August 15, 2023 • 31 mins
Our first guest this semester is longtime UW women’s soccer coach Paula Wilkens. We discuss the upcoming season, the future of their home stadium, the Women’s World Cup and former UW standout Rose Lavelle, among other things.
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(00:00):
One of my proudest moments this year. We were at out recruiting in San
Diego and we're watching San Diego Waveplay La Rain and Rose was there and
there were thirty two thousand people atthe game out a women's soccer game,
and that's pretty common now and mytwelve year old self could have never imagined
that. But when you see itand almost brings tears your eyes, and
I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but that I know, my daughter,
(00:21):
we'll have the opportunity to be aprofessional soccer player or professional something else,
probably as a woman, a womanathlete. Welcome to Going Great Across
u W Women's Athletics presented by GreatClips. Great Clips, It's going to
be great. Going Great across uW Women's Athletics is a showcase on the
great thing student athletes are accomplishing onthe field, in the classroom and beyond.
(00:46):
Now here's your host, Ryan Posic. Hello, and welcome to the
iHeart podcast Going Great Across UW Women'sAthletics presented by Great Clips. I'm Brian
Posic, the father of a formeru W women's hockey player and NCA pole
vault qualifier, The brother of anAll American basketball and soccer player and the
husband of an iron man. Inthis podcast, we'll talk with the guest
(01:07):
or guests who have made or aremaking an impact on UW women's athletics,
and our guest today is Paula Wilkins. This month, Paula begins her seventeenth
season as head coach of the Wisconsinwomen's soccer team. In the previous sixteen
years, she's got of the Badgersto nine NCAA tournaments, four Sweet sixteens,
and a Big Ten regular season titleback in twenty nineteen. The winningest
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coach in UW women's soccer history andthe third winning is coach in Big Ten
history with two hundred and ninety eightvictories, Paula Wilkins now joins us here
on Going Great across u W Women'sAthletics, presented by Great Clips. Paula,
great to see you. I rememberwhen you were hired back in two
thousand and seven. Boy, that'sbeen a while, hasn't It been a
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long time? But it's been agreat ride. But I remember the best
part of that that interview or thepress conference they had with me, and
I said, I'm just so happyto get away from cows, and everybody
in the room kind of stopped becauseat Penn State the field actually backed up
two cows, but I forgot thatI was going to the dairy State.
So I've learned a lot more sincethose days. Yeah, you know,
you coached. You were the headcoach at Penn State for six years.
You've made to the College Cup semifinals a couple of times. You had
(02:10):
a great thing going there, andyou made the change. I know it's
been a while since you made thechange, but if you thought back on
that and was that the right movefor you at the time, I do.
I think that it's really taught mea lot about becoming a better coach.
You know. I think I hadto figure out how to change a
culture. I had to grow aculture. I had to do different things
that has really made me better.To figure out how to maximize some players
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at the very beginning to kind ofget the results that we needed. And
had I not gone through that experienceand those difficult times and figuring out different
ways to do something, I don'tthink I would have grown as much as
a coach, and I don't thinkthe program would be where it is today.
So I've always loved Madison, andeven when we visited when I was
at Penn State. I love havingmy family here. Madison, Wisconsin is
a great place to raise a family, but also of the people in the
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community. The soccer community has beenvery welcome here and very awesome to me
and my family. So I lovedthat part And don't look back at all
the keys to your success at PennState the same here at Wisconsin are different.
They were different, I think,different personalities, different schools, different
types of things that you're kind oflooking at. I think here we know
the heartnessed soul of our team isgoing to be based on the core of
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players in Wisconsin and Minnesota, andthey're very determined, hard working, some
very talented players. But that's whereour bases of Midwest players are and that's
a little bit different than the EastCoast than it was. Not good or
bad, just just different. AndI think we've got them a lot more
organized, kind of individually to getthings done that way. So I've learned
to get teams to kind of buyinto things collectively. Yeah, you know,
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you're not a Midwest galle you arenow, I wouldn't say Middletown,
Pennsylvania. Was that East coast that'swhere you were born and raised by Richard
and Sandry, your parents. Yes, it's two and a half hours from
from the Jersey Shore, so yeah, it's close enough to be able to
do that. But I think whereI grew up was a lot more like
some Wisconsin towns, a little bitsmaller area, farm like my elementary schools
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right next to a farm, sameall the things. So I kind of
have the same traditions as I goalong here. But a small town girl,
So being a Madison was a littlebit more of a you know,
even being from different from State College. It's a little bit bigger city and
everything that. But I love thatand I love the culture of that.
So how did you first get involvedin soccer? My dad said, one
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day, I just turned them andsaid, I want to play soccer.
And my cousins, who I attributeto very much, they played soccer.
So when I saw and visited them, they're all older boys men now,
they kind of enticed me and Iwanted to do that. So because they
were doing it, I wanted todo it, and that's how I started.
My sister did the same type ofthing. You play with her brothers,
and then you play on boys teams, and you did, and you
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really had to hold your own Isuppose, right. Oh, I sounds
so antiquated, but I always saythat I started on varsity on my boys
high school team as a freshman,and we were talking about the other day.
I'd sit in the locker room bymyself, and you know, they'd
knock on the door and then I'dcome out to the game. So I
had to do some things a littlebit differently than everybody else. I played
on a boys team until I wasabout sixteen years old, so it was
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really great because I was I grewup with all the boys on my team,
right, so it was more local, more community, right, So
I knew a lot of them andthey protected me. So I look back
now, I'm thinking like I wasa maybe a fourteen or fifteen year old
girl playing against a seventeen year oldboy. Like I look at it physically
now and I like kind of cringe. But it really taught me one just
how to adapt to challenging the challengingsituations, but that you can do things
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to put your mind to, butalso the support of people around you is
really important. Yeah, you hada couple of youth coaches that helped you
along the way too and gave youthe opportunities, right, great ones.
And I always started off with thefirst gentleman that I had. I tried
out for the boys team and hetold my dad, no way, a
girl's gonna play on this team.And he was this huge rugby player guy
who's just a dad, I think, and my dad's well, if she's
(05:53):
good enough as the boys, willyou let him play? And he was
the first guy that gave me theopportunity to step onto the field. And
he said, yes, if she'sgood enough, we'll put her on the
field, and he did. Andthat guy changed my life. We always
talked about superheroes, but he wasa superhero for me because he followed my
career all through junior high in highschool. He came to all my games,
even though he was not a soccersoccer guy. He was just a
dad who did soccer. But hewas a huge impact on my life and
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to do that. So Mike Schultisright and Roger Medical, Roger Mangel,
Yep, they're both those guys.They would take me to stuff with my
dad. My parents couldn't do it. They were the type of people that
would pick me up if my parentscouldn't get get them there because of their
jobs or anything that. And likethey just we really got them too,
family friends, and you know,it's kind of sad they both kind of
passed recently, and he kind ofgo like, well, you know,
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I want to pass what they gaveto me on to other people. So
they were really great guys to dothat. But like I said, they
there's they weren't great soccer backgrounds.They were just you know, Roger one
time just popped up at we playedUCF and you just showed up at the
game. And so like you justwhen people care about you and are invest
in how you do, you don'twant to let him down and you just
kind of want to pass that onto people. Paula mentioned both Mike and
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Roger during Well, it was duringthe fiftieth anniversary the Title nine. Last
year you wrote an article for UWBadgers dot Com that was titled Proud to
be a Title nine baby. Sowhat were you trying to get across to
the read? Well, A lotof my success in my life has always
been based on Title nine. Youknow, I got a chance. My
high school team didn't have a girlsprogram until unfortunately I got my job broken
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in a game. And my parentswould never do this, but they kind
of said, well, we needa women a girls team here they added
it. My parents couldn't really affordfor me to go to college, but
I got a college scholarship because ofthe scholarships given to women with athletics graduated
want to go on to grad schooldidn't really have the avenue to do it,
but Pence they had added women soccerand they needed an assistant coach,
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so I got a job doing that, and then you know, then just
the explosion of the Big Ten andjob opportunities in that way. So I
really very thankful for that. Iwas born in nineteen seventy two, so
kind of in that in that way, so I wasn't on the like cutting
edge where all some of the womenthat really laid the roundwork for it,
but I was definitely a beneficiary ofwhat they did. And so I take
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that with a very heavy responsibility tomake sure that we keep carrying that on.
And one of my proudest moments thisyear, we were at out recruiting
in San Diego and we're watching SanDiego Wave play the La Rain and Rose
was there and there were thirty twothousand people at the game, out of
women's soccer game, and that's prettycommon now, and my twelve year old
self could have never imagined that.But when you see it, it almost
(08:30):
brings tears your eyes. And Iknow it sounds a bit dramatic, but
that I know my daughter, we'llhave the opportunity to be a professional soccer
player or professional something else, probablyas a as a woman, a woman
athlete. Paula played college soccer atyou Mass. You were a defender,
good defender. I always joke andsay that I hope some days she hears
(08:50):
this, but Brandon Scurry should payme a lot of money because I was
such a bad defender that she hadto make so many saves that she ought
to be so good. But Iguess I was okay. I was probably
I was an All American for oneseason, but mostly because Bryce was very
good. But I think I couldlead very well and do those things.
I always joke. It's kind oflike you didn't have to be as athletic
(09:11):
back then to be a good soccerplayer. So that's where I kind of
tapped myself out. Yeah, BriannaScurry was the goalkeeper for U mass They
made it to the College Cup semifinalsnineteen ninety nine, No. Nineteen ninety
three. She played for the WorldCup winning team in nineteen ninety nine.
You captained that team that made itto the to the College Cup semi finals,
right, I did, And I'dlike to still stay for the record.
(09:33):
The PK against Miaham was not aPK. I got all ball.
That was the first goal that UNCscored. They proceeded to score three more
goals after that. But I'm verysure if anybody watches the video on Briana
Scurry, they can see the videothat that was not a PK. Okay,
you played against Miahan. Yeah,growing up that was Julie Faudi Miaham.
That was like the tradition or thegeneration that I did. They were
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a lot faster than I was,so that's kind of what we did me
out, But they so Tiffany andMilburt, all those ninety nine ers were
my age group. So you know, you went through your college career.
You know, here you have friendsand former teammates that are playing at the
World Cup level. Eventually, women'sprofessional soccer came along, But when did
you realize, Okay, my playingdays are over. I played a little
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semi pro and I didn't really paythe bills. It was assistant coach for
the while Penn State and still playedsemi pro for a little bit, but
I had a drive to Boston toplay, and that got to be a
little bit more challenging. But Ifell in love with the coaching part most
of the When I read back tosome of the notes that people wrote me
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in college after I was done playing, as I say, well, we
believe that you're going to become acoach, and I was like, what
are you guys talking about? Well, I thought I was gonna be a
professor, so I guess it wasin the same vein of some sort.
But they thought that I saw thegame a little bit differently. So when
I got to Penn State, Iwas really hell bent. I don't use
that but right. I was reallyset on becoming a professor, getting my
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degrees to do that. But thePenn State program just took off. Like
our first year we were fourteen fourand one. We had some good players.
Coach Farmer got it going. PatrickFarmer got it going right, away
fast. I hope I was partof that. But within like three or
four years we were we were competingat the national level and I fell in
love with it. Pat Farmer,the longtime coach at Penn State, he
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was obviously a mentor too. Hewas great. And we always talk about
mentors like women have to mentor women, and I think that's very true.
But I think some of the greatestmentors I had were men, and that
their willingness to help me and promoteme. I know when Pat decided to
move on to the pro leagues,he talked to the administration and said,
you gotta hire Paula. And soI think people men with other higher egos
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and that might not have done that, But his support of me and how
he felt he wanted to helped medevelop was pretty incredible. And I hope
to do that for other women alongthe way. This is going great across
you. Women's Athletics presented by GreatClips. We're speaking with u W women's
soccer coach Paula Wilkins. So everyjob has its challenges. What are the
major challenges here at the University ofWisconsin. I think one of the biggest
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ones is getting players to actually comevisit. Once they get here, they
see how awesome Madison is. ButI think the image that people have from
further away is, you know,it's cows, it's cold, it's that.
And I haven't been amazed about thenumber of people when they come to
visit and it'll be something like,oh, my dad made me come on
this visit, and they fall inlove with it. And so I think
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in the Midwest it's a little bitknown. But if you're talking about the
East coast West coast, unless there'sa connection, they don't really know what
it is. But once they geton campus, then they truly fall in
love with it. So I thinkthat's one of the biggest challenges we have.
Yeah, so do you have tochange the way you go about trying
to bring these kids in. Isuppose you have to have a heck of
an imagination to finally get them tocome here. Right if they're balking at
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it, like, oh, it'sWisconsin. Well, I think that you
find people who have connections who cantell them about it. I think we
built some networks with it. Ihave connections with the coaching world, so
now people kind of do that.I think rose help a lot, you
know, because it just gives itsome visibility. But I think we've pride
ourselves, especially Tim and I we'vebeen together for a long time now,
is that we really find players thatwe know we can develop and make better.
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You know. The big story withRose was I read passed on her
because she was small, but wesaw something in her that we knew that
we could make better and get herto the next level. So I think
we've we've take pride in doing thatoften, and so we don't look at
it as as an obstacle. Wejust look at us as a challenge that
we can go overcome. You've broughtup Rose several times, so let's jump
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to Rose Lavelle. Three time AllAmerican, four time All Big Ten Honory,
two time Big Ten Midfielder of theYear. You just chuckled when I
say Rose Lavelle? What comes tomind for us? Everybody thinks of her
as the soccer player, right,I just think of Rose's the great kid,
the kid would sit on the couchand make me laugh, who just
was very humbling and has not changed. I think it's changed her life.
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I don't think it's changed her ofwho she is, and so I always
have fund memories of her just youknow, as as a person, and
that she is like family. Shecares about my family, She'll never miss
a birthday, she knows birthday,she knows all those things. So let
me talk about a person who caresand is invested just not because of Wisconsin's
soccer and what she did here,but because of the people. That's what
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Rose is all about. So whattype of impact did Rose Lavelle have on
this program or maybe still has onthis program? I think still does.
I think people see that. Youknow, one of the big questions people
have knows, well, can Igo can you help me get pro?
Can you help me go pro?Can you help me do all this?
And I think Rose is the simplestanswer we can give them, like,
yeah, it's you know, whatpeople do on a program, like when
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they get there is what's going toget them to the next level. It's
not always the program. Now,listen, our support, our support staff.
Here are the players that we havein around that can elevate them and
make them better. But it showsthat you know, having to be great
responsible for some aspects of the game, whether it's defending, which was what
she did, and learned here thatadded to her attacking part that made her
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the player that she is. She'llalways talk about how she had to figure
out how to defend that sometimes whenshe talks to players who go to other
schools, they don't how to defendbecause she had to do everything and that
made her better at the highest level. She's a fantastic player, so much
fun to watch. And I knowthis past World Cup she was injured prior
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to the World Cup, I thinkin April or she returned in April.
Maybe wasn't one hundred percent, Andunfortunately we didn't see her as much out
on the field as I think youand I would both like you for sure,
right well, the ollow cards wereunfortunate. I think that was Rose
trying to put a stamp on hergame, which you know is another part
she's adding. But you know what'sinteresting when people watch Rose, if you
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don't see her play live, youdon't really understand what she does at the
international level, because you know,she does all the fun, tricky stuff
that you guys see. But offthe ball, the work rate she does,
the recovery runs she does is veryimpressive her. I know that sometimes
with the youth teams. They actuallyshow her recovery runs more than anything,
saying that you know, you canbe talented on the ball, but if
you do this side, you know. And she'll always joke that one time
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we were playing at Stanford and she'splaying at Andy Sullivan, who's with the
national team right now, and shehad her having to go back and forth
between two things, and Tim saidat halftime to he said can you do
this? And she goes, doI have a choice? Right? And
that just gets the mentality that that'swhat she had to do, and I
think that carried on to her inthe next level. U w women's soccer
coach Paula Wilkins is with US andwhile her team is getting ready to start
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another season. The Women's World Cupwrapping up in Australia, New Zealand.
Top seeded United States narrowly made itout of the knockout stage or to the
knockout stage, and then lost inpenalty kicks to number three seed Sweden.
USA was the number one seed,and I know a lot of people have
been critical of what transpired down under, but the number two seed Germany got
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knocked out, what Canada was seven. I think Brazil was eight. Some
top teams didn't even get out ofthe opening round. So teams are getting
better out there. People have torealize that I do. And uh,
that's what's incredible. You know,you talk about the Champions League in women
soccer right now, they're they're sellingout in two hours for ninety eight thousand
with Barcelona like and you know,it's not even like pity people going.
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That's a significant amount of money andit's happening. So the support of women's
soccer around the world, and that'sjust not in Germany and England and that
it's it's all. It's it's inAsia, it's everywhere. And so it's
then giving more resources to other countriesto do this. So you as I
think, if you still look atit from top to bottom, they were
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they were talented of another. Ithink there's been a lot of criticism and
again I never want to be inthat seat where of lack coset, but
I think, you know, Ithink we had to get them in a
better situation, some tactically and preparationwise to do that. I've learned a
lot from Jill Ewis over the years. She's been a very good friend and
mentor of mine nor since I wassixteen years old. And the preparation that
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goes into those events is incredible,and you know it's by millimeters, but
it's also some of those coaching decisionsthat people have to make that you know,
can you get people to compliment eachother? Can you get that?
And that's years and years of preparation. So I think that's something they'll turn
back and focus on again. Vlatkoand Danofsky was the head coach and kind
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of dealt a tough hand. Therewere a lot of injuries. I mean,
you think about Becky Sauerbrun, oneof the best defenders, Julie Ertz,
Megan Rapino weren't completely healthy. RoseLeavel obviously was coming back and she
won the Bronze Ball in twenty nineteen. Is the third best player at the
World Cup. Mallory Swanson real goodscore. She wasn't available, Katerina Makario
sam. I mean, there werea lot of top line, front line
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players that weren't available to him.So there those are facts. You can
use them as excuses if you want. But you also said tactically, there
were some things that you were curiousabout, and I read that mid field
play wasn't what a lot of peoplehoped it would be. In if your
midfield doesn't play well, your attackgame isn't very good either, And that's
what I've read that that was themajor problem. What do you think.
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I think there's some merit to that. I think one of the problems they
had is you have you have Rooseveltand you have Lindsay Haran, who are
attacking princesses on the field. Ifyou want to play with two holding because
Julie Arts has to go in theback, you have to take one off
the field. So those are thetough decisions that coaches have to make.
And again, I do not wantto be in that seat, but I
think that's some of the situations thathe had to face and decide, like
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do you take one of them offthe field? What do you do in
these situations? You know, doesdo the forwards compliment Alex Morgan? You
know she's getting older in her age, so you know she's a box forward.
Are we now getting good service?Maybe Lynn Williams gives you better service,
or Sophia Smith is more of adribbler. So you know, when
you look back at the twenty nineteenI think Jill had learned a lot from
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the twenty fifteen World Cup to getbetter for that, and I don't know
if Laco had that opportunit. Ineed to learn from what happened there,
and as I kind of watch itand learn, you to see that there's
has to be better compliments on thefield. But again, we're not inside
what they see every single day,right, So from the outsider, you
kind of say, like, Okay, well you played a want of cook
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all these games beforehand, but thenyou didn't play it all in the tournament,
So is it selection? Is itwhat you see other teams are going
to do. So again, there'sa lot of questions, but I don't
think anyone can be critical unless you'resitting in that seat right because they know
all the information. I guess what'sit's it's unfortunate they lost. You know,
there was so much buzz in twentynineteen when you know they had after
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their third straight World Cup title,and the excitement it builds, and you
know, I'd like to watch themplay tomorrow morning or the next morning,
or in the final, for sure, But the vitry all that came out
against some of the players, theteam itself. I mean there was there
was some political pundent out there sayingI'm glad they lost, you know,
I mean Donald Trump sends out atweet. You know that, you know
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they many of the players showed norespect for America. You know, woke
means failure. I mean that thatthat's hurtful, means spirited and what because
the team didn't show up at theWhite House in twenty nineteen or whatever the
case may be, You're gonna throwthem under the bus. I guess,
plain and simple. The better teamwon in the round of sixteen. And
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yes it was penalty kicks, butthat that's what happens. You win or
you lose. It's not all theother stuff. The Yeah, I just
I lost. It was frustrating towatch. Were you frustrated to or did
you hear some of the stuff,some of the bad mouthing of this this
uh women's organization? Yeah, mostlybecause I know some of the players personally
(21:45):
and even Rose they're they're not likethat at all, And to be lumped
together or even as a group,to even have that on them just because
of maybe one or two things havehappened in the past, I think it's
not fair. Like I said,like Rose is truly like invested, humble
kid who I wish would be outthere more to help younger kids see that
(22:06):
it's okay to be you know,different or in those different ways. So
it does fuster you because they aregreat role models. A lot of them
are really in it to help peopleand promote women moving in a good direction,
and so that's kind of disappointing tosee that. You know, I
hear you say about the loss,and again I'm also with you that you
(22:27):
want to see them and you wantto get watching those games and be so
excited about it. But I'm hopingit's this because there's a story about Rose
when they lost into Germany, whenshe was like ten years old watching the
World Cup. She was under herbed crying. And maybe there's some ten
year old out there who's crying rightnow saying, I gotta do this right.
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And I think that would be thecoolest thing if there's the next Rose
Lavelle out there who's like so sadbecause they lost and it's like ready to
go, you know, So somebody'sout there, Yeah, well we see
Rose in twenty twenty seven. That'sa good question. That is a good
question. I can't speak for her, but I think that would be her
plan, is to keep playing fora little bit longer, because I think
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most of them that's kind of theirshelf life. One more rotation through there.
So shelf life is not the rightword there, but it's kind of
funny, but I do think that'sher plan. Like I haven't spoke to
her directly about that after the WorldCup as she's kind of shut down.
Going great across u w Women's Athleticspresented by Great Clips, Paula. Wilkins
is with his head coach of theWisconsin women's soccer team, and there was
an article recently in the Wisconsin StateJournal about the mccliman Complex, which has
(23:33):
been the home for men's and women'ssoccer for a long long time. There
have been incremental upgrades to the facilityover the years, but so much more
can be done. You know,having fans around the field I think was
a fantastic addition a few years agobecause it gets you up close and personal.
(23:53):
But so many more things can bedone there, I guess, or
you know, there's questions about maybethere's another place on campus that soccer and
track can call home someday. Canyou give your listeners or soccer fans any
idea of what may be happening withthem a climb and complex in the coming
(24:14):
future. I have no idea.I think that campus is still working on
what they want to do in theathletic department has to fix kind of or
go with what they're trying to doand what that. So I have really
no information with that. What Itell my players is this is that their
experience here. We can talk aboutfacilities and brooks and mortar and all that,
but the relationships that we build withone another and in our program,
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that's what they're going to remember everythingall the entire time. And you know,
I think as they put the upgrades, we've gotten more people for attendance.
As we've become more successful, we'vehad more people in attendance. And
I think that's important to help ourfacility because I think a nice facility attracts
people to see the game. Butthat doesn't stop from what they do on
the field. You know, ifyou talk to a lot of them after
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they leave, their experience chance willbe the memories they've had with one another
and not exactly that. You know, the surface at at M climate is
is wonderful. It's fantastic, andour field guys do an amazing job with
that. I think they won't reallythink twice about it because I think the
athletes here have such a great experience, or at least try to have them
(25:18):
great experience, that that's what they'llfocus on in the future. You're talking
about trying to get kids in hereon recruiting visits. Has mccliman hindered your
recruiting or has that had nothing todo with Well, they haven't told me,
but so I don't really know fromdata if that really has, but
I'm pretty sure it probably has alittle bit. Yeah, over the years,
who has the best complex in thebig ten? Woo Illinois just got
(25:41):
a brand new facility, but theyhave a track in soccer facility, So
we want to kind of mimic thata little bit. Michigan has a very
good facility. They have it overhangand they have it with their men's and
women's program. Yeah, I'm goingwith that's. Well, there are other
ones, but they're not like outstanding, but they're not bad. Right,
So, like Minnesota has always beenahead of the game to have their locker
(26:02):
rooms at the field and everythink that, but Rutgers the same thing, But
again they haven't been updated. Ithink, Oh, Purdue, Perdue is
very produced, very nice, andIndiana has just upgraded there as as well,
So Perdue, Indiana, Iowa.They've all upgraded recently. So we're
hanging in there with USC coming andwe were really excited because they weren't very
good. But they just have aeight million dollar news stadium coming. Yes,
(26:23):
so I was going to ask youabout that. So the Big ten
is expanding. Oh, now theydo well. They didn't have lights,
but now they have lights in anew stadium. Yes, So the Big
ten's expanding. UCLA the defending nationalchampion, USC one it in twenty sixteen.
I think it is. So you'rebringing in two quality programs and then
eventually Washington and Oregon are going tocome in in two. The Big Ten
(26:45):
already was tough. How much tougheris it going to be? Very?
I think, and we talk aboutthis. Everybody is aware of this,
Like the travels obviously going to becomemore of a challenge less probably for US.
I don't want to be UCLA goingRutgers. That might be a little
bit more challenging, so I thinkwe're kind of in the middle. I
realize every time I fly now it'snot as bad as when I was in
state college and having to go ona red eye or anythink that. But
(27:07):
I think it's great because it alsoprovides visibility. I think that means also
we can recruit in different areas.Now, if you're a kid from California,
you know more about Wisconsin because whenwe come to play there, you'll
see us, whereas maybe in thepast wet you wouldn't see us as much.
So I think it will open upour recruiting base a little bit because
people will feel like, well,I can go home at one point because
I'll play in front of a crowdbecause of the situation here again, Paula
(27:30):
Wilkins is with us. And beforewe get to the twenty twenty three Badgers.
Last season, you got off toa great start, You're ten one
and two. Hit a little bumpin the road, unfortunately, and that
may have prevented you from getting tothe NCAA tournament. But you look at
this year's roster, I think youhave eight seniors or grad students, but
you also have nine freshmen, Soit's kind of a different dynamic this year
is it's a really interesting and fundynamic, and probably for the first time
(27:53):
in my career, and that includesPenn State, where I'm gonna have to
make some hard decisions and more decisionsbase based on bringing people onto the field
based on their characteristics rather than theirtalent. Because right now, I'm excited
that I'm excited that they haven't reallydelineated each other because their talent is high.
But I'm also like upset they haven'tdelineated themselves. But I think that
(28:14):
the biggest thing we talked to theplayers about right now is it's not she's
better, it's she's different. Andso you know, if I want to
come in and bring somebody and saywe need a better passer out of the
back, we can bring somebody in. Well, we need to shut this
down defensively, I'm bringing in adifferent player and they really have different qualities
that I've never really had the opportunityto do that at any college team I've
had. At Penn State, they'veall kind of been like, Okay,
here's your eighteen I mean, here'syour fifteen players. You're good, you
(28:37):
know what you're gonna do here?We are way deeper than that right now.
How that shakes out is really goingto be repliant a little bit on
how they deal with stuff in thatcompetition for playing time and how I manage
them as well. So I'll takesome owners on myself. Yeah, sounds
like fun, though, I mean, that's why you coach, right But
I don't sleep right now. Butyes, that's why I coach, and
that's what's gonna make me. Isaid this is I think the moment they
(29:00):
can take the program to the nextlevel, that they create this environment that
forces each of them to be betterin training, which then raises the level
when they play. So I'm reallyexcited about that. Like I said,
communication and giving them feedback is goingto be really a lot of my job
and it'll be more managing than I'veever done. So what is the next
level for Wisconsin women's soccer. Well, I think we've we've won the Big
(29:23):
ten, so keeping being in thatconversation all the time, I think breaking
past the bubble of the Sweet sixteen, we've done that, but we seem
to run into the number one seedevery single time. So that's seating and
being prepared in that way. Andthen the other part that I really part
I enjoy about the job is goingback to the very beginning. Is that
now talking about players going pro,you've had seven, you've been right,
(29:48):
and so getting them to get preparedto do that again. And now there's
there's gonna be more teams, there'sgonna be more opportunity. So we want
to really create this environment and teachthem. You know, after this,
I'm gonna sit down with one offreshman who I think has the ability to
do that, but make sure she'sgetting better at every single practice so she
has that opportunity to do that.You know, for me, I want
to get another Roosevelt, not maybethat position, but I want that again.
(30:11):
And so I think that's the nextlevel for us. We wish you
all the best too. A newseason begins August seventeenth, home match against
Kansas. August twentieth, the Badger'shost ui C, Then back to back
road matches against powerhouse programs North Carolinaand Duke on the twenty fourth and twenty
seventh of August, home against LSUon August thirty first, another home match
(30:32):
against Marquette September tenth. Who putthat schedule together, Paul my assistant coach
Tim. It's given me an ulceralready. But we always say to be
the best, you have to playthe best. So we're gonna figure out
what we do well and what weneed to fix in this short amount of
time. Big ten begins September fifteenthin Nebraska. Big ten home opener for
the Badgers Tuesday night, September twentyfeet against Iowa. Paul, it's fun
(30:55):
talking to you. Best of luck, and I hope you have a healthy,
happy season coming up. Thank youvery much. I hope so too.
All right, that's Paula Wilkins,head coach of the Wisconsin women's soccer
team. Going great across UW Women'sAthletics presented by Great Clips and iHeartRadio.
Going great across UW Women's Athletics presentedby Great Clips, Great Clips. It's
going to be great.
One of my proudest moments this year. We were at out recruiting in San
Diego and we're watching San Diego Waveplay La Rain and Rose was there and
there were thirty two thousand people atthe game out a women's soccer game,
and that's pretty common now and mytwelve year old self could have never imagined
that. But when you see itand almost brings tears your eyes, and
I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but that I know, my daughter,
(00:21):
we'll have the opportunity to be aprofessional soccer player or professional something else,
probably as a woman, a womanathlete. Welcome to Going Great Across
u W Women's Athletics presented by GreatClips. Great Clips, It's going to
be great. Going Great across uW Women's Athletics is a showcase on the
great thing student athletes are accomplishing onthe field, in the classroom and beyond.
(00:46):
Now here's your host, Ryan Posic. Hello, and welcome to the
iHeart podcast Going Great Across UW Women'sAthletics presented by Great Clips. I'm Brian
Posic, the father of a formeru W women's hockey player and NCA pole
vault qualifier, The brother of anAll American basketball and soccer player and the
husband of an iron man. Inthis podcast, we'll talk with the guest
(01:07):
or guests who have made or aremaking an impact on UW women's athletics,
and our guest today is Paula Wilkins. This month, Paula begins her seventeenth
season as head coach of the Wisconsinwomen's soccer team. In the previous sixteen
years, she's got of the Badgersto nine NCAA tournaments, four Sweet sixteens,
and a Big Ten regular season titleback in twenty nineteen. The winningest
(01:27):
coach in UW women's soccer history andthe third winning is coach in Big Ten
history with two hundred and ninety eightvictories, Paula Wilkins now joins us here
on Going Great across u W Women'sAthletics, presented by Great Clips. Paula,
great to see you. I rememberwhen you were hired back in two
thousand and seven. Boy, that'sbeen a while, hasn't It been a
(01:47):
long time? But it's been agreat ride. But I remember the best
part of that that interview or thepress conference they had with me, and
I said, I'm just so happyto get away from cows, and everybody
in the room kind of stopped becauseat Penn State the field actually backed up
two cows, but I forgot thatI was going to the dairy State.
So I've learned a lot more sincethose days. Yeah, you know,
you coached. You were the headcoach at Penn State for six years.
You've made to the College Cup semifinals a couple of times. You had
(02:10):
a great thing going there, andyou made the change. I know it's
been a while since you made thechange, but if you thought back on
that and was that the right movefor you at the time, I do.
I think that it's really taught mea lot about becoming a better coach.
You know. I think I hadto figure out how to change a
culture. I had to grow aculture. I had to do different things
that has really made me better.To figure out how to maximize some players
(02:34):
at the very beginning to kind ofget the results that we needed. And
had I not gone through that experienceand those difficult times and figuring out different
ways to do something, I don'tthink I would have grown as much as
a coach, and I don't thinkthe program would be where it is today.
So I've always loved Madison, andeven when we visited when I was
at Penn State. I love havingmy family here. Madison, Wisconsin is
a great place to raise a family, but also of the people in the
(02:57):
community. The soccer community has beenvery welcome here and very awesome to me
and my family. So I lovedthat part And don't look back at all
the keys to your success at PennState the same here at Wisconsin are different.
They were different, I think,different personalities, different schools, different
types of things that you're kind oflooking at. I think here we know
the heartnessed soul of our team isgoing to be based on the core of
(03:19):
players in Wisconsin and Minnesota, andthey're very determined, hard working, some
very talented players. But that's whereour bases of Midwest players are and that's
a little bit different than the EastCoast than it was. Not good or
bad, just just different. AndI think we've got them a lot more
organized, kind of individually to getthings done that way. So I've learned
to get teams to kind of buyinto things collectively. Yeah, you know,
(03:43):
you're not a Midwest galle you arenow, I wouldn't say Middletown,
Pennsylvania. Was that East coast that'swhere you were born and raised by Richard
and Sandry, your parents. Yes, it's two and a half hours from
from the Jersey Shore, so yeah, it's close enough to be able to
do that. But I think whereI grew up was a lot more like
some Wisconsin towns, a little bitsmaller area, farm like my elementary schools
(04:05):
right next to a farm, sameall the things. So I kind of
have the same traditions as I goalong here. But a small town girl,
So being a Madison was a littlebit more of a you know,
even being from different from State College. It's a little bit bigger city and
everything that. But I love thatand I love the culture of that.
So how did you first get involvedin soccer? My dad said, one
(04:26):
day, I just turned them andsaid, I want to play soccer.
And my cousins, who I attributeto very much, they played soccer.
So when I saw and visited them, they're all older boys men now,
they kind of enticed me and Iwanted to do that. So because they
were doing it, I wanted todo it, and that's how I started.
My sister did the same type ofthing. You play with her brothers,
and then you play on boys teams, and you did, and you
(04:46):
really had to hold your own Isuppose, right. Oh, I sounds
so antiquated, but I always saythat I started on varsity on my boys
high school team as a freshman,and we were talking about the other day.
I'd sit in the locker room bymyself, and you know, they'd
knock on the door and then I'dcome out to the game. So I
had to do some things a littlebit differently than everybody else. I played
on a boys team until I wasabout sixteen years old, so it was
(05:08):
really great because I was I grewup with all the boys on my team,
right, so it was more local, more community, right, So
I knew a lot of them andthey protected me. So I look back
now, I'm thinking like I wasa maybe a fourteen or fifteen year old
girl playing against a seventeen year oldboy. Like I look at it physically
now and I like kind of cringe. But it really taught me one just
how to adapt to challenging the challengingsituations, but that you can do things
(05:31):
to put your mind to, butalso the support of people around you is
really important. Yeah, you hada couple of youth coaches that helped you
along the way too and gave youthe opportunities, right, great ones.
And I always started off with thefirst gentleman that I had. I tried
out for the boys team and hetold my dad, no way, a
girl's gonna play on this team.And he was this huge rugby player guy
who's just a dad, I think, and my dad's well, if she's
(05:53):
good enough as the boys, willyou let him play? And he was
the first guy that gave me theopportunity to step onto the field. And
he said, yes, if she'sgood enough, we'll put her on the
field, and he did. Andthat guy changed my life. We always
talked about superheroes, but he wasa superhero for me because he followed my
career all through junior high in highschool. He came to all my games,
even though he was not a soccersoccer guy. He was just a
dad who did soccer. But hewas a huge impact on my life and
(06:15):
to do that. So Mike Schultisright and Roger Medical, Roger Mangel,
Yep, they're both those guys.They would take me to stuff with my
dad. My parents couldn't do it. They were the type of people that
would pick me up if my parentscouldn't get get them there because of their
jobs or anything that. And likethey just we really got them too,
family friends, and you know,it's kind of sad they both kind of
passed recently, and he kind ofgo like, well, you know,
(06:38):
I want to pass what they gaveto me on to other people. So
they were really great guys to dothat. But like I said, they
there's they weren't great soccer backgrounds.They were just you know, Roger one
time just popped up at we playedUCF and you just showed up at the
game. And so like you justwhen people care about you and are invest
in how you do, you don'twant to let him down and you just
kind of want to pass that onto people. Paula mentioned both Mike and
(07:00):
Roger during Well, it was duringthe fiftieth anniversary the Title nine. Last
year you wrote an article for UWBadgers dot Com that was titled Proud to
be a Title nine baby. Sowhat were you trying to get across to
the read? Well, A lotof my success in my life has always
been based on Title nine. Youknow, I got a chance. My
high school team didn't have a girlsprogram until unfortunately I got my job broken
(07:23):
in a game. And my parentswould never do this, but they kind
of said, well, we needa women a girls team here they added
it. My parents couldn't really affordfor me to go to college, but
I got a college scholarship because ofthe scholarships given to women with athletics graduated
want to go on to grad schooldidn't really have the avenue to do it,
but Pence they had added women soccerand they needed an assistant coach,
(07:45):
so I got a job doing that, and then you know, then just
the explosion of the Big Ten andjob opportunities in that way. So I
really very thankful for that. Iwas born in nineteen seventy two, so
kind of in that in that way, so I wasn't on the like cutting
edge where all some of the womenthat really laid the roundwork for it,
but I was definitely a beneficiary ofwhat they did. And so I take
(08:07):
that with a very heavy responsibility tomake sure that we keep carrying that on.
And one of my proudest moments thisyear, we were at out recruiting
in San Diego and we're watching SanDiego Wave play the La Rain and Rose
was there and there were thirty twothousand people at the game, out of
women's soccer game, and that's prettycommon now, and my twelve year old
self could have never imagined that.But when you see it, it almost
(08:30):
brings tears your eyes. And Iknow it sounds a bit dramatic, but
that I know my daughter, we'llhave the opportunity to be a professional soccer
player or professional something else, probablyas a as a woman, a woman
athlete. Paula played college soccer atyou Mass. You were a defender,
good defender. I always joke andsay that I hope some days she hears
(08:50):
this, but Brandon Scurry should payme a lot of money because I was
such a bad defender that she hadto make so many saves that she ought
to be so good. But Iguess I was okay. I was probably
I was an All American for oneseason, but mostly because Bryce was very
good. But I think I couldlead very well and do those things.
I always joke. It's kind oflike you didn't have to be as athletic
(09:11):
back then to be a good soccerplayer. So that's where I kind of
tapped myself out. Yeah, BriannaScurry was the goalkeeper for U mass They
made it to the College Cup semifinalsnineteen ninety nine, No. Nineteen ninety
three. She played for the WorldCup winning team in nineteen ninety nine.
You captained that team that made itto the to the College Cup semi finals,
right, I did, And I'dlike to still stay for the record.
(09:33):
The PK against Miaham was not aPK. I got all ball.
That was the first goal that UNCscored. They proceeded to score three more
goals after that. But I'm verysure if anybody watches the video on Briana
Scurry, they can see the videothat that was not a PK. Okay,
you played against Miahan. Yeah,growing up that was Julie Faudi Miaham.
That was like the tradition or thegeneration that I did. They were
(09:54):
a lot faster than I was,so that's kind of what we did me
out, But they so Tiffany andMilburt, all those ninety nine ers were
my age group. So you know, you went through your college career.
You know, here you have friendsand former teammates that are playing at the
World Cup level. Eventually, women'sprofessional soccer came along, But when did
you realize, Okay, my playingdays are over. I played a little
(10:18):
semi pro and I didn't really paythe bills. It was assistant coach for
the while Penn State and still playedsemi pro for a little bit, but
I had a drive to Boston toplay, and that got to be a
little bit more challenging. But Ifell in love with the coaching part most
of the When I read back tosome of the notes that people wrote me
(10:39):
in college after I was done playing, as I say, well, we
believe that you're going to become acoach, and I was like, what
are you guys talking about? Well, I thought I was gonna be a
professor, so I guess it wasin the same vein of some sort.
But they thought that I saw thegame a little bit differently. So when
I got to Penn State, Iwas really hell bent. I don't use
that but right. I was reallyset on becoming a professor, getting my
(11:03):
degrees to do that. But thePenn State program just took off. Like
our first year we were fourteen fourand one. We had some good players.
Coach Farmer got it going. PatrickFarmer got it going right, away
fast. I hope I was partof that. But within like three or
four years we were we were competingat the national level and I fell in
love with it. Pat Farmer,the longtime coach at Penn State, he
(11:24):
was obviously a mentor too. Hewas great. And we always talk about
mentors like women have to mentor women, and I think that's very true.
But I think some of the greatestmentors I had were men, and that
their willingness to help me and promoteme. I know when Pat decided to
move on to the pro leagues,he talked to the administration and said,
you gotta hire Paula. And soI think people men with other higher egos
(11:48):
and that might not have done that, But his support of me and how
he felt he wanted to helped medevelop was pretty incredible. And I hope
to do that for other women alongthe way. This is going great across
you. Women's Athletics presented by GreatClips. We're speaking with u W women's
soccer coach Paula Wilkins. So everyjob has its challenges. What are the
major challenges here at the University ofWisconsin. I think one of the biggest
(12:11):
ones is getting players to actually comevisit. Once they get here, they
see how awesome Madison is. ButI think the image that people have from
further away is, you know,it's cows, it's cold, it's that.
And I haven't been amazed about thenumber of people when they come to
visit and it'll be something like,oh, my dad made me come on
this visit, and they fall inlove with it. And so I think
(12:35):
in the Midwest it's a little bitknown. But if you're talking about the
East coast West coast, unless there'sa connection, they don't really know what
it is. But once they geton campus, then they truly fall in
love with it. So I thinkthat's one of the biggest challenges we have.
Yeah, so do you have tochange the way you go about trying
to bring these kids in. Isuppose you have to have a heck of
an imagination to finally get them tocome here. Right if they're balking at
(12:56):
it, like, oh, it'sWisconsin. Well, I think that you
find people who have connections who cantell them about it. I think we
built some networks with it. Ihave connections with the coaching world, so
now people kind of do that.I think rose help a lot, you
know, because it just gives itsome visibility. But I think we've pride
ourselves, especially Tim and I we'vebeen together for a long time now,
is that we really find players thatwe know we can develop and make better.
(13:18):
You know. The big story withRose was I read passed on her
because she was small, but wesaw something in her that we knew that
we could make better and get herto the next level. So I think
we've we've take pride in doing thatoften, and so we don't look at
it as as an obstacle. Wejust look at us as a challenge that
we can go overcome. You've broughtup Rose several times, so let's jump
(13:39):
to Rose Lavelle. Three time AllAmerican, four time All Big Ten Honory,
two time Big Ten Midfielder of theYear. You just chuckled when I
say Rose Lavelle? What comes tomind for us? Everybody thinks of her
as the soccer player, right,I just think of Rose's the great kid,
the kid would sit on the couchand make me laugh, who just
was very humbling and has not changed. I think it's changed her life.
(14:01):
I don't think it's changed her ofwho she is, and so I always
have fund memories of her just youknow, as as a person, and
that she is like family. Shecares about my family, She'll never miss
a birthday, she knows birthday,she knows all those things. So let
me talk about a person who caresand is invested just not because of Wisconsin's
soccer and what she did here,but because of the people. That's what
(14:22):
Rose is all about. So whattype of impact did Rose Lavelle have on
this program or maybe still has onthis program? I think still does.
I think people see that. Youknow, one of the big questions people
have knows, well, can Igo can you help me get pro?
Can you help me go pro?Can you help me do all this?
And I think Rose is the simplestanswer we can give them, like,
yeah, it's you know, whatpeople do on a program, like when
(14:45):
they get there is what's going toget them to the next level. It's
not always the program. Now,listen, our support, our support staff.
Here are the players that we havein around that can elevate them and
make them better. But it showsthat you know, having to be great
responsible for some aspects of the game, whether it's defending, which was what
she did, and learned here thatadded to her attacking part that made her
(15:07):
the player that she is. She'llalways talk about how she had to figure
out how to defend that sometimes whenshe talks to players who go to other
schools, they don't how to defendbecause she had to do everything and that
made her better at the highest level. She's a fantastic player, so much
fun to watch. And I knowthis past World Cup she was injured prior
(15:28):
to the World Cup, I thinkin April or she returned in April.
Maybe wasn't one hundred percent, Andunfortunately we didn't see her as much out
on the field as I think youand I would both like you for sure,
right well, the ollow cards wereunfortunate. I think that was Rose
trying to put a stamp on hergame, which you know is another part
she's adding. But you know what'sinteresting when people watch Rose, if you
(15:48):
don't see her play live, youdon't really understand what she does at the
international level, because you know,she does all the fun, tricky stuff
that you guys see. But offthe ball, the work rate she does,
the recovery runs she does is veryimpressive her. I know that sometimes
with the youth teams. They actuallyshow her recovery runs more than anything,
saying that you know, you canbe talented on the ball, but if
you do this side, you know. And she'll always joke that one time
(16:12):
we were playing at Stanford and she'splaying at Andy Sullivan, who's with the
national team right now, and shehad her having to go back and forth
between two things, and Tim saidat halftime to he said can you do
this? And she goes, doI have a choice? Right? And
that just gets the mentality that that'swhat she had to do, and I
think that carried on to her inthe next level. U w women's soccer
coach Paula Wilkins is with US andwhile her team is getting ready to start
(16:34):
another season. The Women's World Cupwrapping up in Australia, New Zealand.
Top seeded United States narrowly made itout of the knockout stage or to the
knockout stage, and then lost inpenalty kicks to number three seed Sweden.
USA was the number one seed,and I know a lot of people have
been critical of what transpired down under, but the number two seed Germany got
(16:56):
knocked out, what Canada was seven. I think Brazil was eight. Some
top teams didn't even get out ofthe opening round. So teams are getting
better out there. People have torealize that I do. And uh,
that's what's incredible. You know,you talk about the Champions League in women
soccer right now, they're they're sellingout in two hours for ninety eight thousand
with Barcelona like and you know,it's not even like pity people going.
(17:21):
That's a significant amount of money andit's happening. So the support of women's
soccer around the world, and that'sjust not in Germany and England and that
it's it's all. It's it's inAsia, it's everywhere. And so it's
then giving more resources to other countriesto do this. So you as I
think, if you still look atit from top to bottom, they were
(17:42):
they were talented of another. Ithink there's been a lot of criticism and
again I never want to be inthat seat where of lack coset, but
I think, you know, Ithink we had to get them in a
better situation, some tactically and preparationwise to do that. I've learned a
lot from Jill Ewis over the years. She's been a very good friend and
mentor of mine nor since I wassixteen years old. And the preparation that
(18:03):
goes into those events is incredible,and you know it's by millimeters, but
it's also some of those coaching decisionsthat people have to make that you know,
can you get people to compliment eachother? Can you get that?
And that's years and years of preparation. So I think that's something they'll turn
back and focus on again. Vlatkoand Danofsky was the head coach and kind
(18:25):
of dealt a tough hand. Therewere a lot of injuries. I mean,
you think about Becky Sauerbrun, oneof the best defenders, Julie Ertz,
Megan Rapino weren't completely healthy. RoseLeavel obviously was coming back and she
won the Bronze Ball in twenty nineteen. Is the third best player at the
World Cup. Mallory Swanson real goodscore. She wasn't available, Katerina Makario
sam. I mean, there werea lot of top line, front line
(18:48):
players that weren't available to him.So there those are facts. You can
use them as excuses if you want. But you also said tactically, there
were some things that you were curiousabout, and I read that mid field
play wasn't what a lot of peoplehoped it would be. In if your
midfield doesn't play well, your attackgame isn't very good either, And that's
what I've read that that was themajor problem. What do you think.
(19:10):
I think there's some merit to that. I think one of the problems they
had is you have you have Rooseveltand you have Lindsay Haran, who are
attacking princesses on the field. Ifyou want to play with two holding because
Julie Arts has to go in theback, you have to take one off
the field. So those are thetough decisions that coaches have to make.
And again, I do not wantto be in that seat, but I
think that's some of the situations thathe had to face and decide, like
(19:33):
do you take one of them offthe field? What do you do in
these situations? You know, doesdo the forwards compliment Alex Morgan? You
know she's getting older in her age, so you know she's a box forward.
Are we now getting good service?Maybe Lynn Williams gives you better service,
or Sophia Smith is more of adribbler. So you know, when
you look back at the twenty nineteenI think Jill had learned a lot from
(19:55):
the twenty fifteen World Cup to getbetter for that, and I don't know
if Laco had that opportunit. Ineed to learn from what happened there,
and as I kind of watch itand learn, you to see that there's
has to be better compliments on thefield. But again, we're not inside
what they see every single day,right, So from the outsider, you
kind of say, like, Okay, well you played a want of cook
(20:17):
all these games beforehand, but thenyou didn't play it all in the tournament,
So is it selection? Is itwhat you see other teams are going
to do. So again, there'sa lot of questions, but I don't
think anyone can be critical unless you'resitting in that seat right because they know
all the information. I guess what'sit's it's unfortunate they lost. You know,
there was so much buzz in twentynineteen when you know they had after
(20:40):
their third straight World Cup title,and the excitement it builds, and you
know, I'd like to watch themplay tomorrow morning or the next morning,
or in the final, for sure, But the vitry all that came out
against some of the players, theteam itself. I mean there was there
was some political pundent out there sayingI'm glad they lost, you know,
I mean Donald Trump sends out atweet. You know that, you know
(21:02):
they many of the players showed norespect for America. You know, woke
means failure. I mean that thatthat's hurtful, means spirited and what because
the team didn't show up at theWhite House in twenty nineteen or whatever the
case may be, You're gonna throwthem under the bus. I guess,
plain and simple. The better teamwon in the round of sixteen. And
(21:25):
yes it was penalty kicks, butthat that's what happens. You win or
you lose. It's not all theother stuff. The Yeah, I just
I lost. It was frustrating towatch. Were you frustrated to or did
you hear some of the stuff,some of the bad mouthing of this this
uh women's organization? Yeah, mostlybecause I know some of the players personally
(21:45):
and even Rose they're they're not likethat at all, And to be lumped
together or even as a group,to even have that on them just because
of maybe one or two things havehappened in the past, I think it's
not fair. Like I said,like Rose is truly like invested, humble
kid who I wish would be outthere more to help younger kids see that
(22:06):
it's okay to be you know,different or in those different ways. So
it does fuster you because they aregreat role models. A lot of them
are really in it to help peopleand promote women moving in a good direction,
and so that's kind of disappointing tosee that. You know, I
hear you say about the loss,and again I'm also with you that you
(22:27):
want to see them and you wantto get watching those games and be so
excited about it. But I'm hopingit's this because there's a story about Rose
when they lost into Germany, whenshe was like ten years old watching the
World Cup. She was under herbed crying. And maybe there's some ten
year old out there who's crying rightnow saying, I gotta do this right.
(22:48):
And I think that would be thecoolest thing if there's the next Rose
Lavelle out there who's like so sadbecause they lost and it's like ready to
go, you know, So somebody'sout there, Yeah, well we see
Rose in twenty twenty seven. That'sa good question. That is a good
question. I can't speak for her, but I think that would be her
plan, is to keep playing fora little bit longer, because I think
(23:10):
most of them that's kind of theirshelf life. One more rotation through there.
So shelf life is not the rightword there, but it's kind of
funny, but I do think that'sher plan. Like I haven't spoke to
her directly about that after the WorldCup as she's kind of shut down.
Going great across u w Women's Athleticspresented by Great Clips, Paula. Wilkins
is with his head coach of theWisconsin women's soccer team, and there was
an article recently in the Wisconsin StateJournal about the mccliman Complex, which has
(23:33):
been the home for men's and women'ssoccer for a long long time. There
have been incremental upgrades to the facilityover the years, but so much more
can be done. You know,having fans around the field I think was
a fantastic addition a few years agobecause it gets you up close and personal.
(23:53):
But so many more things can bedone there, I guess, or
you know, there's questions about maybethere's another place on campus that soccer and
track can call home someday. Canyou give your listeners or soccer fans any
idea of what may be happening withthem a climb and complex in the coming
(24:14):
future. I have no idea.I think that campus is still working on
what they want to do in theathletic department has to fix kind of or
go with what they're trying to doand what that. So I have really
no information with that. What Itell my players is this is that their
experience here. We can talk aboutfacilities and brooks and mortar and all that,
but the relationships that we build withone another and in our program,
(24:37):
that's what they're going to remember everythingall the entire time. And you know,
I think as they put the upgrades, we've gotten more people for attendance.
As we've become more successful, we'vehad more people in attendance. And
I think that's important to help ourfacility because I think a nice facility attracts
people to see the game. Butthat doesn't stop from what they do on
the field. You know, ifyou talk to a lot of them after
(24:57):
they leave, their experience chance willbe the memories they've had with one another
and not exactly that. You know, the surface at at M climate is
is wonderful. It's fantastic, andour field guys do an amazing job with
that. I think they won't reallythink twice about it because I think the
athletes here have such a great experience, or at least try to have them
(25:18):
great experience, that that's what they'llfocus on in the future. You're talking
about trying to get kids in hereon recruiting visits. Has mccliman hindered your
recruiting or has that had nothing todo with Well, they haven't told me,
but so I don't really know fromdata if that really has, but
I'm pretty sure it probably has alittle bit. Yeah, over the years,
who has the best complex in thebig ten? Woo Illinois just got
(25:41):
a brand new facility, but theyhave a track in soccer facility, So
we want to kind of mimic thata little bit. Michigan has a very
good facility. They have it overhangand they have it with their men's and
women's program. Yeah, I'm goingwith that's. Well, there are other
ones, but they're not like outstanding, but they're not bad. Right,
So, like Minnesota has always beenahead of the game to have their locker
(26:02):
rooms at the field and everythink that, but Rutgers the same thing, But
again they haven't been updated. Ithink, Oh, Purdue, Perdue is
very produced, very nice, andIndiana has just upgraded there as as well,
So Perdue, Indiana, Iowa.They've all upgraded recently. So we're
hanging in there with USC coming andwe were really excited because they weren't very
good. But they just have aeight million dollar news stadium coming. Yes,
(26:23):
so I was going to ask youabout that. So the Big ten
is expanding. Oh, now theydo well. They didn't have lights,
but now they have lights in anew stadium. Yes, So the Big
ten's expanding. UCLA the defending nationalchampion, USC one it in twenty sixteen.
I think it is. So you'rebringing in two quality programs and then
eventually Washington and Oregon are going tocome in in two. The Big Ten
(26:45):
already was tough. How much tougheris it going to be? Very?
I think, and we talk aboutthis. Everybody is aware of this,
Like the travels obviously going to becomemore of a challenge less probably for US.
I don't want to be UCLA goingRutgers. That might be a little
bit more challenging, so I thinkwe're kind of in the middle. I
realize every time I fly now it'snot as bad as when I was in
state college and having to go ona red eye or anythink that. But
(27:07):
I think it's great because it alsoprovides visibility. I think that means also
we can recruit in different areas.Now, if you're a kid from California,
you know more about Wisconsin because whenwe come to play there, you'll
see us, whereas maybe in thepast wet you wouldn't see us as much.
So I think it will open upour recruiting base a little bit because
people will feel like, well,I can go home at one point because
I'll play in front of a crowdbecause of the situation here again, Paula
(27:30):
Wilkins is with us. And beforewe get to the twenty twenty three Badgers.
Last season, you got off toa great start, You're ten one
and two. Hit a little bumpin the road, unfortunately, and that
may have prevented you from getting tothe NCAA tournament. But you look at
this year's roster, I think youhave eight seniors or grad students, but
you also have nine freshmen, Soit's kind of a different dynamic this year
is it's a really interesting and fundynamic, and probably for the first time
(27:53):
in my career, and that includesPenn State, where I'm gonna have to
make some hard decisions and more decisionsbase based on bringing people onto the field
based on their characteristics rather than theirtalent. Because right now, I'm excited
that I'm excited that they haven't reallydelineated each other because their talent is high.
But I'm also like upset they haven'tdelineated themselves. But I think that
(28:14):
the biggest thing we talked to theplayers about right now is it's not she's
better, it's she's different. Andso you know, if I want to
come in and bring somebody and saywe need a better passer out of the
back, we can bring somebody in. Well, we need to shut this
down defensively, I'm bringing in adifferent player and they really have different qualities
that I've never really had the opportunityto do that at any college team I've
had. At Penn State, they'veall kind of been like, Okay,
here's your eighteen I mean, here'syour fifteen players. You're good, you
(28:37):
know what you're gonna do here?We are way deeper than that right now.
How that shakes out is really goingto be repliant a little bit on
how they deal with stuff in thatcompetition for playing time and how I manage
them as well. So I'll takesome owners on myself. Yeah, sounds
like fun, though, I mean, that's why you coach, right But
I don't sleep right now. Butyes, that's why I coach, and
that's what's gonna make me. Isaid this is I think the moment they
(29:00):
can take the program to the nextlevel, that they create this environment that
forces each of them to be betterin training, which then raises the level
when they play. So I'm reallyexcited about that. Like I said,
communication and giving them feedback is goingto be really a lot of my job
and it'll be more managing than I'veever done. So what is the next
level for Wisconsin women's soccer. Well, I think we've we've won the Big
(29:23):
ten, so keeping being in thatconversation all the time, I think breaking
past the bubble of the Sweet sixteen, we've done that, but we seem
to run into the number one seedevery single time. So that's seating and
being prepared in that way. Andthen the other part that I really part
I enjoy about the job is goingback to the very beginning. Is that
now talking about players going pro,you've had seven, you've been right,
(29:48):
and so getting them to get preparedto do that again. And now there's
there's gonna be more teams, there'sgonna be more opportunity. So we want
to really create this environment and teachthem. You know, after this,
I'm gonna sit down with one offreshman who I think has the ability to
do that, but make sure she'sgetting better at every single practice so she
has that opportunity to do that.You know, for me, I want
to get another Roosevelt, not maybethat position, but I want that again.
(30:11):
And so I think that's the nextlevel for us. We wish you
all the best too. A newseason begins August seventeenth, home match against
Kansas. August twentieth, the Badger'shost ui C, Then back to back
road matches against powerhouse programs North Carolinaand Duke on the twenty fourth and twenty
seventh of August, home against LSUon August thirty first, another home match
(30:32):
against Marquette September tenth. Who putthat schedule together, Paul my assistant coach
Tim. It's given me an ulceralready. But we always say to be
the best, you have to playthe best. So we're gonna figure out
what we do well and what weneed to fix in this short amount of
time. Big ten begins September fifteenthin Nebraska. Big ten home opener for
the Badgers Tuesday night, September twentyfeet against Iowa. Paul, it's fun
(30:55):
talking to you. Best of luck, and I hope you have a healthy,
happy season coming up. Thank youvery much. I hope so too.
All right, that's Paula Wilkins,head coach of the Wisconsin women's soccer
team. Going great across UW Women'sAthletics presented by Great Clips and iHeartRadio.
Going great across UW Women's Athletics presentedby Great Clips, Great Clips. It's
going to be great.
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