Secret Revealed – Explaining Indiana’s NCAA Soccer Tourney Success
4/26/2021 10:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The secret is out there, this Indiana soccer NCAA Tournament success that approaches half a century.
How can the Hoosiers do what no other program can?
Let's go to a guy who should know.
"What's the secret sauce?" coach Todd Yeagley asks with the chuckle of one who has been part of it as a player, a coach and a son.
The answer, as are so many things in life, is complex. To understand, really understand, let's start with a story.
It's 2017 and Indiana has just edged North Carolina 1-0 in the College Cup semifinals. It is 18-0-6, a victory over Stanford away from its ninth national championship.
Andrew Gutman, who the next season would win the Hermann Trophy Award as the nation's best player, has a question for his coach.
"He came up to me in the locker room just after the game and asked, 'Hey, Coach, has anyone gone undefeated of our Indiana teams?'" Yeagley says. "I said no. He said, 'Oh, that would be good.'"
Yeagley laughs at the memory.
"I told him yeah, it would be good.'"
Did the Hoosiers win that final game and make undefeated history?
Hold that thought.
The point was Yeagley didn't talk to the Hoosiers about the undefeated record. He focused on the moment, on the next game, on the details of what needed to be done.
"That makes you handle it in a much more digestible way," he says.
It is the same way Yeagley handles each season. He has no time to dwell on the pressure of sustaining a postseason run of success no other soccer program has reached.
IU has 34 straight NCAA tourney appearances, 45 overall, eight national titles, six national runner-up finishes, 20 College Cup appearances and a best-ever 24-13 College Cup record.
"If you do look at the numbers," Yeagley says, "it is staggering. It can keep you up at night to try to maintain or add to that."
Yeagley, as you can imagine, enjoys his sleep.
"So, you just live it every day and focus on improving the group and doing the small things well and becoming a unit."
If that sounds boring, well, the results aren't.
Players come and go, teams struggle, coaches struggle, injuries happen, pandemics erupt and yet, here is Indiana, surging into NCAA tourney play as the No. 3 overall season with a 9-1-1 record and a third straight Big Ten double (winning the regular season and conference tourney titles).
IU's success spans three coaches – Jerry and Todd Yeagley, and Mike Freitag -- and nearly half a century. It's happened despite being in a basketball state not known for producing lots of elite soccer talent, although the state has elevated its player development since the Hoosiers became a national power. Eleven Hoosiers are from the state of Indiana this season, highlighted by Fort Wayne-area standout defender Spencer Glass.
It includes a who's-who of college superstars, from the greatest scorer in history (Ken Snow, a four-time All-America with a ridiculous 84 career goals) to give-up-nothing goal keepers (Jay Nolly and Trey Muse each had 30 career shutouts) to Hermann Trophy player of the year winners (Angelo DiBernando, Armando Betancourt, Snow, Brian Maisonneuve, Todd Yeagley, Danny O'Rourke and Gutman) and more.
Jerry Yeagley, the man who turned a club team into a varsity powerhouse, won six national titles during his Hall of Fame career. Freitag (a former IU All-American) and Todd Yeagley each have won one.
So, what is the secret to such success?
Topping the list, Yeagley says, is recruiting.
"It starts with the players who come into the program. The sense of responsibility that they have. We talk about it. It's part of the recruiting, what it means to wear the uniform. The pride. That gives you strength."
That kind of strength only goes so far, Yeagley adds.
"Just putting the jersey doesn't make you win games, but we get down to the details, the core principles of the work we put in, the defending. The pride we put in our defending."
Pride shows. Indiana has given up just three goals all season.
As for offense, IU has scored three or more goals in six of its 11 games, for a total of 25. It averages 11.9 shots a game to opponents' 8.1. It has a 69-39 edge in corner kicks.
Those aren't the numbers of a pack-it-in team.
"The defense is not at the expense of our attack," Yeagley says.
"Certainly we have a lot of good attacking -- we are maybe in the top 10 (nationally) of all the attacking categories."
Beyond that, he adds, he and his staff talk to recruits, and current players, about, "That pride of taking the program to new heights. It's not just maintaining. What can you do to enhance it? We ask that question a lot."
For Yeagley, the statistics behind IU's success only go so far.
"We don't get into the numbers. We talk a lot about the moment, the present, the controllable."
This year's team couldn't control the reduced regular-season schedule (10 games instead of the usual 18) and playing in the spring instead of the fall -- both caused by the pandemic.
What the Hoosiers could do was win, and, boy, have they done that, including a regular-season double-overtime victory at Michigan and a penalty kick shootout win over Penn State in the Big Ten tourney title game.
"This team has taken ownership," Yeagley says. "That's something my dad has always been very keen on. When a team starts taking ownership of all areas of the game, then you know you have a really good opportunity to make things happen.
"We've seen that with the two titles (Big Ten regular season and conference tourney).
"There's pride in what they've done, but they're not satisfied with that. You're satisfied when you leave everything out there. Whatever game that is the end (of the season), we ask them, can you be proud of that? Can you be proud of what you put out there in the controllable elements? That's the focus."
What players won't hear from Yeagley is the NCAA tourney streak, which is the longest in the nation.
"I don't think I've ever told them, 'Hey, guys, we have the longest running NCAA streak.' We're very proud of it, but we haven't talked about it."
That gets into the final part of IU's secret of sustained postseason excellence.
"So many things go into how we've been able to do that," Yeagley says. "It starts with the kids who want to play here. We don't roll out the ball and say, we have the most talented team every game. We don't take the field with that mindset."
The mindset Yeagley expects is competitive ferocity.
"We want the game more than they do. That hunger, the target is big on our backs, but we feel, when we take the field, the target is bigger on them."
Now we're getting to the heart of Yeagley's motivational strategy. It's not about gimmicks or win-for-the-Gipper speeches that only work in the short term, not the long.
"We have something, not to prove, but the desire to perform and to win," he says. "Winning is an unbelievable taste. You want it all the time. When you have it, you want more of it.
"When you have a setback, it re-calibrates you."
Consider IU was on the brink of missing the 2013 NCAA tourney. With a losing record, its only hope was winning the conference tourney title and earn an automatic bid.
Guess what? The Hoosiers won and advanced.
Yeagley says he's just as demanding in victory as he is in defeat. The opponent, in the end, is potential, individually and collectively, to play as close as possible to the perfect game under the greatest pressure.
"We do our best to give them teaching moments with wins. Not that I harp on them and make it miserable for them, but there are days when after a win where I tell them, this won't work in the next game.
"Maybe you got fortunate or the player didn't convert, or the ball bounced a certain way. But if we don't improve on this, we won't get where we need to do.
"We are always digesting the performance, dissecting it. If we make improvement in these areas, our opportunity to keep winning will be there."
On Thursday IU will head to North Carolina, the site of all the NCAA tourney games. The Hoosiers will open Sunday against the winner between Milwaukee (8-4) and St. Francis Brooklyn (5-1-2). They need five victories for a ninth national title and their first since 2012.
Yes, they lost that 2017 unbeaten season with a 1-0 double overtime loss to Stanford in the title game.
Yeagley won't mention that to his players, just as he won't mention the NCAA tourney streak or anything else other than what it will take to win Sunday and advance.
But the Hoosiers know, opponents know, anyone who has had anything to do with college soccer in the last 45 years knows.
It's no secret, you see.
"Over the course of time," Yeagley says, "we've done a good job of getting the results."
@IndianaMSOC
For all the latest on Indiana University men's soccer, be sure to follow the team at @IndianaMSOC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
#GoIU
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The secret is out there, this Indiana soccer NCAA Tournament success that approaches half a century.
How can the Hoosiers do what no other program can?
Let's go to a guy who should know.
"What's the secret sauce?" coach Todd Yeagley asks with the chuckle of one who has been part of it as a player, a coach and a son.
The answer, as are so many things in life, is complex. To understand, really understand, let's start with a story.
It's 2017 and Indiana has just edged North Carolina 1-0 in the College Cup semifinals. It is 18-0-6, a victory over Stanford away from its ninth national championship.
Andrew Gutman, who the next season would win the Hermann Trophy Award as the nation's best player, has a question for his coach.
"He came up to me in the locker room just after the game and asked, 'Hey, Coach, has anyone gone undefeated of our Indiana teams?'" Yeagley says. "I said no. He said, 'Oh, that would be good.'"
Yeagley laughs at the memory.
"I told him yeah, it would be good.'"
Did the Hoosiers win that final game and make undefeated history?
Hold that thought.
The point was Yeagley didn't talk to the Hoosiers about the undefeated record. He focused on the moment, on the next game, on the details of what needed to be done.
"That makes you handle it in a much more digestible way," he says.
It is the same way Yeagley handles each season. He has no time to dwell on the pressure of sustaining a postseason run of success no other soccer program has reached.
IU has 34 straight NCAA tourney appearances, 45 overall, eight national titles, six national runner-up finishes, 20 College Cup appearances and a best-ever 24-13 College Cup record.
"If you do look at the numbers," Yeagley says, "it is staggering. It can keep you up at night to try to maintain or add to that."
Yeagley, as you can imagine, enjoys his sleep.
"So, you just live it every day and focus on improving the group and doing the small things well and becoming a unit."
If that sounds boring, well, the results aren't.
Players come and go, teams struggle, coaches struggle, injuries happen, pandemics erupt and yet, here is Indiana, surging into NCAA tourney play as the No. 3 overall season with a 9-1-1 record and a third straight Big Ten double (winning the regular season and conference tourney titles).
IU's success spans three coaches – Jerry and Todd Yeagley, and Mike Freitag -- and nearly half a century. It's happened despite being in a basketball state not known for producing lots of elite soccer talent, although the state has elevated its player development since the Hoosiers became a national power. Eleven Hoosiers are from the state of Indiana this season, highlighted by Fort Wayne-area standout defender Spencer Glass.
It includes a who's-who of college superstars, from the greatest scorer in history (Ken Snow, a four-time All-America with a ridiculous 84 career goals) to give-up-nothing goal keepers (Jay Nolly and Trey Muse each had 30 career shutouts) to Hermann Trophy player of the year winners (Angelo DiBernando, Armando Betancourt, Snow, Brian Maisonneuve, Todd Yeagley, Danny O'Rourke and Gutman) and more.
Jerry Yeagley, the man who turned a club team into a varsity powerhouse, won six national titles during his Hall of Fame career. Freitag (a former IU All-American) and Todd Yeagley each have won one.
So, what is the secret to such success?
Topping the list, Yeagley says, is recruiting.
"It starts with the players who come into the program. The sense of responsibility that they have. We talk about it. It's part of the recruiting, what it means to wear the uniform. The pride. That gives you strength."
That kind of strength only goes so far, Yeagley adds.
"Just putting the jersey doesn't make you win games, but we get down to the details, the core principles of the work we put in, the defending. The pride we put in our defending."
Pride shows. Indiana has given up just three goals all season.
As for offense, IU has scored three or more goals in six of its 11 games, for a total of 25. It averages 11.9 shots a game to opponents' 8.1. It has a 69-39 edge in corner kicks.
Those aren't the numbers of a pack-it-in team.
"The defense is not at the expense of our attack," Yeagley says.
"Certainly we have a lot of good attacking -- we are maybe in the top 10 (nationally) of all the attacking categories."
Beyond that, he adds, he and his staff talk to recruits, and current players, about, "That pride of taking the program to new heights. It's not just maintaining. What can you do to enhance it? We ask that question a lot."
For Yeagley, the statistics behind IU's success only go so far.
"We don't get into the numbers. We talk a lot about the moment, the present, the controllable."
This year's team couldn't control the reduced regular-season schedule (10 games instead of the usual 18) and playing in the spring instead of the fall -- both caused by the pandemic.
What the Hoosiers could do was win, and, boy, have they done that, including a regular-season double-overtime victory at Michigan and a penalty kick shootout win over Penn State in the Big Ten tourney title game.
"This team has taken ownership," Yeagley says. "That's something my dad has always been very keen on. When a team starts taking ownership of all areas of the game, then you know you have a really good opportunity to make things happen.
"We've seen that with the two titles (Big Ten regular season and conference tourney).
"There's pride in what they've done, but they're not satisfied with that. You're satisfied when you leave everything out there. Whatever game that is the end (of the season), we ask them, can you be proud of that? Can you be proud of what you put out there in the controllable elements? That's the focus."
What players won't hear from Yeagley is the NCAA tourney streak, which is the longest in the nation.
"I don't think I've ever told them, 'Hey, guys, we have the longest running NCAA streak.' We're very proud of it, but we haven't talked about it."
That gets into the final part of IU's secret of sustained postseason excellence.
"So many things go into how we've been able to do that," Yeagley says. "It starts with the kids who want to play here. We don't roll out the ball and say, we have the most talented team every game. We don't take the field with that mindset."
The mindset Yeagley expects is competitive ferocity.
"We want the game more than they do. That hunger, the target is big on our backs, but we feel, when we take the field, the target is bigger on them."
Now we're getting to the heart of Yeagley's motivational strategy. It's not about gimmicks or win-for-the-Gipper speeches that only work in the short term, not the long.
"We have something, not to prove, but the desire to perform and to win," he says. "Winning is an unbelievable taste. You want it all the time. When you have it, you want more of it.
"When you have a setback, it re-calibrates you."
Consider IU was on the brink of missing the 2013 NCAA tourney. With a losing record, its only hope was winning the conference tourney title and earn an automatic bid.
Guess what? The Hoosiers won and advanced.
Yeagley says he's just as demanding in victory as he is in defeat. The opponent, in the end, is potential, individually and collectively, to play as close as possible to the perfect game under the greatest pressure.
"We do our best to give them teaching moments with wins. Not that I harp on them and make it miserable for them, but there are days when after a win where I tell them, this won't work in the next game.
"Maybe you got fortunate or the player didn't convert, or the ball bounced a certain way. But if we don't improve on this, we won't get where we need to do.
"We are always digesting the performance, dissecting it. If we make improvement in these areas, our opportunity to keep winning will be there."
On Thursday IU will head to North Carolina, the site of all the NCAA tourney games. The Hoosiers will open Sunday against the winner between Milwaukee (8-4) and St. Francis Brooklyn (5-1-2). They need five victories for a ninth national title and their first since 2012.
Yes, they lost that 2017 unbeaten season with a 1-0 double overtime loss to Stanford in the title game.
Yeagley won't mention that to his players, just as he won't mention the NCAA tourney streak or anything else other than what it will take to win Sunday and advance.
But the Hoosiers know, opponents know, anyone who has had anything to do with college soccer in the last 45 years knows.
It's no secret, you see.
"Over the course of time," Yeagley says, "we've done a good job of getting the results."
@IndianaMSOC
For all the latest on Indiana University men's soccer, be sure to follow the team at @IndianaMSOC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
#GoIU
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