Utica University Men’s Soccer – Coach Brian Marcantonio
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Brian Marcantonio from the Utica University Men’s Program in New York. We talk about they hear from recruits earlier and earlier these days. He tells us about the size of their school fosters a sense of community. Lastly, we discuss how their school has introduced some great new resources and facilities. Learn more about Utica.
[00:00:00] Matt: I everybody welcome to discover college soccer. I, and lucky enough today to be joined by coach Brian from Utica University in New York. Welcome coach
[00:00:08] Coach: I’m at thanks for having me excited to give you a little info on the school and answer any questions you might have for those recruits.
[00:00:14] Matt: Awesome. Well, thanks for being here.
[00:00:16] Um, well, let’s dive into the recruiting side of things. Um, you guys are division three program in upstate New York. You know, when do you usually start hearing from players? When do you usually start, you know, really kind of getting hot and heavy in terms of talking to players and really focusing what you’re in high school or the players generally speaking,
[00:00:39] Coach: you know, it, it, it seems that every year that tends to be early in earlier.
[00:00:43] Um, I think at least with the initial outreach, you know, we tend to hear from, um, players. You know, really as early as their sophomore year or entering their sophomore year. Um, at that point, you know, it’s, it’s just an initial, you know, overview of the university and, and kind of what we might have to offer on.
[00:01:02] Um, basic level for us really looking to, to pursue and scout players and, and try to develop, you know, lists for prospective students for whatever year they’re entering. I would say we focus on that more as they enter their junior year. Um, you know, sophomore year is a little tough, especially some of the communication things and you know, most of those players, they don’t have a hundred percent of an idea.
[00:01:24] You know, they want to study or whatnot. Um, but yeah, we really try to, to get our initial, um, overview going as they enter their junior year and, and really develop those conversations, engage in depth throughout that, that season. Um, I think though the one thing I would say. That’s a little different is locally, you know, locally, you have an idea of who the players are probably a little earlier on.
[00:01:47] So that’s a little more in depth when it comes to like, you know, 30 or 40 miles from here.
[00:01:52] Matt: Yeah. Well, how many, how many inbound contacts would you say you get in a typical week? Obviously it changes over, but, but you know, just around number,
[00:02:01] Coach: you know, as far as outreach. Twenty-five 30 kids a week, you know, reaching out, um, that, that are potentially interested in school or maybe, you know, that could be anywhere from like, they have, you know, a real familiarity with it or maybe a guidance counselor recommended or a friend, you know, went to the school, something like that.
[00:02:20] But yeah, I would say we filtered for 25, 30 a week. What, what do
[00:02:24] Matt: you like to see in those communications from.
[00:02:28] Coach: Um, I, I mean, I think the big things are just that you like to see that they’ve done a little bit of, of a search on the school, you know, um, you can, coach can tell when it’s a generic email on out to, you know, a hundred coaches versus, you know, A select number of colleges or the specific university.
[00:02:46] May it make sense sometimes when you see it with, you know, seven or eight other schools that are known for maybe the same type of academic program and that students are very interested in that. Um, but I, I like to see the specifics that they’ve done a little bit of research and then, you know, I want academic information and, and in playing information, you know, I, I don’t need a 30 minute highlight.
[00:03:08] But, you know, certainly a coaching reference scheduled events when you’re going to play and in your academic profile, because that’s really going to determine a lot.
[00:03:16] Matt: It makes sense. Now you mentioned knowing the, the radius, uh, kind of around your school players, but where do you spend a majority of your time on the recruiting trail?
[00:03:26] Are there specific tournaments? You make sure you see, uh, every, every year, you know, what do you look at high school games? Like what, what is kind of your focus each year?
[00:03:37] Coach: Yeah, I think locally, you know, we do tend to hit up the, uh, some of the playoff games, like the state playoffs games or, or late rounds of, of the section or county playoff games, um, in the fall, because that’s pretty easy from a logistical standpoint, you know, but mainly if it’s on the club circuit with tournaments, whether it be showcases or play playoff events, you know, there’s, there’s more and more.
[00:04:00] Leagues and competitions. It seems like every year, but you know, we, we try to go to some of those major national showcases and we do a little bit of traveling too. I mean, the roster is, you know, around half the state of New York and then it’s pretty spread out after that. It gets pretty diverse. I mean, we have guys from, you know, Seattle.
[00:04:18] Florida Chicago, the west coast. Um, so there, there’s definitely, you know, us getting out there and going to major events, whether that be, you know, ECL playoffs or MLS next stuff, or surf cup, you know, we’re, we’re kind of everywhere really. What
[00:04:33] Matt: about camps? How do they fit into your overall recruiting schedule?
[00:04:37] Are you running your own? Do you and your staff work at other schools? Camps? How does that work?
[00:04:42] Coach: Yeah, so our, our staff does, um, attend a couple ID camps as far as part of a larger, um, Camper ID set up. You know, I worked a couple in New York, that’s division one institutions. My assistant will as well. We also host them though.
[00:04:59] We have an ID camp tomorrow on campus. Um, so, you know, that’s a great one for, I think, you know, you’ve, you’ve gone past the initial overview and you know, you’re within the region and you can really get a feel for kind of a day in the life. Yeah. Typically they’re able to tour campus. You know what I mean?
[00:05:16] Maybe, you know, have a meal on there, meet with the coaches afterwards or the next morning. Um, so I, I think that’s a great tool once you’ve kind of been on an initial look at Utica and think that it can be a good fit for you.
[00:05:29] Matt: So when you’re, you know, Recruiting players and seeing them, whether that’s at a camper or at a showcase or something, what’s kind of your hierarchy of, of what you want to see in a player, whether that’s on the field or off the field.
[00:05:45] What’s your checklist of, okay. I want to make sure this player has got ABC.
[00:05:53] Coach: It’s funny, there’s two different answers to that. Um, I think the first part, initially, you hope to see a certain level of athleticism and competitiveness. That’s kind of like the art. I mean, you need to have that to be successful at the college level, but like the differentiators for the guys that end up being.
[00:06:10] You know, high-level players, all conference, such selections, I’ll reach and potential. All-American those guys there’s a, a soccer IQ and the ability to process the game at a quicker level that is really hard to get coach or, or ingrained in a player once they’re already 18 or 19 years old. I mean, we can certainly, you know, instill ideas with them, but like guys, they can just process the speed of play really well.
[00:06:35] Those ones had seemed to have the most potential, um, from a. Uh, non soccer standpoint, you know, the intangible qualities, uh, you know, obviously work, rate’s a big thing, but coachability in, in, in how they interact with their teammates. I mean, it’s just a huge, huge piece of it. You know, you can weather, um, a loss or two, it at a tough point of season.
[00:06:58] If your, if your team is bought in and together, and there’s a sense of family. But if it’s guys who really don’t handle adversity well and have a pension for getting after their teammates in the wrong way, you know, that’s someone we try to steer away from. It’s not going to bode well for a longterm.
[00:07:14] Matt: Yeah. Gotcha. Well, you know, with you guys being division three and no athletic scholarships, what, what does the overall kind of financial aid situation look like for anybody that is looking at at your school?
[00:07:29] Coach: Yeah, no, it’s a huge piece of it. Um, I mean the school offers, both athletes are extremely half-life.
[00:07:34] Yeah. I wish we offer academic grant money and need-based aid as well. So there’s going to be a combination of, of, of merit money based on your performance in school. And then, um, need-based aid, you know, related to your past and your family’s financial, but the school offers a good deal of both. I know we’re one of the most affordable privates in the inspiring Northeast.
[00:07:55] Matt: That’s great. Um, well, let’s, let’s talk more about the school in general. Um, you know, for anybody who’s not familiar with upstate New York, um, you know, I can click around the website, learn about the school, but give me kind of the inside scoop, you know, what are some of the things that are awesome about Utica that I might not know just by clicking around the
[00:08:14] Coach: website.
[00:08:15] Um, you know, I think first and foremost, just the feel of the campus, as far as the people, the vibe of it, the city and the school are very interconnected and it, it really has a tight-knit feel. Um, it’s pretty tough to go around campus after being on it for, for even a week or two to not see faces that are even if, you know, you’re not close to them just interacting and everybody’s very friendly.
[00:08:37] And that kind of spreads into the community. Um, the, the university really is one of the major players in the city and they have a very big presence there. Um, I mean, to give you an idea of like, you know, it’s a school of about 3000 undergrads, you know, some of our sports average, well over that for attendance, for games, um, like men’s hockey, for example, has led the nation in attendance every year.
[00:08:59] I think. God, I want to say 15 plus years, they average almost 4,000 people a game. Every student’s not going to every game. Um, that’s a lot of the local community and the people there and the surrounding areas that, that support the college. And you get that from faculty, professors, uh, staff, you know, from the top on down, you can see our administration and almost all the events and, and they really are there for this.
[00:09:25] Matt: No. That’s awesome. Well, you know, with being a student athlete, you know, there’s a lot of, uh, things put on you in terms of commitments and things. You have to make sure you take care of. So how to, uh, student athletes at your school specifically handle, uh, the balance between their studies and their sports.
[00:09:46] Coach: Yeah. It’s, you know, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Um, I think a couple of things there, you know, one school has some great support services, um, you know, built in to help with that transition from, from secondary school to the college life, especially as an athlete. So we have a couple of full-time staff members who their sole.
[00:10:06] R to aid in that transition. Um, they work with our, our incoming freshmen and they meet with them kind of every other week to do an overview of their classes. They help set up tutoring services, you know, they, they might just be a connect with me to say, Hey, you know, student a is having a little bit of trouble in, in his economics classes.
[00:10:25] I don’t know if he’s hiding that from you or not. You know, work through that. Um, but it’s just kind of a second voice to kind of go through that and, and be a support for the student. So that’s one thing I think the other thing too, is there is some real commitment to freeing up some afternoons as far as class time.
[00:10:44] So like there are no classes, um, at the college after one o’clock on Wednesdays. So that’s kind of our midweek travel. Um, it, I think it was originally designed as administrative day, but we realized pretty quick. We can maximize that for students not missing class time, who are part of our athletic pool.
[00:11:01] Um, you know, in, in the athletic department is a huge player on campus. I think like 25% of our undergrads, you know, play a varsity sport here. So you know that they really are committed to working with them and understanding the differences in can.
[00:11:17] Matt: Well, that’s great. I am. He mentioned the schedule. So what, what would a typical week look like, uh, for a, uh, a student athlete, like during the season in terms of getting up practice times, all that kind of all that kind of thing.
[00:11:32] Coach: Yeah. I, I think, you know, one of the things is probably surprising to a lot of students when they get to college or to their universities that when you’re not actually in class, as much as you. You know, think you’re going to be obviously in, in high school or most prep schools, you’re going to be there for throughout the day.
[00:11:50] Um, you know, they’re only in class, maybe three hours a day. It’s so I would want, I would say embrace understanding who you are. You’re a morning person, you know, Customize your schedule for that. If you’re a later in the day guide, you know, do that as well, but they’re only going to be in school about, you know, three hours a day.
[00:12:06] And then it’s, it’s taking advantage of all of your spare time to properly do your reading for your homework, for your test prep. Until we get into practice, we typically train about 40. Uh, every weekday, if there’s a midweek, a non-conference game, you know, so you’re going to be in class for roughly three hours, anytime from eight 30 to about three 30.
[00:12:29] And then, you know, we try to tell those guys stay on the academic side of campus during then, you know what I’ll speak, offer around a FIFA. Um, and. And you get ahead because you know, if you’re facing an injury or you’re coming off of one, you’re probably going to be in the training room 45 to an hour before practice, you know, you might have to ice or it gets stretched afterwards.
[00:12:48] So you figure prep at three 30 training at four 30 Dawn around six 15 in the training room then, I mean, it’s seven o’clock and you haven’t grabbed dinner yet. So it’s maximizing those daytime hours is probably the most crucial skill, but that would be the schedule, you know, Monday to. If we had a mid-week game, um, you know, they’re typically in the locker room about an hour and a half before kickoff.
[00:13:10] Um, if we’re traveling, we’re trying to arrive at our, our away match about two hours prior. Um, you know, and I would say about half the weeks in the year, we have that mid week contest. Otherwise that schedule a time to repeat through Friday and then obviously a home.
[00:13:28] So
[00:13:29] Matt: speaking of travel, what, what does your kind of radius look like for conference non-conference games? How much do you guys do? Uh, have to
[00:13:38] Coach: travel? It’s not that the travel load isn’t too bad here. Um, one of the things that helps is the conferences is pretty much sprout throughout all of New York state.
[00:13:48] We are very, very centrally located. I mean, if you look at a map, it’s, it’s basically a pin dead in the middle. Um, so we kind of lock out and that there’s not really any super long conference trips. Uh, I would say our farthest one is about three and a half hours, uh, which isn’t too bad, you know, non-conference we’ll every other year we’ll open up with a, a season opening tournament that, that might be a little farther away.
[00:14:12] I know we try to do that every other year. I think the last one we were scheduled. With, when COVID hit in 2020, we were supposed to get down to Virginia. Um, but so that’s something we’ll look to get back on this plate in 2023. Um, but for the most part now, they’re, they’re under three hours. We have a couple of really good local rivalries too, that are literally across town.
[00:14:33] Matt: Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, let’s, let’s talk more about the team then. Um, you know, w how many players do you like to typically carry on the squad?
[00:14:43] Coach: I think a perfect number. Is 27, it’s 28, you know, with, with, with three or four keepers, I think, you know, that gives you a little bit of flexibility. If there’s some injuries to where you’re still able to have some 11 V 11 looks and training, you want to see your paperwork, constant teams, um, you know, whether that’s brass or.
[00:15:03] Or a defensive set up in like a walk or something like that. Um, but at the same time, that number is low enough to where, you know, everybody’s competing for a spot. You feel valued in it. And you know that your efforts and training are, are, are going to be rewarded if you’re consistently. Um, I don’t like to go much beyond that, just because I, I feel that it’s really hard over the course of a long season without grueling.
[00:15:28] It can be physically for guy 36 or 37 or 38 to still feel like they’re really going to contribute. Um, and, and, and our staff has kind of, that’s how we felt for awhile. I think last year we were a touch smaller. We were at like 20. No this year, this incoming year, I think will be one or two bigger, but you know, it’s really personally, I think it gets a little unwieldy over like 30.
[00:15:52] Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, you, you, you mentioned staff. So how big is your soccer staff? What roles does everybody play?
[00:15:58] Coach: So, uh, it’s usually three people. So it’s myself. Um, my assistant Nick, Kayla, who is a graduate assistant here at the college, uh, tremendous program for time, you know, an opening or entry, like. Um, position for someone getting into the collegiate game.
[00:16:14] And then we’ve been lucky enough to have a number of alumni who have been volunteers over the year. You know, it’s typically someone different every other year. Um, but they live locally in the area. They always want to hop onto the right after graduating, usually three.
[00:16:29] Matt: Okay. How would you describe your, your style of coaching teams?
[00:16:35] Style of play, kind of that, that culture of the team.
[00:16:38] Coach: Yeah, I think for a style of coaching, um, you know, I’m when things are going well, uh, um, I’m, uh, a bit of a joke guy, you know, kinda just like, you know, we, we bust them on each other a little bit in training the guys and there’s, there’s the lighthearted feel, um, you know, as long as we’re taking care of our responsibilities, if that’s going well, you know, that’s kinda the vibe it’s, it’s, it’s a lot of laughing and comradery, um, in the matches, certainly pretty intense.
[00:17:05] Um, I try as the year’s gone on. I think my first couple years I was certainly the coaches yelling with every sequence of play. Um, you know, trying to dictate everything. That’s, that’s changed a lot now. It’s just, if there’s something, you know, quite obvious, maybe that we’re not picking up on, you’ll hear me loud and clear, but, uh, that that’s been rained in a lot over the.
[00:17:28] Um, as far as style of play, you know, pre high energy, we like to press pretty high, uh, turn guys over. You know, I like to have guys who play with a bit of aggression and will I, I’d rather have to pull them back a little bit, then, you know, have a team that’s, that’s very present focused and maybe sitting back and in a lower level of intense.
[00:17:52] Um, you know, we, we try to transition quickly. Like I said, we really are focused on occupying higher areas of the pitch in, in creating a lot of our goals through that.
[00:18:04] Matt: Uh, we’re talking here in April. Um, what, what does your off season program typically look like?
[00:18:13] Coach: Yeah, so we’re right now, we’re in the middle of our non-traditional season.
[00:18:16] Um, we’ll actually towards the back part of it. So we are scheduled to have our spring exhibition match, uh, tomorrow night against a local Juco program. They’re one of the, one of the top five. Thanks for the country at that level. Um, so really looking forward to that, but I think, you know, that really starts at the beginning of the spring semester.
[00:18:36] So, you know, before we even get into those team practices, our guys are with our strength and conditioning coaches, three to four days a week. Um, you know, we have some tremendous facilities with regards to that and in there in the. Like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, depending on the schedule.
[00:18:53] Um, and they get some optional runs in as well. That kind of goes from basically the day they’re back on campus for spring semester, up until spring break. And then we’ll hop into our non-traditional, which is, you know, I think it’s 16 sessions are permitted. Um, and, and we typically will end it with that, that spring, that.
[00:19:12] Okay,
[00:19:14] Matt: well, we’ve covered a lot of ground, um, w w want to be respectful of your time and, but, you know, want to make sure you cover anything you want to cover. So my last question is what, you know, what, what did we miss? Uh, anything more you want to talk about with regards to your school, your program, or anything you want to reiterate?
[00:19:30] We’ll give you the floor for a final, final
[00:19:33] Coach: time here. Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just that, you know, the colleges in a really great place, you know, there’s been so much growth and. Energy at Utica since I’ve, I’ve gotten here. Um, and you know, whether it’s, you know, new academic facilities or support for students or, or athletic ones, I mean, we’ve put in the last five years, we put in a massive indoor winter training area, um, you know, right on campus, which helps a lot in the Northeast.
[00:20:01] Sometimes you get some crazy weather days. Um, you know, there’s a second turf stadium that went in last year. So I, I think one of the biggest things is you think maybe division Korea, The amount of, of support and energy and the resources being put into it from our institution really enables guys to get to a higher level of player than I think they really perceived coming in.
[00:20:23] Um, you know, we’re really able to take them wherever they want. And in, you know, the bigger focus for us though is, is just trying to get them to where they want to be. Career-wise afterwards, you know, not related to soccer. It’s funny when our guys come in, I think, you know, meeting with coach, they probably think I’m going to harp on their positioning or, or, you know, how they’re not taking advantage of the half space.
[00:20:46] If they’re like an inverted winger or something in most of the. You know, how’s mom and dad, how are the family? You know what I mean? You know, what are your classes looking like? Are you think you’re going to be able to secure that internship you wanted? And I mean, 80% of the time we’re talking about life, you know what I mean?
[00:21:01] And then we, then we get to just pursue the passion part once I step onto the field. And that’s kind of the mission statement would at least with, with our program and with the school. And that’s what we try to tell them. And that’s.
[00:21:14] Matt: That’s good stuff. Well, coach, I really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck in the, in the upcoming fall season.
[00:21:19] And, uh, we’ll keep an eye and see how you guys are doing
[00:21:22] Coach: on that. Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it. Awesome.
[00:21:27] Matt: Thanks coach.
