Transcript: How experience impacts success with Scott Fridley

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00:00

Hey, before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you so much for checking out my very first episode of the Mason Friendly podcast. As I am building this podcast, I am having a little bit of audio technical difficulties. So the first few minutes of this episode will be a little shoddy, but after that, it cleans up dramatically. So thank you so much for listening and I hope you enjoy the show.

00:31

Joining me today is a true Indiana legend, Scott Fridley. Currently in his 36th year at Anderson University, Scott has amassed over 260 career wins and led his team to five conference titles. Beyond the hardware, he has recruited and mentored over 1,300 college athletes, 100 of them being all conference competitors and raised nearly a million dollars to build a premier soccer stadium right here in Anderson, Indiana.

00:59

From his roots in Alabama and Wisconsin to hosting over 15,000 kids over 32 years at the annual Anderson Soccer Camp, Scott's mission is simple, spreading a lifelong love for the game, for the greatest game in the world. Please welcome a coach who lives, breathes, and preaches the beautiful game, Oh, and he's my dad. Welcome Scott Fridley. Thank you. How are you? Thanks for coming over all the way from across the street to hang out with me and.

01:28

Glad to do talk a little bit about your experience. So today what I really would like to cover is, you know, like we were talking about, like, you know, we did in the intro, you've been at this for almost 40 years, almost four decades. um What the people are going to want to know is how does experience impact success? So that's kind of what I want to unpack today. What I kind of want to open with is

01:57

How did you get into college?

02:02

Well, when we left Wisconsin, I came to Anderson University. I got to school.

02:16

told that price building the soccer program. Classes I was probably supposed to be in but it just made sense. So we got into getting the team going, got started as a club and we were very fortunate to have quite a few good players um that were already here. uh Starting it with Mike Larson, Ken Julian and Peter Woods and that whole group. uh

02:46

And it was just the opportunity uh to do something that sets you apart from other people. You don't get a chance to always start a collegiate program. And it didn't make sense that Anderson didn't have.

03:04

Yeah, so we spent five years and then I knew sometime in high school that I wanted to coach. I just didn't know, was gonna be a teacher, was I gonna be a businessman? I was not really sure how that was gonna play out. But as soon as I got to college, I started coaching local club, had a YMCA team the first year I was here. ah I started coaching club. That's always been, I love coaching.

03:33

kids and kind of teaching them the formation, how the field breaks down. What year would that have been? 1986 is when I came and I think that first year I had a YMCA team. then 1986. As soon as I got here and. So what got you into this mindset of being a coach? Because I feel like a lot of

04:01

kids at that age, you know, you're 18, you're just trying to figure out who you are and what you're doing. ah Yeah, how did you get, how did you come in and have the idea?

04:14

So in high school, when I kind of had this idea I wanted to be a coach, I was, there was very few teams I was not the captain on. A lot of club teams, a lot of places that I felt the leadership role was expected of me. And I've always been louder than most people. But trying to build that dynamic of leadership and so in high school sometime I just knew I wanted to coach. I went to college.

04:43

and got into the business world and everything. I was able to continue to keep coaching. And when I got done with my college career, athletic director hired me December 1st of 1990 to become assistant coach. And as I was working for Marriott at the time, was just kind of a dual thing, but.

05:10

I just always thought I wanted to be a coach. yeah. So you came in and you said they don't have a program. I have a unique opportunity to start one here. That's right. OK. And so but you also got involved with youth sports right away. And then what was that transition like from being a student to being a coach, to being the first full time coach for the program? Or yeah, what was that transition like?

05:38

Well, in December 2nd in 94 is when the athletic director hired me as full time, full time as the regular men's coach because it didn't become a full time sport until 2001. Oh, OK. As a coach. As a coach. But because you were a collegiate team by 90 or sorry, 88. 89 was our first collegiate year. OK. So I got to play 89 and 90 as a

06:07

as a varsity athlete. So you graduated in 90. I was done December 90, the same month I got hired to be an assistant coach. And I was working full time for Marriott at that point. What was that shift like for you from being a student to now working for the university, being a coach? I probably just figured it was normal.

06:35

I'm not one that have ever required a ton of sleep late at night. So I go from work to recruiting to then, you know, or whatever the case may be. At that point, I was recruiting a kid from the West Coast. so. So you were recruiting in college. Oh, yeah. OK. What was that like balancing that with school? Well, when you're trying to when you're trying to start a program, you're trying to find players, you're trying to find.

07:01

people that wanna be here for all the right reasons, is Anderson the right fit for me? And so I think that taught me early the recruiting side of it, what kind of we're looking for and who we wanna be and how we wanna be, because you just don't wanna recruit anyone and everyone to be. Anderson is like any school, it has its own selection, its own thing. And you're trying to find those kids that are a good fit for what we are. So when we're switching into college coaching,

07:32

Again, I just thought I always wanted to coach. And so I had this opportunity and instead of going elsewhere, I just thought it was important to get it started and get things to where something we could be proud of here at Anderson because it just made no sense. There was no soccer here. So when you started that, did you think you'd be here for 36 years now? You know, we moved a lot as kids.

08:01

My dad was in food service and we moved a lot. And so don't think I wanted to move that much anymore. I was tired of moving. But you know, we've turned down some opportunities coaching at other places because I didn't think they were the right opportunities or it just didn't make sense for my family at the time. And again, I want to make sure that Anderson University is seen as a competitive.

08:31

a wonderful place to be, a place that kids will want to come and get their degree and be a part of a soccer program that is near and dear to my heart, right? And trying to find those kids that love to be here for all the right reasons. Yeah. I'm going to pause. Just, I think the camera just turned off.

08:50

Are you kidding me? It died already. All right, well, I guess we're just not gonna have video for the rest of it, which is fine. uh Okay, bye. Are you leaving? Thanks, have fun with your nails.

09:09

Okay. So, yeah, we are, we're gonna keep going. Are you good? Do need anything?

09:24

All right, love you. Bye.

09:30

Okay, so So if we're not recording, how are you we're recording the audio? Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, where it's just not gonna be a video which sucks, but oh well It's good to know for next time. I just have it plugged in if I use this camera again Okay, you can use mine. Yeah. Yeah Okay, last me turn a thought 35 years at the same school

09:58

um What has that experience been like for you being at the same place for so long? You you've probably seen a lot of change, you've seen a lot of different stuff. What has it been like to be at AU for so long? Well, first and foremost, I love the school. And it's the school that I've always known growing up. uh So it's got a special place in my heart, by all means. um

10:26

Being here 35 years.

10:30

just starting my 36th year, it's kinda hard to believe I'm still here. But then again, it's not because I really, have some unfinished business, right? When I retire, when I call it a day, I wanna make sure that everything is in place so the next coach can just coach. they can continue a tradition of competitiveness and working hard to build great young men.

10:59

For ten years great young women, but but currently great young men Because my first job is making sure they graduate. Yeah, and Soccer is a disciplined highway as I call it to make sure they go to class. Yeah, the little things to to to graduate but I feel like I'm I'm awfully fortunate Because I ended up, know, I've started a family here and I ended up

11:29

just with me not leaving, just putting an opportunity for kids to come and play and be a part of a good institution. And I really don't know if I have answered your question. No, that does. And I also think that, I think a huge benefit to being in the same place for a long period of time is you kind of put your stake in the ground and assuming that you've done a lot of good work here, so people know you as the Anderson.

11:58

soccer coach and that has a really strong connotation to it. So anytime you have an alumni or you have people who know you who, I mean it helps for recruiting purposes I'm sure, but also just people can associate you with the same thing and I think that's really helpful as well for your career but also for the university. It helps you put your stake in the ground.

12:27

Yeah, no, I think that's fair. You know, I've had a lot of situations where I've recruited kids where knew their parents. uh You know, I've run two different clubs. ah get those kids... Soccer clubs. Soccer clubs, yep. Yeah, growing up, he was a soccer club director of coaching for a long time. And so a couple weeks ago, I was telling somebody...

12:56

about the club and they're like, what are you talking about? You went to the club all the time? I was like a 12 year old, like no, no, it's a soccer club. So I wanted to clarify that. yeah, so. But meeting those people and recruiting kids that I had in club or recruiting people that knew me. Yeah. Or now it's slowly getting into players who played for me. I've now had a couple of those. And, you know, I think

13:26

I'm never going to go down in history as the greatest soccer coach of all time, but I'm going to go down in history as someone who cared about their kids, who cared about the institution, the Anderson University, and make sure that my kids get a good education, have a good soccer experience, and try to leave with no regrets. Try to leave so they feel like, okay, we did everything we wanted to do. They came out better than how they came in. Yeah. And so that process is I walk uh alongside them, making sure that

13:56

whatever they need from me in that college experience, because every kid is different. I've had to walk along some kids that were more like a surrogate parent. Some kids are just, you know, for some kids I'm a picture on a dartboard, right? But it just kind of depends on what they need from me. And making sure that I'm there to make sure that they get through and get graduated and on to life. And I think that's part of the reason that we have such a strong alumni, uh because they know I care about them.

14:26

care about them before they get here, during, after they leave. em They're just, they're very important to me and we've built those relationships and we want to continue those. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I want to shift to the recruiting side a little bit. We've touched on it a little bit, but I guess the first thing I want to know is how has that changed over the years for you? I think early on I had to figure out how to get, how to get in with people, how to understand coaches, how to

14:54

So I started this high school camp 24 years ago where we bring in teams in the summer. We have up to like 35 teams. Yeah six seven hundred kids come through here and So it gives me a chance to get to know those coaches. Yeah, and So when I was a young coach, I didn't know anybody. Yeah, and so I'm knocking on doors trying to get to know coaches Just so they know if hey if I send my kid to Anderson, oh, he's gonna be taken care of Yeah, this is what he's gonna look forward to right?

15:24

And I was very fortunate in the 90s to be able to recruit, some really good players um that really helped kind of establish us right off the bat. Because usually young teams struggle and lose a lot of games and don't fare so well. And I'm just not one who likes to lose very much. And I don't enjoy it very much. In those first 10 years, how many seasons do you think you were over 500?

15:59

We were 500 a few times, over 500.

16:05

probably two or three. Okay. So at least half you were at least 500. Probably we've always been around 500. We've never, we never just hit the tank. Yeah. The only what we would call a record wise terrible season was COVID year. Okay. Yeah. And that was, that was a whole different experience in its own right. But yeah, that's the only really, really bad year that we've had.

16:34

For those of you that don't know, being 500 means you have as many wins as you have losses, at least. So being under 500 is having more losses than wins. Over 500 is more wins than losses. So, okay, so yeah, kinda in this, how did you break through some of those barriers early on for the recruiting? Well, I think coaches seeing me at games, I think coaches building those relationships with me.

17:04

then getting kids from those areas and them having a good relationship is critical. uh One of my still very good friendships and alumni were my kids from Beaver Creek. uh Ben Guthrie was in my first recruiting class and that group, great young men and... uh

17:29

He just getting people in his area to understand, this is a good option. Because we're a small school and you're competing in Ohio with Ohio State and everybody else. And so you're trying to just make sure that people understand it's a good option for their kids. We're gonna do right by them. We're gonna take care of them. They're gonna get a good education.

17:54

And the thing is, all my kids, they've gotten great educations, they all have jobs, they're doing well. They've been very successful wherever they went. so, I think at the end of the day, it's just trying to find those kids that are the right fit and are gonna do well. And that was the hard part in the 90s and 2000s was building those rapport with those coaches, which many of them are now gone, right? The next generation of coaches has now come in and...

18:22

Now I've seen two or three generations of coaches in my time here. Yeah, so it's a lot of connecting with high school coaches. Is that what you mean? And club coaches. And club coaches, okay. So you have a lot of club coaches that do both, but then you have a lot of club coaches that only do club because they generally pay better. Yeah, okay, so and...

18:45

So how are you connecting with them? You're going to tournaments, are you doing calls, are you emailing? Honestly, also, I am 25, so I don't know what the emailing scene was like in the early 90s. So yeah, what does that, what were you In the 90s, it was all calls. It was cold calls. It was going to games and walking up and shaking hands and meeting people. Just building lists of club and high school coaches and then just calling them up.

19:14

Yep. Okay. And so as I build that rapport in the nineties now is in the two thousands as email and everything else get got really rolling. uh I mean, I would send letters. So in the nineties, I would send letters to 100 coaches saying, Hey, here's the individual. Yeah, this is what I'm looking for. Okay. This is what I need. And I'll follow up with a call.

19:43

Yeah, kind of thing. And so everything was letters. All my recruits were letters, all letters and written, handwritten letters. You weren't printing them off. No, no, no. I was lucky to get my printer to work right. But then postcards, a lot of postcards. I did a lot of birthday postcards, a lot of because I'm a big believer in that personal touch. Yeah. And I care about my kids. Yeah. And I want to make sure that

20:13

You know, whatever I could do to get them here, we wanted to do that. Because, you know, you're going to walk into a living room and you're going to make mom happy and you make dad mad or vice versa. You're never going to make everybody in the room perfect. you're trying to make sure that the young man feels like, OK, I can play for him. That's a comfortable place for me. I can excel there. But you're never going to make them all happy. Right. You I go into a living room.

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And I'm like, I don't know if I'll teach a kid anything, but I'll make sure they eat right. They have plenty of food. Well, mom's happy. Dad's mad. know, and dad wants to know, okay, how are we going to tactically get this done? But it's funny. But it's fortunate that I get the opportunity to get into living rooms. I mean, just the other night, we sat down at Rooster's with a couple of recruits and their dads, just to give them a chance to meet me and just to get to know me. Cool.

21:08

And so, because that's really what it comes down to. I don't know if you all ever saw Jerry Maguire, that personal touch, I've had a lot of people call me and say, you know, that reminds me of you. Well, I'm not, I don't know if I'm that flamboyant or whatever, but that personal touch, that face-to-face is critical. And so many coaches that I dealt with, that I dealt with even in the 90s, 2000s,

21:35

they were doing everything from their office. You know, even with the phone calls, and it's personal, but not ever getting out of their office and seeing the kids. And I think that's the difference. I think the kids have to see you. I don't necessarily love driving down to Florida to see four kids play, but that tells them that they're important to me. That tells them that this guy really liked me to be at his school.

22:00

And so you do those things. And not that I might travel or anything else, but sure. But there are those things you have to do to drive into Florida on a Wednesday is not always your favorite thing that you're going to do. However, it means a lot to the kid who is, you know, could be on your team. That's right. And I'm sure that also helps build rapport within the team. Like at least all the players on the team know that their coach cares about.

22:30

Yeah, oh yeah, mean and and driving I'm used to driving. It's easy. I'll drive to Detroit for a game and drive home or Saint Louis or whatever. He driving is pretty easy for me. Yeah, well, it's important, right? It's important because that's how you get. That's how you make sure the kids know you want to. Yeah, so in this recruiting scene, how long did it take for you before it felt like you really hate your stride?

22:59

Felt like the 2000 group.

23:07

I worked hard on the 94 group. was my first. But didn't know if I was doing it right. So taking four years. Well, then I had like the 90.

23:21

96 group was a quality group and I thought I did a fairly good job with them. But that's really when I started getting into houses and making sure they saw my face. So it took you about six years to start getting into houses. Well, yeah. If I started recruiting while I was in school, but let's say 1990.

23:49

And then it took me, you know, those assistant years to the beginning of head coaching year to get that first class. Another four years to get that second quality group, because that group of freshmen, they had some real success. And then the 2000 group, I think, that's the group that won the first conference championship with four freshmen starters. So I would say it took me 10 years.

24:19

to get in my rhythm, right? Because everybody wants to tell you what the right way is. You can buy books, you can go watch all kinds of videos and everything on how, but if it doesn't match your personality and who you are, it probably won't work. You've gotta find what works for you and what your comfortability is. Because if you're an introvert, you may not be maybe as comfortable in a living room as an extrovert. Or if you may be...

24:48

Just finding your stride and seeing what works best for you and gets them to come to school. Yeah, that makes sense. So it took you about 10-ish years. I mean, obviously, you found success in between that time, but it took you about 10 years to feel like you were really in your rhythm. I think it took me that first 10 years to find out what works and what doesn't work. I would go to games, for instance. I would go to games.

25:14

I don't ever bother kids at games. It's something I never do unless they come up and talk to me. I just don't think it's the right time to do it. Doesn't mean a parent's not gonna come say hello or whatever, but I just don't do that. Even to this day, I don't. But I had a situation early on where I called the coach, asked about this kid, and found out they were playing in another team, a kid that I was interested in in Ohio.

25:44

So I called the coach and I said, hey, just making sure the game is still blah, blah. And just wanna talk about this player. And so we talked for a little bit, get off the phone. I drive to the game. And here is an 80 minute kid who ended up playing 10 minutes that night in the game. And he didn't play him because he knew I was competent. That is the last coach that I let know I was coming to a game before.

26:14

Why would the coaches not let the kid play? I don't know if it he thought it was too much stress. I don't know. I don't know. None of us know. Yeah, and it's strange. It is super strange and you never want to never want to target a kid or or Hurt what they regularly are doing right? This should be an opportunity for your kid to be seen. Yeah, so I was not very happy. So I was last time I ever told

26:44

Yeah, well that would make sense. Okay.

26:51

So what would make a Division III recruiter? What kinds of things do you see that would make a good Division III recruiter? Well, number one, they got to see your face. So face to face is important. I tell every recruit, listen, I'm not going to call you every week. It's not going to happen. My job is to make sure you know I want you, tell you what the school can do for you, and

27:20

then see them play because I wanna see, generally I'll see a kid play at least four times over the course of the recruiting. So just to give you an example, I'm pretty much done with my 26th class now. I usually try to be done by middle of December for the following year so I can identify the following. So now like when I go, when I'm going to showcases in January and February,

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I'm not only finishing my class because I'm all but done, but now I'm identifying the 27s and the 28s. The next two classes that I'm looking for that certain kid. Because I'm not a mass recruiter. I'm not out there recruiting 200 kids. Some of my closest friends, they contact 300 kids to try to get their 10 or 15 or whatever. whatever works for you, right? It's your business. But me, I just, I'm not...

28:15

pretty selective. Yeah. And so I'm trying to I'm out there trying to find the right kid for the right place. And uh I'm sorry, I just forgot what your question was. No, okay. Okay. You're fine. um I'm I was wondering what makes a good Division three recruiter and you had kind of started talking about how there are lots of different ways to do it. Yeah, because some coaches get to rely on they win conference championships every year. Yeah. So they're relying on

28:43

the awards and the accolades. Yeah, people hearing about them winning would bring in more players. 100%. Some of my closest friends have probably five times the amount of people emailing them about wanting to come there than I would ever get because people are still finding out about Anderson. I have kids in Indianapolis to this day that still ask where Anderson is. That's crazy to me that that's even possible.

29:13

But I think face to face, going to see him play, a little bit of contact, that's normal. Again, I'm not going to call him every week, but maybe you shoot him an email and say, whether you're checking on schedules or saying hello or happy birthday or whatever. But that's the thing is, the personal touch is something that's been important to me since the beginning. And I can tell you a lot of other coaches don't do that, but they find ways to be successful.

29:42

So it's just whatever works for your school and your program and your system. Absolutely. kind of what I'm getting at here is like over the years you have developed your own system, Have you seen some of the things that you do work for other people as well over the years? Sure. um

30:07

You know, generally in talking to other coaches, you're getting to a living room. If you're, if you're a division one coach, you're probably in the living room with your top.

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Sure, right, because those top 10, you're giving them a full ride. You know, you're to mom and dad and they're coming to your school. oh For me, it's an opportunity for them to get to know you. But the difference is when you're in their home, they're comfortable. Yeah, like sometimes I go in, I went I went to a house visit two years ago, grandparents were there, the girlfriend was there, the girlfriend's parents were there. I mean, it like 10 people. Wow. Well, some people might get a little.

30:52

Well, yeah, where it's not just a kid or whatever. Sometimes it's dinner. Sometimes it's but I think I excel in those situations because I don't have a problem talking. Yeah, and I don't have a problem talking about Anderson University. Sure. And so trying to just make sure that they can understand how they could be comfortable there. Yeah. But when you're in their world now, it's they're a lot more comfortable asking questions. Yeah. And when the 10 years I coached girls, I found that was really important.

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because when I really was able to lock in some kids, it was when I was at their place, because then they could ask the questions they're too scared to ask when they're in your office. Does that make sense? Yeah, that makes sense.

31:40

So, okay, what are, at the end of the day, when you're recruiting, you're selling the university, you're selling your program. What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned about finding the right players? oh

32:03

Number one, every kid that you think will be perfect for you isn't always perfect for you. I as you learn, I think about like a new coach, when they get a job at a school that they were not an alum at, they've got a lot of work to do to get to know that school, its majors, its admissions, its everything. Where in this situation, if you are at a school where you were an alum, you have a really good base

32:32

to start with. it's not as much, you're not out of your... oh

32:41

within your comfort zone to be able to talk about the Yes, because somebody says, hey, how do I do this? Oh, you go over to this office and do that. If you're at a new school, that's a whole different ballgame. Sure. Now, you might have assistant coaches to do a lot of that and all that. But when you're in a scenario like this, uh it's just it's really just trying to make sure that. uh Sorry, I completely forgot the question. No, you're fine. completely forgot. the question was uh

33:10

What are some lessons you've learned about finding the right players over the years? oh I spend a lot of time looking at kids that they don't know I'm there. So here's an example. I was after this kid, and we'll just say he's in Indiana. And this was probably 10 years ago. And I was at a sectional game watching him play. And I had decided for sure that was my next forward, we'll just say.

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And uh I liked this kid. I liked everything I knew about him. Towards the of the game, the game is really intense. Next thing I know, he's fighting with the referee. He's got a tantrum. The referee didn't call a foul that would have won the game. The kid's banging his hands and knees on the ground and cussing and using the F word and just going crazy. And I'm like, done.

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I'm not recruiting that kid. Even though I think I can be a good help to the maturation process, you get kids like that that just are just not in the right mental status. You have to not only spend more time to help them, but does it fit in your culture?

34:35

You know, it's just trying to find out that balance, whether it's a religious balance, whether it's a playing balance, whether it's you know, it's still just trying to figure out what you can handle, what kind of time you have to deal with one person. Because you have 35 kids. And so you have to divvy up the time to everybody. Some need you more than others. But that taught me immediately that I want to see them play when they don't know I'm there. Because...

35:03

that saved me problems down the road that I didn't know, that I might not have known about. Yeah, that makes sense. earlier we were talking a little bit about how you're doing these calls, emails, letters, all that kind of stuff, going to games, in uh people's living rooms, that kind of thing. How do you, or have you been using social media to help recruit kids? Is that something that you've?

35:34

So we have a pretty active social media platform with our soccer team, with our alumni, and with our soccer camp. And I'm fortunate that my daughter does a good job with it. She did not like how I used to do it, so she took it over and does a great job. And I do think it's important. I do watch Who Follows. And when I was on the phone the other night, I did a Zoom call with a kid from... uh

36:04

Texas. And within a half hour I noticed he started following one of our sites. And so that was kind of cool. And just on the way over here I noticed another kid from Ohio that we're talking to just started following us. And so that's why the social media for me, social platform is so important. I'm sure I use it differently or more than other people or less, I don't know.

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trying to make sure that everything that goes on there is professional. Make sure that it looks good, make sure it looks active, make sure it looks exciting. Because you never know, you might just get that one kid, it's down to two schools and one cares about it and one doesn't care about it. Or one has a camp and one doesn't have a camp. You never know, every kid is different for what they're looking for. And so having a professional platform is very important.

37:01

And I've used that to our credit for this fundraising. Like we've done some fun videos and some things where we can attract the attention of not only AU alumni, not only soccer people, but even my friends and people that we've had over 450 people give to this project since 2018.

37:29

But it's not just alumni, right? It's just all kinds of people you can imagine that want to be a part. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so social media plays the role, would you say more of an auxiliary role? you're obviously still going out and doing the recruiting, you're seeing people in person and all that kind of stuff. But the social media is really helpful for continuing that trust building. I think it's important for this generation. Okay. Because...

37:59

I mean, we didn't have it in the 90s, 2000s, right? And then we didn't really know how to use it to our advantage. We're now, you know, now we wanna, we're gonna start a podcast at our camp this summer. And all these things that have come to fruition, our games are now on YouTube TV and the guys that announce the games are fantastic. And so,

38:26

I don't think that was important 10 years ago. But with this generation now, they're on their phones 24 seven, they're looking at every kind of school and what they have and who they are. and I mean, you can go to our three platforms and you can see pretty much who coach Fridley or Anderson university soccer is pretty easily. Yeah. Because between the camps, the alumni, the project and what the team is doing.

38:55

You can see everything from birthdays to wins to big games to games that didn't go so well. How do you think it impacts the parents? Well, I don't think it impacts them near as much yet because those parents that are 40s, they're still on the back end of

39:21

Social media is new to some of them, right? Just like it is to me. And ah the younger parents, it probably impacts them more. I do see some of them that'll follow us. ah I don't know that I've noticed a big difference except for Facebook. Because we're on Facebook, the 40s are on Facebook. And so when I market for camp,

39:48

I market that older group in Facebook. I don't market the younger group because they don't they're not most of them aren't on Facebook Yeah, my kids always laughing me because I call it the Facebook or something funny like that Yeah, but so now it's trying to see who you're marketing towards and how you're yeah How you're attentive to those ages the younger parents so when I'm marketing to the little kickers Yeah, you know, it's not anything most mostly anything about Facebook unless you're marketing to the grandparents, right?

40:18

But the younger parents, the 20s and 30s, uh all the social media outlets all work for them. We don't do much with Twitter, but mostly Instagram. So you talked a little bit about how social media was important for your fundraising. Tell me about that. How has that gone? It's gone really well because everybody, most people that I talk to are friends of mine.

40:47

internationally to local have at least seen it and have had the opportunity to at least know what we're doing. My friends in Alabama, Wisconsin, Baltimore, California, doesn't matter because we have it on everything. people that follow, whether it's just me, because they're friends of mine or they follow Anderson Soccer or whatever, they've been able to follow along the project. Because if you go on there, you'll see

41:15

the scoreboard going up 10 years ago, you'll see all the building of everything, which has been important for the alumni, because when you, as I have found, I've learned so much about fundraising the last 10 years, but when you're asking people for money, they wanna see results. And if they see results, they'll give again. If they see no results, good luck. And so what we have done is we took a build as we...

41:43

build as we raise kind of attitude so people solve it. A crowdfunding approach is what some people would call it. It's like as you raise the money, you would spend it to grow the pro, like to... Yeah, yeah, I guess. So like the lights, how much were the lights that you just put up? The lights themselves are electrical or which part of it? Or how much it cost to install, to get it...

42:11

to get the whole Just to get the lights up, we're 200 and...

42:16

$25,000 for the lights. So like you needed, you you go out and you say, we're looking... Let me back up. Yeah. So let's talk about the stands. Okay. So when we started in 2018, we're giving money, but just, you know, whatever they could. Yeah. We weren't getting a big chunk in there yet. Yeah. And so COVID hit. Well, when COVID hit, still didn't have the new stands. Yeah. And so I had this group of alumni that got together.

42:46

It actually happened, we were leaving Bluffton, we're on the bus, and one of the alumni called and said, hey, let's get these stands done. I'm gonna call these other seven guys and we'll do a challenge to try to raise this money in six weeks. And so it was, needed, because we could never get $82,000 in one pot. And so we needed 85 or 82 or whatever it was and then installation.

43:14

And so this group said, okay, we're gonna give you 45,000. We're committing to that and we'll do a challenge, one for one challenge. And so within six weeks, we had the 90,000 and ordered them as we all know COVID hit and that's how it stands. And so as we've progressed, the very first thing we did,

43:43

because I was tired of carrying hoses all over the field, was the underground water system. That was the very first thing when I got $18,000. That's the first thing I put in anything else. And that also helps with the growth of the grass and everything. So then we put these project pieces. So now it's like, so last year, Day of Giving, three years ago, Day of Giving, electricity was 120,000.

44:12

because we had to start from scratch. New electricity, new boxes, everything. That was $120,000. So, were giving $120,000 for electricity, $200,000 whatever for the lights. So, we were able to raise everything for the electricity. So, that was a good start. Now, we didn't have enough for the lights, but we at least got the electricity, brought the company in, they built the infrastructure so we could never have an electrical problem again at the soccer field.

44:41

Yeah. Because under the old system, you know, I'd start a compressor and all the lights would turn off or something crazy. So then this year's day of giving, we went after the lights. Okay, we need 100 and at that point it was a hundred and like 85,000, which we raised on the day of giving because then with the installation was 20,000. Well, then we had the tariff hit. And so that on the day I thought we were ordering them,

45:12

tariff hit and it added $23,000. And how do you do that? Well, fortunately, this group has been very committed to the project, called me the next day and said, I'm gonna put a check in the mail to you so we can this done. That's crazy. It was awesome, right? It's just things you just can't believe. But if you trust in God and you have faith, I think that makes a massive difference.

45:41

So that's kind of how the projects as they go, oh as we, you know, anyway. So in the fundraising, the being a coach, soccer camp, all that, you know, you've been doing this for almost 40 years em and it I'm sure has not always been sunshine and roses. So how do you find it? How do you find the energy to keep going when things get really hard?

46:11

Well, yeah, mean Anderson's had some difficulties over the years as a young, not a young, as a small school, as a lot of small schools do. But I just leave it in God's hands. I believe I'm in where I'm supposed to be. I have faith that God put me here for the right reason. And I have faith that if something were to happen, he'll take care of me. But I just believe in Anderson University.

46:38

It's the kind of place that has kind of made me the person I am. We've been able to have a lot of kids come and make it their own. And I just wake up every day. I just don't ever feel like I go to work. Because I think I work more than most people I know. And my days are longer than most people I know. I don't have a nine to five job or go home at four o'clock or anything.

47:07

You know, I'm on the phone. Watch my wife goes to bed and everything's quiet down, and I get a couple more hours of work done. People are, you know, so it's quiet or whatever. I don't have, other than the dog yelling at me, I have anybody bothering me at midnight. oh

47:32

It's terrible. This is asking how it how how do you find it within you to keep going when things get hard? Yeah, I just I just think this is where I'm supposed to be Yeah, and God just kind of keeps giving me that the excitement again Yeah, wake up every day excited to work and you just love what you do. I do. Yeah, I love what I do and Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it. Yeah

47:59

But that social media piece you asked me about earlier, in the fundraising, the younger parents like to see what's happening in the growth. The alumni like to see where their money's going and how it adapts to them. The older, like my group, we're all only on Facebook mostly, but this way you tie into each group so everybody gets to see what you're doing.

48:28

And so whether it's Instagram, Younger, or Facebook, Older, everybody has a platform to see what's happening at Anderson. Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of my colleagues will call or text and say something that they know about my program that shocks me. And like, hey, that was cool that, you know, your sign went up or whatever. Yeah. Like, how did you know that? But everything's on social media. And so, and again, my daughter does a great job with it.

48:57

So recently you posted that 12 of your players made the academic all conference selection for Division 3. And that actually set a new school record. Congratulations. So I'm wondering why you're so passionate about the academic standards of your team. Well, I think it goes hand in hand. It doesn't mean that you have to have a 4.0 to play for us. Goodness knows my parents would tell you I was not the greatest student ever.

49:25

But I was passionate about whatever I was passionate about. If there was a subject I was passionate about, I'm all in. If I didn't care about it, I'm all out. But to make sure as I'm recruiting, in a Division III world where academics plays a big role in the financial aid, so let's say a place like Anderson is 50,000 plus and you have a kid that's got a 4.0, he might get...

49:54

$20,000 $25,000 in academic aid, which now makes it the cost of a state school. Which now kind of evens it out a little bit to where the kid might want, the young man might want a small school experience, but who wants to pay $50,000? And so it's trying to, so if you're finding those kids that at least get some academic or some financial help that way, that's a big help.

50:22

You also find when you have kids that work hard in the classroom, it doesn't mean that they're smarter than everybody else, but they might work harder than everybody else. Well, that sometimes translates onto the field. it's kind of funny you ask that because since we've had engineering, we have a lot of engineers on the team. I do kind of feel like my team's a little smarter when they're listening.

50:48

And we've always had a lot of business, we've had a lot of everything from doctors to, but I think there is a little correlation to the wisdom of the team. When they're hard in their classroom, I think sometimes that correlates to the field because now they're listening to us better and they're paying attention and they're following the plan a little better. So we are starting to run out of time. I have one more question for you. um

51:20

I'm just wondering, what's your favorite thing about your son? um He's passionate, he's lovable, he's empathetic, and uh just fortunate that he's my son. Well, thanks. Thanks for coming and chatting with me. That's you got to say for me? That's what we got. We're almost at an hour. Oh, jeez. But thank you for, thanks for joining. I appreciate it. First episode, so.

51:46

and my camera died, so we're not gonna video it. um Yeah, thanks for joining. um Again, this is the Mason Fridley podcast, whatever we're gonna call it later. um Yeah, Scott Fridley is joining me today. Thanks for coming. Thank you for having me.