Wartburg College Men’s Soccer – Coach Mike Madigan
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Mike from the Wartburg Men’s Program in Iowa. We talk about how they like to have multiple ID camps for recruiting. He describes their co-curricular experience that has great placement. Lastly, we discuss how their program is relationship driven. Learn more about Wartburg College Men’s Soccer. Learn more about Wartburg College Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Mike from Wartburg. Welcome coach.
Coach: Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you having me.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I know you guys got a stellar program out there in, uh, in Iowa. Um, and, uh, you know, I got the soft spot for the D three s in my heart, so, uh, so thanks for joining us.
Um, It’s the end of May. I’m 99% sure. You are probably totally wrapped up with your 23 class, is that right? Yes. Wrapped. Yep. So I know you’ve moved on to 20 fours, but are, are you even looking at 20 fives at this point? Kind of what does your standard recruiting calendar look like each year?
Coach: Yeah, the, I think the primary.
Class that we’re recruiting really shifts in January of each year, where like we’ve been primarily communicating with 20 fours, but you know, completing the degree of 20 threes since January. Um, and then it’s right about this time where we’ll begin identifying 20 fives. Though our communication with the 2020 fives really won’t pick up until we get into that December January time period.
Matt: Okay. Now, one of the questions people ask me all the time is, you know, what, what is the. What is the mix of coaches finding players randomly versus players reaching out to coaches to get on their radar and get seen and all that kinda stuff. Can you gimme an idea of kind of what that mix looks like for you guys in a typical year?
Coach: Yeah, I’d say it’s probably 60 to [00:01:30] 70% of the players on our roster are guys that we’ve initially identified and contacted. Um, then I think it’s probably outside of that, it’s probably 20 to 30% then that have contacted us and then we found out more about them and then end up offering a spot for preseason and all those things based on what we’ve been able to find out.
And then usually at that point, once we found out enough that we’re gonna bring ’em to preseason, we’ve begun. Actively recruiting them. Um, and then there’s probably, it’s probably about 5% of our roster would be guys that we didn’t know much about that contact us when they’re here at Warburg. And some have ended up being very good players for us.
You know, we have a, um, a Japanese student who, you know, likely will see regular first team minutes for us this next fall, who we really didn’t hear from until he was already student here at Orchard.
Matt: Okay, so then if you, if most of your roster, we’ll just say a majority, is somebody you’ve identified, how is that identification, uh, taking place?
Is it primarily at events? Is it through club coaches? Is it, you know, what does that look like?
Coach: Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a mix of all those, obviously the, you know, the longer we’re in it, whether it’s in state or in our surrounding states for sure. Um, and somewhat nationally, we’re building connection networks where we’ve gotten players in the past and they’ve been really successful.
Um, but yeah, for a lot of us it’s getting out to events and identifying them. Um, we’re fortunate in the way that Warper supports athletics, that we’re able to get to an awful lot, especially in Iowa as well as our surrounding states. Um, we’re oftentimes, we’re seeing guys 2, [00:03:00] 3, 4 times within the recruiting process.
Um, but most of it is identification at events. Um, Iowa and Nebraska are a bit unique in that high school soccer’s played in the spring, uh, which is very unique in the Midwest. So we actually, um, we probably see, uh, you know, More guys in a high school context than probably a lot of our peers do because we’re able to get to those in the spring.
Matt: No, that makes sense. Well, what about, um, in terms of events that you’re going to, what are some of the must. What’s the must see TV on, on your list, places you have to go each year. And, and does the, does the, the acronym of the league or tournament really play into it at all, or is it more when and where those events take place?
Coach: Um, I, I think for us, we do pay attention to what leagues and what leagues the players are playing in that have been successful here in the past. Um, and so, yeah, I think a lot of it, especially. As it seems like every year there are more leagues and new leagues. Um, it takes staying in touch with that, but a lot of our identification will be at meaningful games, whether it be showcases within their league or, you know, weekends when multiple teams are playing in similar locations where we can see them play.
Um, you know, there will be an attention to what events are happening here in the Midwest or what events nationally will. Have teams from the mid Midwest playing at as well as some other targeted national areas. Um, but yeah, I think a lot of it, especially in the last year or two, has very much shifted to what leagues are the teams playing in and, you know, what showcase events are they hosting [00:04:30] for that?
Cuz that’s an area where we know what the level of play is gonna be like and how it might translate to, uh, what we see when we’re here on the field in the fall. Okay.
Matt: And do you guys do any ID camps or does your staff work other camps? Is that a kind of big component to your recruiting?
Coach: Absolutely. You know, especially the next few months, um, you know, we’ll get out, um, and observe or work some of the kind of winter ID periods, um, that some of the bigger programs in the surrounding states are doing.
But yeah, definitely working, working camps this summer. Um, and then we kind of build up towards our own ID camp on August 5th and sixth, which is hosted by our staff. Um, and really a lot of our current players come back. A lot of our incoming guys are involved in it. Um, so we kind of get out to others to help identify and get to know players, but then I.
Invite guys here to, to our camp to really help them get to know our experience and uh, a setting that we think is very relevant because the level play usually is quite high and, um, it’s with our staff. So you get a real chance to get a feel for what it’s like to be in our program.
Matt: Okay. Well when you put all of that together right, and you get your whole big recruitment umbrella, yeah.
What is your kind of hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff?
Coach: Yeah. You know, I think right when we’re initially out at an event, the first things we’re gonna see are that are maybe the easiest to see, um, are what’s happening on the field.
You know, do they have the right mix of technical and athletic abilities and tactical and soccer decision making to be able to be a player based [00:06:00] on the role we see them playing that could potentially trans. To being an effective player at our level. Um, that’s gonna be our initial read. Um, but then, uh, from there it’s on us, whether it’s seeing them a second or a third time, or in our communication between visits and phone calls, to be proactive, to get to know who is this person, what’s important to them, how do they interact, how do they fit our program culture?
Um, and so I think, you know, I, I think the personal components absolutely have to be there and their character pieces absolutely have to be there. But I think the first part we’re gonna see is the soccer part, and then begin to get to know them more. Knowing that we’re gonna have a lot of time. But that, that’s really important to us that I think it’s, you know, are you somebody that’s committed to being successful in every area of your life?
You know? And are you committed to developing habits and continuing to get better? Um, and those are gonna be things that we might not see that first time we see them, but we might see glimpses of it the second or third time we see them. And then for sure, we’re gonna get to know through calls and visits.
Okay.
Matt: Well, in talking a little bit more about the school itself, I’m sure there’s some folks familiar, not familiar with Warburg. Um, but one question on every parent’s mind is, especially when it comes to D three s, is, okay, what’s this gonna cost me? Um, so, you know, I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but can you just gimme an overview of just what the overall tuition, financial aid, scholarship kind of Yeah.
Situation just looks like for an average player coming in. Yeah.
Coach: For us, and it’s one of the, you know, another reason why we wanna be [00:07:30] proactive in the process in terms of communicating with guys beginning in the winter of their junior year and some, it even begins before that. But really making sure primary communication begins winter of their junior year.
Um, so that they’re able to take part in the, and of every opportunity through the process that goes through the spring of their junior year, through the fall and early winter of their senior year. Um, cuz what we’ve seen with players that have fully and student athletes that have fully participated in the recruiting process, many times the cost goes from a, the big sticker price of private education down to something that’s doable for them and their family.
And those things can vary based on academics, family, finances, all that. But usually a guideline that we can say is one, it usually ends up being in a pretty similar ballpark to like the big state school in your state. Um, and that. You know, we’ve yet to have somebody that’s thoroughly worked the process where it just hasn’t been doable for them and their family.
Um, are we g always gonna be the least expensive option? Probably not. But are we gonna be in a similar range where you can choose? You know, what, where you see the greatest value for what you’re paying. I think that’s one of the things we definitely pride ourselves on here at orper. Um, you know, of our student body, we’re a school, a close-knit community, uh, right around 1500 students.
Uh, Um, but about half of our students are student athletes, um, and pretty high level student athletes. You know, we routinely finish on the top 20 of the Director’s Cup. Um, we’ve won our conference all Sport Trophy every year it’s been in existence. [00:09:00] Um, but we also, you know, from men soccer, we typically are, if not the top, one of the top team GPAs in the conference.
We’ve led the conference every year in academic called conference honorees, both here within our program, but also as a department. Um, and so I think the. Ability to kind of bring that co-curricular experience into the overall student experience and have that be a big part of the Warburg experience is I think something we do pretty uniquely.
And so that’s why I think the value piece of it really is a big part of the conversation. Can we help you work through the process where it gets to the point where it’s doable for you and your family, um, where you, you really see the, and feel the significant value of the Warper experience. Okay.
Matt: Well for those that aren’t familiar with Wartburg, can you kind of clue us in what are some of the awesome things about the school?
Maybe things I’m not gonna necessarily learn by just going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, no, I think it really is the, the embrace, the co-curricular experience. You know, when we’re talking about. Seven, you know, probably two thirds of three quarters of our students being really involved in high level co-curriculars, whether it be athletics, which are about half of our student body or another three to 400 that are really involved in our music programs.
That experience like the embrace of that, but then also paired with really strong grad placement statistics. I think it’s something that makes us truly unique. You know, a another part of it that I think the guys really appreciate once they’re here, um, we have what’s Snow known as a fall semester. Then our second, and [00:10:30] that’s the same as everybody else.
Our winter semester, it is our second semester, which begins a little earlier in January and UPS up mid-April and now we’re ac. Actually just wrapping up our mayterm, so all the students have a mayterm experience that for some can be very immersive travel abroad or internship based. For others, it’s, you’re on campus, the weather is gorgeous and you have one class a day.
You know, grant, it’s for three hours, but one class a day. And there’s training in a lot of, you know, whether it’s some of our non-traditional season stuff or whether it’s intramurals, there’s. A lot of things going on, on campus too. Um, so I think that’s kind of the may term experience is kind of unique, but definitely something that’s helped with, whether it’s the co-curriculars or experiential learning, like internships or study away opportunities too.
Matt: Okay. Well, when you get a new player in or, or even I guess, returning players, How do they succeed in balancing the academic demands of, of being in college and then the athletic demands of being an athlete, and what kind of support systems does the school have in place to help them?
Coach: Yeah, I think the starting place again talks about how the co-curricular experience is embraced.
You know, that’s something whether you go across our faculty or, you know, support staff in academic resource centers in student life, um, I think that’s a huge part of it. I mean, one of the stories I always tell people, the. When I got here in January, that first winter, um, our women’s basketball program hosted the first four rounds of the N C A tournament.
Um, and those weekends actually fell during, um, a break [00:12:00] period for us. And, but the arena was full and like the section I was sitting in, I think I saw nine or 10 faculty members in that same section, you know? And so I think that connection with the campus community and the fact that, you know, whether it be academic, athletic support personnel, they really embrace.
The co-curricular and athletic experience. So I think, and that’s a starting point that helps us, um, I think our professors tend to understand there, there may be missed class time, but we’re also focused and we’re fortunate that we’re in a place where we’re pretty centrally located, whether it’s the density of top division three programs within Iowa, or the D or the adjacent states.
Or whether the fact that we’re centrally located within our conference where there’s really minimal misclass time for conference competition. Um, I think some of those things help us to transition the students here. But, you know, big part we’ve definitely worked on with our players about, uh, Being welcoming, value and difference, helping others to feel included when they get here.
Um, I think our guys have done a good job of really developing that. Um, and that those are things we can develop during preseason to help our first years feel like they have a really solid foundation. Um, as classes start.
Matt: Okay. Well, you mentioned a little bit being centrally located in your conference and mm-hmm.
Helping to minimize travel time. But can you just real quick, what does, what would an average week look like for a player during the season in terms of when’s class, meals practice? What’s the game cadence? Just kind of what, what was, what an average week look like?
Coach: Yeah, it, it depends a little bit whether we’re in our conference stretch this season or in our [00:13:30] non-conference stretch, you know, the non-conference stretch.
We tend to group games, whether it be Thursday, Saturday, Friday, Sunday, you know, where we have a little bit longer of a training block at the start of the week, and then games more towards the end of the week. Um, in conference play, we’ll typically play. Every Saturday than a Tuesday or Wednesday than a Saturday.
So maybe I’ll, I’ll use that week. Um, you know, if we’ve just come off from a game on Saturday and our next game’s not gonna be until Wednesday, Sundays are off day. Um, uh, during the academic day, our training block and anything we do from a median or strength and conditioning standpoint is between 3 45 and six 30.
Um, you know, and really a lot of that we, the academic day here is set up where there’s a pretty clear activity block where there aren’t classes happening, where that can be the focus. Um, so our guys basically their academic day, you know, if you look between 8:00 AM and 3:45 PM uh, They’re students and their students first, and they’re probably gonna have about three to four hours of class during that time.
But that also means three to four hours of free time during that, that they can choose how they want to use. And I think that’s a big part of us helping them with their transition is how to handle that time. Um, but then we’re fortunate from a facil facility standpoint, whether it’s. You know, a state of the yard weight room that I think you know, is among the best in division three to having grass practice, field turf practice, field, grass, game field, you know, all near a classroom facility that’s right there, you know, so we’re pretty fortunate with the facilities we have that [00:15:00] we can be really efficient moving from any of the stuff we need to do between opponent scout video on us.
Um, any maintenance, strengthening, dishing stuff, we can do that in that 3 45 to six 30 window where the guys are in the locker room, they’re showered, they’re in the cafeteria, they’re ready to study by seven 30. You know, so I think it becomes a really doable a, you know, academic athletic balance on the training days.
Um, you know, that would be kind of Monday, Tuesday. Tuesday might be a little bit shorter of a session on the field as we’re preparing for a Wednesday game. Um, Wednesday game, you know, if we’re at home, we’ve got lights on our game field, so ki typically a kickoff in the evening, so not missing class time for home games.
Um, but then even travel. Most of our opponents and conference are about two to two and a half hours away. And so even if we’re traveling there, you maybe are missing an hour or two a class, you know, we’re leaving. Early to mid-afternoon, um, then it’d be a return that night. Um, we would train and do kind of a regen session the next day on that Thursday, um, match prep session on Friday, go play Saturday.
Um, so really in a given week in conference, we’re maybe missing an hour or two of class at most. Um, and we feel like on the training days, the academic athletic balance is really healthy. Okay.
Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the, the soccer side of things. Um, you know, is there, we were talking recruiting earlier, but is there a roster size that you find is ideal that you’re trying to hit each year?
What is kind of the, the roster makeup look like?
Coach: Yeah, so our, our goal [00:16:30] is to have a roster in the forties. Um, the reason we define that, um, this is a program and you can actually see some of the all Americans in the background behind me. Those are, um, a unique part. I’ll come back to it actually. These sketches.
Are, are the seven all Americans in program history. Um, there’s a barn grill just across the street called Joe’s Nighthawk that has, um, sketches for every, all American and athletic department history. So at, you know, at a place like this that I think every wall’s full of sketches like this. So these are the duplicates.
Um, but no, for us, um, from the recruiting standpoint, we target because we’ve been nationally competitive for the better part of the last 20 years. Um, It’s gonna be hard no matter who you are to be guaranteed you’re gonna find minutes in that first year. Um, and so, but this is also a school where, apart from these covid years, everybody’s graduated in four years.
And so there guys aren’t doing an extra semester just to play more soccer. So being able to help them to get as much out of their experience, I think it’s really important that we play a weekly reserve team game. Um, and so we found that Karen roster in the forties allows us to be able to help those players transition in who are eventually gonna be really impactful in our program.
Um, but at the same time, you know, we’re not going over the top where we can’t provide a good experience for them in year one either. Um, so that reserve team schedule we found being in the forties is really important because if you [00:18:00] take a few injuries, all of a sudden you have to start thinking about canceling reserve team games, and that doesn’t help anybody.
So, yeah, that’s why we’re usually somewhere in that number.
Matt: Okay. Can you tell me about your staff? What, you know, how many do you have? What role does everybody play? What’s your staff situation look like?
Coach: Yeah, for sure. So, head Coach, I, you know, full-time at the college with minimal secondary duties. Um, we also have a full-time assistant coach, Christian Cordon.
Um, who is, you know, his office is just next door. Um, Christian, you know, is here. He is, you know, in his third or fourth year of college coaching, but has a pretty phenomenal background. Um, he and I are absolutely involved in everything and he’s full-time here at the college. Um, small additional duties as well, but really we’re full-time here to be able to support the guys year round.
Um, we also have a goalkeeper coach who’s been here every year for the past six or seven years. A guy named Leonard Harmon. And Leonard, uh, we’re, we’re pretty fortunate he’s in his 17th or 18th year coaching collegiate goalkeepers. Um, but he’s his main career. He was a minister for 30 years, so he’s actually retired and lives in the surrounding community.
He’s at absolutely everything and does a really good job with the guys. Um, and then we typically will have another assistant beyond that, whether it’s somebody from the community or a younger coach who’s just getting their, starting college coaching. Um, you know, I think that’s been a really good balance.
Point, and that’s kind of a seasonal role. Okay. Um, so really three of us that are consistently at everything year round. Then kind of another assistant that’s helped us, uh, manage things. [00:19:30] But we’re all invested in each player’s development. It’s not like there’s a reserv team coach, a head coach, you know, we’re, we’re all involved with it.
We might do slightly different things given the day, but we’re all involved in each player’s development. Okay.
Matt: Well, how would you describe kinda your style of coaching and maybe the overall team style of play?
Coach: Yeah, so I think starting on the my coaching piece, it’s relationship driven, you know, and that’s another reason why being really proactive in the recruiting process so that we get to know guys, we get to know what’s important to them.
They know our investment in them goes beyond. What they can do between the white lines. And I think that then enhances our ability to help them when they are between the white lines. Um, one of the things we really value, um, in terms of style of play is situational awareness. Can you choose the right technique and tactic for the moment?
Um, you know, I think we wanna be a possession based. Playing team. Um, that’s proactive. Offensely winning the ball, hype the field, but we also wanna be mature enough and aware enough that we can recognize when we need to sit a bit deeper and be able to do that effectively or when it’s, uh, you know, on to be able to get direct with quality, um, to stretch a team and get behind them.
So I think that’s a big piece for us is situational awareness. Um, I think in, in how that fits my coaching style, I think things tend to be very game-based in training. Um, As a staff, we will be proactive in coaching the guys and giving information and bringing energy to the session, to the training sessions.
[00:21:00] Um, on game day, I’m not gonna be a guy that sits back and crosses my legs and arms and says, go on guys, play. Um, but I’m also not gonna be up. Rah rah. It’s more can we give information and help make small adjustments and help them learn through game day as much as we help them learn on the training days so that they’re able to make better decisions and make the read that’s appropriate.
You know, and I think part of why we’ve set it out that way, Um, for most guys this is gonna be the pinnacle, their soccer experience. You know, every year, every year or two we’ll have a couple guys that have an opportunity to potentially pursue playing afterwards, but for most, this is pinnacle. So we wanna, we wanna be able to play successful soccer that allows us to be in big games that allows us to be effective.
But we also wanna play soccer that we enjoy coaching and playing that maybe resembles what they, what you see, you know, as you’re watching the professional game or bigger leagues, um, where there’s some connection. So I think that’s where we get to the situational awareness piece, that, that allows us to balance those factors that could be competing in some ways.
Okay.
Matt: Well, as we said, we’re end of May and you guys have your may term, but real quick, just what would your. I guess winter term training, your non-traditional season that, that spring, uh, look like for, for a player.
Coach: Yeah, so for us, we, we have kind of the two stretches we really talk about, um, you know, season ends in November, a lot of that.
We may have a couple sessions thereafter, our season’s done to be able to help transition the [00:22:30] group for the next year. Um, we’ll do individual meeting and the season, individual meetings at that time. Um, and then really those first couple weeks of December there’ll be a. A little bit of transition time where they’re with our strength coaches one to two times a week and maybe playing pickup one to two times a week.
But at that point, it’s more, you know, from mid-November through the end of December, it’s about get your body healthy, make sure your semester finishes well, and then let’s be ready to go when we get back to campus in January. Um, In January, um, through mid-March is kind of our winter off season stretch.
Um, our guys are with our strength coaches three times a week. Um, it’s typically been Tuesday night, Thursday night, and then Saturday, um, kind of mid-morning. Um, the guys, and it’s been something that’s been here for well before me, but our guys actually divide and split up into four teams and play a foot.
League on Monday and Friday mornings before class. Um, they keep standings, they play placement games. Um, there’s a lot of energy around that. And then they’ll usually play pickup one to two times a week in addition to that. So kind of doing things five to six times a week, um, where, you know, kind of three days of, of strength and conditioning development in three to four days of plane.
Um, once we hit mid-March, that’s typically when we’ll do the first portion of our non-traditional season. Um, previously at the division three level, we’ve gotten 16 contact dates with one being against outside competition and another, you know, one could be against outside competition, another could be our alumni game.
Um, so typically we’ve done about two thirds, including our outside [00:24:00] competition date, uh, between mid-March and mid-April. And then because of the way it breaks and finals fall, we actually can split it here where we do another week, week and a half with our final dates and our alumni game, uh, for the non-traditional season.
At that point, um, obviously we we’re, we’re excited here. In future years, we’ll go from 16 to 24. Um, so that’ll give us a little bit more flexibility, um, to be able to potentially do a little bit more. Um, so no, I think here you, you know, our guys are year-round athletes. They’re committed to the sport just like they have been for most of their life, um, before they get here.
And so it’s something we work to, you know, support as best we can where they can keep getting better as players and as athletes. But then, you know, both myself and Christian live within minutes of campus. So we’re, we’re here, we’re meeting with them, we’re helping them. We just can’t have as much athletic contact in that January through March stretch as we’d like.
Matt: Okay. Well coach, you’ve been super generous with your time, given us a lot of info, but I gotta ask you one last question, and that’s for any of the parents or players that are watching this that are interested in college soccer. If you had one piece of advice, one nugget, one thing you would want them to know about this whole college soccer world and, and recruiting and picking a school and all these things, what do you think that one, one piece of info would be?
Coach: I think to be purpose driven, you know, why do you go to college or why do you play college soccer? It’s to be able throughout what you can do and create opportunities for what you want to do with the next 40 to 50 year years of your life. Um, and that’s pretty si significant and you may [00:25:30] not know right away, but to be proactive with the process, um, so that you have options and you have options.
When the programs that are well run and the coaching staff that are proactive are looking for players, that you have options and you’re ready to take advantage of those. So you can get in the best spot to help yourself. Have a great four years to be at, you know, kind of a personal pinnacle there that sets you up to be in an awesome spot for the next 40 to 50 years.
Matt: Couldn’t agree more, coach. Love it. Uh, wish you the best of luck on your upcoming season and, uh, if you get to any of the recruiting events down here in Bradenton, Florida, gimme a shout. Would, uh, love to reconnect. All right, will do. I appreciate it.
Thanks, Matt. Thank you.
