Belmont Abbey NCAA Div. II Regional Coaches

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Brownlee. Recruiting is time consuming, but what if you could filter through the noise and find the right players in minutes for free with ProLook athletes, create detailed profiles with verified stats, academics and highlight videos so you can search for exactly what you need and connect with top talent instantly. And it's free for College coaches. Download ProLook today to start searching for your next recruit, among many other coaches features available for both Apple and Android devices. For more info, visit www.prolook.app. this episode is sponsored by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Netting Professionals specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, BP screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Netting Professionals is an official partner of the ABCA and continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or infoettingpros.com visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you now on to the podcast. The months of May and June are heavy travel times covering the different college championships. This week we sit down on location with the four head coaches competing at the Belm Abbey NCAA Division 2 Regional. In this week's ABCA podcast, we hear from Lenore Ryan's Adam Schanicki, Belmont Abbey's Chris Anderson, North Georgia's Tom Cantrell, and Carson Newman's Tom Griffin. Let's welcome everyone to the podcast. All right here with Adam Schanicki, LR first season as head coach but been here five seasons as an assistant. Before that 43 and 12 got the at large bid here at the NCAA Tournament. So thanks for jumping on with me. [00:02:45] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thanks for having me. [00:02:47] Speaker A: How gratifying is this for you? First year head coach, spent five years as an assistant to get to this point. [00:02:52] Speaker B: You know, it's great. I've been fortunate to be at a place like Lenoir Ryan. You know, it's been awesome to me and my family and we've had a great group of guys to they just compete at a really high level and you know I'm going To tell you that I think whoever was the head coach was going to be able to bring these guys to where we're at right now. And just a bunch of older guys that understand the game of baseball and have built a really great culture within the program. [00:03:14] Speaker A: Yeah, but that's nice of you to say that, but that's not always the case. And you're being humble on that part, but especially with the makeup of your team, you've done a good job of keeping those guys together. [00:03:24] Speaker B: No, thank you. I appreciate it. You know, and like I said, it's. It's a group that's been in the program for quite some time, and we have some older guys that have really taken the reins and kind of led this thing. And, you know, I'm just. I'm just steering the ship right now. So it's been. It's been a really pleasure to coach these guys and be around them daily. [00:03:40] Speaker A: Did you switch your responsibilities at all, going from assistant to head coach? [00:03:44] Speaker B: You know, a little bit. Obviously, I've delegated a lot to the assistant coaches, but, you know, for the most part, you know, Coach Ramirez and I had run the offense together and, you know, now it's Coach Hodge and I and Coach Bean that are running the offense. And I've let Coach Bean take the outfield responsibilities just so I can kind of be around practice more, be around the pitchers, be around the infielders, the catchers, kind of just get a whole overview of the program. [00:04:06] Speaker A: What were your biggest adjustments from last year to this year as far as once the fall started? [00:04:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us is everything we needed to do in the fall or everything we wanted to do. We wanted to compete, and we wanted to compete at a high level. And even in practices and scrimmages, we wanted to put our pitchers in situations where they would feel like they would be challenged in a game. And whether it be, you know, first and second, nobody out, get out of this jam, or bases loaded, one out, how are we going to pitch this guy? We wanted to put them in game like situations so it would hopefully prepare themselves for times like this for somebody. [00:04:38] Speaker A: That is going through it. There's a lot of assistants that take over a program for the first time. What advice would you give them? [00:04:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me, and I've been fortunate now looking back at my coaching career, being five different places. You know, at first, you know, there were a lot of places where I didn't necessarily want to leave with a program getting shut down or A school shut down. But I've learned so much from each of the coaches that I've been with, whether it be a head coach or an assistant coach or administrator. You know, my leadership portfolio has grown so much just because I've been around so many people. So my advice to a first year head coach or a guy that is getting into the game of baseball is really pick the guy's brains. Pick people's brains who've been around the game and in leadership roles just so you can kind of, you know, really create your own mold and create your own portfolio and vision for the program that you wish to have and you want to run. [00:05:31] Speaker A: What did you learn from Chris Ramirez? [00:05:34] Speaker B: You know, Coach Ramirez and I, we go back for 14 years, so it's even more so than learning the X's and O's of baseball. Just learning from each other and bouncing ideas off each other and what works and what doesn't work. I mean, I think, you know, if we took over each other's programs, it would be more or less the same thing. You know, we do a lot of the same things just because in the last 14 years, we've either talked on the phone or been in the office daily, you know, and, you know, a lot of things we do are very similar. And obviously we each have our tweaks in each of our programs that make it unique. But for the most part, a lot of the basis that we do from a hitting standpoint, defensively and pitching is a lot the same. So we, you know, I think Coach Ramirez is a great baseball mind, and it would be my fault if I didn't use him as an asset. [00:06:23] Speaker A: Is this what you invaded with the program when you first got to Hickory? I mean, when you got to town, did you see this happening when you got to campus? [00:06:29] Speaker B: So you knew the bones were there, the structure was there for sure. You know, I always say the house was built. You just needed to get the hardwood floors and the granite countertops and the stainless steel appliances. You know, the roots were there. We just needed to make it our own, right? And we were able, with great administrative support, great coaches, we were able to get the right players in our system. And here we are today, six years later, and, you know, competing for a regional, regional championship and for a super regional berth. And, you know, that's always been the vision of the program. But it's a testament to these guys who bought into what we were trying to build five, six years ago just off the vision. You know, there was. There was not a lot of Substance, if you will, in terms of wins and losses and uber success on the baseball field. We needed to get guys that trusted in what we were trying to do and how we were going to build it. And it's a testament to these guys in the program today because a lot of these guys have been here since day one and. And we're fortunate that they've stuck with us the whole time. [00:07:33] Speaker A: Is that the strength of this year's team? Because you guys are so old, for. [00:07:36] Speaker B: Sure, you know, and we're so old and the foundation's been set. You know, the foundation's been laid and we've been able to. It's been easy to get by in the culture and to create a daily environment because these guys know how to go about their business daily. And like I said before, you know, I can tell them what's the expectations and hold them accountable, but at the same time, I'm only the baseball coach for three hours a day. I'm only with them at the baseball field for three hours. These seniors are with the younger guys and the guys new to the program for 10, 15, 20 hours a day. So these guys really lay the foundation. [00:08:10] Speaker C: Day in and day out. [00:08:12] Speaker A: Did you say much to the guys after Saturday? [00:08:14] Speaker B: No, I didn't. You know, we played a really good Catawba team. They played great. They took advantage of our mistakes. And in game 54, 53, we know when we play well and we know when we play bad. You know, we don't need to harp on it. We don't need to. I don't need to tell them we need to make the ground ball. We need to make the ground ball plays, and we need to do better with runners in scoring position. We need to throw more strikes. They know that. And to me, at that point, you're just putting salt in the wound. So we won 43 games this year, and we've been pretty successful doing it. And we're going to continue to do what we do well. And if we do that, you know, we're going to have. We're going to have a chance to compete at a really high level this weekend. [00:08:50] Speaker A: What was your prep like this week? [00:08:52] Speaker B: Same thing as we always do. You know, we usually make sure that we are trying to prep for the arms that we're going to see this weekend. And again, it's a little different in a tournament setting, right? You don't necessarily know who you're going to see day in and day out, but the constant that we do know is we're going to see North Georgia and we've looked at three or four guys that they like to start and we've kind of tried to replicate that on the practice diamond. But at the end of the day we like to stick to what we do well and we practice those things, you know, so we try to really pride ourselves on execution rounds and batting practice and that's going to be what we do today. You know, we're going to execute in BP and hopefully that turns into runs and essentially wins at the end of the day moving forward. But you know, we approach this week as we always have. You know, I'm a, I'm a firm believer if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right. And we've been doing all right this year, so we're going to keep on the course. [00:09:41] Speaker A: I like your conference tournament format with double elimination and then two out of three. I think it saves the arms a little bit. Would you agree with that? [00:09:49] Speaker B: Absolutely not. Well, it's a chance where, you know, when you start playing, you know, like the conference of Carolinas did four or five, six, seven games in a week's worth of baseball, it does get a little tiring and taxing on your program on your arms and sometimes you're throwing some arms that don't necessarily have as many innings as you want in some big time games. Right. And for us it's a great reset button. You know, you play a three game set on the weekend just like you always have, and then you play a three game series the next weekend and you're using your same pitching tactics and your bullpen and your starters that you normally would during the, during the season. [00:10:24] Speaker A: How are you keeping your roll guys engaged this time of year? [00:10:26] Speaker B: Sure. Well, one of the biggest things that we do is we talk about if you can't get up for playoff baseball, then you're probably in the wrong program, you know, and whether we play a 10 o' clock game or 10am or 10pm, whether your role is a starting center fielder or you're the fifth outfielder, you should be engaged because at this point all that matters is winning and helping your team win. So we want to make sure we keep our guys engaged. But you know, we have some pretty distinct roles for each one of our players too. And you know, these guys all know their role and for us to be successful, they all have to compete at what they do and make sure they complete their role and do it at their highest level. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Want to give a shout out to Lenoir School itself? [00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, just, just been outstanding to me and my family, to our guys, to our assistant coaches. They've just been, they've taken us in as the Schenecki family with open arms. My wife works in the athletic department now. I feel like my kids are immersed in Lenoir Ryan and Lenoir Ryan athletics. And we've been fortunate just to be part of such a great athletic program, you know, with, with Kim Pate who hired me here and we had five years with her and Justin Hay and Jake Barry and Aaron Besse and Michael Flicker and, you know, the list goes on and on. And now Darren Montgomery is taking the reins and doing an outstanding job for us and we're looking forward to the future with Lenoir Ryan because I think it is just going to keep getting better. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:11:45] Speaker B: Just, you know, my family, my wife being a, especially my wife, you know, being a coach's wife is not easy. And she's the real, she's the real MVP of this whole thing. You know, she's taking the kids to dance class and to baseball practices when I can't necessarily be there all the time. And she doesn't say a word, she just does it. And she's probably our biggest super fan as well. So, you know, and it goes. It's the same for all of our coaches and their wives as well. They do so much behind the scenes. They don't really get noticed. You know, to me, it's, it's like the offensive line in football, you know, when they have, when, you know, the running back, when Derrick Henry breaks the record for touchdowns in a season. Derrick Henry looks great, but in reality, it's the people behind the scenes. You know, it's those linemen who are blocking for him. And that's what our wives do every day. They are, they are carrying the load. And my wife in particular, I'm so blessed to have her and have her in our program at Lenoir Eye. [00:12:38] Speaker A: Thanks for your time. [00:12:38] Speaker C: Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Ron. [00:12:42] Speaker A: Ms. Anderson, 12th season at Belmont Abbey. Head coach 1415. Congrats on hosting for the first time, by the way. [00:12:48] Speaker D: Thanks. It's a genuine pleasure to be here in Belmont for this regional. I hope we can put on a good show for our fans and the other teams that are joining us here. [00:13:00] Speaker A: When you came back, was this kind of what you envisioned? [00:13:04] Speaker D: We had some steps that we had to take. I don't know that I ever really wanted to leave here, but I did for whatever reason at the time. But, you know, now seeing My son grow up in the town of Belmont. I mean, it's a no brainer for me to be here. Got great administration. You can see it already out here at the tournament. I've got a great boss and people I work with day to day. [00:13:32] Speaker A: What did Coach Gantt mean to you? Tim Gant? [00:13:35] Speaker D: He's a friend, a mentor, the best coach I know in all of any level of Division one, two or three. And I think there's a lot of people out there tell you the same thing. [00:13:48] Speaker A: Did you coach Legion with him? [00:13:49] Speaker D: No, I didn't. I coached South Rowan American Legion in the summer, so we had to play against Rowan County a lot, and that wasn't really easy. So we. But I still, you know, I was coaching at Catawba during the time, so there's, you know, I still had my locker up there in the corner, so. [00:14:07] Speaker A: Good for recruiting, though. [00:14:08] Speaker D: Yeah, for sure. We had the whole county covered. So. [00:14:13] Speaker A: How'D you get to Catawba from Three Rivers? [00:14:16] Speaker D: So it's kind of a wild story. I grew up in eastern North Carolina. I grew up in Goldsboro, where Mount Olive is. [00:14:23] Speaker C: And. [00:14:26] Speaker D: I'll try to shorten it as best I can. My dad got a job in Northeast Arkansas, went to Batesville High School in Northeast Arkansas for four years, played for Stuart Smith, who is another legend. We won multiple state championships there. And then I got to go play for Stacy Berkey at Three Rivers, who's also another tremendous human and coach. And he was the one that really took a chance on me. And my parents at that time, had always wanted to move back to North Carolina, didn't know where, had an opportunity, and they went to Salisbury. And one of my dad's friends, they had been living there for two years at that point. One of my dad's friends that they went to church with was actually, I think, suite mates with Jim Gantt at Catalda. He was a quarterback. Brian Macisko, and I still talk to Brian. And he said, why don't you give Catawba a look? And I was. And I said, sure, I'll go. And I immediately walked on campus and fell in love with the place. So met my wife there. You know, just tremendous, tremendous time there. [00:15:34] Speaker A: We talked earlier off camera. Give somebody some advice that's taken over a program as a head coach for the first time. [00:15:41] Speaker D: Yeah. You know, as an assistant, you got. No. So you've got a laundry list of notes that you want to do when you become the head coach for the first time. And the young coaches that get Jobs that call me, I say, hey, that file is not bad, but put it away for about a year or two and then. And really start focusing on building the culture and then bring that back out. And I think I learned that the hard way. You're learning it on the fly when. With a lot of things as a head coach. So there's a lot more responsibility that comes with, you know, the effect on all these kids, on the decision that I make and my assistant coaches and their families and things like that. [00:16:23] Speaker A: Do you miss coaching pitchers? [00:16:25] Speaker D: Yes, I do. I do. Luckily, we have Jeff May here. He's been with us for 12 years. So has Ryan McLenney. Both been with me for 12 years. I coached Jeff Atlanta. He knows me better than anybody in the whole world. No one. I don't know that I'd ever feel comfortable with someone running pitchers other than Jeff or somebody that played for me. So I'm also his harshest critic. And he knows that, and he wants to. He's gotten to the point now where he tells me to be quiet, so. And we've got that relationship. And we also now have Matt McGarry on staff, who played for me here at Belmont Abbey and drafted by the Yankees, you know, had a great pro career. Now he's back with us, and I think the kids really flock to him too. [00:17:15] Speaker A: What are some keys of pitching development? [00:17:17] Speaker D: What are some keys? Get out and throw. Throw the pill. That's the joke that I say to our guys all the time. I think the new generation wants to go straight to the plio care wall, right? The plyo care wall is not making you a better pitcher. It's building a bigger motor for you, which is great and it's great for recovery. And I'm not blasting it at all because I believe in driveline. I believe in Texas Baseball Ranch. In fact, I believe in it wholeheartedly. But I think at times young pitchers forget that we gotta combo that with throwing the baseball. And the more we do that, it's like shooting free throws, man. You shoot free throws every single day. You're gonna get better at it. [00:17:59] Speaker A: What type of long toss program? [00:18:02] Speaker D: Alan Jagger. The best one on the market, man, I'm gonna give him. You better show him this, because I just gave him a big pub. We've got J. We've had J bands for 20 years. 20 plus years here. You can still pull up Trevor BAUER and China McCartney throwing that long toss across the football field. Field. And if I'm talking to young players, the calm before the storm. That's what I use and I've used it for years. And our position players do it too. Yeah, and Alan Dagger is the best that's ever been around in that regard. [00:18:39] Speaker A: Talk about this year's team. What are the strengths? [00:18:41] Speaker D: Yeah, you know, I think, I think we're really gritty and I think we've got a lot of talent in some places. But, you know, Microcosm was the conference tournament. We lose a one run game in game two and have to fight through the losers bracket and beat, you know, three games against 40 win teams, two games against 30 plus win teams. Like it was a really tough thing. But I think when we're at our best, I think we're playing great defense, we're throwing a lot of strikes and we're getting timely hitting. And I know that's the perfect plan to win any baseball game. But they all laugh at me because I said that after a game one time. But it's true. That's when we're our best, is we're playing good defense and throwing the ball well. [00:19:32] Speaker A: You guys win back to back double header days. [00:19:34] Speaker D: Yeah, we did. It was wild. We pieced it together on the second day. The first day we pitched it pretty straight up. You know, I think we used three pitchers in two games, so. But that, that next day was a little bit more dicey. [00:19:48] Speaker A: Well, you said you started seven different guys at the tournament. [00:19:51] Speaker D: We did. And one of them wasn't Drew Staguro, which is crazy because he's, you know, one of our top innings guy. We kind of had to flip some bullpen guys into opener rolls and things like that. And our guys responded well to it. You know, they were ready for the challenge. [00:20:07] Speaker A: And you said it kind of fits though, because you've used a lot of guys all year. [00:20:10] Speaker D: Yeah, we have, we have. And we've always kind of done that here at Belmont Abbey. You know, I think positionally, you know, I can't say enough about my assistant coaches because you can see I'm doing this interview right now and I've done three podcasts in the last five days. Jeff Schaefer right here. Brian rushing. But Ryan runs our offense completely top to bottom and he. We've led the nation. Run scored twice, I believe. And he just continues to. To do it. And we're doing it a little different than we've done it in the past. Like I was telling you earlier, we're running a little bit more and in the past we've kind of been more doubles and long balls, but we're figuring it out. I think we're still hitting right at.300 as a team. Our ops is pretty good. [00:21:00] Speaker A: So what do you feel like has helped you the most in your career at this point? [00:21:05] Speaker D: My wife, you know, I think my wife is a saint. I think the coaches that I've had, Jim Gantt, Stacy Berkey, Kermit Smith, who I worked with for 10 years, Ryan McLenney, Jeff May, Nick Pop, all those people that you keep in that tight circle that me and TC were talking about earlier, they all have an impact on you. You know, even as an assistant coach, I told Ryan the other day, I said, one day this will be yours and I'm going to come back and volunteer for you and we'll flip the rolls. Right? So he laughed. We had a good laugh about that. [00:21:40] Speaker A: If somebody doesn't know much about Division 2 baseball, what would you say to them? [00:21:44] Speaker D: I think the general consensus is it's just not division. Division one, Right. And I. A lot of times I talk to high school coaches and I'll get an email that says, hey, he's not D1, but he can definitely come play for you. And I wanted to go. I want to go. When was the last time you came out and watched a game out here? You know, watch North Greenville play Belmont Abbey or watch LR play Belmont Abbey? Because if you really do come out and take the time, the Southeast region in Division 2, and I'm not taking anything well away from any other region because I know Mesa State's an unbelievable program. Tampa, you know, Westchester, I mean, all these great programs. Angelo, Delta, I mean, we didn't even talk about Delta. But look, I tell you what, man, Division 2 would surprise some people. I think it's. The talent is spread out. I think in D1, specifically Power 5, you're going to see deeper bullpens, probably a little bit better athlete, but we make up for that with plate discipline and things like that in other areas. Two strike hitting, stuff like that. [00:22:55] Speaker A: I don't know. I've enjoyed it. I think it's just as good. Yeah, I've seen quite a bit of Division 2 baseball. [00:23:00] Speaker D: I've seen quite a bit of Division 1. Yeah, it's. [00:23:03] Speaker A: I think it's just as good. [00:23:04] Speaker D: I tell you what, if you went and watched conference, Carolinas tournament and, and this regional and the one up at Catawba, you're going to know how good this region is. I mean, if we had. We were joking around, Keith Gorman and I from Barton, if we were naturally seeding like D1 does that game in the conference tournament would have been irrelevant because we're both in. We're both in the KPI top 40. And I think we're number seven in the country right now, which would probably put us as a national. See, so. And it's just. That's a credit to how good our region is. [00:23:38] Speaker A: So any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:23:41] Speaker D: My boss, Stephen Miss. He's a great friend, a great mentor. He's another guy I left off who's impacted me a great deal. Our president of our college has been tremendous. This is his last year. He's retiring. Dr. Thierfelder. He's been here with us, with me every year that I've worked at Belmont Abbey. Our abbott on campus Abbott. Plus it's been here every year that I've been here too, for a very long time. And just the general community, I love the community of Belmont and you get to go out and see it tonight, right? [00:24:14] Speaker A: So thank you, sir. [00:24:16] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:24:16] Speaker A: Chris, good luck. [00:24:17] Speaker D: Yeah, thank you, man. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming out and spending time. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Hi, here. Tom Cantrell, 26 season head coach, University of North Georgia, 39 and 15 record and at large bid into the tournament. And so congrats for being here, coach. [00:24:32] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:24:33] Speaker A: Ryan, when did you know this was going to be your last year? [00:24:37] Speaker C: I knew it was going to be my last year right before the season started in January. Some things that happened in my personal life with my family and just decided that it was time to move on and try something else. [00:24:53] Speaker A: Did you think the program was going to look like this when you took over in 2000? [00:24:57] Speaker C: We hoped it would look like this, but you know, it's a lot of the efforts of the administration and giving us the facilities and a lot of our donors and alumni that hung with the program believed in the culture of it to get it where it is today. I can honestly say I left it better than I found it. [00:25:19] Speaker A: How was the transition from NIA to Division 2? Because first year you guys were eligible, you made the tournament, correct? [00:25:24] Speaker C: We did the two year transition from coming to nai, where we weren't eligible for post season was eye opener playing different people and everything like that. We struggled. You know, it was tough to keep guys motivated, knowing they couldn't play for anything and we couldn't get all the players that we wanted. But it was a good transition. And in 08, you know, we became, you know, somebody respected. You know, we earned. But we earned that respect by winning the Peach Belt Tournament and Going through the gauntlet that we did back then. And, you know, and then the program, you know, hit us, hit a couple. It didn't do as well for about six years after that. For whatever reason, we had the wrong players. We had to make some adjustments in the program. But I feel like since 2015, this program's been in a really good place. [00:26:21] Speaker A: What do you feel like is the biggest switch from 2015, from before? What happened in 2015? [00:26:26] Speaker C: 2015? I think we changed some. We changed some standards in our program. We were getting some people that really wasn't serious about what we were there to do. We got the Turf field in 15. I know we were picked eight. So that year in the Peach Belt to finish, and we won the league. I mean, we've won the Peach Belt four out of the last nine years in a regular season. So we were proud of that. But I think it was just the change in standards about what we expected from players changing. You know, they had to meet the standard or they couldn't play there. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Who was the coach at DeKalb Community College before you got there? [00:27:10] Speaker C: Doug Casey, who I played for. I played for Doug, and then I became his assistant coach in 1990, and I worked five years for him. And when he retired, Greg Ward, who was the AD there, offered me the job, and I took it and was there for four years, and we won three league championships there in four years. Went to the College World Series in 1998, Grand Junction. And I played at the CAB back when I played, so. And I played for Doug. So I was coaching with somebody that I played for. And so it was. I was almost out of baseball. I was about to take another job when he retired and they offered me the job. So I guess it was good Lord's will that it wasn't time for me to be done with it yet. [00:28:02] Speaker A: What has the state of Georgia meant to you? You're in the Georgia Dugout Club hall of Fame, so what has the state of Georgia meant to you? [00:28:07] Speaker C: State of Georgia is where I grew up, played baseball, played college baseball, got drafted by the Braves, you know, played three years in the organization. That's all I've ever known. Is the state of Georgia. Probably like Coach Gantz, all he's known is Salisbury, North Carolina. So, you know, I got the respect of the people there by my hard work and my willingness not to give up and always believe in myself, that, you know, I could be not only a great teacher of the game, but help mentor young men. [00:28:44] Speaker A: What is the strength of this year's team. I mean, you mentioned they love each other. [00:28:47] Speaker C: They love each other. I think we got a lot of strengths. Probably no different than any other team here. That's why we're here. But, you know, just their willingness not to give up, their willingness to. They had a goal in mind when they came back in August. And this team started together mostly as freshmen. They're all homegrown and most of them are juniors and seniors now. So they've been through the trials and tribulations of Division 2 baseball and getting their butt whipped and feeling the sadness of watching their season end. So I just, I'm really proud of them for the fact that, like I said to you and Coach Anderson, that we may come up here and not play well, but they've earned the right to be here. I know that and I'm happy for them. [00:29:37] Speaker A: And you made a good point when we were talking about just go out and have fun this time. [00:29:41] Speaker C: Go have fun. Don't play tight. Don't play tight. Don't worry about things because if you do, you're gonna mess up. You're gonna just let it go. I mean, what's going to happen is going to happen, but you don't want to have any regrets when it's over. You want to do your best. And that's the thing where I've evolved as a coach. I will be as much of a non factor except for making decisions that I need to make coaching wise. But, you know, right now it's all about encouraging them and giving them belief. [00:30:09] Speaker A: Did you face much adversity during the year? [00:30:11] Speaker C: During the spring, we did. You know, always with injuries, everybody goes through it. Just like Chris said. Our guy that we're starting tomorrow, he's been in the program for five years. He's been injury prone, he's been up and down. We've kind of nurtured him. But you know, this team, adversity wise, you know, it's hard to say, just with injuries probably and some of the defeats we had, the way we lost, we gave games away and usually that's what you do when you lose. But this team hasn't lost more than two games row all year, you know, and so, you know, one of our key mottos is respond. And I give them credit, they respond. We put them on the road this year for a lot of different reasons, but we felt like we needed to get out of our comfort zone and we did that. And so them being on the road in a regional or wherever they're playing is, is not a shock. Because they've been on the road all year. [00:31:07] Speaker A: Little easier to schedule road games, though, with an older team. Correct? [00:31:10] Speaker C: It is. And also like we were talking about earlier, if you want to get to this point in the season, if you don't go on the road and challenge yourself against good competition, then you're not going to get in. And it doesn't matter how many wins you get. You got to go play quality people. And we did that and challenged ourselves. And that's why I think, you know, they know they've had to answer the bell, you know, that nothing was going to be given to them. They had to earn it, and that's what I'm proud of them. [00:31:36] Speaker A: Any good surprises on the roster this year? Maybe guys coming into the year, you didn't expect it. [00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah, the freshman Stinson, he was the freshman of the year. You know, he. He won. He's our dh and he won all conference dh and he, you know, won freshman of the year. He's been a great. You know, our catcher's our ultimate leader. Doesn't get enough credit for how he leads us spiritually and emotionally. And he's just a bulldog. But it's really not a surprise he was here last year. But, you know, guys just had better years, you know, and I think, you know, ard his second year here, you know what I told you, he's going to get 22 home runs. [00:32:23] Speaker A: No. [00:32:25] Speaker C: Opata, the player of the year, he's a specimen, and he's one of the best players in the Southeast. And what makes it good for those guys is what kind of people they are. And I think they handled the peaks and valleys better than they did last year. So I'm proud of them. But really, really, like I said, they just love one another and they have fun with one another and they get on one another. And I'm a firm believer in the way I grew up in baseball. You got to have that, you know, and you got to be held accountable by your teammates. And I think they do a good job of that. [00:33:04] Speaker A: What advice would you give for a coach trying to get into the profession right now? [00:33:07] Speaker C: Be who you are. Believe in what you do. Don't listen to. Don't give favoritism. You gotta treat. I think the growing thing with young coaches today is if they've got a real good player, they'll cater to him and forget about the guy that's not as good. And I think that's a mistake. When you hold your best players accountable, then that sets the tone for everything. And I think that's what we do. I mean, we. I'm more, more apt to get on our best players than I am the ones that are not doing as well. So. But I think you got to treat it and I see that trend today. They're trying to cater to people or smooch up to them. Hey, we need you. The transfer portal to me is not any good. People's best players are leaving now. We got people leaving our program, but it's because me leaving and. But I just think young coaches and they need to be in control of themselves. I think the way a lot of the players act is based on the way their coach acts. And you know, we don't argue with umpire. I don't very rarely say anything to an umpire because if I do, they're going to use that as a crutch and an excuse. And I'm just not for excuses. It is what it is. They're going to miss calls. You're going to make mistakes. Let's worry about the mistakes we're making, not worry about the mistakes they're making. [00:34:31] Speaker A: You know, what about tis for raising a family as a baseball team coach? [00:34:35] Speaker C: Tough. I've been married for 39 years. My wife's been through with me through pro ball. I met her in college. Been some trying times, you know, and I hadn't been home a lot. My daughter, who I said is fixing to be a mother and I missed a lot of stuff her growing up. And you know the why? I can't tell you that. If it wasn't for my wife, I wouldn't have been as successful because my wife is the backbone of our family, because she takes care of everything that I don't have time to take care of. And I'm just a very blessed man to have somebody that's always not. She's never, ever given me a problem about what I do because she knows that's what I love. And to me that's true love because she supports me, she supported me through the good times and the bad times. And she's the one that I confide in the most. She's my best friend. [00:35:36] Speaker A: What are you trying to get done today? [00:35:38] Speaker C: You know, today just get aware of our surroundings, you know, take some bp, some ground balls, get a feel for the field, you know, like I'll tell them anything else. It's 60ft, 6 inches, 90 foot bases in a different environment. But I think when they say play ball because of the, of what's on the line and everything like that, you know, getting Today, to me, as the season goes on, practice time is my time, but, you know, and games are theirs. But now it's about them seeing the ball off the bat, feel for the dirt, swinging the bat, see how the ball flies. It may fly different tomorrow, but it's just about them being comfortable and enjoying each other, too. Exactly. [00:36:24] Speaker A: Because nothing's given this time of year. It's about them getting a chance to enjoy each other. [00:36:27] Speaker C: And, Ryan, you know as well as I do, when this is all said and done, life's gonna go on, good Lord willing. I mean, and nobody, nobody but them's gonna remember it when it's all said and done. So not trying not to make too much of it, enjoy it. You know, they earned the right to get here, and so enjoy, enjoy it. And that's where I've had to learn to enjoy, too, because sometimes we don't enjoy what we've done because we all. And we forget to stay in the moment. And I've been very much that guy a lot of my time. [00:37:01] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:37:03] Speaker C: I want to give a shout out to my coaches and their families, and without them, we're not here. They, you know, I've been where they at, and they're really the backbone of the pro. They do a lot of the work that a lot of people don't see, and they take care of me and, you know, their love for me and the players and what they do for them, they just don't get enough credit. And not that they're looking for it because they know what I think about them, but I want to give a shout out to them because we wouldn't be here without them. [00:37:38] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, coach. [00:37:39] Speaker C: Thank you, Ryan. I appreciate it. [00:37:43] Speaker A: All right here. Tom Griffin here, Belmont abbey. Congrats, coach. 20 seasons, head coach, and then 37 and 17 got the at large bid coming in. So congrats for being here. [00:37:52] Speaker E: Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. [00:37:54] Speaker A: Did you think you'd be at Carson Newman this long? [00:37:57] Speaker E: I did. [00:37:58] Speaker C: Did you? [00:37:58] Speaker E: I did, yeah. I think there's been opportunities, like everyone else, to move on, you know, to other schools. As an assistant, I never looked for a head job, but there were some assistant positions and there were some opportunities in professional baseball to go do some things. But, I mean, I'm telling you, man, it was one of those jobs when you get fired and you're looking for a job, you fall into a place and spiritually, you're lost and you're trying to find out your Purpose. And then you find it as a coach and then the opportunity comes there to lead the program. It was like, I don't. I don't want to leave. This is my Vanderbilt. You know, remember we've talked about that. Like, be where your feet are. And I always felt like this was like the Division 1 job or the pro job. And I always felt like the pro area was going to be just one area. I like being able to do base running and work with pitchers and outfielders. I like the variety of the job. So I get to do that here. Not sure if that would happen other places. And by the way, Ryan, I'm a.500 winning percentage coach. They're not like people with us jumping out of the bed, like, let's go get that.500 winning percentage coach. You're going to talk to Jim Gantt tomorrow. That question I would ask that guy, Jim, why you've been at Catawba for so long? Because. And there's a lot of guys, as you know, in small college that are very successful, but I think they find that their roots there. There's some comfortable, and there's nothing wrong with being comfortable. And that's kind of where I've been. [00:39:29] Speaker A: And we've all had friends that have gone to the pro side. There's not as much autonomy on the pro side. [00:39:33] Speaker E: I agree. I agree 100%. I think that was the issue. You know, let's face it, tuition waiver is a nice thing to have. You know, when my daughters were looking at schools, they were like, hey, these are the schools we're looking at. I said, well, let me look at my list. This don't match up with yours. See, they have to have a waiver. That's how we're going to afford it. And, you know, so there's that idea of going in that area and. And again, you know, you're going to be just dealing with a small area of the game. And I like the idea of growing more and working with outfielders and learning more about base running and things. Just like you. We're baseball coaches. We like to be involved in all areas of the game. [00:40:11] Speaker A: And I think that's a. You brought up a good point, the waiver. Because my dad, I mean, he stayed at Evansville as long as he did because my brother and I both had tuition waiver to go to Evansville. Like, it's a huge deal that people don't understand that part of it's a huge cost savings is on the back end of it. You may not get it on the front end, but on the back end, if you can put your kids through college tuition free, that's a huge deal. [00:40:31] Speaker E: It's big. And it also gives you an insight to me, my wife not saving very well that we didn't have the nest egg to put them in there, so we. We needed to use that. [00:40:40] Speaker A: Did you envision this for the program in 2000? [00:40:43] Speaker E: I'm sorry? [00:40:43] Speaker A: Did you envision this for the program when you got. [00:40:46] Speaker E: Yeah, because listen, Carson Newman, when. When it was with Bobby Wilson, they were long in the 70s. They were winning conference champions every year, and one of the best programs in the country, Gary Rundles, same thing. Gary. I got a chance to play against and work for and, you know, the. The standard of excellence. Carson Newman, not only when it was part of the original SAC and NAIA days, was very successful. When Brent Acord left and I was able to get the job, we were in the regional for a couple years. Then I took a break from it. Didn't want to really go back to it. Felt like, you know, what I needed to start from beginning. Yeah. You know, but, you know, you have a vision based on what the past have done and what the. I guess, you know, what we all envision. We want to win and get to these points, and there's a process for it. And I felt like, you know, we've made adjustments to the process, grow as a coach, have made mistakes, have had some bad luck, but I think we've stayed consistent with our core culture of how we want these guys to be when they get done here and what we want to provide for them as people, not only in their faith, but also as grown as being grown men, which I believe. And you know this because you're around a lot of coaches. If you're doing this for a different reason, you're not in it for long. We know that the guys that have been in it for a while, we know why they're doing it, and it's for a bigger purpose than the wins and losses. [00:42:09] Speaker A: How much do you spend with your guys about talking about. I think you guys approach the game itself the right way. In game, how much time do you talk to them about how to handle themselves in game? [00:42:18] Speaker E: All the time. All the time. We are talking about it and we are using others. As an example. We talk about Catawba. Hey, do you notice those guys? The other club that we played never said a word. They celebrated with each other. There's nothing being said to the other team. We also point out things when we see another team that maybe is a little different that way where, you know, they're making comments and, you know, the language that's being used. And not that there's a right or wrong way. There isn't. Everyone has to live with what they want to have their kids do. But I know for me in our program and who we're representing, the university and our alum, we're not going to say a word to the other team, and if it is, I nip it in the bud right away. If we have a language being used, it's going to be addressed right away. Our guys don't throw helmets, they don't throw bats. They're not going to talk to the umpire. I tell them, I will do all that. If there's going to be a bad guy in our program, I want it to be me from the umpires, or if we have a player doing something, I've got to approach that player on the other team because their coach isn't doing it, then I'll be that guy. I don't want our players doing that. [00:43:22] Speaker A: What'd you take away from the Prospect Development League? You were there for three summers, correct? [00:43:26] Speaker E: Oh, it was unbelievable. One of the best times of my life's in development because of the people that were there, but more importantly, the kids that were there. I learned more from the players and their process, on how they go about their work, their mindsets, what they think about when they're in the dugout. I mean, they are thinking the game. They are one step ahead, and that's why these guys are where they are in their careers. So just being around it, you don't even have to be a coach. Just sit there and you learn so much by just listening, asking good questions, and really being observant. But what a great experience was. For me, the bad part was, you know, I got to throw BP to these cats every day. And I mean, it's a show. And then when I got back to our guy throwing BP and it's like, you know, ball in the cage, can't get hook. I'm thinking, oh, my gosh. But, you know, but that's. That's life. You know, there's. There's guys who are the Tim Corbins of the world, and there's the Tom Griffins of the world. So I get it. [00:44:23] Speaker A: What has the state of Tennessee meant to you, your TBCA hall of Famer? [00:44:26] Speaker E: Oh, you know. You know, I think, Brian, this is all about the people in your life who have given you this opportunity to be here. You know, it starts with my faith that has helped me get out of a lot of situations and helped me grow as a parent and as a coach. It's my family to be able to kind of just, you know, we all know the sacrifices they make your family. So a chance to thank them. I think it's also a chance. All the coaches, ry guys like you, the abca, everyone who has invested time with me, talking with me, and me listening to them and asking them questions and the events, the TBCA events, the ABC events, all of them are all bits and pieces of who I am. And I'm still growing and I'm still trying to get better, but it's really just a chance to just sit back on your way home from somewhere. 80s music on and just being real thankful for the people that have been put in your life and not being able to really say thank you enough to them. But I do, I do through my prayers and I get emotional about it because it means a lot. [00:45:33] Speaker A: You're a lifelong learner. I mean, I talked to you this week. You're asking me questions which you shouldn't. I should be the one asking you questions. But you're just the Vandy Tennessee game too. I mean, that's. That shows how much you're still trying to learn and improve. [00:45:45] Speaker E: Absolutely. I've been that way my whole life. I learned that from coaches early in my career. I don't want to be stagnant. I want to kind of stay up on things, you know, in the catching world, you know, we've seen that growth. I think I want to ask questions and see how we can do it better. I like guys who get to see different areas, like you get to see different practices and watch different games. What do you see that you like that I might be able to implement in our program and I've taken a lot from that. And I think if you come and watch us when we do bp, let's say in and out, how we train our infielders, what we do in baserunning, it's all changed a little bit. And I think that's because we're still searching for ways to see what's going to work with our team. But maybe a certain individual, because of what I heard from someone that that might help him get a better jump at first or what keys he needs to look at. For sure. I don't think that'll ever stop. [00:46:39] Speaker A: Well, during COVID I come to your practice. That's the first time I've ever seen a team practice with the cones with A warm up where it made sense to me. You have all your guys out there, they're going this way to the cone, this way to the cone and then back where there's no standing around with your warm up. [00:46:51] Speaker E: Yeah, well we're all Steelers, we're all plagiarizers and I guess we're all chat GPT now. I mean just put it in chat GPT and it'll give us an answer. So yeah, I think, I think that's what we need to be doing the Vandy UT game. I got to go there Thursday and watch Vandy do their pre game workout. The night before we came back and we, you know, we had that week. Well they're like hey, what are we doing? Like we got there, we hadn't done that before. Yeah but I saw it at Vandy and they're really good defensively. So we're going to do this today and that'll be something we'll implement in our program. But always trying to get things, things from guys like you scouts who go watch games and see how can we make improvements with our guys. [00:47:29] Speaker A: What has getting to 600 meant to you? [00:47:32] Speaker E: Oh, I haven't really thought about it. I really haven't. Ryan. No, I'm just so thankful to be like, you know, we were just sitting out here talking, you know, Chris Anderson I saw as a player I've got the coach against him, you know, at different places. Tom Cantrell, one of the greatest coaches in college baseball. This isn't a level thing. He's one of the best coaches ever to coach this game. X and O guy, fundamentals, discipline, a man of strong faith and stuck by that. Boy, you talk about, you know, somebody that you look up to. I've had a chance to compete against him and just to be in this environment, just to be playing out of the 260 some odd teams and still be here is a great accomplishment. And now we want to go and compete well. We want to play good baseball. We still want to do what we've been training to do. But it's great to be able to be here, see you and, and see these guys again and you know, have these players enjoy this moment because not everybody gets a chance to do it. [00:48:29] Speaker A: What's the strength of this year's club? I got a chance to see you guys about three weeks ago at Catawba. You guys played really well. It was a good game, hard fought game for you guys. What is the strength of your team? [00:48:37] Speaker E: Well, I think it's been pitching, you know, we've been really good in the starting pitching and some of our relievers have done a good job. You know, unfortunately we lost a guy to injuries, which is a part of the game. So it's been a little bit of a setback. Our defense has been overall pretty good. I think it's been solid. You want to be strong up the middle and I think we've been pretty good in that area. I think we have a very good center fielder. I think our catcher does a good job calling the game and commanding the game and I think our shortstop's been really solid offensively. You know, we've had different guys in the lineup. Kind of have good days for us. What's unique need some balance in the lineup. I wouldn't say we have two, three guys that are just, hey, you know, ball knockers. I think it's been a lineup that's been, you know, a little bit top to bottom. I wish we had a little more juice. I think that's looking on to next year. One of the things we're going to work on is, is our slugging percentage. We want to be able to play the game of baseball, be able to bunt, hit and run. But I think there's times you need a three run homer in this club. We weren't able to do that this year. But it's something moving forward with the guys we have returning. It's going to be a focus. So I will look at all the top five teams and slugging percentage in division. 1, 2, 3, NAI. I will call those coaches and I'll find out what they do in order to create a slugging percentage. Now most of them will say get 6 to 230 pound guys who have an uphill swing. Well, we don't have that. But is there something else we can do in our training where our emphasis to help create that? So that'll be what we're looking forward to next year. But for this year, I'll tell you the other thing, Ryan. This club's done a good job. We have a lot of alumni that come back and watch our games. They come in the dugout and hang out. They have said to me, Griff, it seems like these guys really get along well. Like they truly care about each other and they're looking to help each other out. Even though they're at bat went went poor. That's hard to find sometimes. And I do think that the chemistry has been. Well, we had our end of the year meeting. Many of them said that they spent more time hanging out Together off the field than they did ever before. And not that other teams didn't get along. They just felt like more time was spent off the field. Hanging out, watching games, pickleball, pick up basketball, whatever. They felt like that was a big part of them getting to know each other better as they spent more time with each other off the field. Now moving forward, Ry, I gotta figure out how we get our next group to do the same thing. Hard to do, right? [00:50:59] Speaker A: Year by year. Deal. It really is. That's a player driven thing like you. You want that as a coach, but it really has to come organically from your players. [00:51:08] Speaker E: And I think we try to force it, don't we? And it doesn't work. You're right. And sometimes we don't know if it's going to happen or not. Okay, I believe you. [00:51:16] Speaker A: Did you prepare any different this week? I mean, your choice that you stayed home and practiced yesterday and then you got here, you know, did you prep any different different this week? [00:51:23] Speaker E: No. You know, it had been nice to come over here, unfortunately. So I'll tell you what happened. I'll tell you what happened. So Sunday we played lr. Monday we took off. Tuesday we practiced. It was awful. No energy, lethargic. It was bad. Wednesday we got it recharged again. It was good. I actually made a phone call to Coach Corbin. I said, coach, what do you think? Here's what's happening. I'm like, what do you think? He goes, hey, they need to recharge their batteries. They need to get away from it a little bit. And when they get back to the field, they'll be fired up, ready to go. I said, all right. I said, but I have like two scrimmages set up. He goes, well, after the scrimmages, let them go. All right, so we scrimmage on Friday, we scrimmage on Saturday. Sunday we give them off. It's Mother's day. What a better time. Tuesday we give them off. Well, it was a good time because I had to get surgery or something like, ah, this is the reason to give them off. We come back Tuesday, right? Recharge, ready to go. Awful, awful day. It was bad. They didn't come in. It was kind of lethargic. I had to get on a little bit. Wednesday was much better. We came over Wednesday night. We play today. So Coach Corbin, I'm like, I get the idea. Would have recharged him. It just didn't do our guys very well. [00:52:28] Speaker A: Do you have any turning points this season? I mean, you really didn't go on any losing streaks at all. [00:52:35] Speaker E: You know, I think Florida Southern was a big one. We knew coming in that was a really good club. And I think the idea that we were able to play them well and beat them two out of three was, I think, a big confidence booster to their mentality. And then in conference play on the road, when anytime you go on the road, you can sweep, I don't care who it is, you build confidence and then you get your. Your big dogs, you know, lr one of the best clubs and you win that two out of three. The confidence was brewing because they were winning and they were able to do it in ways that, you know, we typically have not done it. And I think it was just building confidence in themselves, each other. [00:53:12] Speaker A: Any other shout outs before I let you go? Get to work here? [00:53:15] Speaker E: You. You do a tremendous job. Seriously. You help bridge this gap with baseball, with coaches. No matter what level they're on, you treat everyone the same. I think that's what's important this game. It's why it's helped to grow as way it has is the work that you and the ABCA have done. And I think a shout out just to family, friends, alumni, the university and all the coaches who, who have been a part of my life have impacted more to me than they will ever know. Ryan and I'm so grateful. [00:53:44] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, coach. [00:53:45] Speaker E: Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. [00:53:48] Speaker A: If you haven't gone and watched the Division 2 baseball game, I would highly encourage you to do that. They play a great brand of baseball. Thanks to all the coaches for taking time out of their schedules to talk to me. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, Matt Weston, ABC Office. For all the help on the podcast, feel free to reach out to me via email rbrownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram or TikTok CoachBCA or direct message me via the MyBCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks. And leave it better for those behind. [00:54:18] Speaker B: You. [00:54:31] Speaker E: And you know that way Yep. [00:54:35] Speaker A: Wait for another day. [00:54:40] Speaker C: And the world. [00:54:41] Speaker E: Will always return as your life is never for yearning and you know that way. [00:54:54] Speaker C: Wait for another. [00:55:00] Speaker A: Day. [00:55:07] Speaker E: Sam.