Western Carolina University Women’s Soccer – Coach Andrew Green
In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Green from the Western Carolina Women’s Program in Cullowhee. We talk about navigating questions around roster limits and transfers. Coach also shares about the various support systems the school has to help with school and beyond. Plus, we discuss what advice he has for kids going through the recruiting process. Learn more about Western Carolina University Women’s Soccer
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer, and today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Andrew Green at Western Carolina. Welcome coach.
Coach: I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, man.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. I, I was just telling you, I’ve got a, a soft spot for Western Carolina since my, uh, my wife’s cousin played there, but, well, you’re your first year, uh, there, I think, and well, in your first stint, right?
So you’re on stint number two, so you got some good, uh, some good insights for us here. I bet.
Coach: Yeah. Yeah. I’m, uh, I’m excited. So I gotta start coaching here, right outta college as a volunteer. Um, left, got into the full-time side of things and then was able to come back here this year. And, uh, I love this place.
It’s, it’s awesome.
Matt: Oh, good. Good to hear. Well, we’re talking here kind of end of May, that everybody’s gone for the summer. You, you’re in that, uh, you know, quiet but probably busy period of getting everything locked and loaded and, and I know with, uh. With all [00:01:00] the still floating roster change limitation who, who, who knows what’s going on right now?
Um, what, what’s it like for you guys in terms of, I mean, I’m assuming you’re, you’re set for the fall, right?
Coach: Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, it, with the transfer portal, just closing, things like that. We’ve had a couple, uh, transfers on campus. We’re not a big transfer portal recruiting. Um, we kind of use it as a. A way to fill needs at the end of the spring.
Like if we realize like, hey, we’re, we’re shortening this spot, or things like that. Like that’s kind of how we use it. But yeah, you know, general recruiting, we’re, we’re done for the fall. Um, you know, for us it’s mainly getting as much of the 26 class done as we can. Um, we’ve got four players committed right now and looking to wrap that class up and then.
And the D one world, as crazy as it is, June 15th rolls around and you’re, you’re recruiting juniors to, to start that [00:02:00] process. So, um, yeah. It’s, it’s definitely a slower time, but like it’s, recruiting never stops, I guess. Yeah,
Matt: absolutely. Well, what, when do you think you’re, you, you’ll say, okay, we’re, for the most part done with 20 sixes, but at the same time, how.
With all this craziness of the roster limits and transfer portal stuff, how, how do you go about deciding what the size of that class target is? Yeah. You know, obviously, like you said, you’re backfilling maybe with transfer portal at the very end of the spring because some things changed, but, but how do you go about that decision making process?
Coach: Yeah, this, this one’s definitely been a, a, a weird process, so to say, um, with this whole. Impending lawsuit. Does roster limits happen? Does it not? Does you know, I, I think for us, we’ve always wanted to be no bigger than 32, and that’s with having three to four goalkeepers. So we never really want to [00:03:00] be a roster larger than that.
’cause we value the experience of each player. I think once you start to go in that direction, you know, you’re starting to have 10 to 12 players sitting out at training when you’re playing elevens, which is wild. Um. Yeah, I, I think for us, like, you know, we, we kind of just have gone business as usual with what we’re doing.
Um, you know, our, our 26 class will try and wrap up by the end of the summer, mid, mid-fall. Um, you know, we, we’ve known for a while. It’s gonna be a smaller class for us because. Um, we’re graduating eight players. Um, and as you kind of see in recruiting the natural flow of if you graduate eight, you try and replace with eight type of thing.
Um, so I, I think for us, like we’re never a, a team or a program that kind of says like, I want to be done by June 1st with the 20 sixes, so we can focus all that. Like, I feel like once you do that, [00:04:00] so many good players. Come along in the process, especially in the last two years where you’ve seen, you know, with the impending roster lines, oh, I’m, I’m opening up my recruitment, you know, my roster spot has been taken away and at that point you don’t wanna close doors on things.
So, you know, for us, it, it is definitely a weird, weird timeline for things. But I think for us, we’re always recruiting. Um, you know, we’re always looking for players that can make our program better and we don’t want to turn away players that can do that. Um, so. Yeah, that’s kind of a long-winded answer, but I, I think for us, like with everything that’s going on and all that, like we’re just gonna continue to, to do what we’re doing and try and find players that just keep pushing us forward and hopefully compete in this for the SoCon for a while.
Matt: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Oh, I mean, you guys had a great, a great season this past fall, so, so it must be working right. So, um, well, with all that being said, where is it that. You guys like to spend a majority of your [00:05:00] time focused on in terms of what tournaments, leagues, et cetera, where are you going to find players?
Coach: Yeah, so, um, between us, we, we, we’ve kind of had a, a very unique approach to it. Um, you know, with just two of us being full-time on staff and having a volunteer, and then we’re grad adding a graduate assistant this year. Um. It’s kind of figuring out where we can best use our resources. So between ECNL, ga, rl, um, you know, the two of us have spent some time in Canada going up to their showcases.
Um. Jeff Cup. Um, we went to the NCFC showcase this year. Um, we try and hit as many regional events as we can. Um, where we’re at in ey, there’s not any CNL club very close to us. Um, you know, you’re talking to two three hour drive to go watch games. Um, [00:06:00] so for us, wherever we can go spend our resources, great.
You know, for me, I like going out and working camps. Um, whether it’s other schools or third parties, um, just because it gives us another avenue to go find players. Um, you know, I, I’ve always had the, uh, the no stone unturned mentality. Like I, I want to be where we can. ’cause I feel like there’s always good players at different places.
Um, there’s really no, no perfect scenario for it. ’cause some of the best players that I’ve ever recruited weren’t DCNL, weren’t ga, were at a. Very small tournament and you name it. So, um, or going to watch a, a random club game. So, um, so I think for us, like obviously you want to hit the ECNL, the GA’s, where you’re gonna think the top end players are gonna be, but um, you know, for us we just want to go where we can find the best players.
Matt: Well, having said all that, whether it’s camps or, or a tournament, like [00:07:00] what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on the field and off.
Coach: Yeah, I, I think for us in our, we always joke about our playing style and things like that, but we’re a very blue collar team. Um, so work rate is a very big thing that we look for.
Um, you know, on the ball, off the ball, are you pressing well? Are you moving off the ball well? Um. You know, and, and then obviously like most coaches, we’re looking for the little things off the field. Like when you come off the field, are you sitting there pouting? Are you, you know, engaged in the coaching moments?
Are you engaged in the game? You know, I, I think one of the things that I always talk about with our team is what’s made our team so special is that as our players come off the field and we make subs. They’re not sitting down, relaxing, not paying attention. They’re standing up cheering on their team. So that’s something that we’ve kind of looked for.
Um, obviously, you know, the tactical, the technical, um, those aspects of, of players are what we look for. But I think I. [00:08:00] You know, we look for those little minor details, and then as they come on campus for visits, um, you know, it’s not us that are kind of grilling them, it’s our team that’s grilling them and how do they fit into our group.
So, um, yeah. I, I think just like most programs, that’s what we, we look for the best soccer players that fit our system. But I think the little things of, you know, how are you working off the ball and how are you when you come off the field are two very big things that we look for. Okay. Well,
Matt: one thing that I think kids always ask me, ’cause I I do the college recruiting for our club, uh, here down in Florida as well, but the idea of official visits right.
And, and having, you know, the school pay for you to come out and, and how many kids are coming in on official visits out of a recruiting class for you guys? Is it common, not common? Is it after they’ve signed, like, what, what does that look like for, for you guys specifically?
Coach: Yeah, it’s, uh. It’s, it’s not [00:09:00] super common, let’s put it that way.
Um, you know, it, it’s maybe less than five. Um, I would say, you know, because you’re looking at, um, especially at the mid-major level, when you look at trying to use your resources wisely. Um, you know, I, I think for us, that’s why we value our camp so much because we get players. We like to do visits the day before.
You know, come visit the day before and we’ll get you on in for camp and you can work with us, you can be with our team. Um, but yeah, you know, we do a, a couple official visits here and there. It really depends on, you know, the year of what our budgets look like and you know, how. I guess how the recruiting battle is looking, you know, what, how bad do we need this player?
What schools are we fighting type of thing. Um, you know, obviously as a mid-major, if you’re, if you’re wanting to get into the conversation with kids who are gonna be in the P four, you’re gonna have to, gonna have to show a little bit more love than what you would normally do. [00:10:00] Um, but you know, I, I think for us.
We kind of, I, I think we’re very fortunate too in the way that where we’re set up and the way that we recruit, that most kids that we recruit are anywhere from five to seven hours away. So it’s more of a day trip than anything. Um, you know, especially as we look in North Carolina, I mean, we can get from where we are to Raleigh in five hours, um, and cover all that space in between.
And as you start to look at bigger cities. Alanis three hours away, Charlotte’s three hours away. Um, Knoxville, Tennessee’s two hours away and as you start to go, things like that. So, um, it’s not as common. I wouldn’t say that every big time recruit that we bring in is not an official visit. Um, I would say in a normal cycle you’re looking at anywhere less than five.
Um, so yeah, I think obviously that differs at school to school and what your budgets look like and how you’re allowed to bring in players and. I think if we were in [00:11:00] Atlanta, it might be a different story where every single air, where every single flight. Flight. Yeah. Uh, so
Matt: yeah. Oh, I, I completely agree.
And, and I think that’s what, it’s a big misconception, you know, a around is, is how I. Easily and widely available. They are. And of course it does make a difference whether you’re, when you’re located, where you guys are versus, you know, Atlanta or, or even Charlotte, uh, which is just, you know, that much easier.
So. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Obviously we mentioned the location, but it was a special enough place for you to, to come back to kind of what are some things about the school that you enjoy the most? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even, uh, know by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, I, I think for me, one of the biggest things I, I talk about Western is if you’re an outdoors person, you’re absolutely gonna love this.
Um, situated right in the mountains, you know, a small, a big enough, but not small campus. That’s, you know, 14 thou, a little less than 13,000 on campus. Um. [00:12:00] But, you know, I, I think one of the things that I always talk about is I’m a big small town person. I’ve never really grown up in a city before. Um, so I love the community that’s around us.
Everybody knows everybody, um, which is good and bad at times. But, you know, I, I, I think, I think when you have that mentality, you have a community that looks out for you. Um, you know, I, I think when. I came back here. Um, you know, I think our program was just poised to compete at a high level in the SoCon, um, which really made it really enticing to come back, obviously.
Um, but I, I think when you look at the school, you know, there’s so many different programs and so many different things for a school of only 13,000 students that, um. You know, you don’t get, you get, I always tell recruits, you get the big feeling of this school, but as you walk around, you know, it doesn’t really feel that big.
Um, you know, you get football Saturdays, you get basketball games, you get the things that you would [00:13:00] get at schools. Um, I. But you know, it, it doesn’t feel like when I go into a classroom, I’m one of 150 people. Um, so I, I think for us, and then obviously I, like I said, the outdoors, if you’re someone who likes hiking, mountain biking, being on lakes, you know, all that stuff is within 30 minutes of our campus, which, um, I like being outside and I like being outdoors and that’s one big thing that really en entices people.
I.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, one of the hardest things about, you know, becoming a college, uh, athlete is balancing the demands of, of the sport and school, especially at a high academic level and, and, and a division one soccer level. Right. So what, what support systems are there in place the school to help make sure that, that your players are successful on, on both sides of that?
Coach: Yeah, so we have our academic success team who really. Um, works with our group. Um, we have a, an advisor, um, who works specifically with our [00:14:00] team who handles scheduling, handles, um, grade reports. I think our, our athletes meet with her once every two or three weeks to go over current grades. Um, some of our at-risk, uh, players meet with her even more.
Um, us as coaches, we get quarterly reports, so four times a semester we’re getting updates on you. Um, but as those things start to evolve and as you start to get, um, more into, I. Your career as, um, your academic career. Um, they help with resume writing, um, help with finding, uh, internships, help with mock interviews, help with things like that.
So there is a huge department, our academic success team, um, does a great job with that. And they kind of work with us on the road. They work with us at home, they work with our scheduling. Since we have, um. We have girls who do some of the toughest degrees on campus. We have girls who are nursing, we have girls who are [00:15:00] in pre-med, we have engineers.
Um, so there’s a lot that goes into that, obviously. And those are pretty demanding. Um. Course loads. So those, um, those folks in our academic success team make sure that, you know, they help us with scheduling training sessions. So we give them what we want to do with our training sessions. They help them schedule their classes.
Um, when we’re on the road, they’re always available for, for tutoring, you know, all that stuff like that. We’re pretty fortunate with our travel that, um. Unless we choose to go out of region, um, we have the A-C-C-S-C-C, lower end of the Big 10 near us, Sunbelt. So for all of us travel wise is it’s, um, we’re pretty fortunate that we’re not, you know, getting into an airport Wednesday and uh, getting back, you know, Monday at 4:00 AM type of thing.
So, um, there is a lot that kind of helps you academically, especially when you don’t have that type of travel [00:16:00] load on it.
Matt: Yeah, for sure.
Coach: Well, let’s
Matt: fast forward to the fall. Say we’re in the heart of that conference season, get, walk me through what does a typical week look like for a player, meals, practices, games, classes, the whole nine.
Coach: Yeah. So this past fall, um, we’re pre, so in the SoCon we play Thursday, um, Thursday, Sunday. So Mondays is always our day off. Um, so. We will kind of, they’ll kind of do their recovery with our athletic trainer. Um, we tell our girls that if you have, you know, cl um, labs and classes that needs to be a little longer, schedule ’em on Mondays.
Um, ’cause that’s always our day off no matter what. Um, Tuesday for us is normally an activation lift in the morning. Um, so our girls will lift from seven to 8:00 AM. Um, very light, very more maintenance mode and season type of thing. Um, they will have their classes, um, from, [00:17:00] you know, eight 30 till we give them eight 30 to, to three o’clock to figure out classes.
Um, so whatever figures out in your schedule during that. Uh, four, usually 4:00 PM is our training time. We’ll usually go from four to five 30 or four to six depending on what we need to do. Um, there’s really not too many times where we’re ever going over two hours ’cause that’s. Just wild in the season, especially with loads.
Um, Wednesday is always a pre-game session, so for us, or it’s a travel day. Um, and for us we’re, like I said, we’re pretty fortunate with our travel that most of our. Most of our travel, unless we choose to go out of region, we can get a very good game within five hours of campus. So we’re normally on a bus, um, you know, either going to a hotel or doing a pregame session at home, usually doing our pregame scout.
Um, Thursday is normally a game day, so home or away. Um, and then Friday if we’re. If we’re back home normally, unless we’re traveling, like I said, um, we do [00:18:00] a recovery lift with our, uh, with our, um, strength coach. So he will put all the players that didn’t play through a little bit more of a rigorous one, but our players who got high minutes or getting minutes are kind of doing recovery stuff with him.
And same with our training. Um, we’ll do something very light with our, um, high minute players and then our players who didn’t get tons of minutes, we will go through a training session just to keep their their fitness up. Um, Saturday again is another pre-game session, very light, um, set pieces, tactics, all that good stuff.
And then Sunday’s a game. So, um, and that kind of goes on from August, mid-August through, you’re hoping, through mid-November. So, um, yeah, for us it’s the last couple years we’ve been fortunate, it’s through, been through mid-November. So, um, yeah, that’s kind of how, normally how it goes. It’s a grind. Um, if you love it.
You love every second of it. If you’re kind of bought [00:19:00] in, if you’re a little not bought in, it can get old really quick is what I always sell. Tell recruits.
Matt: Very true. Um, well let, let’s talk about the, the, the team. Obviously you’re, uh, the assistant coach kind of talks. Who else fills out that roster of, of coaching staff and other people who out who help out with the team?
Coach: Yeah, so, um, right now obviously our head coach, um, Chad. Um, and then myself, um, we do, we have a volunteer assistant, Michael, who works with our goalkeepers. Um, we are adding a graduate assistant this year. Um, that’s gonna be something new, so we’re trying to figure out that role right now. Um, we have a student manager who oversees a lot of the operation sides of things.
Um, assist with our travel, assist with meals, helps. Game day setups, things like that. Um, we have a full-time athletic trainer who works with us, year round strength coach, um, [00:20:00] our academic advisor, Rihanna. Um, she’s great. Um, that’s basically the biggest people that you’ll see. We have a few other support staff that are around every while in our admin, but um, yeah, you know, as a coaching staff.
I think for me as the assistant coach, um, a lot of my plate is the recruiting side of things and the, the game day preparations and the training side of things. Um, that’s why I’ve always loved being an assistant coach so far. ’cause I think it, it kind of combines all the stuff that I really like when, when coaching, um, you know, and then.
We all kind of play our part in recruiting. Like I said, Chad and I, and then Michael, our volunteer goes recruiting at times with us and um, you know, I think we all kind of bounce off well off each other and we kind of work on different things. So it’s not really just, Hey Andrew, you’re responsible for this.
It’s kind of like, Hey, you’re in charge, but we’re all gonna work together, type of thing.
Matt: Okay, I like that. [00:21:00] Um, well, how would you describe kind of. The team style of play that you’re looking to play there and, and how you’re going about that?
Coach: Yeah. You know, I, I always talk about, um, our team being a, a very blue collar, hardworking team.
You know, when we have the ball, we want to be in possession, we want to keep it. Um, but I always tell recruits, you know, we’re not vintage Barcelona where we’re gonna knock the ball 95 times before we go to gold type of thing. Um, you know, we talk a lot about our team is very athletic and we’re very good in transition.
So when we don’t have the ball, can we get a good defensive shape behind us? Can we either in the moment, are we pressing, are we playing a little deeper? And then can. Catching teams in transition. Um, so I think for us, and when I talk about transition, you know, it’s not about win it, play it long, someone run onto it.
I think for us it’s can we win it? Play three, four passes, get him behind and look to score. Um, you know, this last [00:22:00] year I. We scored a lot of goals and we also didn’t concede a lot of, I think we scored 52 goals and conceded 10. So for us, you know, we, we talk about having a good defensive shape, but then as we win it and as teams started to figure us out a little bit and sitting back, you know, how can we get our shape as big as possible and start to attack teams through different spaces?
Um, so for us, you know, like I said, we value both sides of the ball attacking and defending. I think for most. Players, it’s a lot more fun to, to win games by th to score three, four goals than it is to win one, nothing. Um, so we do value that quite a bit and we value the attacking side of soccer. I think it’s a lot more fun to play that way.
Um, but for us, you know, this year 13 shuts we value having or not giving up a lot of goals. Um, so I think for us it’s kind of a mixture of. Um, possession, but with the intent to just go forward and score goals. Um, it’s how can we get the [00:23:00] ball forward? How can we play through our wingers? How can we play through our midfield and get balls in behind and look to score?
Matt: All right. Oh, I love it. Yeah. All right. Well, hey, you’ve given us a bunch of info, really appreciated. Gonna leave you with one last question, um, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any girl going through the recruiting process right now, what would that be?
Coach: Yeah, I, I, I think it’s run your own race.
Um, you know, don’t get caught up in club teammates committing and doing this on different timelines. You know, everybody has their own timelines. Um, you know, don’t get caught up in the, the name and the school, you know, find your fit. Um, I know we all love to look at the different brands and, you know, different schools and different things like that.
What is really your fit? You know, are you really someone who wants to be at a 50,000 person school? Where you gonna get lost in the shuffle? Or are you somewhere where you wanna be a little smaller? Um, you know, that’s the biggest thing that I’ve always told recruits is, you know, [00:24:00] this is, this is your, your recruiting process.
It’s not someone else’s. Don’t get caught up in, in the teammates that are committing early or the teammates that are committing around you and I need to rush and do this. I think that’s why we end up with, you know. 13 to 1400 names in a transfer portal at time because we rush so many times. And then you’re going over this process again that you didn’t enjoy.
So I, I, I think that’s one of the biggest things that I can kind of tell recruits is, you know, don’t get caught up in what other people are doing or the name of the school run your own race, whether it’s division one, division two, division three in ai. I’ve coached at just about every level at this point.
Every level has their. They’re pluses and minuses, but it’s all about what fits you and what you can thrive in soccer wise and academically. So.
Matt: Yep, absolutely. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you’ll be hanging that SoCon banner, uh, this fall. Yeah, I hope so.
Coach: Yeah, that’d be great. Appreciate [00:25:00] it.
