Drury Men’s Head Coach Ben Taylor stopped by My Mom Calls It Soccer to talk about his journey from player to coach, what the sport means to him, and why he proudly calls it football no matter what the job title says.
We dig into his background, his favorite teams, what surprises new fans about the game, and the one piece of advice he wishes Americans understood sooner. It’s laid-back, super informative, and a great intro for anyone trying to learn the sport — or trying to understand the soccer/football person in their life.
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We went to a Dundy United game, which is my team, and one of our guys was trying to support the team and said, “Let’s go Dundee. Well, that’s the rival.” And I’m like, “Sit down and don’t say that again, otherwise you’ll get us beat up.” So, we quickly sat down. Hello and welcome to a special car edition of My Mom Calls It. I’m Michelle and I’m a Liverpool fan. I’m Chase. I call it football and I’m a Barca fan. and I’m grandma and I’m a Real Madrid fan. And so this week we are getting ready to head out of town for something exciting that we’ll talk about in just a little bit. So we thought why not just go ahead and do the episode from the car. And also we have a special interview that we’re going to share with you this week with the head soccer coach for the men’s team at Drury University, Ben Taylor. And so we’ll have that in just a few minutes. But before we do that, let’s do what we do every week and each of us talk about one thing we loved and one thing we hated from this past week. Chase, you want to go first? Uh, yeah. I don’t really have anything I hated. Um, it was very positive week. Um, one thing I loved is that Bars is back in the cap. No. Okay. So, their stadium, which is which they’ve been out of for how long? Couple years. Okay. Because they were renovating it. Mhm. Okay. So, they’re back home. Mhm. All right. Something else, since you don’t have anything you hated, you have just lots of things you loved. Um, we won 4-0. Okay. I’m pretty happy about that. So, and so one of our speed matchup participants, Sarah Nusbomber, we matched with Barcelona, so I am sending her clips and things to follow and watch as we’re trying to help her become a fan. Are there any goals from that game that or things that happened in that game that you want to be sure I send to her? Um, I’d say uh the third and fourth goal. Okay. Um, one was assisted by Yamal and the other was scored uh by Fine. Okay. Um, they’re both really good goals. So, the one assisted by Le Yamal who scored it. That So, he scored both of them. No, for me, squirt the third one and then that on squirt the fourth. Okay. So, we’ll share that with her. Nothing that you hated from this week. It’s all positive. Oh, yeah. All rainbow and sunshine for Yeah. You wouldn’t know, but Yeah. Yeah. I know. Sorry. I know. We’ll get to that. Okay. Grandma, one thing you loved, one thing you hated this week. Okay. I loved that Real Madrid finally scored a goal. actually two uh since they had gone two games with not without scoring any g goals at all. The one thing that I hated was that it was a two two draw. So that was disappointing. Some of us were praying for a draw this weekend. So I had a lot of things I hated this week. The first thing I hated was that Guatemala was eliminated from their attempt to qualify for the World Cup. So I was very disappointed for their fans because we have connected with a lot of their fans on social media and they are so passionate. They have never been to the World Cup and I really wanted to see them make it this year but it is not to be. So I I did not like that. I also hated the fact that Hungary was eliminated from their quest to make it into the World Cup because I am a huge fan of Dominic Shabasai. Mhm. And uh so I hated that for him. I would have liked for uh Hungary to make it in. And then finally, I really hated that Liverpool really uh took it on the chin from Nottingham Forest. They lost 3-0. They did not score. They did not look good. Uh it was disappointing. I turned over and watched the Barcelona game uh when they were down 2-0 and just could not get anything going. So, I didn’t like any of that. The one thing that I did love this week was that I did get into a pre-draw. I don’t know if that was the right term for it, but to purchase World Cup tickets. and I did get the opportunity to buy tickets uh to a game in Kansas City in June. So, of course, we don’t know who will be playing, but we do know when and where. And so, that was super exciting. I had some other friends who were trying to get into that one and did not make it in the draw. So, I feel very fortunate that we did get into that. So, let’s talk about a little bit some of our other matchup participants and how their teams did. We just had another speed matchup uh that’s on our social media. Check out with Scott Purrier who we matched with Tottenham Hotspur and I don’t know if you guys saw anything with that. They played Arsenal and they lost. Yeah. So, kind of a hard week to try and get somebody to get on board with being a Tottenham fan, but uh it happens. And of course Arsenal who we have two matchup participants who are following. Arsenal continues to be dominant and continues to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table. Grandma, do you want to tell us how Aston Villa who is Abby O’s team is doing? Yes, Aston Villa is moving right up the table. They won. I believe the score was 2-1 and uh they beat Leads and they are now in fourth place on the table. Yeah. In the table. On the table. In the table. In the table. So they’re doing much better. They had a really slow start to the season. We were pretty worried about them. Uh so they’re definitely doing much better. Um Chase, how did do you know how Bayern Munich did this weekend? Pretty sure they won. Yeah, they were down 2-1 at a point. I know that, but I think they came back and won. So, they continue to do really well. Anyone else that we need to check on? Uh, Brushia Dortmund. I haven’t heard anything about them. I watched the score in their game. I feel like maybe they ended up with a draw, but I hate to say that it they may have won. I watched the score go back and forth. So, um, but I was heartbroken because Liverpool was lost and, um, it is funny when we first started doing this podcast and if Barcelona had a bad game, sometimes you weren’t like really wanting to record or, you know, it was a little bit of a struggle. Feeling that this week. Feeling that I didn’t want to watch any other soccer games. And um but it is a teaching moment because you are a fan and you are not a fair weather fan. So when you pick a team, you stay with them through thick and thin. Thick or thin or That is true. It is true. And I think it does deepen your fandom to live through the difficult times. But I really hope that Renee Slot figures it out and they listen Liverpool fans live through 30 years of difficult times. They went such a long time without winning a Premier League. And it is coming in as a new fan on a year when they won the Premier League and then having a much more um normal year or pedestrian or whatever you want to say. But um but I’m still hoping that they turn it around and figure out and start playing better obviously. So that’s kind of an update on our teams and on our matchup participants and our two new speed matchup participants. If you haven’t seen those, go check out our Tik Tok. And we’re going to be doing more of those as we continue on our mission, which is to bring more people, more fans to the game who are more like grandma and I that are coming in, don’t know anything, and making the game more accessible uh to people like us so you can learn to love it. I do want to add that I want to give credit where credit is due. Jude Bellingham was responsible for both of the goals that uh Real Madrid scored on the first. He did. He Yes, he had a header in and then um it was um Hen that kicked it on in and then he scored then this goal. I did see I was a little critical of him to begin with, I want to give him credit of Jude Bellingham. So glad that he is doing better for you. Uh so now we’re going to kick it over to our interview that we had with coach Ben Taylor with Drury University men’s soccer. Please enjoy and then uh when we come back next week, we’ll tell you about what we did on our special trip to Kansas City that we’re getting ready to leave for. Have a good rest of your week. Enjoy this interview. Today with us, we have a very special guest that we’re going to interview. We have coach Ben Taylor from Drury University, which is my alma mater. And we’re going to talk to him a little bit about his season, but also about his history with the sport, his love of the sport, and anything else he wants to share with us. So, welcome. Thanks for having me today. I feel very honored to be a special guest. I don’t know if I’m that special, but You’re very special. We’ll see. We’ll see. We’re happy to have you here. So tell us about your start in the sport which I am sure you call football. Yeah. Um so definitely football. Um really started playing uh probably from like 3 four. Okay. Like really young. Um I’m from uh Dundee Scotland. Um lived in England for a little while as well. Um and and really in the UK it’s it is like the main sport. Yes. So, um, yeah, really kind of grew up playing from since I can remember. Um, but yeah. Yeah. And so tell us how did you get to the United States? Cool. Um, so I played I actually left school at 16 um to go and play full-time uh for Invenesse Caledonian Fistle. So I’d done that and then after that I played in a game where um Alf Bilba and Ryan Swan okay who were the coaches here at the time uh were there um Ryan Swan’s from Perf Scotland and uh yeah they seen me there and then that’s really how it all kind of got going. Yeah. Um yeah. And so did you go four years to Drury? Four years to Dr. Yeah. All right. And so, and then did you stay in the States after that? You’ve been coaching in the States since then? Yeah. So, I in the summers, it’s called USL League 2 now. It used to be called the PDL. I would go and play, it’s kind of considered like semi-professional for a team called the De Moine Menace. Okay. And when I was there, I met um a guy by the name of Brandon Armos, and he offered me a job uh as an assistant coach at Iowa Central Community College. Okay. Um, so after I graduated, um, I went, um, from De Moine, Iowa, where I was playing, up to Fort Dodge, Iowa. Okay. And so, USL, you mentioned, is that the league that is looking at coming to Springfield? Yes. Yeah. So, it’s the same, it’s all under the same umbrella. USL League 2 is the league that um really anyone can play in, but um it’s kind of like specifically for people in college or that have just left looking to kind of make that next step. Okay. Tell us in terms of your love of the game. Who is your I mean obviously Scotland’s your country team. Yes. Just qualified for the World Cup. Yes. And that’s really exciting, right? Because it’s been a while. 1998. Okay. France 98 was the last World Cup. Um so yeah, it’s been a while. Very exciting. And then what is your club team? So Dundy United. Okay. Um is my is my Scottish team. So uh yeah, grew up with like a season ticket. So I go and watch them play. Um and then when we moved to England, uh my dad was a big fan of uh Chelsea. Okay. So they had a few Scottish players at the time. Sure. That’s kind of my English. So, uh, Chase is a big Barcelona fan. That is his club team. And I believe they play Chelsea this week. We do in Champions League. Champions League. Yes. So, you have any predictions? You two, what do you think? I can’t do I don’t do predictions. Um, I’d say high. It’s a high-scoring game. Yeah, definitely. Chelsea’s fun to watch and do you know, I agree with that. I think it will be high scoring because Chelsea’s weakness is like their center backs and I don’t think the goalkeeper’s the best. So I I agree. I think it will be a there’ll be goals in the game for sure. So and that’s and Barcelona gives up a lot of goals. Yeah. So should be fun to watch that. Should be entertaining. Very good. Grandma, did you you have any questions you want to throw in here or you want to What position did you play? So when I was I played like a left wing back. So like an attacking uh Yeah. So like an attacking uh left back. So probably got into the attack more than uh well not more than defended but that was probably more of my job. I had a little bit more license to go to go forward. Um yeah. Cool. Um, so for people like myself and grandma who are getting into the game, what is one of the main things that you think are is important for new fans to understand or something that helps a new fan get into the game and get up to speed on what’s going on? I think so. If I flip that in kind of with American sports I may be trying to get into, I always try and find something maybe about the game or a person that’s playing. Um, so I know big Chiefs area, so like Travis Kelce, you know, so then you’re a bit invested. So maybe um, which I believe you do something similar already, but finding that um, something just to kind of like get you attached to a team or so you then check the results and and stuff. Kind of a player to follow. Exactly. And and then I think um you know I know sometimes it’s it is different maybe to a lot of the traditional American sports. So maybe even starting with watching like extended highlights on YouTube. Yes. Um some maybe the best actions or goals and then maybe building from there instead of just starting trying to watch a whole game. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I would I think I would have a hard time with with some sports doing that. So that would be kind of my advice if the shoe was on the other. That’s great advice. So for you uh with your Scottish club team that you follow, is there any way that you are able to watch games here? It’s amazing. Really? Yeah. So Paramount Plus. Okay. CBS Sports. They’ll play Dundy United games. Not every week, but they carry the uh they carry like the SPFL. And that’s actually something that’s very interesting is that when I came to um the states in 2007, I remember there only being one MLS game on a week, you couldn’t get access to anything. And now I think even if you’re not looking for soccer, you can find it uh on one of the platforms or on the TV. So that’s really cool to see how much it’s grown. Yeah, that’s awesome because that’s one of the things that we’re trying to do is help people know where to watch. Oh, yeah. and break that down for them and which channels carry that. So that’s nice to know that if they want to get into Scottish League they can paramount plus on United. Okay, very good. What is one thing that you wish non watching soccer fans knew about the sport or maybe a better way of saying it is we run into sometimes when we’re out here talking to people people who just they just are are not open to it. You know, they’re just like I I don’t know anything about it. It’s it’s boring. It’s low. It’s uh these things that we hear. What is one thing that you wish they knew about the sport? I I think it combines if you were to watch it and give it some time, I think it it really does combine like a high level of like physical fitness athleticism with like real technical quality. Um and the difference to me that I always speak about is you know um like American football very hands, basketball hands, baseball hands, having to do that with your feet. Yes. Which is totally unique. Um and and I would probably just say like maybe it is about going to a you know a Drury game or a local high school game where someone that you know is actually participating maybe the hook that then okay I can maybe go back and watch them play again and maybe you build it like that rather than just putting on the TV and you don’t really have that investment. I I think that’s a great point and I do think going and watching a game in person uh is something that helps you because you just can see it so much better than on the TV. And I think soccer football is uh like hockey that way where sometimes hockeyy’s hard to watch on TV because you’re trying to follow the puck and what is happening. So going and watching a game in your community, a high school or college is a great way to to get into it. And even now the access to go to watch sport in Kansas City or uh you know St. Louis City. I mean there’s you know Tulsa have a USL uh team. There’s so much soccer going on. Yes. Um even if you wanted to maybe watch like a higher level um match that would be probably Yes. really good. Uh so much more accessible accessible. Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys have anything you want to ask? I’ll say since you’re Scottish, um, what’s your favorite Scottish player? You know, like ever or currently? Um, you can do both. Okay. I would say right now it is uh John McInn. John McInn for Aston Villa. Yeah. And that’s probably harsh on Scotty after his after his bicycle kick. Um, but I just love what John McInn’s done. He started at kind of a, you know, quite a modest level in Scotland with St. Marin, you know, went to Hibs, went from he kind of really ground it out in Scotland before he got his big move to the the to Aston Villa. Yeah. And then he just continue to go from strength to strength. I I did always like uh a player by the name of Barry Ferguson growing up. He played for Rangers. I just liked his demeanor. He played in the Premier League um as well. Um, they would probably be just off the top of my head, but John McInn right now. Um, that’s why he’s got a song. Look up song. I think that’s one of the greatest things, too, is that all of the songs in the chance, but the songs specific to players, I think, is just so so much fun. I’m going to say something as well, and this will probably annoy people, but I’m going to say it. Um, I think you everyone should go and watch the national anthem before Scotland played Denmark, okay, at Hampton. It’s spine tingling, okay? Really, really good. So, everyone has an assignment. Everyone has an assignment YouTube um watch the goals and and stuff as well cuz there was some really good goals uh in that game. But yeah, if you watch the national anthem, it’s it’s definitely special. So, Okay. Very good. We will definitely do that. Any other questions from either one of you? I guess uh well, apart from Alex Ferguson, but your favorite Scottish coach? Oh, that’s a really good question. Yeah, Alex Ferguson’s obviously right up there. Um I actually, which was quite special, we spoke um before this. I took the the program to Scotland. Mhm. Um and uh we were able to uh to meet co some co like my staff was able to meet some other coaches which was really good. Um and I’m also in a um if you watch the Scottish League right now hearts of Midlovian a top okay um and this morning I was on a Zoom call with their manager, their coach, not just me but as as a as a kind of professional development thing. Um and he’s done an amazing job. His name’s Derek McKinnus. Okay. So, I really like what he’s done. Um, probably smokeote some names maybe that people wouldn’t have heard of. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think I like David Moyes. David Moyes. I think he’s done done well. We had well for Everton. Yeah. And he had a hard time at um United. Man United, but um but there are Yeah, there’s there’s lots of good there’s been lots of kind of good Steve Clark obviously just getting Scotland to the World Cup. Um, so yeah, there’s quite a few that I I like. So you mentioned, uh, let’s talk a little bit about your team, about Drury. Okay. Um, tell us a little bit about your season and tell us about taking the team to Scotland. Scotland was amazing. Um, so it was like the the second trip I’d done taking the team to Italy um, previously um, but to take him kind of home um, was really special. Um, we played I think four games. Um, I think we won two, lost one, uh, tied one. But really just seeing the guys like embrace and be around like a different culture. We went to a game and it was kind of the little things like you can’t say this if you say. So in Dundee, we went to a Dundy United game, which is my team, and one of our guys, Tyrell Finn, said was trying to support the team, and said, “Let’s go Dundee.” Well, that’s the rival. Oh. And I’m like, “Sit down and don’t say that again, otherwise you’ll get us beat up.” So, he quickly sat down. Um, but little things like that that you probably don’t I don’t know if there’s an equivalent. That was kind of cool to see. Yeah. and just them embrace like a different culture and and stuff was was was really neat. Uh and then yeah, the season was was positive. Um I think we we you know, we were eight uh four and five um through the regular season and we were fourth going into the last uh round of games. We just left too many points on the table. Um so we beat Rockhurst who won the regular season. We beat Mville who won the conference uh uh tournament, but then we just dropped points that we shouldn’t have dropped and ultimately cost us an opportunity to uh to go to the national tournament. But uh the GLC is really tough. Um five teams uh made the national tournament, so we finished six. So we’re just outside of that. Um and we think we’re really close to being able to to do some really special things. But it was a good good season. Really good group of lads. Um, lots of guys uh from Springfield that play um and had had uh had good seasons, good careers and stuff. So, uh yeah, it’s fun. That’s awesome. So, what do your guys do in the off season? So, right now we So, after the season ends, you you the NCAA uh make you give them two weeks off. Okay. Which is right. Um and then we actually train on Monday. Okay. Um, and it’ll it’ll be our only training session um, between now and Christmas just because of rules. So, finals week, we don’t you’re not allowed to do anything. The week before finals week, you can’t do anything. And with Thanksgiving break, it just gives us Monday and really just to reconnect with the guys like one last time. Um, and and without like the seniors there, they kind of graduated. Um, just one opportunity really to do that. And then we get back after uh the break and uh we give them a couple of weeks to settle back into classes. Um and then we’ll get into it. We we get eight hours um with the NCAA. 4 hours can be with the bowl. Okay. Four hours have to be uh like strength conditioning away from the bowl. Um but we’ll we’ll utilize our eight hours and just yeah try and start preparing for the the F again. Okay. Very good. And do any of your guys play do they do college players still play club ball in the summer or do anything else or that’s all just associated with Drury? No. So a a few of the guys uh will go away and play in the summer at different uh whether it’s like the MPSL USL 2 um just to keep fit and go and experience something something new. So, some guys will do that. Um, you know, other guys, if they don’t, you know, other guys may just kind of like take part in kickounds and stuff, okay? Wherever they’re from. Um, and then we send like a program for them to stay fit. Okay. Um, and and kind of do do that as well. So, uh, yeah. So, that’s something that we try and do. We’re in like a we’re in like a Straa app, sort as a team. Um, and what it’s called? Straa. Straa. So, it’s like an fitness app. Okay. So, their runs and stuff and so they know what to do and you can track if they’re doing it and the staff joining. It’s kind of a bit of competitiveness and stuff as well. So, we we we do some of that. Um so, yeah. It’s kind That’s awesome. And so then you’ll kick off uh your next regular season will start in August of 26, August or September. Yeah. middle of we’ll start preseason like middle of August and then uh yeah beginning of September is kind of the start of the regular season. So Okay. Very good. All right. Well, thank you so much for letting us come in your office and interview you and uh we’ll come back next fall if that’s okay. We’d love to come and we’ll come out and come to a game as well and maybe talk to a couple of players and No problem at all. I’ve got a lot of guys that would can talk a lot. So, um we we we can facilitate that. Yeah. Grandma, did you have something else? I just wondered if you get to play any if you have a group of guys that uh I sometimes join in with training a little bit. Um not often. I did play a little bit like at Lake Country and stuff, but it’s weighing up like getting hurt and because not everyone I’m well one I’m really competitive so I want to win. Um and then so it’s probably not the right equation to probably frustrating for you and playing with people who didn’t play at your level and just all the that and then I think sometimes it’s more like you know especially indoor like with a board you get people just kind of running around and you’re like can be a bit Yeah. So I do play and I probably would like to play a bit more but I’m always a bit Yeah. It’s a bit tough. So hesitant a little bit a little bit but I do love it and uh um but I love coaching and stuff too and like I said jumping with the guys and um it’s always fun cuz if they don’t if they don’t like me that week they they can kick me so it’s quite unique in that sense. Um so uh um but yeah well one of the things we talk about and um Chase is super embarrassed when I bring this up but I have noticed in coming to the sport how um soccer football coaches are so much more fit than the coaches of other American sports. Yeah I I yeah I I I don’t know I don’t know if it’s just you because you have to run you kind of keep that probably keep doing it. It’s so ingrained in you but definitely different than NFL coaches. Yeah, I I actually I’ve actually seen a picture before of like uh it’s like um NFL coaches and then and then Yeah, yeah, is it can be different. But yeah, I I don’t know. Maybe it’s uh Yeah. Yeah. Just kind of staying like all that conditioning and you just used to it and you just keep it up. I think so. Yeah. Where NFL linemen are having to eat and work out and then they probably stop that working out. Yeah. No, definitely. But I and I enjoy I think for me too like to to deal with, you know, 18 to 22 year old kids all the time, I’ve got to be same. So me working out is probably important. Keeps your mental health in check. Yeah. Yeah. So uh for sure. Very good. Well, we appreciate it. Thank you so much. And like I said, we’ll come back and bug you again. No problem. Have a really good time and good luck with soccer. And if I can ever help um with with anything, I’d love to. So All right. Thanks so much. All right, we’ll see you next time.
2 Comments
Love this! ⚽️❤
Coach is lovely. I could listen to him talk all day, great interview.