University of North Florida Women’s Soccer – Coach Eric Faulconer
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Eric from the North Florida Women’s Program. We talk about how they like to recruit by looking at character first. He describes their unique location in a nature preserve. Lastly, we discuss their amazing staff that helps with all aspects of the program. Learn more about the University of North Florida Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Eric Faulconer from University of North Florida. Welcome coach.
Coach: Matt, nice to be here. How are you doing today?
Matt: Doing well, thanks. Happy to have you here. We, we were lucky enough to meet in person about a month ago with your ID camp up in Jacksonville, um, where, you know, I’m down here in Bradenton, but made the drive up.
It was a, you got a nice, beautiful campus and, and, and I think, uh, we’ll talk more about that later and, and your, your, your stadium. Maybe should be for football, but isn’t, which is pretty awesome. . Absolutely. But, uh, but let’s start, talk about recruiting first. Uh, like I said, we met at an ID camp. It’s that, uh, and we were just talking before we got on about all the great showcases that are happening around here.
You were in my neck of the woods just a couple days ago. So are you wrapped up with your 20 threes and looking at 20 fours? Kind of what’s your, what is your calendar generally, like each year? With the way you’re recruiting, um,
Coach: you know, it’s different being on the women’s side of the game. Uh, the men’s soccer has a much different recruiting calendar than the women do.
As far as, uh, Just there’s more programs on the women’s side. I think that’s a big factor in it. Um, and also from a development standpoint, I think that the men like to wait a little bit longer, um, on the recruiting side of things. So, you know, for us, you know, we start watching and identifying, um, you know, primarily players, uh, for our program during their sophomore year.
Um, you know, for the most part, um, we’re never quite [00:01:30] done with a class per se, cuz you never know. Things do happen. But yeah, we’ve been pretty. Wrapped up with our 20 threes for a a, a bit. Um, you know, something came along that we felt piqued our interest is Zoe’s that possibility. Um, we’re still looking at 24 class, um, you know, as well.
Um, and then started taking a peak of the 20 fives just because for our class, and I think a lot of schools are gonna be in this, uh, Same, same situation with the covid year that everybody kind of got that extra year of eligibility. I think that they’re gonna be, um, a lot of graduating players in 24. So, so that’ll be the.
The, um, rising juniors that would be just came in and would play their four seasons, and then of course the rising seniors, which get the extra year eligibility. So they’re kind of combining into one class per se. So, you know, I think that from that standpoint, you know, a lot of schools are gonna be looking heavily at 20 fives, and that could be a really large.
Opportunities for student athletes. I think for that particular class. If, if, uh, from what I’ve been talking to other, other coaches, they’re gonna be in a similar situation. We are where we’re gonna graduate. A lot of players at in one class more than you normally would.
Matt: Yeah, no, that makes sense. Well, in terms of.
Where you like to see players, uh, you know, we, we mentioned you were down in brains for C and l, uh, w and when you look at your roster, it’s, it’s fairly heavily Florida, which is not surprising. Yeah. So what, what are some of the key events that you like to go to that are kind of on your must see list each year?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, we’ve [00:03:00] done a lot of variety of different events from year to year and trying to hit different things. Um, you know, obviously E C N L is one thing that, um, is, is popular just because of the quantity. Players you can see, um, we’ve recruited out of Girls Academy events. We’ve recruited out of s Ys, the variety of leagues that they do that um, you know, maybe it’s a regional event for so forth.
We’ve been to Disney. Um, you know, it just kind of depends on the year and, you know, kind of, we also kind of vary different. Uh, areas of the country. So if we go to a certain event, maybe, um, in the Tennessee area, the southeast, maybe the next time we go to an event in North Carolina the following year or, or, um, last year I went to an L event in a new, in a New Jersey, but this year may decide to go to nationals and go to California.
And so we try to vary our events and, but also not just look at one league, there’s players everywhere. I think there’s this perception that, you know, Players come out of ECNL, which a good number do. Um, definitely. But, uh, you know, on our team in particular, we have players that are ECNL players. We have players that played girls academy.
We had girls that played in the DA when that existed. Um, and we have girls that played U S Y S. And um, you know, in my career, I actually even had a goalkeeper one time that didn’t play club soccer. She did played high school and basketball and we, you know, we. Identifying her through a camp. So there’s a lot of variety of ways you could identify players, um, you know, videos, uh, ID cams, those type of things.
So we try to turn over as many rocks as we [00:04:30] can, uh, with the understanding that. Women’s soccer isn’t football or basketball. We’re not necessarily able to fly around the country 24 7 and see everybody. But we try to do the best job we can in identifying, uh, players and, uh, following up on players that have expressed interest and, and, and there, and try to build our roster from there.
Okay.
Matt: Now, obviously, uh, I know you do camps, , um, so how important are those camps in the overall recruiting process? And do you guys go to other camps as well.
Coach: Yeah, I mean, we do go to some other camps. Um, you know, I, we’ll go to, I like to sometimes go to, um, the actual clubs, identification camps because you gets a chance to see them in their more natural environment, per se, if they’re playing around their club teammates.
Um, you know, we use our ID camp a couple ways. Obviously sometimes we find players we’re not really aware of. We’ve had that happen where someone just didn’t know, um, shows up at our camp and we like them and that’s always a great thing to happen. Um, if we are actively maybe looking at someone and we get them to come to our camp, that gets us a chance to kind of work with them a little bit, and that gives us a little bit more.
Knowledge about the, the student athletes, so that that could be very fruitful as well. Um, so we kind of use ’em a variety of different ways and uh, you know, also sometimes just, um, you get some younger players too that maybe get on your radar that you know, or maybe a ninth grader or 10th grader. And, um, maybe it’s, again, it gives you an opportunity to kind of down the line see them play in their natural club environment.
So what we try to [00:06:00] do is we try to identify players that we feel like, okay, these are players that we’re gonna continue to. If they’re a little bit older, maybe we gotta move a little bit quicker, but also see them hopefully play in their natural club environment, um, with their teens, um, or high school if that’s, if that’s what’s available.
Um, and that’s kinda how we go about that process and trying to, cause I think the ID camp can be artificial sometimes, because you’re playing a lot of players you don’t know, um, it’s a long day. Um, but you kinda learn a lot, you know, coachability, those type of things. And then from there, If we can see them play, you know, with their normal team, um, when they’re more comfortable, that’s so at a benefit.
Matt: Yeah. You, you, you could tell that, uh, that day it was super hot and by the end of the day, those girls were cooked. The ball was moving pretty slow
Coach: February. Right. So, yeah, we, it was, uh, weather’s been a little bit warmer this, uh, this winter, I guess for Florida standards. Usually not too bad that it doesn’t get too cold, but, uh, yeah.
Um, It was the eighties. Eighties in the middle of February. Yeah. I was definitely not used to it.
Matt: Well, and this is, this is a question I’ve been getting a lot recently, and I’m just curious as to your take on it, but how does social media come into play at all? During recruiting, I’ve got, you know, people are like, I got parents say, oh, I need to create an Instagram account for my kid so they can post their highlights.
Cuz some coach is gonna find that. Do you guys look at social media stuff in any way, shape, or form in your [00:07:30] recruiting?
Coach: Um, worse so than I used to because it’s become more prevalent, right? Sure. So, yeah, like, um, I gained. You know, I feel like I’m being popular, but I’ve gained a lot of Twitter followers, like every day and you know, and this, um, but it is interesting, especially as someone you’re interested in, maybe, you know, just kind of tracking them a little bit cuz you learn a little bit about, hey, I, you know, I.
You know, won a, won a district championship in high school this week, and you know, things you may just know about them as they’re kind of going through that process. So, you know, I think the big thing now, you see a lot Instagram, the soccer accounts, so be the player will put their highlights up there.
You know, I, I think it’s become more prevalent in the players, especially I think on the, on the girls side especially are using it, um, really well. Um, to get their name out and kind of promote their schedules and, you know, things like that. And so I know at E C N L this weekend, you know, my timeline was pretty much just schedules of games and if games got changed and, um, you know, you do see that.
And I think it’s definitely useful. I mean, it’s obviously a part of a tool that you can use to promote yourself. I still think. Contact is the best way. Um, you know, uh, through, obviously now more email than mail nowadays. Occasionally you still get a letter every once in a while, which is kind of unique.
But, you know, I think contacting coaches, staying with them, but social media, um, for a variety of reasons is important to recruiting process, but also just learning about that individual too. So I, I try to tell people, Recruiting process that, um, you know, coaches are checking social media too to see what kind of things you’re posting and that type of thing too.
Cause that gives you a little bit of, bit [00:09:00] of, um, an idea about maybe their character and things like that. So, um, I think it can go both ways, right? It can help you and it can also hurt you if you use it in ways that are, you know, not putting you in the best light, but, . Um, yeah, I’m sure you’ve noticed too.
And you know, there’s more people helping promote the players and, and doing things than trying to help them. And I think that’s a great thing, you know, and more information the better. But it definitely become a lot more prominent, I would say, the last couple years than it has ever been. Yeah, for sure.
Matt: Well, whether it’s, uh, camp. Uh, showcase. Anything else like that? Kind of what is your hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player that makes them stand? Well, it’s on the field or off the field stuff.
Coach: Yeah. I mean, we start everything with character and I think, you know, um, I think that’s the most important thing.
So we do a lot of vetting of student athletes before we even start the recruiting process and try to talk to people just even outside the coaching staff. Um, you know, can we get ahold of the guidance counselor? Can we get ahold of their high school coach? Can we get ahold of a former coach? Um, you.
Things, uh, teammates that may know them or maybe someone on our team that may know them. Um, and just try to vet as much as we possibly can to find out about character because honestly, at the end of the day, um, the less problems I have, once I get to college, the better for everybody involved. And so I think that’s gonna be important.
Um, you know, so we do a really good job with that. You know, grades definitely factor in. I think that’s really important. Um, you know, from that standpoint too, again, we want to have good students, and I think, you know, we wanna kind of create a culture of highly [00:10:30] driven people. If they’re driven academically, they’re usually gonna be driven on the soccer, uh, soccer field as well.
And then, you know, the components of the game are obviously important. You know, uh, the technical, tactical, physical, and psychological, they, they all, they all matter. Um, Now would I tell students, athletes, or soccer players all the time. You know, if there’s something, if you’re a super technical player, if you could become really, really good at something that’s fantastic and offset some other things.
You know, sometimes it’s the old adage, you know, some coaches like pure athletes over soccer players. You hear that sometimes. But athletics is a, is part of the game. You have to jump, you have to run, you have to cover ground. It is a part of the. If that’s not a strong suit for you, can you think the game quicker?
Can you become tactically superior? So, you know, if you’re not necessarily great at one thing, can you bump it up in another? I, um, psychological is probably the hardest one to, to tell. Um, couple things I like to do. A lot of my colleagues don’t like, you know, I’m not a proponent. playing three games in three days, but in this country we do that sometimes.
Right? But I am one of watching the third game in three days because I think you’ll learn a little bit about. The ability to grind or play through. And, um, example, in this ec n l event this past week, it was kinda like the ID camp. It was really, really hot and it was the third game in three days. And, you know, some players had to shut it down.
And then there’s other players that are still trying to find a way, tell you maybe a little bit [00:12:00] about them. Um, and then I like high school games for the reason that I can learn a lot about leadership skills. Like if they. , you know, what, what, how are they with their teammates? Because they may take a more prominent role, maybe with their high school team, um, you know, and, uh, how are, are they a captain?
Are they a leader? How do they interact with the coaches, the officials? Your teammates, your teammates look to them. It gives you a kind of a little bit different lens than maybe just club soccer. So I do like to do that as well. Some coaches don’t, but I think you can learn a lot at a high school game as well.
Because it’s a totally different dynamic in many ways than club soccer. And, um, I, I kind of find that a good way of kind of looking at players, but you know, ultimately it’s a puzzle, you know, every year’s different. Um, , you know, I think everybody has a kind of player they like for each position and kind of what they kind of, you know, go to, um, maybe in their mind, uh, a preference, but ultimately, you know, they gotta be proficient in those four areas to probably play at the college level and be successful.
So, um, and then, and if they don’t have all those areas int, can they be really good at, you know, at a couple of ’em that maybe offset the one that maybe we’re not as,
Matt: No, that makes sense. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I know, uh, even down here in Bradenton, talking to some of the girls on my daughter’s team and some of ’em don’t even know University of North Florida and it’s in their own backyard.
Well, sort of. Um, so first things first, let’s talk about what you know, me as dad is most concerned about, and that’s how much is this gonna cost me? Yeah. Uh, [00:13:30] you know, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but if you could just give me a. , give me an overall, uh, you know, overview of, you know, what does it cost to attend, what does the scholarship situation look like both academically and athletic elite?
Coach: Uh, sure. And just, just overall, yeah, and every school’s a little different, but you know, in our case, um, you know, I think in general, college is expensive, but the state of Florida is pretty reasonable state schools compared to the rest of the country. So we’re pretty fortunate in that, in that standpoint.
So our tuition’s a little over $6,500 for the year. Um, you know, you can get into some states where it’s gonna be four or five times that tuition. So, you know, I think from a standpoint for in-state tuition, that’s, um, obviously really, uh, feasible. Um, you know, nowadays, um, so if you’re looking at everything, and we always talk about the things that do encompass the cost of going to school, uh, obviously tuition and, and course fees.
Uh, Meals and or room and board. Right. Um, so you know, you can go to U N F for a little over 17,000 for a year if you’re just coming to school here. Um, and that’s kinda where academics come into play. Obviously with bright futures being a, a, a great thing in this state. Not necessarily always easy to get, but like.
If you can achieve that, that could potentially cover that tuition cost or a percentage of that tuition cost. And then our school does have academic aid, and um, you can, based on G P A and test scores, you can get additional. Academic scholarships that would be renewable every year as well, which [00:15:00] o obviously will help, um, in many, many ways.
And then obviously can, we, can, we can also stack that with the soccer a if, um, if a player is on the soccer scholarship. So we typically use combinations of things. Um, soccer is an equivalency sport, unlike football and basketball where everybody gets a full ride, I think. If there was as many full rides as people claim there was in soccer, um, it’s always a, every time I hear of someone got a full ride and they may have a combination of things, uh, but there aren’t very many players getting full soccer scholarship.
It’s, uh, you’d have to be, uh, an All-American, um, player probably at most programs to achieve that status. So, um, I think most student athletes are gonna combine, hopefully, maybe if they’re in a state like Florida, like ours, bright future. , possibly academic aid from the institution and soccer eight, or maybe the parents have Florida prepaid and that uses part of that.
But you know, like I said, from about standpoint, if you’re just going to school here, um, it’s about 17.5 if you lived on campus, um, with the meal plan and everything else. Um, so that’s kind of about the, that’s the cost, price and uh, you know, nationally that’s actually pretty, pretty good. Yeah, no, absolutely.
Matt: Well, You know, I’ve been lucky enough to, to visit the campus and, and, and see it. So, but I don’t wanna be, uh, you know, biased in my stuff. So I’m gonna let you be biased and you tell me, you know, what are some of the awesome things about, about U N F and, and that stuff that makes it unique.
Coach: Well, you pointed out we are as many [00:16:30] people that come to our campus call us a hidden gem, and we don’t wanna be a hidden gem, but we, we, we, we kind of fall in that category still, I think in the state of Florida.
And, you know, I kind of thought, why is that? You know? And I thought, well, we’re in the pan, not necessarily we’re in the north. East, uh, part of Florida. So a lot of people, you know, don’t get up this way maybe as much as they maybe do Orlando or Tampa area and things like that. And then we’re, we are surrounded in a state that says, uh, uh, a lot of big schools, right?
So we are one of the smaller schools in the state system as far as, uh, the ones that also played Division one soccer. So we, you know, we’re one of the smaller institutions and we’re kind of surrounded by schools that have 50, 60, 70,000 students. So I think part of that, You know, the football, you know, you know the, the programs in the state, the name recognition.
So we don’t maybe have the name recognition as some of the, some of the, uh, schools in the state system. But, you know, I think the biggest selling point is a couple things. I think our campus is fantastic. It’s, uh, I, I describe it as a, it, it’s built out a nature preserve. So, um, I. Describe it to people sometimes, like if you’re going to a state park, it’s, um, it’s not a lot of concrete, um, not a lot of big parking lots in the middle of campus.
They’ve done a nice job preserving the core of the campus and really lakes and, you know, wa um, you know, plants and things like that. They just kind of get at that nature of preserved. Feel, and I think the campus has done a really good job and their growth of keeping that part of it really good. I think location’s, another thing, you know, we’re in a big city, but we’re not downtown Jacksonville, [00:18:00] so we’re, you know, we’re 20 minutes away from downtown, so we are closer to the beach.
And so I think also location, if you’re looking to be a coastal school, you know, we’re about five or six miles from the Atlantic Ocean, so I think that’s another selling point for us. You know, um, especially in certain areas of the state like Orlando where you don’t necessarily have a beach, and then if you’re a beach kid that goes to the beach all the time where you’re at homeboy, you can do that in college too.
So, you know, I think those two things, I think the beauty of our campus is something I hear a lot about when people come on it and the location. Um, we’re also right next to, um, Major shopping District of Jacksonville is a huge outdoor mall, less than a quarter mile from our doorstep as well. So, and I always say, you know, and, and think things to do.
You know, we’re in an f NFL city, um, the Jaguars are doing a little bit better now, so that got a little bit out there. Um, this week we have, um, one of the biggest P G A tour events and the players championship right down the street from us as well. So there’s always a lot of things to do close to St.
Augustine, another great place to spend some time. So I think we have a great location. Um, we are not very far from most areas of the state, and you’re looking at two and a half, two hours to Orlando, three and a half ta, you know, Tampa, you know, maybe four from South Florida. Um, you can get here pretty easily.
And so I think those are things that are, that are nice. And, uh, you know, I think the other thing is we still, we have 17,000 students. So we’re not small, but we’re not massively big. And so our, um, teacher, um, the student ratio is about 20 to one, which is pretty unheard of at a lot of [00:19:30] universities. And I think, uh, also nationally ranked university as well, US news and World Report.
So education quality is good. Um, there’s a lot of pluses. Yeah. And I, but I agree with you. We’re kind of, a lot of people haven’t heard about it, but once they come and see it or they find out a little bit more, I think that really they’re pretty impressed by the institution and it’s continuing to grow.
our housing is at a hundred percent capacity. Last couple years we’ve had a two largest freshman classes in the history of the school. So, uh, got some good issues to solve here, moving forward with growth. But, um, it’s, it’s a good place.
Matt: No, that is, that is good, good, good problems to have. Well, you mentioned education and, and, you know, for student athletes, student is, is, is first there, so let’s talk about academics, you know, especially for a college athlete.
Making that transition from high school to college in terms of the rigors of both sport and academics can be daunting. So, you know what? How do your student athletes kind of manage the expectations and rigors of both? And what kind of support systems does a school offer to really help players?
Coach: Yeah, and I spent the 13 years prior to being here at a division two school and, and I loved it actually, cuz division two really had a, I thought it had a really good balance between the academic and athletic side, mostly by the rules in place.
So, um, I basically took. The same philosophy here there to the U N F is that, you know, how are we gonna create balance for these student athletes because they’re in a lot of hard majors. And we have kids that have taken biochem, biology, [00:21:00] engineering, um, you know, they’re in some, they’re in some difficult stuff.
And so, and they’re also really driven academically. So like, , our team GPA is hovers above a three seven most semesters, and almost everybody in our incoming class has a four oh plus GPA coming in from high school. So we’re getting high academic achievers. So how do we create that balance? And so, um, you know, I think the first thing we approach it is that we know soccer’s a part of this experience and not the only part of the experience.
So we really try to make sure that we, uh, be efficient with our time. , um, in training and get them here, do what we need to do and get them out so they don’t necessarily have to feel like they have to hang around the facility all the time. They’re more entitled to do that. They like to do that and they want ’em to spend more time.
But I also know they have a lot of academic things to do. So we really try to be really efficient, um, in everything that we do as far as even. Game scheduling and what times we leave so we can keep them in class as much as we possibly can so they can be the best possible students that they, they can, um, support systems is really, is more than I ever had.
Cause I, I, again, I started at my first six years at N EIA school where I was a support system there. Um, and I was at division two school where we had a little bit more support, but here, you know, we have a lot. People involved at Division one level. So we have someone that’s specifically assigned to our team that works and helps ’em with their academics, helps ’em with study, uh, getting, um, study halls, organized tracking grades, um, being proactive with their grades just in case someone has them issues.
Um, meeting with [00:22:30] them and mentoring them in addition to what we do. Um, and I think that part has been really, really good. . Um, I think being a smaller D one, like we are actually creates more of a family field than maybe some bigger schools do. And I think that’s helpful as well, where the people that are working with our student athletes, from our compliance, from our athletic director, um, from the people in our academics area, we really know who they are.
I think that really helps as well. Um, so, you know, I think the thing that I do and, and because my background being from a smaller school is I’m pretty hands-on on the academic side. Like, I’m pretty good at recognizing when someone maybe starts to struggle. Um, most times it’s freshmen who have done really well academically take a class that, and maybe for the first time in your life maybe struggled a little bit and they don’t know what to do and they don’t wanna say anything because they don’t know what to do.
Right. And so we, we just try to be really proactive. and recognizing those things. And because I think we do that because we’re a smaller institution where the class structure’s a little bit smaller, the instructors really know you. Um, there’s a lot of ways to be successful here. Now you can go to some big, big schools, say like a Florida or Florida state, where they’re gonna have these massive academic buildings for sport.
Um, you know, we don’t necessarily have that kind of structure here. . But we do have good people that are willing to help them and, and, and, you know, and help ’em achieve their goals. And so the cool thing for us is our kids are doing super well in the classroom. If they go off to grad school, they’re getting into the grad schools they want to get into in those programs cause they have the high GPAs.
And, um, we’re, I’m really proud of the [00:24:00] academic work we do here. And it’s just not just me. It’s a lot of people that make that happen. No, that’s fantastic.
Matt: Well let, let’s talk a little bit more about the team, uh, and, and the soccer side of things. I, you, you introduced your amazing staff at the ID clinic, but I figure, uh, now’s a good time to let folks know.
How big is your staff? What roles does everybody pa play there besides yourself?
Coach: Yeah, so we have, I have two assistant coaches and so, um, a new rule, this pass actually, so we’re that, uh, schools are adding a third assistant. Not every school’s gonna be able to do that, and most likely it’s only gonna be the power fives, at least initially, that are probably gonna fall into.
Category. But, um, you know, I have, uh, coach, uh, coach Silvesky, who’s with me, that actually coached with me when I first started coaching in college back in 1999. So I’ve known him for a while. Um, he was with me for one season and he went on to become a head coach in division two. And, uh, Did some club directing and some state directing as far as, um, that’s concerned, but National License Instructor for US Soccer and, uh, United Soccer Coaches, so got his a license but teaches the, uh, c and d courses.
So he is kind of a coach of coaches, so he’s someone that, um, he is a great. Technician and very good, uh, you know, on the, on, on the training field. And then Morgan Lucky primarily, uh, handles our goalkeepers. Morgan played for me at Armstrong State is where I was at before. So she was a all region player there and really, really good player.
Um, and so she handles primarily our goalkeepers for us. And so that’s kind of our staff. Um, like I [00:25:30] said, some schools may have that plus a ga. We have the two assistant coaches and now there’s a. The volunteer position has now become a paid position, um, if the school wants to. So you’re seeing a lot of the s e C type schools adding that third additional coach.
Um, I’m hoping someday we’ll get there. We’re not quite there yet, but I’m glad to have two coaches. Cause a lot of programs even at division one don’t necessarily have two full-time in soccer. Um, so some level one in a graduate assistant, so we’re able to have two. And so Morgan’s been with me since I got the job here in 2019.
Surge. going into his, uh, third, third season with us. So we got some stability there, which is nice.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, how would you describe overall your style of coaching and the team style of play?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for me, um, uh, you know, when I’ve learned over time, I wasn’t always like this, uh, when I was first starting coaching, I coached pretty much how people coached me.
So I’m a product of the eighties, which was a lot of like, you know, raising your voice and getting on people and so forth. And I realized real quickly that. , it can be effective to a point. Um, and some players react well to that, but not others. So what I really worked on over the years is that you have to figure out if you have X amount of players on your roster.
Every one of them has a different. There’ll be a different approach to how you coach them. And obviously you have to coach the collective group and you’re gonna do that a certain way. But I think from an individual standpoint, the manage people, now you have to understand personalities and what works. [00:27:00] So there are players on our team that want me to get on them, that motivates them.
And so I will get on them and there are players on my team who I have to you. Kind of come out of a much different way, um, and explain or, you know, um, induced thinking from them or whatever it may be. And so you just have to manage everybody different. I think that’s where a lot of younger coaches kind of.
Maybe fail a little bit. They kind of just treat everybody the same and coach everybody the same. And I don’t think that’s effective management, but I didn’t always know that It took a while for me to get to that point to be able to do it. And now I think that’s one of my strong suits is just really knowing how to manage different people.
So, you know, I, I, I could be, I, um, I’m. Very invested in the players. I’m willing to do whatever I can to help them achieve that. I think they know that. I think that’s why I’m able to typically get the best out of them. But I can be demanding as well when I need to be. I think you have to be in, in coaching and, uh, but I also know when to pull back.
And so I think you see a little bit of a mix of both in that, um, in that. And, um, I think that’s why overall during my career, I feel. Pretty blessed that there’s coached some really good teams and had some really good players. That just responded really well to how I, how I approached it. Um, from a style of play.
I’m definitely a believer in trying. I, I know everybody says, oh, we wanna keep the ball, but we really do wanna keep the ball in. Um, college can be a mixed bag when it comes to that, and we’re really committed to trying to build, and, you know, our center, our goalkeepers, are all good with their feet. Our center backs can distribute the ball, short, medium, or long range passing.
Our outside [00:28:30] backs have the ability to get forward. and our mid pillars are creative. And you know, I think, uh, we, we really do try to build, um, and I maybe the Achilles heel of our programs when we play teams are a little bit more direct. Uh, we have a little more trouble. And, uh, one of the things I recognize as a coach is, well, why is that?
And I realize, well, if we’re doing one thing every day and seeing the same thing and we play each other, we see these other styles, we sometimes struggle. So we have to kind of, in training, create these environments of playing different ways so our team can. With kids that don’t wanna play that way, which always makes it a little bit, a little bit different.
But, um, again, I’ve evolved a little bit there too. You know, when I first started coaching, everybody was on a 4 42, um, you know, um, bar, get the ball wide, cross it in, you know, that was kind of the style in, in the nineties and, you know, the games evolved a lot. Um, and I think the athletes are better. I think, obviously I think the coaching’s improved.
There’s more kids playing nowadays, so, you know, We definitely, like I said, we’re definitely possession orientated to penetrate and, and, and try to score with a purpose. We’re not just trying to keep the ball for long of the time. We wanna get the ball moving and break lines and get forward. And I think that’s kind of been our philosophy from that standpoint.
Um, you know, and then again, this really, depending on the personnel, what best suits us, you know, uh, my preference would be formation wise, I’m a, I’m probably a 4 33. Guy Overall, I, I like the formation. Um, when it’s ticking, it works really well. But last year for instance, we played 4, 3, 3. We played a 4, 2, 3, 1 a good [00:30:00] bit.
We played a 3, 5, 2, twice, and we even played a 4, 4 2 diamond one game. Um, just because we’re, we are privy to more information than ever, um, about our opponent. So like there’s not nothing. When I was younger, we had to like, call coaches, get scouting reports. You didn’t have tape. Yeah. Now I can watch. The information we get now is crazy.
So you can really, depending on your opponent and what you wanna do, you can really come up and scheme things a lot differently. And so the 4 33 is kind of my, uh, kind of what I like the most. Um, like wingers that can take on people. One v one, like a true nine if we, if we have one that can hold the ball up and kind of play from there.
But, That’s kind of our style, I would guess. I think people wanna say we try to keep the ball and we play better against teams. We try to keep the ball as well, um, maybe struggle a little bit more against the direct teams, but, uh, we’re, we’re working on that .
Matt: All right. Well coach, you’ve been super generous with your time.
I just wanna leave you with one last question and that is, If there was something, one thing that you would love to impart on, uh, a potential recruit or parent of a recruit, if there’s one thing you wish they would definitely know about the college recruiting process, what would that be?
Coach: I mean, I think, I think the biggest thing for soccer, um, is you have to, you have to promote yourself.
You have to a. You know, let your, let people know who you are, you know, and it is through a player resume, through email, through [00:31:30] video, but like, and be persistent in that thing. And I think the thing we have to understand is, , it has to be the right fit for both parties, right? So there’s players I like a lot that don’t come to North Florida, so it happens on my end.
And then on the flip side, there are players that would love to come to North Florida that may not be the right fit for us. And what does that mean exactly? It can mean a player that I like a lot has an opportunity to maybe play at Florida State. You know that, that, that level. And I’m not going to get them to come the, the U N F though.
I like that. Right. Um, on the flip side, it may be a player that maybe he’s not quite at the level that we are at or. We have, uh, many goalkeepers on our roster year for several years, and they’re a goalkeeper in a particular year. It just isn’t the right fit. There’s some really good players that we would like that maybe we just don’t need their positions.
So understanding that a lot of factors go into a recruiting year, um, and some of it is disparaged from year to year. And you know, you may not need a 23 goalkeeper, but you needed one in 24 or 25, and so that 23 wasn’t recruited even though they were good enough to play here. So we decided to go in a different direction and, and, and wait a year.
And those are things that are hard to tell, especially right now because you, you used to be able go into a roster and look at who’s graduating and now you’re go into a roster and you’re wondering if they’re coming back for an extra graduate year. And it’s a little bit harder to kind of understand the movement of a roster per se, um, in that.
But I think the big thing is, I always tell people is, you know, , um, you know, make a list of schools [00:33:00] that are, that you’re interested in academically and athletically. You can have somewhat some schools or your dream schools in there, and then find out an answer from those dream schools so you can move on one way or the other.
So if your Dream School’s School X and you really think you can play at School X, find out School X wants you. And if they don’t or they do, then you know, and then you can kind of move on from there. Um, I think the o one other thing I would say is I think sometimes people close too many doors too quickly.
So like I coached division two soccer. I coached in the N E I A and I like coached division one. So I think I’m a fairly like, fairly unique background as far as knowing different levels. My division two teams regularly beat division one teams. My N A I A team was able to beat division two teams in some division one teams don’t get this caught up on the level per se.
Um, I think people do that because it sounds better or whatever it may be. You need to find a right. , um, for your child, your child is running pun rate fit for them academically and athletically so they can have the best possible experience. The transfer portal’s full of a lot of players right now that maybe rushed the process, went for the big splashy name, got there and realized they were player 28 on a roster or was never gonna see the field or whatever it may be, is just trying to find that right fit.
But you gotta promote yourself. Gotta get seen, you gotta do the things, you know, let coaches know where you’re playing when you’re playing, what number you. and obviously you and I spoke about this already, the most important thing is being you gotta be a good student. I think that’s really important. So [00:34:30] soccer’s great.
You gotta work on your game, but you gotta obviously do the work in the classroom and be well rallied from that stretch. But recruiting processes, you know, you’re doing a great job getting the information out. Different kids, those, a lot of people just don’t know, you know how it works and yeah, it’s not football and basketball there.
There aren’t a high, uh, 85 full scholarships. There aren’t a bunch of coaches flying around watching every game on helicopters. The high school games, it’s not, you know, there’re not rating, you know, there’s not a lot of, you know, some rating systems out there now, but they’re not overly accurate in soccer, where football, you got five and four stars and things like that.
Um, you gotta gotta promote yourself in this sport. And if you do that, you’ll find a good home and have a good career and get your education and hopefully continue playing the game that.
Matt: Great advice, coach. Well, hey, you’ve been generous with your time. Really, thank you, uh, for joining us. Wish you the best of luck and uh, hopefully I’ll, I’ll, I’ll see you around the fields in Bradenton here in the not too distant future.
All right, .
Coach: Absolutely not. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.
