SUNY Corning Community College Women’s Soccer – Coach Kyle Leach

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Kyle Leach from the Corning Community College Women’s Soccer program in New York. We talk about the unique challenges of recruiting and roster management at the junior college level, including how quickly things can change throughout the summer. Coach Leach shares how Corning recruits both locally and internationally while emphasizing character, communication, and coachability in the players they bring in. Lastly, we discuss the school’s outstanding academic support systems, on-campus housing, athletic facilities, and why the two-year route can be a tremendous pathway for student-athletes looking to continue their soccer careers. Learn more about SUNY Corning Community 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 Leach up at Corning Community College. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: Hi, thanks for having me. 

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. It’s, uh, you know, I’m down in Florida, you’re up, way up there in New York, uh, com- so, uh, I’m sure our weather’s a bit different today.

Coach: Yeah, it’s a little chilly in May right now up here in New York. Yeah. 

Matt: I, I, unfortunately or fortunately I can’t relate, depending on how you see it. But, uh, anyhow, um, well, I mean, the fact that it is May, that we’re chatting, um, and, and as a two-year junior college program- Yeah … tell me where you’re at in terms of your recruiting process for the class that starts in three months.

Are you locked and loaded, or are you still trying to find those last couple pieces? 

Coach: You know, I, realistically, when it comes to recruiting for me, like, I’m, I’m never happy, right? Um, you know, we, our class is at 11 in coming right [00:01:00] now. Uh, I’ve got 10 returning, but, you know, I, I realistically, uh, that could shift in any different direction, especially at the two-year level.

Um, you know, some of those 10 that are returning could change their minds in the next few weeks. Um, so yeah, we’re still, still obviously recruiting, still, still trying to find a couple finishing pieces. Um, a few different attackers, really wanna solidify our defense in general. Um, you know, it’s year three of our, our rebuild coming out of the pandemic, so it’s the second time around on a rebuild, and I’ll be happy when we start, you know, being really solid moving forward.

Matt: No, that’s fair. Now, I, I mean, you bring up a good point. I think this is something that doesn’t get talked about a lot, um, and just because I, I’ve, three of the girls on my daughter’s team are going off to a junior college program here in Florida. I, you know, I’ve talked to a number of junior college coaches and, and think it’s a great, it’s a great [00:02:00] vehicle for, for a lot of players.

But I, you know, we always talk about you guys gotta recruit twice as much- Yep … you know, ’cause they’re turning over and, and the roster sizes at junior colleges vary from, you know, I’ve seen guys have to walk into a, uh, a season with 12, and then you got some that are in their 30s. You just don’t know.

Absolutely, yep. But, but the fact that players, like, you don’t even know because so many players say they’re maybe gonna come back and then they don’t- Yep … or that they’re not coming back and then last minute they do. Or just that fluidity, especially, like you said, between now and August, uh, when you’re kicking off.

Like, it, it can be a… A tumultuous transition time. Yeah, it’s just rough for everybody, right? Absolutely. Yeah, okay. All right, all right. It’s, 

Coach: it’s not a fun summer, that’s for sure. Um, you know, final grades kick in here in the next couple of weeks, and kids change their mind on what their trajectory looks like.

Um- Yeah, you’re right, we do. We have [00:03:00] to recruit double the amount of people, double the amount of time. Um, you know, it, it- would I love to carry a roster of 40? Absolutely, but carrying a roster of 40 at the junior college level is just, it’s not fair to the kid, it’s not fair to the, the, the program in general.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. It’s, it’s, um, not, not a place where that makes a whole lot of sense, but- No … w- well, when it, when it comes to recruiting, uh, you know, where, where is it that you like to find players? Where are you doing the most of your, or spending the most of your time? 

Coach: Um, you know, so it, it’s a little different now, um, on our realm of things, just because, um, we do have…

So being a junior college, being a D3 junior college, like we can’t offer athletic scholarships, but we now have tuition-based scholarships. So my first time around, it was mostly New York, right? It was, it was showcases here in New York, it was showcases in Pennsylvania. [00:04:00] We have a nice little tuition-based thing with Pennsylvania as well, just because we’re five minutes from the border, essentially.

Um, but you know, now we have, uh, our Live Here, Learn Here, so it goes to pretty much anybody, um, in the entire United States, Canada, little, little westward Europe action as well, um, or eastern, yeah, western European action. Um, you know, so we’re, we’re getting there. But, you know, for me, showcases in New York, showcases in New York City, Pennsylvania, um, and then online tools, NCSA, FieldLevel.

Um, you know, FieldLevel’s huge for us in general. Um, that way I can at least like reach out to the coaches, get a coach’s perspective on the player instead of just watching the film and that sort of thing. 

Matt: Okay. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Well, uh, when it gets down to whether you’re at a showcase or, uh, talking to a coach, kind of what, what are the things [00:05:00] you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field?

Coach: You know, I’m big on character, big on what their communication is with their coaches. Um, you know, we, we pride ourselves on kind of being a family first atmosphere. Um, but that understanding that, you know, I’ve done my time playing and stuff like that, I want my players to come in and be able to discuss things that they see during our training sessions, during our, um, physio sessions in general, but then also when we’re watching film, right?

Like we, they’re the ones that are playing it, point the things out to me that you’re seeing that, you know, are important to us, how we can benefit. Um, you know, but that understanding that you’re transitioning into a young adult. So make sure that, you know, you can have that open line of communication. “Hey, Kyle, like, I’ve got this test on Friday.

Like, what avenues, where can I get some help?” Those sorts of things. Um- You know, is it a player that randomly blows off practice? Is it a player that, um, [00:06:00] knows that something comes up and takes the initiative and lets the coach know ahead of time? Um, you know, what kind of teammate are they? Uh, you know, are they selfish or are they pointing things out?

Are they able to take constructive criticism? Um, are they open to the idea of, you know, their coachability in general? 

Matt: Okay, awesome. Well, how about the… I know you guys are kind of, like you said, in that next rebuild, uh, post-COVID, getting everything kicked off. But, you know, a lot of, lot of times people choose a junior college route hopefully as a pathway to a four-year institution to keep playing.

Have you guys had any success with getting players on to, to the next level? 

Coach: Yeah, absolutely. We’ve had a ton of success getting players on to, uh, D3 and D2 levels. Um, we still haven’t gotten that kid to a, to a D1 level yet. Um, you know, my, my assistant coach, uh, one of my assistant coaches had played for me for two years.

She went on as a goalkeeper to, to St. [00:07:00] Rose here in New York, uh, for a D2 program. Came back, she’s giving back to the program, and now is one of our assistant coaches. Um, but yeah, the D2 route, D3 route, I have four girls right now that are, that are going D3 that played for me for two years, or even just one year for some of them.

They just came in with so many credits that they were able to graduate after a year. That’s that tumultuous aspect of things, right? Like, they’ve already got a ton of credits, they need one semester. Um, you know, go… And, and we have, uh, where we’re located, we’ve got eight D3 schools within a 50-mile radius of us, um, which realistically is beneficial, but also definitely hurts that recruiting aspect.

Um, you know, those programs carry in 35-plus players and, you know, we’re, we’re all picking from the same cream of the crop. Um, but at the same time, you know, kid needs to get their academics up or needs to, [00:08:00] um, just get a couple extra credits to be done with their, their two years and, and move on. So yeah, we, we have, we’ve had great success locally and also, you know, across the border into Pennsylvania and Ohio area as well to get, to get con- kids continued on playing.

But, you know, in this day and age, it’s more so one of those, does the girl really wanna keep going? Um, you know, I have a lot of kids that in the two different stints as head coach here that definitely could have continued on playing and just chose not to. Um, they were tired, they were done. It happens.

Matt: Sure does. Well, let, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, y- y- you’ve been there a decent bit of time now. Uh, kind of give me what are the, the, the behind the scenes things, maybe some awesome things, some things we wouldn’t know just by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah. So I mean, Corning’s great, [00:09:00] right?

Like, so a lot of two-year schools, and I can’t speak for this down south, Matt, but at least two-year schools here in New York, right, are set up architecturally like they’re essentially one building, three, four different floors, multiple wings to them, that sort of thing. The architects here at Corning made it feel more like a really small four-year school.

Um, 12 different buildings. You actually have to go out and embrace nature to go to class to class. Uh, but one of our big things is that, um, we’re one of two schools in New York State that has a learning center directly in our library. Um, and what we do with that athletically, our athletes do progress reports, um, check their grades, that sort of thing, but it’s free access to tutors, uh, specialists.

Any time you need some sort of help, seven days a week, you can go in and get help in a class. Uh, and then, you know, [00:10:00] realistically, like at the end of the day, like my players say to me all the time, “Hey, Kyle, like I got a test on a Thursday, and we got a game on a Wednesday. Is there a tutor on Monday or Tuesday that can give me some last minute pointers?”

That sort of thing. Um, and I, I just reach out to them and say, “Hey, you know, Elena’s got this. Like, can we do that?” Uh, and they’ll get right back to me, and they give us a time, and I shoot it over, um, and we kind of go from there. And then we actually do have resident halls right on campus as well, um, which is nice for a two-year school to actually have, uh, dorms and stuff like that.

Ours are all suites. Um, selling point to our suites is the fact that the kids don’t have to pay to do their laundry, um- … which is really nice. Like it’s a, it’s a big perk there. Um, and then we are Nike sponsored, so Nike uniforms for our players, Nike travel gear, practice gear. Um, nothing that, like, we require our players to, to pay for.

We, we do a, we do a really good job [00:11:00] of fundraising in the off-season to definitely get our kids some nicer quality materials and stuff like that. Um, turf stadium right on campus. Um, it’s all soccer, so, uh, well, soccer and baseball, but there’s no, uh, no dirt to the baseball field, which is, which is really actually kind of nice as well.

But maximum length, maximum width on the pitch. Um, had, we put it in in 2014, and you would think that it’s still brand new at this point in time, even with New York State winters. It’s, it’s kind of ironic On that realm of things, but, um, small, small campus, small rural campus, um, located just up the hill in Corning, so go down the hill and we’ve got diverse popul- Yeah, so our field, um, turf field, we put it in in 2014, really nice field, um, in general.

Like, so it’s, [00:12:00] it’s held up to New York weather. Um, baseball complex right on it as well, and then we live stream all of our games. Um, every single home game’s live streamed, free subscription to, um, there isn’t actually a subscription in general, so and then it goes right up on to YouTube, uh, directly following.

So I take that and cap cut all the highlight film for all of our players and- Oh, wow … try and put them on as, as best as we possibly can. 

Matt: That is great. Um, I mean, a lot of places don’t have that ability, so that’s, that’s really nice. Well, I mean, you mentioned the, uh, the learning center, which is awesome to help- Mm-hmm

the, the students and their support. So, so let’s, uh, I guess fast-forward to, you know, say October. Okay. You know, we’re in the heart of the season. Walk me through, what does a typical week look like for a player in terms of when is practice, the game cadence, meals- Mm-hmm … practices, all that stuff? 

Coach: Yeah, so, uh, nice part is Region 3 here in New York has, has a standardized schedule.

So [00:13:00] we’re, game days are Wednesdays and Saturdays for us. Occasionally, we’re gonna throw in a Sunday, like obviously if we have to play a back-to-back, uh, long distance travel, that sort of thing. Um, but at the end of the day, like, I’m that coach that soccer’s phenomenal, soccer gives us a lot of different things, but a player’s mental and academic health is extremely important to me as well.

Um, you know, so practice-wise, we’re gonna have a, once classes are in session, whether it’s October, September, whole nine yards, we’re one training session a day, um, with a, a weight room session that is kind of on my assistant coaches. I have one assistant coach that’s on campus all the time, so she kind of runs the weight room.

Um, but also making sure that, like, that weight room session fits into the kids’ schedule, um, you know, and making sure that they’re not overloaded, uh, especially when we get closer to playoff time. So training [00:14:00] session, evening session, it’s about hour and a half, hour 45. Um, nothing more than two hours in general on a training session.

I, I don’t wanna overwork the girls. I don’t wanna overwork their whole entire day. Um, you know, so at the end of the day, we’re Monday, Tuesday on that training session. If there’s a game on a Wednesday, obviously we have that game. Thursday ends up being a, a lighter day, watch the film from the day before.

Um- And then it’s, Friday’s session really kind of depends on what the weekend looks like for us. Um, if we have a game on Saturday, then we kind of flip-flop that schedule and go a little bit, little bit harder on Thursday, and then do a, a lighter walkthrough with some film on, on Friday as opposed to, um, the opposite end of that spectrum.

If, you know, it’s playoff time, like, we could potentially… Most of the [00:15:00] time we’ve structured our schedule game-wise where we have about a 12 to 13-day lag in between end of regular season and post-season, um, which is really nice for us. It gives our athletic trainer a whole lot more time to get some recovery to some injuries, um, but also gives us a little bit more time to almost have a brand-new pre-season essentially.

Um, you know, work on the things that really weren’t working well for us throughout the year, uh, and then, you know, kind of go from there. We can go a little bit lighter the first couple of days, and then pick up the pace, uh, as we transition into the, the week of playoffs and that sort of thing. Um- Okay

you know, but also we, we gotta make sure that… You know, I’m also a high school teacher, so I wanna make sure that my players are, are doing well in the classroom too. You know, I’m not, not trying to overwork the girls, but also at the same time, let’s make sure we got all of our priorities in the same lineup.[00:16:00] 

Matt: Yeah. No, makes sense. All right. Well, in terms of your coaching style, how would you describe that? You mentioned, you know, what, what your, your staff and, and that kind of thing, but let’s talk about, about you and, and how you work. 

Coach: Yeah. So for me, I, you know, I am one of those people that’s, I want to win possession.

I wanna, I wanna go and attack as quickly as we possibly can. Um, my style in general is let’s attack, let’s be fierce, let’s play physical. Um, you know, when I took over the women’s team in 2014, 2015, you know, I had never coached women’s soccer in my life. Um, you know, I was always on the men’s side of things.

But soccer’s soccer, in my opinion. Um, you know, the game doesn’t change. The speed of play changes a little bit, but, um, the tactics, the, the overall aspect of things doesn’t change. So, you know, for me, I’m big on having that line of communication. Um, you know, I’m not… There was a [00:17:00] time and a place you probably would’ve watched a game and I would’ve been a little bit amped up on the sidelines.

Now I’m, you know, 40 years old, and we’re a lot more composed and that sort of thing. Uh, you know, but for me, it’s kind of down to let’s play physical, let’s win possession, let’s go attack. Um, you know, let’s maintain a level of possession if we have to. Um, you know, but the, the quicker, the faster we can counterattack, the better.

Matt: All right. Well, I re- I appreciate, uh, all the insights. Gonna leave you with one last question, and that is if you had one piece of advice for somebody going through this process, what would that be? 

Coach: For me, it comes down to, um, you know, understanding that the two-year schools are a phenomenal avenue. Um, when a two-year school reaches out to you, don’t, don’t necessarily cut them short because [00:18:00] they’re a two-year program.

Um, you know, there, there is a way of life at the two-year system where you can come in as a freshman and play right away, um, or earn a starting spot right away. And the question that I always ask kids is, if you’re looking at four-year schools and you’ve talked to four-year schools, is that an opportunity?

Or how long before you see the pitch at that four-year school? Um, whereas at the two-year level, like you can come in and go right away and get that college-level experience, get the new speed of play. It’s a jump from the high school realm of things, so let’s, you know, understand that as well. But understand that, you know, two-year schools are you’re gonna get professors that know you by name and not a number.

You’re gonna get a coach that cares. You’re gonna get a coach that has to recruit twenty-four hours a day, [00:19:00] all year long to get to the numbers they want. Um, so just understand that two-year programs are, are a great avenue to continue playing and get that college-level experience where you can contribute right away.

Matt: Absolutely. Well, really appreciate it. Thanks for the time, and, uh, good luck this coming fall. 

Coach: Thank you. Thank you for having me.