Wisconsin Lutheran College Women’s Soccer – Coach Matt Eisold

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Matt from the Wisconsin Lutheran Women’s Program. We talk about all the things he has to juggle as a new head coach. He describes high percentage of athletes at the school. Lastly, we discuss their offseason training plans. Learn more about Wisconsin Lutheran 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 Matt Eisold from Wisconsin Lutheran. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Hi. It’s great to be here.

Matt: Yeah, great to have you. And, uh, crazy thing is you’re, you’re brand new to, uh, the women’s program there at Wisconsin Lutheran, having only been there a few months, is what, what I understand.

Coach: Yeah, that’s right. You know, sometimes, you know, can’t control when, when things happen. So I’ve been very fortunate to be back and I’m very excited about. 

Matt: Well, that’s awesome. We’re, we’re looking forward to speaking with you here and we’ll start talking about recruiting, I mean, getting hired in December, I’m sure.

Uh, that was number one on the list of things to do, and we’re in the throes of all of the college showcase seasons here. So, um, as a D three program, are you, I’m assuming especially as a new coach, that you’re still wrapping up that 23 class and, and what is your kind of timeline or your ideal timeline, uh, that you see in terms of.

Coach: Well, I think everybody would agree. We’d, we’d all love it wrapped up in the first month of the fall before our, our fall seasons, you know, really kind of gotten into the meat and potatoes. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we have rolling enrollment here. You know, we we’re not gonna turn people away.

You know, if you’re looking for a home, uh, you know, we can talk a little bit later about kind of what I believe are the core principles about going through the whole process and, you know, trying to determine what makes sense as far as what schools should be on your radar and, and how to kind of finalize that.

But, you [00:01:30] know, for girls soccer here in Wisconsin, It’s difficult because they’re high school seasons in the spring, right? I, no one wants to be going through the process, having to try to figure out visits around season with practice and everything else. So I would venture to say the vast majority of girls here try to get that decision, at least in their mind, wrapped up right by this time or probably a little bit sooner.

So, you know, unfortunately with the timing of everything, there was a lot of players. You know, we’re just kind of off the board already, which is okay. Um, we do with what we can. Uh, but it kind of speaks a little bit more about the overall timeline. So I would venture again to say probably 60 to 70% of campus visitors are, are 20, 20 fours.

So we’re already kind of rolling already into that next class. Uh, you know, obviously trying to do our best here with, with 2020 threes, but, you know, we gotta keep moving forward no matter what. 

Matt: Yeah, well, Are camps gonna be part of your kind of recruiting process and, and whether that’s on your, at your own facility or you and your staff work in other camps, what’s that kind of look like?

Coach: Sure. Uh, to be frank, right, when you take over something in flux, there’s uh, a whole lot of things that need to be done. So there’s uh, a whole lot of balls that I’ve got juggling up in the air right now. We’re working through it. Uh, I was just down at a showcase in Phoenix. Um, you know, not exactly running a camp.

We did run a foots all Id camp this winter already. I come from the pro indoor game, so that, you know, [00:03:00] tends to be something that, you know, is a little near and dear to my heart. We will definitely have a summer ID camp. Once we get those dates, we’ll definitely share them with, with you guys on the podcast.

Um, but we’re working through that. It is on my list. It just, uh, isn’t right now. I would say the top three things. Oh, I, I 

Matt: understand that Well, in terms of timing and, and one of the things that seems to have. Proliferated a lot through college Soccer is the transfer portal. So is that something you were looking at at all in terms of the help build your roster since you’re on that short timeframe?

Coach: Yeah. College soccer right now. I guess college just in general. An interesting point. Right? A lot of things in flux. Uh, we, we obviously know the, the challenges with tuition and different things going on. Uh, we had two colleges near us, I guess.

There’s a couple colleges right near us, regionally in the general vicinity that have closed or will close here in this upcoming school year. So we’re definitely exploring, right? Talking to some of those players. Uh, the transfer portal is definitely something we look at. Um, . You know, when we talk again about those core principles, there’s definitely a lot of things that you wanna look at as try as who makes the most sense.

Um, you know, at the end of the day, it’s, you know, kids’ lives we’re talking about, and you want them to find the best fit and choose the place that’s gonna help them succeed as, [00:04:30] as people and as players. 

Matt: Absolutely. Well, in terms of, of events, you mentioned going to Phoenix. I’m assuming, uh, a lot of your roster tends to be more regionally based as most division threes are, but what are some of the, the must see events or what are the events you’ve got on your calendar that you definitely want to get to, to help look at players?

Coach: Sure we have the Indiana Fire has a, a showcase coming up this weekend, uh, planning on making sure we get out to there. St. Louis and KC always have some fantastic, uh, events. You know, they have the, the girls All Girls showcase in the fall. Uh, they do a more generalized one in the spring. Uh, those are definitely events we look at.

I mean, being close to the greater Chicago area, we know that FC United runs stuff, soccers runs stuff. The fire tends to run stuff every once in a while too. So, you know, you got Libertyville, all these other places that are close and all of them happen to have great events too. 

Matt: Okay. Well, and I think you’ve mentioned it before, but uh, when you are at an event or at in a camp or talking to players, what is it that you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff?

Coach: Yeah, that’s a great question. So for me, right, the school choosing process, right, really boils down to, to three kind of primary areas, right? The first one is academics. You know, a lot of times we tend to ignore the idea that. Turns out you, you gotta get a job, right? You, you need to, you need to make money at some point.

Uh, you know, so being able to help students academically, right, obviously first and foremost with what their major’s going to be, and then [00:06:00] secondly, or prepare them for the real world, I guess, and quotations afterwards is the, the biggest focus, right? You want kids to be able to come graduated four. It be set up for, for success down the line.

The next piece is the social aspect. We are a smaller school in a bigger. You know, enrollment right now is around 1200 students. You know, I, I always use the metaphor, right, if you are looking for the UW Madison State Street experience, right, that’s not going to be us. Right? And you probably aren’t gonna be happy here if that’s what you’re looking to get.

Uh, so that’s the next piece that people need to understand, right? It’s your home for four years. You want to feel comfortable, you want to feel happy. You want to feel like this is a great place for me to be. So that’s usually the. Part of it, and then I, it feels weird to have any soccer coach probably say this, but then the athletic part is probably the, the least important within those three pillars, you know, you should be, as a student athlete, looking for those first two things to, to fit and then Right, evaluating the athletics piece, right.

What my soccer goals are and what program can help me reach those. Uh, I, 

Matt: I love that it’s, it’s all about finding the right fit. Couldn’t agree more. Um, well, in terms of, of the school itself, and, and we’ll get a link to it a little bit more, but as a parent, one of the questions that, uh, is always top of mind is, okay, what’s this gonna cost me?

Um, so I’m not holding you any hard numbers here. Obviously you’ve only been on the job a few months, but if you could just give me an idea of. What is it that a player is, is looking, uh, to get into, obviously no athletic money, but [00:07:30] what is the scholarship situation at Wisconsin Lutheran and, and just kind of a, a good snapshot picture of the financial piece.

Coach: Sure. So, yeah, as you stated, no. Athletic money Division three, it’s the same across the board. They do a really good job with academic money. So again, when I talk to student athletes, it’s one of those things that, you know, we don’t always want to hear it. You know, parents tell it to you, everyone else tells it to you.

But as much as you can focus on your academics and it makes sure that you are in a good place, right? It’s just gonna open up plenty of doors for you. And that’s the same for us. I think it’s something like 95. Now percent of students here get some sort of aid based on their academics, so they do want to make sure they’re trying to subsidize in any way they can.

And then you obviously have the normal, you know, fafsa, financial aid packages that go out every year. Uh, though apparently though, that’s gonna change coming a little bit coming into the fall. . 

Matt: Yeah. Those things just keep on, keep on changing. Right. And we’ll just have to keep an eye and see what that looks like.

Um, well, in terms of the school, you are an alum as well, so you’ve got some great insight into, uh, Wisconsin Lutheran. So what are some of the awesome things you love about the school that maybe I’m not gonna find just by clicking around the website? 

Coach: Sure. Well, some of you will, right? Or that our dorms are really highly rated.

Uh, I, I don’t know exactly. You know, the site off the top of my head, but they’re, they like to tout that we’re ranked number one in Wisconsin. It ranked nationally as far as our, our dormitory facilities. Um, you know, the [00:09:00] biggest and brightest one they built a couple years ago was not here when I was here as a student, which is a little unfortunate.

Uh, but it’s super nice. I mean, it’s unbelievable, you know, the, the way that they can provide or a platform for them to live, basical. , like you’re living in a really nice condo or apartment, you’re already as a sophomore is, is crazy when you think about it. So that part is on the website, but that is definitely a huge plus.

I think the other part of it is that they do a really good job of. Trying to provide the right platform to show the student athletes how important they are. Uh, you know, I think it’s, it’s something close to 50% or around there of our students are student athletes as well. So it’s a huge piece of the campus life.

It’s a huge piece of the campus atmosphere, right? Having student athletics, uh, and a lot of our participate, amazing. Kind of a high may here. We got this crazy light. I mean, I was not in charge of that. Um, but that’s kind of the idea of what they want to do. There’s tons of right pictures of alumni pictures of teams.

right. Inspirational quotes, all these different things around to kind of show what our identity is on campus as student athletes, and that’s something that you can’t find on. Sure. For sure. That you know what we actually are and where we value, right. Our players.

Matt: Oh, that’s great. Well, in terms of the Student, part of the student athlete experience, how is it that your players really manage the, the rigors of, of being a student athlete, both on the field and off the field, and what kind of support systems are there that the school gives the players to really help them in their academics? 

Coach: Yeah, that’s a great [00:10:30] question.

Again, so inherently there’s some positives to smaller. Our professors will give out their cell phone numbers. They actually mean it when they say like, Hey, if you have problems, you need help, please reach out to me at any time. Well, some of ’em will say at any time, maybe some of ’em have some boundaries, , but that part’s always great.

Right. And then the smaller class size, you know, you’re not gonna be stuck right. In a, in a hall of 300 people and not know Joe Schmo from. , right. Jane Doe over here. Right. So especially once you get to some of the higher ed classes, you’re gonna have the same people. So that support web in order to help you succeed is there.

They have a thing called Wally, which I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I love the name, but, but it’s a, a specialized board, I guess that helps connect other students. With all the other people that might be going through some of the same issues, some of the same problems. I provide some other things as far as emotional support.

Uh, so that is already a great resource. We have tutor hours for every single subject that’s free, right? So they can come and meet with tutors. Uh, you know, the, I know hour players right? Have some study times where they want to make sure they get together and focus on the things that they need to do. How sometimes we all know that that can divulge into maybe not the most.

you know, successful time period. But again, it’s part of the experience, right? You mainly wanna study with people you like to be around. 

Matt: So yeah that, that’s for sure. Well, This is gonna be a, a little bit tougher question cuz you haven’t gone through a season yet, but, um, let’s fast forward in our minds to [00:12:00] next fall.

Uh, can you walk me through what a typical week for players is gonna look like in terms of classes? What’s practice times meals? Uh, what’s kind of a game cadence and travel look like? Uh, what, what should a student athlete expect, uh, in the fall? 

Coach: Yep. . So we still have the seven day rule. So typically Sundays will be off.

Every once in a while you might have a game that gets scheduled and you can’t do much about it. But a typical week would start Monday and Tuesday you’ll have training. Tuesday is gonna be a little bit lighter because we play typically Wednesday, Saturdays, the normal conference schedule. So Tuesdays again, you might do some set pieces, you might do some tactical run through based on opponent, based on yourselves.

Uh, Wednesday you’ll have a. For us here in Wisconsin, the radius is about two hours as far as conference games go. So we’ll go as far north as Green Bay. So Pier, so that’s St. Norbert’s, uh, west, we’ll go as far as Edgewood, uh, so Madison area and then to the south, right? You got like Aurora, Dominican, uh, Benedictine, Illinois Tech.

So kind of the greater suburban Chicago area. So it’s about a two mile radi, or sorry, two hour radius as far as conference games go, uh, we are planning on a longer trip in 2024, but I had no control over the 23 schedule. So, uh, we’re gonna work through that one as we go. Um, then Thursday will be a recovery day, so some resistance span work, yoga.

We’ll probably do some technical work. It’ll be lighter and easier in general on that day. Uh, Friday, you’d ramp it up [00:13:30] a little bit. Again, you gotta plan for an opponent on Saturday. So again, probably again, some set pieces, some tactical stuff in regards to who we’re playing right surfaces as well. Uh, where little bit more than 50 50 split between grass and turf in the conference.

So turf has a slight edge now, which would make sense in the Midwest. 

Matt: Yes, for sure. It’s, uh, something we don’t like to see down here in Florida cuz it gets too hot. But, uh, up north I could definitely see that being a, a, a requirement. Um, well let’s talk a little bit more about the soccer side of things.

And I know you’re a little bit behind the eight ball with recruiting being new, but is there an ideal roster size that you would like to hit moving forward? 

Coach: Yeah, I’d like to be between 24 and 26. You know, I’ve, I’ve fortunately or unfortunately kind of. You know the history of the program from 20, sorry, 2006 to now, you know, having seen it as a player when I was here, uh, being assistant with the men’s program for five or six years after that, my wife’s actually an alumni as well.

She graduated a little bit after I did. Uh, so you’re gonna be being able to see kind of the evolution of where we’ve gotten to this point. You know, I know that that’s for us, the number that we wanna get close to also enables you to do some other things as far as playing Varsity reserve games, which is a goal of.

Matt: Oh, okay. Well, uh, I know you are new. Is there any other new staff on the women’s soccer program? Is that something you’re trying to build out? What might your staff look like? 

Coach: Yep. We’re definitely, again, on the list, there’s a big list. Uh, you know, [00:15:00] fortunately here I’ve been involved in the soccer community for a little bit.

Um, we talked about, I’ve played for the Milwaukee Wave for seven years, which is the professional indoor team here in Milwaukee. And now indoor is not as big of a thing in other places. There is actually a couple teams in Florida, uh, there’s a Florida Tropics and Lakeland. Yep. Uh, then they have some N I S L teams Now with the Crusaders, I think there’s one more.

I can’t remember where they’re located though. I think Tampa’s Tampa’s trying to get one,

Matt: I think, uh, the strikers or something, but I don’t know.

Coach: Yeah, that sounds about right. That tends Florida. Uh, no offenses tends to be like a revolving door for indoor teams. Cause I don’t know if it really makes sense down there.

Matt: Well, you know what, I, I still do want to try to get out to a tropics game. I got the family in Lakeland. I haven’t been out there yet, but it’s on my list to do . 

Coach: I mean, I have a lot of friends on the team. They, they kind of took, uh, a bunch of, uh, players from Milwaukee after we won the title in 2019. So there’s a few guys out there that are, they’re good guys.

So, good experience either way, I would tell you. Yeah. Oh, I’m 

Matt: sure. Well, in terms of of you personally now taking the helm, how would you describe your style of coaching and what is the style of play that you’re hoping to implement with a team? . 

Coach: Sure. I mean, I traditionally like a 3 52. My club teams have played that in the past.

That doesn’t mean right. We’re entirely married to that system. You know, I’ve had club teams in the past that just couldn’t do it based on personnel, based on right mentality, all sorts of different things. Uh, so having some flexibility with, that’s important. I think that team ended up playing a 4 42 diamond.

Uh, so, you know, being able to change. But that would be my ideal scenario. Uh, [00:16:30] coaching style. You know, I do believe in personal responsibility. I kind of believe in being able to separate. Person and the player out a little bit when we want to talk about trying to help you move forward as a player. You know Matt, Matt, the person, Matt, the player, right?

We gotta be able to separate him out a little bit. It doesn’t mean you’re not a kind and wonderful human being, right? But if you can’t pass the ball 10 yard straight, well that’s something we gotta talk about. So for me, that’s the part that I like the most, right? Being able to have a player come off and say, Hey, listen, these are the things that I thought you did well, right?

This decision making moment, right? How did that feel? This is the consequences, right? Can we evaluate and look at what some other. Possibilities might have been right. And could those have had different outcomes? Possibly better outcomes? I mean, that’s one of the greatest parts of, of our game in general, right?

The freedom to have different styles, the freedom to make decisions, you know, look at a Georgio six compared to, I guess maybe I’ll date myself a little bit like ASO six. Right? Like totally different styles of player playing, in theory, the same position. 

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, in terms of. Um, the off-season, right?

You, you inherited some, some players that are still around and, and it’s March here that we’re talking. So what, what does your off-season program look like? Uh, for the players that are around? 

Coach: Sure until the non-traditional spring season starts, which will be after, uh, spring break here coming up in a couple weeks.

And the NCAA did just change the rules. So the next year it will change the way the the formatting works. So now you have a set period of time, basically after that spring break window [00:18:00] to get all your sessions in before the week before finals. next year, they’re gonna say as soon as the semester starts, you can, you can begin to do stuff and you have a certain number of days total that you can hit.

So it’s gonna change a little bit. Uh, but prior to that spring season, they have open gym, uh, and then they’ll have strength and conditioning, uh, twice a week. And that’s stuff that, uh, I am not directly involved in. 

Matt: Okay. , we’ve covered a lot of ground, talked about a lot of different things, and I always like to end these with the same question is what didn’t we cover?

What else would you like folks to know, whether that’s about the school, about the team, about the college recruiting process, or anything else? I’ll leave you with the last word. 

Coach: Yeah, we touched on it a little bit before. I think that for everybody, right, you want to find a coach, a school. that truly cares about you finding the right place.

You know, good example, right? We had a, a girl that I talked to that wants to be a musical fine arts theater major. That’s not something that, that we have here. We do have a great theater professor who was in Chicago Fire, which I’m not a big TV guy, but apparently it’s a relatively big show and he had a speaking part, like he was a actual character.

Now, you know, that’s system guy get rolled in the back. Um, and I arranged for him to, to chat with her cause she had questions about agents and all these other things and going through those programs. Uh, and that was knowing that right, this probably wasn’t going to be the right place for her. So I think for all of them, right, any student athlete looking to, to work through the process.

You really need to try to figure out what makes sense for [00:19:30] you overall as a complete person and not just right based on soccer. Because soccer is great. Soccer’s important. I’ve based a lot of my life around soccer. Uh, but at the end of the day, right, we all know that there’s gonna come a time where we all have to hang up our, our boots or our gloves in my case.

Um, you know, and you wanna be prepared for the rest of life when that. 

Matt: Absolutely couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, wish you the best of luck with the program and, and wrapping up this recruiting class in your first fall season, and we’ll keep an eye on you, see how things go. Maybe have you back next year for a little recap about how that first year was.Coach: That would be great. Appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks coach. Yep, no problem.