Brandon Denoyer is the Assistant Women’s Soccer Coach with the University of Richmond.  The University of Richmond is located in Richmond, Virginia and is a NCAA DI institution. The Richmond Spiders are a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference along with St. Louis University, George Washington University, University of Massachusetts and Dayton University. 

Coach Denoyer has been coaching collegiately since 2008 and has experience at both the DIII, DI and youth levels. He specializes in work with the GoalKeepers but enjoys working with all soccer positions and helping kids to grow in the sport. Throughout our chat, you could tell that Brandon has a passion for the game. He talks about learning from his coaching mentors and through watching the game from both a player and coach perspective. Brandon shares some great times on how to keep you “Cup Half Full” and to stay physically and mentally active when you are in an off season or unable to get on a soccer field. He talks about his life lessons learned through sport and how that has translated into his coaching style. Learn more about Coach Denoyer and his tips for playing at the next level with us below!

Coach:

Brandon Denoyer: Assistant Women’s Soccer Coach with the University of Richmond

Topic 1: How did Brandon get into Coaching?

Brandon talks about his playing days and how that led him to coaching. He shares his interesting backstory and the journey from non-recruited high school student to college athlete to college coach. 

Topic 2: What are some Challenges and Rewarding Aspects of Coaching for Brandon?

Coach Denoyer talked about the positive and challenging aspects of coaching.  His passion for the game and life lessons learned helped him to respect and appreciate everything that comes with his career.

Topic 3: Brandon Shares some Tips for Staying Physically Active:

While we are all on a Stay at Home Order (in most states), Coach Denoyer talks about all the opportunities this gives athletes to stay physically active. He gives tips and suggestions on things that can be done but it all boils down to one thing for him.

Topic 4: Brandon Shares some Tips for Staying Mentally on Point:

Agreeing that being mentally tough is a top priority, Brandon shares tips that athletes can use to stay on top of their mental game and keep it sharp for their personal game.

Topic 5: Recruiting Tips to use During Downtime:

Recruiting doesn’t have to be anymore challenging now during COVID-19 then it does any other time throughout the year. Brandon talks about being realistic with expectations and doing research to find a home at the next level.

Topic 6: What Makes DI Soccer Unique?

Having coached a couple different levels, Brandon shares his unique perspective on what makes college athletics unique and discusses different divisions.

Topic 7: What Makes a Team Successful: Mental Toughness or Skill/Talent?

It may not come as a surprise having learned about Coach Denoyer during this interview where he stands on what makes a team successful. Listen in as he explains why he feels that one skill is a bit more important than another.

Coach Denoyer offered some great advice on staying active throughout the stay at home order in more ways than one. Let us know what you've been doing to stay active during quarantine!

Jess Gregory  

All right, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Today I am with Brandon denooyer out of the University of Richmond. How are we doing today, Brandon?

Brandon Denoyer  

Very good, very social distance.

Jess Gregory  

It's always a plus during this time, right to kind of be away from everyone for a bit. But hopefully you're doing well today. And thanks again for sitting down chatting with us.

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, no problem. Awesome.

Jess Gregory  

All right. Well, I kind of want to learn a little bit about how you got into coaching. What made you decide that that was the route you wanted to take?

Brandon Denoyer  

So when I was in high school, I didn't really get recruited because I was I had cancer when I was younger. And so during my recruiting time, I didn't really get recruited. And the couple schools that knew me were my club coaches that they were college coaches as well. And so they still did the process with me, and I kind of fell in love with directing. process and kind of also wanted to help kids to find the schools that would fit for them. And I kind of just fell in love with the whole process. And so during that time when I was being recruited, I was like, Man, this is something I would really love to get into one day and I love soccer in general. I'm a huge soccer junkie. You know, I probably watched like, five to six games a week. And now if nothing else to do, it's up to the numbers big time. So but yeah, so once I've finished playing, I was pretty lucky. My coach that I had played for offered me a job right away. And, you know, he knew coaching was something I was trying to get into. And so I was very lucky that he just kind of had an opening for an assistant position and knew I'd be, you know, willing to work hard and so he just offered me The job and I wasn't really sure what I was getting into. At the time, I didn't really know what being a college coach was all about until I started, you know, getting into it. And it probably took almost four years till I realized, like, this is something I can do for a living. This is what I want to do the rest of my life and I can, you know, be happy doing this.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah. Well, that's an amazing story. Obviously, you've learned a little bit about overcoming adversity, which you probably take on and share with your players, I would assume, kind of teach them how to do that as well.

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, for sure. I definitely use my life experiences and hopefully to help them relate to whatever they're dealing with. And I think it also has given me a different outlook on life than most people because I really, I don't take I don't take anything for granted. I'm definitely a very optimistic person. You know, I know The glass is definitely half full with me.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. Um, now Could you tell us a little bit about what maybe is the most rewarding part about coaching them for you? I'm sure it's probably a lot, especially with the, the attitude you have going forward.

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing for me is like, just, I love being around the game love teaching the game to people. So the fact that I get to do this thing is just unbelievable. You know, when you're, you're in your office with your co workers, and they're asking you, you know, what, what would you do if you won the lottery? I always say like, this, like I would just have a way bigger budget to go out to eat with and get food with. But obviously, this is what I would do. If I was a millionaire billionaire. It wouldn't matter. I love doing this. And so, you know, the fact that I get to do it every day is is amazing. And you know, I wouldn't change anything.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. Now, do you have any challenging parts that are a challenge for you? As far as college coaching goes?

Brandon Denoyer  

I mean, there's always going to be ups and downs. You know, I don't take losing very well. I'm in a, in a profession where you're going to lose games, and you're usually going to lose the last game of your season. And if you win, you lose that last game of the year season. You have to wait about eight months till you get to play again. And you know, so that's, that's tough. And I wouldn't say I've really gotten used to it, but you figure out ways to deal with it and figure out ways to make sure that that losing becomes less frequent. And, you know, I think sometimes you can find yourself where you care. way too much, or way more than other people. And it's very hard. And so that's why like the recruiting process is so big for us is, you know, you want to find people that have the same beliefs, the same ideals, the same values, just everything that aligned with you. Because, you know, we're around these these kids all day, you know, we're around them all the time. So, you want to be around people that inspire you, you want to be around people that, you know, push you to be better, and you want to be able to be around people that, you know, you know, you can help and push them as well.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, it sounds like both the rewarding and challenging side are still still things that you love to do. And that's great. We always want to push kids to kind of reach out to coaches that they feel fits best with them and not just the name on the shirt. So hopefully they're they're looking out for those And kind of given, given them a little bit more info about the school by being able to learn about you. So absolutely. Um, Now with that being said, Can you give our kids that are all stuck at home? Any sort of tips on how they can stay active, either with a ball or without?

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, it's fun, you know, to watch social media and you get to see everyone's different ideas. Um, I was watching a another schools video today and they've kind of did a recap of all of what their players were doing at home. And it was it was just cool because you could see some kids I saw one one girl, she was squatting with her, you know, it was I guess it was probably her little sister on her on her back and she was doing squats with her sister on her back. And another kid was, you know, just kind of in the driveway passing the ball against the wall. Another kid was Just doing Sprint's on the front lawn, and a couple kids had their parents just sitting and they were passing the ball into their, to the parents hands and they were rolling it back. And you know, I think the cool part about this, which there's not many, but one of the cool things is you get to see everyone's creativity. And you get to really bring it back to the basics. And you find that you find the time and you find the space and there's there's always little spaces and little things you can do. Um, you know, kind of a story. When I was when I was in college, I actually played basketball and soccer in college. And both, both coaches always decided we're going to have practice at 5:30am. And I remember like, man, why are we having practice so early? And one day I went up to the coach, I was like, Coach, why are we having 5:30am practices? He's like, is this important to you? I was like, yeah, I'm here. He's like, if it's important to you, you'll find a way to be there. And if it's not, you won't. And so I've always kind of that was probably the biggest life lesson I learned in college was like, if something's important to you, you'll just find a way. And you know, so that's why I like seeing all these social media posts. You can see how important getting better is to these kids. And you know, whether it's just doing squats and push up challenges or just doing it in your house. There's plenty of YouTube videos where people are doing in home activities that you can follow along with, whether it's doing yoga, or the cool thing that I've also seen is I've seen a lot of kids, get on zoom meeting Skype meetings together and just doing their workouts over video together. Which I thought is awesome. You know, you have someone pushing you in, you know, you get that, you know, we miss our teammates, so the fact that you get to work out with them is awesome. Yeah.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, technology has definitely helped these kids, I think giving them the opportunity to have those zoom videos and get on YouTube and find ways to work out. So it's definitely been helpful. I think. On that flip side, though, are there any tips to stay mentally ready? I think your coaches 5:30am workouts probably had a mental effect on you as well, especially if you're still still taking that as a life lesson. So do you have any kind of tips for kids to stay mentally prepared?

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, um, I think one of the biggest things is the positive self talk. I think positive self talk is huge. We actually had a meeting this morning, where we have a cache a counselor that's for the athletes, but also for the coaches. And so our staff spoke with her today. And she kind of went over stuff with us. And, you know, I think it's great to have someone to talk to but, you know, a lot of times, I know for me, like me, personally, I am at home every day by myself. So there's a lot of talk in your head that that's happening, and making sure that most of it is positive and the majority and if there is a negative thought, you have to switch it right away. So I think that positive self talk is huge. Um, you know, I think especially with technology, talking to others, and really like bouncing ideas off of other people, just checking in on other people will make will help you. Um, yeah, and I think that's really important is staying connected to the world and connected to your teammates. It's so funny that we were talking today. And they were saying, raise your hand if you've ever had a negative thought when you're on the field, about someone something you would never say to anyone else, something you would never say want to say out loud. But when you're on the field you have that you think that thought. And you know, like, everyone raises their hand because he everyone does it. And it's so funny, because a lot of times, you think that's it's just you thinking that if you're the only one thinking, Man, why did she do that? Everyone's thinking, why did I do that everyone's thinking it. And so when you realize that we're not that different, and we all have like the same goals. It helps and it makes things easier to talk about. Mm hmm.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, so true. I mean, everyone is kind of in the same boat right now everyone's at home coaches and players alike. So hopefully that gives some kids, you know, a little bit of a more positive outlook, that they're all in the same boat, and they can all do something to prepare for that next step. Now, because we're all stuck at home, obviously kids are not out on the pitch. You guys aren't allowed to go out and see them at this time. Can you give some kind of general tips for especially seniors right now that are maybe a little bit nervous about that next level since they they don't really have a spring season to show what they have?

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's it's definitely going to be tough. But I think most most schools have seen kids, you know, you're not going to go your whole soccer career without being seen. Um, I think you know, it will help some of the seniors that are it's getting Later, you know, I think it will help you have a lot of time try to make your video but you know, make the best that you can if you don't have video, you know, you're gonna have to really start reaching out to the coaches, you know, as coaches were at home, a lot of us are, you know, spending all this time we're still working though, and we're still trying to do our best. There is a dead period right now. So it's tough, but we can still get calls and we can still talk and we are checking social media. And so I think once this is once we're allowed out, you know, I think you need to be ready. And whether it's to going to camps, getting on campus, setting up times to go meet with these coaches, like you have to be proactive. You know, going back to if it's important to you'll find a way If this is something you want to do, you're going to have to go out and really take the bull by the horns and get it done. So I think a big thing will be making sure you are staying in shape. Um, so when when you are allowed to play in front of coaches, you're ready. Um, you know, so you need to be you need to be staying in shape staying fit. And, you know, almost going back a little bit. Visual visualization is going to be big, you know, because it's studies have shown you can learn and teach yourself to do stuff just by visually visualizing it. So I think doing a lot of busy visualization will be huge. And then you can watch us with technology. You can watch games so much now and so learning new positions or learning your position better bye You know, I know there's there's YouTube, you can watch the games there's, you know, on demand. There's I know like, is it Sunday or Monday. The days are kind of combining to me now, but I watched it was Monday I watched seven games in a row. So the ACC network was showing games. I watched three games on the ACC network, and then I watched four games on ESPN. They were showing all of the women's national team like highlight games so they showed me a hams final game she played for the national team they showed Abby Wambach hundredth goal game. They and they showed a couple of the she believes Cup games. So being able to watch is going to be important and so that way you're you're up to date, you're watching your position. And colleges have a lot of games that you can watch. Um, and so if there's schools that you know, you're interested in, watch their games, and watch how they play. So, you know, like, This school is a school that I fit in when I can see myself playing at this school. Um, I like they're playing style, and there's ways to find them online and on YouTube. And so if you, you're doing your homework and doing your research and you can see like, man, I can see myself playing there, or it could be, wow, they are way more athletic than I thought they would be. I need to find a school that will fit me a little bit better. There's nothing wrong with that. That's that's it's very good to be realistic. And that way, you know, you're not setting yourself up for a lot of rejection when you know you can make it at the school, the school in this school, you know, it's good to have gold And dreams but I think setting yourself up to succeed is also big as well.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah. Sounds like some of the big takeaways there is that even if they are not in this kind of crazy time, they should stay proactive. Yeah, right. And then so do your research on some of these schools because now they have so much time to kind of you can look up rosters you can look up games and kind of stay ahead of the game. They're

Brandon Denoyer  

100%

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Alright, let's kind of switch gears a little bit. I kind of want to get your take on you know what kind of makes division one soccer unique in your opinion. Especially since you are coaching at the division one level. So what's your kind of take on on that?

Brandon Denoyer  

So I've been lucky enough, I've coached Division Three division one I've coached at some the highest level division one I've coached at some lower level division one, so I've kind of gotten to see See everything about it. And I think the biggest thing is in the uniqueness is just the commitment level. There's a reason that kids are playing at the highest level. And there's a reason kids don't. And a lot of a lot of it has to do with their commitment level. And their ability to just put in extra work and to really want to get better and the time they're willing to put in and there's nothing wrong with you know, wanting to find a school where you can fit in academically and academic is important to you. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Um, you know, some some schools are high academics and they're very high level. You know, if you look at Princeton Brown, they've made huge runs in the NCAA. tournament playing at the highest level, Harvard in the past and, you know, I would say there's some very good a 10 schools that are extremely high academic as well. And then, you know, you go to the power five programs and there's some very good academics there, but you can see the kids that are putting in the extra work the extra time there that, you know, if practices at seven or, you know, seven to nine in the morning, they're staying till 10 o'clock and do an extra work on their own. You know, they're, they're going back later and doing, you know, whatever it is that they need to get done because, you know, their fitness is not where they want it or they want to go and strike 100 free kicks because, you know, they want to make sure they're prepared. They're taking care of their body. The one real nice thing is, especially with some of these very, very big D one programs and a lot of D one programs, they have these facilities that are amazing and they have athletic trainers who are awesome and willing to help the kids and so they're these kids are going in and doing the ice pads. They're using the Norma tech technology, they're doing everything they can to get their body ready for that next game. And you know, the the people that are willing to do that are the ones that are going to succeed. It's just, I tell this, I tell this story to to kids all the time. Like, if you want it to be fluent in Spanish and you wanted to speak Spanish, right? If you just went to Spanish class, you might learn a fewer learn a little bit, right. If you went home and did your homework, you'd probably get better at Spanish. But if you went to Spain and spoke Spanish and lived the language, you'd be fluent and it's kind of The same aspect if you just go to practice, if you just do the bare minimum, you're going to be good. You're going to learn some stuff if you go home, and you know, you do a little extra work on the site, yeah, you're going to be better. But the ones that put themselves fully into the game and fully into it are the ones that really succeed.

Jess Gregory  

But definitely makes me want to know then, in your most successful season that you can think of, do you feel that the talent and skill side of the game shone through more or the mental toughness of the players that helped to make you successful

Brandon Denoyer  

100% mental toughness, it's it's so big, the mental toughness is is so so key, you know, two seasons of it. two seasons that really come to mind. One, the first time I ever want to a championship as a coach, just to get in the playoffs. We had, I believe we had to win four games in a row, we had to win four out of five, and the fifth could be a tie. And so that's a lot of pressure. And filling. It was huge. And, you know, just, we had kids come and say, coach, play me in this position, and I'll get it done. And that kid went and scored five goals in five games, and the skill is there, but the mental toughness to say, Okay, I have to do this. And then what is crazier about it? In that situation was that kid asked to get put in her roommates position, basically. And her roommate could have went one or two ways she could have been upset, and, you know, like their friendship could have been ruined because they're both seniors, to seniors. And instead, that senior was The best teammate and did everything she could to help the team. And that's like a huge, huge deal. Because that could have went one or two ways we lose one game, you know, that friendship could have been over that she could have been like, see, I could have done that. She could have taken that and her mentality could have just been the worst. And instead, it was just like, it's best for the team. It's what the coaches want. I'm gonna do my best to help the team. And I thought that was unbelievable. And, you know, every girl just bought into the fact that we're going to do it, this is what we need to do. They all bought into, you know, we change tactic tactics. And they all every single one of them bought into this new tactic that we decided, all right, for the last five games, we're going to play a certain style and we're going to play this way and every time It was just like, if this is what you think it takes to win, we'll do it. And, you know, there's a lot of we go back to that, um, that self talk. There could there was a lot of them that could have just, what are they talking about? This is crazy. Why are we doing this, but instead it was, we got this, we're gonna win. We're gonna do this. And you know, and we went on and we won. I think it was like eight games in a row we had to play. We had to play the number three, two and one seed in the playoffs and we beat the number one seed in the semifinals at their place. And it was huge. And they that team hadn't lost. They hadn't lost in conference, they hadn't lost in a couple of years. They were a very good team. No one had beat them yet. And so going into that game, you know, when you're playing at their place, and in a game where you're not supposed to win, but the The fact that they believed in it was huge. And they didn't. They didn't shrink under the pressure. They really believed in it. It was it was very, very big and it was all mental. And with my other team, the other team I'm thinking of it was, they were put under a ton of pressure the whole season. And every single player on their team knew the role that they were supposed to play. There was girls that never played, but they knew their role, and they knew what it was going to take for us to win as a team. And the coolest thing was, I say never play, every single one of those girls got their opportunity to play. At some point, every single player on the team played and got their opportunity and you know, somewhere ready in somewhere. And that's tough, because sometimes you only get that one shot to really prove yourself. And you know, first impressions are huge. But when when the kids that didn't succeed and didn't handle their, their, their shot, they immediately just became the best teammates, they could be for their their teammates. They didn't they didn't have that pity party, they didn't have that self, that negative self talk. Instead, they just went out and did their job. And they did their roles, and they did their responsibilities, which was amazing to see. And it was that that team was probably the most cohesive most together team I've ever been a part of. And it was really cool to see what it's like when a whole team comes together, you know, for a whole season.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah. Well, yeah, well, it sounds like you gave some great tips for these kids to start to work on that mental skills even if they've never done it before. So they have the time now and they should probably Take those tips and run with it because those teams that you're talking about that are super cohesive, they they don't happen all the time. So you got to work on the mental side. If only they did, right.

Brandon Denoyer  

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's fun. It's fun when you're around. And when you're getting to see teams that are together. And, you know, that's one of my biggest, like, the biggest things that I've learned from working here is that aspect.

Jess Gregory  

Absolutely. Well, all right, Brandon, I really do appreciate you sitting down and chatting with us today. I do think you gave some awesome tips for our players out there watching. And it was nice to learn a little bit more about you on the coaching side as well. So thank you again for joining us, and hopefully we can chat with you soon.

Brandon Denoyer  

All right. Thank you for having me. All right.

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