From Youth Coach to the College Sidelines: Teren Schuster’s FC Wisconsin Journey
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
When evaluating a youth soccer club, getting the perspective of a former coach — especially one who now coaches at the collegiate level — provides an incredibly valuable lens. We hear from Teren Schuster, who spent nearly seven years at FC Wisconsin, beginning as a young assistant and eventually working his way up to Youth Director.
For Teren, FC Wisconsin was the ultimate launching pad for his career, largely due to the mentorship of the club's leadership and their unwavering "players-first" philosophy. He highlights several unique advantages that set the club apart, including top-tier turf facilities that beat the unpredictable Wisconsin weather, and a dynamic rostering system that allows players to fluidly move between ECNL and ECNL-RL teams to ensure they get the right amount of challenge and playing time based on their individual developmental timeline.
Most importantly for prospective families, Teren breaks down why the club is a powerhouse for college recruitment. Thanks to a massive network of coaching connections, FC Wisconsin consistently helps players find their perfect fit at the Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, NAIA, and JuCo levels.
FC Wisconsin Coach Testimonial: Teren Schuster
Read our full Q&A below to hear Teren’s firsthand experience and find out why he highly recommends the club to aspiring college players.
How long have you been a part of FC Wisconsin?
I coached at FC for 6 or 7 years. That's actually where I started my coaching career at. I can't thank Ben and Billy enough for giving me the opportunity. I started coaching there when I was a freshman in college at Cardal Church University. Actually, my college coaches at the time were coaching at FC Wisconsin, Jamie Bladen and Kevin Brennan, who are really good coaches, and I learned from them. I was able to then get into an opportunity to coach at a young age at one of the top clubs in Wisconsin, and I was really, really thankful for it.
I worked my way up, started coaching with the youngest age groups there, the five and six-year-olds, and coached all ages throughout my time there, and eventually became the Youth Director there and learned a lot from Billy and Benji, coaching with them, coaching next to them, and learned a lot about how the admin works there as well. They do a really good job placing players in college as well and finding the right fit for guys, and that was important for me and to be able to start my coaching career, and I can't thank them enough.
What has been your favorite experience at FC Wisconsin?
My favorite experience at the club was just being able to be part of the young players' development, having a kid come into the club at a young age, and seeing them grow kind of regardless of when they started at the club, whether they were. You know, six or seven years old when they joined the club, or nine or 10 or even 12, 13, 14, and seeing their development, not only as a player, but as a person as well, and that was something that I really enjoyed as part of my experience at FC.
How has the club impacted you as a coach?
The clubs impacted me massively, to be honest, like I said, being able to be in a really good club environment as a young coach and a lot of hours on the training ground and a lot of hours on the sideline when I was really learning and growing as a young coach was everything to me.
I think without FC Wisconsin, I don't know if I'd be sat in the chair I am today, coaching at the college level.
I think the amount I learned not only from Ben and Billy, but from a lot of the other staff coaches that have been there over the years and the club is really big on individual player development and they're a players first club, and that's something that I still take into my program, into our team here - making our individual players better. I think without my experience at FC Wisconsin, I don't think I would have that same ability that I do. So, yeah, the club's impacted my coaching career astronomically, and I can't thank Ben and Billy enough for it.
What stands out about the club's facilities, scheduling, or communication?
Having the turf fields in Wisconsin, I think, is a huge advantage. Being able to train even when there's snow or rain, that's really important. I also think about how FC Wisconsin is able to move players throughout the club, from ECNL to ECNL-RL and different teams to get players more playing time, whether they need maybe a bit more challenge or maybe they need more minutes. I think that makes the club a top club. Every single player's development path is different, and some players hit puberty at different ages, and I think the club having the flexibility and ability to have players play on different teams kind of throughout their season. I think it is a big advantage, not for the club, but for the individual players themselves.
Would you recommend FC Wisconsin to a friend or colleague?
I would highly recommend FC Wisconsin, and I think from whatever perspective you wanna look at it, speaking from a coach's perspective, the ability to learn and be around top coaches is only gonna help you in your own coaching career.
Speaking from a parent's or player's perspective, if you're a player who wants to develop, it's a really, really good place to develop and grow. If you want to play in college, and I can speak to this as a current college coach, FC Wisconsin does a very, very good job of placing their players and finding the right fits for them, kind of regardless of the level (Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, NAIA, or junior college). I think the amount of connections that Benji and Billy have with college coaches around the country give the players a really good opportunity to play in college if that's something they wanna do.
