Marc Hubbard Addresses Media Ahead of NC State’s College Cup Battle

NC State head coach Marc Hubbard spoke with the media as the Wolfpack readies for its first College Cup appearance in 35 years.

Marc, what's been the atmosphere like in practice? Has it been business-like, same old, same old, or has there been a lot of extra?

Yeah, we've been looking forward to the week for sure, being at home and staying in the same routine. So we were able to kind of get out of our hotel obligations and just stay in our beds and have our normal routine. Guys have been having to move finals around and do that, so that life doesn't stop outside of being in the Final Four.

So I'm proud of how they've handled it, and we've gotten a lot of our prep out of the way in a good spot. So tomorrow can be pretty free-flowing with the walk-around and media obligations at the stadium.

Are you guys going to rent a room, stay off campus, or are you going to just let them come back home to campus?

Come back to home and stay in your home, your bed and your routine and everything that you used to.

The energy that you guys play with, you can see it on the field. How much has just sort of the level of play increased as you've kind of gone through this tournament?

I think we haven't lost a ton or had a lot of setbacks, so we put ourselves into a situation after the second Syracuse game where it kind of felt like our season was over. We know at that point we hadn't done enough to put ourselves in a great spot for seeding in the NCAA tournament.

We've talked about that all year, but I think that was a good moment for us to reflect and kind of regroup and fine-tune some things and reset our mentality into a great spot for this run. So I think our leadership group has done a really good job of holding guys accountable and keeping them in line and focused. And in terms of our level of play, I think we're still maintaining that high standard that we've set throughout the regular season.

It seems like the guys had a lot of fun out there. How much have you guys kind of come together and gelled throughout the season?

Well, culture is really important. It's something we talk about and build every day. It's not just something that happens naturally. So since we arrived in December, our staff has talked about sort of finding our voice and what our identity and culture is going to be going forward.

And part of that identity is to play a style that is fun. So scoring goals is fun and winning games is fun. So every day is sort of designed and built. It's around creating those attacking chances and becoming a better soccer player.

At the same time, really focusing on becoming a better human and holding each other accountable with those standards when guys fall out of line and making sure that we can correct those. And that goes back to the culture piece.

But identity-wise, yeah, we've talked as much as we've critiqued our goal-scoring celebrations and what we should do with that and how we interact with the crowd and the Red Terrors. How important they are to our overall culture and the interactiveness with our local community.

We shifted all of our games to 6 p.m. so that families could come and stay for the full game, not have to leave at halftime and get back at good times to go to bed and get up the next day.

So I think we've tailored a lot towards building our brand and our culture just outside of the locker room, too. And it feeds into these special moments in Cary coming up.

How much do you think that will help playing the game?

I mean, it's huge. It's sold out already. So, on the drive over here, having people text me that, oh, shoot, I think I messed up here. Tickets are $300. Like, can you get me one?

So I think that just, yeah, Wolfpack Nation, again, will show up and support and hopefully paint the stadium red and we'll be ready for it.

Your goals have been hard to come by against you guys this year. What do you like about the back line?

Yeah, so as much as we want to have fun and create many attacking chances, I think having the ball and keeping teams pinned in at their end far away from our own goal is kind of the best defense.

We pride ourselves on building and attacking. I think that's the best form of defense. But in the same vein, like, there's been plenty of opportunities this year where we've laid ourselves, our bodies on the line, goalie included. We've made game-saving blocks.

We've made little sacrifices that go into preserving shutouts, even when we're up 3-0. So I think that's the mentality for us is to shut out every team we play. And we feel good statistically going into any game based off how we attack and also how we defend, but most importantly, how we prepare.

What are some things you guys are preparing for as you look ahead to the opponent in St. Louis?

At this point, any team is going to be very good, very organized, and have its own identity. I think St. Louis is well-coached, they're organized. They have a lot of belief. They've been in a lot of tight game situations in the past month. They haven't lost in a very long time.

So I think it's a group that's very hardworking, opportunistic in countering situations, very good in crosses and second-phase attacks in the box. And we'll definitely pose some challenges for our back line.

How do you think about this stretch? You have two opponents pretty close together, but that is how postseason soccer works. How is preparing for you guys?

We've talked about this since August. We've had a couple of four games, I mean two games and four-day stretches, talking about what this turnaround can be. You don't want to focus too much on that in the point where you're looking ahead of the first game.

But we talked about yesterday, how you felt. Could you have played? We played a game yesterday. That's the turnaround from Georgetown. So mentality-wise, I think we try to over-talk about things and kind of get it out and make sure that we are in a good place to expect anything come game time.

And I think the focus on Friday is obviously to perform to our potential, which I think we can do, but in a very large, raucous environment. A big home crowd, but a great opportunity to continue to build. Build our brand in what we're doing.

The last time NC State was in this position on the cusp of going to the Final Four, 1990, there was a single game in there where things went sour and it was not good. Coach Tarantini turned everything over to his leadership team, like you referred to. Have you had a moment like that where you said, you guys go figure it out?

I mean, I think we're all a part of it, so it's not like it's a dictatorship. What I say goes, I think it's important to give the players a voice and make sure that they have a say in what we're doing. And at the end, like I'm the head coach, I've got to make tough decisions and tough moments, but those are few and far in between, I think, for the most part.

Our culture and our players are on the same page. And you try and learn, not throw away those moments where things go awry in the season or even last season. Pull from those times to be able to learn and be better prepared for when you're presented tough situations going forward, and the Final Four is no different.

Anyone can win at any time, and we're all human. Mistakes can happen, too. And what's more important is our reaction to those moments as a group and how we continue to take the next step forward. So that hasn't really changed.

When we took over in December of 2023, it was clear that the guys didn't know what their own voice was or didn't feel comfortable in the setting expressing that. And I think we've flipped that, and there's belief in our coaching staff and our extended staff of what we do, but in the same vein, they feel like they have the freedom and flexibility to make decisions and perform on their own.

There's very few sub-communities of NC State that are more vocal and more supportive than the men's soccer community, women's soccer community in those days when they were at the height of the sport. How much reaction have you gotten from those people from NC State's past?

The biggest message is just, like, thank you. They're being connected with people they haven't spoken to in decades. So that's really what it's about, is bringing those people back into the... back into the fold and making them feel a part of it.

And I think early on, we thought that instead of having big groups come in, making sure we bring in local alums to talk to the group about their experiences and kind of show them what we're about and what we're doing on a daily basis was really important.

So that's something that we continue to do this day, like open our alumni up to come in into our culture and see what we're about. I think over the course of time, seeing the product on the field and the consistency of who we are as people has made them very happy.

And of course, these moments, like you bring up... I just had an alum text me 30 minutes ago saying that St. Louis ended their season back in 91’ and Ryan scored two goals on a rainy turf field, and they've been waiting since that day to get redemption type of thing. So it means a lot to our alums.

Our alums are very proud. They're prominent in the soccer world throughout this country, but also internationally. And yeah, any bit of our success, we owe it to them because they're the ones that sort of left the legacy and the jersey in a better place.

When you look at the way Logan defends in goal, what sets him apart from other goalies in the country?

Well, he's fearless. I think in that position, you can't be second-guessing yourself. You've got to be confident. And when you look at last year versus this year, I think his belief in himself and his assurance of everything that he's doing is right.

It's extending to his play out on the field, whether it's coming out of the box to clear things when there's space with his feet, to controlling the box in the air with his hands, to staying on his line and having to make reaction saves that keep us in the game. His overall game has improved.

And I think that's just a good example of what we're doing in our program is you can come here and each season, you're going to be challenged. You're going to be in a situation to be pushed by your teammates. And it's not going to be easy, but you're going to come out of it a better player in person. And I'm very proud of what Logan's accomplished this year versus when he entered our program.

You talk a lot about the transfer portal and basketball and football, but how much has that upended the sport of men's college soccer and what you're able to build and how quickly you're able to build something?

The portal is a very important tool for me when I took over the program. It's been evidenced right away by bringing in three players in two weeks when I first got the job. That was vital to sort of shifting things because of the 26 players that I adopted when coming in, only six of those remain at this time.

So there hasn't been a lot of shrapnel in the turnover. I think we've done things the right way and people understand because we've given plenty of chances and have communicated and over-communicated in these scenarios.

Where I think obviously you hear all the negative things of the portal with with it being super transactional and you know not relationship based and coaches and players can kind of go whatever they want but for us we see it as a vital way to continue to recruit not the only way but an important important way when we're you know this will be our second full recruiting class going in and for Fall 26’ so we're still very much in a building phase here and we want to continue to take small steps forward and solidifying that culture for the long term.

The money stuff is trickled in some of the revenue share stuff we've been very resistant to that within our own group we we have a certain pool of money that we use to build the team and you know we've done a great job of building depth so that when we can get to moments like the final four with turnaround of time and everything that's what we're going to do and that's what we're going to do and that's what we're going to do and we feel comfortable with you know the balance minutes and get guys in.

So it's definitely having an effect in some of the recruiting battles when kids say it's not about the money like that's kind of a red flag for us right now so we believe in the culture that we're that we're building and the people that we are and what we have to offer and we just continue to stick with that and not get emotional in the recruiting battles.

Boo said he gave each of the coaches kind of a number they can use that money how they wanted to. Have you used it to build your scholarships and use that as a way to recruit and build that depth? 

Yes, yeah,  so I think um from where I was coming from at the University of New Hampshire previously with the amount of scholarship dollars that that we had we did a tremendous job there with with less and were able to sustain success over multiple years.

So coming here with the external support and everything that NC State provides it's been soccer program along with that pool of scholarship um there's plenty plenty there to be successful and continue to do what we're doing year in and year out.

You mentioned talent the talent you guys have had has allowed y'all to get jump opponents early in this tournament you're getting leads within five, six, seven, minutes and then your depth is allowing you to make substitutions and rest those players and there's no slippage could you just speak to how you've put this team how it's constructed and how everyone seems to have their bit that they need to do?

Yeah it's like a next man up mentality we've faced that um all year long I think we talk about it a lot and this season's no different certain situations we're faced guys go down the next guy has to be ready to go up if he's not then you're not in a situation to continue that success or play the way that you want to and I think that's the biggest difference this year from last year. 

Our depth goes in and we're not able we're not having to change the way we're playing we're just continuing to wear teams down and over the course of 90 minutes at the end of halves and things it just gives us a better chance of either managing the game late or having to continue to push and get the goals when when necessary so our depth is just in a great place and that being said we have a great group of young freshmen that are working hard and biding their time too so all of these lessons we try and spill out through our through our sessions each day.

It's been a while since he's been part of the national soccer community but did you know or have any conversations before with Coach Tarantini do you know much about his legacy?

I didn't, I didn't, no I came down here to play um when I was at Colgate in my college days one of my freshman year I think I was injured at the time it was like an NC State Duke thing with their like thunderstorms and that type of thing and the game was at Method Road that's kind of all I remember.

But in terms of like the relationships with um the alumni I've also had a great relationship now with Page Marsh and and Kurt Sokolowski and kind of guys that are very close to to George and that legacy so um there's always there's a new story every time there's a conversation and um there's a lot a lot of love for uh the foundation and the legacy that that he built and that's that's something we talk about and we'll think about this weekend.