Interview: Dan Rothert, Loras men's coach

By Ryan Harmanis

D3Soccer.com had the opportunity to interview the coaches of the four men’s teams heading to the Final Four in Kansas City. Dan Rothert, head coach at Loras, spoke with Ryan Harmanis about the Duhawks’ program, season, and success.

Dan Rothert - 18th-year head coach of Loras Loras Athletics

Ryan Harmanis: Congratulations on reaching another Final Four. First, can you talk about your team’s run in the NCAA tournament so far?

Coach Dan Rothert: Yeah, we’re a gritty team this year, we’ve had a good run the last month or so, where we’ve strung together some wins. We’ve scored multiple goals each game in the tournament, which has put us in a positive position to win each game. The last game [a 2-1 overtime win] was a little dicey, a great game with Wheaton (Ill.), we got the golden goal there at the end. But the other games we’ve been able to get an early score and put the game away.

RH: Could you talk about this year’s team? It seems like in year’s past, you’ve had a big-name scorer or big-name player cleaning things up in the back. This year’s team is obviously very talented, but I haven’t heard as much talk about individual players. So what makes this year’s team special or different from previous years?

Coach Rothert: Like I mentioned, we’ve got some grinders. We’ve got some really good leaders, Sam Koenig in the back and Alex Bradley up top. We have two guys who barely played last year because of ACL tears, Johnny Rummelhart and Bradley, who are great players. We have a reserve program, and we have a lot of guys who played one or two years on the reserve team and have now put themselves in a great position for us. They’re now huge, key players for us, and that shows what our program is all about, with developing guys and not having to play guys who aren’t ready. Those guys are grinders, they’ve had to fight for things for one or two years and they’ve now grown to the point where they’re getting time, or starting, or are the focal point.

It’s a different guy every game, you never know where it’s going to come from or who’s going to have that fantastic breakout game. And that’s what we’re built on, we want to be interchangeable, we don’t want to have to rely on one single guy or situation. Game to game, it’s always going to be different for us, and that’s what our system is all about.

RH: In some ways I think that depth makes your team more dangerous, because it’s not as simple as “let’s shut down Player X and we’re good to go.” Can you talk about that a bit more? You sub far more than any other team in the Final Four, and you don’t seem to have any drop off. What kind of pressure does that put on opponents?

Coach Rothert: Our team is built on “next man in,” and believing in the next man in, and guys need to know that going in. There are no egos here, you have to give everything for however long you’re going, and the next guy in is going to pick us up. That makes us very hard to prepare for, we play different formations every game, you don’t know who’s going where, we mix that up, and it causes problems. I don’t think anybody really knows what they’re getting from Loras on any given day. In terms of what we do, the style of play, sure, people know that, but it’s hard to prepare for everything else.

RH: So the follow up then, do you think you’ll have an edge if you make the final, because it’s such a quick turnaround.

Coach Rothert: Well, we’ve done really well on the second day of [back-to-backs] the NCAA tournament. Goings back to 2008, we were in the Final Four and we got handled pretty well by Messiah [in a 3-0 loss]—they took it to us. We weren’t nearly as deep and we only played 14 guys back then. We were much more of a possession team than we are now. We looked at it as, “What’s going to get us over the top? What’s going to win us a national championship, how can we be there on a consistent basis?” This was one of the things I wanted to do, to get to the point where we were deep enough to put the pressure on teams, to get the right guys to run that system.

We didn’t do it right away, it took a few years to get the right guys in place to have that depth and culture. We really started doing it in 2012, we really got to the next man in, we weren’t afraid to take off an All-American and put in the next guy. It’s evolved, but the goal is to be better built to win a national championship, and that’s why we do what we do.

RH: You mentioned the culture—can you talk about taking off big-name players? You have guys who are All-Americans, your best players, and they don’t want to come off the field. What role does your program’s culture play in allowing you to do that successfully?

Coach Rothert: Well, it had to work [laughs]. I can pinpoint the game in 2012, where I took off [All-American] Kevin Cavers, and he was looking at me like, “You’re crazy.” We were 0-0 at Augsburg, and I pulled him over, talked to him, and then we got a goal [and won 2-1]. It worked, and then you get guys who start believing, so as the season goes on it works and we went on a great run. We had a great Final Four game against Messiah [a 1-0 overtime loss] and we felt like we were right there. So we believe in it, we had the right leaders, and we decided we’re going to do this. Sure, there are egos, and I get it, but I think that with the ultimate goal of winning a national championship and the success we’ve had with it, guys have bought in.

RH: Switching gears a bit, every team has an unsung hero, a guy who won’t get the stats or the accolades. Who is that for your team?

Coach Rothert: I have a whole team of them. You look at our depth, we have guys that come in and give great minutes. Justin Giacotto, he’s just been fantastic in the tournament, he’s scored in all three of our games—as a right back! He was on our reserve team for two years, then last year as a junior he got some time, and now this year he’s been a key, key contributor. Sam Koenig in the back is a true leader, understands our culture, he’s our coach on the field (and for a high school team here in town). Calvin Miller, we give him a hard time because he didn’t even travel as a freshman for the reserve squad, but he’s starting by the opener of his sophomore year.

We have so many of those guys come through our program, it’s really unique, we need guys who come here that want to compete and know it won’t be handed to them. They have to be able to take the possibility of not playing for a year or two, putting their time in with the reserves, but then hopefully it pays off and they see the fruits of their labor.

RH: Could you describe your team’s style of play?

Coach Rothert: To be totally honest, every year is different, based on personnel. The last three or four years we’ve been more direct than we were previously. But part of it is who we have, you know, we have Johnny Rummelhart up top, he’s just one of the most freakish athletes at the Division III level at any sport. We believe in our defensive tenacity of high pressure, in your face defense, causing teams to cough it up in dangerous positions, to put it out for corners, throw-ins, what have you. Everyone knows that about us, so no secrets here, but the style forces our guys to go so hard that we have to substitute to keep that level of intensity going. You can’t play our style if you only play 13 or 14 guys.

We’re pretty direct out of the back, but I do think we have guys who can play soccer. I know there are critics out there, that say we play this ugly brand or whatever it might be, but it’s what’s worked for the last few years. And we do have guys who can play soccer, but we like to play on our terms. In the defensive half we don’t mess with it, we don’t take a chance with a silly turnover that could lead to a goal. We like to go forward, and that’s what we do.

We’re a fun brand to watch. We try to create things, and it’s much easier to create things in a 40-yard space toward your [attacking] goal rather than build up all the way from the back with 15 passes and 100 yards. I read the books on analytics, and one of the biggest things is that if you win the ball in your attacking third you’re bound to score more goals.

RH: Your team uses a sweeper. That’s uncommon—almost everyone uses a flat-back four. What’s the thought process behind it?

Coach Rothert: Well it depends on our players, our team from year-to-year, our strengths and weaknesses. To be honest, I think opposing players aren’t used to seeing it. We man-mark. People would call it old school, but I don’t think it’s old school as much as different from what everyone else does. They see zonal marking every game, trying to break down a bank of four, bank of eight, and they get time and space. Now you have a guy on your back for 90 minutes, hounding you, and if you aren’t used to it it’s very difficult.

The sweeper gives us a safety net. Sure, people will say there are tons of ways to beat a sweeper, but we challenge them to do it. You see so many goals, even professionally, where teams give up goals because of miscommunication between a flat-back four, or one guy beats you over the top. One little error gives up a goal. So with the limited time we have to train with our guys, and you add in our system where we’re subbing a lot, so it’s not the same back four all the time, they don’t know each other like the back of their hand, we just don’t have that luxury to play it.

You talk about kids, and development, and I get that playing with a sweeper and knocking it probably isn’t the best for young development. I have kids playing, and I understand the concerns. I know it’s not the way soccer has gone in general, but the biggest thing for me is the level we’re at. This is Division III, it isn’t youth development. For most of these guys it’s their last bit of competitive soccer, so we want to put them in the best position possible to win. And it’s been a really hard system for people to figure it out.

RH: Looking at the Final Four, what do you know about Calvin?

Coach Rothert: I’ve been watching them this morning, actually as we speak [laughs], but what a great season they’ve had. Unbelievable. They’re getting it done, and we’re tasked with the challenge of playing an undefeated team and we’re certainly the underdog. We have to come in and see what they bring to the table. Film doesn’t always tell you everything they do, everything an individual player will bring to the table, but I’m certainly very impressed so far.

RH: A question submitted by a Loras fan: Your team is 5-0 in Elite Eight games, but 0-4 in the Final Four. What is it going to take to get over the hump?

Coach Rothert: Oh man [laughs]. I think we’re really good on the second day, hence we’re 5-0 in the Elite Eight. There’s a little luck in it—we’ve had great games with Middlebury in 2007, Messiah in 2012, Rutgers-Camden in 2013. Got killed by Messiah in 2008, but aside from that we’ve been right there. Crazy things happen, little things. Soccer’s a crazy game, you look at the Rutgers-Camden game in 2013 [Loras lost on a direct free kick from behind midfield], it’s just crazy sometimes. It’s the Final Four.

We need to be composed if we have a lead to finish a game, if we need a goal to tie or win. You have to hope the bounces go your way a little bit, but we’ll do what we do and see what happens. I’m as excited as anyone for this weekend, but obviously we have a tough task ahead of us. At this point you’re going against the best and everyone can play. So you just try to weather the storms when they come with great defense, then score on your chances. We’ll just try to be in the best position possible to be successful.

RH: If you had to pick a single thing your team needs to do to win the whole thing, what would it be?

Coach Rothert: We need to focus on the task at hand, which is trying to beat Calvin. We’ll go one game at a time—can’t think ahead, can’t think about bigger things. Let’s keep our focus on getting to the next round.

RH: Thanks, Coach, and good luck this weekend.

No. 17 Loras (17-4-1) takes on No. 3 Calvin (24-0-1) in the second men’s semifinal at 7:30pm CT (8:30pm ET) on Friday, December 4th.

Comments or feedback for the author?  E-mail Ryan Harmanis.