Washington and Lee University Men’s Soccer – Coach Lumumba Shabazz

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Lumumba Shabazz from the W&L Men’s Program in Virginia. We talk about their program mirrors a D1 recruiting timeline. Coach also shares about engaging, natural beauty of campus. Plus, we discuss their quality, balanced staff. Learn more about Washington and Lee University Men’s Soccer.

Matt: Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Shabazz at Washington. And Lee, welcome coach. 

Coach: Thank you. Thank. 

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. I mean, uh, you, there’s not many people who’ve had a better first go round at a school. I mean, you started in June and then you make it to the final four.

Huh. I mean, that’s a pretty, pretty good, good way to start your career at Washington and Lee. Yeah, 

Coach: you know what? It, it, it was, I’m grateful for all of it, but quite honestly that, that was my intention from the beginning. You know, uh, I always say if you ask me to, uh. Fix something in the house that’s broken.

Probably not your guy you asked me to, you know, fix some with the car. I’m probably not your guy, but I’ve been in, in soccer and football all my life. I, I, I like to think that I’ve learned a lot of great lessons along the way. I’ve gained some [00:01:00] measure of expertise, uh, and I felt confident in, in my ability and, and more importantly in the character of the young people that we have on this campus.

So, 

Matt: yeah. 

Coach: Well, that said, I was still grateful. Yeah. 

Matt: Well, and, and Washington Lee is one of those, I think, kind of coveted high academic division three programs with, with a good history in men’s soccer. I mean, obviously one of your only few losses was to Catholic University this year. I mean, that just goes without saying as a Catholic University alum.

But, um, you know, in terms of recruiting and now you’re kind of in your first full. Full season of recruiting, right? Mm-hmm. So what, uh, where does that stand for you in terms of your timeline? Are you all done with your 20 fives and only looking at 26? Do you still wrap it up a few more? Kind of what is that timeline for you?

At w no, 

Coach: 20 fives are done. 20 fives are pretty much done by the time I came in the door, right? Uh, [00:02:00] you, you gotta think that for school like ours, uh, high academic institutions, uh, with, with top flight programs, uh. Many of our programs, you almost, I wanna say almost it resembles the division one schedule in, in, in, in that sense, in that when I came in, maybe we had eight spots and maybe six of those already ammo.

Right? So it was really looking at a last student then and making, uh, certain decisions about which, uh, of those student athletes fit our profile. So we’ve been done with 25, so a long time. Uh, we’re looking at 20 sixes and even beginning to chart some 20 sevens. Because by the time, uh, you say September, November, I mean we, we should have some, some offers out there and, and, and kids having verbally committed to, uh, the program.

And, and I imagine it’s the same at at other institutions like ours, right? So whether it’s Amherst, the TAs to the Catholics and all of these other institutions, usually cargoes and [00:03:00] Emory of the world, uh, we get out there, we compete for the best student athletes that we could find. Uh, but many of those kids are very motivated to find a home too very quickly, and so we just typically won’t have a lot of time to, to entertain.

I mean, like I say, after September there, we pretty much be looking at 20 sevens exclusively. 

Matt: Yeah. So when you’re looking at, at kids, is it, uh, are you, are you just looking MLS next in ECNL or you know, how much inbound are you answering and taking, taking care of that way? And then, you know, what tournaments do you like to see?

Where do you like to go to see players? 

Coach: Well, it, it’s certainly best players play at MLS and, and ECNL, uh, tournaments, right. And, and events. So the vast majority of those events we will return. Uh, but certainly, uh, I’ve been in, in soccer long enough here in this country. General, there is value in a lot of places.

I’ve seen a lot of players who didn’t play in those particular leagues, right. For one reason or the other. And so we try [00:04:00] to, to, to, to cast as, as wide net as possible in terms of, of, of, of finding players. So we rely on, on, on networking contacts, um, coaches. That, that we’re well familiar with, we know, have a reputation for, for producing top flight players.

Uh, we look at some institutions that traditionally have, have institutions that generally sit outside of the MLS and ECNL kind of network, but we know traditionally those programs prepare students to make the kind of jump that that’s required here. Um. International contacts, so to speak. And then, yeah, I mean, you hit it on the head.

I mean, it’s, it’s probably on a daily basis, maybe it’s at least 30 emails that I would get, uh, from a student out outlet or the parents or somebody affiliated with them kind of, uh, uh, trying to bring them to, to our attention. Uh, we typically would click on everyone, but it’s just a cursory. [00:05:00] Kind of a click.

If, if we look at, at the quality right off the bat, we could be able to say, okay, yeah, this kid is something we wanna explore, or something that no, we can’t really entertain. Right? And it’s impossible to answer all of those because it just keeps, it builds and builds, man. So we, we have to move very quickly.

Uh, but there’s a lot of true and, and tested places for where we know are some of the best student athletes kind of congregate where they’re coming from. So we tend to focus our attention more on those places. But at the same time, we, we want to keep our. View very expensive so that we could find somebody who traditionally will kind of fall outta that net.

Matt: So what about ID camps? Do you guys have your own or do you and your staff work other ones and how important are they? We, 

Coach: our ID camps is very important for us because it’s an opportunity for us to get students on campus. Right. Uh, and it’s an, and it’s an opportunity. I always tell, uh, uh, the students that, at least the recruits that, that we target is like, it’s, it’s better for them to, to come to campus and have a prolonged exposure.

To us, [00:06:00] our coaching philosophy, our ideas, the field for the campus, all of this, and for us to, comes through in a one-off game where maybe you don’t play too well during that, that, that, that day. Right? Or maybe we go see and, and you’re playing out a position or maybe you’re not playing at all for any number of those factors.

So we get you on campus. That’s really a way, and I wanna say the vast majority of, of, of players that’s on our roster now have come through camp. Like at, at some point they, they’ve been here at camp, some of them twice, some of them three times, right? And I think that’s really valuable. I know camps probably have a reputation of being just revenue earners, but for us here at WNL, our camps are traditionally smaller, so we’re not really looking at those as, as, as revenue generators, but it’s really to identify, uh, student athletes that can play for us.

Matt: So whether it’s at an event or an IT camp, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on the field and off. 

Coach: Well, you know, there’s a saying that we have every say character is the engine that drives everything. Right? [00:07:00] Um, and, and so the question is how do you view character, right?

So you look for things that you just necessarily can’t see on a highlight reel, right? Uh, the off ball work, to me is an as an indicator of character, right? The willingness to sacrifice for teammates and, and the greater cause of, of your team. Points to character, how you deal with your teammates, you know, when adversity strikes on the field.

That’s character. I mean, there, there’s been several cases where we’ve gone out to see players that we know are really immensely talented. We’ve gone to see them in, in the second. You watch ’em in the game, you see them be written, their teammates be written, their officials who like, they’re fantastic talent, but we’ve never recruit ’em.

Right. Fantastic talent review. So character for us is the key because at at, at a certain point. When you come here, there’s, there’s a level of independence that you gain, and we need to know that you, you’ve been able to manage this type of independence. Uh, you’re responsible in terms of your study.

You’re responsible in terms of how you, you conduct yourself in a larger community and across campus, and that you’re competitive [00:08:00] as, as, as an athlete that you, you’re striving, you have this work ethic, there’s an integrity to the game. There’s a respect. We wanna see all of those types of developments. So the character is the first piece, right.

I think the easier to see is, is whether somebody can play or not. Because I think even the, the, any coach could step by a field and say, okay, yeah, this, this kid is really good in this position. He has these particular technical skills. His IQ is understanding the game is spot on. I think that’s the easy thing to identify, but whether or not they fit from a character standpoint that that, that makes a massive difference certainly to us.

Matt: Oh, for sure. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I mean, maybe some folks not familiar with w and l. So you, you’ve, you’ve been there about nine months now, you know, something drew you to this program. So what have you found is great about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through the website.

Coach: Well, you know what I, I always say for me as a coach, I’ve had opportunities to coach at Division one levels and other schools, but I’ve typically turned down some [00:09:00] of those maybe ’cause it didn’t even fit my own personal aspirations. I was raised in a household where education was foremost. Uh, I mean, foremost.

If I could put that in caps, I would definitely put it in caps. I mean, my people did not play in regards to education because education was seen as that vehicle, right? That could move you from one spot in life and, and raise you to the next level in life, and that was something that was directly in your control, right?

You didn’t need any external facts. You didn’t. This is, this is something that you control. So the value of the education. That, that you could receive here in this environment. That was a huge draw for me, uh, because I also know that in that, in this kind of environment, you, you find I’m, I’m a very curious person by nature.

Uh, I want to, I believe I’m an intellectual by, by, by, by, uh, in, in, in some regard. And so when I find I wanted to, to be surrounded. By, by, by people who had those same types of aspirations intellectually and [00:10:00] otherwise. Right. Uh, there’s a curiosity that you find here when you engage the students on campus.

And I’ve had an occasion to do that quite, quite often, and I’m quite amazed a lot of times when I get a chance to speak to them and, and like, wow, you, you’re doing this and you’re doing this, and just a curiosity to it. So I really enjoy that. That feeds me, right? So just to draw to the institution from that standpoint.

Was huge. Uh, then when you talk about the physical beauty of the campus, I mean, we, we are situated here in, in Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah Valley, uh, and it’s, it’s, it’s the most rural aspect of the state. Uh, but it’s the greenest side of the state and just the natural beauty, the topography, the mountains, the lakes, the rivers, the stream is something that, that I feel a close affinity to.

Right. Because I, I often recharge by walks through nature and just kind of. By a river and doing those kind of things just, and I was, I was raised that way. And so getting a chance to be in that environment is just, it, it, it lifts me. And so you’ll find that many [00:11:00] of our students, whether they’re athletes or not, when they come and they see campus, they, they just see the natural beauty of it, and they’re drawn to it from, from, from that aspect.

And then certainly when you combine that with, uh, the academics that we provide. You combine that with world class faculty and scholarship that they’re able to gain here, and then the networking opportunities that come about because of the alumni and, and, and, and other related networks, uh, it’s, it’s a no brainer.

Matt: Absolutely. Yeah. Well let, let’s, uh, either you can either rewind or fast forward, I’ll let you pick. But to the heart of that conference season, walk me through what is a typical week for a player look like in terms of when is practices, meals, games, classes? Yeah. All, all the things. 

Coach: Yeah. Well, so typically that will, that will depend on, on where we are in a cycle, right.

So certainly in preseason. There’d be a bit more demands on the players, certainly ’cause there’s no school involved. But if school is involved, we, we try to periodize a week [00:12:00] in such a way, especially in the early part of the season, where you might only have games to the, the, the end of the week rather than, than midweek games.

We try to periodize it in a way where perhaps your Monday’s an acclimation day where we come in and it’s like just restarting the muscle, regenerating ideas. So it wouldn’t be too much of a, a tactical or physical demand on the players. Be more skill development focused, driven. Uh, Tuesday would begin to be more of a day where, where a, a heavy load is, is, is placed on the players, uh, in terms of, of the physical demands.

But all of that’s done within the construct of small-sided games, medium sided games, larger sided games with some real tactical, uh, objectives that we attached to it, uh, Wednesday with cycle down offer that hard day to allow the body to recover. But even then, especially in the early part of the season, it would be some tactical elements.

Attached to that, though we wouldn’t be, be driving the players as, as hard because they expended a lot of energy on Tuesday, Thursday, we’d really begin to get, uh, [00:13:00] opposite, uh, opponent specific in terms of, of some of the things. So we look at some of the larger concepts of what they’re attempting to do, uh, and, and begin to address those points.

And Friday we get into some of the, the minutia, then the, the details of what we want to. Achieve in, in three phases, in, in transitional phase, defensive phase, and, and attacking phase, uh, along with some, some set piece organization and management. And then Friday, uh, Saturday we, we get ready to, to play. So that’s, that’s what that week would look like, right?

Uh, so we try to, to manage the loads on the player so that you feel fresh. You feel precious by Saturday, your body, you should be well loaded, body ready, prime energized to go, uh, during the typical course of the day. For the players though, uh, again, it depends on where we are in the season. I typically train once a day, uh, but the session then we focus on quality rather than quantity.

So it is, it’s about making sure we have a quality [00:14:00] session, hour and a half, sometimes two hours, exactly what we need. And then we’ll cycle them out, make sure that rest is involved in the preseason aspect. Because I know when I was a, a playing college long time ago, it’s the idea was to, to be a Bryant School of, of of thing, right?

Well, let’s, can we run utility throw up in full line? And you just that that’s, it’s kind of updated and doesn’t make sense scientifically. Uh, so we make sure that the players have a rest portion so they train hard go for meals, rest portion in the day where we really ask them to just get off their legs, rest, chill out.

And then later on we’ll come back and we’ll do some tactical meetings, maybe some chalk talk, maybe some film review, things of that nature. And then we do a lot of leadership, uh, uh, uh, work as well where we, we charge leaders in the team with different aspects that we want them to work on and they gotta present to the group and things like that.

So we, we try to put a lot of, uh, of the responsibility for the team, uh, the welfare of the team on their shoulders. And, and quite honestly, they, they cope [00:15:00] well with it. Okay, 

Matt: great. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. Um, is there a roster size that you, you find is ideal that you like to have?

Coach: You know, when I think about 30, it’d be reasonable. Quite honestly. I think you start going beyond that. It’s, it’s difficult to manage just the expectations of the players because it, most coaches, I, I would know, would generally play probably in somebody that’s really ambition, maybe play probably 20 guys.

Some closer to myself might probably have a shorter rotation there, probably somewhere between 14 and 15 players. So you’re asking 15 guys to continue to train every day, give everything they have and never have a chance of playing. Right. If you, you go beyond 30, I think 30 allows us to have about 26 field players, uh, and about four goalkeepers, which, which pretty much is close to two per position.

And then you have four players multifunctional. Positional that could, could kind of plug holes wherever those, those holes kind of [00:16:00] appear. So 26 in a training session, it’s manageable, could train them all at once, uh, with yourself and the assistant coaches, goalkeeper, coaches working with, with the goalkeepers and things of that nature.

Uh, and I think at any point in the season, those players feel that they, they, they, they would be needed. And so the motivation to, to stay. The motivation to stay working hard, it remains very high rather than, you know, the 34th or 35th man, you know, that you would never play. Right. You know? So about 30 is, is, I think is ideal.

28 to 30. Perfect. 

Matt: You mentioned coaching staff, so besides the roster of players, you got your roster of staff. Talk to me about who else helps out with the team? What roles does everybody play? Maybe what other support staff or in the athletic department that help out with the team as well? 

Coach: Yeah. Well, we have a SID staff, first of all, so they’ll, they’ll take charge of much of the, the promotion and marketing of, of the program in some sense.

Right. And I think you’ll see a lot of collegiate programs are beginning to bring in social media interns and things of that nature because. To older guys like [00:17:00] myself, it could be a foreign language, right? Uh, though I’m, I’m getting better at it. I’m getting better, but still, it, it takes a lot of time and, and, and what might take me two hours to do it, it, it takes my daughter who’s 19 years, five minutes to get done, if that.

Right. So certainly it’s a language I think that young people speak. So we working on, on, on bringing that type of individual into the fold. Uh, then obviously you have a close assistant coach. Who’s full-time assistant coach who works with me, not only in the recruiting realm, but certainly on the field as well, because with 26 players training you, you as a coach, you, you can’t see all of it, right?

Yeah. So you need additional eyes to, to take a look at, at what’s going on in the pitch in different segments, maybe to pay a bit more attention to some individuals. Uh, and then we have two volunteer coaches as well. One, your dedicated to working with the goalkeepers. Uh, so they, they have their needs met, and then just a, a, a third.

A coach who’s also just eyes and ears on the field. Right. And, and you try to, to make sure that they have [00:18:00] different profiles, or at least they fit different profiles. Some probably a bit more relatable to the players. So the players feel that they have a, there’s a bridge between them and, and the coaching staff generally.

Uh, others who, who, like for instance, we have, uh, uh, Gordon Meer, who’s, who’s on our staff. Gordon played here. He’s an alum here. Right. Uh. And, and so much of what our players would go through, Gordon has been through. And so he could help navigate them through some of those challenges and then introduce them to, uh, a networking world of, of alums from his generation that could really connect them to opportunities that could extend way beyond on campus, right?

So everybody has a function in that sense, a very real one. Uh, and I think the players really benefit from it. 

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

Coach: Uh, well I grew up where, you know what, where, uh,

I, I, even if I think about it, I, I grew up as kid watching my uncles [00:19:00] play and I had, uh, about five uncles were very, very good players. Uh, but soccer or football as, as we’ll call it, was, was looked at in, in such a way that it was not only, uh, a sport was entertainment. So the, the local team that they played on, if it was a team that won games, won zero and won a championship, most people kind of clap politely.

It was a team that came second, but most of the games were three to two or four, three games. And a lot of that time, a lot of skill, lot of things, people walk away, you, you know what I mean? Yep. So obviously we want to be able to combine. A flare for playing make the football a very attractive style of, of, of, of game.

Uh, one that accentuate is built into the thirds, uh, fast pace attacking individual creativity, rapid transitions, all of these type of things that you’ll see, I guess in a, in a modern kind of a, a game if you, and especially if you think about the EPL or something like that. [00:20:00] Uh, so you want to have those strappings.

I mean, we are a bit different from, I think most of our opponents who tend to be a bit more direct. Play, uh, I believe in, in keeping a ball. ’cause I think you, you can make a team tired by keeping a ball and making ’em have to chase the game quite a bit. And so that was, that was the emphasis that we placed in terms of development.

I think the teams here in the past have played more transition, uh, and very successful at it. Right? So I’m not saying that there’s only one way to be successful at it. I just think from, from my perspective, my philosophy and my vision is to, to keep more of the ball. And, and and to, to, to allow players to be a bit, a bit more creative and give a little more freedom in terms of that.

’cause that’s how I enjoyed playing. Mm-hmm. And so, uh, I think we did that this year to, to, to, to, to, to some great success. I mean, the early parts of the year, I think we were still in transition from, uh, because all of the players, for the most part had played under a different style. And so it was getting them used to my ideas.

It’s one thing to do that on the training [00:21:00] ground, but I think it’s another thing to do that in when, when you’re playing against somebody who’s, who’s, who’s getting after you. And so it took two or three games for us to, to really begin to, to get those ideas, uh, uh, to see that actualized. But once I thought we got that actualized, uh, I think you see if your stuff that kind of took off and it worked quite well for us.

So the idea would be to, to keep building on that. Okay. 

Matt: Well, we we’re in the spring. Kind of give me an idea, what does your non-traditional spring season look like in terms of practices and games and stuff like that? 

Coach: Well, a, again, because everything is aligned to philosophy, it’s not, we, we can’t do it in, in, in just this vacuum.

It has to be aligned to specifically to what we’re working on so early, part of, of, uh, so one of the things we know for sure is that we wanted to increase the physical strength and capacities of the team. So working with a dedicated strength and training staff players had to get in there. Two to three times a week to begin to build a physical base, right?

Aerobically, [00:22:00] anaerobically, develop explosion, increase flexibility, increase range of motion, right? ’cause all of these things, not only it makes you stronger, perform better in football, but it also helps to reduce injuries. It makes you more durable, right? Uh, and, and one of my biggest, uh, I always tell the players is, is, is, is people always ask who you’re recruiting, right?

And I say that, that’s not really the question to ask. The question is, can we get the current players on the roster to develop? At least 25% more at minimum, in terms of their capabilities. ’cause if you could get that to happen, then, then whatever is coming in the door, then at, at any point is, is just a cherry on top of a, of a really good cake.

Right? So we wanted to improve the physical capacity of the group, and then we also wanted to, to, to help players to become more comfortable with the individual creativity, the mastery of all technical skills. And so we worked a lot on Al in the early part of, uh. A nontraditional, right? So we had 24 sessions, about eight of those were just reserved strictly for [00:23:00] Al.

So small sided games, quick decision making, rapid scale execution, things of that nature. And then once the weather turned nice as it is here in Lexington today, uh, we segment the outside, but continuing with the same team of individual development. The focus is not much on, on team tactical concepts because you’ve got guys that are internships, guys that on study abroad.

Guys that not in the door yet, that’s gonna be fundamental to how you play. So the key is, can I just improve the 11 that I have and make that 11 better than your 11? Then we could bring those tactical concepts together. So it’s really about working on two to three times a week, uh, in training sessions, 90 minutes, just really accentuating functional skills in the way that you would need to apply them on the field.

So center backs working a lot with short game receiving, building out pressure. Playing diagonal balls, hitting different targets, left foot, right foot. So they just get comfortable with that idea. And that’s just one example. But we try to place this players in, in all of those [00:24:00] scenarios to make it a little more challenging.

But certainly when we ask them to do something, a game, it’s something that they’ve done a hundred times before, so it shouldn’t feel like, you know, it shouldn’t, it should come off rather than, than look like something that Yeah, that, that they haven’t done. Okay. 

Matt: Yeah. Well, coach, I really appreciate the time.

I’m gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any guy going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be? 

Coach: I, I, you know what I, I, I think the greatest thing, and it might seem kind of a case, but I say the greatest thing is to know yourself.

Right? Because in knowing yourself, you know, the. It’s written above the temples in Egypt. The temples in Greeks, they say, man, know thyself, right? And they said that for a reason. Because once you understand yourself, then you know exactly what works or doesn’t work for you. I, I think I see a lot of young players, especially guys.

I think the young ladies are far more mature in terms of their capabilities and understanding. But every young man that I encounter, whether he can chew gum and walk in a straight line, he’s like, oh, I’m [00:25:00] going pro. I’m going D one. I’m like, man, what? Do you understand what that environment looks like? Do you understand what your capabilities are?

Do you understand what fits for you academically? What fits for you psychologically, where you’d feel most comfortable? A lot of ’em just, they’ve never thought about that. They all know. It’s like, listen, D one, and I’m going there. So I think the better you understand yourself, the better you understand.

What do you wanna study? Where do you wanna study, what classroom sizes look good for you? And then, and that’s not even entertaining soccer just yet, right? Just, just talking about that from just, just an academic standpoint. And then certainly if you took soccer into consideration, it’s not just a school liking you, it’s whether or not you fit within the reality of that school.

Right. Because I always, like, every time we recruit a player, one of the things we do, especially in one that we really want, we don’t discuss the general plan with them. We, we are very specific about how we see their progression in the team from year one to year four and what that charter development looks like.

So how we gonna train them? Uh, [00:26:00] where we potentially gonna play them, what their challenges are gonna be. We try to anticipate all of those things and help them to really understand that. I think maybe a last one that players never really considered is, is just a coaching style. Uh, when I was a youngster, I could pretty much deal with any type of coaches.

’cause traditionally my coaches were very good, but they screamed a lot. And I just, I was just really good at just tuning some of it out or just not being bothered personally. By by what they said. Uh, I think some players are, are quite different. You scream at them, they go internally and their game disappears.

Well, do you wanna be in that environment or you wanna be with a coach who’s more of an educated teacher who put his arms around his stroller, still hold you accountable, but, but relate to you differently? I think all of those things are, are, are, are really important in the grand scheme of, of recruiting and, and I think those things are not necessarily the things that I paid attention to, but I think if you as an individual.

Understood precisely who you are and what your expectations are and what your capabilities are and where those things fit, then [00:27:00] I think the college choices become really easy. Yeah. So it’s right about it’s, it is less than about what school wants me, but what school I want and, and that makes a massive difference.

Matt: Absolutely. 

Coach: Yeah. 

Matt: Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, I really appreciate the time and the insights, and congrats again on a fantastic first season. Wish you luck. Best of luck finishing out the, the spring and, and hopefully you’ll get back to that final four. 

Coach: Oh, the aim is to try to win it all, my friend, so we’ll keep working at it.

Matt: All 

Coach: right, 

Matt: thanks coach. Take care. Coach: My pleasure. Have a good one.