Jeff Lewis is the assistant men’s soccer coach with Utah Valley University. Utah Valley University is a NCAA Division I institution located in Orem, Utah, about thirty minutes south of Salt Lake City. Utah Valley is a member of the Western Athletic Conference along with other schools such as Seattle, Air Force, and San Jose State University. 

 Jeff Lewis has also served as Director of Coaching for the Utah Storm Soccer club since 2008. Lewis holds a USSF "A" coaching license and has coached his teams to state titles at both the club and high school levels.  He began his coaching career at Utah Valley University in 2018.

 Jeff has an abundance of experience coaching soccer at all levels: highschool, club and college.Throughout our conversation we touch on Jeff’s coaching background, his coaching style and his best tips for athletes staying mentally and physically prepared during this unprecedented time. Jeff also gives tips for athletes navigating the recruiting process right now and how to best communicate with coaches. This is an interview you do not want to miss! Enjoy! 

Coach:

Jeff Lewis: Assistant men’s soccer coach with Utah Valley University 

Topic 1: Jeff’s background in coaching:

When Jeff came out of college he went into business and owned several successful businesses of his own. However, when his kids were old enough to play soccer he noticed there were not a lot of opportunities for them in the area they lived in, so he decided to get his own club up and going and became the director of coaching for the club. After this he decided to take on soccer full time and became involved with the Olympic Development Program. Before he knew it his olympic development team won nationals in 2015 and he was being asked to come on board with Utah Valley University Soccer.  

Topic 2: Challenges in Coaching:

Jeff says that the biggest challenge he faces in coaching is that there are not a lot of high level coaches in most areas, therefore the ability to ‘rub shoulders’ which coaches he can learn from is not always there. Because of this Jeff says it's extremely important to him to always continue to be a student of the game. Jeff regularly attends coaching seminars and coaching curriculum activities as well as watches sessions of coaches he admires and considers successful to continue to improve as a coach.  

Topic 3: Jeff’s Coaching Style:

The first thing Jeff tries to be as a coach is organized, he wants his players to come to a game or a session and know it's a professional environment, he states that this causes the players to reciprocate this level of professionalism. Jeff also describes his coaching style as ‘loud and demanding’ he says that there is never a time that his players do not understand what he wants out of them. It is important to him that he remains vocal but never demeaning in his coaching style.

Topic 4: Jeff’s Coaching Rewards:

Jeff states that the most rewarding part of coaching to him is watching players come in and engage with a goal and then find success in that goal. Watching his athletes personally or as a team succeed in their goals is where he finds the most joy in his job.

Topic 5: Tips for Staying Physically Active:

Jeff provides an interesting outlook on this unprecedented time and tells that he believes this will be a true test to see if athletes have what it takes to play at the collegiate level. He says that during winter and summer breaks collegiate athletes are not allowed to be trained by their coaches or have their coaches check in on their daily workouts. He says that the time we are in now is similar in the fact that athletes need to find the self discipline in them to stay motivated. Jeff encourages athletes to set goals for themselves and try their best to stay to a set schedule. 

Topic 6: Tips for Staying Mentally Prepared:

Jeff’s biggest tip for players is to find a way to watch as much soccer as they can right now. He encourages athletes to watch highlights from old games and watch how the game was played 15-30 years ago. The other important way to stay mentally engaged is to follow a schedule. Jeff says that players need to find a way to be mentally disciplined enough to ‘not sleep in till noon’ and wake up ready to be productive for the day. Another important tip Jeff gives is for players to read books and articles about the game to learn a different side of the game that they may not have had time to do when they were in school six hours a day. 

Topic 7: Recruiting Tips

One of Jeff’s tips for seniors navigating the recruitment process is to not panic and remember that all the seniors are in the same boat as them. Jeff’s other tip for athletes is to stay in contact with coaches. He encourages athletes to share with coaches what they are currently doing to stay active during this time and their plans for future camps or programs they can attend. 

Topic 8: Success: Mental Toughness vs. Talent:

When asked for his opinion on if mental toughness makes a team or if talent makes a team Jeff Lewis thinks it is all about finding a balance between both. Jeff believes it is important for players to be prepared and working hard in the off season. He believes you can be the best skilled player but you cannot let another player out train you, especially in the off season.  

During this time of the sports shutdown, its crucial for athletes to pushes themselves to be the best they can be. Thank you Jeff, who offered some really helpful tips on productivity and what athletes can be doing mentally as well.

Jess Gregory  

All right, everybody, I am here with Jeff Lewis. He is the assistant coach over at Utah Valley University. How are we doing today, Jeff?

Jeff Lewis  

I'm doing well. How are you, Jess?

Jess Gregory  

not too bad today? Not too bad. It's a Wednesday. So we're halfway through the week. 

Jeff Lewis  

There we go. There we go. Wednesday is a good day. It sets us right into the weekend for a little relaxation. Right.

Jess Gregory  

Exactly. Exactly. All right, Jeff, I am really interested to learn how you got into coaching and how you got from your start to where you are now.

Jeff Lewis  

Excellent question. My my route to get into where I am now is a little bit more of a roundabout than what most people do. A lot of people come right out of college and they get into coaching college or maybe coaching at a high level. When I came out of college, I actually got out of soccer and went into business. I own several successful businesses over the years and while I Missed the game of soccer. I did run some adult leagues, and I was a player coach for a while, which wasn't high level soccer, but at least I got to play. You want to talk about challenge, try coaching a bunch of men that can't run around anymore. That's a challenge. But when I really got into soccer was when my young kids got to be old enough to play. I wanted to make sure they had an opportunity to play. And we live in a rural area, where we're actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most baseball diamonds per capita in the world.

Jess Gregory  

Oh, that's a fun fact.

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, so we we didn't have much soccer around so I decided to get a club up and going. before you knew it. I was the director of coaching for the club, changed it from a 12 team club, kind of a low tier up into 40 to 50 teams each year and we're competing all around the nation. Oh nice. When I did that decided to go soccer full time I wanted to see how I could learn more become a better coach. So I decided to get involved in the Olympic development program, so that I could be around high level Coaches learn from high level coaches, see how they did things and really up my coaching game and, and I had a lot of success with the Olympic, give them a program, won a regional title won a national title and basically got into the group of coaches that could help me expand on my career before you know it. Actually the same coach that I won nationals with Greg moss offered me a job to come on board with Utah Valley University. And now I coach collegiate soccer with him. So it's been a great experience and I've enjoyed the road so far.

Jess Gregory  

That's awesome. So when did you guys win a national championship?

Jeff Lewis  

We won nationals what years is 2020 I believe we won in 2015 with to the west. We want for the west to regionals for the western ODP. And we went to nationals and we won national so it was a great experience.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that sounds like you have a really great a great coaching career even if you didn't start right after college. I mean, you kind of worked your way through the club levels and then up into the low Like you're at now. So that's great.

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, it's been great. And I think the fact that I was in kind of the private business sector helps me run my teams and my college because I've, I've seen how to do from a business side of things. So I have a wide range of experience to pull on not just coaching.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. And you also mentioned earlier that there were some challenges that you found there. Can you share a little bit more about the challenges, challenges that you faced while you've been coaching?

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, you know, I think that the biggest challenge you have in your coaching is that there's not a lot of high level coaches in most areas. And if they are, it's in a small group, and they're kind of all spread apart because you're working for a different club and, and maybe the ability to rub shoulders with the coaches you can learn from isn't always there. So what I've always tried to be and I continue to try to be to this day is to be a student of the game. As soon as I started to coach, I had a director a coaching job, but I didn't have any licensing. So within a matter of four years, I made sure that I got my alien license out of the way my US Soccer a license, I'll take opportunities to just watch other coaches sessions. If there's a coach that I I trust or that I like, or I think they might be doing a good job, I'll go watch a session or I'll pay attention to them during a game. If I can go to any of the coaching curriculum, activities that we have the opportunity score, or to a lot of the different large seminars that are available. If I can take one thing out of each session, I feel like it makes me a better coach. And I think that's an important aspect because the game is always evolving. And because of that ability to be a student of the game, I feel like my coaching abilities are always evolving and hopefully growing. And then I can turn into and help other people become that kind of a coach as well. So being a student of the game is not only important, important for players, but for coaches. It's very important as well.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. I think everybody should always be learning and just making sure that they're staying on top of any changes that there are but also kind of evolving based on you know, The players they have on their team, their teammates, you always have to learn? I think

Jeff Lewis  

so. Absolutely. I mean, coaching a level. Did you lose the sound? I think I guess lost sound. Can you still hear me? I can hear you. Yep. Okay. Coaching at a level, whether it's club or college has a lot of different differences to it, depending on the level and then you have age group and if it's girls or boys and just the ability to be flexible, I think is important.

Jess Gregory  

Oh, absolutely. Now, on that flip side, you mentioned that you're always a student of the game. Do you have a specific style that you've kind of grown into or that maybe you've learned from other coaches as well?

Jeff Lewis  

As far as coaching style or playing style that I like my teams to play? 

Jess Gregory  

I would say your coaching style.

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that the first thing that I try to be as a coach is very organized. You know, I want the players to come to a session or to a game and know that it's as a professional as a situation as we can bring to them because then you get a A lot of professionality from them, and you get a lot of buy in from them. You know whether it's from planning the sessions before you come out to the session, or just getting things set up. So when the players show up, they feel like that they were, we spent time on them away from the field, which we do. We're constantly planning sessions, finding the exercises that we like, scouting what we want to do for the next game or for the next session, and really making sure that we deliver a quality experience for the kids. The other things that I would say would be pretty typical of my style of coaching is I'm loud and demanding. There's never a time that my players are unaware of what I want out of them. You know, I I'm very vocal, but I'm also never demeaning, which is important for me. I want to make sure that when I'm instructing kids, when I'm instructing players, young men, young women, that they know what I want, and I'm constantly giving them that feedback, and then backing out of the game or the training of seeing if they can deliver on it. So very clear, precise communication, but also, never in a way that makes the players feel like they're less than or that making a mistake is bad, so organized, loud and demanding but also empathetic to the situation that players need to be confident to be successful.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. Yeah, I think it's really important for athletes to kind of see that by watching your guys's college games to kind of get a better idea of how you guys coach so that they know what they're looking for. I know a lot of times just having a conversation on the telephone you might not catch you know the the personality traits of someone so they should also do their due diligence and kind of see how you actually are in a game or even if they can watch practices.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely that that the player you know whether you're looking at a college for division one, Division Two, lower level Junior College, wherever you're looking, not only is it important to know what school you want to go to and if they can win or lose, but do I want to play that coach's style? Do I get along with that coach so I think that you're spot on understanding the character traits of players and coaches is very important to quality and enjoying college. experience.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Now on that other side of it, so we have our challenges. You talked about your coaching style, can you give us a little bit of insight into what is rewarding about coaching? What kind of got you really passionate about it?

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, you know, for me it, I feel like soccer runs in your blood. You know, once you get into it, it really drives you. You know, I'm one of the luckiest people in the nation. I mean, I'm in work clothes right now. And I'm wearing a T shirt. And I have running shorts on and runners on. And this is what I get to work in, which is amazing for me. But what it is about the game is that it just engages you so much. And you get to watch these young men come in and be engaged and improve every day. So my most rewarding point is when I see a player truly engaged and whatever their goal is, whatever they wanted to succeed in that year, or that game or that practice, and actually find that success. You know, there could be frustrations along the way. There could be injury, frustrations, maybe somebody on the pitches playing a little bit better than you. Maybe winds don't come your direction. But at the end of the day, can you personally or as a team, meet those goals, whether it be winning the next game, finishing in a specific spot in your conference, or just understanding a specific style of play, there's always different goals. And they're not always have to do with winning. But if you can succeed in those goals and watch your players succeed in those goals, that to me is where I get a lot of joy in my job, for sure.

Jess Gregory  

Nice. I like that you brought up kind of meeting those personal goals because right now all of our kids are all stuck inside for the most part, and they're not able to be out on the pitch and they're not able to play in their club games. So can you give them some some tips on how to stay physically active and then we'll kind of move on to how to stay mentally prepared while they're at home.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. You know, we're an unprecedented time My heart goes out to the young players to the college players and all sports right now. You know, never we've been asked to be stayed Inside as much as we are now and then we ask these kids to stay involved. So it's a really tough situation. I'll tell you that that for me, it can kind of be a true test of what it's like to be a collegiate athlete. I don't take that most non college players realize, but through summer and through your winter breaks, college coaches can't train you, they can't expect you to turn in what you did on your workouts. They can't track your workouts, they can't test your fitness. During those breaks. It's all up to the players to make sure that they're doing workouts and staying fit. Well, that's exactly what we have now. Now we have a situation where players have to find Can I be self driven? Can I make sure that myself as an athlete stays fit and ready for when we are allowed to get back out on the field? And you know, it's kind of a moving target based on what market that you're in, some people are talking about in May, some people are talking about after that. So what I would suggest for players is set some goals. Make sure that you have goals how many days a week Am I willing to work out? And can I stay to that goal? Can I make sure that I have a set schedule? That's a big thing for young kids these days, you know, you graduate high school, or you get into something like the quarantine and you don't have to show up at school at 7am. Or you don't have to show up a practice at four o'clock in the afternoon. Set your own schedule so that you know what you're doing. And you can finish those important things before you finish the things that are fun and doing whatever you want to do. There's so many places to get workouts, you know, you can go to YouTube, there's programs you can pay for you can google search, I'm sure that club coaches high school coaches would love to provide players with workouts that they can do realize that once the game comes, if it's club this coming next, it's going to come in, you're probably going to be playing games in a short amount of time and you need to be as close to game fit as you can. We talk to our players every summer. We can't track you. We want you to work with out, no that on your report date that you need to be fit. Because most teams are playing a college game within two weeks after reporting, and it's really hard to go from completely unfit to fully fit in two weeks. It's a good test for these players to see if they can succeed at that self workout aspect is necessary in the collegiate game.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. It sounds like a good test, but also something sort of fun that they can strive for now to kind of feel more like the college players and just think of it as Okay, I have to do this on my own. I have a schedule and a routine that I've put together but now I can be prepared once we are back out on the field instead of kind of being a little sluggish and trying to catch up.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely, you're spot on.

Jess Gregory  

Now, on the on the flip side, I think what might be a little bit more challenging than kind of finding free workouts and doing that sort of fun thing is trying to say like mentally prepared for the next step because we're all sort of unsure of what's next. Do you have any kind of good tips for them on how they can work on their mental fitness. Um, while they're, you know, still on this, this unsure time.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. And that is probably one of the toughest parts to stay involved with this time. I mean, myself, I catch myself missing the game, I don't watch as much soccer as I used to, you know. So that's the first thing I would say is players need to find an opportunity to watch as much soccer as possible. You know, for me, I'm a little bit older, you have some of these channels, they're playing old games, you know, reruns a games, and for me, I've seen them, but I still enjoy watching a game. For some of these younger players. They may have never watched some of these games that they're replaying. And typically, they're replaying some of the most exciting best games possible. So I would say, tune into some of these reruns of the games. Watch some of the old stars watch some of the way that the game was played 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. There's a lot of time that we have on our hands. It's a little harder to find when the games are played. But if we'll take that time and watch them, we can still enjoy the game that Love. The other side of staying mentally engaged goes back to having that schedule. Can you challenge yourself mentally, to not sleep until noon, to not stay up every night till 3am. Because that becomes a tough schedule for your body and for your mind. You know, whatever that time is that you wake up, make sure that you're you're on top of that schedule. Make sure that you are self accountable to whatever you're asking yourself to do. Last thing I would suggest that a lot of players aren't going to love because they have a lot of school work to do at home right now. But read some books, read some, some articles on the web, you know, Watch interviews like this about the game and really try to engage and learn a side of the game that maybe you don't have time to learn. When you're a school six hours a day, training two hours a day and running around. You can use this opportunity to learn a lot about the game.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, this is probably also a great time to get that routine going in for summer even because now I know when I was a kid I still I've been I played the college level, but summer was the time where I did stay up really late, I would sleep in super late, and then I would go to work, I didn't really have to do much else outside of that. So I think this is a great time for kids to make sure that they're still getting up early, still setting that routine so that they can roll into you know, the summertime so that they're not changing that schedule, even when we do have the ability to get back out there.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely view this as a long preseason to get ready for club and Id camps or for ID turn tournament showcases more of that opportunity to get fit if you are going to play college soccer this coming summer.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. So now that that leads me to think about the seniors, their their spring seasons kind of over for the most part, um, do you have any tips for them on how they can stay on top of the recruiting process that maybe they aren't signed yet? And these can be just general tips for any seniors out there?

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. The first thing I would say to the seniors is don't panic because all the seniors in the same situation at the end End of the day, if a school needs five players, if they need to sign five players, three players, or whatever it is, all the seniors are in that same position right now. So you know, it's an even playing field. It's a different playing field. But it's even. My suggestion would be this. Because we can't do things on site. We can't watch people play, we can't do visits. We can't run ID camps for the time being. Make sure that you're just staying in contact with the coaches that have shown interest. Make sure that you're you're letting them know what you're doing. If you're working out as you're hearing what your club schedules might be, as you're learning what you might be able to do this summer, maybe look forward to summer ID camps for that specific coach that you might want to engage with. And let those coaches know so they have something to look forward as well. Just like the the seniors are worried they're not going to get signed. college coaches could be worried that they're not going to sign enough seniors and have a deep enough squad this year. Yeah. So stay in the forefront. Make sure that they know that you're interested. The second thing that you can do A lot of times people won't do good film work, because they don't have time. Right? Well, now we have time, we all know that we have time right now, simple back through your film, make sure that you have a good highlight reel, make sure that you have maybe a full game that coaches could watch if they show the interest. So while you can't be out playing, you can make sure that you still make a way for your coaches to see what you're doing. Eventually, coaches will be able to watch players again. Okay, so if they know that you're aware, if they know that you're still chasing that school, if they've seen your film, and if you're fit, when it comes time to go to the ID camps or the showcases whatever it is that you're in go to, then you're going to put yourself in the best possible situation to make sure that you can get an opportunity to play.

Jess Gregory  

Absolutely. So stay fit and be proactive.

Jeff Lewis  

Exactly, exactly. So yeah, I mean, coaches can still communicate you know, emails phone, if you're the proper age, you know, they can still do that communication. They just Do anything in person right now.

Jess Gregory  

Okay, so even for those younger kids, maybe coaches can't respond at certain levels if you're a freshman or a sophomore at this point, but they should still be staying in contact as well, even though they have time, right? They shouldn't pump the brakes and kind of sit back and hang out.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. I mean, you know, there's a lot of people that talk about the frustration of those freshmen, sophomore years not getting emails back. But But coaches read their emails, they start to know who's looking their direction. So they're the habits of those younger kids that we can't communicate with. They shouldn't change at all, they should still be in touch, they should still make sure that they show that interest to the college coaches so that when they do get old enough, and when this quarantine does in, then we then then coaches can have that proper list of kids that they need to reach out to when it's allowed.

Jess Gregory  

Sounds like a plan. Now, coach, do you have any fun stories for us about maybe some some goofy emails that you've gotten in the past that or maybe a adult Do you share with the kids?

Jeff Lewis  

Well, I I think the ones that all of us get and the coach has talked about a lot is the copied and pasted ones. You know, I've even gotten emails where they they literally carbon copied 40 or 50 coaches on the exact same email. Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, I would just give you advice for people that are emailing coaches make sure that that school is right for you look into the school, what majors do they have? You know, what, what kind of travel do they do? Is it a an area that I want to live in and show the coach that you've done that homework? You know, what do you like about their campus? What are you looking to study? What excites you about the school? What excites you about the style of play that that coach might be playing? And those are things that sometimes people forget to look into. You know, if you're a possession minded player, you want to find a program that plays possession soccer, however, if you want to go into say, business, you need to see what that school's business program looks like. Show the coaches in the emails that number one is personalized. Number two, show them why you're interested That's cool, because that interest will be will be brought around the other way as well.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. I always loved it when I would get emails from kids that they knew the programs that our school had. They knew our past record. They knew what we we did on the court and what kind of talked about that in their emails that kind of grabbed my attention, a lot more than the photocopy or the carbon copy to every other.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. And, you know, the The other thing I would say with emails, just be patient, you know, hopefully players that are involved in the exact idea capsule, hopefully they understand that the different levels of colleges have different rules for when they can and can't respond. You know, don't get frustrated if you're in that age where you can't get personalized replies. Just know that everybody your age is dealing with the same thing and just stick with it.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's that's definitely a great tip. Because I know a lot of times you don't hear anything back. You assume it's a no. Even if you're too young to get a reply. So don't stop till you. You maybe get that no, stop emailing me.

Jeff Lewis  

Absolutely. I would kick every bush to see what falls out until you know where you're going.

Jess Gregory  

Sounds like a great plan. All right, coach, I have one more question for you. I'm really curious to hear about what you think of when it comes to success. So think back on one of your most successful seasons, did that team have the most talent? Or were they the most mentally tough that you've seen when it comes to success?

Jeff Lewis  

Yeah, that's an interesting question. I mean, you're really trying to weigh talent versus mental toughness. I'm gonna tell you what, the way that I believe I can see a player's mentally tough. And that's what they do everything that we've talked about on this, this conversation. If a player comes into report date, and they're physically strong, and you can tell that they've been playing and they look sharp, you know that they've had the middle fortitude through the offseason to prepare correctly. Mm hmm. And then you may have the most talented player who maybe you can tell you know what, you're touching the balls. Great. You see the game, but you're exhausted in five or seven minutes. Okay. I say that you have to have a mix of both, but you can never get away without having that preparedness. The best players in the world. They're preparing themselves all the time. Okay? I mean, there's always stories about some of the best players that crazy workouts they do and how committed they are in the offseason. And and those players turn into the best players. So I don't know that I point out any specific season. But I can say in generalities that when I've come into a season with a team, and they're not fit and they haven't been mentally tough enough to do the work in the offseason, that is always a struggle. You know, the college season is like a high school season. You come into the season, you maybe have a couple weeks and before you know you're playing two games a week, you're managing injuries, you're trying to rest and recover, but plan for the next team. And there's not the time to turn that fitness button on on report day. So I can't think vice versa of a time where we came in, physically unfit because we think Do the work, but our talents just out shine to everybody, even on teams that I've won big tournaments with big events with or had great seasons at the college that I coach at. They've always come in fit and mentally tough. And those players are the players that succeed. And sometimes the players that we think have the best skills struggle, because they never get fit throughout the whole season. So, yeah, to find a good balance. That's kind of a good way to wrap up this conversation. Is it, find a balance, be the best skilled player out there, but never let another player outwork you? Especially in the offseason?

Jess Gregory  

Yeah. Well, this is a perfect time and get started on that never done before. So I really appreciate you sharing all of those awesome tips with us. Absolutely.

Jeff Lewis  

My pleasure to be your guest. I appreciate it.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, I appreciate you too, guys. Alright, that's it. That's all we have for today. I appreciate you sitting down with us, coach and hopefully we'll see you back out on the field soon.

Jeff Lewis  

Looking forward to it.

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