Season 2: #1 Brian Buczek: Stowe High School Soccer Championship Coach and Growth of the Sport in Rural Vermont

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with local soccer icon Brian Buczek. Brian is the founder of the Vermont United Soccer Academy and current Associate Head Coach of the Stowe High School Girls Varsity Soccer team. As part of his rich coaching career he led the Stowe High School Boys Varsity Soccer team to multiple state titles and had stints coaching at Johnson State College and Middlebury College. Brian has played an integral role in the growth and development of soccer in Stowe and surrounding communities. 

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This episode of the Octagon Podcast is brought to you in part by Archery Close and Union Bank. Hey, this is Chris and Taste from Archery Clothes, your go-to boutique. For men's and women's fashion, we carry a curated selection of clothing, footwear, and gifts from unique and emerging brands. We're proud to sponsor the Octagon and even prouder to be local business owners here in Stowe. We love how the Octagon captures the history and characters of this incredible town. After coming off the slopes or the trails, stop by archery close. Located at 1650 Mountain Road in Stowe. Open seven days a week, or always open online@archeryclose.com. Since 1891, union Bank has made banking a little bit easier and more convenient for you by investing in the success of its local community. Your community headquartered in Mooresville Union Bank has 18 branches and three loan centers throughout Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Union Bank is a proud supporter of the Octagon Podcast, as well as many fantastic community oriented endeavors such as the STO Trails Partnership, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, and the STO Land Trust to name a few of the over 200 nonprofits they work with. To learn more, go to ub local.com. Welcome listeners to the Octagon Podcast, where we explore the stories, people, and places that maketo Vermont, so legendary. I'm your host, Ted Thorndyke, joined by my co-host Mike Carey. We are excited to introduce our guest today, Brian Ek. Brian is the founder of the Vermont United Soccer Academy and current associate head coach of the STO High School Girls Varsity soccer team. As part of his rich coaching career, he led the STO high school boys varsity soccer team to multiple state titles and had stints coaching at Johnson State College and Middlebury College. Brian has played an integral role in the growth and development of soccer and Stowe and surrounding communities when not coaching soccer. You can find Brian ripping tele turns in some fresh local STS on Mansfield. We'll be skiing soon, right? I can't wait. It's right around the corner. It's chilly today. I love it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great time of year. Um, anyways, we'll just jump right in. Yeah. You welcome. thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks. This is what an honor looks like. You got your soccer garb on. What were you just coaching what was going on? Literally just left the girls team. Yep. the varsity team just had a, the final kind of the final cuts and the final making of the team. And so we've got tomorrow off and Thursday we hit the ground running Friday we play rice. Oh, wow. Nice. Oh, that's a big first game. It's a big first game. Nice. outta the gates. How's the team looking this year? we are deeper than we have been. we've got great senior leadership. I think it's 10 seniors overall. one of the biggest surprises was the youngsters. The freshmen really came in and fought for some spots. Actually yesterday we played against a fairly big school compared to us Bow New Hampshire up in J Peak, and we tied'em in the first half with, two freshman central midfielders. Nice. Wow. Yeah, which is really, that's fun. Which is really neat. I'm very optimistic about the season. Nice. Awesome. Great to hear. maybe just to kick things off, tell us about your soccer journey. how did you first, get into the sport as a kid? were you playing a lot or how did it all kick off? what a great question. I grew up by Cooperstown, New York in a little. Town called Sharon Springs. So we, baseball Hall of Fame. Yeah. Okay. we played soccer and basketball to get ready for baseball season. I was Oh, I was really blessed as a younger person to have some really unbelievable coaches, especially believe it or not, in baseball, even more than soccer. But, there's no timeouts in soccer. for a person with a lot of energy. And, especially in the eighties, it was in our area a very new sport. And usually it was more of the ethnic families that who their sons or daughters were. very talented. So I think probably, just the fact that you could run around and And tackle people and really, I don't know if there's a better feeling than scoring a goal. Yeah. and, I'm an only child, so I think the whole brotherhood of having that many players to, to be around was really important. And I would probably say finally, definitely when I was a youngster, your high school coaches, when you go to a small school, you get a chance to make these connections. and right from the beginning, Brad Ordway, and, Shane Barton, these were guys that were super motivated to teach and super motivated to motivate young people to, stay away from the rocky road. You can go down. And I was that kid. I was the try hard in the PE class, I didn't have a brother or sister to match what I had. I was smaller than everybody else. So I found my sport where I could really compete. It wasn't ever based on size, it was more based on determination. And I found that was in my bowl wheel. Yeah. And then, goodness, I, it was just, I just got lucky. I got a chance to start as a freshman and, a bunch of seniors graduated. So as a sophomore, I got the opportunity to be a captain and play in the center of the field. And boy, I started to catch fire and I went to this thing in New York called, Olympic Development. And I was a 14-year-old and I made the the U 18 team. And I knew I was gonna get in trouble because you had to bring your birth certificate in order to travel. And when I handed it in, they, they kinda laughed and they said, Brian, you should be on the younger team, but you can compete. we're more than happy to have you with us. And so that was in my junior year. That was the first time I felt like maybe I could compete at Just even outside of my little league. And so I put an awful lot of time for my junior and my senior year in and, played in a summer league, above my pay grade and with a lot of college players and a couple of, former pro players. And I have to be honest, it was probably the best soccer. Place I've been in since college, in my later years. And I, my appendix burst. And, so I was in the hospital for 10 days and I did get a chance to get outta the hospital, and I made the last two games of our season, two playoff games. So I played in my senior year, four matches, still had 13 goals and still, went after, but it took the wind outta my sails a little bit. Really thought I was gonna be a d one guy. Dean Fody was at Syracuse. I super liked him and I thought I was gonna get picked up as a young player and it just, wasn't really in the cards. And so there's this one guy, Greg Borer from Paul Smith College, who's the athletic director who just kept hanging around and calling. And, Paul Smith is a big city in the Adirondack Smith, the, post office on campus. And it's deep in there. to make a long story short, I went there for two years and absolutely loved it. I couldn't believe, again, the comradery and the level of coaching, that we had there. we were very competitive, in the junior college circuit, it was three 18 year olds, and we had 26 and 27 year olds on the team, like men. So it was fun. It was interesting. Brad had loggers playing soccer, right? Isn't that a big logging school? Huge logging school, yeah. Yeah, forestry, these boys were, they were thugs. We, half the team was from the inner city and really tricky. And then the other half were just good Vermont, New York boys who could get it done when it really had to, when it was really tough. Tough. and like I said, we did really well and had a chance to captain there and make an, Make an all conference team and an all New York team and, the same breath. This guy Peter Albright from Johnson State College Just kept calling and he knew that I was really interested in physical education. And my family didn't vacation in Vermont, I just never had come here. So when Peter Albright said, come and check out Johnson State College, I thought the name was funny. And I said, he keeps recruiting me in this team. in 1989 and 1991, went to the National Tournament for the NAIA. Wow. quickly, the NAIA was the leading. Really governing body of athletics for some time before the NCAA kind of did their business and raised a bunch of money and did their marketing a lot better. But the NAI at the time gave scholarships and division one and division two. So at Johnson State, most of the competition we played against, there were teams that had 8, 9, 10 full scholarship players international. And Peter Albright was able to assemble year after year an absolute arsenal of amazing players in the area as a relentless recruiter. And I blame him for teaching me the game. He was the first coach I really ever had that looked at the game from a defensive, perspective and as a young player taught me even how to teach. I still teach defense the same way he taught me. And, he was a guy that, that really just put players in positions for success. And was very brutally honest, but kind in the way he did it. And I really felt like even at a young age, if I ever went in that direction, I'd wanna do things the way he did. You just, he was the kind of guy you just wanted to do anything for, to please him and didn't ask that much all the time. two great years, at Johnson State. we lost, I believe, in the game before the national tournament twice, and ranked, in the top five in New England. At one time, we were ranked in the top 25 in the NAI in the country. again, beating teams above our pay grade. kids that went on to play professionally afterwards. And so it was just a super fun environment and through that I had the opportunity to meet David Ward, who's turned out to be an amazing mentor of mine, who was the coach at Middlebury College for quite some time. Vermont soccer school, which you gotta be pretty dated to, to remember those days. was the premier, I think, soccer spot for youth to go for a week. and train. And, I look back at it like, Ronnie McKean, who was at UVM and New England Revolution, and then Skidmore and Chris Parsons, who's at Coast Guard and goodness gracious, pat Laughlin, who was at Harvard. we really had a who's who of, and that's just to name a few really. I know I'm missing a bunch, but. just really a great place to learn as a young player and as a young coach, as an aspiring coach. And maybe you didn't know it at the time, but I didn't know it, but there was something special about those guys. the, I didn't really, I couldn't grasp it back, back then. once I was finished, I tried to play at the next level and I tried. I went to a bunch of tryouts, one kind of successful back in the Vermont Wanderers days, and, back in the Vermont voltage days. And I did have a guest appearance once or twice when all the great players left. they picked, I think I was, I think I was the desperation. Call one day at three o'clock in the afternoon. Brian wanna come up and run around. I'm on my way. I can, can't wait. There was another call. and then, goodness, then I, I checked out, I left the game and got into the back into the restaurant business. Back in the hospitality business. Wow. That's a journey. this was the, so good times ancy of soccer.'cause I started, so I graduated high school in 1984 and I played soccer. soccer didn't exist really as a younger kid. It came in to be around that time. And I remember our coach in high school was an Irish guy. Okay.'cause that was the only person they could find. Sure. That knew how to teach soccer. Yeah. Didn't knew anything about the sport. the sport was so new back then. that's like you're saying, especially Yes. Yeah. Especially to rural areas, Yeah. my, probably the best coach I had as a youth was the, was a, gentleman who owned a pizza shop in eSkill, and he moved here from Italy and if you went to his house, the game was always on. It was the first house I'd ever been to where the game was always on. Wow. And he was passion, passionate. no. Baseball was on, there was no baseball. Especially soccer, right? Yep. Totally different thing. so let's just fast forward then. so you leave that and you get into a hospitality business. Is this, when you come to Stowe, had you seen Stowe? Where does STO fit into the picture here? I, it's so cool to go to Johnson State and, most of the time, there's two places where you get off campus housing. You're either by the mountain at SMUGs or you're Over here in Stowe. And a handful of my friends, got houses in the OW area. So that immediately meant, we probably should find a job in Stowe and, where are we gonna ski? I guess we're just gonna ski at STO this year. And Although I was a SMUGs guy. The big pass, the big Did you have the big pass? Big pass. Yeah. I remember that. this is horrible, but there was a time at STO where, if you knew a couple people between 10 and 1130, they would move the lefties around. So if you happen to know a lift or two, you might be able to take advantage of the hill. Who knows? Maybe a green pass with a green pass. I, that was a great, that's a great call currency. You have no idea what you could trade to, to get a chance to ski, to feed your skiing, fix. and and then of course like night skiing, night skiing, it still was an absolute blast. That was a good time. Get everybody from college and come over. We'd all buy our passes. We'd have as much fun as possible. but you drive down the mountain road in those early nineties, and there's just something about. it was like a real ski village, and it was a real mountain ski culture, And from a kid in western New York and you watching Warren Miller films, you were you know what? This feels like it should. And so you'd, you would, sneak in, get into the Matterhorn and you'd walk through the doors if you made it fast, whoever the bouncer was that night. And it it was chaos. It was mayhem. It was chaos. Chaos. It was hilarious. And, you might see a professor over in the corner having a great time with his family. And, you'd continue down the road. and I just can remember it, it really felt like this really cool mountain town. And I knew that after college at some point I wanted to get involved. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's cool. you talked about playing, you're playing career and then you headed to Stowe. When did your coaching career really, take off? When did that we'll get in the ow thing in a minute, but I was a restaurant manager. my family and I had a restaurant in New York. we sold it. I came, so I left school. I finished school. I went to New York, started a restaurant. Sold the restaurant and moved directly back and said, this is where I wanted to be. To stow. Yeah. Right back to sto. And I said, this is where, okay, I wanna be. So I got a quick job at the Mountain Company and then, Duncan Blaine, who was working at the Mountain Company, along with Reggie Cooper, said, you should go down to top notch. you got food and beverage experience, you should go down there. And so Reggie actually left the mountain and he interviewed me to, run the, the gazebo, Bar out by the pool. And, just hindsight, 2020. Bob Boyle probably one of the, one of the greatest hotel years I'd ever had a chance to meet. Same with Reggie Cooper. And got a chance to do a good job there. And then they put me in the restaurants. And from the restaurants, I wanted to get in sales and there wasn't a spot open. And so I decided even though I was making a good living as a 20 something year old in a ski town, I knew I wanted something else. I'd made the decision that I wanted to pursue coaching. I was young enough, I was I figured anything I could get. And so I literally left work one night at 10 o'clock and I called home and called my mom and dad and I said, mom and dad, I've got this epiphany. This is, listen, I'm gonna quit the restaurant business and I'm gonna try to be a full-time coach. this is what I wanna do. And, there's a dial tone. And I said, the connections, the weather's pretty good. The connection must be weird. And called back. And my mom answered, and I said, I don't know what happened. She said, your father hung up on you. I said, what? He said, Brian, what are you doing? You're giving up this career. you've, you. establish yourself, as a hotel. You're goodness, in a restaurant, what are you doing? I said, I know I'm young. I want to give it a shot. So I applied for 87 different positions. that's the truth. And some were really all over, like All over. Yeah. Like college youth. Just all over the map. Only college only. Yeah, only college. at that time, only on the men's side, for everything. a couple of'em really politely decorated water boy, you name it. Anything. Oh, I would've done anything. it was hilarious. some wrote me back a really nice letter about how I had absolutely no experience. and just quickly, I did have a little experience, because my eligibility ran out, because it's only four years before, finishing school. I had the opportunity. Peter Albright, allowed me to be the B team or the JV coach for one year, and I had 75 kids. Oh, okay. And so I, that's a good experience. Had a chance to really whittle it down and we did pretty well. Yeah. That's where I knew, like I, I could talk to kids individually As a team and we could form a plan, even if it was wrong, we could form a plan and have a direction. And lo and behold, my coach, left, Peter went to the University of Richmond and had an amazing career at the Univers University of Richmond, starting their women's program in Virginia. And Barbara Luie, was the new athletic director at, Johnson State. And she was in admissions beforehand. We'd worked on a judicial board together, student advisory, judicial board together. So we had some background. And when the position came up, I didn't think there was a prayer But I applied. Yeah. and I interviewed and, they knew me. And I think for Barb, I was young and moldable and I was like the safe guy. Yeah. so seven days before the season started, I became the head coach. Wow. at Johnson State College of the men's team. I think I was the youngest coach in the country that How old were you at that point? I was 23. Wow. I had players on the team that I had played with. and I had four or five that were, older than I was. That I was training. And we went four in 10, we made playoffs. we won an absolute nailbiter down at St. Joseph's of Maine and Robbie Montgomery hit a moving ball to his right. Beat the keeper, and lo and behold, we get into playoffs. Reed Mountain College, take that, dad, take that. they annihilated us, but I was so excited. And then guys like Jeff Feld and, John Henry in the admissions department at Johnson State, pulled me in and gave me lists of kids that had checked off. They were interested in the school of Vermont as well as soccer. And, I called 5,835 students. And, out of that I whittled a class of, along with some other recruiting of 16 incoming players, and the next year we went 10 and four and, oh wow. Got to the conference final. in your second year? Our second year. Wow. the year. Awesome. The next year. And we lost by six goals. the next year we got to the conference final and we, we lost by one. And so it was really a neat feeling to, to catch fire. And then, I was hooked. I was hooked and I was doing anything to, because it wasn't full time. I was doing anything to make it happen. Make it happen. Yeah. I think they paid me at the time,$6,000 and I thought that was just awesome. I couldn't have been having, recruiting, driving to Rhode Island to catch a night game after our three o'clock practice. to get just great players and great talent. and I have to say, those first six seasons at Johnson State were. Really where I cut my teeth and had just still people that are very close to me. A lot of those guys continued to coach with me and continue to till today. And, they're still some of my very closest people in my life. Yeah. From there, just out pure luck because of David Seaward and I was, back to Vermont Soccer school, because Peter left there was going to be a directorship open. And Peter and David and another Peter Delore, David Seaward were the, directors of Vermont Soccer School. And I was just the guy that was there. I was at the school. So I lined the fields and I put up the nets and, and I'd receive all the equipment when they came in. And I was coaching a lot at that point. I, I didn't have a ton of extra resources to go get. Certifications and different levels of badges. So instead, I just coached, I coached for Nordic, for nine years and coached with Olympic development for nine years. I was a director there, that's really where I cut my teeth as just coaching more In coaching younger kids and, how can you manipulate the game based on personnel? Those kind of things started to evolve for me just out of time in the game. Yeah. Hours in the game. one day, I'll never forget it, we finished camp and, coach Ward for Middlebury asked me to, help him move something outta his room and he wondered if I wanted to come aboard, bat next fall. and that really guys put me on the map, this kid from Paul Smith and Sharon Springs and, middle of nowhere, Johnson State College. Now all of a sudden I'm a first assistant at Middlebury with probably one of the premier minds and still today and in this part of the. the country and I got a chance to learn from him this whole other realm of coaching and player management and professionalism that, that I knew was out there, but I just couldn't, I just didn't understand. And David was just so monumental and sending me to Dartmouth and Brown and give me a chance to really recruit and look at athletes that, boy, if they were not gonna go Ivy they would come to us and Yeah. elite players in New England, Northeast, all over. Yeah. I just think of the last year I was there, Kids from Iowa and California and, young men that come in so unassuming. and that was really the class that David won a national championship with. And just to be a part of how he built that and how his players responded to him and just how he coached the kids day in and day out. I really feel like I got a master's degree. in winning. Yeah. I think that's the best way to say it. I didn't look at the game all the time. I thought the game was left to fate a lot. Yeah. And I learned through David that it could be manipulated at every step of the way. with technique players. I just think, sports in general, there's skill and then there's having a player that has this innate desire to make something happen. he had the ability to recruit the right kid might not have been the best player in that position. Yeah. That would fit. Playing with this. Yeah. Right kid. And oftentimes I, he's almost one step ahead. When he is looking at a recruit, he's thinking about the team. He's thinking about, oh, this recruit and that recruit, and then Joe, who's already on our team, it's a jigsaw puzzle. Alex Elias, who's the current men's head coach at Middlebury, he took over from David, Alex went to Burn Burton, he played on my Nordic and ODP team. Alex was not a very big kid. heck, I bet you, at the time when he was a freshman in college I bet you he was five foot seven. But he had, he played quickly and he had an uncanny ability to protect the ball. I remember one coach, and I won't mention the name, one coach that I super respect as I was, as David and I were really going after Alex said several times, he's undersized, he's not fast enough, he's not this and he's not that. And David, thank goodness we didn't listen to him. Alex was a, was an All American, won a national title and is the current head coach at Middlebury. Wow. brought him to the final four last year. and he does such an amazing job and he's, I was such an amazing athlete for us. and so that's just speaks volumes to how David looked at the game and how he picked his people. Really neat. So now bring us forward. You're at Middlebury for how long? At Middlebury? For two seasons. Two seasons, okay. He asked me to come back for the third season and I'm, I knew that was special. I know he didn't ask a lot of assistance back, and goodness gracious, I got out the game chasing the dollar and I sold real estate at the project up at the mountain. Oh, I didn't know that. Kevin Darcy, yeah. Who's Middlebury alum. saw something in me and, gave the good word to the developer. And, from there I got a chance to meet my buddy Chucky Hein Gardner. Chucky, who I just love. And, Chucky's the man. Oh, the three of us actually had a chance to see music and really have a great friendship. but I stepped away from soccer. Yeah. were you getting offers, as an assistant at Middlebury? I gotta believe now, like you said, you're on the map, but you like, all right, I gotta now decide. Did I go try and make some, real money or stay in soccer? I, coach Nunan, who's currently at Clemson, was at Brown at the time, and, I, I liked him a lot and I thought an awful lot of him. And there was a position that opened up at Brown that I thought I might have had a shot at, and, went down and took a look at the area. And at the time, it's not sto we had a young family and got it. Yeah. that was far way away from, yeah, from here. And, I would've been on the road an awful lot. Yeah. So yeah. made the life choice, the family decision and say, you know what? As great as this would be, I think, you know what, kinda at that crossroads Yeah. it was again, yes. Again. Exactly. But so I chased the dollar, worked, did my real estate thing, started seeing the market move and shake a little bit. And so went into a, to a property management business and got a phone call. not far from here actually. Brian, boy, it's the ninth hour. If it's okay with you, can we talk to you about coming back and helping us out at Johnson State for a season? we just had our coach leave. this was August, or late July. What year was this? Oh my goodness. It was, 2007 or oh eight. Okay. Yeah. so I called home and got the green light and I went in for the interview. They said, what do you think about taking both programs for just one year? We'll find somebody, but if you could just get us through a year, I. Coaching both the men and the women. I said, Ooh, that's be some scheduling conflicts, I would imagine. That's interesting. So at, I went, I talked to some, business partners and they were like, oh, we can pull it off, coach. we can do this. so I coached, wow. For four years. Both. I coached both for four years, both teams. and it was great. we made playoffs every year. the boys got better. We got to the, got to the conference semi-final. The girls were knocking on the door. and coming back to Johnson State during that time was unbelievably great for me because I really had to start from scratch. when I got the job the first time, I was well known there, and then I left and then I came back. I had to start over. and there was a tough year too of getting everybody back into kind of my style. Yeah. And then hammering the road to the program. Yeah. In the program. Do you think you were a better coach the second time around or? Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. a better player, manager. Yeah. probably, had a better idea of what a, how a season should look and how, if I'm doing my job we should be progressing. the first couple years that Johnson, I was a really good recruiter and that helped a lot. Yeah. my second time at Johnson was a little harder to recruit. And so I really had to find my pockets and I had to find, niche markets for me and like Andover and Massachusetts. and to be totally, honest, it was, I couldn't get the first 11, I was looking for the, that 13th, 14th kid that was a stud for us. Yeah. And soccer's matured since probably the first go around right now. Soccer's much bigger, totally sport. and really, I credit, another mentor of mine in the game, Wade Gene, who's currently at, St. Michael's College and has had an amazing career, probably to be fair, probably the smartest person in soccer I've ever met. and I'm lucky to work with him, an awful lot. he turned me on to a young man by the name of Nor Bole when, nor was in the 10th grade. And he'd had come, here from the Sudan. And so I got a chance to really, Understand and learn. About our Sudanese players that came over as refugees. And this young man, nor Bole, he's had a chance to write a book. he was, one vote off a player of a year as a freshman, for us at Johnson State, at Johnson State. And he, because he was such a leader in his community as a young person, really helped the program bring in other like-minded athletes. Huh. and we really went from, oh, this team's a tough, blue collar, hardworking team to holy cow, they've got a couple of kids that can Score goals. I switched formations to three attackers. We really took advantage of high pressure. And so that next stint for me at Johnson State really allowed me to even shift the way I recruited. and I'd take a smaller player that was more aggressive and fast and I learned that I really liked as a player, a high pressure Let's press them. If you're good enough to beat us, hey, that's great, but. We're gonna make you cough up the ball in these bad sections of your field. And so that's the way I started coaching and I found immediate success in teaching the game that way versus a 4, 4, 2, let's move the ball around the back and now it's, let's continue to play into the attacking players or strikers and let's work some magic, try to get in behind the defense. This episode is sponsored by Edelweiss Mountain Deli located on the mountain Road. I know for me it is the perfect stopping point after day on the hill to grab my favorite Waitsfield sandwich and a cup of coffee, and for me grabbing my favorite Sweet Sensation bar. Whether you're looking for fresh Vermont pastries, farm to table prepared meals or local Vermont products to add your barbecue, make sure Edelweiss Mountain Deli is your next stop. When it comes to luxury real estate in Stowe Trust, Meg Kaufman of Land Vests, Christie's International Real Estate. Meg Kaufman knows the market inside and out. She's been a part of the Stowe community for over 20 years. Whether you're buying or selling, Meg Kaufman offers a concierge level of service. Taylor, just for you. Backed by the power of land vests and Christie's International. She brings proven success and local insight to every transaction, luxury real estate, local expertise. Meg Kaufman and Land Vests are the team you want on your side. Yeah. It seemed like when you first started talking, you were talking about the focus on defense. not that maybe you are not focused on defense, but I'm just, I'm hearing a potential shift in coaching philosophy. Totally as you moved on, I think in her second then at Johnson. you're Ted, you're so right. I find what I did is I then started to invest time in how to coach it. And a lot of it was as a, as a player, where would I want the ball? what would my positioning be toward a defender if the, if, my midfielder had the ball here. And so then we would recreate like little scenarios. Ray Campen Isle and Rob Montgomery coached with me a great deal of time at Johnson State. And they both played for me. phenomenal minds in the game. I would say that. Robbie was smarter than me earlier on, and Ray was a way better practice coach, than I was. I think where I earned my money is game day. that's probably recruiting and game day and player personnel is that's probably my spot, those four years we've progressed with the men's and the women's team on this kind of high pressure style and it really sparked something in me and then I left, went to Windridge. Okay. Tennis and sports game. Yeah, I saw the water bottle there. Yeah. Good connection there. Ted. Ted and, Ramsey hone, these guys are absolute legends. Ted had taught me so much about being a next level athlete and a next level human being. And it definitely, it didn't shy away from Ramsey. and their families really mean an awful lot to me. but I got a chance to be at Windridge in the director of my own soccer camp for seven years. And it allowed me to, Work with players from other countries that were special. And because we competed against other camps, my chore was in two weeks. How do we get everybody on the same page and be effective? Yeah. Because we'd have a kid from PSG who was in their youth system. We've had a kid at, in a high level German system. And so these kids would come to camp and they had much better players than I ever happened to be. And so I started breaking down the game from the midfield forward in just patterns of play. And over those seven seasons, I'd, with myself and Franta Zurich from, the Czech Republic, who's a national team player and a phenomenal young man in his own right. developed, Okay, if the ball's here, what should I do as an attacking player? And, develop like the 17, 18 step system That seemed to work in a very short amount of time. And during that time while I was there, I applied for the Northfield High School position. Twice and never got an interview or call back what you're like, I coached in college, what I've done. Never got a call back. Wow. No way. And so I was bummed out. I'm like, whatever. And, one day, Paul Lawson shows up at camp. And he said, can I tap with you for a minute? I said, sure. He goes, you told me if the job ever opens up boys or girls at Stowe to come and talk to you. Jamie decided this was gonna be his last year. Are you interested? I said, oh goodness, let me talk to my family and find out. And I called Joanna, And, and the next thing you know, I'm the new, Ted, is it Ted Hone? Is it okay if I coach for a year at Stowe? They need a placeholder. Sure, Brian, that'll be fun for you. and then it went on for a handful of years. And and it's still going? it's, this is, yeah, this is my 10th season working with either the boys or the girls team. and in 2013, That was a tough one because they, they all love Jamie. They're successful under Jamie. And, now all of a sudden it's me and I inherited Paul Lawson and Gordon Dixon, and it was the best thing ever is to get those two gentlemen. we had great success and a lot of it is because of those guys. we had, they would scout games, they would film the opposition. one of the years we played, Winooski at Winooski, they'd scored like 110 goals. they were undefeated. and Paul went down and measured off their field. Because they've had played on a smaller field than we did. Ah. So then we came, can replicate it. we replicated on our field and I blame Paul. It's dedication for that kind of victory. It's cool. filming game, Gordon filming games at Harwood. and, talking about being totally prepared, we ran it like a college program. we really ran it at a college program and in the beginning the kids didn't like me. Be very honest with, that's usually how it goes with good coaches, though. I didn't like my hockey coach, but we wanna stay titled so I just thought I was gonna come out and have some fun on the still soccer team. Get in shape, to run around a little bit. and, but the one thing I'll say is everybody would, everybody had great buy-in. the players, were playing at a high level in the state, and a we were blessed with a lot of club players when other teams ne didn't necessarily have club players. and because of their dedication and desire to want to be successful, I can't even believe sometimes. Yeah. You know how well we played. Yeah. What were, I'm just trying to think how many state championships. I know there's a bunch in there. There was eight in a row. I had my hand in eight in a row. Yeah. I had my hand in six of them. Yeah. Wow. That's an incredible run with different players, right? It's high school. So you're losing players, you're picking up players. and this is all the boys. That's what makes it, this was on the boys side. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it impressive. It was one of the, one of the, I, the bigger, the girls one, my, my daughter was on the team four years ago. Four years ago. Yeah, the girls won it that year. there were players that played for four years and never lost a playoff game. It's amazing. I don't think the Nissan and Baum family lost a playoff game. could you speak a little bit to, you coached in college a lot, you were coaching at Windridge, but what was it like coaching high school kids after, being in the college program? Same principles apply or, yeah, you gotta adjust. I could say that my language was less colorful on the high school level. maybe not so much the last year. PG 13, a little PG 13. but, I was able to challenge, I was able to challenge the high school kids in the same way We were able to challenge the college kids, by being very honest, being very upfront and. You want to be a little softer, right? here's the biggest way I've changed. If one of my players in college got a hard fo from behind, I wouldn't say anything. It's part of the game. It was probably a gentleman's foul because we were in the midfield and we were on a breakaway, and my first season, one of our center midfielders got hammered from behind and I just sat there and then he got hammered again. And I didn't say anything. And one of the, one of the players looked at me distraught. And said, coach, how come you're not protecting him? What a different perspective for me. these are 14, 15, 16, 17-year-old kids and they needed a voice. Even though I didn't see it. I gotta be honest. I just was, I was, I, I was coaching men and now I'm coaching kids and. And that changed me as a coach. I then became a little more vocal with the referees. and, so I found my heart again a little bit. when a young person gets injured and soccer's their life and they've gotta still go to school, they've still gotta walk around in crutches. They've gotta watch their brothers, go on and battle and play. it's different with a college kid'cause they're at the end of their career. But for some of these young people, they still had their whole career ahead of them. And so I, I don't wanna say I got softer. I don't think they'd say I got softer, but it the development, the, I don't, it meant a lot to me to be a part of their high school experience, knowing How important it was for me. Yeah. at that time. And to be fair, the parents were phenomenal as well. Yeah. They just let me do my thing. I wouldn't talk to the parents. I didn't really email with them. I would text the players, parents didn't know what was going on. I probably, in their eyes, I was horrible. But we made it such a, a brotherhood of what we were trying to do, that the older kids took care of, the younger kids. it was one of the best soccer experiences I've ever had in my life. I gotta tell this story. So it's a championship game where it, Williamstown and, I'm nervous as can be. I think we won the game, by four goals or five goals. And this is a championship. I'd never won anything. this is 2000. I've never won anything. I, we won a league and, but I'd never won anything. And so all of a sudden. I'm gonna go and get a ball in this huge trophy, guys. and I'm just I don't even know. And Gunther, one of the referees looks at me, who'd refered me as a, not as a player, but as a coach almost my whole career. Look at me goes, Ryan, you can smile now. And I remember thinking to myself, holy cow, this is amazing. I still remember the feeling walking in the bus. I still remember giving Gordon and Polly a hug. I remember everything and it was so overwhelming, And such like culmination of everything that I'd done in the game. I remember I got home, I kissed everybody. and I literally got in the car and I drove, to a watering hole and sat by myself and had a Budweiser and said to myself, what just happened? I couldn't grasp it. Yeah. Yeah. I really couldn't grasp the magnitude of that in, in this little community. It just, even thinking about it on my way over, if you were to ask me, what was a couple memories that'll always stick with it would, it's, but that very first one was just just unbelievable. Yeah, I bet. I bet. I just remember when my kids were on the OW teams. Do you think other schools come into ow and oh, we're gonna beat sto, like there's an extra chip'cause it's stow. do you, did you feel that playing hockey? Absolute, rougher, other teams were a little rougher with Stow. We're gonna get these St. Als wealthy buried. They're like corn fed, like all these little stow kids. We were just, they always felt much bigger too. You like playing these other teams, like, why are they so much bigger than the Stow Kids Farm Boys? I'm, there was times that I felt maybe other communities wanted to beat us extra special. We, we always got everybody's best game. nobody ever gave us a cakewalk, right? I remember coaches saying, we would rather beat you than win a state championship. I heard a coach, I won't mention any names from Montpelier. Tell me once. That was my first stint, not any current coaches. and I would, that kind of pushed me back a little bit. I didn't realize how bad people wanted to beat us. Yeah. Just recently though, to tell this fun story, in my last season, we played Milton at home. And I talked to this gentleman, for a while and he happened to mention, his son's name. I didn't know it was his son. I said, oh, that was the All American in 2019. He said, how do you know that? I said, I coached at sto. And he immediately went, you can't do that. He said, your fans Yeah, were unbelievable. He said, I don't know what you guys did, but your fans. We sat there and said, we want fans like that. How do we, it was, it would be electric. Do you remember the marlin? The kids had bought a marlin. I don't know how the story goes, but they got this marlin from someone's house. Stuffed fish mar stuffed mar marlin. Yeah. Five feet tip to tail, and they'd bring it to every game and they would pass it along the crowd. Nice. We'd take pictures with it. It lasted for six years. They had this marlin. I don't know what happened to it, but. They would sing song. it was just great. They had a tailgating club. It was, the fan base was, it was electric. It was nice. It couldn't have been better. Awesome. That's awesome. That's some great stuff. So a lot of coaching there. And could you tell us a little bit about the Vermont United Soccer Academy? hard to imagine you have time, you talk about all these different, coaching ventures, but, could speak about that program and how that started? Yes. and, Vermont United started really selfishly because I didn't wanna drive to Chittenton County. I was at Bishop Marshall at the time as the physical education teacher and athletic director. And, I was doing trainings, for the, for. Really just signups in the gym and just for the school. And before I knew it, there was 25 kids. I expected 10. And then, all of a sudden then there was like two gen genders that wanted to train. and my children were coming of age. And I said, maybe this is something we could do. Really, IC can't leave out Samantha and Ivan and Ava. The beginning thought process of the academy started in the living room and at the dinner table kicking around different names, colors for the academy and really how we wanted to go forward and, and get a chance to promote it. Unbelievably helpful and the three of them offering advice, uh, asking questions, wondering what it would look like once we got everything going. It was unbelievable that they were such a part, and I don't know what I'd do without'em. And, really thought about maybe we'd do something in this realm, who could we get involved with, that would help us coach, maybe we'd just keep it small. How do we, I really didn't, I had no idea it would grow into where It was. and Angie roi, was one person, she was the, two time, people's boys coach, state champion, and Wade Jean, who was at St. Michael's College and asked them if that was something they would be interested in. And they both believed in. Training players in our area in this Lamo county. And beyond in rural areas. and younger players and younger players. And starting it off with a, and it didn't really exist at the time, would you say? A strong youth? No, I, yeah, component, I think, I think the town teams. Yeah. with nothing beyond that though, really like me, but no, there was nothing like that other than up, other than a club in Montpelier, but that was far. And otherwise you gotta go to Burlington Nordic. Exactly. Got it. so it really was with, twelves and fourteens. And both my children played and, those 12 year olds just graduated this year. we went from 42 players and I would cross my fingers every training session that we'd give over 10. We went from 42 players and we have, Just, right around 200 players, under eight years old to under 19 years old. Wow. So it's become a big operation. it's so exciting. It's it's really neat. I, Sam Rossi, one of our first players, actually our, one of our first players, yes. Just won, for the Vermont Soccer Association. the scholarship, sc first year scholarship, and just to that's what we've always wanted. we've We're a developmental academy and we're a developmental academy of players and people. And, I'm proud to say, there's nobody in our club that's ever received a red card. we are, ladies and gentlemen, when we play hard. but we now have teams competing on the premier level, winning tournaments and that's great. I'm really proud of that, but I'm just as proud to hear that two freshmen are starters at lamoille and a handful are starters at people. And we have, a center midfielder and a wing back that's a starter as a freshman. So helping to evolve the game with our communities. I've had a parent ask me once, what's your end goal for the kids? I said, I don't know anything better than winning a high school state championship. the college landscape has changed, and I owe money. and different things have changed that makes it very difficult to be a college player that doesn't want to dedicate so much time and not get a scholarship. And so for some of us that the pinnacle is the high school game and can we build the best memories possible? And what I love to say is, I think it was just last year was the only year out of the last X amount where a team from Lemo County with players of ours on it, didn't win a state championship in division three. so really, I it's kinda the heartbeat of the community from a soccer. Yeah. I'm, that's cool. I'm so humbled, that young man, Sam Rossi is playing at Clarkson, is trying out there right now during preseason. So it's really neat to see that, that quality of education that the ability to even compete on that level is really neat. I'm blown away. I've, I have great gratitude for families that believed in what we were doing. Awesome. It's a big asset to the community. Yeah. Across so many dimensions. All right. How about some rapid fire questions? Yeah. You're in the hot seat, dude. All right. All right. I'll kick it off here. Messy or Ronaldo Messy. That was quick turf or grass? I'm a, Scott, you gotta pick one. Grass offense or defense. Defense wins championships offense makes me happy. it's more entertaining when you're coaching and playing. practice drills or scrimmage practice drills. Oh, brutal. All right. what's your preference? Playing in the rain. Playing in the heat or playing in the snow. Playing in the snow. I thought he was gonna say that.'cause I love playing. when you see a game in the snow, it's, that is just awesome. Paul Smiths it. It only snows there. So the whole month of October, no soccer in the snow is a cool experience. Extra time or penalty Shootout, extra time Champions League or World Cup. World Cup. Talking tactics or motivational speeches. Talking tactics. Yeah. While motivating. I figured, yeah. You talked about practice drills, so I was assuming that, all right. Coaching kids or coaching high school teens. Boy, that's a toughie. I would say I would, man, I'll say the little ones. Alright. Post-game drink. Gatorade or Vermont? Craft beer. Just craft beer. You could say both too. You could say game beer. I'd say maybe. It depends if you win or lose. you need the beer if you win or if you lose something. That's true. I was thinking that. Maybe even, maybe a Modelo. How's that? There you go. Post-game food pizza or creamy, creamy, go to pump up song before a big game. Oh. yeah. I was one of those weirdos that just was in his head so much I didn't, but Eyes of the world from the Grateful Deck. Heck yeah. All right. I like it. Awesome. I'll put you in good head space. Good. Rapid fire round there. So we talked about Stowe a little bit. in the start you went to Johnson State College and you had career in real estate coaching, property management, all that, when would you say you really settled down in ow with your family, that chapter in your life? really, where I felt like we were a part of the community would be 2013. Okay. When I started coaching the boys group. Yeah. I was, before that I was, I was, we didn't have children and I was probably known as the, a person that was out every now and again. and was from the outside looking in a little bit, I think, during that time. Okay. And then the being a part of the school kind of really brought the community in, solidified that for you. Yeah. got it. and again, people like Chucky, Hein, Gardner and, Brian Huber and Gordon Dixon. these were guys that are really, nice to me. I, I've been over their house for dinner and, we just created a, a, a. it was, it just, it was just really nice. Yeah. the love family was absolutely a, amazing. And I just got a chance to meet people in the community that I would see from afar and now getting a chance to really know'em, it, it really blew me away that, their character and how much they cared about their children and the community. and I felt like very much a part here. Got it. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, and it probably changes too, now that you're coaching, you go to Shaw's, you go to the grocery store and parent might see you, Hey, yes, hey, is my kid gonna start tomorrow? Or all that, nobody gives or not too bad with you. It's unbelievable. I can't believe it. Nobody gives me the business. Really. I cannot believe it. It's shocking. I feel like from so many coaches, how come my kid's not playing? I, you know what I think if, and this is great, and I get this question asked, people assume that happens a lot. I'm very just open and honest, even with the little ones about where we're at. and I, it's, I think if you don't leave anything for chance and you communicate about it and everybody understands, then there's questions that ask. And as long as you have answers that That meet Yeah. the expectations or meet really, this is what it is, good, bad, or indifferent, whether you like it or not, it's coming from the heart. I'm not gonna do anything or malicious, it's, this is really just what it is. Yeah. so no, I'm lucky in that regard. Yeah. I really have been. Yeah. And I guess you have a cool perspective. You went to Johnson State College, did the ski bum stuff. Next thing you know, you're coaching at the high school, you have a family. As you look at all those years, how do you feel Stowe has changed? it's a lot of years to break down. it's, it's two unique perspectives though. It really is. Because I got a chance to see pre nine 11 and post nine 11. Yeah. and then, of course, a IG and Vail, and then, pre COVID, post COVID and being close with families that have moved in from other communities. And it's, for me personally, it's the same. Yeah. people, I've heard people say, the new people in Stowe, X, Y, Z they love their kids. They moved here because of mountain culture. The school's one of the best the school, the way they support their students, it's unbelievable the ways that they supported my daughter, through a concussion and stuff. Just last year. I have to say STO High School, there's a shout out to the high school. Thank you. you've done an amazing job. the teachers there, care unbelievably, it's from the top to the bottom. I'm blown away with the school, sure, we have to park at the mountain in a different spot and it might be a little more crowded in the shoulder seasons than it ever has. And it's not only the British invasion that brings all the people to ow in some of these different times. but, I find that it's still that really a, a. A, a really high quality community member that wants to be involved. Yeah. they just might drive nicer cars now. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Good point. What about soccer? we've had a think about Vermont soccer this year, right? UVM, the Vermont Green It. Good. Shout out Mike. I totally, soccer in Vermont's big, it's, yeah. that green The green, yeah. Both just going off. just so cool to put us on the map. Yeah. Big time in that regard. I remember when, did you go to any of those games? whole bunch of'em. Yeah. I bet you Chucky, Hein, Gardner, Brian Mullen, Gordon Dixon, and I probably went to almost every home game for U VM UVM last year. Chucky's already gone to two. I've had to work too much. just a, just addicted to that style that Rob plays. coach Dow is, he's an architect to do what he's done in this era. if. check out the NIL mon NIL money that Arkansas is giving to athletes right now. And you start seeing how much other programs are giving to their athletes, to soccer players, even to soccer players, really even. And how he has put together, his group is, it's really special. and I blame a lot of his success. Vermont fcs success on UVM, Yeah. Oh, I'm sure a handful of those phenomenal players get a chance to train, right at the place they're gonna play in the fall. And it's what a special environment. UVM season tickets are sold out already, that just never happens. That never happens. Yeah. It's just, it's the buzz. It's electric and the last game, I didn't have a chance to see it live, but I watched the, I watched it on television. the goalkeeper's safe to his right. on the breakaway. that's uncanny how great that was. It's just, it's a great time in with the World Cup right behind us now. It's really soccer in this. it's unbelievable. I'm speechless about it, to be honest with you. Yeah. Yeah. It's huge. Oh, that's cool. What, if you weren't coaching soccer, what do you think you'd be doing? Probably can't even imagine it, right?'cause you've been doing it so long. But I think I figured out I've been a part of soccer for 37 Falls. Wow. boy, I probably, I, I always wanted, I think you're meant to be a coach. I always, I was just gonna say, I'd probably, I, I. I love coaching basketball. To be honest with you, I probably should have been a baseball coach. I knew a hell of a lot more money. Sports. Sports, yeah. Cooperstown, you'd be in Cooperstown. Oh, a lefty. I had a really great coach, growing up. Ronnie Vander Sta God rest his soul. My, Pete Doherty, my high school coach was associate coach at Columbia for 25 years. we just had really great coaching growing up in baseball, but, probably, I don't, I really enjoyed teaching. I taught for seven years, but, probably in the hospitality business. if I wasn't coaching, yeah. You look like a coach to me. Thank you. If he's, if you're walking down the street, I'm like, he's a coach. He looks like a coach. I'm gonna show up at practice tomorrow, just get my dose of motivation. Do it. I love it. Cool. Get dose of motivation. what, could you speak to, what role, especially in this area, sto and surrounding towns, what role does soccer play in just creating community in rural areas? how much fun to have a rivalry. how much fun to, to, to wanna be successful with and represent your town, represent your last name. super exciting for me this year. Pat Bliss is the new, women's coach over at People's Academy. Patrick and I played soccer together at Johnson State. We were both captains in our last season. Patty was a great player. all conference player, and like I said, captain. And this year, our daughters are competing against one another From different towns. So how, how fun is that? I look at, for instance, like Lamo, who, they've been in division two for so long. that's their soccer kind of experience has always been right there. And now Angie Fari happens to be on the men's side. And, I'm forgetting the name of the person that's coaching on the women's side. But they have so much, want and desire to be successful because more and more players are in the game. Parents, grandparents, really, where do you get the nuclear family to come in the snow and driving rain. Yeah. To pretend like they wanna watch their kid for two hours or their grandchild, but. look at the fan base. When we go to these schools, there's 200 people. And sure, I bet you 70 to 80 are students, but the rest are community members. And to see people whose children have graduated, it's like a, they still come. Yeah. Yeah. it's, there's still a part, you'll look to off to the side and you'll, you'll see, Peter Ash, who's coached all around and lives in town and is just still loves it and will travel anywhere around here to see games. So I think soccer is, was that one tangible sport where you know what, if you're good enough, you could go play in college basketball. You had to be super special. Yeah. Yeah. Baseball, we've had a couple, you've gotta be super special, but soccer, you could go to Linden, you could go to Johnson State, you could go to Castleton, but if you're really good, you could go to St. Mike's. The Anos, Giata and the Yeah, I remember them. And the Cory Broner, I got a chance to, Cory Broner was work with them in, in, nor I played against him in high school. He was a beast. Was beast. Not beast. Not a pleasant experience. And a phenomenal college player. Yeah. Phenomenal college player. Very good. So to, to see that, for that younger generation to be able to touch something after I think is a big motivator as well. That's cool. Absolutely. any other stories, memorable moments from the coaching that stand out that you wanna get out to listeners? I don't think a lot of people know that 2019 team, the last team that I coached at sto, those gentlemen, those gentlemen started coaching at the STO youth program at seventh grade. And so I had'em in the seventh grade, in the eighth grade, and then I, I. I got'em back again. And so when they were seniors and we moved to division two, that was really special. that was kids that I'd been with for a while. and knew their personalities and knew their families and it was a super special group. we only allowed four goals in that season. Wow. And Wow. that's crazy. it was a collective group that I think that I'll, that's a pretty interesting one for me. I'll never forget, Gordon and I were at the helm that year together and it just felt like everything was just clicking in such a way that, you know. recapping the final, in my mind, to be fair, it was at, here we are, a grass field team playing on turf in, south Burlington against a team Middlebury that we played earlier in the season. And they came out and they were better than us in the first half. Quite honestly, tactically, he made some decisions that really had Gordon and I guessing, and, Gordon I think we fix it this way. and that, that comment led to a different change, that really proved to, to be the difference. and I think, because they had us in the first half and how those kids banded together, it was a special one. it was a special one. That'll be a tough one to not remember. we had some special players on there, as well. that's awesome. my, our guy Jack was on that team. Yeah. who I, he skis with me, Jack's button, skis with me every day that I ski, and he's in the car with me now. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. That's great. All right, we're just about ready to wrap up and we ask all of our guests this one question, is your house in Sto? No. Okay. Right on. Right on. I've biked by it probably a hundred times. Yes. Beautiful spot. Thank you. If STO did not exist, where would you live? Does not exist back in the Adirondacks. probably close to Lake Placid. Yep. That's good. Good choice. I would imagine that Neck of the woods, we've had that before Neil Van died. Neil Van, our first guest ever. Neil Van Dyke isn't Aronda guy, so we're in good company. You're in good company, Dyke. That would that. Very good company. You're right. Cool. thanks for jumping on, Brian. Thanks Brian. Kyle guys, thanks much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hope you enjoyed that episode of the Octagon Podcast. Remember to like us on Instagram and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. See you next time.