Richard Bland College Women’s Soccer – Coach Kayla Tierney

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Tierney from the Richard Bland Women’s Program in Virigina. We talk about the benefit of being connected with William & Mary. She describes what a typical week’s schedule looks like during the season. Lastly, we discuss staff and their top-notch athletic training team.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Kayla from Richard Bland college. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Hey, thanks for having me today. 

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. Um, you guys are, it’s, it’s an interesting school is that you’re, you’re a separate two year university, but you got that love from William and Mary there in Williamsburg.

So hopefully that’s a helpful partnership for you guys. 

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. Um, it definitely helps with the, you know, the academic side and, and kind of having the, the academic rigor that comes from being a, under William Mary. Um, we kind of have that sweet spot of being closer to a four year than what you might get some, from some true, you know, two year community colleges in terms of academics.

Matt: Yeah, well, it sounds like it. Well, we’re here, uh, we’re talking at the end of October, your season just wrapped up, but, and I know you’re going to be hitting that recruiting trail hard, Just out of curiosity, how much, if any, recruiting are you do dirt doing? During the season, like if you had to give a percentage of time spent on it, what do you think it would be 

Coach: like, maybe 10%.

Um, you know, we, we went to wags up in Fredericksburg, um, in October and that’s, that’s basically it. If we can catch a club game, we’ll try to. Um, but we’re, you know, we’re kind of spread out with our conference play. So we’re on the road a lot. Um, just, just with the team and in the season that it kind of gets hard to, to go to those individual games.

So, 

Matt: okay. Well, now that, now that your [00:01:30] schedule is opening up right. November, December, it’s college showcase season. So what, what’s going on? Where do you like to go? What places do you like to look for players at where, where can folks expect to see you on the sidelines? 

Coach: Uh, so we’ll, we’ll hit the, you know, the mid Atlantic pretty hard.

We’re definitely going to be down, um, at NCFC down in Raleigh. My assistant’s going to be in Bethesda at the Bethesda premier cup. Um, you know, we’ll hit. Even some of the smaller tournaments, like the Capital Fall Classic, um, and those types of things where you don’t necessarily expect to see a ton of college coaches, um, will be at pretty much anything and everything that we can get to within North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, um, you know, those, those areas, um, we’re going to, we’re going to be there and trying to make a name a little bit more for Richard Bland and those events.

Cause, you know, I don’t think, you know, You see a ton of of the smaller juco’s at those types of events. So that in and of itself will help us out. So, 

Matt: okay, what do you guys do your own I. D. camps? Are you your staff work? Other I. D. camps? Are they part of your recruiting process? 

Coach: Um, so we have not yet done our own.

That’s something that we’re definitely going to look into doing. Um, I think the bigger tool for us is just getting to, um, other, other ID cams where, you know, there’s bigger schools are going to have more kids than probably what we’ll attract at this point. Um, but yes, both, both are on the table. 

Matt: Okay.

Well, whether it’s at a club game or tournament or showcase or ID camp, what is it that you’re looking for in a player that you want to bring to Richard Bland? [00:03:00] 

Coach: You know, we want, we want difference makers. We want, we want people who are going to make a difference on the field with their play, um, positionally speaking.

It’s obviously kind of varies from position to position, but you know, can you come in and be an impact kid? Um, and we want somebody who’s going to make our, our culture and our program off the field better. Um, you know, I want the high academic kids because. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t have the highest team GPA on campus.

Um, I want kids who are willing to come in and work hard and don’t want things given to them in terms of their off field personality. You know, who, who are you as a person? Um, you know, I, I like the kids who come in and they have that little bit of grit to them. Um, but they also are able to come in and understand that, you know, You know, college soccer, it’s, it’s not easy and they’re willing to work hard for whatever it is they want, whether it’s playing time or, you know, the grades in the classroom.

Um, but yeah, so I, I think, you know, it’s, it’s hard to find leaders and it’s hard to find difference makers on the field. Um, so seeing how kids react and respond in games to, you know, individual failures or team issues, you know, does the referee make a bad call? How do you react to that? That’s kind of the initial thing that I look at is, is how you carry yourself on the field as well.

Yeah. 

Matt: Okay, well it When people are, when people tend to look at junior colleges, right, some of them don’t feel the need to move on and play at a four year school, some do, um, do you have players now that, that, you know, want, that are maybe graduating that want to [00:04:30] do that four year? Have they found, are they starting to look at options?

What’s that look like for players? 

Coach: Yes, so the sophomore class, um, that I took over, um, there’s one or two that are like still kind of on the fence about whether or not they want to play. Um, they’re also nursing majors and, and one is, you know, trying to be a. A NICU nurse. Um, so, you know, they’re not necessarily like that’s not a priority.

Um, nursing school is, and if they can play, they want to, um, but definitely my freshmen, um, they are kids that will move on and they will, they will be able to, to play on a four year team and, and they’re excited about that. And, you know, they, they, after games, you know, are we going to get the film because part of it is they’re that motivated to watch film and, and make, you figure out where they went wrong, but they also.

You know, want to clip those film, those film edits up for four year coaches, which is something we’re absolutely helping and willing to help them with. 

Matt: Wow. That’s great. Well, is there. You know, you’re hitting the recruiting trail, obviously hard. Uh, you inherited a smaller roster. So is there a roster size you feel is ideal that you’re, you’re going to try to fill for next season?

Coach: Yeah. Uh, 16, 17 would be ideal for next season. Um, I’m losing seven sophomores. Yeah, six freshmen, um, you know, in an ideal world in the next year or two, I’d like to get it up to like 20 or 22. I don’t want to carry a huge roster. You know, part of the reason you come to juco is you want to play. You [00:06:00] want to develop.

So that way you can, you know, say you played your first two years when you go into a four year. Um, so I don’t want to carry a huge roster. That 20 to 22 is going to be a sweet spot, but I also recognize that my goal is to bring in 10 this year and bringing in any more than that is probably going to be challenging.

So, you know, we’ll shoot for 10. And if we happen to get more, great, but 16 for the fall would be, would be better than where we’re at. 

Matt: All right. All right. Well, let’s learn a little bit more about the school. Um, you know, you, you started February. What was it that drew you to the school? What have you found to be some of the awesome parts about the school?

Some things we didn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Uh, yeah, so I was an assistant at Randolph Macon for the last three years. Um, I think I got to a point where I was ready to make the leap, um, to be a head coach. And I thought, you know, starting at a JUCO is really a good place to start because you’re, you’re bringing in kids that, you know, they just, they want to be there to play and they want to get better.

And. That’s ultimately what my job is and what my, my why is, is, is making kids better on and off the field. Um, and it’s hard to get into another school with, you know, whether it’s another ODAC school or any other D3 schools with, you know, a few years of, of assistance experience that, that quickly. So, you know, I said, all right, we’ll, we’ll try the, the Juco world.

And, you know, it’s been really cool because you get a lot more time for development. [00:07:30] Um, then you do it at division three, even our spring season is longer. We’re not limited to those 24 contact dates. Um, we get six scrimmages in the spring instead of the one play date. Um, so we really get to be more hands on and development focused, you know, individually and as a group in the spring.

And that’s where I, you know, I think obviously in college athletics, that’s where the most growth comes from individually is the off season, um, So yeah, I think that’s been a huge perk for me and really something that makes it hard to go back to a Division III or any other NCAA school, to be honest. I think, too, is you see a more immediate impact in the lives of these JUCO kids because you’re kind of immediately playing that hand and helping them move on.

And so you get to work a lot more closely with them and kind of, you know, In a more, not rushed, but deeper level quicker because, you know, you only have such a short time with them, which has been really cool. Um, you know, seeing grades come up and, and kids who, it’s not that they couldn’t get better grades, they just weren’t, you know, trying, or they just, you know, didn’t realize that the importance of it, or, you know, You know, they’ve never had a coach come in to push them and now they’re doing their extra work in the offseason and I don’t even have to like, ask about it like they’re, they’re, you know, I had some of my sophomores that were texting me all summer.

Hey, I’m watching this game. Who should I be watching? Um, that kind of stuff. I think you, you sometimes lose that because [00:09:00] the, the NCAA kids, Sometimes they take it for granted. You know, they’re, they’re there. They’re at that four year, whereas you get the, the two year kids are hungry. So that’s been a really cool experience too, to be a part of, um, and helping them, you know, really flourish and thrive in that.

Um, but the school itself, you know, we’ve got 14 athletic teams and we’ve got, you know, women’s volleyball is on the national map. They went to national playoffs last year, they went to nationals for beach volleyball. Um, historically women’s basketball has been very good. Men’s basketball. So athletics is taking very seriously here.

Um, at Richard Bland, we’re working on, uh, developing a new athletics facility as well, um, both for soccer and baseball, new fields. Um, and then they’re going to build some, some extra locker room buildings and things like that. Um, so the investment in athletics is there, which is something you don’t always get to, um, especially at smaller schools.

So that’s been really, really cool to see. And, you know, it’s, it’s Our athletic director is great. You can go to him and, you know, if he can find out a way to help you, even if it’s not exactly the way you want, he’s, he’s going to work on that. And he, you know, it’s cool. Cause from the top, you know, top down, we, we’ve got the support we need.

Matt: Awesome.

So let’s, uh, let’s take a back a couple of weeks. Let’s pretend you’re in the heart of that conference season. Kind of walk me through, what is a typical week look like for the players in terms of wins, practice games, class meals, all that kind of thing. 

Coach: Sure. Um, Most of our [00:10:30] classes are done by about two or three o’clock.

Um, so some days, you know, we, we had practice at three or three 30. Um, and before that we would lift at two o’clock. Um, so we do some lifting during the season because I think that’s important for injury prevention stuff, you know, it’s light. You know, more maintenance stuff, not, not heavy lifts. Um, and we kind of tweak that week to week, depending on what the game schedule looks like in terms of opponents or timing of the games.

Uh, but usually we have two games a week. Uh, they’re usually going to be like a Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, that kind of schedule. Um, Classes are, like I said, they’re usually done by about 2 or 3 o’clock. We train for about an hour and a half. Um, maybe a little shorter hour 15. Um, you know, we want a high intensity practice and with 13 on the roster, uh, you know, a 2 hour practice isn’t really necessary.

Uh, so we get a lot of reps in. We keep the tempo high. We keep the energy high and we get them in and out. Um, then they have the rest of the evening. They go to dinner at the CAF, um, you know, five, six o’clock. Um, and then they do their homework and that’s kind of what the week to week looks like. We have a day off, you know, on typically on Sundays, um, is our off day and We get right back to it every Monday.

Um, you know, we, we schedule meetings if we need to in terms of film stuff, or we’ll do, uh, you know, like class check ins if we need to with individuals. But otherwise, I mean, there are, our girls are [00:12:00] pretty on top of everything. So, you know, I haven’t had to do too much extras with the academic side of things.

I check grades and if I need to call somebody into the office to kind of walk through what’s going on with them, I will. But I haven’t had to do too much, you know, group, you know, whether it was like office hours or, or study halls or whatever, the, the team’s been very good this season. So, um, that’s been a nice plus.

Um, but yeah, usually like our, our lifts are an hour or so, and then we’ll practice for about an hour, hour and a half. Um, and then usually the, the game, the day before a game, we do a pregame practice. Um, that’s pretty much the same every single pregame, um, in terms of the same activities. And then, you know, in the beginning or end of it, we’ll kind of talk tactically about what the game plan is.

Um, just to kind of brush up on it, but, you know, we like to keep them competitive. We’ll do some sorts of shooting, some transition drills, uh, you know, small sided stuff, and then we’ll open it up to bigger goals and get them, get them competing. Um, I think that’s super important to get that mindset the day before a game after, you know, you spend some technical tactical stuff throughout the week.

Um, so yeah, that’s kind of what our week looks like. 

Matt: All right. All right. Well, one of the. You know, there’s a couple big benefits usually to go into a JUCO. One is, it’s usually cheaper than a lot of the four year options, and the D1 JUCOs also have the ability to give more scholarships than any other division out there.

So, I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but what, you know, what could a [00:13:30] potential prospective student athlete who might want to go to Richard Bland, What are they looking at? Whether they’re in state or out of state, if that matters, like what, what is, what does that all look like? 

Coach: Yeah. So in state, uh, you know, quote unquote sticker price is about 21, 000.

Um, we are division two, so we can offer scholarship up to your full tuition and fees. Um, so that’s, uh, A little over 9, 000 that we can cover. Um, so roughly if, if you were to get a full ride and live on campus, um, you would just pay for your housing, which is roughly 12 a year. Um, now, that’s obviously without fast for anything like that included.

Um, yeah. I’ve got some girls who are commuter students. They, they live, you know, within 15, 20 minutes of school. So one of them is on a full ride and she doesn’t pay a penny. Um, so she doesn’t live on campus. So in theory, depending on, you know, if you’re a little more local kid, you could commute. Um, and you know, if you’re, if you’re getting the full soccer scholarship, then you’re not paying anything.

Um, most of our kids in terms of scholarship, I would say like 75 percent of our roster is on some sort of soccer money. Um, so yeah, there’s a good chance that you get at least something from, from soccer. Um, and I’m, I’m pretty good about, you know, if you’ve come in and maybe your first year you’re not on something, uh, your second year you show me that you’re willing to work, you’re, you’re doing all the right things, you’re following kind of the team expectations, [00:15:00] you know, I’ll, I’ll give you some scholarship money because I think that’s earned.

Um, so that’s definitely something that year to year can change as well. Um, but yeah, that’s out of state is 20, roughly 27, 000. Um, and same thing we can cover up to your full out of state tuition. Um, so, you know, obviously that’s a bigger chunk of my scholarship budget, but that’s not out of the question.

So, 

Matt: okay, awesome. 

Coach: And international is actually the same rate as, uh, out of state students. So, 

Matt: so is that something you’re looking into? I mean, your roster is all Virginia now, but is it, you know, are you looking at the potential for? Cause many, many juco rosters, uh, start to see heavy international numbers.

Coach: Yeah. So our, our men’s coach is well connected internationally. So that’s something for sure that he’s going to kind of help me with, with getting in touch with his contacts. Um, and, and we’re going to start having more of those conversations in the upcoming, uh, you know, year or two, I think. It’s, it’s going to be more of an addition onto a roster versus like building the entire roster around, you know, uh, mostly international kids, just cause I think on the women’s side, it’s kind of hard, um, especially with the money piece.

Um, like I said, that takes up a much larger chunk of budget and I know from the couple conversations I’ve had with, with one of our international contacts, his girls need a lot more money than what I can get them to. Um, so we’re still trying to figure that out, but yes, um, I would definitely love to add a few international players to the roster.

I think [00:16:30] that’d be huge. Um, I think it’s great cultural experience for them and, and the, you know, American players, the local kids. So. 

Matt: Absolutely. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. Um, obviously you’ve talked about your roster, but the rest of the roster, what’s, what’s your staff look like?

What are maybe some other support staff when the athletic department or any anybody that helps with the team? What does that look like? 

Coach: Yeah, so I have an assistant. Um, he is full time for all intents and purposes of, of the word full time. I mean, obviously in college athletics, we know what that means. Um, so he is, you know, he’s there every practice there, every game travels with us.

Um, You know, he runs our goalkeepers, you know, sessions right now, and he helps with the men’s team as well. Um, so he’s been fantastic. He worked for me previously, uh, in a, in a small club that we worked at, um, up in Harrisonburg, Virginia. So he was 1 of my coaches for 1 of these youth, uh, travel teams up there.

Um, yeah. And he spent the last two years at Wyoming as an assistant. So, uh, it was awesome calling Matthew back and having him come home. And he’s been great. He’s young. He’s excited. I’m young, but he’s younger than me. Uh, he’s excited. You know, he’s, he’s eager to, to get on the recruiting trail too. He’s, he’s all about it all in.

Um, so I don’t think you’re going to find two more passionate coaches. Um, cause man, the two of us together, it’s, it’s hard to get us to quit sometimes. But, uh, yeah, we’ve got two athletic trainers who have been [00:18:00] huge for us. Um, and I know that that’s sometimes a resource that’s lacking, um, in, in Juco. Um, you know, we actually work very closely with VCU Health.

Um, so we use the VCU orthopedics and, and, um, Um, our quote unquote team doctor who we can send kids to, you know, if they’ve got, you know, sinus infection or whatever else going on, or even like simpler, like injuries, like concussion stuff. Um, so we’ve got their orthopedic doctors and then we’ve got, uh, the other one, um, and they’re, they’re an invaluable resource for us.

That’s, that’s how we got through a 13 player season. Um, and our training room is incredibly well, you know, well staff well, you know, all the, all the gear, all the boots, the everything you could need, the stem, the, all the different tools, um, cupping, all that kind of stuff. Um, and our athletic trainer, uh, our head athletic trainer, I actually worked with previously for the last three years at Randolph Macon.

Uh, so she and I have a really, really good working relationship together. Um, you know, she’s been great at kind of helping me maybe when I’m not paying as much attention or, or, you know, overly, you know, Involved in game planning stuff like, you know, Hey, this, this, this girl might need a little extra rest today, or maybe give her fewer reps or whatever.

So like I said, they’ve been invaluable at helping me get the players through. And, you know, I try to work closely with them in terms of, Hey, okay. In the off season, you know, this is going to be our [00:19:30] weightlifting schedule. What do you think about this? Are there any mobility exercises that you think are important that I should incorporate?

So I try to use them more than just send a kid when they’re hurt. You know, I, I stressed to my players that. Even if you’re not injured, you should be spending time in the training room. Um, so that’s been huge. And then we’ve got our associate athletic director. She’s fantastic. She was previously the coach.

Um, you know, she’s, she’s there for anything and everything I need in terms of learning the ropes as a first year head coach. Our athletic director, like I mentioned, he’s great. Um, you know, the, the president has, has met with us. She’s a part of our spring banquet, sports banquet awards and whatnot. Um, the other coaches on campus are all very supportive as well.

So, you know, I think you get that really cool. Experience of being kind of tight knit because we’re such a small school, you know, you, you get that feel with, with those, those other teams and coaches. So. 

Matt: Awesome. Awesome. Well, what about you? You, you mentioned it a little bit besides being energetic, uh, what, how would you describe your coaching style and, and the style of play you want to play there?

Coach: Yeah, so I would say coaching style wise, I am very, very demanding. Um, you know, I expect a lot of you, but you know, if you meet those, those expectations, we’re going to get along great. If not, we’re gonna have problems. Um, and that’s very clear. I lay everything out in, in preseason. I lay it out in recruiting visits.

Um, I give them our code of [00:21:00] conduct, every, every recruit that comes in my office. So they know what they’re signing up for. I’m, I, that’s one thing I take pride in, you know, I’m, I’m very transparent. I don’t want to lead you. To a program that’s not the best fit for you. And like, I’m not going to be mad if you tell me it’s not the best fit.

I want you to go where, where is best for you because college is a big decision and it’s a lot of money and it’s a lot of commitment. And, you know, so I take pride in that, you know, I’m, I would say I’m very, uh, Very eager. I’m very excited. Um, very, very fun. But I also have my, my very serious moments where players know like this is not the time.

Um, so I think, I think my staff and I have a really good balance of, we’re going to work hard, but we’re going to have fun. And when we do have fun, we’re going to be goofy. We’re going to be singing the warm up songs with you in the locker room and this and that. You know, I think I have done a pretty good job of striking that, you know, head coach versus mentor balance with players.

And that’s something that I really want my players to feel comfortable coming to me with whatever it is. It doesn’t even have to be soccer. Um, you know, I think my, my players at Randolph Macon when I was there, they would joke that I was like the free team therapist. Um, so while I have that intensity side, like, I also make sure I balance it out with truly being somebody else that’s in your corner.

Um, Playing style wise this year was, there was It was, it was do what we can to survive. Uh, it was a tactics battle. Um, but I, I would like to say that, you know, in an ideal world, as we, you know, get, get the players in that I [00:22:30] want, um, we’re playing, you know, we’re playing high level soccer because ultimately People are going to want to move on and play high level soccer at a four year.

Um, you know, I don’t want to play the kickball, kick and run, use your athleticism to break, break a team down. I just, I don’t think that that’s, that’s not my, my way to play. Um, so, you know, I think. using systems and formations that fit the players we have. That’s not necessarily a repeat every year. Um, that’s something that I kind of really believe in is, you know, you don’t, you also just don’t change every single game to, you know, figure out a way to beat your opponent, like get, get a system down.

And if you have a backup type of thing, um, you know, use it if you have to, but, you know, I want to, I want to build confidence in my team and what what their capabilities are. Um, and I just feel like That’s one way and one of the best ways to do it. Um, I’m really big on the technical piece as well. Um, so that’s something in the off season that we, we constantly work on, you know, technical things, whether it’s passing and receiving, you know, balls out of the air, those types of things.

Um, yeah, I just want players who are just as smart on the ball as they are off the ball and when they’re on the ball, can, can you be reliable? Can you possess with a purpose? Uh, can you make sure that, You know, you create numerical overloads and, and get into the attack, um, and defensively, how organized can we be?

Um, so that’s, you know, the basics of it. 

Matt: Okay. Well, I appreciate all of your time. I’m going to leave you with one last [00:24:00] question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any prospective student athlete going through this recruiting process, what would that be? 

Coach: Man, I would say soak in every single moment because.

College athletics are going to be both the hardest and the best time of your life. And if you allow it to, it will set you up for so much success out of soccer. When, when soccer inevitably ends one day, um, you know, I really believe that college athletics is a tool that we can use to help better the player, better the person, better the student, um, off all of these things off the field.

Um, So yeah, I would say soak in every moment, take every lesson for what it is, you know, don’t take things personally because it’s not usually, and just enjoy it while you have it because you never know when it’ll end. You know, I didn’t get to finish my four years because of injury, so if I could tell you one thing, it’d be soak in every single minute.

Matt: Great advice. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Good luck on the recruiting trail. I might bump into you at Raleigh. Yeah, absolutely. Or if you get down to any of the events here at Premier Lakewood Ranch, let me know and we’ll get together. All right. 

Coach: Sounds good. Thank you so much. 

Matt: Thank you.