Washington College Women’s Soccer – Coach Tom Reilly
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Tom from the Washington College Women’s Program in Maryland. We talk about recruiting regionally and looking at GPA first. He describes the gorgeous camps on the Chester River. Lastly, we discuss his staff and how they make the overall experience better for the players. Learn more about Washington College Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Tom Reilly from Washington College. Welcome coach.
Coach: Hey Matt. Thanks for having me.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. Uh, women’s coach there, D three program in Maryland. Uh, as I, I mentioned you saying ago, I’ve been been up there as a player 20 years or so ago.
Uh, but uh, but it’s a really nice spot you have. Um, now that the season’s wrapped up, um, let’s talk a little about recruiting. Are you, are you kind of hitting the, the trail heavy? Are you working on the, your 20 threes or are you done with those and looking at 24.
Coach: Yeah, soon as the season ends, you know, it becomes recruiting season.
Um, and there’s a bunch of tournaments pretty much every weekend from, uh, I guess the last two weekends and that offer Thanksgiving and then two or three more right after that. Um, we are still trying to finish up our 23 class, um, but also obviously recruiting 20 fours.
Matt: Yeah. When, when do you usually start talking to, to girls and kind of getting them in, in your pipeline?
When do you start recognizing.
Coach: Um, I, you know, we’ll, we’ll watch sophomore, junior year, um, anytime before. That really doesn’t make sense for us as a division three with no athletic scholarships. Um, you know, our, our recruiting process is a lot different without n uh, letters of intent and things like that.
So, um, we’ll start watching players sophomore year and then junior year is really when it becomes, uh, you know, the major focus. [00:01:30]
Matt: Now, do you guys do camps there at school? Do you and your staff work other people’s camps? How do, how does the camps fit in?
Coach: Yeah, all of the above. We’ll have, uh, a couple of ID clinics here on campus.
Um, and we, you know, those are more, obviously, they’re specific to our school and those are a lot of times for kids that we’ve had contact with and we want to get him on campus and have ’em, uh, you know, work, spend a day with. Kind of thing. So, um, but we also go to your future 500 s and, and, and exact camps and id sports camps and things like that, that are multi-college.
So, you know, so we kind of do all of that as well as the tournaments.
Matt: Okay. Well whether you’re at, at a camp or watching players at a tournament or something, what’s kind of your, your hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player that, that, whether it’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff.
Coach: Um, well, I mean, for, for the first glimpse you get of the, of the players obviously is, is their athletic ability, um, the personality and, and things like that, that comes a little further down the road. So the first thing we try to do when we’re recruiting, um, is look for players that have multiple attributes.
Um, so whether that’s technical ability, field vision, you know, athleticism, you know, you name it, things like that. Uh, multi. attribute players can impact the game in different ways. So, you know, we look for, you know, players that have several of those things in their toolbox.
Matt: [00:03:00] Okay. Well, in terms of the tournaments that you visit, are there ones that are kind of like, must, must go to every year that are, that are, that, you know, the top of the list for you?
Coach: Yeah. Um, that, that tournament landscape has really changed in the last couple years. I think you, you used to be able. You know, look at your schedule, um, well in advance and go, this is a must, this is a must, et cetera. But, um, with the advent of GA and uh, E C N L and E C N L R L and National League and, uh, each organization is now having their own, uh, events.
So they, you know, they’re in direct conflict with a lot of the tournaments. Um, but we still, the bigger tournaments like Bethesda and Jeff Cup and, uh, PDA has one up in Jersey. Um, you know, there’s, there’s still some major tournaments. Um, visit Raleigh Showcase, which used to be Castle, you know, still a, a major attraction as well.
Um, but they’re kind of direct competition with all. Alphabet soup, uh, events, uh, that are getting more and more prevalent every year.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, um, do you guys look to, uh, recruit internationally at all, or do you guys look at the transfer portal at all? Does that, do either of those factor into your recruiting?
Coach: Um, not in a big way. We’ve recruited internationally, but again, because there’s no athletic scholarship and, um, foreign students, if they don’t have, uh, US citizenship, they don’t qualify for need-based financial aid. So it’s strictly an academic merit [00:04:30] scholarship that they would be in, in line for. Um, so that kind of limits the pool.
Uh, most of the, of the international students are looking to come over and. Find a cheaper way to do it. Um, so we’ve, we’ve recruited a little bit, we’ve yet to, to land an international on campus. Um, and what was the other second? Uh, the transfer portal. Is that, yeah. Transfer portal. A again, you know, Division three, high academic.
Um, I’d say the majority of the players that are entering the portal are division one players that haven’t found the right fit or whatnot. So again, it’s a, it’s a limited pool of players that wanna come back into a situation such as ours. Um, But yeah, we do look at it and, and we’re active on that, but it’s not a, it’s not a major part of what we do.
Matt: Okay. Well, you mentioned scholarship money and, and obviously you guys don’t have athletic aid, but can you just give us an overall financial picture of what a student athlete would be walking into at, at Washington College? What, you know, what the tuition, academic money, other money? What, what’s just kind of a, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but just gimme a, an overall picture of what it looks like.
Coach: Right. Um, uh, obviously one of the first things we do when we go to recruit, you know, you find a player you like, you look in the team brochure and you look at the player’s GPA, um, because Washington College has a really generous academic merit scholarship program. Um, so if you recruit top end [00:06:00] students, um, , they’re gonna qualify for $35,000 a year in academic money.
Um, so that more than halves the cost of attendance. Um, and then there’s other scholarships beyond that and there’s need-based aid, et cetera. So most of the kids, uh, can expect to probably pay somewhere in the 20,000, somewhere in the twenties, um, to attend, even though the sticker price is way higher.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, you know, some folks maybe they see Washington and they think either DC or state and, and, and aren’t familiar with it. Um, but you know, besides what I’m gonna learn on the website, can you gimme some insights into what kind of makes Washington College special?
Coach: Oh yeah, sure. Um, it’s a beautiful campus. First of all, everything is is on campus. We have a beautiful stadium, um, training facilities, you know, weight rooms and all that. Dorms, academic buildings are all walking distance. Um, so whether it’s our players having to get up and go to lifts in the morning, or whether it’s students who just want to walk out of their dorm and catch a game at the stadium, it’s all, you know, five minutes away.
Um, campus is beautiful, green. Et cetera. And we’re also located on the river in the Chester River. So there is, um, slightly removed from main campus’s waterfront campus. So students, uh, have access to, you know, taking out kayaks and canoes and paddle boards and stuff like that out on the river. So that [00:07:30] kind of, I think we’re the only school on the water in the Centennial Conference.
So our rowing teams and sailing teams have to compete in other. other venues to, to, to compete. Um, so I think that sets us apart a little bit as well. Um, small class sizes I think is another thing that Washington College, uh, has and does well, you know, it’s about a 12 to one student faculty ratio, so it’s a very personalized education.
Um, professors know you, you know them, and that I think that most people learn well in those situations. Learn best that way. So, . So you can’t be all things to all people, but I think what we do, we do really well. Okay.
Matt: Well in terms of, of academics, you know, how do your players really balance the commitments between the team and the academic side of things, and what kind of support systems does the school offer to help them in that?
Coach: Um, yeah, I. . I think, you know what? When we sit at the end of the year and we assess our year, um, I think there’s three parts to it here. There’s your on field performance. , which includes your, your one loss record. Um, there’s the social aspect, the culture of the team, and how the players are all getting along as a group.
As a unit. And then there’s the academic side to it as well. Cuz, you know, they’re, they’re getting outta here to get a good education and be, you know, employable. So, you know, we’re in a really good spot. We have a team GPA of 3.65. [00:09:00] Um, so the girls. and, and I won’t take any credit for that other than recruiting them here.
Um, they look after their, their studies. A lot of them work as tutors on campus. There are academic support, uh, and resources on campus. Um, but a lot of times our team will handle that amongst themselves cuz the, cuz there’s so many bright students amongst the players themselves. Um, but there are resources beyond that, uh, as well.
So yeah, from a, from an academic standpoint, the girls crushed it. We had a really successful year on the field. We played some really good soccer. and I think our culture is, is it’s awesome. The girls all get along. It’s, it’s been a fun group to work with, um, and looking forward to the next time we get together.
Matt: No, that’s great. Well, taking a step back to to when you were in season, can you give me just a, a walkthrough of what a typical week would look like in terms of, you know, when are players getting up, when are they eating their meals? When is class, when is practice? What does a road trip look like? That kind of stuff.
Coach: Sure. Um, Your basic, you know, you take classes between eight 30 in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon. So depending on your own individual schedule, that’s where that fits in. Um, we’re fortunate we have a lit stadium that we can use for practice, so, between field hockey and men’s soccer and women’s soccer who share it in the fall.
Um, there’s a four o’clock, six o’clock and 7:30 PM time slot for practices. So, you know, we work out in advance between the three sports, who’s gonna [00:10:30] take which slot which week. Um, we kind of match that up to our kickoff times too. Um, so, you know, you play at Wednesday at seven, you’re practicing at seven 30, Monday, Tuesday, something like that.
So players are in class all day. during the day, and then have one of those three time slots for practice on a Monday or a Tuesday. Generally play every Wednesday, training classes and training. Thursday, Friday, play again on Saturday and Sunday’s your off day. That’s, that’s basic. That’s the basic pattern.
Um, road trips are league, we’re fortunate that the Centennial Conference is, is relatively geographically close together. . Um, so our furthest trip is probably two hours and 45 minutes, but most of them are between an hour and 15 and an hour and 45 minutes. Um, so we take, you know, a, a motor coach with wifi and bathrooms and all that stuff.
When we travel, uh, we don’t have a huge roster, so everyone travels, everyone dresses, and for the most part, everyone gets game time as well. Um, and I’ll get to go back to the la I think that helps with the team culture as well. Everyone feels involved in it and, and vested in it. Um, so that’s kind of basically it from September 1st, when you have opening day through when your season ends, sometime in November, depending on playoffs and all that.
Matt: Okay. Well, you mentioned roster. Let’s talk a little bit more about that and the soccer side of things. Is, is there a roster size that you think is, is your ideal size that you try to target each year?
Coach: Yeah, absolutely. Um, [00:12:00] I, I think our sweet spot is 25, 26 maybe somewhere that we kind of self limit. I, you know, we’re fortunate our athletic department doesn’t put any kind.
Quota on us and you know, there’s, we have to carry X amount. Um, so I’ve kind of self-limited to at, at 28, although we’ve never had 28, 26 is the most we’ve carried this past year we only had 23. Um, so again, I think that helped the overall culture of the team, uh, because everyone. Involved in, in training and in and in matches.
Everyone was aware that their number could get called at any time. Um, so I think that helped the overall, uh, feel of the team. So yeah, we’re mid twenties is where is where we want to be. Okay.
Matt: And, and what about staff? Uh, what, what’s your kind of overall staff look like? What role does everybody play? How, how does that come?
Coach: Well, I have a, I have a full-time assistant, uh, Dean mcCal Akin, who was a player here on the men’s. And stayed and coached on the men’s side for a couple years and then switched over and, and has been my assistant for the last two years now. Um, so he’s full-time involved in everything we do, training sessions, game planning, recruiting, et cetera.
Um, I have. An assistant, a volunteer assistant who works at the college and played college soccer, et cetera, who comes out when she can and, and helps us out. Um, we’ve got two goalkeeper trainers. Um, [00:13:30] one male, one female, that one’s a, the male is a former player here, and, uh, the. The woman, uh, goalkeeper trainer is working in our, uh, athletic training.
I mean, uh, strength and conditioning staff. So when, when her schedule allows, she comes out and helps train our goalkeepers as well. Um, and then the final piece to the puzzle is, uh, my wife functions as a, uh, volunteer assistant in charge of all our social activities. So she gets the parents together for post-game tailgate parties.
So we tailgate after every. Home and away, and she’s involved in, in that kind of thing. So she’s more or less the team mom, , uh, which works out great. And, uh, so, and again, that, that was another piece of the puzzle. The parent, we had a great parent group. We had feasts after every game. Um, and that, it just makes it.
Makes it a much more enjoyable overall experience? I think so, yeah. My staff is crucial, so we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and we wouldn’t feel as good about things if it wasn’t for those people.
Matt: Oh,that’s fantastic. Yeah, that’s, you don’t, you don’t often get that much, uh, good staff and, and a full-time assistant at a T3 level, so that’s awesome.
Coach: Yeah, I’m lucky.
Matt: Yeah. Well, how, so how would you describe your style of coaching and kind of the team style of play?
Coach: Um, I’d like to think that, um, I can see the game through the player’s eyes. Um, you know, grew up, play, played my whole life. And, uh, so I I [00:15:00] empathy towards what they’re, what they’re going through and what situations they’re dealing with, you know, on the field and off the field obviously.
Um, and our style of play. We, we give a lot of freedom to the players. Actually, we don’t have a real rigid system. This year. We basically operated out of a 4 33, but. Those are just starting points and numbers, on paper. Um, the players are free to, to make decisions in game and go where they need to go to make plays offensively and defensively, so on either side of the ball.
Um, so we work a lot in training on decision making and things like that cuz we, we a again, there’s not strict and rigid assignments of who needs to run where and who needs to pass the ball, where, um, we have a basic framework and then the players are, are kind of free to express the. .
Matt: Okay. Well, we talked about your, your in season, uh, schedule.
Uh, now that it’s an off season, can you kind of walk me through, you know, real high level, just what, what are your players gonna be doing between now and when they start the fall season next year?
Coach: All right. Um, well, right now, because, you know, our season’s over and we’re beyond the. Weeks that we’re allowed to practice according to division three.
So there’s no official soccer activities going on. Um, so our girls, they get together and go out on the stadium and, and have [00:16:30] pickup games amongst themselves and whatnot when it’s just randomly comes together with their class schedules and whatnot. So there won’t be too much between now and, and when they go away for, for Christmas break.
So winter break lasts. December and they come back, I believe, January 23rd this year. I think that’s the Monday. Um, when they come back, they, they get together as a group with the strength and conditioning staff and they start, uh, doing strength and conditioning work, lifting and running, uh, Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
So, um, . So that’s kind of the plan from late January through February and into March. Uh, usually to the first week of March. Then there’s spring break and when the kids come back from spring break, that’s when our, our spring soccer season kicks in. Um, generally it’s a five week season cuz that’s the n c A rule.
Um, but my understanding is that there’s, uh, some legislation on the table for the January meetings about changing it. Um, . So we’ll see how that, if that happens right away, that’ll impact how we go about our spring. And if, if it’s something that’s for the future, then we’ll have our normal five week spring season, um, this year.
And then in the future, we’ll, however, the NCAA decides to go about it, we’ll, you know, fit our, our program in to what the, uh, regulations say we can do. Okay.
Matt: Well, I always kind of like to end these the same way and. , uh, what didn’t we [00:18:00] talk about? You know, we covered a lot of ground, but maybe there’s something you want to, uh, uh, talk a little bit more about, whether it’s school, soccer, recruiting, or the college, uh, process for, for student athletes.
Uh, in general. I just kind of leave you with the last word.
Coach: Oh, interesting. Um, I’d, I’d like to. people, I think have a, a general misunderstanding of the level of soccer at Division three and the level of commitment that our athletes, that our student athletes bring when, you know, when they enter into this kind of a, an institution.
Um, our girls are, are serious players. They come from big time clubs. You know, they’re, they’re vested in playing the game. They want to be better at it. They want it to be a lifetime sport for them. , and I think they’re amongst some people, parents probably more so than, than anybody else. Um, they don’t realize the level of play.
There’s some really good players and there’s some tremendous competition. I know our, our conference is Centennial. Um, A level plays excellent and every game’s a battle. And it’s, you know, it’s a true soccer experience. Um, so, and I, I think some people are a little misguided in how they view that. Um, so I guess that’s where I’ll leave that.
Ah, couldn’t agree
Matt: more as a, as a former Division II player. So, uh, well, coach, I really appreciate the time and, and you’ve given us some insights into Washington College. Wish you the best of luck as, as you. Clean up that 23 recruiting class and get ready [00:19:30] for next year. And if you, uh, if you’re anywhere near the College Coach Convention in Philly in a few weeks, uh, swing by and say hello.
I’ll, I’ll be at our podcast booth there at the
Coach: convention. Yeah, definitely. We’ll be my assistant and I, uh, we’ll be at the convention, so. Awesome. We’ll, uh, we, we’ll run to you, but appreciate Yeah. Having us on and, uh, letting us talk about Washington College. Yeah. Appreciate you coach. All right. Have a great one.
All right. Have a great day.
Bye.
