Schreiner University Men’s Soccer – Coach Darren Bauer

Today I’m joined by Darren Bauer, head men’s soccer coach at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. We talk about how Schreiner’s Division III recruiting timeline has changed as the program has grown and what Coach Bauer looks for when he watches players, from how quickly they make decisions to how confidently they play under pressure. He walks us through a typical week in season, including how the travel and developmental squads train and how players get academic support. We also get into why he wants his goalkeepers involved when the team builds out of the back and how a recruit can make an impression by walking up to a coach and starting a conversation.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Darren over at Schreiner University. Welcome, coach.

Coach: Thank you, Matt. Great to be here.

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for coming on. Uh, you know, we’re, we’re talking right after your season just wrapped up, huh? Uh, so-

Coach: Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately.

Matt: Yeah. It’s, uh, sorry to hear that, but, uh, I guess the, you know, question I always get from people is, all right, well, how quickly after the season ends do you start, you know, really just focusing hard on that next recruiting class?

Coach: Um, immediately. Yeah. Before we jumped on this meeting, I’m already writing some emails, sending some texts, looking at some videos.

I mean, it’s, you know, it, it’s never ending. So, um, but yeah, that, that’s just the name of the game. You gotta, gotta stay on top of it if you wanna continue to compete and you wanna continue to grow, and that’s what we do.

Matt: Yeah. Well, and, and, a- a- and I guess with that, h- how much would you say during the season you’re spending maybe on a percentage basis of your time, you [00:01:00] know, on recruiting versus in-season current team games, all that stuff?

Coach: Um, you know, it depends on week to week. Obviously, with, with, you know, what, what is our load of the week? Of do we have two games? Do we only have one game? You know, are we playing on a Thursday, Saturday, which is our normal schedule, or is it, you know, are we playing Friday, Sunday this week? ‘Cause then maybe I can get out to get some games on Saturday.

Um, you know, so it, it depends week to week. Um, but you know, I, I like to, I like to try to spend 25 to 40% of my time with recruiting. Um, but you know, that also comes along with, you know, you, you get, uh, you, you spend years doing this and, you know, you kind of get in a groove of things. So some of that, some of that time where you might have been planning in the past, you kind of already have it in your mind and you’re used to it and you know what you’re doing.

So then you can kind of shift your focus to the recruiting side of it whenever you feel comfortable with what we’re doing and, and it’s been successful and it’s been gr- uh, growing [00:02:00] the program, so.

Matt: Okay. No, that make, that makes sense. Well, a- as a D3 men’s program, you know, uh, we’re November 6th, how much of your class of ’27 do you have signed at this point?

Or, or are you still trying to get, you know, now, now bec- now it’s full steam ahead and, and you’re gonna be starting to pick people up.

Coach: Yeah. You know, like you said, looking at the D3 aspect, you know, I think there’s such a wide range of when programs recruit and when they sign players, just because there’s such a wide range of, of what does a school offer.

Is it, is it a, a perennial powerhouse for Division III soccer? You know, I think there’s a lot of things that go into it. For us, um, since I’ve been here, um, we usually sign a couple kind of during the season, during the fall season. Um, we get most of our guys signing for the 2027 class right now, um, January, February.

Um, and, and you know, that’s just kind of the position [00:03:00] we’re in, and fortunately we’ve been growing the program and people have taken notice that we’re getting a lot more interest from guys earlier. Those conversations have started earlier than they have in the past. You know, I would like to have it wrapped up before the season starts back in the fall, but that’s just not the reality for us right now.

Um- But it changes every year. You know, my first year here when I took over this program four years ago, um, we didn’t finish recruiting until June. Um, we were still signing guys then. Um, the year after that, I think it was, like, May. The year before that was February, and last year was, like, right at the end of January, February we kinda wrapped things up.

Um, but now saying that, you know, for us and, and wanting to be a program that’s continuing to grow, we actually still… Like, if I say my class is wrapped up, um, I’m still actually going to be actively recruiting guys that I think are gonna come in and make an immediate impact. I’m not gonna pass up on those guys just [00:04:00] because I have X number of guys coming in already.

Um, that’s just the way we’ve built this program and the competition. So even though for us I like to say that we’re gonna be wrapped up by February, we’re gonna be actively recruiting guys still, just a much smaller pocket of guys, um, as long as I can, to be honest, so

Matt: No, no, that makes sense. Well, a- and when it comes to, you know, that recruiting, kinda w- where do you like to go?

I- i- how much of it is high school games versus club games? What tournaments are you usually at? Like, where, where can folks expect to, to maybe see you on the sideline?

Coach: Yeah, you know, especially being in Texas, Central Texas, Texas especially, you know, it’s, it’s six hours just to get out of the state. So most, most of it’s done in, in Texas.

Um, we go to Austin a lot. Um, I’ve really… Over the last two years I’ve really branched out into Dallas, which is much farther away. You know, it’s almost, it’s five and a half hours away, so it’s been harder, but we’ve gotten, we’ve gotten a lot of traction there over the [00:05:00] last couple years, so that’s… And of course, you know Dallas.

Everybody knows Dallas is a hotbed for it. Um, so the big cities, obviously those tournaments that, that are hosted there, um, obviously our local clubs that are closer in San Antonio, um, SA City, SAFC, um, guys like that, we go down and see a lot. Um, but then big tournament-wise, we go out to South Carolina for ECML.

We go out to Phoenix for NexFest. Um, thinking about going to Florida ’cause RL and NL are kind of piggybacked on each other, so we might head out there that, uh, this year. Um, but that, that’s kind of new because, like I said, this program has been growing a lot and we’ve been getting a lot more interest from guys at a higher level.

Um, and so those tournaments have just kind of filtered into our recruiting process.

Matt: All right. Well, what… When you’re at one of those tournaments or anything, like, what, kinda what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field?

Coach: Um, boy Wait, this is [00:06:00] only 30 minutes, right?

Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, exactly. Gotta give me the-

Coach: Uh- … the high

Matt: level overview here.

Coach: Yeah. So for us, I mean, we’re, we’re a possession based team. Um, I’m very, very big on building out of the back and wanting to control the game through possession, so one of the main things I look for right away is technique and skill on the ball, but are you confident on the ball?

Um, do you see the field? Do you, do you make it easy on your teammates, um, or do you get yourself in trouble with, with some of the stuff that you might be taking too long for, turning when you don’t need to, or, um, not, not looking over your shoulder or anything like that? Um, so those are kind of a couple things that we look for, and I really want guys to come in and, yeah, you might be playing center back right now, but I wanna be able to drop you honestly in any position on the field and be comfortable with our play style because of how we play and how we wanna move the ball.

Um, so that’s a big thing for us. Um, the one thing that we’re trying to step up, which is what has made us more [00:07:00] competitive, is honestly getting guys with the, that skill set, um, but also the athleticism. Um, four years ago, it… we didn’t have the athletes that we have now. Um, we weren’t as fast as the other teams.

We’re, we’re closing that gap, um, and that’s kind of my mission right now when I go to these big events especially, is find those players that have the skill set to play the possession based style that I want, while still being dangerous, but I need you to be able to run. I need you to have a high work rate.

I need you to be a little quick on the ball. Um, how, how fast are you in your reaction time, in your transitions? Um, that athletic side of it, while I don’t want to rely on it, we need it.

Matt: Sure. No, no.

Coach: I understand. And, and, and the, the honest hard part, truth of it is, is that’s, uh, that’s why we’re, uh, no longer playing after last night, so.

Matt: Well, it, it happens, you know, I guess. Yeah. Yeah,

Coach: yeah. Yeah.

Matt: Um, well in [00:08:00] terms of g- you know, you talk about growing the program and, and those are the players you’re looking for, and, and it looks like you guys also, uh, carry like a reserve squad, right? So how, I mean, how- Yes … how many overall players are, are you looking to, to bring in, uh, like, as a roster number, and, and how does that work in terms of the reserve and the varsity squad?

Coach: Yeah, um, good thing is, is I can answer that question for you now. Because, you know, just as this program’s been growing, the, the university has been kind of evolving in how we look at things. Um, it, it didn’t really used to be a roster size number it is now, and that, that is very recent that that has occurred.

Um, and so for two teams and we, you know, our travel team, our developmental team, it’s 45 guys is what we want. Um, and you know, I t- I s- I tell that number to a lot of recruits and I break it down for them. They’re like, “Oh, okay, that’s not bad.” ‘Cause, you know, with two teams I want four goalkeepers, so you’re at 41.

Anyone that does this job and knows anything knows you’re gonna have about five injuries through, through the year. So now you’re down to 36 field [00:09:00] players, and you got 18 guys on each team. We don’t break it evenly like that, but, um, you know, we, we, that’s the way we kinda look at it is what we break it down.

So 45 is kinda where we’re at. Um, the way we, we actually kind of break it down is I look, we travel 24 guys. Um, so in our travel team practice, we’re probably gonna have 28 guys practicing. Um, and then what’s left over kind of falls into the developmental side of it.

Matt: Okay. All right. Makes sense. Um, well, let, let’s talk a little bit more about the school.

I’m sure there’s folks out there maybe haven’t heard of Schreiner, so- Yeah … you’ve been there a few years. Kinda give me, you know, what are some, what are some awesome things about the school, maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about g- just going through the website?

Coach: Um, the number one thing, and this, and, and there’s even people that live in San Antonio and it is 45 hour, hour away, um, that don’t know about, which is how beautiful the campus is.

Um, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re in the Hill Country of Texas. Um, [00:10:00] so i- it’s, it’s a very spread out country, very beautiful. Oh, sorry, campus. Um, it’s very beautiful, trees. It’s, you know, for such a small school, I, I tell recruits all the time, I went to the school I graduated from, um, was the exact same size student body-wise, but it was probably about a 10th the size of this campus.

Um, so it, it’s very nice, and that’s probably the number one thing that when people step on campus they’re like, “Oh, wow, I didn’t know this is what it was gonna look like.” Um, so that’s number one. Um, the other good thing is, is we are very actively expanding. Um, we, I think it’s five or six years old now, we have an engineering program.

We’re actually adding electrical engineering soon as well to it. Um, they’re building an el- engineering lab on campus that’s supposed to be finished by the spring. Um, our nursing program’s number two in the state of Texas. Um, so we offer a wide variety of things. Of course, you know, everybody has business and things like that.

Um, but [00:11:00] our, our, um, sports management department is very, very big as well, um, which a lot of our guys obviously kind of get interested in and go into it. Um- Brand new field on campus. Well, I can’t say brand new now. It’s almost a year, it’s a year and a half old now, but brand new facilities on campus for soccer.

We’re, we’re building a new– plans to build a new baseball, um, softball fields. Like I said, the, the, the campus, the school, the community is continuing to grow and we’re moving forward and we’re in a great place. Um, and, and that’s, that’s what I love about being here is we’re always looking forward and continuing just to get better.

Matt: Okay, awesome. Well, you know, one of the hard parts, uh, of college soccer is really making that transition to, to being a, a student athlete, right? You gotta do the student side, you got the athlete side. What, uh, what kind of support systems do you guys have on campus to help the kids get, you know, what they need and be successful both on the field and off?

Coach: Yeah. Um, [00:12:00] that’s probably, might be, should’ve mentioned earlier. Might be one of the best things we do here at Schreiner, um, is our student support service. Uh, and, and a lot falls on coaches, a lot falls on the professors. I mean, we have a whole, um, student support service section. Um, sometimes, sometimes they ask me to do a lot during the season and I’m just like, “Hey, y- y’all know I gotta coach too, right?”

But, but we stay, we stay on top of everybody. Um, we come up, you know, when guys do struggle, we, we are responsible to come up with a plan, um, an active plan to get them back on track. Is it going to class? Is it going to, um, our, our tutoring section, our student support services over there? Um, we have what we call directive hours, where professors or, um, upper level students will come in and tutor for, like, let’s say 6:00 to 7:00 on a Wednesday, and they’re, they’re gonna help you in statistics.

So if you need help in statistics, be there from 6:00 to 7:00. So they’re very specific about when you need help, what do you need help in, [00:13:00] um, and, and they’re, they’re gonna set that up for you. Um, and I’m gonna be there to make sure that you’re, you’re doing it right. Um, you know, the one thing I do believe in, and I tell all my recruits, is, you know, I’m, I’m gonna push you in that direction, but I’m not gonna hold your hand and walk you over there.

Because that’s the biggest thing is figuring out this college, like you said, adjusting, is how to do all this on your own. Um, how to handle the soccer aspect, how to handle your, your academics, how to handle your social life. Do you have to work? Um, you know, that whole balance without your parents around is the, the biggest struggle and, and I want you to be successful.

I’m gonna help you, but I’m not gonna sit there and be your safety net every single time, so.

Matt: No, that’s good. Well, in terms of what to expect during the season, kind of, I guess, rewind a couple weeks, take us maybe- … to the heart of that conference season. What, what is a typical week schedule look like for players in terms of winter classes, practices, meals, game cadence, all that kind of thing?

Coach: Yeah. [00:14:00] Um, so like I said earlier, our games for conference are on Thursday, Saturday. Um, so we give, our, our day off, um, is Sunday, so the guys have all day off Sunday, which I really enjoy and the guys have too, because they don’t have classes, they don’t have soccer. They can get done whatever they need to get done.

It’s kind of just a day for them. Um, Monday we have, uh, a weight room session in the morning, uh, at 7:00. Um, and it’s only, like, 45 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes that they get in there with the strength and conditioning coach. Um, and then get to class. Uh, you know, you got class all day. Um- Well, depending on some, some guys, some guys have class at 10:00 and they’re done, and that’s a nice, nice schedule.

But , um After class, um, we, we start practice at 6:00, but sometimes, um, we’ll go, we’ll start at 5:00 or 5:30 if I wanna get into the film room or anything like that, or do anything specific in the classroom, um, [00:15:00] we will start a little earlier. Um, but 6:00 is when we start, um, and with our two teams, we like to run, we try to run everybody together.

I know we have a, a travel team, a developmental team. Um, we’ve done that the past couple years and it’s been a much, much higher success rate of those guys developing, because they’re playing with the guys that are starting. Um, so we, we focus on how we’re going to handle 45 guys at once. Um, but it, it works, and so, you know, sometimes guys don’t get all the same minutes that, that everyone gets, but, um, the practice goes from about 6:00 to 8:00, depending what we’re doing, sometimes a little longer.

Um, and then after that, the guys get to the, the dining room and then that’s, that’s kinda what it is. Um, goalkeeper sessions, we like to try to have them on Mondays and Tuesdays, but we also… The way we kinda run goalkeeper sessions is we look at the goalkeeper schedules. [00:16:00] I don’t like running the goalkeeper session, one, during our team training session, ’cause I want my goalkeepers in all of our possession drills.

I want them working on their feet with the way we play. Um, so w- we try to find a time that fits best for them on Monday and Tuesdays. Is that in the middle of the day? Is it in the morning? It just depends each year. Um, Tuesday’s kind of a rinse, a rinse and repeat. Um, we don’t do the weight room in the, in the morning on Tuesdays.

Uh, Wednesday is a much lighter day. We still start at the same time, um, but it’s gonna be more of a walkthrough. Do we have any free kicks or corner kicks that we need to look at? Is there, is there a film we need to watch on the other, other opponent, or anything like that? It’s, it’s a much more relaxed recovery day.

Just get out, stretch the legs, um, cover what we need to. Thursday game, Friday’s a rinse and repeat from Wednesday. Saturday game, Sunday off, go again.

Matt: All right. All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit more [00:17:00] about the team. I know we talked about the roster size and stuff, but talk to me about who, who else kinda fills out that roster?

What are, what other coaches are there? What other folks in the athletic department are helping out? Kinda who, who helps, uh, besides you with, with the team?

Coach: Yeah. Uh, that’s, uh, you’re, you’re, you’re gonna, you’re gonna be surprised at this answer right now. Uh, so l- let’s, let’s talk about the support staff. So we have a, um, equipment manager that helps us with, obviously, equipment, washing and all that.

Um, uh, our athletic director i- is a big part of it. You know, we have the, our, our, our SID who is always on top of it. We have, um, She, she, she goes to school here. Um, I actually used to coach her. Her dad’s the women’s coach. Um, she is our, our social media person, and she is fantastic. She takes, um, all of our photos, puts together all our videos, posts everything for us.

So she takes care of that side of it for both men’s and women’s programs. Um, and then the interesting part, and I’m, you [00:18:00] know, can’t go into the story of everything. Technically right now I’m the only coach on staff, so, but that is in the process of being changed. We’re about to, uh, like I said, the, the school is continuing to grow, um, and we’re moving forward and, you know, hopefully I’m gonna get, get a coach in here soon with, with what, what we, what we have to offer.

You know, living out in the Hill Country, even though it is nice and it’s close to San Antonio, it’s still difficult to get, get qualified coaches out here. Um, so that’s in the process right now that hopefully we’re gonna get somebody hired here soon, January, February, to come in and help. Um, and hopefully a goalkeeper coach as well to help me out on that side of it.

Um, but right now that’s kind of our, our staff. Um, we, we do normally have two coaches besides me. Um, not gonna go into all the dynamics of that. Yeah, that’s all right. You know, it’s where we are. It’s a Division III. This is kind of the way it works sometimes. Yeah. Um, but that, that’s kind of, that’s kind of where we are as a staff and [00:19:00] everything.

Matt: All right. Well, let’s talk about you though. G- right, give us, uh, some insights into your, your coaching style and, and what you try to do there.

Coach: Yeah. Like I said, it is very, very possession-based style. Um, and, and it, it’s not just, you know, like people say, possess- possession to just possess is, is useless. Um, our…

We want to draw pressure. Um, you know, i- if you look at, uh, Arteta, that’s his big thing, is that he wants to draw pressure and then, and then play in behind. Um, that’s what we try to do. Um, draw the pressure, break the lines. You know, is it, is it vertical? We… Just because we wanna possess, that doesn’t mean we can’t be direct.

Um, it’s just finding the right moment, and that’s what- That’s what the big challenge for us is with, with our guys coming in is, yes, I’ve brought you here because you have the technical ability and I think you have the work rate and all that stuff. But now at this level, [00:20:00] can you think fast enough to take advantage of what is given to you?

You know, is it space in the middle? Is, is it the fact that they’re sitting in a low block and, and we need to be patient and move the ball around and, and find where that gap is that they leave when they’re, when they’re shifting? Um, is it, oh, they’re pressing hard, so now we need to go vertical into a half space, um, and being on the same page with our forwards that, that that’s what’s happening.

Um, can we find our 10 in a gap between the midfield and defense? Like it’s, we ask a lot mentally and soccer IQ wise of our guys, but the overall theme is, is that we are going to possess, we’re gonna move the ball quick to draw pressure and then take advantage of, of what the opponent is giving us. Um, you know, if, if it’s around, it’s around, if it’s through whatever it is, it does not bother me how we attack.

Um- And then on the defensive side, it is, we want to be a very, very high pressing team. [00:21:00] Um, but not just running with our heads cut off. It’s, it’s, you know, organized and what is our pressing q- uh, cue? Where are we pressing this team compared to last game? Um, and once again, it’s just like on the offensive side, that takes a lot of mental fortitude and paying attention and being locked into the game, and not just playing to your athleticism.

Um, and so that, that’s the big challenge for us. Um, and that’s kind of the style that we want. I want my goalkeepers involved. Uh, I tell, I tell… We, we, we have a freshman goalkeeper and he, he’s won tons of awards this year. Uh, he’s a fantastic player. Um, he doesn’t know it yet, he’s gonna find out soon, but I’m gonna be working with him being a field player when we have the ball.

He understands it and he gets it, he’s just not comfortable with it right now. So I, I want my goalkeepers, and I tell him all the time, I was like, “When we have the ball, you’re no, you’re no longer a goalkeeper. You are a field player. Um, you know, join, join into the possession a little bit.” [00:22:00] Now, do I want him running in the midfield?

No. That’s not what I’m saying. But you know, it, it’s, it’s different because a lot of these guys, especially goalkeepers coming up through club and high school, you know, that it’s seen as a high risk to kind of get your goalkeeper higher and join in. Um, and so they’re not quite used to it and, and it’s not the fact that they don’t have the ability, it’s the fact they don’t have the confidence to do it.

Um, and that, that’s the big thing that, that we want of our goalkeepers, having the confidence to, to help us on that side of the ball, so.

Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, Coach, really appreciate the insights into the, into the program. Gonna leave you with one last question, and that is if, if you had one piece of advice for, you know, any, any high school boy here trying to play in college and go through the process, what would that be?

Coach: Oof. Um, confidence. And I’m not even talking about them playing, I’m just talking about in the recruiting aspect of it. Confidence. Talk to coaches. Um, look them in the eye. Like the… I, I, I can tell [00:23:00] you there’s some guys that I did not even, weren’t even on my radar to recruit, um, and I started recruiting them because they came up to me firm handshake, looked me in the eyes, confident, like, knew about my school, talked to me, asked me questions.

Um, things like that go a long way on coaches. They make an impression and, you know, down the road if, if, if I start recruiting you and I’m looking at this other guy and I think, “Okay, y’all are, y’all are equal, but I remember when this guy walked up to me and did this. Like, that’s who I want to be part of our, our team.”

It’s not just… Those intangibles go so far that, that a lot of guys don’t reali- they think it’s all on the field stuff and then, okay, my academics. Um, you know- The funny thing is, is a lot of times is, is if, if we’re recruiting you, the soccer side’s probably the last thing we’re looking at now ’cause I’m recruiting you ’cause I’ve already seen that.

Now, what are your academics? What are your intangibles? Um, that stuff matters and goes a long, long way. [00:24:00]

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. Well, Coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck in this, uh, recruiting class and, and hopefully, uh, we’ll, we’ll see you hanging that banner next season.

Coach: I hope so too.

Thank you, Matt.

Matt: Thank you.