Dan Klinect is the assistant men’s soccer coach with Emory University. Emory University is a NCAA Division III Institution located in Atlanta Georgia. Emory University is a member of the University Athletic Associate (UAA), alongside other schools such as: University of Chicago, Rochester University, and Brandeis University.

Dan Klinect joined the Emory Men’s Soccer staff as an assistant coach beginning in the 2016 season. Klinect has helped Emory post a 43-22-9 overall record during his four seasons, has overseen two All-Region honors, and 11 All-UAA certificates. Dan is also in his seventh season as a club coach at GSA coaching a U-12 Academy Boys, and assisting with the U14 ECNL boys.

Dan has experience coaching at the high school, college, and club level. In this interview, he gives his tips for staying physically active and mentally prepared during this time. Dan also talks about Emory’s recruiting process and what makes Emory different from other schools. Dan also shares with us some of his top coaching highlights as well as some funny stories. This is an interview you do not want to miss! Enjoy!

Coach

Dan Klinect: Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach at Emory University.

Topic 2: Tips for Staying Mentally Prepared ​

Dan recommends that as a player you need to continue to challenge yourself. He recommends watching old film of yourself playing, and then breaking it down and critiquing yourself. 

Topic 3: Recruiting Story ​

Dan also coaches a high school team, and went to a tournament for recruiting with three other coaches at Emory. At the tournament, he had a little bit of downtime and went to watch his high school teams game. One of his high school players recommended he watched one of his teammates, and when he did the player really stood out to him. After checking his test scores, he noticed he got a perfect ACT score making him a great candidate for Emory. The player just finished his freshman year on the team and Dan says that he will probably be a starter next year. 

Topic 4: Recruiting Process at Emory

Dan reminds players that as a Division III school they cannot offer athletic scholarships, only academic scholarships. Dan also says that recruiting is different because they do not follow the same rules as DI and DII schools. Dan says that recruiting at Emory is different because as a coach he cannot just look at how an athlete plays, but also has to look at their test scores and GPA. This is because Emory is a very prestigious academic school. 

Topic 5: Do’s and Don’ts of Recruitment ​

Dan’s biggest tip for athletes communicating with coaches through the recruitment process, is to make sure you know a bit about the school before you begin communicating. He recommends athletes know what they are getting involved in, look up details of the program, and the schools admissions requirements beforehand. 

Topic 6: Tips for Videos and Communication

Dan enjoys to see athletes showcase different skills they are capable of. He recommends players do not send videos of them only doing one thing, show more than one phase of the game. He also asks athletes to remember to highlight themselves in videos. He also reminds players that coaches take note of what an athlete is doing on the bench as well.

Topic 7: Play in 30 degrees or 100? 

Dan says that as a player and a coach he prefers colder weather. Dan says when it gets too hot outside, it becomes too hard for players to breath. When it is colder outside, it is easy to layer up, but when it is hot outside athletes can't 'layer down.'

Topic 8: Mount Rushmore of Soccer

Dan’s first two picks are players he coached in high school and college. He gives backstories about both kids being very technical players with great mental toughness. His next two picks are professional players, Lionel Messi and Mia Hamm.

Topic 9: Top 5 Greatest Moment

Dan tells a story of a game two years ago, when their team scored an early goal. At times, this would worry him because he was afraid the team would not play as hard for the rest of the game. In the second half, they decided to run a different formation and it ended up building the momentum of the team. The game ended up going to overtime, and they won in overtime. 

Topic 10: Not Top 5 Moment

Dan tells a story that happened two years ago during a soccer game against University of Chicago. A cross came up to the goal from the left side and shot, but instead their goalkeeper leaned to grab it and attempted to one hand punt it. He ended up punting it into their own goal. He also tells two other similar stories. 

Keep Dan Klinect's tips in mind as we will make it through these uncertain times. Use all of this free time to your advantage!

Full Transcript:

Jess Gregory  

Thanks for joining me today I am here with Dan Klinect over at Emory University. How are we doing today? Dan?

Dan Klinect  

I'm doing great. That's 75 degree weather, can't complain.

Jess Gregory  

Oh, perfect. And here I am worried about my heater not working. Here in Chicago how's a shelter in place going for you? You guys are staying safe and healthy down there?

Dan Klinect  

Yeah, it's been fine. I mean, we don't travel around much. We go to the grocery store. And that's about it, and occasionally go to Home Depot and stuff like that. But yeah, for the most part, I mean, I have a pretty decent I have an acre lot. So I'm able to separate myself from other neighbors. So and we've been good.

Jess Gregory  

That's good. It looks like you have some space out there to kind of do some fun things if you need to.

Dan Klinect  

Yes. Big, big, big yard.

Jess Gregory  

Exactly. Now let's kind of jump in and see if we can give some tips to the athletes that are stuck at home on what they can do to stay physically active.

Dan Klinect  

Oh, some of the things and I also coach club team and so we're I'm kind of doing the same thing. We are encouraging do certain program with regards to Carver, individually do a lot of individual skills and homework, agility work, things like that. The one thing that is kind of unique about this whole scenario is because there's no sports on a lot of the stations that carry soccer are showing reruns of games from early in the year. I mean, I've recorded pretty much all the way for Champions League games, and what a great tools and now that there's nothing going on watch that kind of break down the game. I'm personally reading about soccer analytics in the statistical side of the game, so I'm starting to get as a coach more into now I have downtime to kind of evolve my game as a coach, but players can do that as well. And I would recommend any kind of quick feet drills with the ball just get touches every day and to try to keep yourself mentally and physically sharp.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. Actually. Stop post the other day for kids that don't have a lot of space, kind of like you do in the backyard. She just took chalk and drew a ladder on the side. So

Dan Klinect  

yeah, I mean, my daughter, I mean, I'm doing that we our driveway is not flat, it's pretty steep. So we're going down to the cul de sac, and that's what I've done. I have drawn up that or I put cones out and help her do that. So there are what you can you can stay sharp.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, you just gotta, you gotta be creative. Think outside the box. Exactly. Now on that other side of that, what about staying like mentally prepared and trying to get mentally tough? Before we can get back out on the field?

Dan Klinect  

Well, you got to challenge yourself in whatever it takes. If you're a defender, you know, you know, try to work on explosiveness. You can, you know, you can if you have the ability to have weights in your house, you can do some squats and things like that, to keep focused. But again, like I like if you have old film of yourself Playing like huddle and other forms. Watch yourself be be critical of yourself as a player. And then you can kind of break that down. And your best way to do anything as a player is to be your biggest critic. And then if you have access to film of yourself, I would recommend you doing that too.

Jess Gregory  

Okay, awesome. Now let's sort of chat about the recruiting side of things. I want to kind of give the kids like a fun recruiting story. I know you've been coaching for quite a while. So you got to have some great stories under your under your hat there. So if you can give us one of your favorites, that would be great.

Dan Klinect  

Yeah, I was actually last year, we as a staff went down to the Disney tournaments and in December, and we have three coaches to go along and watch all the games. And I had a player of mine in my It was a senior at my high school last year, because I also coach High School, and he was playing on a team and we were I had a little bit of downtime and they were playing on the field behind me So I turned around watched him play and I was he was sitting on the bench and hey coach, how you doing? And he goes, you need to watch this kid out here on our team is okay. And I watched him and he was like, he really stood out and it was a really he was a really high caliber player and I checked his grades, you know, of course, Emory's grades are ridiculous to get into, you've got to have a 375 GPA and, you know, three, five, you know, 1350 1400 si t. And you know, it's difficult to get in. And this kid had a perfect score on his a CT and had a 4.0 GPA. And he was literally a man among boys out there. And so that was a diamond in the rough. We didn't he wasn't on our radar. He never contacted me. And so I want to talk in Wrath of the game and said, Hey, listen, I think you'd be a great fit for us. And he's like, wow, you're a counselor I'm looking for I was I was kind of afraid to contact you because I didn't know the process and, and that's one of the things we'll talk about later in this interview is the process and So we got on the ball, and he got his application in by January 1 got accepted, and ended up being a regular player for as a freshman this fall last fall at Emory. And he'll probably be a starter this year. It's kind of one of the things that, you know, he wasn't on the radar, and it worked out. It's kind of a, he's a great kid. And you know, he wants to be a doctor, obviously. And so it was one of the things that worked out for us.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. It also sounds like that was pretty great on your players part to be like, hey, coach, look at this kid over here.

Dan Klinect  

Oh, yeah. I mean, I told Alec, he was my captain of my high school team. said, Yeah, we're getting this guy in our team, because coach, He's good. He's gonna do great. And ironically, my senior that was talking to him. He had gone to Oglethorpe, which is a big rival to us. And so both two club teammates play on rival teams within Atlanta. It's kind of neat.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. All right. Now let's talk a little bit about the recruiting process. I know you guys are division three. So you don't have the same recruiting rules and things that division one and two have. And you guys also only have academic scholarship. So if you want to kind of chat a little bit about the recruiting process for you guys, and then we'll kind of go from there and get some do's and don'ts and

Dan Klinect  

okay. You hit the nail on the head, the one thing that everyone needs to understand is as a d3 school, we cannot offer athletic money. Every d3 schools a little different and a package they can give you. And I can't speak on all division three schools, because it all depends. But at Emory being the Harvard of the South, as we call it, it's it's a pretty high academic standards. But there's you can get on our we have a financial calculator on our website for Emory and you can kind of plug in or your parents can how much money they make and and all those other components and it will give you a package about what the school will give you an assistance. So even though we may be $70,000 a year to go there that the school may give you $50,000 in academic assistance through because you know, we're funded by coke and some other big corporations. So that happens, it all depends on financial need about the financial assistance, but pretty much every student will get something and they're multimillionaires. And they of course that difference but but what's only accrued it's it's a little different because we don't follow the same rules as D one and D two schools. You know, they've changed some of the sophomores, they can contact me, but I really can't give them a lot of feedback other than stay, just keep keep in touch and things like that. So when I go to recruit, we have to, you know, for me, Emory, we have to kind of look at, you might be a great player, but what is your si t score or whatever? And what is your GPA because, ultimately, being a strict high, high academic school, we have to have, we're not they're not going to lower the bar because you're an athlete to get into our schools. So there are different when we recruit it's a little different, like I've told you before I didn't exact camp, when I look at the list, I go through and insert all the guys that would qualify for Emory. And I focus on watching them camp because there's no point me looking at this guy go, Wow, that guy's awesome. But there's no way he'll get in Emory. So we have to approach it a little differently, but it's still exciting and fun. And I love talking to the kids and getting them. And that's why I've embraced the exact program for three years now is the format i think is ideal to getting kids to speak on their behalf, things like that.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Now, what are some fun like do's and don'ts that you have for them? I'm gonna guess that putting their GPA in the email somewhere is going to be helpful. So

Dan Klinect  

yeah, well, for me some of the some of the don'ts is and this is any any prospective student athlete, whether it's Emory or wherever, know a little bit about the school enough where you can kind of let the coach know hey, I'm really interested in because I like this program or like this program. I know you guys are not well known like for us, if you're going to be pre law, pre med, or you know business degree, we're, we have an outstanding program. So go in knowing a little bit about the requirements of the school, and maybe a little bit about of what you may be interested in. Obviously, we're gonna change our mind because we change our major sometimes but at least have an idea. That's the biggest kind of pet peeve is when somebody's email, I got one just the other day, coach, I'm really interested going Emory, my GPA is a 2.75. And what well, you'll never get in. And I don't mean to be elitist, but that's just the standard we have in our school. And it's a little different that way. And so my biggest recommendation about do's and don'ts is know what you're getting you're getting involved with about the program because ultimately, your four year investment into the school soccer is just a byproduct of that. It's not the hopefully you're not going to a school just for the purpose of going to play soccer, that there's something you want to get out of it from the academic side as well. And so I would recommend that you know, a little bit About the admissions process at that school and maybe a little bit about the program, maybe you're interested in Emory and you've never seen this play, you don't know what style would play, maybe it doesn't fit. Your, your, your, your playing style. So note about what you are looking for from a program from a soccer standpoint as well as academic.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, those are some things that they can do now, for sure is do that research and kind of look into things. And when you're talking about admissions, you can talk to admissions at any time without ever having talked to the coach. And that's probably a good idea before you get into that contract. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully they do some of that stuff. Now, do you kind of have any tips for what you'd like to see in video or what else you'd like to see in an email just in general?

Dan Klinect  

Yeah, I mean, obviously, we want to see what you think are some of your better qualities is one of the things I see a lot. It's kind of systemic through the processes. If you're a goalscoring You're only showing your goals or you're scoring this goal. And that's great. That gives you one component of maybe three or four. Maybe if you're a striker, maybe show yourself tracking back on defense and getting stuck in on a tackle or doing something or maybe if you're a defender, maybe it's not so much you went in the ball but your distribution of the ball decision making if you're a midfielder, everything I mean, if you're a sinner made, you're going to have to show everything from going attack but also defending and and I always recommend showing both offensive and defensive clips. If there's something that you've done that's special, maybe you've scored a hat trick against whomever and a big tournament game. Oh, obviously that's a big deal or, you know, something that that showcases more than just one phase of your game. That's the biggest thing I was say to do. And, and if you have a huddle account, because that's kind of the one of the bigger ones out there, you can edit make sure you highlight yourself. I just received one last week. And every time he touched the ball it had his a circle, like, glow around him. And so we can focus Hey, this is the kid that we're talking about and, and, you know, be as proactive as possible, you know, you you're trying to sell yourself to, to get accepted and, and for a coach to like you so show your best qualities and and personally when I go watch games if I watch them in person, I'll watch what you do on the bench. Yeah. Because, you know, if you get if you get subbed off and you put your head down and your your body language gives it away, that tells me a lot about a player when you're on the bench if you just got subbed over there just kind of pouting or are you? Are you a true team player? Those are all things that most people overlook that I mean, I've been doing this for 25 years. I look and I look at, Okay, I'm gonna track the guys you walked off the field. And when he sits down, I'm gonna watch him for five minutes and see is he sitting on the edge of the bench away from everybody that tells me a lot that you're really not a team So little things like that.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's pretty good segue actually to kind of talk a little bit more about, like mental toughness versus talented players and kind of how that makes the team successful. So can you kind of give us a story about a successful team you've had in the past and kind of what made them successful, the mental side or the talent, or most likely a combination of the two?

Dan Klinect  

Okay, um, a couple years ago, three years ago, actually, at Emory, we went to the elite age in the tournament, and we had a lot of seniors that out, you know, none of them got drafted. None of them are playing professional soccer right now. They were just what I call the blue collar workers, they work their tail ends off. They had a mentality of if I lost the ball, I was gonna win it back immediately. kind of tough, a little bit. Physical in that aspect and just kind of didn't take no for an answer and not afraid To the kind of dog a player out for not doing their job, but also accepting expensive responsibility if they did the same thing. There's a lot of buy in you have to have for any team, whether it be college level, high school level, right coach and club. If the players don't buy in and they're not motivated, it's got to be some intrinsic value, it can all come from me. You as a player need to go Dang it, this is not going to happen again. And they and that team would run if I asked them to to run through a brick wall they would try and that we were tough. Maybe not the most skilled. We had some skill players mixed in with kind of hard nosed, kind of what I call blue collar workers that just kind of get their get their hands dirty a little bit. And to me, I think mental toughness. That year happened to be a little bit. I mean, we were physically, we were talented enough, we wouldn't have made it to the Elite Eight without being talented. But the the mental aspect of just going to find a way to grind it out to win. That was a different team and it's My suggestion to any player is work on the mental side of the game because I can tell a lot about a player, like I said a second ago about how they react coming off the field, are they gonna pout? Are they gonna be the ones that are going to be up and encouraging everybody else? You've got to have that you've got, obviously, I'd be lying if I said we didn't have talent. You know, you gotta you gotta have some talent, you've got to have that. But the component about the mess, the mental physical kind of component is is to me what separates winners from the people who want to be there.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. It's really cool to see that all come together to win. You're like, Alright, these kids started off the beginning of the season here and they just busted their behinds to get to that level. And again, you're just you aren't taking you're not taking no for an answer. You're just going out there and doing what you have to do. And you'll see that in champions all the time. So

Dan Klinect  

you look at all the teams in any sport, and, you know, obviously there's talent there but you look at Liverpool last year won in the Champions League. Well, you could argue that there's six or seven other teams that have better talent than what Liverpool had. But their coach displayed mental toughness rubbed off on the players. And they were easily the best team in Europe last year.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Because it's the same way in college, right? You're all of those teams are going to be good. You just got that one thing that really sets you apart, and it usually is the medical side. So

Dan Klinect  

in our conference, especially the UAA I mean, we've got we're so spread out geographically, we have University of Chicago, you got Rochester. We've got Brandeis, which is in Boston with NYU we got you know, Wash U out and I mean, we're and we got Carnegie Mellon and Case Western from, you know, Ohio, our players our team to spread out geographically. They're all high academic schools and they're all have kids that are that are that are very good. Technically soccer. You know, I know one of the questions you had on your your list for me has been background Well, I played I played division. Once. Walker at Georgia State. I'm six foot five, you know, 200. And, you know, College of 205 pounds. I mean, I was the Intimidator, but it didn't, I didn't have to have a lot of skill because I could win the ball in the air and I could, I could win tackles and, you know, the game has evolved so much. Now you look at these d3 schools and I my first year at Emory, I was taken aback about how much the game has changed and how they actually play soccer. And, and and so the game has evolved so much over the years and that's one thing I always want to tell my students is don't look at D one or D two D three is, well this is the better one or the whatever, because all all players at the next level now can play whether it be d3 or D Well, I'm not saying D one can't play I'm just saying the game has progressed so much at all the levels have gotten better, and it's actually good soccer to watch. Yeah,

Jess Gregory  

absolutely. That's a great tip for them as well. Don't don't get pigeonholed into only wanting to go to one One place. Oh, yeah,

Dan Klinect  

because a lot of times it doesn't work out. One of my good friends who's a local coach High School, his son went to D one school this this fall, hated it didn't like it. And now he transferred to a d3 school. Wheaton, which I think up near Chicago. Yeah. And that's great. What a great school it's going to be a great fit for him. It's a smaller academic, you know, school with regards to number of students, and it's a great fit. So make sure you do your research because do you want d3? There is not much difference regards to how much the kind of style of soccer they play the differences. Usually, it's the size. You want guys to recruit guys like me who are six, five, and whatnot in the back. And, you know, in fast guys, well, we try to be a little bit more technical. Because we know right, we're not going to get certain types of players. Yeah,

Jess Gregory  

absolutely. All right, let's let's kind of talk about some fun things. Now. We'll get away from the serious tips for the kids. Let's kind of jump into some just silly questions here. So one of the things Once I have for you is would you rather play in 30 degree weather or 100 degree weather and down in Atlanta, I have been down there. It gets hot. So I'm prefer

Dan Klinect  

I as a player and as a coach, I kind of liked the colder weather to be honest. I'm not gonna lie. I grew up in Buffalo for a while. So I was used to the, the frigid temperatures but as a player when I played, it was like it like you said down here. hundred degree weather in Atlanta. It's gonna be 75 80% humidity. It is hard to breathe. It's not for the best conditions for a soccer player. At least when it's cold. To me, it's kind of like how they make the swimming pool is very cold. You'll you'll swim faster. To me as a player I liked I felt like I had more energy when it was cold. I don't know why. I don't there's a science behind that, but that's just how I felt.

Jess Gregory  

Alright, I like it.

Dan Klinect  

Alright, yeah, you're probably saying the opposite. I hope Want to be where it's 100 degrees.

Jess Gregory  

You know, I played I played soccer and softball in high school and yeah, I would take the warmer weather just because when it's cold up here in Chicago, it's cold

Dan Klinect  

and hitting. I mean, I played baseball in new swing a bat in the cold. Yeah, I get it. I get that part of it. Yeah,

Jess Gregory  

yeah, for sure. Alright, let's talk about your all time favorite players and we're going to give me your Mount Rushmore of players and kind of a little bit why. So when you like say who your favorite. All Time players are kind of just a quick blurb about why they were picked,

Dan Klinect  

like any player I've coached or just in general.

Jess Gregory  

If it's professional or any players that you coach, that's fine, just a name.

Dan Klinect  

I had my first couple years at Emory, we had a player named Jason McCartney, and he was a junior when I got there as my first year at Emory. And he was one of those guys that just I explained. He was extremely smart. He's now in he's going to med school up at university somewhere, I think North Carolina Apple Hill one of those up in the ACC so brilliant student came from a little area a little town in North Carolina and if you want to call it a redneck town you probably call it a redneck down had just a very very much Southern kind of demeanor about himself and very yes sir No sir very, but yet you put them on the field and that switch went off. It reminded me a lot of me because people always say well coach You're so nice, but when I competed I was kind of not so nice and and I was able to flick that switch. And to me that's that that's what you need. You need to be able to you got to have that as a game face but you got to have that game face and and Jason had that and he had an he. I'm not gonna compare them the messy but if you watch Messi play, he doesn't run around the field the whole time. He's not running around. It seems like he's kind of lazy. He picks his time to get the ball when it gets it. The balls in the back and then that Jason would do that kind of but wait if he had the ball in around the box. It was He was a leading scorer for two straight years and I was there as an all American and and that's he played smarter not harder. That makes sense because you don't have to run around the field for 90 minutes going crazy and then go, gung ho. Remember, it's a long match, especially down here in the south. In August when we start playing a September game imagine playing in 90 degree temperatures and, and it's 80% humidity, you can't do it. And so he was one that stood out from college level, there was no player and again, I'm going to use a rival School of mine and a logo for who I coached in high school. He was a kid and this is a great story for all the kids that are thinking that you have to have a label to play certain like, gotta play da you're gonna play etc. Now, this young man played for me his name, his name is Topher Marshall. In high school, he played classic three in Georgia. That's a very mid to low level kind of a, you know, ranking of a team with regards to the level Have you play and he was just a phenomenal technical player, everything else. And everybody overlooked him because he had a label of being a classic three player didn't play etc now or that kind of stuff. And I kept telling the coaches Listen, you take this kid, he will be an all Conference Player. He went to Oglethorpe and you can talk to coach Akin and Oglethorpe. He's like, coach, I'm so glad that you send them our way because he end up being freshmen Player of the Year for the conference. And that making the all conference team is all four or three years after being freshmen team, and was an all Americans last year. I was playing professional soccer in Costa Rica. And he didn't play easy now he did. He is one of those guys that and we as coaches get into that as well that Oh, they play da or they play ecml and there's just automatic assumption that they have to play one of those two levels of play college is like the kid I read Oh, and created that down and he didn't play easy now or when it he played on a Have a national level National League team which is a regional team and, and he was a player that stood out and now he's going to be starting fourth probably. But those are a couple players that really stood out to me from the college level. From the pro level, I like Messi i mean he's that he's a guy that is very efficient. You look at him and he's and he doesn't always sprint in, but he picks it he's watching the game he's always turned his head watching the game and he knows that okay, there's no point me sprinting 30 yards of press that guy because he's probably just going to play it up anyways, I'm going to conserve my energy and I'm going to find the pick that space. He's a super intelligent player. There's a great series on prime that I don't recommend that the players are watching. It's it's football and it's about their six episodes, and one's about Rwanda. And that episode six is about messy, and how he reads the game and it's just he's always just out to me as a player, not necessarily because Barcelona just because of who he is and what he does, and I also like, you know, make strong defenders because that's what I played. So any defender that can kind of intimidate people and kind of like so

Jess Gregory  

awesome. All right, we got one we got another one.

Dan Klinect  

Yes. Let's see. One of my Mia Hamm. Well, she was she was one of those kind of torchbearers for women's soccer that I just, you know, she does things right. She carries herself the right way. She performs on the field, she she does more than expected off the field. And to me as a professional athlete, whether it be Lionel Messi or Mia or any of these other high profile athletes, then they have to be soccer could be basketball. What do you do off the field to find you as much as you do on the field and we're lucky in Atlanta and Atlanta united and I have a lot of connections to that team and I work a lot with Special Olympics. And and lanie and I did a lot of their players have helped out and volunteer and do things and I do I read a lot of games down here with Special Olympic athletes and a lot of the 99 players that Julian wrestles not been traded to DC he was always doing something to help out Special Olympics and Brad goes on and, and others and to me, people what you do off the field is important what you do on the field.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, what's a great crowd out there? ruin some female players there at the end, you know, you gotta gotta represent

Dan Klinect  

To me, it's the most underrepresented sport in America. And they've you know, you look at what how they get paid versus the men. It's It's not fair to me, to be honest. I mean, the women have won I think three World Cups and the men that made it the one elite eight and quarterfinals and our sweet 16 and all its history. So I think it's unfair and hopefully it'll be addressed. So I gotta get my plug out to the my daughters Hoping to be a national team.

Jess Gregory  

There you go. I love it. All right now let's kind of talk about summit like one great moment that you've had. And there's probably a lot to choose from. But this will be like a nominee for the the top five, all time greatest moments that you've coached. So do you have a moment you can think of that we can throw out there?

Dan Klinect  

Yeah, two years ago, early in the season, we were playing Washington Lee University from up in Virginia, down in our tournament in Atlanta. And we scored an early goal, like a minute and a half into the game, which is really not ordinary. And so and I kind of looked at the other coaches said, This is not good because sometimes we scored early goal. There's just kind of, wow, we're good like a hawk we just scored because they were ranked, you know, top five in the nation or whatever they were and, and I think, and I said that and it was it was prophetic, because then we played like crap. The last Part of the first time we were down three, one at halftime, and they were all over us and they were, you know, they had all the momentum, they were kind of joking around and, and to kind of take it for granted that we're going to win. And I suggested because I'm the head coach, I'm assistant coach, I said, Cory, it's like, we need to change something. And it's got to be the mentality, we got to show them the mentality is different. And we ran a very strange formation the second half, it's the 343, which you see a lot more in the women's game, but not the men's game. And it's all designed to press and just to create havoc and take away angles and whatnot. And next thing you know, you know, 30 minutes into the into the second half, we're up for three we were just the momentum was all over it. We were We were just the kids were momentum was building, they bought into what we asked me to do at halftime and just be tenacious and fight hard and things like that. And then About a minute ago in a game, they scored a goal tied up made for four. So we went overtime and we end up scoring a goal in overtime to win five four was one of the crazy games as well and the other game was up in Chicago that year the final eight. We were playing University Chicago in our own conference in the Elite Eight, and we were down one nothing at half played. It was like sleeping in typical Chicago weather and in mid November it was cold rainy, just above freezing and and I normally don't chew players out in it goes. Obviously the head coach has his thing he says one of the other coaches he says, My tactical thing, and I was more of a rah rah coach I was the more of you know, I stood up in front of my just kind of an eye dogged, I shoot them out for two or three, my clipboard broke it and I told Mrs. Seniors This is your last game you want to go out playing like that, blah, blah, blah. And they came out with score to go Real quick and we were all over a minute losing the PKs, but you know, a lot of kids said coach, man, that speech man that got me all fired up. So it's like, that's my job.

Jess Gregory  

All right, so we got two of them won't we'll add those two nominees and see kind of how those fall. Now let's let's talk about the flip side, these are always my favorite ones to see what happens. So this is your not top five. This is where some sort of fall or two guys run into each other or some sort of, you know, weird thing that doesn't happen very often kind of happens. So do you have a memory of that? Yeah.

Dan Klinect  

Two years ago, two years ago when we're playing your University Chicago in the regular season game down in our place, you know, it's worth thinking I it's early October, it's still warm and let's be very aggressive and try the press the issue and take advantage of the hot temperatures because you know, people Chicago aren't used to 85 degree temperatures in middle of October and it being 80% humidity still. And so we are really playing well. And then they have Had a cross come in from the left side in our keeper for some reason, I don't know why, instead of just coming out and grabbing it and securing it, he tries to one hand punch it. And when he would have pinched he punted into her own goal.

Jess Gregory  

Oh, no.

Dan Klinect  

So we're not one Oh, and we end up losing one nothing. And if we're like, Oh, my, I had to just catch the ball. Why try, if you can, at least to a two hand punch, but all you do is come out and catch it. And he wouldn't punch that one hand and went anywhere on goal. We're like, Well, no, no, no. And so we end up losing that one. We had another one. Same keeper year before that building out of the back. You know, in the game before we played Chicago in the Elite Eight, we're playing team from Texas. And he we play the ball back to him and he was trying to play it to our outside back and played it straight to the striker went in scored a goal. Where's that come from? I mean, there's all kinds of space and you pick the one guy out there's a guy here and a guy that it was like crazy. Those are two we had a guy Two guys that went up for a header and in the box knock each other down. Hit the third defender come squaring the face because he wasn't. He was expecting you guys to get it. He's got a boo boo caught him in the face and bounced out of bounds for the kick. We had one kid that tripped himself. He was on a breakaway and he got his his shoelaces caught one time. He had a Brit literally he was a breakaway with a goal. He was running and his he tripped himself or clipped himself with flying the ball away. It was that was a silly one. And then we had a kid up in Carnegie Mellon. Last year it was raining and he went to kick a ball and he slipped and just literally completely missed the ball and split about 10 yards out of bounds. It was kind of funny.

Jess Gregory  

I wish we had these things on video so we could. Yeah, exactly. That's my favorite part of that. ESPN is not top 10 is where you just get to see these guys. So But all right, coach. Well, I really had a good time sitting down chatting with you. I love the information that you shared. And I'm excited to put these up for the kids to see. But thanks again for sitting down and hopefully we can see out in the field soon.

Dan Klinect  

Yeah, you too. Thank you.

Jess Gregory  

All right.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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