Name: Mike JacobsHometown: Evansville, IN
1. Tell us about yourself – how long you’ve been coaching, how you got started, your education background, your current involvement in soccer, etc.
I have been in coaching since I was in college in the late 80’s/early 90’s – I got started very early on, working as an assistant at a local high school and youth soccer club when I wasn’t training with my college team. I think I knew that I always wanted to be a coach, and even though I was still playing (at Pace University, NY), I wanted to cut my teeth and get involved. By the time I graduated from college, I already had experience as a head coach at the high school level and at the youth soccer level – I was like the “Doogie Howser” of soccer coaches (I don’t know if young coaches can associate with that TV reference).
Right after graduation, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to work both with FC Westchester as a staff coach and at Iona College as an assistant coach. This was the right progression in my own coaching career, getting experience at the highest of level in youth soccer while also working at the collegiate level.
I graduated from Pace University with a degree in Literature and Communications, with a minor in Secondary Education. I definitely know that taking courses on classroom management and psychology were essential in my development as a soccer coach. I was teaching in New York City after graduation while coaching part-time…but it was evident that regardless as to whether it was part-time wages, I know that to be successful in coaching that you have to be able to commit full-time hours and full-time effort.
When I was offered the head coaching job at Iona, even though it was part-time wages, I decided to resign my teaching position to concentrate fully on coaching my college team. I was also coaching youth soccer and working summer camps to help generate income – I was also fortunate to have a wife with additional income coming in to help supplement our family’s income. In two year’s time, I was able to turn the position at Iona College into a full-time position while winning 12 games and advancing our team into the conference semifinals.
The key part of my development as a coach was taking the lessons I had learned with FC Westchester and Iona College, and advanced them by leaving my comfort zone in New York to accept positions at the University of Evansville and then Duke University as an assistant coach. The opportunity to get mentorship from coaches like John Rennie and Fred Schmalz, while competing at the top level of college soccer, was a key component to my professional and personal development. Being able to put together a blueprint of how to run a program, both on and off the field, and at the side of coaches who were giants in our profession, were no-brainers from a professional standpoint.
After successive seasons at Duke where we went to the College Cup (2004) and won and ACC Championship (2005), I was offered the opportunity to return to the University of Evansville as the head coach. John Rennie was quoted in a newspaper saying I had spent the past 10 years preparing for this job…I think he was correct.
2. How long have you been a member of the NSCAA and why did you decide to join?
I joined the NSCAA in 1994, and found as an important way to get resources to draw from (Soccer Journal, Coaching Education). I had taken my NSCAA National Diploma that same year, and after having the opportunity to be exposed to coaches like Anson Dorrance and Jack Detchon, I knew this would be an invaluable organization to be associated with. I also knew that it would be invaluable in network and meeting other coaches, which for a young coach starting out, proved to be invaluable.
3. What are NSCAA benefits do you find most useful?
Soccer Journal gives valuable insight from coaches at all levels, and from all over the world – there are always nuggets that I find in there that I can apply to my own team or career.
The NSCAA Convention is the largest soccer festival in our country, and whether it is taking in clinics, walking the exhibit hall, or attending meetings as a committee member, there is something there that is applicable for every coach to participate in.
The Coaching Education program was such a formative part of my own coaching career – I had completed my National and Advanced National as my first two coaching courses I participated in, and that helped create a framework for who I am today.
4. How did the NSCAA influence your coaching?
Going to the Convention and attending Division I coaches meetings and hearing the likes of Jerry Yeagley, John Rennie and Sasho Cirovski speak so passionately about college soccer made me think of the kind of coach that I wanted to become.
Having instructors like Anson Dorrance and Jack Detchon really helped me formulate coaching philosophies that I have incorporated into my own style and philosophy.
Being a literature major and enjoying writing, seeing the work of Tim Schum and Soccer Journal made me think about sharing my own coaching lessons with others, and want to get even more involved in coaching education.
5. What are your thoughts about the NSCAA coaching programs?
This is an essential part of any serious coach’s professional development, and should be at the foundation of any coach’s education/professional development plan. I would strongly recommend and encourage any coach starting out to initiate their experiences in coaching courses with the NSCAA courses.
6. What inspired you to become a soccer coach?
I had a good foundation of coaching role models growing up – both of my parents were teachers in the South Bronx, so I was able to see what kind of commitment and enthusiasm was needed to teach. Bob Walkley (my youth soccer coach) was a tremendous example of the discipline and structure you need to have in every facet of your team. Mentors I have had professionally – Al Pastore, Alfonso Mondelo, Bobby Herodes, Fred Schmalz, John Rennie – all had different strengths that I was able to draw from, and apply to my own style. Imitation is flattery – and each of the names mentioned should be flattered by what I have been able to draw from their own training sessions and styles and use myself today.
7. What is your coaching philosophy?
I think that tactics are a key component for any successful coach, but no matter how capable a coach you are, if you can’t recruit (identify & assess, acquire) good players, and if you aren’t effective as a man-manager (communicator), you will never get the chance to use those tactics effectively.
A good coach is a good ‘salesman’ – if you are a good salesman, your players buy into your ideals and tactics and follow because they believe in you…not because ‘coach says’.
“Nothing great happens without enthusiasm” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. How do you prepare yourself before a game?
One thing John Rennie was outstanding about was to be able to de-attach himself from the game emotionally before a match – if you are too wrapped up emotionally, you won’t be able to assess the game rationally and make decisions or changes as the game goes on. I try to leave my team in pre-game after speaking to them and let my assistant coaches run them through their pre-game paces, and get ready to sit back and enjoy the game. Any coach who is screaming too much during the game probably didn’t do their work during the week in practice – so hopefully I am ready to watch our team perform well on the items we addressed all week in training.
9. How do you keep yourself motivated to coach?
Like most coaches, I am fortunate to be able to have my greatest interest as a profession – I spend most of my free time away from the office watching games on TV or in person, and always try to take a professional development trip every year: whether it is watching the US team train, an MLS team or teams abroad. When you think you know everything, it is time to find something else to do.
I am also a voracious reader, and have a large collection of books about leaders in all fields – not just in sport, but in the military and business as well.
I have also started to play a lot of chess lately – I have always heard how much the tactics of chess replicate the tactics in soccer in so many different ways, and not growing up playing chess, I have found it fascinating to attempt to apply tactics from both as a novice chess player.
10. What is your most memorable moment as a coach?
It would be hard to think of just one memorable moment as a coach, as there have been so many that stand out in my mind – the ones that stand out the most might be: (club) winning the Liberty Cup with our FC Westchester ’77 team, defeating the ENY ODP team in the process; (high school) the first win that my Briarcliff HS team won – prior to my first season, they had lost consecutive games for 2½ seasons…I don’t ever think I saw players celebrate like that; (college) Our Duke team winning the ACC Championship over rivals North Carolina in PK’s.
Saying that, the one that definitely trumps any of those was coaching my then 5-year old son in his first 4-a-side game…there is really no coaching going on at that level, and the coaches are on the field officiating/coaching. Nothing was more humbling and personally satisfying than sharing my own love and passion for the game with my son – there is no score kept at this level, but I always felt that players at any level who were really competitive were always fueled by winning or not losing – at the end of the first quarter, one of the kids on my son’s team came over and asked me what the score was. Before I could even respond, my son looked at him and said “we’re winning 3-1”…I almost laughed and cried at the same time…
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