Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #116 - Bill Boyle, Niagara University Men's Head Soccer Coach
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_01: Bill Boyle has been the head coach at Niagara University on the men's side since 2016.
- 0:06SPEAKER_01: He actually got to Buffalo a year after I did.
- 0:09SPEAKER_01: And he's been there ever since.
- 0:12SPEAKER_01: He's also from Michigan, uh, and his background is basically coming up as a as a coach and played in Michigan.
- 0:21SPEAKER_01: And we discussed the differences between Michigan and where we spent the last decade in Buffalo and Niagara Falls and that area of the country.
- 0:34SPEAKER_01: And we discussed, you know, U.S.
- 0:36SPEAKER_01: soccer as a whole.
- 0:38SPEAKER_01: We discussed coaching.
- 0:39SPEAKER_01: We discussed how have we closed the gap?
- 0:43SPEAKER_01: Are we better than we were?
- 0:45SPEAKER_01: We discussed recruiting the world, not just recruiting American players.
- 0:51SPEAKER_01: How many players are there that are actually worth recruiting in the United States?
- 0:58SPEAKER_01: Which is an interesting part of this conversation.
- 1:02SPEAKER_01: And we've been trying to get together and do this episode.
- 1:07SPEAKER_01: It just never worked out uh when I was in Buffalo.
- 1:12SPEAKER_01: But he came back, he presented at the Expo.
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- 2:00SPEAKER_01: I hate soccer.
- 2:02SPEAKER_01: Start a women's team first.
- 2:05SPEAKER_01: Yeah, start a women's team first, and because Buffalo is more of a women's soccer city.
- 2:12SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think.
- 2:13SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at the girls, the talent that is going.
- 2:17SPEAKER_01: We had Linda, Linda, who is going or is in the NWSL now, Linda Olmark.
- 2:22SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she went to UNC, won a national title.
- 2:24SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Rihanna Hudson was the final four on the women's side national or the player of the final four.
- 2:32SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's a flash girl.
- 2:33SPEAKER_01: She's from Rochester, New York.
- 2:34SPEAKER_01: Abby Wanbach.
- 2:35SPEAKER_01: Abby that's uh going back.
- 2:38SPEAKER_01: And like who are the guys?
- 2:40SPEAKER_01: Shuttlesworth?
- 2:41SPEAKER_01: That's it.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: They tried it, the women, right?
- 2:44SPEAKER_01: With Salemans and and that's what took me to Buffalo, yeah, originally.
- 2:48SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just I wish I wish that the Buffalo Pro would have started like a UWS team or a USLW team, uh get fans uh interested and show that it's it can work and then uh bring in the men's and maybe find more investors because that's the biggest holdup right now.
- 3:11SPEAKER_01: Yeah, is they can't find the 25 million dollars it is to get into USL championship.
- 3:16SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:17SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what are most of your players doing in the summer?
- 3:20SPEAKER_01: Do you want them playing like USL 2?
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're we're trying to look, you know, put them in on teams that they can at least, you know, maybe get on the field and the best USL 2 team we can get them on, or uh whatever level they are.
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: Some of our players play FC Buffalo.
- 3:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I saw Chase Dade, yeah um, uh when they were here playing the Bucks.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: Yep, yeah, and he's he did well for them this summer.
- 3:44SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Thomas Brooks injured got injured, but he was he he started for them for a while.
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: So good relationship with FC Buffalo.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: So anyway, Nick's great any they Nick and it calls every year.
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: Hey, what guys do you have?
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: We'd love to because we have housing too, and guys that want to stay here, and so they want to stay in Buffalo and they can work out at the facilities that we have.
- 4:06SPEAKER_01: And you have uh you have rooms for them over uh the summer?
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: They have to.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: They uh they live off campus, so they have houses.
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, you're right, you're right.
- 4:16SPEAKER_01: So that's what the girls do.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: So I mean FC Buffalo helps with that a little bit, but if they play for them, um, but it just gives us uh an avenue that if we can have five players on FC Buffalo training here and staying here and being on campus and um being in Buffalo for us, that's awesome, you know.
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: Um it some of them don't want to do that, that's fine, right?
- 4:38SPEAKER_00: Uh whenever we have uh our best players, we can try to send them to Gary at the Bucks if we can.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: We're always he's he talked to him every year trying to see if we have somebody and like Leon to Tazouk, our our forward and our center mid, Patty Kilday Dulan went to the Bucks this year.
- 4:56SPEAKER_00: Didn't get a lot of minutes, but that's that's normal and it's okay.
- 5:00SPEAKER_00: They they're training at such a good environment with Paul and with pros.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: Nick.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Nick's right.
- 5:05SPEAKER_00: Nick too, Nick Darren, who I've known forever.
- 5:07SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so I know what kind of training they're getting.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: And like at U Albany, we had uh Alfonso Pinheiro as an offensive player of the year, didn't play at the Bucks all summer that fall at U Albany's offensive player of the year.
- 5:19SPEAKER_00: Bernardo Matos went to the Bucs, didn't play at all, but was defensive player of the year in the in the American East.
- 5:24SPEAKER_01: Do you cut them off at some point in the summer and be like, hey, I want everybody to stop playing at July 15th or something?
- 5:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I haven't had the luxury to be able to make those calls, you know.
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: Like I think I think Big Ten ACC school coaches can say that.
- 5:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 5:40SPEAKER_00: Um, especially if you're paying them more money than I I have.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, but it it works out for the most part.
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: Like the the FC Buffalo just made the playoffs the first time here in USL2.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: Which is awesome.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: So they extended their season by a week, but they're still done by July.
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: That's true.
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: Seven, eight, nine, right around there.
- 6:00SPEAKER_00: So only the Bucks, like they're playing tomorrow.
- 6:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's tight to preseason.
- 6:06SPEAKER_00: So if you have a guy in that environment, then they're playing and they're playing 90 minutes every week.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: Now that's tough to bring them into preseason and be on the same periodization as the rest of your players.
- 6:17SPEAKER_01: That's why the Bucks brought in Steve Clark.
- 6:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: 40-year-old MLS Pro.
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: I can't believe he's 40 years old, man.
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: I remember when he was 11.
- 6:26SPEAKER_01: Do you do you?
- 6:27SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, he's from that area.
- 6:29SPEAKER_00: From Mason, Michigan.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: And um played for Paul Cotto at Mason High School.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: And played club soccer, you know, with Vardar, I think, and everybody, you know.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: Always, always uh fun to watch.
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: I used to just go watch him play when he was in high school.
- 6:43SPEAKER_00: Um, he's just always different.
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: And at Oakland, too.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: He was he's just a different dude.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: And he you love that as a goalkeeper.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 6:54SPEAKER_01: So um how how go into your roster just a little bit.
- 7:02SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 7:03SPEAKER_01: How many internationals do you currently have?
- 7:05SPEAKER_01: Not counting Canadians.
- 7:06SPEAKER_01: I don't count Canadians as internationals.
- 7:08SPEAKER_01: Neither do I.
- 7:09SPEAKER_01: But does it count as an international?
- 7:10SPEAKER_01: I guess it does.
- 7:11SPEAKER_00: It does, but you know, first of all, we don't give the same kind of merit money to Canadians for some reason, but they but they've it's we we want Canadians at Niagara University.
- 7:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:22SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're very proactive in getting Canadians in.
- 7:26SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 7:26SPEAKER_00: I have a player from Niagara Falls, Ontario, St.
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: Catharines, Grimsby.
- 7:32SPEAKER_00: Um, so within 30 minutes, they they're then they played over here in the club system in in New York, in Buffalo, Rochester as well.
- 7:41SPEAKER_00: So they're kind of Americans in that field.
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: I went called.
- 7:45SPEAKER_00: I would say we're about 50%.
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 7:47SPEAKER_00: You know, we had we had we had three high school all Americans on our team.
- 7:50SPEAKER_00: Um, we got Michigan boys all the time.
- 7:53SPEAKER_00: Um, my captain was uh Landon Hungerford is from DeWitt, Michigan.
- 7:57SPEAKER_00: Tommy Middlestaad, Gio uh Cavelli, um uh Kevin Payne from Jackson.
- 8:05SPEAKER_00: I mean, um I'm always looking in Michigan because it's yeah, I know how they're coached.
- 8:10SPEAKER_00: You know, it's they're coached well and they they can adapt.
- 8:14SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, Michael.
- 8:15SPEAKER_01: You had Michael from Vardar.
- 8:18SPEAKER_01: Or you were there.
- 8:21SPEAKER_01: Michael 20, he was a twin uh 2000.
- 8:23SPEAKER_01: He was a 2000 birth year.
- 8:25SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 8:26SPEAKER_01: What is his last name?
- 8:27SPEAKER_01: Hawaiian.
- 8:28SPEAKER_01: Well, you used to call him like the flying Hawaiian or something like that.
- 8:31SPEAKER_01: Because when I was at Vardar, like he was just amazing.
- 8:34SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my god, what was his last name?
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: Was he he played for me?
- 8:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 8:40SPEAKER_00: See, that's why I hate I'm probably missing some Michigan boys that played for me too.
- 8:44SPEAKER_00: Um, but once they're in our family, you know, and we we call that fan, you know, uh our group, it's like we're kind of come together, and that's we have cut, you know, four Portuguese, four Japanese, Australia, uh, Moroccan coming.
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: Um, we had a Colombian last year, we have Irish, uh, you know.
- 9:05SPEAKER_01: How do you find those guys?
- 9:07SPEAKER_01: Do you guys go over there or is it you rely on like an agency or me and my me and my assistant Dave Hesh do do all that?
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: It's just me and him.
- 9:16SPEAKER_00: Um, he just went to Japan.
- 9:18SPEAKER_00: I went last year.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: Um, we're trying to see if we can go in Australia if we can afford it.
- 9:23SPEAKER_00: Um, but try to go over and see them.
- 9:25SPEAKER_00: I just went to Morocco.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: Um showcase there.
- 9:28SPEAKER_00: What was that like?
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: It was incredible and it was awesome.
- 9:31SPEAKER_00: I got pictures I could show you where I'm in a full purple.
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: It was a I rode a camel, so I was like in it.
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: I was in a full purple robe with face garb.
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got a picture of it on my phone, but I'll show it to you later.
- 9:45SPEAKER_00: But I want to go to the World Cup.
- 9:46SPEAKER_00: But I thought I could, if I could coach in that outfit on the sideline at Niagara this year, I thought, ah, cool, man.
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: I'd probably be fired, but it'd be worth it.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: That is awesome.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: Just a little video on that.
- 9:57SPEAKER_01: What are they doing over there?
- 9:58SPEAKER_01: Like what like what when you will go and watch versus maybe an MLS next event or something like that.
- 10:04SPEAKER_00: Like, what's different about what Morocco's doing?
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: The showcase is 54 boys, and every single one of them was baller.
- 10:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I would say yeah, there's a lot of schools there, you know, Clemson and and um uh Virginia Tech, and so you know, who else was there?
- 10:23SPEAKER_00: Uh Creighton.
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: So like some of the top D1 programs are looking.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, you know, me and a bunch just really good coaches that were over there watching, and we were all on the same page.
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: Like these kids are gonna do just fine, um, if not excel um and help our teams win.
- 10:40SPEAKER_01: So is it was it is it their technical ability that like these kids are gonna do fine, or is it was it obviously it's physical, the college soccer is a man sport.
- 10:49SPEAKER_00: Well, they that's their whole life is since they're a little boy is playing.
- 10:53SPEAKER_00: There's goals everywhere in the streets and the in the fields everywhere.
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: That's all they they live and breathe it.
- 11:00SPEAKER_00: So when you watch a showcase like that, yeah, the development system, I don't know, but they the the top clubs uh are bringing in and identifying the best players in the country.
- 11:10SPEAKER_00: Um so the the players in a showcase like that, as opposed to American showcase, you know, 100% of the players in that showcase have a tactical IQ that they know their vision, they're seeing everything, their movement, their off-the-ball movement, their combination play is is their speed of play.
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: Whereas, you know, a showcase here we have ten percent.
- 11:35SPEAKER_01: We have a hundred teams, and each team maybe you have three guys that like you're really, really looking at.
- 11:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so every showcase that we do here, that even the best ones, I would it comes down to about 10% of that showcase.
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay.
- 11:51SPEAKER_00: You know, so if you have 300 players at a showcase, you're talking about 30 kids, right?
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: 30 boys.
- 11:57SPEAKER_00: And immediately in America, like I think parents or players or coaches or clubs will be pissed off to hear that.
- 12:04SPEAKER_00: Why are you trying to get them to a showcase or well, the showcases are the best way for us to watch them and we can interact with them and we're not just watching 20 minutes at a tournament.
- 12:13SPEAKER_00: So if your player isn't good enough and we only see him 20 minutes in a game, he might not even be in the game, number one.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: But a showcase, you know, we can get them broken up into the levels that we want and interact with them and coach them, and that's more important too.
- 12:28SPEAKER_00: Not only are they good, that's one thing I didn't get enough of in Morocco or Japan, is to interact with the players enough because you don't know what kind of person they are, you know.
- 12:38SPEAKER_00: Now I know the culture of Japanese players and that I love it.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so do I.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm willing to take that risk.
- 12:44SPEAKER_00: I don't know everywhere you go, so it's harder to get a vibe on that internationally.
- 12:49SPEAKER_01: What do you think of the uh uh going go more into the Japanese because I feel like they have a different relationship when it comes to practice?
- 12:58SPEAKER_00: Well, they pre they train like three hours in the morning every day with their high school team, you know?
- 13:02SPEAKER_00: It's just part of their day.
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: Real.
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I don't know if it's three hours, that's what I was told, but it's seems like a lot.
- 13:08SPEAKER_00: But maybe it's the the preparation and the actual session and everything like ours, like ours, our school now with men's soccer at Niagara, we train at 9 30, but we're probably eating at 8.
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: We're prepping, preparing 9:30, 11 done, 11:30 after.
- 13:24SPEAKER_00: So you're three hours of their morning with their high school in Japan, then they go to school, and and they and they push all the players like Iceland does too.
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: This like they they push their players to the top high school.
- 13:38SPEAKER_00: So I I feel like that's what I might be wrong about that, but the top high schools in Japan are the also their club teams and their full-time teams.
- 13:46SPEAKER_01: They take way more advantage of high school, which some people when all the fallout from the World Cup, everybody's like, okay, how do we fix this?
- 13:56SPEAKER_01: And some people will say that maybe we should steer in and make high school a club because they can train it's easier to get there.
- 14:04SPEAKER_01: It's it's you can start right at three o'clock, and and but we it's different here.
- 14:10SPEAKER_01: It's so different here.
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: But again, it's it I'm tired of the argument of how we like the fall off in the World Cup.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: I thought we were very good.
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: I did too.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: I think the last game was disappointing, but and then you know, in 2015, I was doing my A-License renewal in LA watching our U18 national team play, and the Academy semifinals and finals were there, and we had to evaluate those boys.
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: A lot of those, some of those guys are on our national team now.
- 14:36SPEAKER_00: This 2015 with the academy and people still complaining and bitching about our development system.
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you're I'm watching that doing our our licensing, going, We're good, we are good, man.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: And so we're talking about again in America, is it the top 10% of our pool of players is very good, right?
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so now, okay, 90%.
- 15:03SPEAKER_00: That's what we're all talking about, that 90%.
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: But like we just talked about, are those how passionate are those 90%?
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: Well, they're paying to play, the geography makes it very difficult.
- 15:14SPEAKER_00: Marocco, you know, they can get around, they can they can get Marrakesh boys to Casablanca, they can, you know, Lisbon, Sporting can go out and get players in Porto or uh from the Algarves, you know.
- 15:29SPEAKER_00: They're all they're all working together, and that's the biggest problem with our club or clubs right now.
- 15:34SPEAKER_00: I'm dealing with them in Buffalo.
- 15:35SPEAKER_00: You've been to Buffalo, and uh that's what I love about Detroit is all the they all get along.
- 15:41SPEAKER_00: Nationals were here last night.
- 15:42SPEAKER_01: Nationals was here, Liverpool is here, Porter.
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's like, oh, this is different.
- 15:49SPEAKER_00: These are the OGs.
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: We got Wazo and Mario here last night.
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: Mario, yeah.
- 15:53SPEAKER_00: We got all the OGs getting along, man.
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: And and and uh I love it.
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's beautiful.
- 15:58SPEAKER_00: And if and if every city could take notice of that, your number one job as a director, Koji, should be to work with each other.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: And and what all we do is shit on each other, yeah.
- 16:09SPEAKER_00: And Buffalo does not get along, like they don't and it's passive aggressive, so they don't talk about it and they don't they don't admit it.
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: They don't admit it, and you know what?
- 16:17SPEAKER_01: I'll save you, but I'm gonna call them out because uh even when GPS folded and and GPS guys went and all joined the mer the the flash, yeah, it wasn't uh it wasn't a merger, it wasn't like a take, it wasn't an acquisition, it wasn't a takeover.
- 16:33SPEAKER_01: Those GPS coaches for the most part did not get along with everybody that was at Flash, and it was it was fractioned, yeah.
- 16:39SPEAKER_01: And that's why some of them left and now are they at Buffalo Pro.
- 16:43SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, because they uh they just don't see eye to eye, and with you have fractions there within your own clubs.
- 16:51SPEAKER_01: Whereas uh Jags when I talk to them, now maybe some of them uh don't tell me the full story, right?
- 16:58SPEAKER_01: They want to be a PC on here, yeah.
- 17:01SPEAKER_01: But for the most part, I like how their club is run.
- 17:04SPEAKER_01: I think it's run professionally.
- 17:06SPEAKER_01: I think I could say the same thing about Midwest.
- 17:10SPEAKER_01: Western New York doesn't have a club like that.
- 17:12SPEAKER_01: No, and and uh I was running out of people to talk to in Buffalo, yeah.
- 17:17SPEAKER_01: Because like I said, with like Pete, like it just ghosted me.
- 17:20SPEAKER_01: And like, and then some other like college coaches in the area be like, oh yeah, uh we'll get you in the spring, and then it the spring would come and be like, no, uh uh in the summer.
- 17:30SPEAKER_01: It's not good for business.
- 17:32SPEAKER_01: It's not they're like they're not open or they're not they're Buffalo.
- 17:37SPEAKER_01: It's frustrating, and that's why I moved back.
- 17:39SPEAKER_01: That's why I moved back to Michigan because there's so many more people to talk to.
- 17:42SPEAKER_01: There's so many more colleges.
- 17:43SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how many more D1 colleges do we have?
- 17:46SPEAKER_00: All these all these uh leaders in Buffalo of clubs and everything, they're great guys.
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: They are awesome.
- 17:53SPEAKER_00: It's just been done this way there the for so long.
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that like when you see that here, it's uh we should take note that I mean, we're in a community, however, big or small.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: If you work together, then the if you're truly concerned about the players' development in your area, your community, you need to work together to identify those players and and help them excel to be professionals, yeah, and not not split up and be in a bubble by yourself.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: Even within your own club, we have a difficult time sometimes with an age group working with another age group, or we we don't even see each other.
- 18:28SPEAKER_00: Like it I've had when I stopped coaching club in Buffalo, I had an A and a B team.
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: The A team players never wanted to be with the B team players, right?
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: They the the the B no one wanted to be on a B team, and the parents that were there, we had to sell it, sell it, sell it, or else they'll go to another club.
- 18:45SPEAKER_00: But ideally, you'd like to have an A and a B team work together once a week together, once a week, back to back, once a week separate.
- 18:52SPEAKER_00: And then what we do is we don't we have 15 different clubs, like we have five different six different clubs in my son's age group in the in the area.
- 19:01SPEAKER_00: Yeah, six different, and one of them is the Niagara Falls Ontario team, Kenton Surf, and they're the best team in Western New York.
- 19:07SPEAKER_00: They're all Canadians.
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: Yep.
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: So but we don't want to identify that and and I don't want to and and like like you're just talking about with everybody, you know, no one wants to talk about it.
- 19:20SPEAKER_01: So some of the top younger boys, I guess they're not younger anymore, they're all in high school now, but the top boys in Buffalo, they are going across the border.
- 19:29SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're going into Canada to train.
- 19:31SPEAKER_00: I'm taking my already.
- 19:32SPEAKER_00: He's been over to play for Roma, he's been over to play for Kenton Surf just to train.
- 19:37SPEAKER_00: And you know, if I take him to Spain for a recruiting trip, he trained in Valencia with uh with a little boys team there and got that experience, you know.
- 19:45SPEAKER_01: So why is Canada different?
- 19:47SPEAKER_01: I know Toronto is a metropolis compared to Buffalo.
- 19:50SPEAKER_01: Is that what it is?
- 19:51SPEAKER_00: Parly that I think I've thought about this for 10 years being there.
- 19:55SPEAKER_01: Why is it so much different?
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: Just 10 minutes from your school.
- 19:59SPEAKER_00: Because they're I I found out in the recruiting process the Canadians in Toronto and Niagara Falls and and um they're all first generation.
- 20:08SPEAKER_00: And go so now you're talking about like sit.
- 20:11SPEAKER_00: Have you been to St.
- 20:12SPEAKER_00: Catharines Roma, their club?
- 20:14SPEAKER_00: A little bit.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: And they have fireworks and Roma.
- 20:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they sing that tie-in national anthem before their men's league game.
- 20:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, and it's the the pride that goes into that.
- 20:31SPEAKER_00: Um, they're still doing the same thing in Nag Falls, Ontario, with like three different teams, yeah.
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: Trying to figure out, you know, maybe they could work together and be, but they're I think the structure and the coaches that I've seen there, and also in Toronto, Woodbridge, Fawn, Sigma, um, York, North York, uh, Bobby Graham at Wind Stars.
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: Um, these guys are uh rock stars with their club and their training and stuff that they're doing there.
- 20:58SPEAKER_00: Um, but they still, I mean, there's still the conflict that we're talking about, like they don't all necessarily want to work together, but they do, because like Sigma showcases, there's probably 250, 300 coaches there with Sigma Vaughn.
- 21:13SPEAKER_00: Sigma Vaughn work together.
- 21:15SPEAKER_00: And I I don't know for sure, but I think the Ontario Youth Soccer Association is is somewhat to blame for the div the div divisions between clubs because they're uh they're always trying to figure out what league are we in.
- 21:28SPEAKER_00: Was it I something now?
- 21:29SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 21:30SPEAKER_00: Yesterday it was hey, that were you're playing in this league, and if you play in that league, you can't play in this league.
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: So they're doing the same kind of stuff, you know.
- 21:38SPEAKER_00: Do you follow Eric Winaldo at all?
- 21:40SPEAKER_00: I love Eric Winaldo.
- 21:41SPEAKER_00: I I I I don't know who I follow, but I uh I I probably have him on IG or Facebook.
- 21:48SPEAKER_01: So he went on a rant and said that basically there's too many kids playing soccer in here.
- 21:56SPEAKER_01: We need to like don't we we need to go back to how it was.
- 21:59SPEAKER_01: Yeah and And each state should put a team together, kind of like ODP back in the day.
- 22:05SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 22:05SPEAKER_01: And just take the very, very best kids.
- 22:08SPEAKER_01: They can be MLS and X kids, they could be ECNL.
- 22:11SPEAKER_01: Just take the very very best and bring that back.
- 22:14SPEAKER_01: But that is your club.
- 22:16SPEAKER_01: Like that because he thinks that you talk about the 10 and the 90%.
- 22:21SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 22:23SPEAKER_01: Keep the 10% together.
- 22:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 22:26SPEAKER_01: But do it each state so that it's more than just the 30 MLS academies that are free.
- 22:33SPEAKER_00: US soccer, the only uh US soccer and MLS the only entities that could make that happen.
- 22:39SPEAKER_00: Because in in in in that ideal world, Eric's probably spot on.
- 22:44SPEAKER_00: I mean, we back when we played the Michigan team, you know, every week I was playing against Caleb Porter and the older ODP H group, you know.
- 22:53SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we had the top 20 players in every age group, and and so now what you got high school is four years, so you're talking 80 players, right?
- 23:02SPEAKER_00: You're taking the best 80 players in the state of Michigan, and we were good.
- 23:07SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we were.
- 23:08SPEAKER_00: We didn't the regional coaches didn't think we were because they only put like four players a year on the regional team, but right, but we always go and win those tournaments, and they but they loved Illinois and Missouri.
- 23:18SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, yeah, they loved Illinois and Missouri.
- 23:21SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the but so that the that's why they used to say as always ODP was too political, right?
- 23:27SPEAKER_00: But but if we could evaluate the players like we are doing with MLS next, can you come up with the top 80 players to 100 players in Michigan in the high school boys' age group?
- 23:40SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I think you I I think you can then fund them.
- 23:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 23:44SPEAKER_00: To to to be that club team they're talking about.
- 23:47SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 23:48SPEAKER_01: Each state could have their own like Clairefontaine or whatever it is in France.
- 23:51SPEAKER_01: Uh and they just train and they could live there and do school there.
- 23:56SPEAKER_00: My boy did 13 years old, did ODP in Western New York this this winter.
- 24:00SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
- 24:01SPEAKER_00: I mean, Dean Fode, uh he he directs it.
- 24:05SPEAKER_00: Um, we had Eric Ronnie, the head coach at Colgate, was his coach.
- 24:09SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 24:10SPEAKER_00: Um uh Bob, I mean they they have great coaches doing it still.
- 24:15SPEAKER_00: The players just aren't because you have clubs telling these players not to go.
- 24:20SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why wouldn't he just go?
- 24:22SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was extra training.
- 24:23SPEAKER_00: He couldn't do it in the spring because of his club schedule.
- 24:26SPEAKER_00: It was conflicting with all their schedule.
- 24:28SPEAKER_00: But why wouldn't I go take my son to get extra training from these are badass coaches that were coaching him in the winter?
- 24:34SPEAKER_00: He loved it, right?
- 24:35SPEAKER_00: They would do like half of the session, they would go in the classroom for to eat and then come back out.
- 24:41SPEAKER_00: So it's like a three-hour session.
- 24:43SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, that's value.
- 24:45SPEAKER_00: ODP.
- 24:46SPEAKER_00: And then I wish he could have stuck with it because he would have been able to play other states, and that and how fun that was to play other states.
- 24:53SPEAKER_00: Nothing beats regional too, nothing ever.
- 24:55SPEAKER_00: But that was insane too.
- 24:56SPEAKER_01: You were like three sessions a day, it's blistering heat, and especially for the best players because you'd have the pool because you have pool training in the morning, and then and then you'd have the games at night, and the games were always so great.
- 25:10SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it was so fun.
- 25:12SPEAKER_01: That was my first that was my first introduction into like high, high-level players when I was coaching it.
- 25:19SPEAKER_01: And it was like Caleb Senko was on my first ODP team.
- 25:22SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
- 25:23SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's maybe the one of the best players ever to come out of Michigan, yeah.
- 25:27SPEAKER_00: And it was awesome.
- 25:28SPEAKER_00: I was uh U14 ODP and uh Mark Christensen and Morris Lupinek.
- 25:34SPEAKER_00: Morris Lupinek and Mark Christensen were our head coaches, right?
- 25:39SPEAKER_00: We're like U-14, we're out there, first training session.
- 25:43SPEAKER_00: Mark Christensen blew up.
- 25:46SPEAKER_00: His face was red, there's spit going everywhere.
- 25:48SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
- 25:49SPEAKER_00: We were so scared of Mark, not necessarily more.
- 25:53SPEAKER_00: Morris was funny, he was awesome.
- 25:54SPEAKER_00: Morris is great.
- 25:55SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but Mark, we were so scared we terrified.
- 25:57SPEAKER_00: We kicked the shit out of everybody because we didn't, we were more scared of him.
- 26:03SPEAKER_01: I mean, okay, so uh Luis um at playoffs at at MLS next uh playoffs introduced me to Ollie Curtis.
- 26:11SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'm like, oh my god, Ollie Curtis.
- 26:14SPEAKER_01: Because I've always known Ollie, right?
- 26:15SPEAKER_01: Or known of him.
- 26:18SPEAKER_01: And I just started like talking about who I've coached with, you know, coming up, Bob Bakari and Paul Bartashuk and Matt Pakovitz and uh Will Morris and Mike.
- 26:28SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 26:28SPEAKER_01: And uh he's like, oh yeah, I played a Vardo.
- 26:31SPEAKER_01: Who was the oh man, my coach was a psycho.
- 26:33SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Mark Christensen.
- 26:36SPEAKER_01: And and then Louis thought it was so funny that I just knew right off the bat.
- 26:40SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh Mark Christensen.
- 26:41SPEAKER_00: I played over 30 State Cup when I was in my 30s in Detroit, and he was on the other team.
- 26:46SPEAKER_00: We won it as a Lansing team.
- 26:47SPEAKER_00: And uh, but he defended me one one time he came in super hard on me on an over 30.
- 26:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I and and I stopped the ball on the outside foot, and I looked back at him like, hey man, you can have the ball.
- 27:00SPEAKER_00: I I I I played for you, Mark.
- 27:03SPEAKER_00: I go, I know what you know, take it.
- 27:05SPEAKER_00: Just take it.
- 27:08SPEAKER_00: I mean he got results, he got results everywhere he was.
- 27:12SPEAKER_01: So I uh for a time I was doing the goalkeeping for the DA, the year that uh Demir won it.
- 27:17SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
- 27:18SPEAKER_01: Uh what was that, like 2010, maybe?
- 27:20SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 27:20SPEAKER_01: Um, we won the uh DA national title, but this the six teens that year, that it was coached by Matt Pakovitz.
- 27:28SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, and then Matt left and Mark took over for a little bit.
- 27:32SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 27:33SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you what, that short little brief time that Mark was uh I learned so much from him.
- 27:38SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially like his halftime adjustments.
- 27:40SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's brilliant.
- 27:41SPEAKER_01: He was brilliant.
- 27:42SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 27:42SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, I've never really thought of the game like this.
- 27:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
- 27:47SPEAKER_01: And and it was so simple.
- 27:49SPEAKER_01: And one of the very first um sessions that I watched of his, yeah, remember like when you would like call a number and then like if you said two, two players would run around the goal, yeah, and then come in.
- 28:02SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm like, uh we would do that with like eight-year-olds.
- 28:06SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I never saw that with 16-year-old studs, yeah.
- 28:09SPEAKER_01: Caleb stanko running around, and it's like, oh, you could do this with the with 16-year-olds too.
- 28:16SPEAKER_01: It's a lot more fun to watch, yeah.
- 28:18SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and it was just flying, and all the players that he developed is just un well uh I yeah, I'd give him credit for developing players.
- 28:28SPEAKER_00: I don't like it when like coaches claim players, but but Christensen, yeah, I mean his well the reason is is because you coach so many players that they all matter to you, and yeah, I as a player I didn't like that that my coach had his favorites and everyone does, you know, but it's not necessarily favorites, it's just they're a better, they're at a better level right now, right?
- 28:50SPEAKER_00: Right, and and at their position, and there's so many.
- 28:53SPEAKER_00: So I'm teaching my son this, right?
- 28:54SPEAKER_00: Because he's always like, Who's your who's your best player?
- 28:57SPEAKER_00: Who's your favorite player, Daddy?
- 28:59SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, I uh it's not about that.
- 29:01SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 29:02SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh he always thinks it's my best player.
- 29:04SPEAKER_00: It's like uh there's no like you've got to care about them all.
- 29:07SPEAKER_00: But Mark was, you know, all of our coaches here in I had Paul Safluna, um, Dr.
- 29:14SPEAKER_00: Pacone at Oakmas High School, um, you know, uh just we were just talking about that, you know, and then working with you know, just good coaches.
- 29:23SPEAKER_00: I I when I came back, coached with Brian Gugamus at Oak Miss High School.
- 29:26SPEAKER_00: He's one of the best high school coaches uh ever in MHSA's won Division I boys and girls state championships.
- 29:33SPEAKER_00: And and you know, does he get enough credit for that?
- 29:36SPEAKER_00: And there's and then Detroit, uh how many good coaches?
- 29:39SPEAKER_00: I mean, so all those are pieces of the puzzle.
- 29:43SPEAKER_01: That's one of my favorite things about this podcast, though, is that I I get to talk to people like you and all these guys.
- 29:49SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I was like, there's a lot more there's a lot of good coaches here.
- 29:55SPEAKER_01: And uh the coaches get shit on.
- 29:58SPEAKER_01: That's like the number one blame is like we need better coaching.
- 30:00SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah.
- 30:02SPEAKER_01: What you don't that that just tells me that one, you're probably foreign, yeah, and and you think that, yeah, and you're new to the United States because we've been in this for 30 years now, yeah, and they're it's so much better than it was 30 years ago.
- 30:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 30:20SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean come on.
- 30:22SPEAKER_00: We're more organized and and and tactically focused and in a lot of different ways.
- 30:28SPEAKER_00: It it looks more it's more organized, but it's it's like my my college coach, the hall of fame coach, Jim Lennox.
- 30:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he he he's one of the best ever.
- 30:36SPEAKER_00: Jim Lennox coached for the national team.
- 30:39SPEAKER_00: He yeah, he coached at Harwick, won a national championship.
- 30:42SPEAKER_00: He did a couple of my licensing.
- 30:43SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's in the hall of fame and he's in the NSCA or USC Hall of Fame.
- 30:48SPEAKER_00: He's in he he's led, he's a legend.
- 30:50SPEAKER_00: He did my C license at Bradenton.
- 30:52SPEAKER_00: He in 94 he evaluated for U.S.
- 30:54SPEAKER_00: soccer all the national teams and their style of play and did a report on every team that he saw the goose at Giant Stadium.
- 31:01SPEAKER_00: But but he's been all over the world.
- 31:03SPEAKER_00: He said it's all the same shit.
- 31:05SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 31:05SPEAKER_00: You know, we all do the same shit.
- 31:06SPEAKER_00: You go to sporting, I've been to sporting Lisbon, looks similar, you know.
- 31:11SPEAKER_01: Todd Derby, Todd Derby said that uh uh during ODP.
- 31:16SPEAKER_01: He's like, you know, I go to wherever he went, he went to like Spain or something like that, and he was like, I was expecting to be like transformed as a coach.
- 31:23SPEAKER_01: They do the exact same drills as us, yeah, and it's rondos, rondos, rondos, it's passing patterns, and then it's and and then it's games.
- 31:32SPEAKER_01: And the difference is that that Barcelona video is going around of the their U-10s and how dye dominant.
- 31:40SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the difference of the difference of them, of their 10-year-old versus our 10-year-old is that when uh we get a seven-year-old, yeah, uh we have to teach them literally uh toe taps.
- 32:00SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have to work on V-work around a cone, we have to work on like dribbling figure eights with all surfaces of their foot.
- 32:08SPEAKER_01: Those kids, when they get them at seven, when they get La Mignon Maw at seven, yeah, that kid is already like a baller, yeah.
- 32:14SPEAKER_01: And he's probably if we look at the world, he's probably the best U7 player in the world.
- 32:19SPEAKER_01: Yeah, nobody thinks like of youth players like that.
- 32:21SPEAKER_01: It's like, how do our nine-year-olds rank against all of the nine-year-olds in the United States?
- 32:29SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 32:29SPEAKER_01: It's like it and there's layers to this, but we're so diluted every like we've been talking about.
- 32:36SPEAKER_00: Like, so I I worked with uh the U 12 MLS Next team, um, Jaguars team yesterday.
- 32:42SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 32:43SPEAKER_00: Uh it was the most fun I've had coaching in a long time.
- 32:47SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
- 32:49SPEAKER_00: Because I work with no offense.
- 32:50SPEAKER_01: Do you miss club just a little bit?
- 32:52SPEAKER_00: A little bit for the first time in a long time.
- 32:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 32:55SPEAKER_00: Because I told them I said they're they're two 14s and 215s.
- 32:59SPEAKER_00: We're 2014s, 2015s.
- 33:00SPEAKER_00: My son's a 2013.
- 33:02SPEAKER_00: And and um, well, I work with my son's club, but you know, first of all, everybody doesn't show up, including my own son.
- 33:09SPEAKER_00: We don't all have 100% participation all the time, so it makes it difficult.
- 33:12SPEAKER_00: But working with them was awesome because they just like you said, I mean, I told them yesterday, you've been coached by good coaches for a long time, they've been in the system for a long time.
- 33:26SPEAKER_00: Um, and they're their top players, right?
- 33:28SPEAKER_00: For there's they're they're trying to be MLS next players, right?
- 33:31SPEAKER_00: Um, but when you have all the best players on one team, your training session is is amazing.
- 33:37SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 33:38SPEAKER_00: And that's why these clubs need to work together to get the best players in the same spot.
- 33:43SPEAKER_00: And we do everything to avoid them being seeing each other, right?
- 33:48SPEAKER_00: Close systems and yeah, try to set up a scrimmage.
- 33:52SPEAKER_01: Oh no, they're gonna take our players if we basically play them.
- 33:55SPEAKER_00: Somewhere Buffalo.
- 33:58SPEAKER_00: Flash, we'll not play RY.
- 34:00SPEAKER_00: Uh that's they're gonna have to now.
- 34:01SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's have Buffalo Pro Group, let's have Buffalo Stallions, let's have let's have Clarence thinks they're you know, or any one of those, Nagar Pioneer, Amherst, uh uh, you know, who else?
- 34:13SPEAKER_00: Uh, Lancaster, Orchard Park, Orchard Park, and they all do a good job in their own respect, right?
- 34:19SPEAKER_00: But we're we don't work together, we're diluted, we're separating.
- 34:23SPEAKER_00: Um, here you got Jags, Wolves, Vardar, right?
- 34:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nationals.
- 34:29SPEAKER_00: Four, is that too many for Detroit?
- 34:33SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
- 34:34SPEAKER_00: Well, it's hard.
- 34:38SPEAKER_00: You got girls and boys.
- 34:40SPEAKER_01: Because I do want I I want an open system at the youth level.
- 34:43SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it'll never happen.
- 34:44SPEAKER_01: We'll always have multiple leagues and competing governing bodies, but I do want like everybody, I want I would like I wish that every club, every player, every coach was in one system, and then we just tear it out and we have promotion and relegation.
- 34:58SPEAKER_00: It's supposed to be a pyramid, right?
- 35:00SPEAKER_00: But it's it's an upside-down pyramid most of the time.
- 35:03SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and um you were talking about um I mean okay.
- 35:10SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you're at Barcelona, yeah, every single coach that's here this weekend is going to look like the best coach in the world because they get to and I had Zathy on.
- 35:20SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and Zathy uh was uh was with somebody from Barcelona or or listened to somebody talking, and and the Barcelona Youth Academy coach said it's our job just not to screw them up.
- 35:32SPEAKER_00: That's what I was just thinking.
- 35:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I uh it's like yeah, like if you don't prepare for your session with those boys, then but let's you definitely mess it up.
- 35:39SPEAKER_01: But let's uh go and copy everything that they do.
- 35:41SPEAKER_01: It's like their entry point into those kids when they get there, they are at a completely different level than our kids.
- 35:49SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's and it's because we're still a lot of first generation.
- 35:53SPEAKER_01: Think about the the best coaches or best players that you ever had at Niagara in your tenure there.
- 35:58SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guarantee you the very best players all had parents that played.
- 36:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 36:05SPEAKER_01: It's that simple.
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of players that parents are are are pro coaches, dads are pro coaches too, like Chase Dade.
- 36:12SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's exactly the pro player.
- 36:15SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, and that's the other thing in in our generation is that we're the first generation that has a lot of people that grew up playing with kids now.
- 36:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so hopefully that changes.
- 36:26SPEAKER_01: And then in one more generation, like when you're when your son has kids, that kid, yeah.
- 36:31SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that's when we're gonna be able to actually compete.
- 36:34SPEAKER_00: Like I put I compete.
- 36:35SPEAKER_00: I put my son in when he was younger in baseball.
- 36:38SPEAKER_00: Some for some reason I was talked into I went out there to watch him, and I'm like, I I I haven't even thrown a baseball with him ever in his life.
- 36:46SPEAKER_00: He's never put a mit on.
- 36:48SPEAKER_00: Um, what did I do here?
- 36:49SPEAKER_00: Why did I sign him up?
- 36:50SPEAKER_00: They had they had a it's on Grand Island, they had a pitching machine.
- 36:53SPEAKER_00: I thought they were gonna have like a T-ball or something, and no, he's getting a pitch, and he's like he doesn't even know how to hold the bat.
- 37:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I swear to God, he didn't even know which base to run to because we don't even watch it.
- 37:04SPEAKER_00: And I no disrespect to baseball, but I'm like, who told me to sign him up for baseball?
- 37:11SPEAKER_00: But um, but we are now in a generation where we're gonna kick the ball with our kid, like he was dribbling the ball when he was one, two years old when he could do it.
- 37:18SPEAKER_00: He was in the kitchen dribbling out Collins when he was two years old, you know.
- 37:22SPEAKER_01: So and and that's why I'm wearing this jersey because of what we talked about earlier.
- 37:25SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, I'm doing this to test people of who was the very first professional athlete that you pretended to be in your backyard.
- 37:35SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and mine was George Brett, yours was Maradona.
- 37:38SPEAKER_00: See, I I would I was with a bunch of friends that we we we caught fire earlier, and I'm 10 years older than you.
- 37:44SPEAKER_00: So 84 was earlier.
- 37:45SPEAKER_00: 86 with Diego Maradona.
- 37:47SPEAKER_00: So then 90, um, we were locked in, we wanted to see everything.
- 37:50SPEAKER_00: I had a friend, Italian friend, John Novetta, he would dribble around while we were playing anytime.
- 37:56SPEAKER_00: Uh he would name every player on the Italian national team, like Donadoni, Giovanni Giuseppe.
- 38:02SPEAKER_00: He would go around, he was just so he we were in tune with World Cup with national team.
- 38:08SPEAKER_00: So the national team was our pro soccer, right?
- 38:11SPEAKER_00: Like you know, Eric Winalda.
- 38:12SPEAKER_00: That's why I I love Eric.
- 38:14SPEAKER_00: I was at at the Silverdome when he scored against I was at that game too.
- 38:18SPEAKER_00: I was getting nachos.
- 38:19SPEAKER_00: He was he he scored right before halftime.
- 38:21SPEAKER_00: I was so pissed.
- 38:22SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he he was a hero, like all these guys were heroes.
- 38:26SPEAKER_00: He's in like Alexi.
- 38:27SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but uh Tony Miola was mine.
- 38:30SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that Columbia game.
- 38:31SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah that changed my life.
- 38:33SPEAKER_00: No, Tony was so good.
- 38:34SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that changed my life.
- 38:35SPEAKER_00: But he played in 90 too.
- 38:37SPEAKER_00: He was a he was a like it was a Czechoslovakia, yeah.
- 38:40SPEAKER_00: We lost four to one.
- 38:42SPEAKER_00: Still, he was saving it, hit his head on the post.
- 38:44SPEAKER_00: Like he was a man, but um, yeah, I think you know, my brother played with Lexi growing up here at Birmingham Blazers, you know.
- 38:51SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 38:51SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so watching him growing up, I was at all my brother's stuff, and he went to Bowling Green State and played.
- 38:57SPEAKER_00: I watched all his games, and that was our pro soccer.
- 39:00SPEAKER_00: We 95, I went to the first pro MLS game here at uh Giant Stadium.
- 39:05SPEAKER_00: I was like unbelievable.
- 39:07SPEAKER_01: So growing up in Oakamus, you guys had to come all the way down here.
- 39:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it wasn't You didn't have club up there really back then?
- 39:15SPEAKER_00: No.
- 39:15SPEAKER_00: We we had a couple, we had a couple dads that were awesome that really tried to to make that happen.
- 39:21SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 39:22SPEAKER_00: And and there's a Capillary Soccer League in Lansing.
- 39:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 39:33SPEAKER_00: We had one and um my brother's age group, and then I can't remember Rowdies, they were called.
- 39:40SPEAKER_00: And then we had uh Vandervoort Sting, we had a Vanderboort last, and then we had CA Capital Area City before, but this was along when I was playing.
- 39:50SPEAKER_00: So they tried to get all the community boys together one time or two times, probably three different times.
- 39:55SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 39:55SPEAKER_00: And it was frowned upon that you left to go to Detroit.
- 39:58SPEAKER_00: Um, my brother was one of the first ones, Aaron Smith and his family.
- 40:03SPEAKER_00: Um, and and we were we we you know, you were said that you thought you're better than everybody, you know, you're gonna go, you're gonna leave.
- 40:10SPEAKER_00: And uh Are you serious?
- 40:11SPEAKER_00: By the time I did it, then now we had a handful of guys doing it.
- 40:16SPEAKER_00: And then, you know.
- 40:18SPEAKER_01: You know what?
- 40:18SPEAKER_01: That kind of happened during ODP.
- 40:20SPEAKER_01: Like when I started coaching ODP is uh and Todd was a part of it.
- 40:25SPEAKER_01: And it it was still kind of like that when he was with TNT and everything, and it was some clubs.
- 40:33SPEAKER_01: Now TNT I don't think was.
- 40:34SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 40:35SPEAKER_01: Because they would they if they had a kid that was good enough to go to Wolves back when it was just Wolves and Vardar, yeah.
- 40:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it they go.
- 40:42SPEAKER_00: Well, I had a team that was better than the Wolves.
- 40:44SPEAKER_00: There were two in the state, Atlancing, TNT, and uh what year were what were year with those boys?
- 40:50SPEAKER_00: Boys that spend like 89, 90, okay.
- 40:54SPEAKER_00: And they're coming to the Michigan State game when we play at Michigan State August 30th.
- 40:58SPEAKER_00: But they were the second best team behind Vardar.
- 41:00SPEAKER_00: We lost one-zero to Vardar, but the second place team, we got to go to regionals.
- 41:04SPEAKER_00: We went two and one at Regionals from a Lansing team.
- 41:07SPEAKER_00: We won the Tampa Bay Sumbow.
- 41:09SPEAKER_00: I coached those kids since they're like 12 years old.
- 41:11SPEAKER_00: But when we went to, you know, I had three of my best players.
- 41:15SPEAKER_00: I sent the Wolves every every winter, even though we could beat them.
- 41:18SPEAKER_00: Brian Doyle was the coach, and and I'd call him up.
- 41:21SPEAKER_01: Another crazy coach.
- 41:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I say, oh, he's a hardwick guy.
- 41:24SPEAKER_00: He's a Brian is yeah, he's he's he's a good friend.
- 41:27SPEAKER_00: And and I sent him players.
- 41:29SPEAKER_00: I said, Can these guys come down?
- 41:31SPEAKER_00: And then when I was with Todd and TNT Dirt, uh, we had uh Farah Mutatu, if you remember who played for MSU, yeah.
- 41:38SPEAKER_00: And when he was nine, he was playing on my U11 team.
- 41:41SPEAKER_00: Okay, and he was like, Coach, I want to play for Barcelona.
- 41:44SPEAKER_00: I'm like, uh yeah, you might be the only the first kid that could probably play for Barcelona.
- 41:49SPEAKER_00: He was doing it at nine years old, which ridiculous.
- 41:51SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 41:52SPEAKER_00: So as soon as he was ready, Todd was on board, you know.
- 41:55SPEAKER_00: Like when he's ready to go to Detroit, and logistically, how do we get him there?
- 41:59SPEAKER_00: Yep.
- 42:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 42:01SPEAKER_00: But there is some pushback.
- 42:02SPEAKER_00: Like when I had those that really good team, why am I sending them to the Wolves and they're we're better than them?
- 42:07SPEAKER_00: Well, they didn't go because they didn't have to.
- 42:10SPEAKER_00: We had a good environment, we had we had the best players.
- 42:13SPEAKER_00: Um, but even when I started with CA United TNT and Lansing, those old Capillary Soccer League rules were in place.
- 42:21SPEAKER_00: I was only allowed to take three out of area players on a premier team.
- 42:26SPEAKER_01: They were Buffalo still has some of that stuff.
- 42:28SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 42:28SPEAKER_00: So I had to go to these this Cap player soccer league meeting for these board directors.
- 42:31SPEAKER_00: Like, why do you want to take, why do you want to take more than three out of area players?
- 42:37SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that rule was made so that some parent could protect Johnny from getting cut.
- 42:43SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
- 42:43SPEAKER_00: So you're restricting development, and and that's the only reason that rule is in place.
- 42:48SPEAKER_00: Tell me why it would not be a good idea to have the you know, a player from Brighton, we had a player from Midland come and join our team.
- 42:57SPEAKER_00: Like if I went to Detroit and went and played for the Wolves and they said, Oh, we can't, because we only allowed one out of it, it's like the international route, you know.
- 43:05SPEAKER_01: We we got rid of that.
- 43:08SPEAKER_01: It might still exist in some areas, but we got rid of it in Michigan at my old club before I was at Varner in the early 2000s.
- 43:18SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 43:19SPEAKER_01: So when I go to Buffalo in 2015, it was like a time warp.
- 43:24SPEAKER_01: I'm like, where am I?
- 43:26SPEAKER_01: All these rules.
- 43:27SPEAKER_01: What's dual card?
- 43:29SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like what does that mean?
- 43:30SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 43:30SPEAKER_01: So these kids would play at Flash, and then they would also play at like Clarence, their town team, or Grand Island.
- 43:35SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what is going on?
- 43:37SPEAKER_01: Where am I?
- 43:37SPEAKER_00: Because we weren't allowed to do that here.
- 43:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then some of our premier coaches also coach those local teams because they grew up there and they wanted to do that.
- 43:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's so difficult, you know.
- 43:49SPEAKER_00: And um, not to blame anybody, it's just it's just it is, it's it's old, archaic.
- 43:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 43:56SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's that's that's kind of why I've been avoided coming out.
- 44:00SPEAKER_00: Here because I don't want to go into it too much.
- 44:02SPEAKER_00: It's there's because again, we love Buffalo, we're all good people, it's just work together, man.
- 44:07SPEAKER_01: And all we were trying to do, and all I was trying to uh do is make Buffalo better.
- 44:12SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 44:12SPEAKER_01: And that's what that's I like to think that we do it.
- 44:16SPEAKER_01: How long have you been there?
- 44:17SPEAKER_01: 2014, 2013.
- 44:18SPEAKER_01: You were right behind 16.
- 44:20SPEAKER_01: A year after me.
- 44:21SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: So I started hearing about you when you were doing training and the playmaker, yeah.
- 44:26SPEAKER_01: Clarence and uh well, Williamsville.
- 44:29SPEAKER_01: I was at the mall at like Eastern Hills Mall.
- 44:31SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was like, dude, that sounds like a good idea.
- 44:33SPEAKER_01: That's I I I copied Bird.
- 44:36SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just copied his business model.
- 44:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, boom.
- 44:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's all you're you're friends with Burke then, and he's not really okay.
- 44:43SPEAKER_00: But a lot of my employers trained with him.
- 44:45SPEAKER_00: See, we grew up, I mean, we were coaching together in Lansing.
- 44:48SPEAKER_00: He was in Lansing, too.
- 44:49SPEAKER_00: Aaron?
- 44:50SPEAKER_00: No, I'm talking about Sean Burke.
- 44:52SPEAKER_01: You're talking about oh no, oh, I was talking about Aaron Bird.
- 44:54SPEAKER_00: Oh, Bird, Bird, Bird, yeah, yeah.
- 44:56SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Sean.
- 44:56SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, Sean's like okay.
- 44:58SPEAKER_00: Sean's from Lansing, and well, not from Lansing, but we coached together.
- 45:02SPEAKER_00: Is is he was in Lansing for several years when I was here.
- 45:05SPEAKER_00: So he coached for Todd, he coached for CA United, he coached, you know, I don't know him at all.
- 45:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, he's another one that goes to me.
- 45:13SPEAKER_00: Buffalo, he's University of Buffalo, he's doing awesome with the women's team there, you know.
- 45:18SPEAKER_00: So it sucks, but it's not good for business for to go on your show, probably, right?
- 45:22SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe not.
- 45:24SPEAKER_00: He's getting really good Western New York Flash players, right?
- 45:28SPEAKER_01: I don't know he is now.
- 45:30SPEAKER_01: He is now the women's side because Eric's in charge.
- 45:33SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when somebody else was in charge, yeah, he wouldn't allow her his girls to go to UB.
- 45:38SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of that stuff.
- 45:39SPEAKER_01: What the hell?
- 45:40SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what are you doing?
- 45:41SPEAKER_00: Well, I had that problem in Niagara for years where you, you know, clubs were listing where all their players went, and we had some, and they didn't even put us on that, you know.
- 45:52SPEAKER_00: It's like, wait a second.
- 45:53SPEAKER_00: Or what you know, we were trying to get over that stigma.
- 45:58SPEAKER_00: And and um, you know, I think at U Albany, Trevor's done a great job there.
- 46:03SPEAKER_00: He had some of that fighting with high school coaches and clubs a little bit, and then, you know, it he won, and he's done amazing and beat Maryland in NC tournament and played western out here, and you know, so it's just uh it's just uh different cities.
- 46:19SPEAKER_00: And there's an article I saw years ago, my brother sent to me with the development, they rated all the cities in the in the country, the best development for soccer in every city, minus LA and New York City.
- 46:32SPEAKER_00: And I'll have to find the article, it says Sports Illustrated or something.
- 46:35SPEAKER_00: My brother sent it to me.
- 46:37SPEAKER_00: And it and so it had some logarithm to do that.
- 46:40SPEAKER_00: And and because LA and New York are so huge or they're outliers, but there's like Denver, you know, Dallas, you know, Detroit was in the top groups, you know.
- 46:50SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good ones.
- 46:52SPEAKER_00: Um Buffalo's at the bottom last place.
- 46:57SPEAKER_00: But it's it's also size of the city that makes a difference.
- 47:00SPEAKER_00: That's why you leave LA and New York City out.
- 47:02SPEAKER_01: So how much when I talked to Rory from RNY FC and the move to ECNL and everything, high school still is super, super huge in the Buffalo area.
- 47:18SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that actually hurt RNY from getting the some of the best players because these kids wanted to play high school.
- 47:24SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 47:24SPEAKER_01: And I think it RNY might benefit from going to ECNL because of that high the high school thing.
- 47:32SPEAKER_00: Well, won't they do better on the women on the girls side too?
- 47:35SPEAKER_00: Like is that on the in the G A?
- 47:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, no, I mean ECNL.
- 47:39SPEAKER_00: If they're ECNL.
- 47:41SPEAKER_01: No, they're not going ECNL.
- 47:42SPEAKER_01: RNY isn't?
- 47:44SPEAKER_01: They can't get in.
- 47:45SPEAKER_00: Oh, I thought they had to do both now.
- 47:47SPEAKER_01: They're supposed to.
- 47:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 47:50SPEAKER_00: But the Flash doesn't like that.
- 47:53SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
- 47:54SPEAKER_01: I I am sure there's some gatekeeping going on.
- 47:56SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I I But then somebody told me that Flash doesn't have that power.
- 48:02SPEAKER_01: They're not the Hawks.
- 48:03SPEAKER_01: The Hawks can can, if they wanted to, can keep somebody up.
- 48:06SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 48:07SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 48:07SPEAKER_01: Whereas I don't somebody told me that the Flash don't have that much power.
- 48:10SPEAKER_01: I'm like, who the hell?
- 48:12SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about?
- 48:13SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they do.
- 48:14SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 48:15SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
- 48:15SPEAKER_01: And I think the player pool, like we said talked about earlier, is like they have a three-hour like stranglehold.
- 48:20SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 48:21SPEAKER_01: Like they get kids from I mean, and they're merging with all the clubs.
- 48:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you know, we're talking about MLS next earlier, right?
- 48:28SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they they like, I guess they like more teams in a geographic area, so there's more less travel, yeah, and more competition.
- 48:37SPEAKER_00: Like, so why wouldn't RNY ECNL girls be beneficial for Western York?
- 48:43SPEAKER_00: Flash, Buffalo, and Rochester.
- 48:46SPEAKER_00: Now you got two.
- 48:47SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 48:47SPEAKER_01: I mean it would split the player pool.
- 48:49SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 48:50SPEAKER_01: I think it would make Flash even less.
- 48:51SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 48:52SPEAKER_01: This is the first year in a while that they didn't have a single uh girls team in the Champions League.
- 48:58SPEAKER_01: They usually have like one, their 2010s are really good.
- 49:01SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 49:01SPEAKER_00: But on the girls' side, I've got my I'm mind-blowing.
- 49:05SPEAKER_00: It's just enough with the boys' side for me because it's like, you know, it's tough to figure out that side, but they're successful, you know.
- 49:13SPEAKER_00: ECNL is on the girl side is uh successful, producing great players.
- 49:18SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and uh one of the best players that I've had in Buffalo is 2010, and he just signed with Penn State for football.
- 49:31SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
- 49:31SPEAKER_01: He's a kicker.
- 49:32SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay.
- 49:33SPEAKER_01: Carter Petrie, he's giant, yeah, and uh it's great.
- 49:37SPEAKER_01: And he just picked up kicking for football like three years ago.
- 49:40SPEAKER_00: Oh and he l I did Derby's son did that, right?
- 49:45SPEAKER_01: Yes, he did.
- 49:46SPEAKER_01: He tried to get in the NFL, yeah.
- 49:47SPEAKER_00: Or yeah, he was on a pro club, right?
- 49:51SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I mean, so yeah, it's just now that I'm a dad, I I I had to think about it more and more.
- 50:00SPEAKER_00: And and because my son is passionate about the game, and right I want to see where the best environment is for him to go, right?
- 50:07SPEAKER_00: For sure.
- 50:08SPEAKER_01: When do you guys start?
- 50:10SPEAKER_00: Monday.
- 50:10SPEAKER_00: So I gotta leave today.
- 50:12SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
- 50:12SPEAKER_00: I gotta leave today as soon as I can because uh yeah, we got players coming in from Japan and Australia.
- 50:18SPEAKER_01: And then when's your first game?
- 50:19SPEAKER_00: And then our first game, our scrimmage against uh Colgate, August 10th at Colgate.
- 50:24SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we're uh like maybe the next week, the 15th, Monroe Community College from Rochester's coming up to play us.
- 50:32SPEAKER_00: Nice.
- 50:32SPEAKER_00: And then our first game's the 21st against uh or the 20th or 21st against Bonnie's at home.
- 50:39SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 50:39SPEAKER_00: That's a Thursday um at night.
- 50:41SPEAKER_00: We play 7 p.m.
- 50:42SPEAKER_00: against St.
- 50:43SPEAKER_00: Bonaventure.
- 50:44SPEAKER_00: So if anyone that's listening to this, and and you know, especially high school boys in Buffalo, if you want to come out and see us play, um, I gotta give some high school coaches a call and see if they'll bring their team out.
- 50:53SPEAKER_01: And then you're playing in Damon uh Michigan State uh when?
- 50:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh August 30th 30th at Michigan State, August 27 is Thursday against uh Shaka U of M at Michigan.
- 51:07SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 51:07SPEAKER_00: Um, and I hope we can give them a game.
- 51:10SPEAKER_00: You know, they're they're awesome.
- 51:12SPEAKER_00: And I worked with Damon and been friends with them, played with Damon.
- 51:16SPEAKER_00: Did you?
- 51:16SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, back at uh Detroit Dynamite we played in the summer.
- 51:20SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize his brother was the L the Las Vegas coach.
- 51:23SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 51:23SPEAKER_01: Didn't realize that.
- 51:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm like he was at Colgate University before I went to Colgate.
- 51:28SPEAKER_00: So I was working with Damon, Michigan State, Devin, left to Northwestern then or St.
- 51:36SPEAKER_00: Stephen's uh Stevens Institute, maybe after that.
- 51:38SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I I took over at Colgate with him from after he was there.
- 51:43SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I've been uh friends with Damon forever.
- 51:47SPEAKER_00: Awesome guy.
- 51:48SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking forward to getting, you know, we're staying in Oakhamus, my team.
- 51:51SPEAKER_00: We're staying right in Okhamus, so that'd be awesome.
- 51:54SPEAKER_01: I want to have him on eventually.
- 51:56SPEAKER_00: Oh, he'll come on.
- 51:57SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, he's a good dude.
- 51:59SPEAKER_00: And um we kind of overlapped soccer mind, man.
- 52:02SPEAKER_00: His dad was a coach, his brother's coach, his dad is a pro.
- 52:06SPEAKER_00: He was a pro, you know.
- 52:07SPEAKER_00: So love it.
- 52:09SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing this, man.
- 52:10SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for having me.
- 52:10SPEAKER_00: Finally, yeah, maybe we didn't do it in Buffalo, but we could do it here in Nova.
- 52:14SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
- 52:15SPEAKER_00: Thanks, brother.
- 52:16SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
- 52:16SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
- 52:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hate soccer.