Colorado to Ames has not typically been thought of as a recruiting pipeline for the ISU athletic department. Tony Minatta has changed that for the ISU soccer team. 

Before signing on as an assistant coach three years ago, Minatta was the director of coaching for the Fort Collins Soccer Club in Colorado. One of Minatta’s specialties was his ability to help his athletes find college soccer opportunities.

When he became an assistant coach at Iowa State, he began recruiting his former players and other players from the area with whom he was familiar, a recruiting tactic he plans to continue.

“I have a lot of relationships in Colorado with club coaches … and still have relationships with a lot of players I’ve coached at the younger levels that are still coming up,” Minatta said.

Minatta was so entrenched in the Fort Collins Soccer Club program that the complex where they play is actually named after the Minatta family. Minatta’s father, who is a member of the Colorado Youth Soccer Hall of Fame, also has ample experience at the youth level. 

Minatta’s Colorado connections have paid off for the Cyclones. Six players on the 2014-15 roster are Colorado natives, including the team’s top returning goal scorer Koree Willer and Madi Ott, one of the team’s defensive anchors.

Lindsey Hendon, Kourtney Camy, Haley Murphy and Lauren Roeling also all hail from Colorado. 

The player-coach relationship between Minatta and the players he has coached since they were little kids is a unique one.

“For a lot of them, I’ve coached them since they were 13, but I’ve also watched them play since they were 10 years old,” Minatta said. “So to see the progression and how they’ve developed has been fun to watch.”

The players also enjoy having him as their coach again. Comfort is a big factor in recruiting, and having that prior relationship was a major reason some of the players decided to come to Iowa State, Minatta said.

“Athletes want to go where they are comfortable and where they know they are going to get treated right and get developed as a player,” Minatta said. “Knowing me [from their youth career], they know that’s going to happen here.”

Because Minatta has such an extensive history with some players, he knows their tendencies, what motivates them and how to get the best out of the athletes. 

“I think he knows us really well,” Roeling said. “He knows the potential we can play at. He’s tough on us, but it’s a good relationship because he does know us so well.”

Madi Ott, a sophomore defender on the team, has become a defensive staple for the Cyclones the past two seasons. She said that without Minatta’s encouragement, she might not even be playing college soccer.

“I had Tony as a coach when I was younger and he was always really influential,” Ott said. “He was actually probably the single person that encouraged me to play college soccer the most, so when I got the opportunity to come out [to Iowa State] and visit, I was really interested.”

Colorado is becoming a big time recruiting area thanks to Minatta, which is something he said could pay dividends for the program down the line.

“It’s [a] great opportunity because a lot of really quality players are going to look this way that really didn’t have an eye out here before, and we can get national level type players to take a look at us,” Minatta said.