Saint Mary’s University Of Minnesota Men’s Soccer – Coach John Pucci

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach John from the St. Mary’s Men’s Program in Minnesota. We talk about how he is approaching recruiting as a new coach to the program. He describes the global impact of their students. Lastly, we discuss their off season program. Learn more about Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach John Pucci from St. Mary’s in Minnesota. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I know that, you know, there’s, there’s a ton of St. Mary’s out there, but, uh, you know, I think, uh, I think the poor California one, uh, got knocked off in the basketball tournament.

So, we’ll, we’ll turn our sights to, uh, to Minnesota right now.

Coach: I was just gonna say, it’s a great time to shift gears. I know that they’re probably looking, looking their wounds a little bit, so it’s a great moment here to just focus back on Minnesota. 

Matt: All right, well, uh, you’re, New to the program, uh, just a few months in.

So, so congratulations and, and welcome. And I’m sure, uh, now’s that time of year where your focus is probably on recruiting, uh, with all the tournaments and things that are going on. So, uh, you know, as a new coach with a new program, how are you approaching, uh, recruiting as a whole?

Coach: Absolutely. So, I mean, I got brought on in January, so about two months now, um, on the job and immediately, like you said, I hit the recruiting trail and.

The big thing for me is I want to kind of imprint the program with my identity and the ideas that I have about soccer and how the game should be played. So this 2023 class is gonna have some really important pieces to kind of lay that foundation. Um, and so we’ve got about four commits and we’re hoping for a handful more, um, to come in and, and really help me kind of establish that, that new culture, that new identity, uh, here at St.

Mary’s. And, um, ideally we’ll be done with [00:01:30] that class around. Middle of, middle of, uh, April, I would say. Okay. Um, but it’s been going really well. Um, I’m from the Twin Cities area. We’re about two hours south of the Twin Cities down here in Winona, and so I’ve been leaning pretty hard into that community and, and bringing some of those kids down, um, that I already have established relationships with.

But also, St. Mary’s has a really, a strong legacy of pulling out of Chicago and a little bit of Iowa, a little bit of Wisconsin. And so I’ve been leaning and tapping into those communities as well, and we’ve had some success there. So it’s been going pretty well. 

Matt: Great. Well, in terms of going to see players, what does that look like for you?

Are there tournaments that you’re like, oh, I gotta make sure I hit that. Is does high school come into play? I’m assuming most of those states are fall, so maybe you missed that, but, but you know, what does that look like for you?

Coach: Yeah, so it’s kind of twofold. I mean, we’re, we’re, I’m just gearing up to go to Chicago this coming weekend.

Um, obviously soccer’s just having a big, uh, showcase down there, and that’s a huge club. So, we’ll, we’ll look at that. Um, We have some connections with other clubs in Chicago as well that we’re not, um, like, haven’t been strong in the past, but I’m trying to kind of reconnect with and use some alumni base that we have down in that area to kind of tap into for recruiting.

Um, and you mentioned a good point with high school, I think, uh, high school coaches and I can speak on that as I, I’ve done that in the past. I think they have a, a unique ear, uh, with, with their players and they look at them a little bit differently than a club, uh, coach cause they get ’em for longer and they have a different sort of relationship with them.

And so I’ve been leaning more on the relationships I do have with those coaches in the Twin Cities, um, [00:03:00] to, even though they’re not in season, they still have the ear of their athletes and, and try to use that connection to help me, uh, get in with those players as well. Okay. 

Matt: Well, are you planning on having any ID camps or working on any ID camps to, to help with the recruiting?

Coach: Yes. So we’re gonna have two, we’re gonna have one in May. Uh, we’re gonna have one in August, and the one in May, I believe is the 13th of May. Uh, and the one in August is August 6th. It’s a single day camp. So, uh, you can find information on that on our website or our Instagram page has a link to it as well.

So if you’re interested in that, I know those are filling up. I think we cast 50. I think the May one is starting to get a little bit booked, but I know that there’s space in the August one for sure, and obviously we can extend that if, if we end up having a lot more kids that are interested, we can, we can add more spots for that too.

Matt: Well, and, and, and I’ll get with you after this so you can get it, uh, linked to the, uh, discover College soccer, uh, camp listings. But, uh, thank you. Thank you. But in terms of just. No matter what, right? Whether it’s camps or high school or tournaments or whatever you’re looking at players, what is kind of your hierarchy of things that you’re looking for that’s gonna make a player that you want to bring to St. Mary’s? 

Coach: So, for me, I think it’s, it’s about the identity. It’s about the, the principles that we want to establish in our program. So I’m really big on positional play. Um, I’m really big on dominating the game with the ball. Uh, and, and making sure that we can control the game and, and manage it and frustrate opponents and unlock opponents with the ball.

So when I’m looking at player [00:04:30] profiles and looking at the type of player that we wanna bring in, it’s gonna be somebody that fits into that kind of mold. But additionally, I mean, St. Mary’s, it’s a small university in southern Minnesota. It’s a very tight-knit community, and I wanna make sure that we’re bringing people on campus that, that fit that mold, that want this experience, that want that kind of, we call it the brotherhood here, right?

That we wanna be a part of that and we’ll fit into that. So, I think, um, it’s kind of twofold. It’s looking at it to make sure that they fit the player profile that we’re looking for, but also that personality-wise, they’re a match for, for what we have here. 

Matt: Okay. Well there seems to be a, a huge push in just all of college soccer, uh, regarding international players and the transfer portal, I kind of just the non-traditional recruiting, we’ll call it.

Um, is that playing into your plans at all? 

Coach: So not yet. Um, it’s a good question. I haven’t really, I’ve not gone into the portal and I’ve been, uh, hesitant to go international just because I know that we have such a strong connection. I mean, 93% of our student body is from Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois.

So I think I’m leading pretty hard into those communities and those states, um, just because we already have a footprint, uh, on those states. Um, we do have a history of getting some internationals. We have two Norwegian brothers on the team right now. We’ve got a Brazilian student. Um, so it has happened in the past and it’s certainly something that I’m open to.

Uh, but it’s just gotta be the right fit. Like I said. I mean, every kid is different, whether they grow up in Antarctica or they grew up in St. Paul, right? I mean, so it’s gonna be, [00:06:00] are they a fit for St. Mary’s? Is do is what we offer Is, is the identity we have as a university going to match. What you’re looking for.

And if, if it is, then great and, and we can pursue that. But so far it hasn’t, uh, been an avenue I’ve, I’ve really pursued. 

Matt: Okay. Fair enough. Well, one of the things that, uh, recruits and, and parents of recruits always want to know is, uh, what’s this gonna cost me right now? I know you’re new, so I’m definitely not holding you to hard numbers here, but thank you.

Do you, uh, can you give us just a, a, an idea. Of what, um, scholarship opportunities there are kind of cost of attendance for a, an incoming player might look like. 

Coach: Absolutely. And I’m really glad you brought that up cuz St. Mary’s I think does a really good job and it’s sort of a hidden gem when it comes to financial aid.

So I know that they’ve won, and again, please don’t hold me to the exact award of two months in, but I know they’ve won an award, uh, recently for the amount of financial aid that they give out. Um, every kid at St. Mary’s gets some level of, of, uh, financial aid. Nobody’s paying the sticker price. And, and the nice thing about our sticker price is it’s significantly cheaper than a lot of the other colleges in our market.

We’re, we’re, we’re significantly lower than some of the other schools in our conference than the schools in the region. So that is a huge, uh, get, but I think one of the nicest things about it, Is that everything is stackable. So let’s say you come in with a 4.0 gpa, boom, you’re getting like a 30 grand scholarship off of that.

But then there’s other things we can add on to that. We can find other areas to do it. Um, St. Mary’s does a [00:07:30] fantastic job of, of making college accessible for kids that it may not be accessible for otherwise. So if you’re a Minnesota student or a Wisconsin student and you’re Pell eligible, we have something called the the Cardinal Promise, and that’s a 0% tuition promise, right?

So then you’re only looking at room and board in that moment. Um, we also have something called the FGI Experience or FGI Initiative, and FGI stands for, uh, first Generation Initiative. And so it’s there, you know, that’s a much more selective process, but students that are, um, first in their family to go to college can apply for this scholarship.

And if they’re awarded it, uh, it’s zero tuition, zero room and board for four years. And there’s all these stipulations within it where it’s like, okay, if your GPA falls below three, there’s all these like, you know, safeguards that go in to make sure that you’re. Taken care of. There’s safeguards to go in and make sure your mental health and your wellness is good.

You’re part of a cohort model of students coming from a similar background. So there’s that opportunity. So I mean, it’s, it’s a really, really nice, uh, environment. It’s very inclusive, it’s very welcoming. Um, and I do think that people get spooked by that sticker price. But when we talk about it, you know, whether you’re coming in from, you know, a suburb in, in, uh, Minneapolis, or you’re coming in from who knows where.

We can make St. Mary’s fit for you, uh, and, and we can make it affordable. So it’s, it’s, I’m very excited and very blessed to be working in that environment. It’s, some universities I’ve heard are, are the opposite end of that scale, so I’m, I’m excited that we are accessible. 

Matt: No, that sounds, sounds fantastic.

Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, I’m sure there’s folks out there who, who aren’t familiar with [00:09:00] St. Mary’s specifically in Minnesota. Um, so as a, as a new. Staff person to the school. What have you found that’s kind of awesome about the school? What are some of the, the cool things that you want folks to know that maybe you’re not gonna learn just by clicking through the website?

Coach: Absolutely. Yeah. So it’s a small school, um, in southern Minnesota. Like you had mentioned about two hours south of Twin Cities in a beautiful town called Winona, Minnesota. So it’s about a 30,000, uh, person town. Um, we’re, we’re halfway I’d say maybe. 30 minutes to our, uh, east is Rochester, Minnesota, which is where the Mayo Clinic is, uh, located.

Some people might know that hospital, it’s pretty well regarded. And then Lacrosse Wisconsin is about, uh, 20, 30 minutes to our West. Um, and so the nice thing, what I would say about St. Mary is that it’s, uh, under, under talked about is that we’ve just kind of restructured gearing towards more of the health science, uh, side of things.

So, pt, ot, P a. Nursing, like that kind of world. And to be fair, I majored in English, so I’m gonna be, uh, probably, I got some wrong acronyms there or whatever, and I may not be the best person to speak on it, but I do know that it’s a very well regarded program. And we actually, specifically for our nursing, uh, program, we’re one of the only universities I think in our region that.

Actually has the ability to do clinicals onsite. They built this, uh, amazing nursing facility at the university where I walked into it and I actually thought I was in a hospital. There’s different rooms that look like where you’d actually go for a hospital. There’s one [00:10:30] room. It’s, it’s super funny to me cause I was giving a tour and one of the professors played a joke on me.

But there’s a, a room you walk in doing it looks like an observation room and there’s a dummy in the bed and across the hall there’s. Professor that can operate the dummy, it can make it breathe funny, it can make it talk, it can make it do whatever the health problem. It’s, you know, you have to figure out how to solve.

It’s doing that. So the dummy started talking to me and I was just like, oh my God. I was with a recruit and I was just like, that’s not normal and that’s not a zombie, but. So there’s that aspect of it. And then we’re also affiliated with the Mayo Clinic. So you know, once you, you’ve kind of, whether it’s nursing or or PT or ot, once you’ve kind of done that on campus stuff, when you get to be a junior or a senior and you start wanting to actually get into a hospital environment, we have that opportunity with a world class, uh, hospital.

So I think that’s, I mean, that partnership. I know one of our, our athletes, uh, was a pre-med student, and this is before my time, but he’s in med school now and he said having that Mayo Clinic on his resume was a door opener for so many different med schools. So I think the nice thing about it, and that’s a very long-winded way to say that we are a small university, a little bit under a thousand kids, but you can have a major impact.

Like we can, we have people that are working, you know, huge companies down in the loop in Chicago, the Twin Cities, you know, all, all over in terms of med school opportunities. So I do think even though it is a smaller university, you can have a global impact, you can have a major impact, and I think that’s, uh, that’s something that’s, that’s worth knowing.

No, that, 

Matt: that, that’s great. Well, one of the things you talked about was, was the academics. And, you know, one of the most [00:12:00] difficult things as, as you and I both know, as, as former student athletes, is balancing the student part with the athlete part. So how do the students there really balance their commitments of, of academics and athletics?

What kind of support systems does the school have in place to help with that?

Coach: That’s, that’s a great point. And I agree. I think that’s a huge, uh, hugely under talked about part in the recruiting process is what does the balance look like. Um, and so for us, We again, we’re a small university. I think average class size is around 13.

Again, two months on the job. Don’t quote me, but I believe it’s around 13 kids. So it is a really, really tight knit community in terms of your relationships with your professors. I, the way that I’ve heard kids describe it is that they’re working collaboratively. They’re not working in a sense where you’re just a number, right?

Like they want you to be successful, so they’re gonna work with you on those kinds of fronts. But even with that, you know, there, there are other scaffolds that the university has. I mean, there’s a whole center, uh, called the Student Success Center on campus where it’s open. I mean, I’ve never seen it not open.

I don’t know the hours offhand, but you can go in and you can get one-to-one tutoring. There’s a writing lab. So let’s say you got a paper that needs to be five pages. It’s only three. Can’t figure out how to get it to that extra link. They can work with you on that. There’s mental health services. Um, if you’re a student coming in with an I e P or a 5 0 4, so an individualized learning plan, there’s center for that on campus so that you can get supports there.

It really is. There’s so many. I used the word safeguard earlier, but there’s so many different scaffolds put in place. Um, that I, I don’t think many [00:13:30] students fail. I mean, we also have something called the Early Action Committee, which I actually sit on. So if a student’s GPA does start to fall, or maybe their attendance in class starts to, to tailor off a little bit, Um, they get flagged, right?

And so that way it goes to us on the early action committee and we can figure out, okay, let’s, who knows? This kid on campus, whether it’s a coach, whether it’s professor, whether it’s a, a mentor of some kind. How do we check in with them? How do we make sure we can get them the services they need so we get them back on track and, and, and en route to graduate?

So a lot of students here do call it a family, um, because it, it is really, really tight knit and it, it’s hard to fail here because there so many people are caring about you. So many people wanna see you be successful and. It’s fun. I’ve been here for two months and I already feel really welcomed and really connected, and that’s the kind of work environment I’ve always wanted to work in.

So I mean, it’s kids that go here I think are really lucky to have that. 

Matt: Oh, for sure, for sure. Well, let’s, let’s shift gears and talk a little bit more about the soccer side of things. Obviously you’re starting in the off season, but fast forward to the fall. You’re, you know, we’re, we’re ready for, for game days and such.

Um, what is your typical week? Gonna look like. Do you think in terms of winter classes, meals, training, game cadence, that sort of thing? Just to give folks an idea. 

Coach: Yeah. So we play in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with the May Act, is what we call it. Um, and so all of our conference components are in Minnesota Now, I would say, uh, a handful are in the Twin Cities area.

There’s couple in northern Minnesota where the Southern Most school. [00:15:00] So there, there is a bit of travel to our schedule, but we do have a nice cadence where it’s like usually, uh, a midweek game and then a weekend game. So they try as much as they can to schedule things when, when kids aren’t missing class.

Um, now, however, for uh, practices, I mean we, I would say most kids like to schedule their classes in the morning. So we kind of go, there’s a common hour at St. Mary’s between noon to one where they can get lunch. I would say kids tend to go nine to to noon, and then maybe one class in the afternoon where you’re done at about two 30.

So we’ll train from about four 30 to six 30. Another really nice aspect of St. Mary’s is that we, we don’t have, uh, American football as a sport here. So, uh, we have a soccer specific turf field that we really only split with the women’s team. And so we get a lot more luxury about when we can be on it. Um, we have lights so we can train later if we need to.

Um, the women’s team tend to have more, uh, students in the nursing profession. So they, they have labs that kind of go into the evenings a little bit more, so they tend to train later. We tend to train, uh, a little bit earlier. Yeah, I’d say about four 30 to six 30 is the window and then kids can get into the dining hall and, and get their food afterwards.

So that’s kind of the window, um, that I would say most students do. And it’s always gonna be different, but, uh, you know, for individuals. But I would say that’s the, the general principle. Okay. 

Matt: Well, and this next question kind of goes back to our recruiting conversation, but what do you. Try to do from a roster size standpoint, are you, do you, is there one that you [00:16:30] are trying to hit that, that you feel is ideal or that the, you know, God forbid the school’s telling you you have to be at a certain number, uh, but you never know.

Uh, yeah. What does the roster size kind of look like for you? 

Coach: Yeah, so no specific number. I mean, um, there, for me, I think the ideal number, if you’re gonna just roster a varsity only team, it’s gonna be fluctuating around 30. That feels healthy to me. Um, personally I’d like to go a bit above that. You know, you’ve got injuries, you’ve got other things.

And I would love to have, I have a full-time assistant and I’d love to offer some level of a JV team. Cause we have a number of other schools in the conference that offer JV. We have junior colleges in the area that are always looking for games. So if we can get four to five games for those freshmen that are maybe not quite there yet, you know, uh, and, and need a year to develop, or those, you know, juniors and, and sophomores that are just kind of trying to get used to the new play style that I’m gonna be kind of putting in.

I think having that, that sort of jv uh, roster. Helps keep buy-in. I think it’s hard to stay bought in if, if you know you’re going into a session or you’re going into a game and it’s just like there are four guys on the depth chart above you. But if you know that you got this other game that you’re training for, you still can get bought in for that.

You know that those guys are gonna be in the stands cheering for you. You still have that moment to stay connected to the program. I think that kind of helps for that, that communal buy-in, if that makes sense. So whether we get there this year, I’m not sure. Um, I, I think. Year one, I don’t wanna bite off more than, than I can choose.

So I think just sticking with that 30 ish number and, and staying around a varsity, a [00:18:00] healthy varsity roster is probably good. But looking forward to 24, 25, you know, those, those years I think, um, or those seasons I should say, we, we should try to expand and, and make sure we have, uh, an option for every kid on the roster to be getting some minutes here or there.

Matt: Well, you mentioned 

staff, so can you just tell us a little bit more about, about the staff, whether it’s direct soccer staff or their other athletic department staff that help, uh, with the team? 

Coach: Yep. So I’ve got one full-time assistant that’s here on campus year round, which is really nice. Um, so I’m able to send him and do recruiting stuff.

I’m able to kind of use, you know, bounce ideas off him and need be. But the, uh, the other assistant, I actually think it’s, it’s kind of a cool opportunity. He’s a volunteer assistant, but he. Should get paid. He knows a lot more about the game than, than most volunteer assistants do. And, uh, he works at, uh, onsite for a company called Geospatial Services.

So he, and again, English major not gonna be great talking about the science of the computer science part of the world, but, uh, it’s essentially Google Maps on steroids. So he, he goes in and he studies conservation and he, um, Creates these, uh, maps based on like the watersheds all over the, the world. So he is got kids in Alaska this summer, and though they’re gonna do some exploration stuff up there, um, he’s doing some workout, um, I believe in Arizona or Nevada I know out in the west.

And so he does a lot of work with that, which is kind of nice for our men’s soccer program because, um, he ends up mentoring a lot of these kids and he gets them into these, this career that’s super lucrative in that nobody knows [00:19:30] about. And so I would, you know, I would encourage anybody that’s interested in computer science or in computer, um, or conservation or anything like that to reach out to me.

I’ll connect you with him because a lot of our athletes end up do going into that field, um, simply because of that connection and because he is so passionate about it. So he’ll do that. He hangs up the tie, he comes out and he trains with us. And he also, uh, he likes to brag that he is the leading scorer in program history and.

We definitely could use him back on the field. So he is a good, uh, he’s a good training, uh, tool for us as well. But again, he’s a great, uh, person to bounce ideas off of and, and, and have around the program. So we do have a staff of three, so it’s myself, obviously that other assistant, and then Josh, who I just described.

So it’s a small, tight-knit group, but we get a lot done and we’re, we’re pretty productive. I’m proud of it. 

Matt: So, yeah, it sounds like it. Well, we’re. In March and, and you’ve just taken over. So what does your off season program look like for the boys?

Coach: Great question. Um, so we are, we, our university is a little different.

We don’t have a J term. So we start, um, classes in January for the second semester. That also means kids go home a bit earlier. So I think the last day of class for our freshman is April 27th, I wanna believe. So pretty early. Um, so we actually started, excuse me, our spring season. Um, Last week. And so we’re, and actually the nice thing is people think Minnesota, they think it’s super cold.

There’s not snow on the ground up here. Now I’ve been where I’m from, St. Paul, Minnesota, there’s snow on the ground. There’s about a foot and a [00:21:00] half I’m sure. But down here, I mean it’s like I was telling you earlier, it’s 45 degrees, which to the Floridians is gonna feel frigid to the Midwesterners. It’s gonna feel like beach weather, but.

Um, so we’ve been able to get outside. We’ve been able to train, um, and it’s been going very well. I mean, the guys are hungry. Um, we go about three times a week. Uh, we just had an alumni game, which was fantastic. We had about 20 to 25 guys come back and, and really seemed bought in. And I think, um, you know, obviously only being on the job two months.

I’m still in a bit of the honeymoon phase, but I do feel like we are taking some major steps forward. The program is starting to kind of come alive and it, it’s starting to. To, uh, blossom in a way that’s been pretty cool to watch. So, uh, we gotta, we’ll go into about the first week of, of April, um, with our spring season.

And then, um, kind of they go back to just being regular students and looking for opportunities to play this summer. I know a lot of the guys are looking to get on U P S L teams and N P S L teams kind of in the region. One guy might be trialing with the U S L two team. Which is pretty cool to have that opportunity.

But, but yeah, that’s kind of where we’re at in terms of the spring, you know, the, uh, my act is a little different. We’re a bit more restrictive for, for some reason. Um, we don’t get to have a spring game, so the alumni game’s kind of our only game. So I’ve been really using the Spring to kind of get to know the guys who can do what, what’s our training habit, you know, how hard are you willing to get pushed?

Um, you know, does your, your commitment to getting better outweigh your discomfort with some change. You know, that kind of thing is kind of what I’m trying to assess with the spring. [00:22:30] 

Matt: Sorry, had I gotta write that one down? That is your commitment, cuz that that’s a, uh, that’s a good one right there. That’s a, that’s a, that’s a nice little, uh, question.

Coach: You can’t see it. It’s on the other side. Ok. Have it written on my office so I didn’t, you know, it’s like I didn’t pull that one out of the hat. I knew that one was up there. I was waiting to drop that one. That was, but I think it’s a good slogan, especially in a program like ours where if you look historically, I mean, we haven’t been as successful as I think we should be at St.

Mary’s. I think we have a beautiful facility. We’re built into the side of a stand zone bluff. So our stands are fantastic. Um, we’re soccer specific so we can get 150, 200 people to a game. Um, and, and we’re playing in one of the top conferences in division three. So I think when we’re talking about a school with this much potential, we have to ask ourselves, you know, does our commitment to wanting to be this.

Top tier program outweigh our discomfort with, with some of the things that I’m gonna ask you to do, some of the changes that need to happen. And I would say as a whole, the group does seem to be bought in. They do seem to be willing to get pushed and the new ideas that I’m throwing at them are starting to get received.

So it is, I’m optimistic. I’m optimistic about the future. Yeah. 

Matt: A as you should be. Well, coach, we’ve covered a lot of ground and, and, uh, gonna leave you with one last question and that’s. For anybody out there listening or, or going through the college soccer recruiting process, if there was one piece of information, one nugget you’d like them to know or something that you’d like to share, what would that be?

Coach: I’d say every kid is different. Um, and I would say trust your gut. Uh, there are so many [00:24:00] times, and I know this as, I mean, I’m 30 years old, but I remember going on campus at the university, I ended up choosing and I felt, it felt right. I couldn’t put it into words, I couldn’t necessarily describe it, but it felt like home.

And a lot of the kids we bring on campus, I know it is a bit of a commitment to get here about four hours north of Chicago, about two hours south of the cities. But once they get here, they, they feel that, that sense of home. And so the one piece of advice I would, I would give you, um, to prospective athletes is to say, get on campus.

Talk to the professors. Talk to the coaches. Talk to the stakeholders at the university and see if you feel that home feeling. Cuz every kid is different. We’re gonna be right through a lot of kids. But that also means that we’re gonna be not the place for a lot of kids. And I want you to go to a school where you are gonna flower and you’re gonna become an, an excellent human being as in addition to being a soccer player.

So don’t feel the pressure to commit to a high, you know, like a whatever that looking cool on your signing day. Like, I wanna go to the highest level thing. Or you know, if a coach is pushing really hard, don’t feel that pressure. I would say go with your gut. Trust yourself and go where you know you’re gonna be happy, which hopefully is St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. Have to plug it, have to put it in there.

Matt: I love it. I love it. Well, coach, wish you the best of luck, uh, with the off season and with your first full fall season coming up. And if you ever get down to Bradenton doing any recruiting, look me up. I’ll, uh, I’ll show you a round down here.

All right? 

Coach: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it.

Matt: All right, thank you. Yep. Take care.