it was in 2004 or in 2004. Plus, I know a lot of people put a lot of effort in this. People made plans for this act of fights. My wife and I were the investors.
There's a lot of people in the platform, so we are set forward for what Kingworth has to offer 2016. We talked about it later. I was right, one of the BCSLership. I'm able to put clarity on what all is involved, like everyone who invested.
Thank you. And we get a guest podcast, and it's always that. It's our opinion. Well, might be shared by the ownership of the BCSL.
It is not there. Tech can be located. But you don't like it. You know, yell it.
Hey, it's time. I'm going to be joined tonight by, as I was saying earlier, probably our second most requested interview after Dave Edwards and head coach from Detroit City of New York. Welcome, Ben. Thanks for having me on.
So, first off, before we get into city, how did the Michigan State season go for you guys? It was a little bit underwhelming. We knew you would be in a little bit of a rebuilding year. We lost five starters, three of which went to MLS.
So, we underachieved by our own standard, but it was a good year in terms of development. Some really, really good younger guys. We started six or seven freshmen in sophomore, almost every single game. So, you know, now we're just looking at the future.
As a Michigan fan, I went to the Michigan State game in Ann Arbor, and that was a fun match. Yeah, it was a good game. I mean, I think any time you get those two teams, really in any sport, but any time you get those two teams, especially in soccer, it's going to be a big rivalry. We started slow and they took advantage of it.
It seems like two years in a row, a DCFC player. Well, multiple DCFC players have really hurt the Spartans, so I don't know what to do with the future. It's just like a player who's slapped with all of the players and it's a very close play. Yeah, yeah, that was special.
It is intense. It's not like anything else. So, is it weird to play against guys that you coach in the offseason, like in college, when you're playing against Michigan State? It can be, I think, you know, guys like James and Colin Will and before that, like Tyler and some players, you know, you really enjoy coaching them and you like it.
You know them, and then your enemy is for 90 minutes there. So, it's a little bit weird that we get used to it because in the soccer community, it's just to cross the pass with friends and enemies. Does it help you prepare for mixed strategies against them? Yeah, here and there.
I mean, obviously it hasn't shown the last few years, but, you know, anytime you're trying to win games, you do whatever you can to help prepare. So, I mean, that one sort of phrase for that word for that is professionalism, which is something we wanted to talk about because, like, I think Sean would agree, having talked to, I don't know, at this point, a dozen players probably, the word that we hear the most from them about you is professionalism, and the professionalism of the practices and professionalism of how you handle the team and handle the roster to manage the game. Is that something that you're consciously working for and is a difference in your college role versus your DCSE role? How do you approach that?
Well, obviously, you know, there's two aspects there. You know, personally trying to make sure that either myself or the club, we have very high standards for city. You know, training sessions are intense. I demand a lot out of the players, but, you know, they back it up with their work ethic, they back it up with, you know, being accountable.
You know, you can only start 11 guys, you can only dress 18, so I push guys to make sure everybody's getting the best out of it. That's very similar to myself at Michigan State, you know, head coach Damon Renzing, who's been a mentor of mine and Joe Baum before that, and although we're amateurs in the college setting, they help you out most professionalism when they coached me and also, you know, being an assistant there. So it's very similar across the board. I think, like I said, I demand a lot of the players, but they give it back in turn with their effort and work ethic.
I mean, what do you, you would hear the benefit of at least watching a little bit of what city was like before you took the job as a coach? What did you expect when the front office came to you and said we'd like you to have a better discussion? How about the discussion coach? I don't know if we've really got an explanation on that.
Well, you know, Kylie's standard, the former head coach is obviously a very good friend of mine and former colleague at Michigan State, and we literally shared a desk together. So, you know, he spoke to me about it one day and just said, hey, would you be interested? I never even thought twice about it. And then I kind of picked his brain about how he liked it and how it was and the level.
I had been to three or four games as a fan and a supporter, so I knew the environment was literally the best in the country. And I got to know the owners a little bit and I knew it was something that, like you said, that turn professional was. It was a first-class club and I thought it would be an honor to be a part of it, to be fair. So, it was a pretty easy job for them to recruit me or me to try out for them whatever it might be.
I mean, is it, I guess, sort of a silly question. Is it lived up to your expectations? Yeah, in beyond some. You know, we get very, very good crowds at Michigan State.
We've had 3,500, 3,000. We were always in the top 20 for NCAA rankings in that sense, but I don't think anything really compares to the fan base of ECFC in the Northern Guard and our supporters. I say it almost every single interview, I do really do have the best fans in the country. I don't care what to your level did it have.
So, in that sense, it's going above and beyond. And then, in the other aspects of, you know, working with a deal and the owners, and I was born in the city of Detroit, so it's something where I feel like I can give back, I guess, in a way, to the community and whatnot. It's really going above and beyond being a part of it. So, you're an assistant at Michigan State, a head coach of DCFC.
How would you say your role is different between the two? Is it odd to go back and forth between being assistant and a head coach? It can be. I think the biggest difference is with DCFC, you know, I really do just something.
I mean, I think it's a lot of stuff. There's a little bit of administrative business details here and there, but honestly, 99% of my job is training sessions, recruiting, coaching, game preparations, scouting, etc. Whereas at Michigan State, you know, that's 10, 15, 20% of my job. You know, whereas, you know, a lot more administrative details than the A's on, per se.
So, it's pretty easy going back and forth, but they are two kind of totally different jobs. I mean, you said you went to a couple matches at the supporter. I mean, when did you sort of realize that supporter culture was going to be something special for DCFC? That's the Erie game.
I think we won three-nothing. I was sitting across the aisle from Cyrus in just, you know, five-ten feet away from Kylie while he was standing down there. I looked around, I was sitting there with my mom, we were watching the game, and she went over. She had actually been a game before I had, and she kind of said I told her so.
It was awesome. I enjoyed it. I looked across the grandstand at the supporter section, and I just said to myself, I've never seen anything like this since I went to a timber game a couple weeks before. Did you ever imagine that it would end up with a giant T-fill of you?
I don't know. We've never gotten a public expression from you of what you thought about that. I'm not sure about being named Caesar. I'll take that in two parts.
Let's say the T-fill first. The T-flow, I'm not a big social media guy. I kind of just went on Facebook and said thank you NGS, because that was very humbling and honestly it was overwhelming to see that support, because like I said, I'm honored to be the head coach and be a part of this great club, and to have the supporters kind of reach out that way, it was very humbling. And then, you know, it was just awesome.
What was the second thing? How did you feel about being called Caesar? Are you aware of the debates that went over during the T-flow design and painting process over how to portray your lack of other word, package? No, there's a view from below.
There's perspective questions. There's a few more questions. Well, it's Caesar and can't be something that people are laughing at. Can they never get around to you?
I noticed the photo that was done out. It was an incredible job. I know how much time and money and resources have to go into something like that. I was impressed.
It looked better than the real thing. It's for Caesar. You thought so? That one?
I correct me if I'm wrong. I think I was doing an interview where I meant to say season, and I said Caesar, and then from there everybody started doing a chance and stuff. It doesn't bother me. It's fine.
I think the supporters, they have a sense of humor. I think they keep you grounded. It's one of those things where they're taking a little humor out of it and I enjoy that. It can be hard to be grounded when you often look as fabulous as you do.
Again, is that a conscious choice for you? There's a lot of people that say, you play football manager. Are you a tracksuit coach? I try to adhere to the League rule first and foremost.
Is there a league rule that's supposed to be slacked in a collared shirt and or tie? To me, you can use the term professionalism earlier. To me, you want to make sure you're putting out the good impression, but also not making a scene out of it. You look around, there's a lot of good coaches in this league.
Good friends with a lot of these coaches. Some coaches in the college game wear a suit and tie. Most coaches wear a polo and slacks or a tracksuit if you will. And then in our league, most coaches wear polo and slacks or a button up, but at least a shirt and tie.
I figure I got to least make sure I'm looking good. Well, that gets to an interesting point. The coaching opponent landscape in the division has changed the season. The service has a little bit of coaching arm space going on.
And Arbor head-hunting Eric Radlant, including a lot of people including Sean, I have a great deal of respect for. And leg staff has gone to start to replace speaking of professionalism, Mark. You've got the coach up liking his name from Spring Arbor, who's gone to the main mailer to the United. So there's a bit of some shifting deck chairs in the coaching, but a lot of it seems to be teams loading up with really good coaches.
Do you look around and say, you know, we've got to work these guys? What's your approach to that? I don't think who the coach of other teams goes into what we do at GCFC. We have certain things that we want to accomplish.
We're going to go about things in a certain way. I tell our guys in the first meeting and I tell them before every single game. When you put on that crest, when you represent DFC, you're doing something that no one else in this country is doing. In regards to the other opponents coaches, Andy Wacks, that's a really good buddy of mine, Nate Miller is an incredible guy.
He is a very good coach. He's awesome. I think Lansing got a gem there. He's an awesome coach.
George over at Grand Rapids. These coaches are good coaches. I know that they're going to work their tails off recruiting. I know they're going to get good players.
They know the game very well. I think Eric, obviously, he won the region in his first year. He's a phenomenal coach. He's going to have them flying in in Arbor.
We've got nothing but respect for those coaches. Like I said with Eric and Andy and Nate, those are all very good friends of mine. I think it's going to be one of the situations where I'm going to enjoy coaching against them because of buddies, but I'm also going to be worried because they're good coaches as well. Even before you get out in the field with them, you've got situations where you know Eric and even like Dave Edwards and talking about how much respect he had from when he was coaching with Spring Arbor, you've got him and Ann Arbor with a pipeline into the U of M system there.
You've got Andy Wacksf from Second on Valley where you've got a lot of key players coming out of Second on Valley. He's now a division of stars. If it comes to this issue where you've got Chaka at U of M, you're using this player, but you're also coaching against him in the NCAA. You've got Wacksf now using his player but he's also coaching against Second on Valley.
But you're also coaching against him in the NBA. What are those conversations like if you're talking to Andy or you're talking to Shaka or something like that about usage of players when they get them back? How does that work when they think that they kind of mean between the NCAA and NCAA? Everybody's different.
Coach Jock and I have a very good relationship which is he actually probably one of the easiest college coaches to work with. There are biggest rivals for Michigan State. There's no qualms about that. You go through any sport, Michigan Hate Michigan State, Michigan State, Michigan State, Michigan, and all that sport.
But there's a mutual respect there. I think he likes the way that I kind of run things in the summer and he knows that his guys well-claimed for the DCC. So he's really looked after us in that sense. Coach Cote and Coach Wiseman and Coach Wagstaff.
All these coaches, Coach Darren and U of D, these coaches have all done a really good job and they really want their guys to play for City. It's one of those situations where they look at the crowd, they look at the coaching, they look at everything that goes involved in the summer league like EMPSL. And I think they can take off all the boxes for their players in the summer. In terms of coaching against those guys, that coach like Nate Miller, the college coach in India, we share ideas all the time.
I text with those guys about recruiting and about the schedule and friendlies and all this stuff. You know, Eric and I share ideas and Nate Miller's a good buddy of mine who we go back and forth on ways to run our program for college and summer. So it's a rivalry and we don't share too much information, but in the same sense just like the players are developing, we're all pretty young coaches that are trying to develop as well. And I think we're all in one common idea.
I'm going to shift a little bit more to a player-personnel discussion. You lose Josh Rogers as far as we know. He decides to come out of retirement quote-unquote. Now there's Blair, he has some big holes to fill.
How do you plan on filling that? Are you looking for maybe a one-for-one replacement or a drive-by committee or something like that? Yeah, I think obviously there's no set way to replace a guy like Josh Rogers. I think if you look at his experience and his spirit and energy and leadership that he brought to this club, he's second to none.
And I think there's no set way to replace that. I think the start of what we're going to do is he's going to be on staff this year. He's going to help bring his leadership and experience to some of the younger guys, especially the defenders. So you really do think he's retiring?
Yeah, I think he's pretty set on that. I think he had such a good career at Mission Stadium, such a good career with BCFC. He's almost 30, so it's one of those things where he's ready to hang him up. And then in terms of a guy like Will, who's the all-time leading goals scorer for the club, you just don't replace that with one player.
So I don't really think about that when I recruit. I think about getting the best players possible in terms of the whole team, the whole unit, going from younger guys that we want to develop future years to guys that I know that we can come in and bring in from day one that will help us get to our goals of winning games and winning trophies. But there's no doubt that replacing those two guys is going to be very good for him. So I wanted to ask about thinking when I say let you take it because you probably have a little bit better way to put it.
Well, in the last episode, I in my shitty, snarky way congratulated Brett Mullen on having recruited Alex Wianek-Cons to Coastal Carolina, which we're excited for Alex, it's a hell of a program. And then Brett moves back, is going to be coaching for Michigan State. And assuming he like, can carpool with you at least, probably has at least a chance at coming back and playing goalkeeper for City, even though we talked to him in the summer he seemed to think that he was retiring. I mean, is Brett talking about coming back to goalkeeper?
I mean, do you have thoughts on how that's going to go? I think that's probably the least settled place on the roster, I assume. Yeah, it's a, that's been a tough position in my three seasons and heading into the fourth season, obviously, you know, Jeremy Clark and Brett in times last year. So, you know, he had the injury last year with the knee and, you know, now really focusing his professional career on coaching.
And like I said earlier, we share a desk in an office together now that he's our goalie coach at Michigan State. So I'm not sure exactly what's in the cards for him. He's got to sort out the health issues and fitness issues, but obviously if he wants he'll be on staff coaching the goalies. And then from there, it's our job to find the best goalkeepers possible for the season.
It's a point that we've really put some resources into and we want to find the best goalkeeper around in the country. We've had some phone calls and some talks and hopefully we can lay in a commitment here this week. And if not, we just keep pushing on to find the best goalkeeper possible. I mean, I saw that you had, I think four goalkeepers on the tryout roster.
I mean, I know you're probably preferred not to pull somebody off the tryout, so no offense to that. I mean, are you looking at the folks from around the programs that you see college programs and like? Yeah, we're looking at both. I mean, Brett Mullen, he came through the tryout.
He had relationships with Josh Rogers and Spencer Thompson and his buddies there. But we're looking at this tryout at all 67 guys here and we're looking to fill some spots. In terms of recruiting, I'm trying to get the best players as possible for this club. And I think that this club deserves the best players possible.
And we're trying to get players to play for DCFC and then pushing to the next level, whether it be the U.S.L. or guys like Bidel and Tyler who have grown on and Kofi and these guys have grown on to play in MLS. So, you know, goalkeepers are very specific position that we're trying to find the best player possible for that position, just as well as, you know, center back and outside back and it's field, everything. So we're trying to find the best players possible and then put the best team together.
Has the recruiting gotten easier as cities profile has grown and you start seeing it, like, you know, talk about outside of the normal NBSL circles? Yes and no, obviously the draw that we have with, I mean, mainly our supporters, but also some of the success that we've had on the field has really brought into the horizon when I was just looking at Southeast Michigan and Metro Detroit area players. You know, I get probably 10 to 12 emails a week from players from Netherlands, England, whatever that say, hey, I want to be a part of this, what can you do? I got an email yesterday from a player who had like 63 caps in the championship for Crystal Pass.
So, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, the interest is always there, but now you've got, was it six teams in the state of Michigan in our division? So, you're talking about a lot of competition, we reference some of the good coaches and good programs in this division. Everybody's competing and then you throw in, you know, another league with the PDL and another team in there that, you know, does a very good job of winning. So, it's definitely one of those situations where a lot of players, like I just referenced a very high level professional who knows about Detroit City FC, but it's also tough competition is there, you know, kids want to play and kids want to play right away.
So, one of those things where, you know, we try to get the best players, but we also try to get good character guys because we go about things in a different way. What's the furthest away that somebody reached out to you at an interesting place you said? Are they ever like the weirdest interests? We get a lot of Australians to email.
I think the league, the NPSL is growing and I think because soccer is such a global game in America, it's such a wonderful place to play it. I think a lot of people want to come over. So, you get, we get a lot of Europeans, a lot of the Caribbean Islanders, you know, but I also have a philosophy that I think, you know, we represent something special. We are the city of Detroit, we are citizens and in my opinion, I think kids from Southeast Michigan, Metro Detroit and even the city, they play with little chip on their shoulder if they get to represent city and I think that goes a long ways.
And then the next aspect is, you know, there are a lot of really good young American players in this area. And, you know, there are a lot of good international players who play college around this area. So, you know, our recruiting can mainly be done around here and then a couple players here and there and then we just kind of go from there. So, we noticed sort of on the list of trials here, a lot of players that seem to be from hand-tranning coming in.
How do you feel about like their level of excitement moving to that city? I think it's going to be awesome. I think, you know, if you kind of know the history and culture of that area in Detroit, there are a lot of, you know, immigrants who really, really adore soccer and I think that you're going to have a lot of different international players come out and fans come out. And I think it's only going to be positive for the club.
You know, this is going to be a really interesting evening. You know, a lot of guys are going to make myself and Adil and Josh and Colby have some tough decisions here on, you know, who we invite back for some trials and who we have to let go. But, you know, that's one of those things where I think moving into key work is going to be awesome. We're going to get not only supporters but maybe some people who also say, hey, I can play the game as well.
A lot of, maybe I shouldn't say a lot of it. At least some of the players out of Hamtramic and also the immigrant communities there might not have come up with the traditional US youth high school college development system. And, you know, sort of the traditional, the stereotype is US players are really fit but not as technically trained and international players are maybe don't have the fitness of the US players but are better technically from a coaching perspective. Would you look at that differently or would you look at a player who's got sort of maybe the the girl playing street soccer as opposed to like, you know, official youth youth 14 or something like that differently and then system differently at all.
Not necessarily. I think like I kind of referenced earlier, we want to recruit good players and good people. I think when you look at different cultures, every culture has their own unique kind of stereotypes, you know, whether you go from the Caribbean or Africa or Asia or Europeans and even within Europe, you've got so many different cultures. So, I think it's one of those things where even within those cultures you have individuals, you know, you kind of reference the fitness versus the technical and tactical side of things, you know.
There's no doubt that, you know, a kid growing up in Spain is going to have a totally different mindset in approach to his way he trains and the way he goes about his soccer business versus maybe a kid who grew up in Rochester Hills, Michigan and played for Rochester and high or the Wolves, you can't, or something like that. So, you know, it's one of those things where we just evaluate player by player. You know, I actually like soccer such a global game, you get to see all the different sides kind of come together and mesh well. And I think that's one of the things we as a club have really done well with such a diverse group, you know, a lot of Americans but also a lot of, you know, non-traditional players as well.
So, I'm assuming you've been to Keyworth, seen the field, it's a little threadbare and it's also a wider than cast. So, how do you see that affecting your playing style tactics, that kind of thing? I don't think it will change our style very much, you know, we are there. I kind of told the owners this when I sat down with them for dinner the first time, I really kind of did my interview.
I told them that I'm going to play the best brain of soccer that I can. That's how I grew up, that's how we get things at Michigan State. I try to be as big a student of the game as possible and I think that in this country we can continue to develop players in place, a really good brain of soccer. But we're always going to be the hardest working team on the field.
If we're not, I'm going to let our guys know that. So, that doesn't matter if the field is 58 yards wide, like at Cast Tech, or it doesn't matter if the turf is coming undone at Keyworth. We're going to play hard, we're going to move the ball, we're going to attack. I think with a little bit added dimensions, hopefully that can let certain players, you know, like a Cyrus Sadie and some of these guys really get the most out of their capabilities.
And I think hopefully it's one of those things where we can give the fans even more to get excited about. Obviously, we've had outside of three games against Erie, we have had an unbelievable record at Cast Tech. So, hopefully that carries over. I think the biggest thing is, is that if our supporters are there, we're going to play hard, we're going to play well.
And as you guys know, our supporters are going to be there. One of the questions that we wanted to ask is, we've asked some of the players that have some interesting responses, have sort of as the focal point, have you ever had opposing coaches or even the referees who get on you about any of the things that we've been saying or doing? Yeah, I think we've had fans that, I remember, I think it was one of the first games we ever coached at Cast Tech was against what used to be Sparta, and their coach, who wasn't happy about the way they were treated. Our work here is tough.
Yeah, and I think, we're grown then. It's a family and a community as well. You've got kids there, but I think if 12 year old kids can hear about it, then 30 year old men playing soccer should be able to hear. I actually heard from referees, the biggest complaint is because of the size of Cast Tech was it's hard for their angles, because it's such a narrow field, that it's hard for them to get good angles to call the right calls.
I don't know if that's the truth. Look, I think anybody who's been to Cast Tech and anybody who's been there more than once realizes how unbelievable that place is. And I have had the Columbus crew, first team assistant coach just called me this week and talked about how badly they want to come back out and play, because all their players could do was rave about it. And they just signed two of those kids to call contracts and they still talking about playing at Cast Tech.
So to me that's nothing I do, that's all the supporters and what you guys do and I think just keep doing that because it's unbelievable. Do you have a favorite song or a chant or anything like that? Yeah, I've said this before, my skin crawled, I got the chills when I was under the tunnel and it was the come and get it chant for like 30, 40 seconds. And there was no music, there was no noise from anybody except for those supporters and it was just echoing in that tunnel.
And I just looked over and the opponents were, you could just see it in their faces and games over. So I think if there's anything for the supporters, keep doing that because it just sets the tone and I honestly just don't think other teams know how to handle it. One of our favorite moments was in the right up after the Madison 56th match when they're coached and all they announced 3500 attendance and it sounded like 7500. It was the worst defeat they've received since 1956 they said.
Jim is a friend of mine as well and he's a really good coach obviously they won the regular season and we shared skydder in the course throughout the season and he told me that same thing. There was only 3000 people and I said well that's Kramer in a minute because they had to turn some fans away and he was just blown away. And that's a guy who's coaching every level and he's seen it all over the world. So that's a testament to the supporters like I said.
How does this kind of interest, how does scouting work in the end? How much are you able to actually, I mean because you don't exactly have film. I mean we saw from the playoffs like Madison was like broadcasting the low battery indicator. I mean it's not film to be seen.
How does that work? My first year I went and watched every single team play live before we played them. It worked out very well. So I drove the Cleveland.
I drove the C's. You know at that point there was another team. The Sparta was going on so I got to catch some teams up there in Berkeley. So I realized after doing that that sometimes in the summer leads the rosters can change so dramatically that it really, you're catching things.
And every now and then a player too. But with the live streams at FC Buffalo does a really good job and Cincinnati they put some games up. So I would say that we're probably at the front of how much scouting we do. Other coaches I tell them after every single game if you ever want to scout.
Some of these coaches are buddies of mine like I referenced Eric and Nate and Andy. I'm sure they're going to give me a call after the game and say hey how do we do this and how did they play. So you try to share ideas and help each other out because you know that if you're kind of sitting there not in the know you want some help. But we're pretty good at it between myself and the oncoli.
We're pretty thorough. We're usually very well prepared. So what do you think of the revised division this season how the travel is going to change the roster and stuff like that. I think it's a positive.
I think what it's going to do is two things. I think it will dilute the talent of the teams in the same mission a little bit because you just went from what two three NPSL teams to six in the state. But what I think it's going to do which will in turn cycle back the talent to get into that top level is I think the rivalries are going to be awesome. You're going to see communities you know Lansing and Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo and you know Flint gets a team in Detroit.
You're going to see rivalries and kind of communities come out and support each other. I think anytime you say hey we're representing Detroit or we're representing Lansing you are representing something special and something a little different. So I think it's going to be awesome you know we're only leaving the state once in a league game and then obviously Buffalo with the friendly is there. You know that is one thing that I'll miss is the Cleveland fixture but you know that was just a little bit unfortunate the way the West or sorry to East Division kind of shaped out last minute.
So we found out today that this is going to be a US Open Cup game which we talked to a little bit earlier and you also found that out today I think after we found it out. So what are your thoughts on that again back into the tournament? Well you know this is going to be the third year in a row and we've got a tie and a loss and a tie we lost on penalties so to me not advancing twice is heartbreaking. So this is kind of like hey we didn't qualify off the first round we got in through the second round and that to us is saying hey there's a second chance.
So to me I think if you research that tournament and the history of this tournament it's awesome the tradition of it that you go back it's over 100 I think it's like 103 years old or so. You know to me to be a part of it is something special and to be a part of it with this club is even more special. So that's going to be a very important game on the 11th no matter who the opponent is I probably have a guess who it will be but you know that's going to be a huge game and my guess is that it'll be a top opponent and that's going to be something we're going to go in fully prepared for. Are you going to be able to put together a team I know that the US was tough to do first thing out of the gate.
There's no way we'll be prepared but there's also no way that our opponent will be fully prepared. It's just going to come down to on the flock you know we'll be we're going to start three season right around the May 3rd ish that first Monday. So last year I think we had like four practices and a scrimmage against U18 Varder team you know so that wasn't enough to get us ready. You know we had three guys that were in the 18 main lineup that were shaking hands and saying hey I'm this guy and I'm just here meeting you and oh by the way you're starting and you're kicking off here in an hour.
It's one of those things where both teams in that match will be in a pretty tough situation but that also I think adds to the adds to the energy and the passion of that game. So no doubt that it'll probably be a local a local derby game and I think you know that'll be something that you know our guys will be jazzed up. We'll have to rally the herd around that. Not to be a downer but there's a perception among some and I don't think any of us here hold it but there's a perception elsewhere at least that city quote folds in what it's you know so see whether it's the end of the season.
I mean I'm sure that's not a new concept even how do you look at that and is that something that you think that's I think that's very fair. Like I said you look at the regular season record over the last three years and then you look at the open cup and playoff record. You know I think every year is different you know at the end of the two seasons ago when we didn't even make the playoffs. I don't think people realize I think we played five games and eight days to finish the season.
We have make up we played two double weekends both of those Sunday games the team on Friday didn't have a game so you're trying to play these games and to me those are all excuses. We got to show up and win games so that's something where I use that last year I said look we didn't make a playoffs. I failed the players failed we all failed so this year we made the playoffs and I thought we blew it losing the area home or we would have hosted and I took no doubt what would have won the region. But we didn't those are all what ifs and you know stories to be told so to me that's that's the next step you got to make a playoffs and then you got to go refocus from there.
It's very very difficult but if we want to talk about being one of the best clubs in the country which clearly we have the best fan support we have the best city we have the best ownership group now we have to be the best team on the field. So you know I don't know if it's one of those things where we fold or collapse or buckle under pressure but you know I don't know what the other answer would be it's one of those things where I can guarantee you from me and my staff and the players that will be ready to play come in the 11th and you open cup. And you know if we can get to the playoffs then we'll we'll be focused and go from there. So just looking a little bit farther down the line is kind of curious what your long term goals are maybe college and coaching maybe city groups after the professional level.
Thank you for your thoughts on that. I think you know I referenced development earlier with some of these other coaches in the league. You know every single day I go in whether it's a training session, a video session, even if I'm like walking compliance. I want to be the best coach that I can be.
You know it's twofold. I'm an assistant coach at Michigan State and that's my home and that's my family because I played there. You know I grew up an hour and a half away and I developed every single day with the Damon and Kayles you guys know and now Brett's on staff. So I push every single day to become a better coach there.
I don't I'm in no rush at all so whether to be a college head coach. I just bought a house right there in Oakland. I think I'm good in the college sense and I kind of get my quote head coaching fix here with DCFC. You know and I like I bring it every day for Michigan State.
I try to bring it every single day for DCFC. You know I think if you know you watch training sessions and you watch these games you see the passion and the energy I have. But you know I think I'm a progressive coach and I think that I'm every single day trying to study the game. You know whether it's going to watch on professional teams, whether it's going to watch in watching you know a guy like Lars Rickers with Michigan Wolves Club who just absolutely is one of the best softer coaches I've ever met.
I deal with the Hawks. He's on staff. I just learned from these guys. I try to be a sponge and soak it all in.
You know I don't think there's any immediate plans for me if you know if and when DCFC take that step to the next level those are conversations that we had but you know as long as I'm alive and these owners want me I'm here to be the head coach for DCFC. You got a bunch of guys down there in Jersey getting ready for warming up and getting ready. I'm sure you want to sit there watching them but there's one last question I wanted to ask you which is what's the best part of your job? That is probably the toughest question I've ever been asked.
Let me think. The best part of my job? Money. No, definitely not.
No, the best part of my job is honestly if I can sum this up like in a text message or two that I've received whether it's at Michigan State or Detroit City FC and I can reference two texts that I've received from Jeff Atkins and Cyrus Aide telling me how thankful they were that I gave them an opportunity. Even though I'm looking at them, begging them to play for us and help us win games and they sat there and they said thank you. Thank you. You know you coached me up.
You worked me hard but I put it on the line for you. You know what some of those times you get emotional and you're like this is why you do it. You know Tyler Channel this off season has been on trial with the MLS and USL teams and that's why we do this. You referenced earlier about winning games.
There's two or three times where I probably could have held Cyrus or Will or some of these guys back from going and training with MLS clubs during the playoffs and maybe we didn't win a game or two but those guys that was what was in their best interest. It's all about development. It's about these guys getting good experiences and I think that they get a great experience from the supporters in this club and hopefully they get a good experience from playing for me and hopefully developing. I would say that's probably my favorite part of the job.
I'm going to do well. That'd be right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Hell Caesar. As they get to say these days we appreciate it and we'll be back. Alright. Thank you.
I'm just saying it up. I'm just saying it up. I'm just saying it up. And we're back with our second interview of the evening here ahead of the Tri-Ozzler watching the guys warm up at the corner with Alex Wright to the corner of the Twin City.
Alex I think you actually have a record now for your third time with the podcast. So you're sort of like the Tom Hanks or whatever of the Saturday Live with the three-timers club. Go get a robe. I just want to go.
So more than anything, congratulations on hitting the minimum for the Keyworth Project. I mean, when we talk to you and Sean, you guys are talking about you guys tried for sure the big heart, Harry Audacious goal and you hit at least the minimum of that. How does that make you feel? I think it feels incredible.
And it's something that anyone who supports this team should share in that feeling. It's unbelievable that we've been able to bring together over 400 dollars in investments. And we've got a little less than two weeks to go. It's right right now.
About 10 days to go. And I think it might be a function of the way these things work. But the investments that we've seen in the last week to 10 days, we're seeing incredible levels of investments. I think that we kind of sprinted past that 400 mark.
There was a bit of a lull there in a four month period. Maybe that's inevitable. But ever since then, it's really been going gangbusters. And it's folks that were at the very first game we ever played.
And it's folks that I think are hearing about us through media or through word of mouth and then reaching out to us because they want to be a part of it. Everyone involved is doing their job and it's working well. One of the factors on that is, as you guys have said, 400,000 is a great milestone inside the end world. And when you read the actual funding documents, there's very specific levels for like, okay, if the club reaches between 400 and 500 is mapping, it hits 500.
So, whatever this might happen. Someone hit a home run over there. So, we're sorry to be here. It's really loud screaming.
For our listeners for once, we're not listening to glasses and the dish pit, we're listening to kids playing baseball. Oh no, we're going to get in. We're going to go and chant them in a little bit. We should get the chatea there high register chanting too.
And it's like really. Alright. So, the funding documents have a situation where it's like between 400 and 500, this happens between 500 and so 15. I mean, is there, I mean right now I think we're 450 and so most of the website.
One of the things that the supporters are looking at is the documents say, if we don't get at least 500,000 the East side, which is the supporter side won't get renovated. I mean, are those not to put you too tightly into like exactly what sort of concrete work is going to be done, but in general are those things. No, that's true. Thank you for reading all those documents because there's a lot there.
And, you know, we've tried to be as accessible and open to answer any sort of questions as possible because the fact is this isn't a financial commitment they're asking for them to make. Yeah, so what you're speaking to is the sort of like the, what is, what is how much getting it, right? So 400,000 with the limit that we had to cross to get the funds freed up. But we also had, when we started the investment, we had to create a range.
There's a ceiling and four, 750,000 ceiling. And that's a reflection of what the quote we were given to completely renovate the phase one construction as it was spelled out in the construction documents. And that includes both sides, reinforcement and I'm going to talk about the most tonight because Barry Bonds is playing on one of those software things. But more to your point, you had a $500,000 threshold does reflect how much money we've been told we would have to pay to get both sides function, right?
So yes, like that's the story. The question is actually we put that number because that's how much we need. We've been told we got a raise. So, I mean, long answer short is that if we had 500, we got a supporter section?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I guess it's a human endeavor, right? So we can only tell you what the construction companies told us. But yeah, that's what we've been told that's here will get us to.
Frankly, we're looking to accomplish the whole thing. And the way things are going, I wasn't sure it would be a case a month ago, but that might be possible. The things, through this investment, I mean, the things keep continuing where they were. So, Sean mentioned us when we said that work had already started.
And it's been amazingly a fairly mild winter. I think we're doing some stuff on the locker rooms and stuff. Yeah, so I think anyone who could choose by P-Wort, if you'd see a couple of gumsers, the stuff they're doing is basically we fronted, we're confident enough in this project that we fronted money out of team funds to get the ball rolling. And a lot of that stuff, that basically means demo, like you said, cleaning out the locker rooms and some bleachers and whatnot.
You know, they're basically walking around the structure tap in the concrete and figuring out what they've gotten themselves into. The sooner we get that going, the sooner they're ready to do some serious work once the funds come in. So, they have started and the mild winter has helped a lot. And hopefully that continues because we're going to need it because, you know, it may just be on the corner.
So, how are you feeling about getting all the renovations done in time? And now I guess the timeline's probably been moved up with the US OpenFAT game, the real today to all of us. Yeah, so one of the many surprises today, today being Friday, was the revelation that will be in the US Open Cup again. That was news that got to us at the exact same time that got to you guys.
And we're thrilled, you know, who knows who we're playing, but it's pretty likely that there's only a handful of teams we could play. It's likely probably the Bucks. We'll see how that shakes out. We could also have the Bucks and the Dutch Lions.
Yeah, I guess there's a, I don't know how to see the draw, right? In April. But in terms of key worth and the timeline, I mean, let's, I think we're still pretty focused on making sure we can get that, the Ann Arbor opener and the Manchester game, to be ready for that. We'll have to talk as a group and once the structure gets started to see if that's a timeline, feel sick and we can push up.
You know, if it's a situation where we could play the game, but no one can watch it, I don't think we'd want to play the game. You know, we'd much rather have you guys there than. So what is the process of being able to like host the US Open Cup game? Well, Sean feels that he's pretty into that stuff, but from what I gather, you know, each team makes a big to host.
And whether that's like a point off, I think it's a randomized situation, way to get the big. I'm not sure because there's also criteria that are pitch-sized to hit. To be there like the two years ago, we couldn't play cast, but we've been on that and we were allowed to play there. So it's not out of the question that we'd be able to host.
It's just, you know, as far as the nuts and bolts goes, she's showing email and you probably be central to the big ones. But I mean, so there's no like official, you're not getting some sort of like owl from the US or whatever saying like, hey, you like, you guys found out? You got an owl called Twitter at about 3pm, and Sean found out. I was, I forgot not before any of the evidence.
I was like, I do it, I put that on my resume. There's no official, like official, like, oh hey, by the way, you guys, you team owners, you're going to be playing in the official national cup. Whatever. They're going to post it.
They're going to ask you if you could, because some NPSL teams pulled out. Like, should they be asking you? I mean, well, you know, we've said it before, like the ownership group is very much like a Federation, not a Republic. There's a chance that one of like the member states was contacted, like, in some way or another, asked if you wanted to host US Open Cup.
And then of course they said yes, but like, it wasn't like a, it wasn't like a proclamation. It wasn't a big deal if it happened. Of course you want. Yeah, right.
If we get the chance. Every year we say what we think is true is that we think that we should be representing in US Open Cup. You know, we prove it in regular season and post season with artists, like, you should be in it. Speaking of early season matches, I mean, in the past years we've had, you know, Saginaw Valley we've had MSU, I mean, is that?
We've sort of come to assume that once the season, it comes out, there's going to be another round of like, here's some friendly stuff. Yeah, give us some time on that, especially with US Open Cup happening. We're going to need some tune up games and we're going to need some serious tune up games. I think in the past those games have served this sort of like, if the older guys get knocked the cobwebs off.
But if you look at the schedule with US Open Cup, I think we're looking at maybe, something like, five games in a pretty short cluster of time now. So we're going to need to get tuned up pretty quick. So I would expect us to look to us to announce some preseason games. I'm not sure where they'd be, but we're back at Berkeley, probably Berkeley's been a great preseason for us.
In terms of who we play, like we'd be happy to play Saginaw. I'm going to talk to Ben tonight about the Pinguin Games can say again. I think everybody had a great time with that game. And then, you know, talking to Ben, he said that we're kind of on the radar of some other college programs that might be interested in playing as a pro-seam zone.
I think it's time for the loss of friendly. Didn't we play that? What's the winter star's game two years ago, like half-waza? I think it was.
I know he played. I think some of the other... I guess the loss of Queen Ferenal Waza's team is between teams too. We've had Waza players, I've seen a DC FC here as he's here.
Yeah, yeah, I can't. One of the things that goes into sort of team composition and all that is what we did last season, which was housing players. Did you have any update on whether or not we were planning on housing players this season? Yeah, we will be housing.
Well, okay, here's what we're here to do. We've pulled Ben that he has in a lot of spaces available. We're going to house the guys in Detroit this time. He knows the space and the fun that he has to work with to make that happen.
And when I say fun, I'm talking about to cover Rhett, not anything else. And it's up to Ben to fill those spots. So it'll be his decision whether or not those spots are filled. Like we do every year, we want this team to be as good as it possibly can for an MPSL team.
And he's got the green light to do whatever it takes. I know that he is texting and calling and emailing. First these guys, coaches, if they're college guys, any players, if they're not to try to get to best guys. And whether or not we have to be totally open.
If I had to guess, I'd say that we will be housing at least three or four guys. And you're talking about Ben. One of the things that struck us looking ahead at this season is coaching arm's race and all the sudden, and our best goal is to get to the division. And our best goal, Eric Ruddland, from Lansing, Lansing, brings us to the Garberscoach.
I'm sure to grab say, I do a staff and gets rid of the felon. Like, is that something that you guys are watching? Do you think that's a result of the job that Ben has done? Is that them being scared of the threat of Coach Josh Rogers?
I mean, what's the name? Are you guys looking at that and saying, like, this is a good thing? Mad thing, scary thing? I think we're going to have to wait and see on that.
We are extremely fortunate to have Ben. Ben is one of the best things that's ever happened to this team. And we're dedicated to taking care of him. What is interesting, though, is that maybe you just got to, well, not all arms races end peacefully.
What are the vicious decisions behind making these sort of things? Are they made in the name of sustainability? Or what's going on? That's something I think we need to see played out.
I will say that for now, I'm looking at it all as a very positive thing. I think it's great that, I mean, I think it's great that the, sorry, that people shouldn't be soccer serious enough in this state that coaches are getting jobs, summer jobs, pushing them, you know, some of the professional minor leagues that are legitimate, which are the positions. And I think that's something we take a lot of pride in. That's something we've all worked on to create, like, five years ago, you know, this didn't exist, you know, and the fact that it's something, and one of the results is affected.
Yeah, Eric Rutland is an in demand coach. It's kind of, it's crazy to be thinking that we're talking about our league in the same way that, like, you know, folks talk about professional sports. So, too quick, yes, as we look at the almost 1130, they'll try us about to start. So, the Rust Belt Derby, I know that's more of a supportive thing than not, obviously one of the challenges was creating a match of some form of discipline.
Can you give us any insight into what happened there? Yeah, I mean, I can give you as much insight as I can. Like you said, the Rust Belt Derby is a supportive thing, like all of these. It's not something that we created, but it's something that we are really dedicated to sustaining, because we understand it's significant.
We've been working with Wabland and Buffalo from day one to sustain the Rust Belt Belt in some way. As soon as for regions went out the way it did, it became clear that we wouldn't be playing each other in the standings, but we were really dedicated to finding a way to play at least once both of those teams. Which is what we did last year. Unfortunately, Buffalo, fortunately Buffalo is, you know, has worked with us very closely to make that happen.
Unfortunately, Cleveland's been a little bit tougher to get on board with that plan. So, essentially, fuck Ohio. The last one is on the key work construction. There was some mention of getting, Sean has said, we're going to get you guys out there working.
Is there any more updates on the idea of getting the supporters out there at some point to do any online? I mean, still any online, all that stuff. We've got to sit down with the construction folks and find out what their timeline is, what they're doing. I think it's safe to say that until that place is safe, no one's going to go in there doing any sort of volunteer stuff.
We want to make sure that it's sustainable in some place that people can go in before we can tap into any help. But yeah, we're totally open to it. Is that the kind of thing that Mike mentioned today's supporter from type of event? Well, we got to sort that out too.
I think we're pretty fired up to have some sort of event like that. To be honest, we haven't even talked about where that would be or when. It was a pretty big hit last year. So that might be something we could announce.
But considering we don't have a date or location for this opposing second prom part two that you've just asked about, I probably can't let you know what would be on the agenda. If you don't call it supporter prom two, we'll let your boogaloo work done. What is it? The promming.
To that point, I assume there's nothing new that you can tell us on sponsors or anything like that. No, I was going to generalize question. We have you get, has Keyworth driven more sponsor interest? You work with driven more sponsor interest having Donovan and our new sales guy, Jordan, freed up to really pursue the sponsorship side as benefit of this completely.
Those guys are totally killing it. What we're going to do is announce all that stuff a little bit later on because there's just so much content going out with investment and stuff like that. Like I want to make sure that we got the right way to unveil all that stuff. But I think at the end of the day, you guys are really happy with everything that we've been able to lock in.
Alright, I guess the last question, who's the sexiest assistant coach you're going to have to see? Sexiest assistant coach. That's a really good question. I think that probably a deal?
I'm sure you're a softball there, man. Not really a deal. You know? Alright, so let's get out of it.
I was talking about Josh Roger softball. But there we go. Anyway, there goes the drums and there goes the mic. There goes the drums.
That's right. Thanks, we always appreciate your time and we'll be back. And that'll do it. For another edition of the TriCdFCKcast, I am Jon Zune, and Jon Nautilus, and I'm Jon Brogan.
I am at Rise Am, on your score on Twitter. And Andrew Goode, and at BoysAndRooch.com, and at BoysAndRooch.com. Our love to Dean Padre Simmer and his wife are awaiting the birth of night science pod, right? We look forward to that great joint expectation.
If you're looking for us, we are at DCFC on Twitter. We are DCFCSC.com. We are DCFCC and GBL.com. Thank you to Open Guard for giving us a place to record tonight.
I think it's a big way for you to go and have the background work on setting up. It's been nice to be a roster at the time. Thanks to Ben Turman and Elle Treit for sitting and talking to us again. Thanks to the Northern Guard for coming and coming around us and for sure to bring out your drums.
My own goddamn doctor. Thank you to you the listeners. I'm describing iTunes. Everybody always says, don't hit your radar side.
I don't know what that actually matters, but I'm trying to get you to get out of here. We're sitting here watching at the end of the TriCdFC. We're watching at the end of the TriCdFC. We're trying to find out whether or not they're going to be there.
I'd like to try it out. Thanks for the effort to come on here tonight. It was a lot of fun to watch. It was really interesting to see.
We look forward to learning more about what's going on in the city. We look forward to hearing more from you all. We will see you next time. See you, everybody.