Spalding University College Women’s Soccer – Coach Jordan Vejar

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Vejar from the Spalding Women’s Program in Kentucky. We talk about how he look at high school soccer to help learn more about a player and their family. Coach also shares about the school’s history with Muhammad Ali. Plus, we discuss how they have a large and dedicated staff for a D3 program. Learn more about Spalding University College Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Jordan from Spalding University over in Louisville, Kentucky. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Hi. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. 

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I mean, we. We’re talking into January. Uh, I saw pictures of, uh, Nashville, not too far from you with icy trees and everything.

Is that what you guys are dealing with in Louisville as well? Or, or hopefully not as bad? 

Coach: Uh, we are, yeah. Yeah. We’re fortunate that we’ve got a great facilities crew that has cleared off all a campus with, knocked out a recruit visit yesterday and more to come. So we’re, we’re fortunate to not lose operations for it, but no, I, I think the, our team is thankful for a couple e-learning days here to start the week maybe.

Matt: Yeah, I mean, uh, it’s craziness, but, uh, I, I mean, I guess we’ll, we’ll, we’ll put the weather aside, but, uh, you know, it’s. End of January for a division three school like yourself. Where, where are you right now with your class of 26 recruiting? Class [00:01:00] of 27 recruiting, kind of at this time of year? We’re, we’re, we’re.

Where do you stand? 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, we’re pretty much done with the 2020 sixes right now. You know, we’re tying up loose ends, you know, we have a. An approach here that we’re not gonna turn away any good person that’s going to help us, especially if the soccer side can fit as well. So, you know, a lot of kids this time of year will maybe rethink what they wanna do or, you know, some things didn’t shake out the way they needed to.

So we’re definitely still very open to conversations, but fortunate to be pretty much done with that. We are very, very deep into the 27 class right now. Um, with a few offers out, but also just, you know, I think we’re at 23 visits in the next two months of just 20 sevens alone scheduled, so, wow. Uh, very much so.

Um, and then right before the holidays, our staff, um, kind of sent out a blast email to some players that we had been tracking or had had at previous camps for the 2020 eights. And it was just about, you know, hey. We’ve identified you as a player that we’ve been able to see play, uh, in the past or seen at at camp, and just wanted to make some initial contact with them if they [00:02:00] haven’t already, and just kinda get the ball rolling as we approach that.

And I just think we’re in a bit of a different. Situation this year because we had to postpone our ID camp in December due to weather, um, issues. So we’re rescheduling that for, uh, mid-April. So it’s just kind of making sure we’re staying in kids’ ears properly for that, but in a, in a really good spot.

Really excited for, for this coming fall with the class we have coming in and the players we have coming back. 

Matt: Sounds like it. Well, it, I mean, you look at your roster and, and not surprisingly it’s uh, we’ll call it the tri-state area, you know, for, for, uh, for the focus of your recruiting. So what, what are some events you like to go to, that you like to look at players at?

Kinda where, where, where might we see you on the sidelines? This coming spring? 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’ll be, um, at an, at an ECNL event, um, down in Florida. The second one at Lakewood Ranch, down, down your way. Yeah. Um, you know, we’ll hit Indianapolis and West Seal at Grand Park multiple times for either day, just single day events.

Uh, the Buckeye Showcase coming up next week, um, in Ohio, um, multiple club [00:03:00] events. Um, Kings Hammer related Murphysboro we’re pretty in tight with a lot of Nashville clubs now, so they’re inviting us. Um, but really this year I’ve got, I’ve got two new assistant coaches who just have been crushing it with recruiting.

They take a lot of calls. They do a lot of digging. They know the game so well. So we are really, it’s been a major, major help to have, um, people who have been really helping with the recruiting side, um, to where there’s three of us full-time going after players and just having great conversations with them.

So really, really fortunate for it. 

Matt: No, that’s great. Well, what about high school soccer? Uh, is that something you guys spend time, uh, looking at? I know sometimes the timing of it may not be the best, but, but Right. People always ask, you know, does high school matter? 

Coach: Yeah, I, yeah. I don’t, I don’t know that I want to dive into if it matters or not.

I think everybody’s situation is, is significantly different. Um, you know, one of my assistants, he went to Trinity High School here local, which is a massive private school powerhouse. You know, we have a lot of really good connections with a lot of the high schools. Here. Um, I’m a southern Indiana guy, so really in Indiana soccer is more of my [00:04:00] niche there, but we definitely make time for it.

Um, you know, we train four to 6:00 PM each day, so that really does give us a good buffer to be able to go and hit high school games in during our season and hit those varsity matches that start at seven or seven 30. So we definitely wanna make sure. We are present and, and seen at those events as much as we can be.

Um, and I just, I think their big benefit for me at high school is sometimes it’s a lot easier to talk to parents and get to know them and their families on a more personal level in those settings. Um, because they just play so many games, especially for KHSA. So it’s a real big benefit for us to be able to, you know, get a little more personal with their families and learn more about them.

And it’s also important for us to see how players adapt into different settings depending on the, um, level of the high school they come from, or just, you know. They may play a different position from their high school team versus club team. So just trying to build a player perspective as much as we can.

Matt: Yeah. I, uh, found myself on the sidelines of a Trinity Saint X game back when I coached in southern Indiana, so I Oh, yeah. Very excited. Those are, those are, those are [00:05:00] good ones. Um. Well, what a, I mean, I know you mentioned, uh, you’ve mentioned ID camps in, in high school club. So when it comes to all of that, kinda what makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for to player both on and off the field?

Coach: Yeah, I mean we’re looking for a strong technical base, um, just based on the style that we play. And you know, I think players can express that technical confidence in any area on the field, even down to the goalkeepers. And so we look for that. Um, a lot of that too, especially of the actions they have after they release the ball, whether that’s communicating.

Mannerisms with hand gestures. You know, a lot of that just shows the raw confidence they have in their ability. So that’s really big. Uh, we’re big on body language, um, especially when players leave the field, whether they think that they’ve performed well or not, how they interact with their coaches. Um, just a lot of the more like psychosocial.

Pieces are those initial things that we look for with them. Um, you know, I’m a firm believer that versatility breeds opportunity, especially at the division three level and just college soccer in general because playing a different position with good coaching versus playing a position you only think [00:06:00] you can play in, not on the being, not on the field is two very different things.

So as long as players are open-minded, but we try to have those conversations. You know, once they get on campus with us about those things, um, obviously the athletic piece is really, really big, uh, for us. And so we look for players that couple that I know some programs may have a opinion about whether they like multi-sport athletes coming out of outta high school or, you know, playing basketball.

Other things, you know, flag football is really, really big in Kentucky now, honestly, overtaking a lot of, uh, female. High school programs too. But again, like athleticism is athleticism, especially if they couple that with soccer and you know, we, we look for all those things for that too. Um, personality is really big.

We’re, we are so fortunate to have a great group currently that has big personalities. They’re very welcoming and. That’s a really big deal for us. If they can engage with us, that’s important. But if they can show that enthusiasm within, you know, conversing with us, their families, we, we get that vibe. And I think it’s all about the right fit.

’cause we do involve our players quite heavily in the recruiting process of just [00:07:00] making sure they understand what it’s like to be them. Um, and do you wanna potentially live a similar lifestyle to them as a student athlete? 

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, uh. I know you say you’re, you’re done pretty much done 20 sixes, but might add a few, blah, blah.

So is there a roster size that, that you’re trying to hit that, that you think is ideal? 

Coach: I think my, you know, we’ve been really, my year one we had about 15 players and it was just kind of the way everything crumbled when I got the job. Um, in late February, that first year, I was really late to recruit any player, so we didn’t have the chance to.

Um, and it was also just me. Um, the year after that we went to 30 right away with a first big class. So that’s really helped. So we’ve gone from 30 players to 29 to 25 this year, and we’re looking around the 28 to 30 mark next year in carrying. Um, you know, three to maybe four goalkeepers as part of that roster.

30 is a perfect spot for me, um, to carry that. Um, but you know, it’s, we’re in a fortunate situation that we’re very trusted by our administration to, [00:08:00] you know, form the roster with the right people. And then, you know, athlete second. So really good. But 28 to 30 is a perfect sweet spot for me. 

Matt: Okay, great.

Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I, I. Telling you before I got here, I’ve, I’ve had the pleasure of playing against Spald when I was coaching down in southern Indiana. Yeah. So I’ve been, been over there and, uh, I have some friends who lived in Louisville and mm-hmm. Maybe even worked for Spalding at one point.

But anyway, you’ve been there a few years now. So tell us about Spalding. What’s some awesome things about the school? Maybe some things we didn’t even know about, going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, just in the, in the office I’m sitting in right now, I’m in the original gym where Muhammad Ali first boxed.

Um, it’s something that, you know, we’re tied to their foundation here locally and, you know, it’s, it’s, he’s a big part of how we, you know, advertise things here at the university. You know, their family’s fantastic, obviously one of the greatest athletes ever, but, you know, we, we try to tie it into our program and within athletics too.

So very unique that he first learned to box here and actually, and worked at Spalding too. So, um. We’re [00:09:00] also currently at least the only, um, school in the state of Kentucky that offers a doctorate of occupational therapy program. So we’ve had some success with grad transfers in the past. Um, some players that want to graduate undergrad early and go into that program, and they’ve just been fantastic working with us, um, to make sure the student athletes still has a great overall experience for it.

So, um, and like I said, I’m a southern Indiana guy and I think that, you know. We are so interconnected with just like we’re considered part of the Louisville metro area and my players alumni, they all take full advantage of having access to get to Southern Indiana and not only like barely 10 minutes.

And so they have a really, I think, holistic living experience with the different parts of Louisville that they can be in. Definitely, we’re in the middle of the city. So I know that’s something that can be a change for people, but if you like fast paced, if you want to be able to go, go, go anytime you want to, you want to be, to have access to one of the best food scenes in the country, definitely Louisville is the place to be.

And if you’re like anybody on my team and love their coffee, you have an ample amount of opportunity [00:10:00] to find coffee shops here. It’s actually a Google Doc sheet we have just to share with them on different places to try locally. 

Matt: Yeah, that’s funny. Well, in terms of. The academic side of things, a lot of, uh, you know, it can be hard for high school students going into college.

Now I’m a student, you know, college athlete. Gotta still be that student at the college level. What, what kind of support systems does Spalding offer to help? Your student athletes be successful on, on both fronts? 

Coach: Yeah. I mean, I think the starting point is, um, Dr. Patty Dillon, she’s our faculty athletics representative, so she helps kind of be our lead liaison for student athletes within our department into their undergraduate experience.

She is a phenomenal resource for us, um, and the department attends all of our meetings. She’s a great resource. It’s just somebody to get advice to about talking with different departments when it comes to scheduling, but. Um, she’s just great. She’s been around a very long time and is so great to, uh, and great to my young woman on my team.

We have everything from writing centers to math labs to tutors to success [00:11:00] coaches. Um, a handful of my players, um, in the past have been tutors of different areas. So, you know, fortunate that we excel a lot in the classroom here, but it’s just, it’s one of those things. I think it’s really difficult to fall through the cracks at Sping academically.

Um, just because it’s small class sizes. The professors are very in tune with their classes, you know, our department. Is very well ran with our ads and administration. And then our assistant coach, Emma, handles our study hall program and it’s a week to week checking in on the players. And they, they’re very, very good about filling out the form and being very detailed.

So we’re very in tune with what they have for that. So, um, and I have a really wide variety of majors on my team with the majority of them being nursing majors or health science related. So, very. Healthcare inclined group. And then we still trickle in psychology, education, criminal justice business. Um, we’re very good with grad transfers for MBA programs and things like that.

So just a wide variety and I think it’s just one where they understand that they are students first to do that. Um, the [00:12:00] majority of my players also don’t have Friday classes, just the way our academic format is set up. So that really helps with balancing missed class time, especially when we’re in season.

So we’re very fortunate that that’s not an extra burden or stressor. For our players when we’re on, when we’re on road trips, you know, Thursday to Saturday, sometimes. 

Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s roll back to the heart of that conference season. Uh, walk me through what a typical week looks like, uh, in terms of when is classes, meals, practices, game cadence, all that kind of stuff.

Coach: Yeah, I mean, they’re, they lift in season, we’re so body maintenance, um, to just maintain that fitness as they built up over the summer. So they’ll lift, uh, Monday, Tuesdays, and then they either lift Wednesday, Thursdays, depending on if what day that first match day falls on, and that’s. A lot of it’s just mobility and things like that to make sure their bodies are ready to go.

Uh, we will train, uh, full out Monday, Tuesday, with Tuesday. Typically be in that threshold day. Um, coming off the back of another weekend. If we did, uh, Wednesdays the day before a new match would be, uh, non-contact or light contact where we’ll typically break into functional [00:13:00] groups and get some position specific reps in just based on what we’re doing.

And then we’ll finish with about a 30 minute classroom session going over scouting report, um, and our pre-game report for that. So, um, day of game, we’re doing pre-game report about three hours before kickoff. Um, with only focused on our team and our program on game day, just because we, I think we’re very adaptable and just need to focus on us and what we can control on match day, we’ll play Thursday night.

If we are on the road, we’ll play Thursday night and then stay the night. Um, and then hotel Fridays typically just a team day, you know, we don’t ever kick a ball those days. We’ll do pool therapy at a hotel. We will, you know, go to a zoo. We’ll go to the movies, we’ll go to a state park. We may find some pickleball courts.

Um, my team loves spike ball, so we bring our spike ball sets with us so we can find an open space to just get the legs loose. On Friday. But really we’re just looking for, to be able to have intentional time together and digress to be mentally prepared for the Saturday afternoon match and coming home.

So Sundays would be the off days for ’em. So they, [00:14:00] they handle their stuff very, very well. They’re an organized group. Um, so we’re thankful that they are very intentional about how they handle their individual schedules on top of, you know, everything that they have with soccer. 

Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the team.

I know you, you kind of mentioned a little bit about your staff, but talk to us more about your assistants. What roles do they play? What others maybe support staff are, are there helping out with the, with the program? 

Coach: Yeah. Yeah. So I’ve been very lucky to have a full staff, um, essentially since that first fall season I got here.

Um, it’s obviously evolved into having a little bit more time and resources with them. So currently I’ve got. Um, Emma and Bryce who both played collegially recently at a division two and a division three school. Um, but they are both great soccer minds. They’re younger and closer in age to the players so they can, you know, connect on levels that maybe the girls think I can’t sometimes, but they’ve just been fantastic and they are both really heavily involved in the recruiting with their primary focus being the 20 sevens and 20 eights right now.

Um. Bryce is [00:15:00] more the tactician for the whole group of us where he really enjoys, um, you know, breaking down the film after each game he watches. He keeps a livestream iPad going during games and clips, things throughout halves to show players and things like that. Um, Emma and I are more within the game management pieces of those things.

Um, and then Emma handles our study hall as well as travel logistics and, you know, the, when we’re gone type of things. But really it’s. Super, super supportive staff. I love being able to come in here every day and sit with them in the office and have just more than just my presence here. For the, for the girls on the team, I think it’s really important that they have, you know, they feel that support from the whole staff.

But we also have a volunteer keeper, coach Taylor, who has been with me since year one. Of this program, I’ll be coming back for year five. Um, she and I grew up playing for the same club team here locally and, you know, very lucky to have her, somebody who’s so dedicated and gives weekly daily attention to our goalkeepers.

Um, and then we have Jaylen, who this year was a student coach, was a grad transfer the year [00:16:00] before, um, and is still here for two more years for grad school with ot and you know, to have five. Coaches or support staff here, day to day is massive for our, not only our success, but I just think the support that we want to give, um, the team.

And then we have a athletic trainer, Caitlyn, who is just the godsend. I mean, she keeps us healthy. She does more than she’s asked for all the time. She loves the team and. Loves her job comes from a division one setting, working with women’s soccer. So, you know, she handles everything and I think, and she’s a knee guru, which is fantastic, uh, for my team and us going forward.

So it’s just, she’s just such a resource for us. Um, so I really, it’s, it’s really tough for me to, you know, not love the people I work with day to day because I’m, I’m around ’em all the time and they just do so much for me and it’s, it’s a really good thing and I’m very thankful to have a administration that supports it so much, um, year to year.

Matt: Yeah, it sounds fantastic. Um, well what about you? Talk to us about your coaching style and style of play. You look to play there. 

Coach: I mean my coaching style I think’s definitely evolved ’cause I was with [00:17:00] the Spalding men’s team in the past, um, under Coach Boyer who’s still here and he’s a great mentor to me.

And you know, I think that coaching them to be able to sit back and watch a little bit more about how he’s delegated and he really dove into the caring of the people. An individual person has shaped me to do that. And so it’s definitely a holistic approach. Work working into really care about the physical, the mental, the emotional.

And then the personal professional side, uh, for us, and I think at, you know, small college division three, you really do need to be in tune with the individuals and how their lives are going outside of soccer. ’cause it really does make up only about three and a half or so months of their, of their year.

And so being in, being in tune with how they are, what their goals are. Um, maybe what goes on at home, um, knowing their background, how supportive their, um, and great our families are that we have here are all things that I was fortunate to pick up from him during my time. And definitely bleed that into the college scene and also the club scene for that.

Um, with our specific team style of play. I mean, we definitely have a possession base, you know, try to control the [00:18:00] tempo as much as we can. Style of soccer, it’s very attacking minded. Uh, very, very attacking minded, and I think that. Bleeds into why we’re so successful defensively. Um, we led, led all of NCAA this year with most, the most shutouts in the country for the regular season.

And I think a lot of that’s attributed to, we just, we push a lot of numbers forward. We try to keep teams in their own half, so when they do have to pump the ball out, we’re going right back at ’em. And we just have a very athletic high soccer IQ group that commits to that style. We score a lot of goals and you know, we don’t, we don’t allow a lot of goals too.

So definitely a style that I think they appreciate ’cause it keeps things fresh. Um, but our system and our style can, they’re, they’re always with going hand in hand. But like this year we started off oh and three against three really good opponents. And as a staff we just wanted to show the group that we were still trying to keep things fresh and we switched.

From a 4, 2, 3, 1 to a 3, 5, 2. And then we went on a 13 game unbeaten streak. And I think that, you know, they have a choice to complain about it or be weary and I think they just appreciated that we were trying [00:19:00] to keep things fresh and we believed in their abilities and they executed and they learned it better and better each week.

And I think it was just something we had to just show that overall trust of staff to player, player, to staff, and just try something new. Um, and I think it was great, but our style at which we played definitely stayed the same. Keeping the ball, you know, high tempo, attacking minded, um, style soccer.

Matt: Awesome. Well, appreciate your time. Don’t, don’t wanna keep you too long, but gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for, for any, anybody, male or female going through this college soccer recruiting process, what would that be? 

Coach: Go where you’re wanted and go where you can have influence and go where you believe that influence can grow.

If it can’t grow, I would assume that your, your experience will probably be pretty stagnant and pretty flat. Um, so if you grow that influence, then you definitely will most likely feel like you are a better person by the time you graduate college as a student athlete. And hopefully you’re at your best soccer self.

[00:20:00] And you know, for us, if they love the game enough still by the time they’re graduated, then hopefully they wanna give back to it. Like, you know, later in life or in grad school as a coach or, you know, helping out when they can with the youth team, with siblings, anything like that. But, you know, go where you’re wanted, go where you can have influence and then go where you can see that influence grow.

Matt: I like that a lot. Well, coach well said, appreciate the time, uh, when you come down in, in March for that, uh, Lakewood Ranch event. Gimme a shout. I’ll, uh, I’ll come meet you out there. It’s only a couple miles from the house, so 

Coach: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. 

Matt: Thank you. Stay warm. 

Coach: All right.

You too. See you too.