West Liberty University Women’s Soccer – Coach Pete McMenemy
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Pete from the West Liberty Women’s Program in West Virginia. We talk about his recruiting mix that includes some internationals. He describes the true college town feel that is the heart of the community. Lastly, we discuss his focus on an attacking style of play. Learn more about West Liberty University Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Pete from West Liberty. Welcome Coach.
Coach: Thanks very much for having me, Matt. Appreciate it.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. Um, I, I know you’ve, you’ve just recently gotten the, the, the crown, the head coaching role. Uh, I know you’re on staff last year, but, but you’ve moved into the, the, the big seat, so you’ll, it’ll be your job probably.
Well, it’s tough getting the job in May. I, I was in that boat. I think I got, My coaching job officially started in July, so it was a terrible, uh, time for recruiting. So let’s start talking about recruiting. I mean, I’m guessing because you’re on staff already, you, you’ve been involved in the recruiting process for this year.
Uh, how did that go?
Coach: Yeah, it went pretty well. Um, obviously it’s sometimes a little bit of a challenge when, um, players don’t know, um, who the coach is gonna be. Um, but thankfully we, you know, we managed to get, um, Some good players in, um, ahead of fall and, um, we’ve added couple transfer players as well. Um, One came actually in the spring season, so she was with us during the spring season.
Um, and then we’ve added one this summer. So, um, again, just how the, the Women’s College soccer game works. You’re already starting on 2024, so I have a lot of those players have already started committing play places. We had the first fail ball last, uh, uh, last week for 24. So, um, it’s [00:01:30] more about now just building forward for that 2024 class.
Matt: Okay, well as you start, and, and I guess we’ll talk more in future tense here as, as you start to look at 20 fours and even 20 fives, when that June 15th date hits. Mm-hmm. What kind of, what is your focus in terms of, are there events that, that you wanna make sure you get to each year? Do you have a, a specific opinion on, uh, leagues?
I know some people get caught up in E C N L versus GA versus all the other leagues. Kind of what’s your, your overview of that, kind of part of the recruiting process?
Coach: Yeah, I think, I think ultimately we want to try and create the, you know, Get the best players possible, the best players available. Um, what, which league that comes from, I, I don’t think is, is all that important.
Um, you know, perhaps sometimes the level of competition at a certain level, um, might place those players in, in more direct competition with each other on a regular basis, but, Um, I definitely think there’s, there’s, there’s good, um, there’s good players at every level, so I think it’s important that you’re able to explore those levels.
Um, I think for us, just being out and being seen, um, and getting out there and, and seeing as much games and as many tournaments as possible, um, and just getting, getting our name out there, getting West Liberty University out there, um, and kinda advocating for, for what our program and what our school can, can give to players.
Matt: So with [00:03:00] you being kind of in that, I guess we’ll call it mid-Atlantic, not quite Midwest there. Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, are there events that you wanna make sure that you get to, uh, no matter what to, to see players at?
Coach: Yeah, I mean obviously there’s, there’s a few big ones relatively close to here. Um, you know, there’s a, there’s a lot of, um, A lot of teams go to the, the Blue Chip showcase in in Cincinnati.
Um, we’ve been to that one in the past. I was actually at Crossroads, um, out in uh, Indiana. A few weeks ago, again, it’s a little bit further for us, but, um, a lot of teams from in and around our region club, club teams. Um, so I, I was certainly impressed with the level there, so that, that’ll be somewhere I think, no doubt, we’ll be looking to return to.
Um, and there’s of course, you know, there’s ones, um, during the fall, like the Bethesda Cop out in Maryland is, is is a big tournament. Um, and, and relatively close to where we are too. So I think those three would probably be some of the main ones. And then, you know, there’s, there’s always, there’s always ones that pop up every weekend that, um, seem to be ones that, uh, in, around our area, which we can go in, uh, of, of high quality as well.
Matt: Okay. Well I know it’s obviously a little late in terms of timing and with your just coming on as coach, but do you plan on doing any ID camps or you, or any of your staff working camps? Does that be become a part of your recruiting process at all?
Coach: ID [00:04:30] camps typically haven’t really been part of, of our recruiting, um, process.
Um, I think the main reason for that, Matt, Would be just because at the D two level, you, you are able to invite players, um, and to train with you. Um, I always think that’s a better idea of where they’re gonna fit into your system and, and how they’re gonna fit how you play. Um, um, I think that’s one of the big advantages sometimes that D two has the ability that you able with good.
We might see a great player or you know, playing with their club team, but if they come training, they’re maybe just not quite the right fit or they don’t fit the ST style or play or how, how you want to do things that then you can get a bit of insight. Um, I think that’s tough as well from an ID camp perspective.
Majority of the time, there’s no guarantee, you know, if those happen in the summer, how available are your current players gonna be to be able to interact with, with those players? So, um, typically not, not a lot on the ID camps. It might be something that we to do. Uh, as we progress. Um, but certainly in the current stage, I think we’re just going to continue with the model, um, of getting players on, on, on campus to, to visit campus and then also train with the team.
Matt: Okay. Well, earlier you, you mentioned transfers, but besides transfers, Obviously I don’t, I don’t, I don’t hear that West Virginia accent, uh, [00:06:00] on you at all. But, uh, it looks like on your roster you got a handful of international players, so how do, how do, how does international recruiting and, and the transfer portal kind of work into your overall recruiting mix?
Coach: Yeah, so I think in terms of international recruitment, um, We’ve been kinda able to amass a, a list of contacts throughout the globe and, um, you know, you get numerous emails a day for, for players looking to come out to America. I think definitely for the vast majority of players in these other countries, their goal is to come with the states and, and play college soccer.
Um, so I think, um, the amount that you’re exposed to is, is, is, is, is very good. Um, and we’re just trying to maybe go and, and shop in at different markets where we maybe haven’t been before, um, and, and, and try and pull, um, some gems out out of nowhere. So, um, I, I think, you know, it’s an important, I think to, to broaden, broaden the kinda your scale of, of your recruitment gives you APO to pick from.
So, That’s certainly what we’re looking to do with, with internationals in the future. Um, in terms of the transfer, the transfer portal, I mean, um, it’s a crazy world, uh, to say the least. Um, you know, I think there was some crazy status seen going around about the amount of players that went in and [00:07:30] a certain amount of time.
Um, but it was, it was a lot. Um, I think when you, when we go into the transfer portal, it’s. Picking the right pieces. Um, and again, what I think the, the advantage is of like a transfer portal, um, is it maybe gives you an opportunity to, to get some players, um, into your program, um, that do bring a little bit of experience, um, and send that we as a program, especially last year, um, we had a lot of, of younger players that, that played a lot of minutes.
Um, which was great and the, and the field deserved it, but I think sometimes in certain games we maybe lacked a little bit of know-how when we got down the stretch in some games, um, and in certain key moments. So I think if you can bring in a transfer that’s experienced it, you know, maybe they’re a grad transfer or they have a couple years college experience under the belt, I think that’s always beneficial.
Matt: Oh, that makes sense. Well, After, after all of that that, that we’ve talked about. What of any of those things, whether it’s you’re at a recruiting event or a high school game or anything, what are the hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player that makes you wanna make that offer to play at West Liberty?
Coach: I think, I think obviously technical ability. Um, you want to see that they’re, you know, um, in terms of their, their, their passing and their, their control. Um, You know, they’re dribbling all the basics of the game you’re looking for, for [00:09:00] that, that to be at a, at a strong level, um, tactically, you know, how are they, do they just rely purely on physical, you know, strengths such as maybe speed or, or, or strength, or are they, you know, cleverer, um, and trying to outthink their opponent?
Um, you know, I think about maybe a center black. Do they just rely on. Being able to out muscle over everybody and, and be physically stronger, or are they clever enough to, to drop off five yards when the striker looks to run behind and cut off, cut off some space for them. So, um, I think technically you’re looking for the technical ability, the tactical ability, um, And again, you’re looking for somebody that’s gonna be confident, um, and confident in their own abilities and, and, and willing to go, um, show themselves in a proper way.
You know, that term showcase is thrown around a lot and, and tournaments and events, but I think sometimes, sometimes maybe the players are a little bit, uh, scared almost to show themselves and be different. Um, but I do think, I do think. Um, that’s what I’m looking for. Some days want to be brave and get on the ball and make things happen, um, for the team.
Um, and again, I think as long as we can combine that both with, you know, the academic side of things, of course is very important. Um, if we can get both sides, it is an added bonus for us. Okay.
Matt: Well, let’s shift gears a little bit, talk, uh, more about the school itself. I’m sure [00:10:30] there’s folks out there who, who aren’t familiar with West Liberty in West Virginia.
Mm-hmm. I grew up in Ohio driving I 70, uh, many times. So, so I know it’s relative location, but you know, you’ve been there now a little bit. So can you tell me what are some of the, the things you found about the school that you really enjoy, that you think are awesome? Some of the things maybe we wouldn’t know just by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah. Well, I think, I think it’s just the, you know, the. We’re almost like our own little community up here. Um, you know, the college, it’s just really small town, but the college really is the town. Um, and I think we are really at the heart of this, this community. Um, and I think we play a h a huge role, um, in how the community operates in, in, um, the students, staff, faculty, coaches, everybody included.
Um, we all know each other. We all work together. There’s a lot of cooperation. Which sometimes, you know, don’t always see at, at every college. So I think that’s, that’s, that’s one of the real benefits that I’ve seen is that real sense of community.
Matt: No, that’s terrific. Well, you know, for a lot of inbound student athletes, Making the adjustments of, of being a college athlete and making sure you get your school studies taken care of can be difficult.
So how do your student athletes really balance the rigors of, of their academics and their sport? And what kind of support systems does the school offer to help that?
Coach: So we have various, um, tutoring services, um, on campus. We are, um, for various [00:12:00] subjects that the. Um, the students are able to use, we actually have one or two girls that are involved being tutors themselves.
So I think that’s a, that’s a, um, a real bonus, um, to have people that are already in that kinda system and know how it operates and are able to communicate that with, with incoming players. Um, I think as well, one of, one of the big things that we have, we, we have, um, on campus counseling, so if there are any issues, um, No matter how serious, no matter how small they might be perceived to be, um, they’re able to get that, um, counseling on a regular basis for a variety of issues.
Um, there’s also, um, opportunities to use our Arts and Education center, um, which I think is a fantastic resource that we have here on campus. Um, it’s basically a kinda one stop shop for anything with regards to, um, education and being creative. So it doesn’t, it’s open to anybody regardless of staff, faculty, or student, regardless of their major.
And they’re able to go there and use a lot of, um, materials to make different things. So for example, if a business student perhaps had a business proposal that they wanted to make on a, you know, a poster board or a piece of card, they’re able to go do that and use all those materials free a charge, which of course, in, in a college campus sometimes isn’t always available.
Um, but they have everything there, [00:13:30] um, regardless of a major. So I think there’s a lot of. Um, support systems here, and obviously you have the support systems, um, within the team, you know, from, in terms of the, the other players and coaches and staff and everybody else that, that works, um, around the university.
So I think we have a lot of, a lot of options when it comes to support.
Matt: No, that’s great. Well, let’s fast forward a few months from now and, and, you know, it’s, it’s middle of season, you’re rocking and rolling. Can you walk me through what a typical week. Might look like in terms of when is class winter meals, when is practice?
Kinda what’s the game cadence look like? What, what would a student athlete expect in their season at West Liberty?
Coach: Right. So our, um, our class schedule typically matters between around nine in the morning till around about 3, 3 30. That’s when the typical classes run. Um, now depending on your schedule, you might have one or two evening classes, um, and selective, uh, kinda majors.
Um, Our games typically in the fall are Wednesday and Sunday, so that’s typically how they, how they fall. And obviously we are mandated to give them one day off a week. Typically, we do that as a Thursday. And the reason being for that is that gives us Monday, Tuesday to prepare for the Wednesday game. And it also gives us Friday, Saturday to prep for the Sunday game.
Um, Monday typically will be a, a, a recovery session because you’ve played just on the, on the, on the [00:15:00] Sunday. Um, Tuesday is a game prep session, um, ahead of the Wednesday game. Thursday, obviously you have your day off. Friday is probably the only day of the week where you can do somewhat of a. More intense session.
Um, so that’ll probably be in terms of intensity of, of, of training, that’ll probably be a harder session of the week, just because you’ve had that day off on the Thursday. Um, and then Saturday’s another in prep session ahead of the Sunday. So, um, really in terms of high intensity training, um, you know, for, for 90 minutes or, or beyond, that’s typically Friday’s.
Your Friday’s gonna be your toughest day. Cause you know, every day you’re just. It comes thick and fast as you, as you well know, so you don’t really have time. That’s one of the good things I really enjoy about college soccer is you don’t have time to dwell on the previous result. You need to refocus and re-energize and be ready for the next one.
Matt: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Well, Well’s, talk a little bit more, uh, on the soccer side and I guess is mm-hmm. Could have gone back to recruiting, but is, is there a roster size that you find is ideal that you would like to hit each year?
Coach: So typically we sit around about 31, 32 players. Um, and usually we have around four goalkeepers on, on, on the team.
Um, so it gives us around about 28, 28 field players. We always like to have enough, uh, players so that if we wanted to do a 11 V 11 in training, we can. [00:16:30] Whether that be just a straight up 11 V 11 game or maybe we’re working on, um, some shaping exercises, et cetera. But, um, I think, I think that’s a good size.
Um, ultimately you want to make it as competitive as possible, so, um, you know, having, I’ve worked at other places where we’ve had, you know, 50, 60 players on our roster, and I think that’s, that’s tough because it becomes really hard to manage everybody. Um, I think the, one of the goals is as a head coach of is trying to keep everybody happy and I think, uh, um, you know, around about the number.
We, we get a good balance between trying to. Keep everyone happy. But then also having that level of competition and squad depth, which of course is big, especially with how short the season is. If you can, if you pick up a few injuries, you know that 30 can become close to 20 pretty quickly. So, um, I think that’s, that’s probably ideal for us.
Okay.
Matt: Well, it’s probably a bit early of a question to ask, but, uh, Staff, obviously you were on the staff earlier, but now you’re the head coach, so can you just give us quick overview of what you foresee the staff to look like, uh, for the fall season?
Coach: Yeah, sure. Well, well in the. In the beginnings of, of finding a, a new assistant coach for the program.
Um, and, and we’re looking to, to get that word out to, to people. Um, and we’re looking to fill that position obviously before the preseason. Um, so before August. [00:18:00] Ideally we’d have some in place. Um, and yeah, so just looking to, to continue that, um, and bring an assistant coach who kinda fits arm is gonna be a good fit for the program.
Um, who’s hungry, who’s wanting. Um, succeed in somebody who has a, the same or similar philosophy as, as what I have on the game. Um, so yeah, looking to bring, bring another person in soon and, um, I’m looking forward to going through that whole process now. On the other side of things, having been through it, applied for different positions, so, um, it’ll be interesting and I’m excited for the process to start up.
Okay.
Matt: Well, in terms of. Um, your style of coaching and the style of play that you kind of expect to, to put into place, what does that look like? What could, could players expect from that?
Coach: Um, I think an attacking approach. Um, you know, I think your style of players are coaches. You take little bits of your experience as a player and you try and moffit in into what you kinda think.
And any team that I’ve ever played on since I was nine years old, all the way up to, you know, college has always been a team that wanting to pass the ball, uh, and, you know, play through the thirds or whatever you you want to call it. Um, but ultimately a team that want, wants to attack and wants to try and win every game that they’re in.
Um, [00:19:30] I think the way that you do that is how you train. So it has to be a style of play that’s implementing and training and in order to, to put that in a practice, in a game, um, and I think you’ve gotta be on the front foot. So, um, kinda relentless in your approach. Um, you know, looking to, to almost overwhelm the put you know, the opposition and, and create opportunities and score goals.
Um, that’s, that’s kind how you. How you win games. Um, and then obviously on the defensive side of the game, can you make it as difficult for opposition as possible? Um, how quickly can you transition from attack to defense and how difficult are you to be broken down? Um, but certainly we want to try attack teams.
We want to try to have a goal. Um, no matter if we’re home and away, whoever we play, um, we want to try, uh, have a go and win the game. All right.
Matt: Well, I know it’s, I’m sure students are probably off campus by now, but, uh, yeah. Can you give me just a quick overview of what that off season looks like, if, you know the, the non-playing season, the spring, what, what players are doing, what that looks like?
Coach: Yeah, sure. Um, as of right now, you know, the, the, the players are resting up. Um, some are, some we have, we have a handful of players that they might be overseas playing, um, over the summer, or we have one or two girls. Um, involved in, um, the summer league programs here in the us. So, um, you know, they’re, they’re [00:21:00] continuing to play right now.
Um, as for the vast majority of our team, um, they’re just resting up and recovering right now. Um, spring season can, can be kinda long and repetitive, especially during that initial period when you’re, when you’ve got a lot of restrictions. So, um, I kinda made it clear to them. Once school finishes, take, you know, take a few weeks, recover, reset, um, physically and mentally, and then, and then we’ll get ready to go.
Um, actually next week, so the first week of June is when, um, they begin their kind of off season conditioning packets and, and working through that, um, stuff ahead of, ahead of the, uh, the fall season. So, um, you know, they’ll just continue working through that and, you know, we’ll see them. Uh, Sunday, August 13th.
Sooner rather than later probably. Cuz I know how quick, uh, things go by. So it’ll be, and it’ll be here before you know it.
Matt: Absolutely. Yeah. The summer’s flying. My kids’ last day of school is Friday and I don’t even, like, I can’t even believe it, but uh Right. Anyway, um, well we, we’ve, we’ve talked about a lot of things, but I like to end these kind of in the same way, which is what.
If you could give one piece of advice for players, parents, anybody in this process, what would be the one thing you would wanna make sure that they know, that they think about, that they consider when it comes to, to college soccer?
Coach: So I think the biggest thing is it’s one, you know, just shop around. [00:22:30] Um, I think do your research, do your due diligence on the, on the schools that you’re looking at.
You know, do they have the right major that I’m looking for? Um, can I see myself featuring, is there opportunities to play? Um, is there, you know, do they play the type of soccer that, that, that I have the, the characteristics for? Um, you know, a lot, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of questions. Um, but I think shop around, just do your research and, and find a good fit for you.
Um, because ultimately it’s somewhere where you want to spend. Certainly the, the, the next four years of your life. So it has to be something that, um, that you’re gonna commit to and, um, and see yourself being there for four years. So, um, again, shop around all different levels, do your research. You know, there’s, there’s, there’s, there’s options for everybody.
So I think it’s, it’s really important if you, if, if you do your research, then you’ll find, you’ll no doubt, find a, a good option for yourself. Well, I couldn’t
Matt: agree more, coach, and uh, hopefully you’re doing, folks are doing some of that research, listening to these types of interviews. Yeah. To find out schools that they didn’t know existed or to, to make those matches.
So, really appreciate you giving us your time. So, so that people can hear from you and find out about West Liberty and wish you the best of luck for your first, uh, season at the helm in the fall. And if you get down to Bradenton for any of the recruiting events down here, make sure you gimme a call. All right?
Coach: All right. Thanks Matt. I [00:24:00] appreciate, thank you. Yeah, thank you.
