September 12, 2025 • 30 mins
Dean Johnson is transforming soccer in Northwest Arkansas through a remarkable dual role that few coaches would dare attempt. With one foot firmly planted in the OZFC Academy as U19 boys head coach and the other pioneering Northwest Arkansas Community College's first-ever men's soccer program, Johnson brings championship-winning expertise to a region hungry for soccer development.
The London native's journey to NWA follows a fascinating path through American soccer's landscape. After arriving in 2011 to play college ball, Johnson progressed through junior college to Division I competition before a brief professional stint with the Charlotte Eagles in USL. His coaching career reveals an uncanny ability to transform programs – from winning a national championship at Wayland Baptist just two years into coaching to turning Northeast Texas Community College from a middling program into the nation's top-ranked junior college team.
"I would like to think I'm a bit of a specialist in flipping programs at this point," Johnson says with earned confidence. "But actually, from ground zero, this would be the first time." That's exactly what he faces at NWACC – building without fields, dorms, or players, just vision and determination.
Meanwhile, his OZFC Academy team has exploded out of the gates, scoring 20 goals while conceding just one in their first weekend of competition. Beyond impressive scorelines, Johnson is implementing sophisticated tactical approaches, introducing his players to formations and styles they've never experienced before.
Perhaps most valuable is Johnson's ability to guide players through their next steps. Having navigated the complex American soccer system himself, he offers clear-eyed advice about college recruitment. "The journey is different for every kid," he explains, debunking myths that Division I is automatically superior to other pathways.
Johnson's coaching philosophy distills to a simple truth that today's young players desperately need to hear: "You can't outwork work... that may be the one or two percent that pushes you over the edge."
Ready to follow this exciting soccer journey? Subscribe to Pitch to Pro wherever you get your podcasts and witness Northwest Arkansas's soccer transformation firsthand.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
FC.
This will be our platform totell our story about the club
and the special place that wecall home, northwest Arkansas.
This is a journey we want tobring you along for the ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain, help educate
the community at large aboutsoccer, our league, and give
(00:25):
updates on the progress of theclub along the way.
Together, we'll explore andunpack our journey to
professional soccer, the magicthat is NWA, our community, and
talk all things soccer from onthe pitch to behind the scenes,
telling the story of our club.
Pitch to Pro podcast is proudlysponsored by PodcastVideoscom.
(00:46):
Podcastvideoscom is NorthwestArkansas' premier podcast
recording studio, equipped withindustry-leading equipment.
The recording studio andservices save you time, money
and hassle.
They are dedicated to helpingyou create, record and publish
high-quality podcasts for youraudience.
Be sure to check them out todayat podcastvideoscom.
(01:07):
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Pitch to Pro podcast
.
My name is Wes Harris, yourhost, managing director for
Ozark United FC, northwestArkansas' professional soccer
club playing in the UnitedSoccer League Today.
I'm excited about myconversation here.
We've got a great guest, mrDean Johnson, head coach of our
U19 OZFC Academy boys, as wellas head coach for upcoming NWAC
(01:31):
Northwest Arkansas CommunityCollege men's soccer team as
well.
Dean, welcome to the show andthank you for joining me, man.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to have a chat andtalk all things soccer in
Northwest Arkansas oh yeah, lotsof fun, great content ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You're kind of all over the place, man, and so you
have an incredible backgroundand I just want to let you tell
that to the folks and understandhow you kind of found NUA.
How did you get here?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean I've been here I want tosay around two months now, so
it's gone by pretty quickly.
But, like you said, I've gotmultiple roles.
At the moment I'm working,obviously, with OZFC, starting
up the program at NWAC, and thenI also got dragged into the
Marshall Islands coaching staffas well.
So I've been doing a lot ofdifferent aspects within the
(02:17):
community, but originallyobviously from London.
I'm not from here in the US,but I came over.
I came over.
It seems like forever ago nownow, but it was 2011.
I first came to America.
So I came over to play incollege.
I went to a junior college.
I then transferred out todivision one.
I ended up with someeligibility issues and ended up
(02:38):
in an NAIA school, finishedplaying, went into the USL for a
little bit, quickly figured outI wasn't going to make a living
there at the time and then gotinto coaching and I've been
doing that ever since.
I think my first coaching gigwas 2017.
And then I think, yeah, we wonthe national championship 2018.
(02:58):
So within two years, we built areally good program within my
first job and then it's justkind of gone up and up and up
from there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Well, where did you play within the usl?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I was at charlotte eagles for a little bit so they
the year I was there wasactually the year they ended up,
unfortunately going bankruptand dropping down to what is now
usl2.
Yeah, um, at the time it wascalled pdl which is where I
played when I was in college aswell, so a couple of my
teammates from our summer teamended up going to Charlotte
(03:27):
Eagles together that preseasonand then they ended up folding
and going down to USL 2.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, it's nice to see them back in USL 1 now.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, I think it's going to be a cool transition
for everyone there.
For sure you weren't there bychance.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Have you and Ryan talked about this?
No, I actually coached against.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Ryan.
So when I was at waylandbaptist my first coaching gig,
uh, ryan was playing for johnbrown.
So ryan probably doesn't havefond memories of me because that
was the year we won thenational championship and I
think before I got to waylandwayland baptist in texas john
brown was the powerhouse in theconference with uh usao as well
at the time, and then we broughtin a load of transfer boys and
(04:07):
went on a little bit of a runand ended up winning the whole
thing.
So I know Ryan pretty well.
He was a really, really goodplayer.
We played against him.
He was probably their main guy.
Him and another lad I think wasfrom Uganda, maybe up top
Kelvin Amundi was his name.
Very, very quick, played forCoach Scott.
Obviously they were the twoweapons for John Brown for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And for those who don't know who we're talking
about, we're talking about CoachRyan Williams, who was with
Coach Scott Marksberry kind ofthe two head coaches there for
the U20 OZFC program.
That kind of kick-started theOZFC Academy originally, and
Ryan has been on the show, beenon the podcast.
He's got some episodes outthere.
(04:50):
Go check him out.
He's an incredible individualand we're lucky to have him in
the.
NWA community as well in thesoccer community, growing it,
but still involved at sportingand a little bit in OZFC as well
.
But it's too funny how kind ofthese things overlap.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
The football world here in America is huge but it's
also very small.
So like, obviously, when Ifirst started to talk about
coming down here, I knew Scottfor a little while just because
of the college stuff, and then Irealized after that, oh, ryan
is still down there as well.
So it is kind of crazy howeverything lines up and everyone
kind of knows everyone withinthe soccer realm.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It is.
It's big, but small to yourpoint.
So you were at Wayland Baptist,then you were.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, so after we won the national championship at
Wayland, I'd kind of decided Iwanted to move on and do my own
thing, because I was anassistant at Wayland.
So I took the job at NortheastTexas, which is a community
college in Plainview, which isabout an hour and a half two
hours outside of Dallas.
We've done pretty well there.
We actually played Weyland inour first ever game in preseason
(05:56):
and we beat them 4-0, which wasnice for me, not for Weyland
much, because it was a prettyheated game but really really
fun time.
And yeah, we for wayland much,because it was a pretty heated
game but really really fun time.
And yeah, we were able tochange northeast texas from an
okay program.
I think they won four or fivegames the year before and within
two years we're number one teamin junior college in the nation
.
So that's awesome.
We've done really well.
(06:17):
Um, I wasn't planning onleaving there and then I got
called from a school in westvirginia uh, division two and
then moved over there for threeyears as well.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And then you were at Loyola Marymount.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, so Davidson Elkins for three years, similar
to Northeast Texas.
Again, it sounds crazy becausewe had a school of about 600
students in the middle ofnowhere in the mountains and we
were the number one team in NCAAin division two.
So we quickly turned thatprogram around I say we because
my staff has kind of come withme for most of the spots I've
(06:51):
been in and we were able to flipthat around, turn it into a
powerhouse within division two.
We had University of Charlestonin our conference, who are
traditionally the best team inDivision II as well, and we were
able to make it reallycompetitive with those guys.
And then, yeah, I had two yearsat Des Moines whilst I was at
(07:12):
Davidson Elkins, which isanother team that is going into
the USL Championship, so thatwill be a team for OCFC to play
against.
And then I ended up moving overto LA, to Loyola Marymount
against.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And then I ended up moving over to LA, to Loyola
Marymount.
Okay, and how did?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
you kind of hear about NWAC.
Yeah, it was a weird one.
So I was the associate headcoach at LMU and I loved LA.
It was just so expensive tolive, to be honest.
So we did really well.
We went to the elite eight inyear one, which is the first
time, I think in the school'shistory they'd ever done
anything to that kind of level.
So I loved it.
It just wasn't sustainable forforever, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
No, perfectly.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
In regards to NWAC, I don't know how it first came
about, because I'd originallyspoke with Chris, who is down
here, through a friend of ours akind of mutual connection,
isn't it?
A guy named Robert McCourt whoworks at Monmouth University.
So he had mentioned Ozarkpotentially having a team, and
then that led to somehow mefinding out NWAC were also
(08:16):
creating a team as well, andthen I ended up speaking with
Brooke down there and it kind ofseemed like both came at the
same time, if that made sense.
Um, so I ended up flying downto see the campus and everything
on the college side and Ireally liked the area and then
it just worked out that bothwould kind of work hand in hand
for me and just decided why notsee how it goes?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
yeah, yeah, that's great, that's awesome and uh, so
you've jumped in.
You you're kind of in thisinteresting limbo spot where
you're building a program, butyou have a year where you're
kind of without players to buildthe program for.
So you're out scouting and sowe put you to work.
(08:57):
So talk about and, by the way,I have to give a massive
shout-out to Brooke Brewer, theathletic director at NWAC, for
allowing Coach Dean to come onboard here with the OZFC Academy
and lend his skill set and puton your NWA hat.
So hats off to NWAC and Brookefor being super collaborative
(09:18):
and allowing him to do that.
So we're very, very fortunateto have Dean as part of our
program allowing him to do that.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So we're very, very fortunate to have tn as part of
our program.
Yeah, so it's been the firstyear or so, is it's difficult,
to be honest, because we'restarting pretty much from
scratch.
So we have no field, we have nodorms, we have no players right
now.
So a lot of it's been as you'veprobably seen with ozark as
well a lot of it's just fundingfinding funding.
How can you raise money tosupport these players, to
support these staff?
Funding finding funding.
How can you raise money tosupport these players, to
support these staff, kind of aswe move through the process of
(09:45):
fielding our first game nextAugust?
So we're under a year away nowfrom the first game, which is
exciting but also a little bitdaunting.
I have a spreadsheet full ofplayers that we're trying to
bring in that have come fromvarious backgrounds.
You know some local guys, someguys from across the world, some
guys from other states.
So there's a lot of players onthe radar and we have a lot of
(10:07):
interest for guys that want tocome in.
It's just now finding thefunding for those guys.
Obviously, with no dorms, thehousing situation is tricky.
Can we?
Can we find some host familiesfor these guys?
Can we find apartments forthese guys to live out?
So there's a lot going on.
So I'm kind of running aroundhere, there and everywhere at
the moment trying to figure outthis problem and then something
(10:27):
five minutes later comes up andit's like hey, we need to figure
out this problem and we're justkind of bouncing around at the
moment.
So a lot of administration work.
I'm going to be really excitedwhen the team's here and it's
more on the field and coachingand going through that stuff.
But uh, you have to do thisstuff first before we get to
that well, and I mean it's alsoI, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
But you tell me uh, is this your first time kind of
staying in a program fromscratch at this level?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
yeah, from scratch.
Yeah, um, I would like to thinkI'm a bit of a specialist of
flipping programs at this point.
We haven't done it with threeor four now, but actually from
ground zero.
Yeah, this would be the firsttime.
Um and that was part of thereason I was really interested
is like, um, yeah, it's, it'sstarting from nothing, but like
(11:14):
you get to make that whateveryou want.
So to have the ability to comein and kind of have my own
impact on what I want this tolook like, you know how I want
the culture to be, what kind ofplayers we want to bring in, how
can we help the community indifferent aspects like that's a
really cool thing to have.
So that was a big reason for mecoming and taking on the
project.
It's not easy at all by anymeans.
There's a lot of work that goesinto it, but I like a challenge
(11:36):
, so I'm excited for it all tokeep rolling on.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That's really really cool and exciting, I think.
Um, and very interesting too,because trying to build a pro
you know team and build andeverything that we're doing with
with ozfc.
But you guys are kind of in asimilar vein, right building a
program from nothing, um, and inthat builder, builder mode, um,
and also you know resourcestrapped and trying to, you know
(12:05):
, pull things together and, andyou know, figure it out.
You guys just gotta make ithappen, you know, um, and so
there's a lot of parallels, Ithink, which is, yeah, a lot of
similarities.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Me and chris obviously talk about this from
time to time and he says likeyeah, you're crazy, you're in
two programs now that startedfrom scratch and trying to make
you know crazy.
You're in two programs now thatstarted from scratch and trying
to make you know an impact, onein the same community but also
in different spaces.
So yeah, um, yeah, it's cool.
I'm excited to see how bothprojects kind of kick off and
and where they can go, because Ido think there's a lot of
potential in in the area forsure.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, absolutely so talk, let's.
Let's jump in a little bit hereinto your work with the OZFC
Academy and the U19s.
So, scott, obviously a lot ofthose players kind of played
underneath him or against himfor a long time and kind of
handing the baton over to you tokind of take those boys to the
(12:59):
next level.
So talk a little bit about thatgroup and your experience so
far.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, the group is great.
I think for me, ideally I wouldhave been able to be here a
little bit earlier and help tokind of pick who was on the team
, but just time-wise it didn'twork.
So I kind of got thrown in.
On the first day of training Iwas like here's your team, do
what you want with them.
Pretty much.
They've been great so far.
There's some very talentedplayers on there and I think
(13:25):
having the best players from allof the teams in the area is a
cool concept that maybe hasn'tbeen done before here.
So it's been interesting to seehow the guys from different
teams have kind of integrated.
I was obviously able to bringone of my own guys in as well to
play with us this year, whichis exciting.
So it's been been again aprocess of coaching a new team,
(13:45):
them getting to know me, megetting to know them a little
bit.
A lot of them have had scottfor the coach for the last five,
six, seven years, whatever itis.
So, um, it's definitely been aprocess, but they're they're
doing well.
We've had some good results sofar and we're we're really
excited to see where the seasonwill end up for us.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And these guys a lot of them are in that kind of
space where they're looking for,kind of, what is my next step
in that journey?
Right, whether that's college,whether it's just I really enjoy
playing at this high level andI just want to do it for as long
as I can.
That's okay too, and you'rejust a good player and that's it
and that's what you want to do,great, or there's a lot of them
(14:28):
are trying to see how they canuse this as a vehicle into an
education or to a pro academy,and there's several on that
squad that have gotten multipletrials.
So talk a little bit about whatdoes that conversation look
like?
Why are these from yourstandpoint and talking to your
players, what do they see thisas in terms of um, how do I say
(14:53):
like a tool in their pathway?
and they're yeah, right, likehow do they see it and view it?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
yeah, I think, just in general, it's just a platform
for them to kind of showcasethemselves and you know, if
you're that good, you will getto the level you think you need
to be at.
So for us it's just giving themthat exposure, you know, playing
against some good teams,connecting them with as many
coaches as possible that may beinterested in them.
But the journey is differentfor every kid, so no one's
(15:19):
recruiting process for collegesover the same.
So there there's some guys thathave to go through the junior
college.
So there's some guys that haveto go through the junior college
route.
There's some guys that can gostraight to Division I, there's
some guys that go straight toDivision II and there's no right
path for anyone.
So I think the biggest thingfrom my standpoint with the guys
has just been educating them onthe different levels and the
different teams and like, hey,this could be an option for you.
(15:39):
I would recommend you to gothis path, because it's a very
weird landscape, like collegesoccer especially there's some
junior college teams that willdestroy some of the Division I
teams and I think a lot ofpeople don't understand that.
So just being Division I doesn'tmean it's the best and just
being Division III doesn't meanit's the worst, if that makes
sense.
So a big part we were speakingwith Kevin as well also is just
(16:03):
educating these boys and like,hey, can we help you?
But let's be open to alloptions here and see what fits
the best.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
And I think that's a really good point too.
I mean not just to have you Ithink it makes sense, based on
your experience as a coach, butalso kind of your background and
where you come from to be withthat U19 group number one but
number two, and we're very luckyto have you here, having
experienced coaching at thatlevel and multiple levels
throughout the collegiate systemwhere a lot of these boys may
(16:34):
take that next step it's not adefinitive but it may happen
right as kind of a next option.
But then also to combine thatwith the experience of kevin,
yeah, and and kind of where he'sbeen and at, there's a lot of
incredible value for these boysjust in educating them and
helping guide them through thatand helping them navigate that,
(16:55):
because it's it's it can bereally daunting and confusing it
is and like it's a toughprocess.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
There's no hiding that, I think, for for each kid
they're going to get more no'sthan yeses and that's just
reality.
Um, but I think themunderstanding that that's normal
and that's the process.
Like myself, when I, when Iwent through college and I was
in junior college, I was atwo-time all-american at junior
college and you would think, oh,you can go wherever you want.
No, that's not how it works.
(17:22):
I had a lot of offers, but someof the schools that maybe I was
trying to go to just weren'tinterested in me.
Um, so I think breaking thatdown for the guys and really
giving them an insight into likewhere we see them, kind of
level wise, and this is probablythe best route for you is
definitely a big thing.
Um, we're definitely havingthem speak with multiple coaches
and having coaches come out andwatch and see what other
(17:44):
opinions are, but giving themthe best path is the main thing
for us.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I love that and that's it's what we wanted out
of the program is ultimatelyproviding opportunities for
players and coaches, frankly, tojust continue their journey and
whatever that looks like forthem, but continue to provide
opportunities that may not havebeen there without this program.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We have some really good players, so I think we'll
have a lot that will move on andplay at various different
levels.
Hopefully, when the pro team isestablished, some of those guys
are good enough to make thatjump as well.
Time will tell with that.
But I think the main aim fromus on the academy side is
establish some of those guys aregood enough to make that jump
as well.
Um, kind of time will tell withthat but, I think the main aim
from us on the academy side isto develop these guys so that
they have both avenues, that ifthey want to go college route,
(18:32):
perfect, here you go.
If they want to go the proroute, we have that there for
you as well.
So having both avenues isreally unique and I think it
will help the area grow as awhole for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean that's we, believe me.
We've been asked that it's kindof funny.
We've been asked that, you know, will you have a player?
The talent is there.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
We hope so.
The coaches are gonna be theones to ultimately make that
decision.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
But believe me, everybody that's involved today
in any capacity would lovenothing more than to hear John
Doe from Northwest Arkansas nowmaking their debut right or part
of the lineup, whatever it is.
We would love nothing more thanthat.
You know that's the dream, andalmost every single USL club has
(19:20):
a player like that, yeah, acouple come through every year.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
It's never going to be the whole team but, even
getting one or two through fromyour own academy is such a cool
experience for the fans and forthe players, and it's someone of
your own to support so I wouldlove to see that and I'm sure it
will happen at some point, butI'm excited to see who is the
guy that does that and also whendoes that happen?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
so exactly, it's going to be really cool and then
it's also cool because thenit's something tangible for sure
for the younger players in theacademy to kind of look at and
in the area just in general.
Maybe they're not in theacademy, they're just little
tykes looking yeah, and sayingif they can do it, so can I.
So we want to create that right,um.
So let's talk a little bitabout you know you've we've
(20:01):
talked a little bit about theu19s, the players, how you got
here.
You guys kicked off with a bang, uh, with an opportunity that
doesn't come around very oftenand the Outrigger Challenge Cup
and being a part of that withTurks and Caicos and US Virgin
Islands and the Marshall Islands.
Talk a little bit about yourexperience there.
You kind of wore two hats onthe coaching side of things, but
(20:22):
give people a little bit of ashout on what that was like for
you.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah, it was great.
It was probably one of the mostbusy weeks of my life, to be
honest, because was doing ozarkand then I was on the coaching
staff for the marshall islandsas well.
Um, I loved it.
You know, I'm I'm all about asmuch football soccer as possible
, so my whole day was filledwith that from either side.
I'd leave the marshall islandstraining and go straight to
ozark training and vice versa,so I I really enjoyed it.
(20:48):
Um, but what a cool, coolconcept to have international
football here in Springdale,arkansas.
That probably is never going tohappen again, or maybe it does
now because of Outrigger, butwhat are the odds that happens?
So great experience for me.
Great experience for the guysto play against senior national
teams is again something thatrarely happens for guys of their
(21:09):
age, and they performed reallywell.
They definitely stepped up tothe challenge really well, um,
some very, very good individualperformances, but also just as a
team to compete with those guysin that heat that we played in
as well.
It was so hot, those conditionsso, yeah, hats off to those
guys man.
They stood up, representednorthwest arkansas really well
(21:32):
and they should be proud oftheir performances for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean leading against both Turks and Caicos
and US Virgin Islands at onepoint throughout the game and
even 2-0 up at Turks and Caicosat halftime.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, I think our age got to us in the second half a
little bit and we could havedone a couple things, maybe
tactically a little bitdifferent, but I also wanted the
guys to to have the experienceI didn't want to go two nil up
and hey, let's just camp it inand win the game.
And what's the point of that?
I want the guys to go out andplay and test themselves and and
let's see what level you guysare ready for.
(22:06):
So, um, yeah, overallunbelievable experience.
Uh, the guys performedincredibly and we're really
proud of them.
But very busy week for me, forsure.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Very busy week yeah.
And I mean I think you know youdon't really know what to
expect going into this,especially from the Marshall
Islands side, and you know Iwant to give them and you guys a
shout there too.
I mean, not only competed butscored first ever goals, goals,
multiple From run of play, whata moment.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
yeah, Honestly, what a moment.
I haven't been involved withthem for too long.
So I got a random message fromLloyd one day and said, hey,
we're doing this in Arkansas.
Is this something you'd beinterested in helping us with.
And then, yeah, I ended upbeing the assistant manager for
(22:57):
the team, so it kind of happenedreally quickly and I got to run
sessions for them and helpingthe game day and the coaching.
And, again, a great experiencefor me to be able to be there
for those first ever games forthat group and an incredible
group of guys that came togetherfor a week, some from America,
some from the Marshall Islands,that had never left the islands,
had never played 11v11 footballbefore.
That was what was bonkers.
It was crazy and obviously, asI'm running these sessions for
(23:19):
these guys throughout the week,to see the development from day
one of some of these guys to dayfour or day five.
It was insane because the firstday was rough and then by the
fifth day we're competing andnearly beating a national team
on the last game.
So great experience again.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I can't thank them guys enough and, um, I plan to
stay with them for a littlewhile so that's good, that's
awesome and I think you knowhopefully we get to kind of
repeat this in nwa annually forsure, and hopefully one day be
able to put that up in a niceprofessional stadium that would
be really cool and all that kindof stuff.
I mean just really, really cool.
And you just I can't stress itenough I don't know if there's
(24:00):
ever been an international matchin arkansas before I don't
think so from what I'm aware of.
Yeah and not only that, but youhave, you know, multiple.
And the first ever for themarshall.
It was such a fun week, yeah,an incredible historic week, and
I can't wait to kind of do it.
Yeah, and the first ever forthe martial art.
It was such a fun week, anincredible historic week, and I
can't wait to kind of yeah, andthe fans, the fans showed out
for it.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
There was a lot of fans.
We had quite a lot of our gamebecause we had the other academy
boys coming out and families.
But, um, I mean, even the firstgame it was turks against
virgin islands, which there's noreal correlation there with the
people here in town, but therewas a lot of people there to
watch the game.
So absolutely it's cool to seethe interest and I think it
bodes well for for ozfc goingforward that list.
(24:35):
There is a lot of interest forsoccer here, so absolutely, um
you know, if we're able to dothis right, it can be really
successful and they braved someincredible heat yes, as fans,
even in like metal bleachers.
I know it was hot for theplayers running around doing all
that but I can, I can well, Iwas going and taking a cold
shower in between games becauseI had back to back games so I
was trying to cool down as well.
But yeah it was, it was crazyhot for sure yeah, it was unreal
(24:57):
.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You got a taste of the arkansas heat I did.
I got very burnt that week forsure.
Well, let's uh, you know wekicked off the season kind of
informally there, obviouslyfriendlies, uh, not necessarily
part of the normal run-up, buttalk about kind of, you guys
have jumped in, you've had sometraining sessions all summer,
kind of involuntary uh, and thennow kicked off into training
(25:21):
and we just had our firstweekend and a couple of matches.
Talk a little bit about youknow, what did you see, what did
you like opportunities and kindof talk about yeah, yeah, it's
been interesting.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
So we've been working a lot on some shape stuff
because we're playing acompletely different shape and
different style to what the guyshave played before.
So, um, going into outrigger,that was a challenge because
some of these guys have neverplayed in with three at the back
before.
They traditionally always playwith four.
So, um, we've been working onit a lot and looking at which
patterns of play we want to useand stuff like that.
Um, so it's been exciting tosee them develop that as the
(25:53):
weeks go on, because the moreyou practice it, the better you
get, obviously.
And we're playing some reallygood football right now.
You know, we won the first game14-0, which I told the guys to
go out and make a statement thatwe're going to be a serious
team in the league, and theydefinitely did that.
To beat any team, 14-0 is a bigmark in our game.
(26:17):
So, yeah, for sure, and Iintended for them to go out and
win in a big way, but they evensurprised me a little bit in the
second half of that game, sodid really well.
And the positives for me was Isaw a lot of the stuff that we
worked on in training, in thegames and all the kind of
feedback from a lot of the fansand the parents were there were
like, wow, these guys areplaying really good football.
Um, not just that we're winning, but the style that we're
(26:38):
playing is pleasing for the fansand yeah um, it was enjoyable
to watch, so that was great.
And then we bounced back sundayum, quick turnaround, again
rotated, some guys played, someguys in different positions and
we were able to win that one 6-1again good result.
We're a little bit disappointedthat we conceded, but we're
probably not going to go thewhole season without conceding a
(26:59):
goal, so we get out of the waynow.
But yeah, just in general,really happy with the
application of what we've donein training.
That's, that's the main partfor me.
You know the results will kindof take care of themselves, but
happy that they've beenlistening and trying to
implement what we've done in thesessions.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I think.
Two wins, 20 goals for oneagainst.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Most coaches would take that.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, for sure, see if we can keep it rolling now.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about MLS.
Next, the platform and kind ofwhat's to come.
What do you see your experiencewith the platform and kind of?
You know, what are you guyslooking towards next?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
yeah, I think now it's it's kind of established
itself as the premier tier nowfor youth soccer in the us.
So a lot of my recruiting youknow, when I was at the division
one schools was looking at mlsnext kids.
So I think it's great for theexposure for these guys.
Um, we're able obviously now toplay in MLS Next Fest, which
will be a really cool event, butwe're really focusing now on
(27:58):
can we win our league?
and dominate on that side ofthings and then the rest of it
can kind of take care of itselfin an essence.
So really excited to beinvolved with it.
I think for all of the agegroups it's going to be involved
with it.
I think for all of the a troopsit's going to be a cool
experience to test themselvesagainst the top level
competition in the us,especially in this area.
So it's been a blessing for usto to jump straight into that
(28:19):
and we're excited to see wherewe end up at the end of the year
well, dean, I think I'll.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I'll cut us short here.
Well, not short.
We've talked a lot, you'vecovered a lot, so thank you for
joining me.
Uh, I should say we'll end itthere.
I will give you a kind of.
I always ask folks, especiallyin the coaching realm and and
that have played and played at avery high level what advice
would you give to a young playerout there that aspires to maybe
(28:46):
play for one of these teams orfor, you know, collegiately or
professionally one day?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
yeah, I think the big thing for me is just you can't
outwork work and I think that'ssomething that kind of goes
missing these days with youthfootball is like people think
they're working really hard, butthere's always someone that's
working harder than you, um.
So I think, really pushing itas much as you can and and
trying to maximize what talentyou have and what determination
and ability you have and put itall into one pot, um is a big
(29:14):
one, and I've emphasized I'veemphasized sorry a lot with my
guys.
Like you can always work harder.
You might not think you can,but you always can, and that
that may be one or two percentmight be the thing that pushes
you over the edge, that gets youto where you want to go.
So just keep working, pushyourself and give everything
you've got every day, and ifyou're meant to be there, you,
you will be there for sure yeah,you say that again for my son,
(29:35):
just kidding.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Um well, thank you, dean.
I really appreciate all theinsight, man and and everything
that you're doing with the boysin the program and and just
growing the game of soccer inthe area yeah my pleasure?
uh, it's.
We're just so fortunate to havesomeone like you in the area
and doing what you're doing.
So, thank you, no problem,that'll do it for this episode
of Pitch the Pro.
(29:58):
We hope you enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on pitchtheprocom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, apple or
wherever you get your podcastsfor more content.
Until next time.
Northwest Arkansas Cheers,cheers.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of the pitcher pro
podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
and check out the stoppage timeseries for a recap of today's
(30:20):
episode.
Be sure to find us at pitch topro on youtube, instagram and
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Until next time.
Northwest arkansas cheers.
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
FC.
This will be our platform totell our story about the club
and the special place that wecall home, northwest Arkansas.
This is a journey we want tobring you along for the ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain, help educate
the community at large aboutsoccer, our league, and give
(00:25):
updates on the progress of theclub along the way.
Together, we'll explore andunpack our journey to
professional soccer, the magicthat is NWA, our community, and
talk all things soccer from onthe pitch to behind the scenes,
telling the story of our club.
Pitch to Pro podcast is proudlysponsored by PodcastVideoscom.
(00:46):
Podcastvideoscom is NorthwestArkansas' premier podcast
recording studio, equipped withindustry-leading equipment.
The recording studio andservices save you time, money
and hassle.
They are dedicated to helpingyou create, record and publish
high-quality podcasts for youraudience.
Be sure to check them out todayat podcastvideoscom.
(01:07):
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Pitch to Pro podcast
.
My name is Wes Harris, yourhost, managing director for
Ozark United FC, northwestArkansas' professional soccer
club playing in the UnitedSoccer League Today.
I'm excited about myconversation here.
We've got a great guest, mrDean Johnson, head coach of our
U19 OZFC Academy boys, as wellas head coach for upcoming NWAC
(01:31):
Northwest Arkansas CommunityCollege men's soccer team as
well.
Dean, welcome to the show andthank you for joining me, man.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to have a chat andtalk all things soccer in
Northwest Arkansas oh yeah, lotsof fun, great content ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You're kind of all over the place, man, and so you
have an incredible backgroundand I just want to let you tell
that to the folks and understandhow you kind of found NUA.
How did you get here?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean I've been here I want tosay around two months now, so
it's gone by pretty quickly.
But, like you said, I've gotmultiple roles.
At the moment I'm working,obviously, with OZFC, starting
up the program at NWAC, and thenI also got dragged into the
Marshall Islands coaching staffas well.
So I've been doing a lot ofdifferent aspects within the
(02:17):
community, but originallyobviously from London.
I'm not from here in the US,but I came over.
I came over.
It seems like forever ago nownow, but it was 2011.
I first came to America.
So I came over to play incollege.
I went to a junior college.
I then transferred out todivision one.
I ended up with someeligibility issues and ended up
(02:38):
in an NAIA school, finishedplaying, went into the USL for a
little bit, quickly figured outI wasn't going to make a living
there at the time and then gotinto coaching and I've been
doing that ever since.
I think my first coaching gigwas 2017.
And then I think, yeah, we wonthe national championship 2018.
(02:58):
So within two years, we built areally good program within my
first job and then it's justkind of gone up and up and up
from there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Well, where did you play within the usl?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I was at charlotte eagles for a little bit so they
the year I was there wasactually the year they ended up,
unfortunately going bankruptand dropping down to what is now
usl2.
Yeah, um, at the time it wascalled pdl which is where I
played when I was in college aswell, so a couple of my
teammates from our summer teamended up going to Charlotte
(03:27):
Eagles together that preseasonand then they ended up folding
and going down to USL 2.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, it's nice to see them back in USL 1 now.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, I think it's going to be a cool transition
for everyone there.
For sure you weren't there bychance.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Have you and Ryan talked about this?
No, I actually coached against.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Ryan.
So when I was at waylandbaptist my first coaching gig,
uh, ryan was playing for johnbrown.
So ryan probably doesn't havefond memories of me because that
was the year we won thenational championship and I
think before I got to waylandwayland baptist in texas john
brown was the powerhouse in theconference with uh usao as well
at the time, and then we broughtin a load of transfer boys and
(04:07):
went on a little bit of a runand ended up winning the whole
thing.
So I know Ryan pretty well.
He was a really, really goodplayer.
We played against him.
He was probably their main guy.
Him and another lad I think wasfrom Uganda, maybe up top
Kelvin Amundi was his name.
Very, very quick, played forCoach Scott.
Obviously they were the twoweapons for John Brown for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And for those who don't know who we're talking
about, we're talking about CoachRyan Williams, who was with
Coach Scott Marksberry kind ofthe two head coaches there for
the U20 OZFC program.
That kind of kick-started theOZFC Academy originally, and
Ryan has been on the show, beenon the podcast.
He's got some episodes outthere.
(04:50):
Go check him out.
He's an incredible individualand we're lucky to have him in
the.
NWA community as well in thesoccer community, growing it,
but still involved at sportingand a little bit in OZFC as well
.
But it's too funny how kind ofthese things overlap.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
The football world here in America is huge but it's
also very small.
So like, obviously, when Ifirst started to talk about
coming down here, I knew Scottfor a little while just because
of the college stuff, and then Irealized after that, oh, ryan
is still down there as well.
So it is kind of crazy howeverything lines up and everyone
kind of knows everyone withinthe soccer realm.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It is.
It's big, but small to yourpoint.
So you were at Wayland Baptist,then you were.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, so after we won the national championship at
Wayland, I'd kind of decided Iwanted to move on and do my own
thing, because I was anassistant at Wayland.
So I took the job at NortheastTexas, which is a community
college in Plainview, which isabout an hour and a half two
hours outside of Dallas.
We've done pretty well there.
We actually played Weyland inour first ever game in preseason
(05:56):
and we beat them 4-0, which wasnice for me, not for Weyland
much, because it was a prettyheated game but really really
fun time.
And yeah, we for wayland much,because it was a pretty heated
game but really really fun time.
And yeah, we were able tochange northeast texas from an
okay program.
I think they won four or fivegames the year before and within
two years we're number one teamin junior college in the nation
.
So that's awesome.
We've done really well.
(06:17):
Um, I wasn't planning onleaving there and then I got
called from a school in westvirginia uh, division two and
then moved over there for threeyears as well.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And then you were at Loyola Marymount.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, so Davidson Elkins for three years, similar
to Northeast Texas.
Again, it sounds crazy becausewe had a school of about 600
students in the middle ofnowhere in the mountains and we
were the number one team in NCAAin division two.
So we quickly turned thatprogram around I say we because
my staff has kind of come withme for most of the spots I've
(06:51):
been in and we were able to flipthat around, turn it into a
powerhouse within division two.
We had University of Charlestonin our conference, who are
traditionally the best team inDivision II as well, and we were
able to make it reallycompetitive with those guys.
And then, yeah, I had two yearsat Des Moines whilst I was at
(07:12):
Davidson Elkins, which isanother team that is going into
the USL Championship, so thatwill be a team for OCFC to play
against.
And then I ended up moving overto LA, to Loyola Marymount
against.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And then I ended up moving over to LA, to Loyola
Marymount.
Okay, and how did?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
you kind of hear about NWAC.
Yeah, it was a weird one.
So I was the associate headcoach at LMU and I loved LA.
It was just so expensive tolive, to be honest.
So we did really well.
We went to the elite eight inyear one, which is the first
time, I think in the school'shistory they'd ever done
anything to that kind of level.
So I loved it.
It just wasn't sustainable forforever, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
No, perfectly.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
In regards to NWAC, I don't know how it first came
about, because I'd originallyspoke with Chris, who is down
here, through a friend of ours akind of mutual connection,
isn't it?
A guy named Robert McCourt whoworks at Monmouth University.
So he had mentioned Ozarkpotentially having a team, and
then that led to somehow mefinding out NWAC were also
(08:16):
creating a team as well, andthen I ended up speaking with
Brooke down there and it kind ofseemed like both came at the
same time, if that made sense.
Um, so I ended up flying downto see the campus and everything
on the college side and Ireally liked the area and then
it just worked out that bothwould kind of work hand in hand
for me and just decided why notsee how it goes?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
yeah, yeah, that's great, that's awesome and uh, so
you've jumped in.
You you're kind of in thisinteresting limbo spot where
you're building a program, butyou have a year where you're
kind of without players to buildthe program for.
So you're out scouting and sowe put you to work.
(08:57):
So talk about and, by the way,I have to give a massive
shout-out to Brooke Brewer, theathletic director at NWAC, for
allowing Coach Dean to come onboard here with the OZFC Academy
and lend his skill set and puton your NWA hat.
So hats off to NWAC and Brookefor being super collaborative
(09:18):
and allowing him to do that.
So we're very, very fortunateto have Dean as part of our
program allowing him to do that.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So we're very, very fortunate to have tn as part of
our program.
Yeah, so it's been the firstyear or so, is it's difficult,
to be honest, because we'restarting pretty much from
scratch.
So we have no field, we have nodorms, we have no players right
now.
So a lot of it's been as you'veprobably seen with ozark as
well a lot of it's just fundingfinding funding.
How can you raise money tosupport these players, to
support these staff?
Funding finding funding.
How can you raise money tosupport these players, to
support these staff, kind of aswe move through the process of
(09:45):
fielding our first game nextAugust?
So we're under a year away nowfrom the first game, which is
exciting but also a little bitdaunting.
I have a spreadsheet full ofplayers that we're trying to
bring in that have come fromvarious backgrounds.
You know some local guys, someguys from across the world, some
guys from other states.
So there's a lot of players onthe radar and we have a lot of
(10:07):
interest for guys that want tocome in.
It's just now finding thefunding for those guys.
Obviously, with no dorms, thehousing situation is tricky.
Can we?
Can we find some host familiesfor these guys?
Can we find apartments forthese guys to live out?
So there's a lot going on.
So I'm kind of running aroundhere, there and everywhere at
the moment trying to figure outthis problem and then something
(10:27):
five minutes later comes up andit's like hey, we need to figure
out this problem and we're justkind of bouncing around at the
moment.
So a lot of administration work.
I'm going to be really excitedwhen the team's here and it's
more on the field and coachingand going through that stuff.
But uh, you have to do thisstuff first before we get to
that well, and I mean it's alsoI, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
But you tell me uh, is this your first time kind of
staying in a program fromscratch at this level?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
yeah, from scratch.
Yeah, um, I would like to thinkI'm a bit of a specialist of
flipping programs at this point.
We haven't done it with threeor four now, but actually from
ground zero.
Yeah, this would be the firsttime.
Um and that was part of thereason I was really interested
is like, um, yeah, it's, it'sstarting from nothing, but like
(11:14):
you get to make that whateveryou want.
So to have the ability to comein and kind of have my own
impact on what I want this tolook like, you know how I want
the culture to be, what kind ofplayers we want to bring in, how
can we help the community indifferent aspects like that's a
really cool thing to have.
So that was a big reason for mecoming and taking on the
project.
It's not easy at all by anymeans.
There's a lot of work that goesinto it, but I like a challenge
(11:36):
, so I'm excited for it all tokeep rolling on.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That's really really cool and exciting, I think.
Um, and very interesting too,because trying to build a pro
you know team and build andeverything that we're doing with
with ozfc.
But you guys are kind of in asimilar vein, right building a
program from nothing, um, and inthat builder, builder mode, um,
and also you know resourcestrapped and trying to, you know
(12:05):
, pull things together and, andyou know, figure it out.
You guys just gotta make ithappen, you know, um, and so
there's a lot of parallels, Ithink, which is, yeah, a lot of
similarities.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Me and chris obviously talk about this from
time to time and he says likeyeah, you're crazy, you're in
two programs now that startedfrom scratch and trying to make
you know crazy.
You're in two programs now thatstarted from scratch and trying
to make you know an impact, onein the same community but also
in different spaces.
So yeah, um, yeah, it's cool.
I'm excited to see how bothprojects kind of kick off and
and where they can go, because Ido think there's a lot of
potential in in the area forsure.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, absolutely so talk, let's.
Let's jump in a little bit hereinto your work with the OZFC
Academy and the U19s.
So, scott, obviously a lot ofthose players kind of played
underneath him or against himfor a long time and kind of
handing the baton over to you tokind of take those boys to the
(12:59):
next level.
So talk a little bit about thatgroup and your experience so
far.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, the group is great.
I think for me, ideally I wouldhave been able to be here a
little bit earlier and help tokind of pick who was on the team
, but just time-wise it didn'twork.
So I kind of got thrown in.
On the first day of training Iwas like here's your team, do
what you want with them.
Pretty much.
They've been great so far.
There's some very talentedplayers on there and I think
(13:25):
having the best players from allof the teams in the area is a
cool concept that maybe hasn'tbeen done before here.
So it's been interesting to seehow the guys from different
teams have kind of integrated.
I was obviously able to bringone of my own guys in as well to
play with us this year, whichis exciting.
So it's been been again aprocess of coaching a new team,
(13:45):
them getting to know me, megetting to know them a little
bit.
A lot of them have had scottfor the coach for the last five,
six, seven years, whatever itis.
So, um, it's definitely been aprocess, but they're they're
doing well.
We've had some good results sofar and we're we're really
excited to see where the seasonwill end up for us.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And these guys a lot of them are in that kind of
space where they're looking for,kind of, what is my next step
in that journey?
Right, whether that's college,whether it's just I really enjoy
playing at this high level andI just want to do it for as long
as I can.
That's okay too, and you'rejust a good player and that's it
and that's what you want to do,great, or there's a lot of them
(14:28):
are trying to see how they canuse this as a vehicle into an
education or to a pro academy,and there's several on that
squad that have gotten multipletrials.
So talk a little bit about whatdoes that conversation look
like?
Why are these from yourstandpoint and talking to your
players, what do they see thisas in terms of um, how do I say
(14:53):
like a tool in their pathway?
and they're yeah, right, likehow do they see it and view it?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
yeah, I think, just in general, it's just a platform
for them to kind of showcasethemselves and you know, if
you're that good, you will getto the level you think you need
to be at.
So for us it's just giving themthat exposure, you know, playing
against some good teams,connecting them with as many
coaches as possible that may beinterested in them.
But the journey is differentfor every kid, so no one's
(15:19):
recruiting process for collegesover the same.
So there there's some guys thathave to go through the junior
college.
So there's some guys that haveto go through the junior college
route.
There's some guys that can gostraight to Division I, there's
some guys that go straight toDivision II and there's no right
path for anyone.
So I think the biggest thingfrom my standpoint with the guys
has just been educating them onthe different levels and the
different teams and like, hey,this could be an option for you.
(15:39):
I would recommend you to gothis path, because it's a very
weird landscape, like collegesoccer especially there's some
junior college teams that willdestroy some of the Division I
teams and I think a lot ofpeople don't understand that.
So just being Division I doesn'tmean it's the best and just
being Division III doesn't meanit's the worst, if that makes
sense.
So a big part we were speakingwith Kevin as well also is just
(16:03):
educating these boys and like,hey, can we help you?
But let's be open to alloptions here and see what fits
the best.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
And I think that's a really good point too.
I mean not just to have you Ithink it makes sense, based on
your experience as a coach, butalso kind of your background and
where you come from to be withthat U19 group number one but
number two, and we're very luckyto have you here, having
experienced coaching at thatlevel and multiple levels
throughout the collegiate systemwhere a lot of these boys may
(16:34):
take that next step it's not adefinitive but it may happen
right as kind of a next option.
But then also to combine thatwith the experience of kevin,
yeah, and and kind of where he'sbeen and at, there's a lot of
incredible value for these boysjust in educating them and
helping guide them through thatand helping them navigate that,
(16:55):
because it's it's it can bereally daunting and confusing it
is and like it's a toughprocess.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
There's no hiding that, I think, for for each kid
they're going to get more no'sthan yeses and that's just
reality.
Um, but I think themunderstanding that that's normal
and that's the process.
Like myself, when I, when Iwent through college and I was
in junior college, I was atwo-time all-american at junior
college and you would think, oh,you can go wherever you want.
No, that's not how it works.
(17:22):
I had a lot of offers, but someof the schools that maybe I was
trying to go to just weren'tinterested in me.
Um, so I think breaking thatdown for the guys and really
giving them an insight into likewhere we see them, kind of
level wise, and this is probablythe best route for you is
definitely a big thing.
Um, we're definitely havingthem speak with multiple coaches
and having coaches come out andwatch and see what other
(17:44):
opinions are, but giving themthe best path is the main thing
for us.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I love that and that's it's what we wanted out
of the program is ultimatelyproviding opportunities for
players and coaches, frankly, tojust continue their journey and
whatever that looks like forthem, but continue to provide
opportunities that may not havebeen there without this program.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We have some really good players, so I think we'll
have a lot that will move on andplay at various different
levels.
Hopefully, when the pro team isestablished, some of those guys
are good enough to make thatjump as well.
Time will tell with that.
But I think the main aim fromus on the academy side is
establish some of those guys aregood enough to make that jump
as well.
Um, kind of time will tell withthat but, I think the main aim
from us on the academy side isto develop these guys so that
they have both avenues, that ifthey want to go college route,
(18:32):
perfect, here you go.
If they want to go the proroute, we have that there for
you as well.
So having both avenues isreally unique and I think it
will help the area grow as awhole for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean that's we, believe me.
We've been asked that it's kindof funny.
We've been asked that, you know, will you have a player?
The talent is there.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
We hope so.
The coaches are gonna be theones to ultimately make that
decision.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
But believe me, everybody that's involved today
in any capacity would lovenothing more than to hear John
Doe from Northwest Arkansas nowmaking their debut right or part
of the lineup, whatever it is.
We would love nothing more thanthat.
You know that's the dream, andalmost every single USL club has
(19:20):
a player like that, yeah, acouple come through every year.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
It's never going to be the whole team but, even
getting one or two through fromyour own academy is such a cool
experience for the fans and forthe players, and it's someone of
your own to support so I wouldlove to see that and I'm sure it
will happen at some point, butI'm excited to see who is the
guy that does that and also whendoes that happen?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
so exactly, it's going to be really cool and then
it's also cool because thenit's something tangible for sure
for the younger players in theacademy to kind of look at and
in the area just in general.
Maybe they're not in theacademy, they're just little
tykes looking yeah, and sayingif they can do it, so can I.
So we want to create that right,um.
So let's talk a little bitabout you know you've we've
(20:01):
talked a little bit about theu19s, the players, how you got
here.
You guys kicked off with a bang, uh, with an opportunity that
doesn't come around very oftenand the Outrigger Challenge Cup
and being a part of that withTurks and Caicos and US Virgin
Islands and the Marshall Islands.
Talk a little bit about yourexperience there.
You kind of wore two hats onthe coaching side of things, but
(20:22):
give people a little bit of ashout on what that was like for
you.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah, it was great.
It was probably one of the mostbusy weeks of my life, to be
honest, because was doing ozarkand then I was on the coaching
staff for the marshall islandsas well.
Um, I loved it.
You know, I'm I'm all about asmuch football soccer as possible
, so my whole day was filledwith that from either side.
I'd leave the marshall islandstraining and go straight to
ozark training and vice versa,so I I really enjoyed it.
(20:48):
Um, but what a cool, coolconcept to have international
football here in Springdale,arkansas.
That probably is never going tohappen again, or maybe it does
now because of Outrigger, butwhat are the odds that happens?
So great experience for me.
Great experience for the guysto play against senior national
teams is again something thatrarely happens for guys of their
(21:09):
age, and they performed reallywell.
They definitely stepped up tothe challenge really well, um,
some very, very good individualperformances, but also just as a
team to compete with those guysin that heat that we played in
as well.
It was so hot, those conditionsso, yeah, hats off to those
guys man.
They stood up, representednorthwest arkansas really well
(21:32):
and they should be proud oftheir performances for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean leading against both Turks and Caicos
and US Virgin Islands at onepoint throughout the game and
even 2-0 up at Turks and Caicosat halftime.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, I think our age got to us in the second half a
little bit and we could havedone a couple things, maybe
tactically a little bitdifferent, but I also wanted the
guys to to have the experienceI didn't want to go two nil up
and hey, let's just camp it inand win the game.
And what's the point of that?
I want the guys to go out andplay and test themselves and and
let's see what level you guysare ready for.
(22:06):
So, um, yeah, overallunbelievable experience.
Uh, the guys performedincredibly and we're really
proud of them.
But very busy week for me, forsure.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Very busy week yeah.
And I mean I think you know youdon't really know what to
expect going into this,especially from the Marshall
Islands side, and you know Iwant to give them and you guys a
shout there too.
I mean, not only competed butscored first ever goals, goals,
multiple From run of play, whata moment.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
yeah, Honestly, what a moment.
I haven't been involved withthem for too long.
So I got a random message fromLloyd one day and said, hey,
we're doing this in Arkansas.
Is this something you'd beinterested in helping us with.
And then, yeah, I ended upbeing the assistant manager for
(22:57):
the team, so it kind of happenedreally quickly and I got to run
sessions for them and helpingthe game day and the coaching.
And, again, a great experiencefor me to be able to be there
for those first ever games forthat group and an incredible
group of guys that came togetherfor a week, some from America,
some from the Marshall Islands,that had never left the islands,
had never played 11v11 footballbefore.
That was what was bonkers.
It was crazy and obviously, asI'm running these sessions for
(23:19):
these guys throughout the week,to see the development from day
one of some of these guys to dayfour or day five.
It was insane because the firstday was rough and then by the
fifth day we're competing andnearly beating a national team
on the last game.
So great experience again.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I can't thank them guys enough and, um, I plan to
stay with them for a littlewhile so that's good, that's
awesome and I think you knowhopefully we get to kind of
repeat this in nwa annually forsure, and hopefully one day be
able to put that up in a niceprofessional stadium that would
be really cool and all that kindof stuff.
I mean just really, really cool.
And you just I can't stress itenough I don't know if there's
(24:00):
ever been an international matchin arkansas before I don't
think so from what I'm aware of.
Yeah and not only that, but youhave, you know, multiple.
And the first ever for themarshall.
It was such a fun week, yeah,an incredible historic week, and
I can't wait to kind of do it.
Yeah, and the first ever forthe martial art.
It was such a fun week, anincredible historic week, and I
can't wait to kind of yeah, andthe fans, the fans showed out
for it.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
There was a lot of fans.
We had quite a lot of our gamebecause we had the other academy
boys coming out and families.
But, um, I mean, even the firstgame it was turks against
virgin islands, which there's noreal correlation there with the
people here in town, but therewas a lot of people there to
watch the game.
So absolutely it's cool to seethe interest and I think it
bodes well for for ozfc goingforward that list.
(24:35):
There is a lot of interest forsoccer here, so absolutely, um
you know, if we're able to dothis right, it can be really
successful and they braved someincredible heat yes, as fans,
even in like metal bleachers.
I know it was hot for theplayers running around doing all
that but I can, I can well, Iwas going and taking a cold
shower in between games becauseI had back to back games so I
was trying to cool down as well.
But yeah it was, it was crazyhot for sure yeah, it was unreal
(24:57):
.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You got a taste of the arkansas heat I did.
I got very burnt that week forsure.
Well, let's uh, you know wekicked off the season kind of
informally there, obviouslyfriendlies, uh, not necessarily
part of the normal run-up, buttalk about kind of, you guys
have jumped in, you've had sometraining sessions all summer,
kind of involuntary uh, and thennow kicked off into training
(25:21):
and we just had our firstweekend and a couple of matches.
Talk a little bit about youknow, what did you see, what did
you like opportunities and kindof talk about yeah, yeah, it's
been interesting.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
So we've been working a lot on some shape stuff
because we're playing acompletely different shape and
different style to what the guyshave played before.
So, um, going into outrigger,that was a challenge because
some of these guys have neverplayed in with three at the back
before.
They traditionally always playwith four.
So, um, we've been working onit a lot and looking at which
patterns of play we want to useand stuff like that.
Um, so it's been exciting tosee them develop that as the
(25:53):
weeks go on, because the moreyou practice it, the better you
get, obviously.
And we're playing some reallygood football right now.
You know, we won the first game14-0, which I told the guys to
go out and make a statement thatwe're going to be a serious
team in the league, and theydefinitely did that.
To beat any team, 14-0 is a bigmark in our game.
(26:17):
So, yeah, for sure, and Iintended for them to go out and
win in a big way, but they evensurprised me a little bit in the
second half of that game, sodid really well.
And the positives for me was Isaw a lot of the stuff that we
worked on in training, in thegames and all the kind of
feedback from a lot of the fansand the parents were there were
like, wow, these guys areplaying really good football.
Um, not just that we're winning, but the style that we're
(26:38):
playing is pleasing for the fansand yeah um, it was enjoyable
to watch, so that was great.
And then we bounced back sundayum, quick turnaround, again
rotated, some guys played, someguys in different positions and
we were able to win that one 6-1again good result.
We're a little bit disappointedthat we conceded, but we're
probably not going to go thewhole season without conceding a
(26:59):
goal, so we get out of the waynow.
But yeah, just in general,really happy with the
application of what we've donein training.
That's, that's the main partfor me.
You know the results will kindof take care of themselves, but
happy that they've beenlistening and trying to
implement what we've done in thesessions.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I think.
Two wins, 20 goals for oneagainst.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Most coaches would take that.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, for sure, see if we can keep it rolling now.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about MLS.
Next, the platform and kind ofwhat's to come.
What do you see your experiencewith the platform and kind of?
You know, what are you guyslooking towards next?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
yeah, I think now it's it's kind of established
itself as the premier tier nowfor youth soccer in the us.
So a lot of my recruiting youknow, when I was at the division
one schools was looking at mlsnext kids.
So I think it's great for theexposure for these guys.
Um, we're able obviously now toplay in MLS Next Fest, which
will be a really cool event, butwe're really focusing now on
(27:58):
can we win our league?
and dominate on that side ofthings and then the rest of it
can kind of take care of itselfin an essence.
So really excited to beinvolved with it.
I think for all of the agegroups it's going to be involved
with it.
I think for all of the a troopsit's going to be a cool
experience to test themselvesagainst the top level
competition in the us,especially in this area.
So it's been a blessing for usto to jump straight into that
(28:19):
and we're excited to see wherewe end up at the end of the year
well, dean, I think I'll.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I'll cut us short here.
Well, not short.
We've talked a lot, you'vecovered a lot, so thank you for
joining me.
Uh, I should say we'll end itthere.
I will give you a kind of.
I always ask folks, especiallyin the coaching realm and and
that have played and played at avery high level what advice
would you give to a young playerout there that aspires to maybe
(28:46):
play for one of these teams orfor, you know, collegiately or
professionally one day?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
yeah, I think the big thing for me is just you can't
outwork work and I think that'ssomething that kind of goes
missing these days with youthfootball is like people think
they're working really hard, butthere's always someone that's
working harder than you, um.
So I think, really pushing itas much as you can and and
trying to maximize what talentyou have and what determination
and ability you have and put itall into one pot, um is a big
(29:14):
one, and I've emphasized I'veemphasized sorry a lot with my
guys.
Like you can always work harder.
You might not think you can,but you always can, and that
that may be one or two percentmight be the thing that pushes
you over the edge, that gets youto where you want to go.
So just keep working, pushyourself and give everything
you've got every day, and ifyou're meant to be there, you,
you will be there for sure yeah,you say that again for my son,
(29:35):
just kidding.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Um well, thank you, dean.
I really appreciate all theinsight, man and and everything
that you're doing with the boysin the program and and just
growing the game of soccer inthe area yeah my pleasure?
uh, it's.
We're just so fortunate to havesomeone like you in the area
and doing what you're doing.
So, thank you, no problem,that'll do it for this episode
of Pitch the Pro.
(29:58):
We hope you enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on pitchtheprocom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, apple or
wherever you get your podcastsfor more content.
Until next time.
Northwest Arkansas Cheers,cheers.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of the pitcher pro
podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
and check out the stoppage timeseries for a recap of today's
(30:20):
episode.
Be sure to find us at pitch topro on youtube, instagram and
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Until next time.
Northwest arkansas cheers.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.