SIOUX FALLS — South Dakota native Chris Houser and Creighton men’s soccer coach Johnny Torres have been friends for a long time, but the opportunity to square off against one another as coaches had never really been a possibility.
At least not until now.
Entering his third year at the helm of the men’s soccer team at Yavapai College, a junior college based in Prescott, Arizona, Houser was cycling through some different remote contacts in an attempt to figure out how to introduce something special to his home state when the idea of getting Creighton involved began to carry things forward.
After some extensive planning and the help of Sanford Sports, the two coaches came to a resolution to showcase their programs in a spring friendly match in Sioux Falls, accompanied by a pair of camps for players and coaches alike.
“We came up with the idea of maybe giving the introduction of Creighton to South Dakota and then got Sanford involved,” Houser said. “It kind of just grew legs from there.
“We all agreed this would be the best.”
Contributed / Yavapai College Athletics
On Saturday, April 13, Houser’s Yavapai Roughriders will take on Torres and the Bluejays in an exhibition game at the Sanford Sports Complex. The day begins with a
youth clinic
from 10 a.m. to noon, available for boys and girls ages 7-13, followed by a
coaches clinic
from noon to 1 p.m. Then, at 3 p.m., Yavapai and Creighton will square off in an exhibition game.
The cost for the youth clinic, which will be conducted by both teams’ players, is $65 per camper, while the coaches clinic and exhibition game are free of charge.
While the event serves as an opportunity to bring high-level soccer to the doorstep of the Sioux Falls community, Houser sees a litany of reasons behind the purpose of the event.
“I think South Dakota is ready for that,” Houser said. “The field, the Sanford Sports Complex is premier. The hotel infrastructure is great. I think it’s all dialed in for some high-level soccer.
“This is kind of our first step.”
Born in Pierre, Houser first began playing soccer when his stepfather was assigned to Germany, where he first began kicking around a ball at 8 years old.
He later returned to Sioux Falls and graduated from Washington High School before eventually landing a scholarship to play at Southern Connecticut State, where he was a standout defender for the Owls from 1994-97.
In 1995, Houser helped guide the Owls to their fourth Division II national championship, and two years later, he was a member of the Bridgeport Italians, who made it to the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.
Houser’s friendship with Torres dates all the way back to 1997 when the two met at the World University Games as members of the United States team, which included a pair of future U.S. men’s national team standouts in Clint Mathis and Josh Wolff.
That year, the U.S. team finished third at the World University Games, but a lifetime bond between Houser and Torres had taken root.
“We were all in that same pool, and Johnny and I got along really well,” Houser said. “We just kind of became friends.
“He was a midfielder, so I would link up with him a lot, as far as passing the ball to him. We just kind of stayed friends forever.”
In the 1998 MLS College Draft, both Houser and Torres parted ways to begin their professional careers. Torres was drafted No. 5 overall by the New England Revolution, while Houser was selected in the second round (No. 19 overall) by the Tampa Bay Mutiny.
Contributed / Chris Houser
Their professional careers went down separate paths. Houser was a Rookie of the Year nominee and had a four-year playing career in the MLS, while Torres’ played four years with the Revolution before bouncing around in the MLS and eventually landing in the USL with the Minnesota Thunder and the Milwaukee Wave United.
From 2001-03, Houser was an assistant coach at his alma mater, and from 2004-10, he served as an MLS Advisor/Youth Coaching Consultant. Then, in 2010, Houser founded Soccer Scouts, LLC AZ, dedicating himself to helping student-athletes play soccer at the collegiate level.
He spent a decade with Soccer Scouts, LLC AZ, before getting into medical sales, but on March 31, 2022, Houser was named the head coach at Yavapai, taking over for longtime coach Michael Pantalione, who led the program to seven national titles throughout a tenure that lasted more than three decades.
On the other side, Torres returned to his alma mater at Creighton and served as an assistant coach for the men’s team from 2007-18, including a 2011 stint as the program’s interim coach. Then, in 2018, Torres was named Creighton’s head coach, beginning a run that has lifted the program back to national prominence.
Sullivan Lawrence / Creighton Athletics
In 2022, Torres guided the Bluejays to a 13-5-6 record and their first appearance in the College Cup since 2012, a bookend moment for a former Creighton player who is arguably the most prolific player in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference. In 1996, Torres played an integral role in lifting the Bluejays to their first College Cup appearance.
“When I got this job, the first thing I thought of was Johnny and what a neat experience he could kind of understand what this junior college thing is about,” Houser said. “We’ve just been friends for a long time.
I’ve been out of the game for quite some time. … These things start with friendships, and then we go through the channels we need to go through at our institutions to make it happen.”
Now living in Arizona, Houser hasn’t made his way back to South Dakota very often, but he’d love to change that.
Ultimately, his goal is to recruit out of the area, providing a top-level program for players who aren’t all that familiar with the junior college space.
“It’s a great avenue to get into the next level, but it’s grown,” Houser said. “I haven’t met with a lot of coaches, but the game has grown, especially with the kids.
“I’m hoping that this process and this program will allow some more higher-level stuff to come in for the high school kids that are taking this game at a serious level.”
Contributed / Chris Houser
Houser knows all about the challenges that soccer players from the Sioux Falls area encounter when attempting to showcase their talents and receive proper exposure.
There’s often a great deal of travel required, and the costs can become daunting for families to sustain it over the span of multiple years.
Houser believes there is an abundance of quality players and raw talent in the Sioux Falls area, where players are searching for college opportunities but are sometimes forgotten about in the larger scope of recruiting trails.
“It gives us, as coaches, an opportunity to maybe scout in a market that’s under-scouted,” said Houser, a 2007 inductee in the South Dakota Soccer Hall of Fame. “All these coaches go to these major tournaments. The Chris Housers of the world, back in the day, I just came from some small barely club at the time with a guy who liked soccer as a coach and then a bunch of my buddies. We went to tournaments and got killed all the time, but I wanted to be challenged.
“I got a chance and went from zero to 100 miles per hour because I wanted to do that, and I think somebody at least created those opportunities for me to see if I could take my game to the next level. That’s kind of my mission, and I think Creighton’s relationship with South Dakota would be massive.”
Contributed / Chris Houser
Soccer has seen exponential growth in the U.S. in recent years, and the opportunities for players to advance to the next level are bigger than most people perceive, according to Houser.
While receiving exposure in bigger markets with major clubs is still important to the equation, Houser believes the South Dakota market serves as an intriguing place for college coaches to recruit players who have a fundamental understanding of the game and the necessary resources to succeed.
“Nobody is going there, so when you’re a college recruit, you’re not trying to go where 10 coaches are fighting over one player,” Houser said. “We work within budgets. South Dakota kids are coachable. They’re hard-working. I’ve never had a challenge with having a conversation with a kid from there.
“Sometimes these bigger markets become a little bit spoiled, and they think, ‘Everybody wants to come here.’ … I just wish I had more opportunities to see players from South Dakota in front of me to see if I can help them move on. I haven’t had that opportunity ever.”
Houser is the only Sioux Falls native to reach the MLS but believes there are others in the area who are awaiting the opportunity to prove themselves.
That’s where the Creighton/Yavapai Soccer Clinic on April 13 found its true purpose.
“I’ve always been just floating around. I could always come back, but that connection needed to happen,” Houser said. “I’ve done a lot of outreach. How do I get out of South Dakota? What are some of the options? Can I get out of South Dakota for soccer? How do I do it?
“There’s been a lot of outreach my way, and I think it needs to continue.”
The event figures to be the beginning of something even larger. Houser and Torres have thrown around the idea of possibly hosting a spring tournament in which colleges from around the country at all levels can converge to showcase their talents at a premier facility like the Sanford Sports Complex.
Of course, that remains its own challenge amid a spring season that technically serves as an offseason for college programs. For Houser, there’s a bit more freedom to organize spring exhibition games under the JUCO flag, whereas Creighton is much more restricted at the Division I level.
However, the spring season allows college coaches to evaluate players who received only ample playing time during the regular season in the fall.
“I have about four or five guys that didn’t play in the fall, but I’m taking a look at them in the spring,” Houser said. “They’re coming to school and doing the school workout, and they’re kind of on trial for the spring. We transfer kids in the spring to Division I programs all the time so they can get their feet wet and familiar with the program, and they get to play some games in the fall season when preseason starts.”
At Yavapai, Houser works heavily on the recruiting and business side of his program, while his assistant coach, Billy Gatti, is more of the hands-on coach.
Houser and Gatti were teammates in college at SCSU, and the former refers to the latter as “one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around.”
“I can take these players on and help them understand the business part of soccer,” Houser said. “I can coach, but I’m nothing like Billy Gatti.”
Contributed / Chris Houser
The dynamic worked well in their first season together with the Roughriders, who finished 8-6 in 2023 after watching their season come to an end in a 4-2 loss versus eventual National Junior College Athletic Association Division I semifinalist Arizona Western.
Houser’s primary focus at Yavapai is to best position his players for the next stage of their careers, navigating the wild world of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals along the way.
“At Yavapai especially, because we have name recognition in the soccer community, it becomes a really interesting opportunity for high-level players that just aren’t sure if NCAA or which level they should go, so they park themselves here for a year,” Houser said. “These college coaches love to see my guys play because this is how I talk all the time.
“You’re a college player to work on your grades and work on your game. They get taught how to become young men so that when they take on these programs that are more top shelf, there’s responsibilities and accountability that they have to do now. These coaches know they’re getting a kid who’s kind of had a taste of it.”
In the case of inclement weather, Houser said there is a backup plan in place to move the April 13 event inside, and if the size of the indoor field isn’t big enough, the two teams will play in a 9v9 setting.
The experience of the event is what’s most important to Houser. He encourages players and their families to meet the coaches for who they are and to let their guard down, and for coaches of youth programs, it’s an opportunity to maximize their players’ potential and begin to ask more pointed questions.
“That’s the part where soccer is now where you have to start understanding what the end result is and know there are resources out there that are an email away that can help put that certain individual in the right direction,” Houser said. “I just want people to get out there and not think about anything else. This isn’t a competition against the clubs. This isn’t a competition in front of the state. We’re just two dudes that coach soccer and played together a long time ago.
“We’ll have some fun. We’ll compete. We’ll try to beat Creighton. It’ll be a long shot. They’ll try to beat us. We’re approachable, and we’re going to do this as long as the community wants it because a lot of communities want this.”
