, you’ll find most colleges are just in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

[00:19:05] Um, they’ve got a Piggly wiggly and a stoplight and that’s about all they’ve got. Uh, Lynchburg is fantastic. Absolutely everything you need is going to really excite in downtown. And, um, you know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s a really, really cool place. So, um, um, because of all those things, I think it fosters a tremendous invite environment on campus.

[00:19:24] It’s really, really close that you’ll, you’ll develop really quality relationships here on and off the, off the team. And, um, it’s a place where, you know, I’ve been really amazed. Um, How much the alumni and probably by that, I mean, the soccer, the, my particular love this school. Like they absolutely bleed yellow and black and, um, and that, that stands to the quality of experience that they have when they hear.

[00:19:51] Matt: Oh, that’s great. Well, you know, you mentioned supportive faculty, but you know, w what other support mechanisms are there in place for the student athletes and, and, and how do they balance the, the, the rigors of academics and the rigors of being a college soccer player?

[00:20:08] Coach: Yeah, I think before I took this head coaching job, I turned down a couple of others, but two or three other jobs I turned down and probably the reason I did that was because I didn’t, I didn’t believe.

[00:20:20] That the school offered enough support. Certainly student athletes, you know, I didn’t feel like I could sit on a podcast like this or, or sit in front of a parent and say, yeah, come to this school. It will really benefit you. That was very different. When it came to Randolph, I just felt like the place was absolutely full of faculty and staff who were dedicated to the students and the student athletes, you know?

[00:20:42] So for example, we have a. A lady here, her title is director of student success. You know, she is an individual who just spends all day, how do we help students? How do we help students? How do we help students fantastic to a tutoring staff and a department that does all those different things. Um, you know, we even within the soccer program, Academics is the number one priority of our program is the number one priority.

[00:21:07] So even within our program, because listen, Randolph’s not an Ivy league school, don’t get me wrong, but it’s pretty rigorous academically. And so even, even from my perception, Every single play had knows that they have the ability to say, Hey coach, I am really struggling in this project or I’m behind on this.

[00:21:24] Do you mind if I miss practice today? No problem. No problem yet. That’s actually fine. Go do that. Because at the end of the day, what I know is if I have players who feel comfortable, that they’re on top of their work and on top of their coursework, they will perform better. On the soccer field, because they’ll have less worries and less things to worry about.

[00:21:41] So, um, so yeah, we, we do everything we possibly can, um, to help players. And I think the other thing that this take two initiative has done for us, this new, um, Uh, this new structure of our semester is we now never, our game schedule is Wednesday, Saturday. So with Wednesdays off, we never miss class. We never miss class, but for the games anymore, you know, so there’s no, Hey, I’ve got a mess, two classes, cause I’m on the road on a Wednesday, you know, so now I’m having to make up notes and I’m having to make up quizzes.

[00:22:09] That doesn’t exist anymore because, because there’s no games Wednesday. So yeah, it has again, it’s like I said, this is the small school to come through because it’s, it’s designed for student athletes to be successful. It’s designed to student athletes to have a positive balance between athletics and academics.

[00:22:26] Matt: No, that’s fantastic. And kind of leads me into my next question. So obviously you said Wednesday, Saturday is your, is your cadence for games, which so there’s no class missing, which is awesome. Um, but what, what, what a typical week look like for a player in terms of getting up, going to class practice, you know, how does that all fit in?

[00:22:46] What, what, what would a typical week look like during the

[00:22:48] Coach: season? Yeah, so, uh, I guess I’ll just bounce through what our schedule was in the fall and as most colleges or. It tweaks each semester kind of based on class schedules and things of that. But generally speaking a Monday for us is probably our most intense day of the week in terms of a practice.

[00:23:07] So we’ll, um, we’ll probably left at 6:00 PM. So, so the kid that got killed will wake up. He’ll go get some breakfast. They’ll go to class in the morning, go grab himself some lunch. Um, then in the afternoon he’s kind of got the off names himself. Ideally do a little bit of homework or something like that.

[00:23:24] But then at about 6:00 PM on a Monday, we’ll lift the lift for an hour with one of my assistant coaches. Uh, then at seven o’clock we’ll have a team. Seven o’clock Monday team meetings are a review of Saturday’s game and then kind of a first look at our Wednesday opponent. Um, and then we’ll go out and practice, uh, after the team meeting.

[00:23:45] So practices a little bit little later on a Monday. It’s kind of blocked off eight to 10. Uh, we’re probably done normally about more like nine 30, but, um, Monday practices are out of possession practice. So it’s very, very intense. I think we’re the best team in the country when we don’t have the bull. Um, and it’s because of the work we do, um, on, uh, on Monday evenings in terms of our outer possession training sessions.

[00:24:06] So a really, really intense training session, but really, really fun as well. So that’s a Monday, Tuesday. We have a team meeting a little bit earlier, about four 30 on a Tuesday, and then we’ll practice five to seven Tuesdays team meeting, meeting as a deep dive into Wednesday’s opponent. Um, and then that training session is, uh, a light, not a light, but lighter, uh, and a more tactical approach to the, to the game the next day.

[00:24:33] Um, Wednesdays of course, game day. So, uh, if we’re home. You’ve actually got the whole day off. If we’re home, you, you know, you’re, you’re doing the locker room at five 30. Um, and what you do with the days you’re on, we do have like a team study hole in there kind of around, uh, kind of 1130 to one. Um, and, uh, And then, and then the games, uh, obviously for on the road, we’ll, we’ll leave whenever we need to leave on the road.

[00:24:57] First-day um, Thursday, uh, is a lift again, but a little bit light. So it’s more of a recovery lift and injury prevention lift. Um, and then it’s, then it’s another light practice. So what we’ll do is we’ll have a TV lift at 16 meeting at seven. That team meeting again is, is a review of the Wednesday. And they first looked at Saturday’s opponent and that, and then that Thursday training session, if you played significant minutes, it’s a really light session.

[00:25:24] You’ll be with our athletic trainer. He’ll take you through a stretching routine. We’ll we’ll then probably get you in the pool, um, and have, have a pool workout. If you didn’t play significant minutes, then Thursday’s a pretty intense training session because it’s an opportunity for you to create. For you to show that you should be playing significant minutes of you to keep your fitness levels kind of level with the guys that are getting the game minutes and then Friday, uh, team meeting where we, again, not so deep dive look at Saturday’s opponent, uh, and then Friday Australian session, a little lighter again, as it’s a tactical, a tactical session for the, for the Saturday game.

[00:26:00] And then, and then game on Saturday, Sundays are always available. So that’s kind of the general flow of things. And, uh, Yeah, it’s been, it’s been a successful, um, should we say schedule or process for us? Okay.

[00:26:14] Matt: Sounds good. Now you guys are in the ODAC conference, um, for those. For those not familiar with, with the Virginia geography in the ODX.

[00:26:23] What, what is your typical, uh, both conference and non-conference travel radius look like how far games usually, uh, for you guys. Yeah.

[00:26:33] Coach: I love the Odette because it’s probably one of the top two or three division, three conferences in the country. Uh, we’ve probably got frankly, three or four teams, maybe five teams that would comfortably compete in division one conferences.

[00:26:48] Patriot league or the big side or, you know, things like that. So it’s a really, really high level conference with a really low travel radius, which is great. So as it relates to in conference, vast majority of our games are within two hours, which is fantastic. We do have, uh, uh, Virginia Wesleyan is in our conference.

[00:27:06] So they’re kind of the outlier that they’re about four hour drive. Um, and then even within, within, uh, within our non-conference, you know, again, four hours is probably the maximum where we’re probably a typical two to three hour radius, um, as it relates to non-conference games and things like that. So, um, so yeah, you know, again, we’re able to play really high, high quality soccer without having to kind of suffer for it.

[00:27:31] If you know what I mean, kind of spending lots of time away from campus and things like that. Yeah, for

[00:27:37] Matt: sure. Uh, looking at your, uh, uh, schedule from last season and it looks, it looks like a fairly, well, much more manageable than some of the other schools across the country have to deal with. Right. Well, let’s talk more about the team and the soccer side of things.

[00:27:51] So I looked at the roster you had about 35 on the roster. Is that kinda your typical roster size that you’re looking to have each year?

[00:27:59] Coach: Yeah, the number we have to be. Um, that’s kind of mandated by the athletic department and, um, and in all honesty, that’s, that’s my goal every year is to be at 30. The reason it’s over 30 is our retention rates are so high.

[00:28:14] Um, w we retain our student athletes. Ridiculous of mine. Uh, the five years before I became the head coach, the retention rate in this program was 50%. One of every two kids was leaving the program. My retention right now is in the low 90%. Um, you know, so I think that tells us we’re recruiting the right players, the right fit for the program.

[00:28:37] And then we’re providing an outstanding experience when they. Um, and so yeah, it, it, it is, it’s amazing to me. So we’ve kind of gotten ourselves to 34 35 because in your mind, you’re recruiting thinking, well, we might lose one or two guys that they maybe want to move on and they’re not missed. And even the guys that are maybe struggling to play in time.

[00:28:56] So, you know, obviously I think that says a lot about the type of program that we built here. Um, the, even guys that aren’t seeing the field, the way they’d like to. The culture we built is so compelling that they’d rather stay and fight for that place than go somewhere else. No.

[00:29:13] Matt: That’s awesome. Well, earlier you had mentioned, uh, you know, handing stuff off to an assistant.

[00:29:18] So what, what does your overall soccer staff look like? Uh, how many of them are there, what roles kind of do they play and how does that work?

[00:29:26] Coach: Well, in reality, you’re, you’re looking at the soccer staff. Um, we have one it’s really just me beyond that. It’s it’s basic guys volunteering their time. So, um, So, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s a challenge.

[00:29:41] And, and I think there’s, there’s probably some value in understanding that as a perspective, they’re a perspective student athletes listening to this, this, and there are some programs that are fully staffed and by fully staffed, I mean, they’ve got two full-time assistant coaches. They’ve got maybe a graduate assistant.

[00:29:54] They’ve also maybe even got a manager. So there’s four or five coaches that are able to. Carrie the workload, really, when I, when I’m saying I’m handing off things to an assistant coach on the best I’ve got is I can afford an assistant coach and email, and he might be able to put it in a database for me.

[00:30:10] That’s it. Everything else that happens in our program, I do it from washing the laundry to replying, to the recruits, to planning, practice, to everything, every single thing. So obviously, and I think there’s, there’s value in sort of trying to understand that now as a prospective student, not that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to sort of.

[00:30:28] Decipher that, because if you go on our website, we’ve got listed or, or, or all the guys that help us, but they will, but none of them will actually work here. They, they, they come to the games and they come to practices. They’ve all got full-time jobs. So although it looks like we’ve got a really big staff, we don’t, we have me.

[00:30:48] Um, and so yeah, very difficult for, for. Prospective student athletes to decide for that. Do you know what I mean, as they’re looking there, but that’s sometimes one thing to think of if you’re contacting coaches, um, and you know, hearing back, or for example, if you’ve built a relationship with a coach where now you’re texting back and forth, but the coach hasn’t replied to your texts for five days, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

[00:31:13] It just literally might mean that coach. He’s trying to get to you. They’re just so swamped with the things they’ve got that they literally might not be able to. So, um, so yeah, so that is not as challenging and it, you know, it forces me to be exceptionally well organized and exceptionally efficient with my time so that we can run a program at a high, high level like we are.

[00:31:36] Um, but when it really being a one man show, which is in reality, wants to do. Yeah, no, I, I,

[00:31:43] Matt: I, I remember those days fondly a long time ago when I was a small school, you know, we, we let the, we let the ground scoop, cut the field once and only once. Cause after that you never touch in our field again. So I wrote the John Deere.

[00:31:57] I get it. Well, How would you, you know, you talked about, uh, high pressure, you know, when you don’t have possessions. So, but overall, how would you describe your style of coaching, the team style of play and then just kind of the overall culture of the team?

[00:32:16] Coach: Yeah, I think as it relates to on the field, You know, we, we certainly want to be a possession based team.

[00:32:23] We, we have, we have a few goals, a couple of big goals that we have in, in games is we want, we want over 500 passes a game and we’re, and we’re aiming for 70% possession. Now we’ve never actually achieved 70% possession yet, but that is the goal. And that is the intention of, of how we want to want to play the game.

[00:32:40] That’s built around the idea for me, that soccer is a chaotic game, college soccer. Chaos on steroids and we want to control, we want to control as much of the chaos as we possibly can. So, you know, so yet, have we achieved 77% possession? Not yet, but we’ve had three or four games in the sixties. Um, more than half our game, we dominate possession and, and these are statistics I could show you with.

[00:33:03] Uh, we, we use in the staff, um, and things that for our, for our game analysis and stuff like that. So, um, and so that’s how we play. That’s how we train. That is how we practice now. All that. If you were to ask me, describe your team to us. I think the reality of our style is we’re a, we’re a high pressure, high pressing counter pressing team.

[00:33:22] That’s what we are again with we’re the best team in the country. And we don’t have the bull, the goal of that. Ultimately, as we want to win the ball as high up the field, as we possibly can. And again, one of our goals is we want to create chances and five passes or less. Again, we, we, we trained the way we press as a team is outstanding.

[00:33:42] Um, within, for example, and again, these are things we can all back up because when I have recruits on campus, for example, and we’re going through our tactical model and we’re watching clips and we’re looking at statistics, what I always say to them is listen, every single college coach you go and talk to is going to tell you there are possession based team.

[00:34:00] That’s not the reality of what I see on a Saturday when I’m playing these guys. Most of the teams, most of the teams I play against are very, very direct. And so the reality is, is can prove it because we can all prove it on the whiteboard, but can you prove it on film? And can you prove it statistically?

[00:34:16] So for example, within Instagram, there’s about a million different stats that they, that they measure. But the really important step for us is pressing efficiency. Suppressing efficiency, very simply means you don’t have. As a team, you tried to win it back. Were you successful or not? And so the nice thing about getting start is you can write.

[00:34:34] Lots of teams, including premier league teams and things like that. So I did a little study, uh, I think Liverpool probably the best pressing team in the premier league. Right. And, and they’re, they are, they press at a 64% efficiency. So that means every two out of three times, the Liverpool try to win the ball back.

[00:34:49] They get it back, which is phenomenal. Our pressing efficiency is 63. So we all, when we are pressing, it has an extremely high level, which means we typically win the ball back in our opponents have, which then means we’re able to play and combine and go to go quickly. So I think that’s, um, in a nutshell, without going to spending half an hour, going through the whole tactical model, that’s, that’s kind of how we, how we play.

[00:35:14] We w we were looking to win the ball back high up the field, which, which we’re able to do. Play quickly, can we, can we create a chance in five passes or less? Um, and that’s how we look to play. Oh, that’s, that’s

[00:35:26] Matt: awesome. Um, well, you know, like, as you mentioned, we’re talking here in April, so it’s the off season.

[00:35:32] What does your typical off season look like?

[00:35:35] Coach: Yeah, we just, we just the D three level we’re alive five weeks. Um, and so we just, yesterday we just finished week four of that, of that cycle. So, um, So the D three ball, uh, model it’s five weeks, let’s train three times a week. And, um, and then you and I had one play dates, um, which is a horrendously bad model that really understand why that is, but, but it, but it is.

[00:35:58] Um, so within those five weeks, we really try to maximize everything that we do. So for example, yes, of course we’re practicing and lifting in that. But also on those days where on the lights would be with the players. I try to do small group training sessions with them. So I’m absolutely exhausted. So between, for example, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, when we train I myself, I’ve been on the training ground for about 20 hours in those three days, because we’re trying, I’m just trying to spend as much time as I can with the players.

[00:36:25] So, so we have a group training session as normal, but then I break the team up into groups of four and I get to spend, and I do 45 minute training sessions just with those groups of four, just to try to give them a. Student athlete experience, first of all, and get access to me. And then I get this cause you not as mad as a coach, I’ve got 30 guys at practice.

[00:36:44] There’s four or five guys. I might not even talk to. I didn’t mean that to happen. It just so happened in, in, in the flow of things. I didn’t even get to say good morning to him or whatever it is. So, you know, the small group training sessions allowing me to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with everybody.

[00:36:57] Um, I think the thing I love about our group is. True true off season. Is that kind of Thanksgiving when, when the season kind of ends until about March, when you’re able to get back together that three or four months, the number one thing about our team, our players is they love the game. They absolutely love the game.

[00:37:16] So I look out my window. I can see the fields. Almost every time I look out of that window, somebody down on that field, whether it’s a kid working on his own, a group of four or five, trying to get a little extra working together or the entire team playing pickup. So this is a, this is a place where if you truly love soccer, if this is a passion of yours, come play here because you’ll be surrounded by guys that love it as much as you do.

[00:37:39] Um, and so, yeah, they’re just out there a cause. Yeah, of course they want to get better, but B they just enjoy being out there playing the game together, you know? Um, and so that’s really cool. As it relates to the summer, we work as hard as we can to help guys get placed that. That’s higher level, some of teams as we possibly can, whether it’s, um, ups, cell USL to, you know, whatever we can, we’re working hard to get guys placed.

[00:38:04] And that’s not always possible for everybody that there are kids that need to go do internships for their degree and all those different things. So obviously we work within the balance of that, but, um, but yeah, th this is a place where we try to maximize the off season as much as we possibly can. Again, the guys loved the game so much here.

[00:38:21] That’s often play a driven and as a coach, I certainly appreciate that. Well,

[00:38:26] Matt: that’s awesome. And I appreciate all the time. We’ll get the last question here. The, my, my catchall, you know, what didn’t we talk about? What didn’t we cover? What’s something maybe you want to reiterate. This is kind of your last chance to sell us on Randolph.

[00:38:41] Coach: Yeah, listen, I think the biggest thing is, is, is as an American.

[00:38:51] Reality is whether this is right wrong or indifferent. You’re going to probably find yourself playing at the division three level because the division, one of the division, two coaches are obsessed with international players. Now I signed a bit, I’m going to sound hypocritical there because I was one of those international planets once.

[00:39:04] Right. I came over from England on a full scholarship, played all four years. And what that caused was for someone to get bumped down and someone’s getting bumped down. But again, you know, I’m going to these MLS next events. And there’s there’s kids on these MLS next camp, 2022 grads that don’t have any school yet.

[00:39:23] It’s April school, school starts in August. And so I think three is an exceptionally high level of soccer, you know, in the last 12 months map, we’ve sent three players to play professionally in Europe, three players out of the division three program. And we will send more after that. So I think. Yes, of course we will dream and desire to play at the division one level.

[00:39:46] That’s that’s really, really exciting, but listen, we we’ve been division one teams, Washington and Lee and our conference have been division one teams, Lynch, university of Lynchburg, and our co in our league have beaten division one teams. It’s not the be-all and end-all what you really want to do is you want to go and find a place where you’re going to play, what are you going to contribute to the, to, to the team?

[00:40:05] And where are you going to, uh, you going to have a really fantastic student athlete experience? Because let me tell you this. Um, I’m thinking of teams in the big side there, it seems on the big side. Yes. Division one, but you’ll get your butt kicked every single week. That’s not a lot of fun, you know, like go to a place where you wanted go to a place where you’re appreciated go to a place where you can not only play, but contribute.

[00:40:27] So that program growing and getting better. Um, and I think that’s what we’ve been able to build at Randolph here. We’ve built a listen, we beat the number one team in America in the fall. We were probably one quality went away from being a top 25 program. And that’s what we’re going to be. We’re going to be a top 25 program that competes for national championship.

[00:40:45] Uh, we, that today, no, we know that today, but you know, me and Matt, you and we’ll talk again in two or three years, man, we will be. And, um, and, and listen, I think every program in America has the ability to be that, but as you’re looking for a program, You got to look for a coach, that’s got vision, that’s got energy, that’s got the ability to see it through to the end of that.

[00:41:05] Um, and it creates an environment that guys love playing in. And, uh, that’s what we’ve got at Randolph. And if you’re listening to this podcast and, and you think that sounds like something you’re interested in, we we’d certainly love to hear.

[00:41:19] Matt: Awesome. Well, coach, I appreciate the time. Congratulations on a great season.

[00:41:22] Uh, you know, I saw that and it always makes me happy to see Washington and Lee lose. So, so congrats on that. And, uh, I really do appreciate the time. Sorry, the dog’s going crazy in the background. Somebody must be the front door, but, um, we’ll keep keeping an eye on you. I’ll definitely, uh, if I, if I get up driving through Virginia here, uh, in the summer fall, I have to swing by and the Lynchburg and say hello.

[00:41:47] So you’d always be welcome. All right. Thanks coach.

[00:41:52] Coach: Thanks, bye.