SUNY Ulster Men’s Soccer – Coach Jamal Lis-Simmons

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jamal from the SUNY Ulster Men’s Program in New York. We talk about their start here, go far mantra. Coach also shares about their possession based, attacking style of play. Plus, we discuss his player friendly approach that focusing on being available for players. Learn more about SUNY Ulster Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Jamal at SUNY Welcome Coach. I. 

Coach: Thank you for having me, Matt. 

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. And so like, I know, I guess maybe some, some parts of the school still call it Ulster County Community College, but then the website, SUNY Ulster, so I guess it still has maybe both monikers at this, this at this point, 

Coach: I guess a little bit.

Yeah. I mean, SUNY Ulster is usually the, the the first thing that kind of rolls off of my tongue, so yeah. Sun still works. Yeah. 

Matt: Alright, well, well that’s all good. Um, so you, you’re head coach of the men’s program, um, now I know you guys are. N-J-C-A-A. Which, which division of N-J-C-A-A are you guys? 

Coach: Yeah, so we’re a division three program.

Matt: Okay. Alright. So that helps us understand kind of where things are from the financial aid perspective. Um, but you know. Obviously it’s tough as a junior college, you gotta recruit twice as much, uh, than everybody else. It’s January, kind of based on where we are this point [00:01:00] in the year. Where are you at with your, your incoming class, uh, and, and when do you hope to finalize that?

Or is it something where it’s getting finalized, uh, two weeks into the season? 

Coach: Yeah, no, it, it’s definitely quite the process. You know, we definitely, uh, we’ve been recruiting pretty heavy, um, really since the season had ended. So going to different showcases, um, reaching out to our local connections with the local high schools and the local clubs and things.

So lots of phone calls with players. Um, fortunate to have a lot of them come for some visits on campus as well. Um, we’ve had just a few players officially commit just in about the last week or so. Um, but with us, it really is a process that continues really in through the next couple months. Um, especially, you know, a lot of the players.

I think our program has reached a point now where we’re recruiting a lot of players that are also looking at four year options, and they have kind of higher aspirations than potentially a JUCO school. So a lot of times with that pool of players. [00:02:00] It’s kind of about them figuring out their options hearing from these four year schools.

So a, a lot of those players I could get in the ninth hour, you know, potentially even right before preseason starts. So it’s a pretty lengthy timeframe, um, from now until then. Um, some students are ready to commit right away. Others want to kind of sift through their options a little bit more. But, um, we’re, we’re confident in the position that we’re in now, just in regards that I feel like we’re a little ahead of where we were last year.

So, fi feeling good about that. 

Matt: Okay. Now, uh, as a New York Junior College, you look at your roster, obviously New York Heavy, right? So, uh. How much recruiting are you doing outside of the state? Kinda what are, what are the places you like to go to see players and, and is high school a big part of that?

What’s that look like? 

Coach: Yeah, so for us, so this is my 10th year now at the program and um, you know, I took over the program and we were pretty much starting from scratch. So the most important thing that I did over the first couple years was really. Develop these [00:03:00] relationships again with all of our local high schools and all of our local clubs.

So we were able to do that, you know, for the first five years or so that I was here. Um, again, we feel very comfortable with the relationships that we’ve been able to build and once we kind of reached a level of success with some of that local talent. It’s now really allowed us to kind of branch out now and really branch out our recruitment.

So we’re looking, you know, down not only in the surrounding counties, but we’re looking down into New York City, um, looking into the Albany area as well. They’re both about Albany, about two hours north, New York City, about two hours south. So we’ve been able to branch out in that regard. And, um, we’ve also tried to get into the international, um, pool as well.

Uh, we were fortunate we were able to bring in a player from Australia and England, um, for this year. So hopeful that, uh, that we can continue in that regard as well. So, uh, I mean, I’m, I’m trying to, you know, turn over every rock and stone possible. Um, but it feels good now to be in a position where we’ve been able to branch out much, much more than just [00:04:00] kind of our backyard here.

Matt: Okay, well, whether it’s local, international, wherever, kinda what, what makes up that? The hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field. 

Coach: Yeah, so I mean, off top, you know, we want. You know, well balanced student athletes, you know, we’d want guys who obviously, you know, understand their responsibilities within the classroom first and foremost.

Uh, but our, our motto here at Ulster is, start here and go far. You know, we recognize that we’re not an end goal, um, for players, but we feel like we can be a really good starting spot to help them develop academically in the classroom. You know, our class size is very, is very sustainable to them being able to do well in their class.

Only about 18 to 20 students in the class. So develop them, developing them academically, and then the same thing on the field. You know, looking to be able to take their game to the next level and try to open up as many opportunities for them, um, at the four year level. Um, um, so. Yeah, I mean in terms of, in terms of like, [00:05:00] we’re, we’re just looking to raise the profile of our program as much as possible, so even from like a skillset set or position set, like we’re looking for talented players, you know, we wanna be able to have as competitive a group as we can.

So I’m really, I’m always looking at all positions and all talented players really doing anything that we can to really just boost the level of our program. 

Matt: Okay. What do you have a roster size that, that you’re trying to hit that you feel is ideal each season? 

Coach: So yeah, we’ve, uh, we’ve fluctuated a little bit over the last handful of years, but I think right in that, you know, 24, 25 ish range is where we wanna be.

Um, last year we were at 21. Um, but I’d love to get to that 25 spot with at least two or three goalkeepers. Um, so that’s usually always our goal. Is that 25 spot? Yeah. 

Matt: Okay. Makes sense. Um, well let, let’s learn a little bit more about the school. Um, you know, like you said, you’ve been there almo a decade or so, kind of what are some of the things that, that stand out about the school?

Some awesome things about the school. Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through [00:06:00] the website. 

Coach: Yeah. Um, I mean, one of the things that stands out I think is really just. The, um, I mean, there’s a lot of different things. I mean, the affordability piece is huge at junior college. You know, I think the way, the way the prices of everything are just in the economy these days.

I think families are always looking for ways to be able to save a couple dollars. Um, so the financial aspect of Ulster is huge in terms of setting students up for success financially, just, you know, not being in debt for the first couple years of their college experience. So that’s always a huge sell point to families.

Um, and the, uh, like I said, the academic stuff, um, you know. Them really being, um, an actual name and face in the classroom. Getting to know their professors, um, in these small classes, I think really gears them for a level of success academically. Um, and on the field it’s the same thing. You know, we wanna be able to develop them.

We play a pretty competitive schedule with some nationally ranked teams as well, so we feel like, um. We feel like it’s a great opportunity for guys to [00:07:00] be introduced to the college level at a high level and, uh, hopefully open up some different opportunities for them, um, after they’re here for a year or two.

Matt: Okay. Well, in terms of the, the season, let’s rewind it back to October. You’re kind of in the heart of that conference season. Walk me through what’s a typical week look like for the players in terms of winter classes, meals, practices, game cadence, all that stuff. 

Coach: Yeah, so for us guys are typically, um, yeah, I guess one of the big, big things that I should mention first is, so we don’t have on-campus housing here on campus.

So that’s one of the challenges that we kind of work through. So a lot of our students do commute here, kind of from their local towns that they’re in. Um, we’re fortunate, we’re fortunate to have a house in the town of New Paltz, which is just about 15 minutes away. Um, there’s a four year school there, SUNY New Paltz, so it’s more of a kind of college environment, college town.

So we’re fortunate to have guys that we can house there. Our guys specifically that live outside of the area. So typically guys will come from the house [00:08:00] or they’ll commute from their hometown. They’ll come to campus every day. Um, classes usually will run in the morning and early afternoon, um, with everything from an academic side, usually being done by about three o’clock or so.

And typically we practice from four to six every day. Um, we have a grass field here on campus, uh, but we also have a local high school, um, that allows us to use their turf facility. So we have that as well for a lot of our games. Um, typically, you know, we’re playing a 15 game regular season schedule for the most part.

Um, you know, playing two or three games a week once the season begins. Um, usually starting the season with our preseason, we’ll go preseason for about three weeks or so and look to have a couple, uh, two or three scrimmages set up in that timeframe. But our guys, I guess one of the biggest things is just when they get to campus for the day, like they’re pretty much here for the day, you know, so making sure that they have, um, that they have the time and the opportunity to get all their academics done, get their additional work [00:09:00] done, grab a bite to eat, hang out a little bit, and then ending with practice at the end of the day.

So we try to keep ’em as busy as we can. 

Matt: Okay. No, that makes sense. Um, well let’s talk a little bit more about the team kind of. We talked about roster size, but I know you’re, you’re, you’re the head man doing all things with the team, but are, is there any other staff that helps out, whether that be assistant coaches or athletic department staff and, and what role does kind of everybody play there?

Coach: Yeah, so I do have, um, two main staff kind of within the department on the administration side of things that are able to really help and support, you know, everything that we’re doing with the program. And then the more day-to-day stuff. Um, I have a regular assistant coach who’s with me. Um, he’s been with me now for the last five years, so we have a really good relationship there.

And, um, a second assistant as well who’s a little bit more specific to our, our goalkeepers. So he’s with us not quite on a full-time basis, um, but uh, but still enough to be able to get our goalkeepers some good work. So, um, yeah, it’s great to be able to work with people who kind of ha share the same vision and just the same [00:10:00] goal.

To really help these student athletes. So, um, yeah, glad glad to have the staff that I, that I, that I have at this point. Yeah. 

Matt: Okay. Well, what about you? Talk to us about your coaching style and the style of play you look to play there. 

Coach: Yeah, you know, I, I like to, um, I like to consider myself to be a very, you know, player friendly coach.

I mean, I like to be able to, uh, get to know my players on and off the field, um, um, and. WI like to be just available to my players. I mean, I love to be able to have conversations with guys, even if we’re talking details of the game. You know, meeting before practice, meeting after practice, really making myself available to them just to make sure that we’re on the same page and you know, what we’re looking for from them as players.

Um, and, uh. It took a while our, our, for us to kind of get to the point of playing the style that we wanna play. Uh, like I said, you know, we struggled a good deal in my first couple years when I was here getting the right personnel in. But, um, now [00:11:00] that we’ve had some success bringing in some talented players, um, we’ve been able to play a much more possession style of game, um, which is really good.

Um, you know, typically we played out of a, out of a four back, typically a 4, 2, 3, 1, or a 4, 3, 3. So really possession based. Um, we wanna be up the field and attacking the other team as much as possible. Um, we want our outside backs to be involved in the buildup play and involved in some of the, uh, some of the final, some of the, um, some of the final third decisions that are being made.

Um, so yeah, I mean, every team is obviously a little bit different. You know, you have to be able to take a look at your personnel and kind of see how it fits. But, uh, we’ve been, uh, the, the, the overall kind of dynamic and vibe we’ve, we’ve been able to create over the last couple years, um, has been a lot of fun.

Matt: Okay. Well, like I said, we’re talking in January, so we’re in that now spring semester, that op season. What does that look like for you guys? 

Coach: Yeah, so for us, our guys ended the fall semester just, you know, concentrating on [00:12:00] academics after the season ended, just looking to get their GPA as high as they can.

Um, they’re coming back from Christmas break now, so our spring semester will start in about two weeks or so. And, uh, obviously upstate New York, you know, we’re dealing with the weather and not being able to be outside right away. So we’ll hold some different foot sole sessions in our gym. Um, you know, a couple times a week once the semester begins, and then that will kind of slowly transition to us being outside once we get to like March and the weather starts to warm up a tiny bit.

And for us in the off season, um, this is new. Just in the last three or four years, we’ve been able to really do some substantial things in the off season because we now have the numbers of guys to be able to do that. So once we can transition outside, we’ll practice two to three times a week. And, um, we’ll set up a couple different scrimmages throughout the spring season.

So we have another local community college in the area, um, who holds a 77 tournament, which is a great kind of round robin tournament. Um, and not needing to be necessarily fully game fit, you know, playing [00:13:00] seven seven. So that’s always fun. And, um, couple other local schools too, depending on their schedule.

We look to set up some scrimmages with them as well, so. Um, like I said, it’s just great over these last three or four years to be able to now do something in the spring to keep guys together, keep them working, um, keep the camaraderie of the group together, um, has really been beneficial for us. Then going into our next preseason.

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Coach, I really appreciate all the info and insights you’ve given us, uh, here about SUNY Ulster. But I’m gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for somebody who’s going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be? 

Coach: Yeah, my biggest piece of advice would be to ask very detailed questions with the coaches that you’re meeting with.

You know, I get a lot as a junior college, I get a lot of emails from players who have ended up in situations maybe that they. Didn’t totally expect and are now looking for new challenges. So my message to all recruits, [00:14:00] um, is to really, really have some pointed questions for coaches, you know, asking them how they see you kind of in their plans.

You know, I, I, I think the guys really need to be. To be playing, to be able to develop. And I just hate to see situations where guys end up on a roster on a team and they’re not playing and they just feel like it’s not quite the situation that they were stepping into. So I think that a lot of that frustration can be, can be alleviated by very pointed questions to ask the coach, um, so that the player has the, the most accurate information possible, you know, to make the best decision for them and their families.

Matt: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, good advice. Well Coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck as you wrap up this roster and get ready for next season and, uh, hopefully you stay warm up there. 

Coach: Yeah, I appreciate it, man. Thanks so much for your time. 

Matt: Thank you.