Roanoke College Men’s Soccer – Coach Ryan Pflugrad

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Ryan Pflugrad from the Roanoke Men’s Program in Virginia. We talk about his recruiting timelines and how he buckets recruits. He describes the school’s fantastic location and top-notch liberal arts education. Lastly, we discuss the supportive staff that are throughout the athletic building. Learn more about Roanoke College Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Ryan up in Roanoke. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Yeah. Thanks for having me. And again, I appreciate what you’re doing for, uh, for the game as well. 

Matt: I appreciate that. Uh, nice division three men’s program. I got a ball. Buddy, uh, who, who went through the program just a few years before you did.

So, so I’m sure we’ll dig into some, you know, you’ve, you’ve got a good, uh, handle on things as both an alum and a long time coach there. So, but one thing I’ll say, so I’m down in Bradenton, obviously we just had, uh, the The ECNL men’s showcase down here the women’s were this past weekend, you know, I mean it is the You know disney’s this coming weekend.

It’s just you know tournaments abound this day, uh, you know these months so As a as a high level d3 program like where are you guys right now? In terms of your class of 25 recruiting. Are you looking just to 26s and 25s are done? Like what what’s your kind of normal timeline? 

Coach: Yeah, so we’re still in this year’s class.

We’re still working hard on the 25. Um, I would say we’re a little bit past halfway through, um, between commitments we have and sort of goals and needs. And so, um, yeah, still have some, some, uh, some spaces available and they’re still working on some recruits. We have a camp coming up in two weeks as well.

That will allow us to look at some players interested in the college or that that we’ve shown some interest in. Um, and I think that’s probably about pretty typical for us here. Um, I usually kind of, yeah. [00:01:30] Tell recruits that for us anyway, I think this is maybe division three across the board. Maybe something a little different than others, but like we kind of Find it in three pools of, of, of, of, um, uh, called commitments or decisions or, or, or in the process where the first one would be like someone that were on fairly early into the junior year into summer before the senior year.

And they’re, they’re, they’ve already kind of narrowed their school down. Their process is far along enough where they’ve decided I want to make a decision. And those would be maybe. commitments in the early decision process, which would be early fall of the senior year or before. Um, that’s probably the smaller pool of players that we get in in these three segments.

The second one being, um, kind of right now, maybe a little bit earlier, you know, we’re bringing players into the In throughout the fall for recruiting visits throughout our season, um, not able to get on the road as much maybe during the fall. But, um, season ends showcase tournaments every weekend from, you know, unfortunately, the last day you play in through right now.

And so another pool kind of in that, um, timeline of the admissions timeline where they’re getting the financial aid packages back. Second pool, maybe, you know, Yeah, November through December. And then there’s usually a third wave, which would be February, March, um, where we, we pick up some players. And, um, to be fair, these are a lot of times some of our best guys.

And a lot of times some of the players that are, [00:03:00] um, still unsure of their fit and maybe are holding out for division one opportunities and looks and, and haven’t quite found the perfect fit for themselves and so, um, Um, yeah, so we’re active in it right now. We’re about halfway through a little bit past halfway through our 25 class, but probably about where we usually are.

Matt: Okay. Well, you know, we talk about tournament season here. What are some of your favorite places to go see players, uh, as you’re getting folks interested or you’re just finding people where, where’s that happening? 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, I think all of the, It’s pretty, as you know, it’s pretty like segmented now. And so there’s a lot of leagues and a lot of different things.

And to be fair, I don’t prefer that. Um, that being said, there are, we’re pretty fortunate here in our location that, that we can see. Teams nationally, regionally, meaning, you know, MLS Next usually comes through, uh, Maryland at least once a year with their events, um, between Richmond and, and in different parks in North Carolina, uh, UCNL holds showcases or playoffs there, and those are great events for us as well, and then we’re also, you know, we’re, we’re open to looking for players anywhere that they might be, and that could, that could be anything from, you know, The EDP type stuff that usually runs more New Jersey and north to some of the USYS stuff that still goes on down south.

And so, um, yeah, kind of all over the place. I think we’ll try to hit anything. That’s that’s that’s big. That’s regional [00:04:30] every time. Um, certainly in my recruiting. Lifespan I’ve been probably all over the country and we’ll pick and choose from our position here at Roanoke Um, what will be best? Um, you know always You draw that florida, uh that that brandington that the sarasota or the orlando, uh, Draw in the office for who’s going to make that trip.

That’s always a good one When the events are down there as well. And so, uh, yeah kind of try to hit as much as we can um that that’s you know, Both within the resources that we have, but also like, uh, that we felt can be productive for us. 

Matt: Okay. And you mentioned, uh, you got a camp coming up, I guess. How, how important are those camps in your process?

Do you guys work other outside camps as well? How many do you do? What’s that look like? 

Coach: Yeah. So I would say it’s a pretty important piece to our process. I mean, I think that a lot of colleges are getting that way, obviously, or have been, I’ve been running camps. both here and at other schools I’ve worked for, for years.

And, um, some somewhat of the evolution of what they look like has maybe changed up and down a little bit, but, um, typically here at Roanoke, I’ve been here for, I think, 11 or 12 seasons. Now we’ll, we’ll run two sort of ID camps per year. Um, one would be a one day one in the winter. That one’s coming up here on Sunday, uh, January 26th.

Um, and then we’ll run a two or three day one in the summer, usually in June. Um, just depending on event schedules. Um, and both have proven to be really highly effective ways for us to find players. I mean, I would [00:06:00] say on any given year, at a minimum, half of our roster has has attended a camp at some point here.

Um, it’s not to say it’s the only way that we would recruit were tenacious to get out on the road as well and see players. Um, But I do think it gives them a, uh, a good opportunity to, to be on campus and, and to interact with our staff. We do bring in other college coaches, like a lot of schools do try to make the, the value proposition good for the players that attend.

Um, and then, yeah, we’re hitting other, other schools camps as well, try to find like institutions, um, just again, try to give those players the good value to their, their, uh, camp experiences and also to try to find players for ourselves. And so between myself and uh, our assistant coaches. Um, we’re, we’re trying to get out to as many as we can, um, to, to as our good tools to recruit.

Matt: Okay. Well, one thing that’s a little unique, at least I feel, uh, about your roster is, uh, for a D3 program, you’ve got a decent number of international kids on there. Uh, talk to me about that. Is that typical for you guys? Is that something you look to do? How does that work? Yeah. 

Coach: Yeah. So. We found a little bit of a niche like that.

I always tell people they’re like, Hey, what’s your roster breakdown? Um, we’ll carry between 28 and 32 players at Roanoke college. I mean, that I’ve stayed true to that almost every season I’ve coached here. The COVID and fifth years kind of changed it just a little bit, um, for some time. But, um, I like that number in that, uh, say the average is on about 30, you got three or four [00:07:30] goalkeepers, you have two or three, um, guys injured at any given point, just out of nature of the game.

So you can always have 20 plus players to train. And it also leaves everybody, um, uh, with purpose and intent inside the program. Um, as far as how the roster is made up generally, I would say maybe about a third of our team is, is local, but that would be Maryland down to North Carolina, local. Certainly we’re going after the best players here in Roanoke, but, um, within a, you know, a shorter drive to campus, three hours or so.

A third from anywhere else in the United States. Again, I think, um, we’ve been fortunate to have enough of a national reach, um, in, in, in try to open some doors. We’ve got currently players from Connecticut, Colorado. We’ve had guys from Florida, um, sort of all over the country. Um, and then Maybe not a full third, but a quarter to a third international.

And most of those have been, um, sort of specific ways that they’ve gotten here. There’s, there’s been, um, some of them came from ties that I had when I was in the division one game and did maybe a bit more international recruiting. Um, so able to find some players we’ve done well in Switzerland. Um, More recently, Sweden, and then we’ve had a couple others, um, that come in different ways.

Uh, not the primary, you know, only way that we recruit, certainly not only looking for international players, but I do think, um, between the three sort of pools that I just talked about, we were able to create a diverse [00:09:00] roster that I think, um, can bring us talent, but also bring the players experience, um, of, of the brotherhood.

You know, people from different backgrounds and different walks and leads to hopefully, you know, some connection, um, inability on the field as well. 

Matt: Okay. Well, one thing that’s kind of exploded recently is the transfer portal. Has that, has that something, is that something you’ve dipped your toe into at all?

Coach: Yeah, we’re, we’re, we’re, we always keep our eye on it. Again, I, I, I would say that I try to be very specific with the players that we bring here. I mean, I, I, I, I have learned early in my career that that, uh, convincing someone. To come to your college to play if it’s not the right fit for them is is a backfire.

So it’s it’s more about finding the right ones. And so certainly in my time here, we’ve had transfers. Typically, they’ve been players that I was highly aware of or recruited really hard the first time out. Um, generally maybe chose a division one school and, and their, their, um, their experience didn’t work out, you know, how they expected potentially.

And so those have been typically the, the transfers that we’ve been on, uh, or gotten here a little bit more. I think we have two current. I’ll call them division one transfers on the current roster. We just had another one enroll in January, um, just started this week. And so, you know, we’re, we’re in it, but it’s not something where it’s like our primary way of recruiting.

I still do believe in, um, you know, bringing in first year players and developing them over four years. And I think, I hope, and I think that [00:10:30] still will be uniquely division three as well, um, it is for sure here. 

Matt: Okay, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school again. You’re an alum. You’ve been there over a decade as coach So you if there’s anybody to ask about the school, it’s you So so what are some of the things that you find just are awesome about the school some things that stand out?

Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, I think first off is like Location wise, it’s, it’s a great place to be. I mean, beautiful campus, um, set right at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountain. So Appalachian Trail runs, you know, eight miles, uh, one way off of campus.

But then the city of Roanoke has about a hundred thousand people in the, in the entire, you know, valley or area. And so you have a, a downtown urban setting on one side of campus, a couple of miles, and you got, you got the mountains and some of the best outdoor adventure type of activities on the other side.

So it does give you, um, you know, a bunch of things to do for the students. Um, The other thing I’d say about Roanoke College, again, biased as an alumni and as a, as an employee and coach, but I think like of the things that maybe the smaller liberal arts colleges do for their students across the board, I think Roanoke does a tremendous job of those things.

And what would that be? I mean, you’re talking smaller class sizes, um, individual attention from professors, uh, but also just across the board, just relationships across the, across the campus, I think are something that we pride ourselves on and something that the, the college does really well. Um, all in, all in, like, um, [00:12:00] in reason to try to help our students develop as people, right?

Pursue careers that they’re passionate about, be prepared for those careers, and, and be confident and, um, and self aware as they come out of this place. And so, I think Roanoke does a great job of those things. Specific to the program, I mean, we’re really, really fortunate with the facilities that we have.

Um, Kerr Stadium was built in 2007, and it’s, uh, you know, an on-campus lit, you know, it holds about, I think 1600 to 2000 in seats, but it’s, it’s kind of bowled out around the outside. So if there’s overflow, it can, it can fit, you know, whatever we need. And it sits basically right outside some dorms and on one side and, and our campus center on the other.

And now our new athletic center, which was built in 2016 on one side. And so, um, just a. fantastic place to play. Um, that athletic center that I’m speaking about is called the Krager Center and was about a 55 million athletic center built again 2016 2017, which um, just a fantastic, you know, aesthetically amazing place to be working in, but also like from a performance standpoint, it gives us everything we need between locker rooms and training rooms and, um, everything to perform.

And so, yeah, we’re really fortunate with that. We’ve, we’ve hosted the division three men’s and women’s final fours here. Uh, not this year, but the previous two years and we’re about to host it next year again. And so, uh, obviously we’re proud that, uh, that we were selected to be able to do that and feel fortunate that we can play in that, [00:13:30] that, um, environment with, with the, with the, um, situation that we have.

Matt: Yeah. No, it’s an awesome spot. Well, one of the things that can be challenging for, for student athletes coming in, especially new to college is really balancing the demands of the classroom as well as being a collegiate soccer player. What kind of support systems does Roanoke provide for both on the field and off the field stuff for, for guys to be successful in the classroom as well as off the, or on the pitch?

Coach: Yeah, so I think sort of the way we run it is twofold, where one is kind of worked out of our soccer office. We have like an academic monitoring program that myself and the assistant coaches will, will run. And essentially that’s, um, gives us the opportunity to spend time with our players and help check in on how they’re doing personally and then specifically academically.

And that’s sort of biweekly throughout the year. Um, from that, we also have like a student learning center on campus that that is open to any student, but we were able to, you know, push our our athletes, our players over there for what they need. And that includes a writing center, tutoring, tutoring opportunities as well in every pretty much every subject they can get a academic mentor if necessary.

And so, Um, a bunch of resources are on campus. Again, I think something that sort of small schools do well and I think Roanoke does really well is ability to try to provide resources to the students, um, academically so that they can be successful. Another thing that we have [00:15:00] here is like a, um, It’s called place, which is an acronym, but it’s essentially a place for called career exploration, meaning like trying to prepare yourself for life after college.

So there’s a lot of work done here on campus for the students to prepare them for what will be. And, um, you know, both try to find out what they’re passionate about, what their skill set lies to, and then also use our alumni network and our resources to make sure that. Uh, they’re employed or into graduate schools coming out of coming out of Roanoke.

So I think those are kind of the two key things. But I mean, more than anything, our players, um, you know, we’ll task them with, um, we’ll task them with the challenges of balancing academics and soccer and social life as a Positive in their experience. And so I’ll always sell that. And part of the process is it’s not an easy school here.

You’re going to have to work. Oh, certainly we’re going to be here to support you, but, um, there’s no other way to grow than to be challenged a little bit. And I think that, um, I think that we have a good balance of those things in order to prepare, prepare our students. 

Matt: Okay. Well, Rewind back to October, heart of that conference season.

Can you walk me through, what does a typical week look like for a player in terms of winter practices, meals, games, classes, all that kind of stuff? 

Coach: Yeah, so, you know, we’re playing, we’re playing 18 games over three months. It’s a lot of games in a short period of time. And um, I think any college coach would tell you you’ve done a million of these, these interviews that it’s, it’s [00:16:30] probably too short of a time for the amount of games.

So it is a lot of. Uh, prepare, recover, play, prepare, recover, play. Um, we typically play our league on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So once the ODAC starts, we’ll be playing Wednesday nights and Saturdays or Saturday nights. Um, so, you know, a typical week is training Monday, Tuesday, play Wednesday, train Thursday, Friday.

Play Saturday and then we’ll give our usually one day of mandated week a week off on Sunday. Typically, um, we typically train in the afternoons in the fall season. So sort of a 4 30 to 6 30 or 6 30 to 8 30 time block. Sometimes switches depend on a couple things. But, you know, obviously I think anybody thinking about playing, uh, college athletics and specifically college soccer, you’re gonna have to understand that that that time block that we have might not be all the time that is required of you in order to be successful.

So if training’s at 4 30 on the field, you know, our team actually has an inside rule with the players where they’ve got to be 10 minutes early. Before anything that we start, and we’ll usually run a meeting before practice to go over our training objectives. So say that meeting starts at 4 15 there in the locker room at 405 if they got to get treatments or something like that in the training room, maybe they got to be 30 minutes to an hour early before that.

So that turns into a 3 30. You know, arrival for a 4 30 training. Now, we might not be on the field for that full two hours, but if you are, um, you’re going 3 30 to 6 30 at that point, and there could be something afterward, be it [00:18:00] strength and conditioning, regeneration or back into the training room. So, again, I think that’s a typical Monday, Tuesday would be classes throughout the day.

They take two or three classes per day in about and then training in the, in the afternoon, evening, and then, you know, again, matches on the, on the, uh, On the Wednesdays and Saturdays. And, uh, yeah, so it’s just a lot of, um, time put in the players would, you know, have to find time for their score before training, after training and, uh, within the other breaks in their classes.

Matt: Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team and the coaching staff. You mentioned the roster size, but what about the roster size of other coaches? Who else is there helping you out with the team? Whether that’s assistant coaches or other folks in the athletic department that help out with the team?

Coach: Yeah, so on our staff currently, um, we’ve got sent to my right, right, right side, right, right now. Matt Campbell, we’ve been really fortunate to get a run of, um, great assistant coaches here. I’ve been really fortunate to, to have had some great people work here and that’s in his second year, um, played in our conference, uh, at another school and also worked at another school in our conference.

So really familiar with our league and the division three game as well. We also have a coach who works with our goalkeepers, um, who’s sort of a legendary local coach named Shelly Blumenthal. Coach B is the longtime head coach at Blacksburg High School, has numerous state championships in Virginia high school, um, soccer.[00:19:30] 

And so he’s been working with us for just over two years now as well with our goalkeepers. And so, um, that’s the The main, uh, piece of our staff, typically on, on, on normal seasons, we’ve had sort of a volunteer assistant graduate student with us as well. I’m hoping that we will have one again next year on typical years.

We’ll have some other former player who wants to get into coaching, who will stick around and help us. And, um, you know, good or bad, I’ve got about, I’ve had, I’ve had to coach about against about four or five of my former players and coaches in our league and at different places over the years now, so, um, then a good, you know, Place to try to help young coaches develop and move on.

Um, we’ve also got a great hallway. I’ll call it in terms of our, our support staff here. Um, and, and in terms of athletic training, uh, Bailey Cox is our athletic trainer, she’ll be with our team, you know, every day in the fall and does a really good job with our guys. We have a strength and conditioning staff.

Um, Izzy works with our team, you know, both in season and out and, uh, does a phenomenal job as well. And then, you know, just down the hallway, we have. Just tremendous people, I think, which is another, I like to say both Toronto College, but like twin athletic directors and assistant athletic directors and sports, um, communications, media relations, those types of things.

A lot of, a lot of good people in the hallway to help support the players. 

Matt: What about you, uh, as the head man, how would you describe kind of your style of coaching and the style of play you’re looking [00:21:00] to play there? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I’d say just in terms of, My style of coaching. I mean, sadly towards serving leadership.

If I was to define my leadership style. I mean, I do think it’s a player’s game and I competitive as they come. I don’t think anybody who gets into this. Um, You know, it’s not one, it’s one eight that you want to win and that’s what we’re trying to do. And we have lofty ambitious with the program. I always say there’s Ronald college.

We have a basketball national championship in men’s basketball and lacrosse national championship, men’s lacrosse. And we don’t have one in soccer. We’ve been to the final eight. And so, you know, you know, for whatever the, The season is we’re going to set the ambitions very lofty and we’re going to work really hard to meet them.

So, you know, competitiveness is certainly in the DNA of myself in the program, but I’m also well aware that like player experiences, um, is a big piece. And I, I. I do take pride in like my role in their development as people and moving them on. And that’s one of my favorite things you sort of right next to winning games is, is, you know, seeing our players go on and what they do in their lives.

And, um, certainly it’s challenging when they’re here and there’s, there’s conflict and there’s, there’s work to be done, but, um, the results of that have been good here and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of. So again, I think my role is to serve the players and the team with, um, information and hard work and.

and care and accountability and [00:22:30] those type of things so that they could be at their best, you know, both individually, but then, you know, more importantly, as a team, um, stylistically, you know, if I look at my whole time at Roanoke and really at most of the schools that I’ve been at, like I’d say me lean use the cliche phrase, a bit more possession oriented than maybe some other college programs.

And I don’t think there’s just one way to play or one system to play necessarily. But, you know, Possibly we’ve died in beauty, um, and times in, in some of, uh, some of my years here, but we’ve also succeeded in it. Um, I think maybe more real, more, uh, recently, um, you know, tried to play the fine line between the chaotic winning in the chaotic moments of college soccer and the transitional moments and the direct athletic play moments of the game, as well as maybe like sort of how I.

And so, you know, maybe a little bit of a shift in some ways the past five to seven years versus my first five to seven years. But, um, yeah, typically I would say like, uh, a Roanoke team would be comfortable with the ball at their feet, able to, able to create goals in the run of play, but then still, you know, hardworking as, as a, as a more of a point than anything else.

And, um, And gritty and, uh, able to like sort of compete in all phases of the game, be a transition or, or restarts or defending, whatever, whatever the case may be. 

Matt: Awesome. Well, really appreciate it. Coach can leave you with one last question. And that is if you had any piece of [00:24:00] advice. Or just, just one thing you could narrow it down to for anybody going through this recruiting process.

What would that be? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think proactive communication is important. Um, and then mostly it’s, it’s a very fluid process. So it’s tricky. I just think back to my own recruiting process. We talked earlier about, you know, um, both having players and like, it’s just a process and I see these kids going through the same thing I did, which is like, where do I fit in?

Who wants me? What’s the best fit? And the things that you think about and then the things that you come to realize later. And so understanding when they’re in the process, it’s a fluid process. You got to stay with it, stay positive about it, stay proactive about it. Um, whatever that looks like reaching out to coaches or not, um, not being too discouraged when you, you know, When you hear information, that’s not like exactly what you’re looking for.

Um, and then also I would say like, just try to concentrate on best fit as much as you possibly can. And that’s a hard thing to do when you’re 16, 17, 18, I think sometimes. Um, but I, I can almost promise from my experience is having, Done it and then coach so many players over the years that that is what you’ll look back on at the end of the career.

It won’t be like the eight months between you committing and getting to school and how many social media posts you put to say, this is where I’m going. It’ll be what the four years were like that you were there and how you like, enjoy the training environment and your teammates in the school. And so if you can in any way, either have somebody help you understand what.

Might be the best fit [00:25:30] holistically for you. I think try to gather that information if you can as you’re going through it and yeah, that’d be what I would say. 

Matt: Couldn’t agree more. Well, I really appreciate it and they should be thankful. They don’t have to try to put their highlight tapes together on VHS.

Uh, that, that, that, that’s something, well, Hey, wish you the best of luck coach, and, uh, you know, hopefully, uh, you know, the next time you play Catholic, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll be on the right side of it, uh, at our place. 

Coach: Always a battle. Yeah. Thanks again. Thanks for everything you’re doing for, for the game. I really appreciate it.

Matt: My pleasure. Take care. Right.