Jared Martin, University of the Cumberlands - NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host Ryan Brownlee. New Podcast Sponsor V Sports Take your game and your bat speed to the next level with V Sports. With over 10 years of experience in speed training, Velo Sports has released the easiest and fastest way to help all players increase bat speed. Velo Sports is used by MLB organizations and collegiate teams who know that bat speed is a true game changer. Check out Velo's innovative Bat Speed training system and removable puck knob tech [email protected]. 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 onto the podcast. This week on the ABCA podcast is ABCA Marines NAI Assistant Coach of the Year Jared Martin Martin finished his 10th season as Associate Head Coach at the University of the Cumberlands this past season leading the Patriots to a 528 record. Patriots have been on historic run with back to back World Series appearances and winning their first game in program history in Lewiston. Martin serves as the Patriots Recruiting Coordinator while also coaching the hitters and infielders. The Patriots had a season for the record books, breaking single season records for wins, home runs, RBI and walks. Martin was a standout player for the Patriots from 2011 to 2014, being named the 2011 MSC Freshman of the Year and winning the 2014 Gold Glove at third base. You still find Martin's name in the record books for batting average, games played, hits, RBI and doubles. Let's welcome Jared Martin to the podcast. [00:03:06] Speaker B: Here. [00:03:07] Speaker A: Jared Martin, ABCA Marines NAI Assistant Coach of the Year 10 seasons as Associate Head Coach at the University of the Cumberlands. Thanks for jumping on with me. [00:03:15] Speaker B: I appreciate it sir. Thanks for having me. [00:03:17] Speaker A: Congrats on the honor. Also Historic run for the program right now. I think it was back to back nai World Series appearances and then won a game for the first time this past year in Lewiston. [00:03:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's been a fun couple years, so we can keep it going. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Did you guys kind of feel that building? [00:03:35] Speaker B: What's that? [00:03:36] Speaker A: Did you feel that building what you guys were going to do? [00:03:40] Speaker B: I'm not sure I followed you as. [00:03:42] Speaker A: Far as what you guys were building. Did you feel like the roster the last two years had a chance to do what you guys did, had what, 52 wins last year? [00:03:50] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, in 2022 we had got beat in the championship game, the regional to go to the World Series. And then most of those guys came back and we're on the 23 squad. We felt like we got, you know, got better in a couple places and then the majority were fortunate were were with us again last year. So it's kind of been a decent group of returning guys each year and so just kind of been able to build on that. You know, obviously you're going to lose pieces each year and try to get a little better there. But you know, that 2022 team that lost in that and that championship of the regional, they were all seniors. A bunch of them were seniors in 23. So that, you know, they had a little sour taste in their mouth and we were fortunate to make it. [00:04:35] Speaker A: How gratifying is it for you as a Cumberland's alum? [00:04:38] Speaker B: It's awesome. You know, just kind of see the program grow. The university and the thing that's really cool about here is it's athletic department wide us and softball both went to the World series the past two years. 23 was their first time too. You kind of go across the board within our athletic department and you know, every, every sport is having a chance to compete for a national championship and you know, I think that's all you can ask for. [00:05:07] Speaker A: Yeah. When you go on your guys website, it seems like every program is ranked in. [00:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah, there's, you know, there, there's expectations here, you know, but they, they put us in a situation where we can sustain that, which is nice, you know, and all you could ask for was. [00:05:24] Speaker A: That an administration switch or what do you, what do you feel like is attributed to that? [00:05:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I've only been here for a certain amount of time, but you know, our athletic director and our president, you know, they love athletics, you know, obviously that they want to see us be successful. So, you know, just from my experience while I've been Here, you know, they've done nothing but great things. To be able to put us in those, those situations. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Was the goal for you to always go back to Cumberland's after you got done playing? [00:05:52] Speaker B: You know, I knew I wanted to coach and I loved it here. You know, I, it couldn't have worked out any better for me and my wife. We're both alums of here. She's the director of admissions, and I've been able to coach. You know, we both kind of get to starve and do what we love here. A place that, you know, we owe a lot to, and it's worked out perfect. You know, if I, when I was 21, 22, if you'd have told me I'd still be here, I, you know, I don't know. I wouldn't have said absolutely not. But, you know, God puts you where, where you're supposed to be. [00:06:22] Speaker A: What playing in the Frontier League do for you? [00:06:26] Speaker B: Realize that college baseball is the most fun you'll ever have in your life. We get a lot of guys and most, most programs do. They want, they want to play professional baseball. And, you know, I had a great time, but you won't get to make the relationships and the friendships. You'll see the business side of baseball. [00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And guys just holding on to that because I played in the Frontier League, too. And that was. I was, I was playing like 27, 28 year olds. And that kind of helped me be done with playing honestly, is because I was around guys that were just still trying to hang on, and I was like, I don't want to be 27, 28. Still trying to kick this thing around in independent baseball. [00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And I was kind of the same way. You know, I wanted to give it a shot. Someone finally told me I wasn't, you know, I wasn't good enough. And I said, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna move on baseball career in a different, in a different role. And. But I had a great time. It just, you know, I was never going to be a big leaguer or be able to, you know, I wasn't going to do that, so just decided to go a different route. [00:07:33] Speaker A: Coach Shelton approach you then like, hey, we got a spot here. Do you want to come back? [00:07:38] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, my dad's a farmer, so when I got released in the Frontier League, I was farming. It's like, man, I, I cannot believe I went to college for four years and I end up doing this. But Coach Elton knew I'd always wanted to coach. And the day School started at Cumberland's. He had called me and I'll be honest, I think I was raking hay or moving hay when he called me, he said, hey, I have a GA spot available. Would you be interested? And I said, yeah, when you need me there? He said, can you be here in a couple of days? And I was like, I can make that work. My girlfriend at the time, who's, who's now my wife, she had a full time job and I told her and luckily she supported the, supported the idea and she ended up coming down here with me. And it's worked out well for both of us. [00:08:23] Speaker A: A lot of jobs happen late when you first get into it. [00:08:27] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I was, you know, kind of nervous because I knew I wanted to get into coaching, but I hadn't had a ton of success finding, you know, I knew I was gonna have to probably find a GA spot or a volunteer and nothing had really panned out. And then, you know, just, just like that, within 24 hours, I was back down here and I hadn't been here in two months and I haven't left since. [00:08:50] Speaker A: So what was some advice that Coach Shelton gave you coming in before you got into coaching? [00:08:55] Speaker B: Well, the biggest thing for me is there was a lot of guys on the team that I played with when I was a ga, so I really had to separate and be able to still be able to keep those friendships, but make them more professional because obviously I did not want to be their buddies. I wanted them to respect me as a coach because that was something I was very passionate about. So that was something just kind of right off the bat, you know, that, that he really. And then the big thing with Coach Young is all about relationships. Best player, worst player. You know, we do have to, have to do a really good job of trying to get to know each person because you can't coach everybody the same. So that was something that, you know, early on that really helped me, that he had taught me. [00:09:46] Speaker A: How long did that take you to figure that piece out as far as, okay, this player I need to push a little bit. This player I need to back off a little bit. [00:09:56] Speaker B: You know, I was fortunate. Not my first year here, but my second year here. I signed a kid from my high school and I played for Mac Whitaker at Harrison County High School. He's pretty tough with the winningest high school baseball coach in the state of Kentucky, but his style of coaching is much different than ours. And the kid I had signed was like, coach, you know, dude, you guys aren't Saying, you know, you guys aren't really getting after me. Am I. Am I doing something wrong? And I was like, it's just different here, you know? So he. He was always used to being, you know, kind of pushed and challenged in different ways that we do it. So that was kind of the first. That kind of hit me. Hit me in the face like, okay, like, this kid, he wants to, you know, he wants to be pushed a little bit more than others. Some guys, you need to fill them with confidence and boost their ego. And this kid, you know, we, you know, you can get after him a little bit, and challenging him will make him better. [00:10:54] Speaker A: Did that make you uncomfortable at all? Because I know. I know your guy. Your coaching staff style is not that way. Did that help you grow in any way? [00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. You know, I've just been around so many good coaches that have done it different ways, that I've seen it from different perspectives. And I knew that coming in that, you know, everybody is so different, you know, and I try to find a happy medium. But, yeah, it was definitely, you know, kind of, you know, like, hey, I do. Maybe I do need to. I don't want to say yell, but I like to say challenge, you know, and those, you know, just challenge guys a little bit more. But I think, yeah, I think it. [00:11:36] Speaker A: Boils down to maybe, okay, here's what you need to do to get better. Yeah, you know, I think some players want that feedback of, okay, here are the things that I see that you need to improve on. And I think those of us, because I played for tough coaches growing up, I think those of us that played for tougher coaches, I think we're a little more laid back when it comes to that, because I think we saw both sides of it, and I was a player that needed to be pushed, but I also saw that run some guys away from the game because they could not handle that type of coaching. [00:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah, and one thing we're in such a unique spot is we get guys that are junior college, all Americans who have all the confidence in the world, but then we get Division 1 transfers who haven't gotten to play a whole lot and maybe don't have as much confidence. So our biggest thing is we just need to tell, hey, man, you're a good player. You've been a good player your whole life. Last year didn't go the way you wanted to, but, you know, we believe in you. Where sometimes you may have to say, okay, you pump the brakes a little bit, maybe you're not as good as you think you are, let's work a little harder and do these things better. So we're just getting guys from kind of all over the spectrum from just my confidence. And so we've got to do a good job of being able to analyze, you know, kind of where they're at mentally. [00:12:57] Speaker A: I use the term tabular OSI to psych background. And that just mean. That meant clean slate. And so I would try to relay that coming into every year that it is a clean slate. And you can't, you can't base off what happened to you last year, good or bad, and expect the same things are going to happen because you're a year older, you've learned more about the game, you've made some improvements. So I feel like every year is a clean slate for guys coming in. [00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, and we're, you know, we, we like to tell them that pretty early and, you know, you've been in it. It goes back to the relationship thing, you know, just being able to have open and honest conversations and getting feedback and, you know, those things are just super important. Just from, you know, that first day we get. Get back on campus because a lot of the guys we recruit and bring in, we. Half of them never visit campus before they get here. Um, which is crazy to think about. [00:13:50] Speaker A: And I was going to ask you that too. Like, what was percentage for you guys of, of seeing videos off guys, seeing them in person? I mean, because you guys do have a large roster and so obviously you can't get out and see everybody, but you're, you're. It works for you guys. And I think that's the interesting thing is every program is different with finding what works for them. From a recruiting standpoint. [00:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I would, I would say 75 to 80% of the guys we sign would never see play in person. You know, obviously we're blessed with technology now where everything is cut up clip by clip and anything and everything you could ever want is available to you. And we try to get as many guys on campus as possible because, you know, we think the place sells itself, but it's just not possible with, you know, we've got guys from basically all over the world that lights aren't cheap. And, you know, I do a ton of FaceTime visits. And we're fortunate that we have a really good virtual virtual store online. So, you know, there are different things that we can use. But yeah, when they show up in August, for about 75% of us, first time that I've ever seen them in. [00:15:03] Speaker A: Person, what are your keys for video? What are you really looking at? What's important for your staff when you're getting videos? [00:15:13] Speaker B: The first thing is that they play hard. You know, we have a certain style of baseball we like to play and some of that's coachable too. I do believe in that. You know, I think a lot of that can be just, you know, the product of whatever environment you're from. And that's okay. You know, we just have a certain standard here. So how you carry yourself on the baseball field is huge for us, you know, and offensively we've been fortunate to have to hit a ton of home runs lately. So, you know, my biggest thing offensively is you can't strike out. You got to be in the zone a long time. And the swing and miss chase rate, that's something that we look at, look into a lot, you know, and on the mound, me and Coach Shelton are very. Our offensive minded. Our pitching coach, you know, he. So it's just get guys out quick. So we get back in the dugout, hit. [00:16:01] Speaker A: Why do you feel like the power numbers have gone up? Think the bats are better ball or just hitting better now? Are we training for it more? [00:16:10] Speaker B: You know, that's a good question because I don't ever just. [00:16:13] Speaker A: Nai, that's like all level of college baseball, you see the home run numbers, there's teams breaking historic home run records at every level of college baseball. [00:16:23] Speaker B: Now I haven't hit a baseball in so long, I couldn't tell you how off the bat your friend. So. But yeah, you know, there I think there's more power arms than ever. So if you squared up, you know, you got a better chance, you know, you squared up with the right leverage, you know, you're going to have a little bit better chance. For us, you know, the last couple years, the biggest thing that, you know, we don't really talk about hitting home runs a whole lot. You know, we do a lot of different things, try to stay in the zone for a long time, match playing things that those, you know, Coach Shelton, we dumb it down to some guys, hey, just hit a line drive over the outfielder's head and it'll end up being a home run. Sometimes we have to dumb it down. But, you know, we're fortunate with some resources that we have too, that guys can get, you know, numbers and, you know, virtual feedback instantly with the hit tracks and, you know, some of the things like that. So they're just be able to kind of just train their swings, know their hotspots in the zone. And where in relationship. Relationship to the plate do they hit the ball the hardest? Contact points, stuff like that. So. So we'll use some of that with some guys, and some guys, it's, you know, some guys would say, hey, just hit it as high and far as you can in the air because you're too slow to hit ground balls. So it can be super technical and, you know, very elementary at the same time. [00:17:47] Speaker A: How long have y'all used hit tracks? [00:17:50] Speaker B: We've had it for quite a bit, five or six years. I want to say it. It's changed the game for us, you know, because we. We have to hit inside, especially, you know, January, February, you know, and hitting inside gets monotonous. You know, we've all been there, but we, we use it every day in some fashion for practice, especially, you know, when we get back from Christmas break. When we're in there, you know, we're. It's just like hitting outside. So I think that that has made those practices more enjoyable and being able to do. Do some different, different things with the games and, you know, things like that. [00:18:31] Speaker A: I love the gamification P of it. [00:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Because, you know, everything we're doing, we're trying to be competitive. You know, some of the things we have to do more than anything is. Is improve on our competitive nature. And just going in there getting meaningless swings doesn't help that. So with the games that they have on there and, you know, you don't want your body hitting the ball harder than you, you know, it's just competitive instinct. So just having that private bats, it. [00:18:57] Speaker A: Takes away the arguing pitchers, hitters like that, it shows up on the screen. So it actually shows like, okay, that ball land where it takes away some of those arguments. Pitchers and hitters. [00:19:08] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. We utilize it almost every day in practice in some. Some fashion. [00:19:13] Speaker A: What has the experience of going to Lewiston done for. For your staff? [00:19:17] Speaker B: You know, I think the first year, and coach will tell you this too, we weren't really sure how to prepare. There's. There's such a layoff. You got travel. And I want to say our first year, we were. We were super worried about make sure nobody got hurt. Let's get out there, get safe. We're talented. Let's see what happens. And then we didn't play well. So last year we did a much better job of kind of staying in our routine, getting live at bats, doing. Doing some of those things that we'd kind of done throughout the year, trying to. Trying to stay on, you know, A little bit of the routine that we had had throughout the season and I. And we played so much better last year. You know, there were a couple, couple things we obviously like to go back and, you know, make one more pitch or get one more big hit. But we felt like we were just much more prepared last year than the first year because I can't remember was it nine or ten days before you play a game. And there's so many activities and great things you have to do once you get out there before you ever play a game. And obviously that excitement, your first time out there can kind of take away from baseball a little bit. Even though you're still, you know, you're putting your emphasis on winning the baseball games, but you're so excited that, you know, because Coach Hilton had never been out there before. This is his 24th year here. He had never been to Lewiston before 2023. You know, that was kind of his thing. He's always said is, I don't want to go there until we, our team goes there. So, man, well, how awesome for that. You know, you couldn't write that in there. Thousandth win as a coach and then going out there in 23. You know, that was pretty crazy because. [00:20:47] Speaker A: I do the interviews with all the coaches and you could just tell with Coach Shelton, like from two years ago to this year, you just, he just felt like there was more sense of purpose for him and how to attack it. You could just tell in the interview it was just like, oh, he' he's a little more dialed in this year than he was last year. [00:21:04] Speaker B: Yeah, there's. If you've never, if you've never done something, you just don't know. You know, we had called around and gotten ideas from people and, you know, people that had been there and tried to get a pretty good idea of how they done things because they were successful there. You know, everybody, every program's a little different, but we really felt like last year we did a much better job of being prepared. Prepared for, you know, what all was going on. So hopefully, you know, we can continue to try to get better in those, those times, you know, with a 10 day layoff with baseball players that, you know, you're trying to figure out what works best for guys. [00:21:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Trying to keep them dialed in is tough with that type of layoff. Hey, when you first got into it, how much responsibility, recruiting wise, did Coach Shelton give you? [00:21:52] Speaker B: Probably more than most people, you know. Yeah, we had had such good relationship because obviously I was fortunate to play for him for four years, you know, so he gave me a decent amount of responsibilities, even just as a ga to help out, obviously run guys by him. And, you know, I had been here and seen teams go to the world Series, so I kind of knew what. What we needed. And as far as ability, my biggest thing was, you know, I didn't know anybody, so I was, you know, I didn't have anybody's numbers. I was hammering emails and, you know, making relationships with assistant coaches at the NAI level that were good. That. That helped me a ton figure out how to do it. You know, that was something that I thought was super important to me when I first got into it, is, you know, some of the assistants, even in our own league, have won a lot of games and, you know, always had super talented players, and we did, too. But how to just be able to take our program to the next level just. Just from getting players. He gave me a decent amount. And then we're fortunate that we had signed some guys that were pretty good, and my role increased in that aspect. Love it. Love it. Well, found some guys that he probably was like, I don't know what coach Martin's seen in this guy, but he's a good kid, so. Love it. Love it. [00:23:11] Speaker A: Where are you starting with your infielders when they show up? Where are you starting with the infielders for a development plan? [00:23:18] Speaker B: You know, we're so fortunate to get so many transfers, but, you know, the biggest thing we. We hammer out early is footwork. You know, we play on turf, so you've got to be aggressive. There's no reason to be passive. You're not getting a bad hop. So. So the biggest thing, you know, just from an infield perspective, is the footwork to be aggressive. You know, we. We utilize the long hops sometimes more than we need to, but, you know, I'm not crazy big on arm strength, you know, just getting rid of the ball as fast as possible, but being super aggressive in our footwork is probably the starting point. [00:23:58] Speaker A: How that's. How's that sweet spot of being aggressive but then not being out of control, too? [00:24:04] Speaker B: I think one thing we talk about sometimes it's like being a quarterback reading the defense, but instead of reading a defense, you're reading the hop. So we're either getting a short hop or a long hop. We're not messing with in between. So. So you got to be able to read. Okay, I'm not. I'm. I'm not going to be aggressive. If I'm too aggressive, I'M going to get caught in between, and that's where. That's no man's land. So, you know, we talk about it from that. That a lot. [00:24:28] Speaker A: Read the speed with your feet. Balls coming faster, Slower feet, Ball slower, faster feet. [00:24:36] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, one thing we've realized is, you know, we, when we go play on dirt, we're. We're way more aggressive now than we've ever been, just because we're used to playing on turf and there's no hesitation. And when we get to dirt, it's. [00:24:53] Speaker A: The same, you know, how do you prep for Lewiston? Because that field gets a little bit hard. I don't know if anybody fall, they can't get a ton of water to it. It's hot out there at that time. So I think that's. I always think about that when I'm out there. I'm like, this is a little. Got to be a little different for the infielders because it's going to play a little bit different than maybe what they've seen all year. [00:25:13] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely does. Even most grass fields, it's just, you know, you're in such a different part of the United States. It's just a different type of clay. And, you know, you're playing so many games on, it just gets choppy and beat up. It doesn't matter how. How good of a grounds crew you have. I think you kind of go back to the. You know, when you get out there, you do get to play on some. You get two or three days of practice on some fields that are similar high school fields with similar playing surfaces. So that, that helps. But I think you just got to be true to what you believe in and live with. Live with the consequences. You know, we had a. We had a play last year that, you know, we thought shortstop made a really good read on a ball and it just, it just, it literally hit the dirt and bounced over his head. You know, it's just. But, you know, I think you just go back to what you believe in with your footwork and how you want to attack the baseball. And, you know, you just have to live with. Live will always be okay with being aggressive. [00:26:12] Speaker A: How are you tailing your throwing program then? If. Obviously arm strength matters to a point, but accuracy and getting rid of the ball quicker matters also. [00:26:21] Speaker B: Yeah, no, we're trying to develop our arm strength every day with long toss J bands, all of those things, but when we're fielding a ground ball from, from impact of your gloves to getting it to where you need to be Needs to be as quick as possible. For some guys, they can take a little bit longer exchanging the ball because they have plus arm strength. For some guys, they can get it out so much quicker. They can get the ball to first before the, you know, before a guy with plus arm strength, though. So obviously we're going to work on our arm strength every day. But catch and release is super beneficial. That's something that we, we have to work on, too. You stop that even in our catch play, you know, there are times when we do what we'll have, you know, we'll stop, watch everything. Ground ball is the first and, you know, different intensity day. Some days it's, we're more focused on our feet where we're catching the ball out and not, not super worried about, you know, the release and the throw. And then some days it'll kind of be all put together. I like to do a lot of things in kind of steps and then kind of put it all together at the end. [00:27:30] Speaker A: How are you laying out your inner squads for the week? [00:27:34] Speaker B: We usually go Thursday, Friday, it'll be Thursday, Friday, Saturday, later on in the fall. You know, when pitch counts get up, days can get a little bit longer. We like to go Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We try to do as good a job as we can to keep those as competitive as possible because there will be some inner squads that will be situational only. Like we have, we all have guys. We'll have the pitcher or the hitter draw a scenario out of a hat, say, hey, we got first, third, nobody out. Here we go, here's what we got. So we like to do a little bit of different things. So those things are monotonous. We're trying to keep everything as competitive as possible. Put guys in situations where it's a little bit uncomfortable because we're all going to be in those throughout the season. So try to try to mix it up quite a bit. [00:28:28] Speaker A: What, what pitch counts do your guys get up to? I know everybody does it a little bit different, so that's why I ask, because some, some, some programs keep it to one or two innings or batters or pitches and don't stretch guys out. And then some programs, they'll stretch their guys out a lot during the fall. [00:28:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I want to say the most, you know, the starters got up to 50, 55, but most, you know, we've got a decent idea of what guys roles are going to be. You know, some of the bullpen arms stay at 25, 30, and maybe, maybe, you know, we would do. There were sometimes we do like a live at bat on a Monday or Tuesday and then have them throw again on a Friday. You know, just try to get them twice a week maybe. But you know, it's, you know, you want to build those up but at the same time in, you know, November, December, you know, you're going to have, you know, kind of a deload low intensity and then have to build it back up. So we don't want to burn them up too much in, you know, August, September, October and then have them shut down for longer because first week of February comes up on equip. [00:29:38] Speaker A: Yeah, you guys get started early. [00:29:41] Speaker B: So many items play last week in January, so we'll go first weekend in February. Most of the years. [00:29:46] Speaker A: Yeah, because you still got to give your arms time to get ready. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah, we've got half of our staff that will go home for Christmas and we'll be in beautiful weather and be able to throw outside every day. And the other half, you know, they'll be finding an indoor and throwing into a net or, you know, there's just so many different ways that we've got to go about guys being able to come back ready to go. [00:30:07] Speaker A: How do you always handle strength and conditioning in the fall? [00:30:11] Speaker B: So we get after it a decent amount. So we let you know. We like to be pretty hands on. So our pitching coach, he'll actually run the, the pitchers weight and I'll run the position player weights. So we use an app on our phone, I think it's called Team Builder. So we're able to program all the workouts into this app. The guys can track their progress, what weights they're using, rest in between. So we're able to use that to try to, to try to manage the workload too, especially when we're going, you know, pretty heavy with, with baseball in the fall. So having that app, you know, is super helpful for them to kind of keep track of what weights they're using so they can push themselves and go up each. Each day. We'll go three days a week as a team and then there's, you know, a couple different things we can go. Optional. If a couple guys want more. We do usually let the guys get two or three weeks into school before we'll start, start working out. Just there are some things, you know, being on the baseball field for a while, there are some things you just can't work out. You just got to get on the field and get, get that, get that out of your system. [00:31:16] Speaker A: Yeah, we used Team Builder when I was at Western So I like, you know, our. [00:31:22] Speaker B: We love it. Our athletic department, they do it. They bought it for our entire, you know, every sport, and we're trying to utilize it as much as possible. Still learning it, too, but our guys seem to like it. [00:31:35] Speaker A: What exercises do you guys really like that are in the program? [00:31:40] Speaker B: You know, so we'll have. So kind of the way I do it with position players, I can't speak on the pitching as much, but there are kind of some absolutes, and then there are some things that they have the freedom to build in on their own. You know, just building the lower half and having a strong foundation is so important, but for me, it's not okay. Everyone has to do back squats. We've got some guys that would rather do front squats, stuff like that. So that's, you know, we'll have a lot of conversations about that stuff. You know, my big core strength and lower body strength, you know, just from a foundation standpoint, so much rotational stuff and explosiveness that. That's something that we, we really try to, you know, work on a lot. Obviously, upper body strength is super important as well, but we've got enough guys. [00:32:32] Speaker A: That they can do that on their own. College baseball players are going to do plenty of upper body work. [00:32:42] Speaker B: We're really making sure that our lower half and our core is taken care of in our team weight. [00:32:47] Speaker A: Has your recruiting philosophy changed over the years? I mean, you've been doing it for 10 years now. Has it changed? [00:32:53] Speaker B: Not really. I keep it pretty simple. We want great people, good players, and guys that want to win as bad as we do. You know, we, we. We've always kind of gotten guys from everywhere. You know, I love it that way. I love. I love coaching guys that have grown up playing it differently than me and being able to bounce ideas off each other. And, you know, some of these guys, these things. Some of the things these guys can do these days, I can't teach. So it's, it's all, you know, some of it's so much, you know, almost like an artwork or Some of it's so much fundamental. So, you know, we keep it pretty basic, but, yeah, it hasn't really changed a ton. You know, I think each year we're trying to get better in the talent we're bringing in, but as far as where we're going to find them and things like that, it really hasn't changed. [00:33:41] Speaker A: Has Coach Elton changed much over the years from when you played for him to now? [00:33:47] Speaker B: That's a good question. That's a Long time ago. You know, I think he's always been an elite competitor and a great leader, and that's something I always admired, even when I played for him. I think maybe the biggest thing that's different now is the workload management. You don't have to practice crazy hard six days a week. If we feel like we have gotten everything we need to do done in five days, we can take the weekend off, you know, and I don't know if we even did. I. I don't know if we did that when I was a player. But that's just something I've learned from him, even just as a coach, is that, you know, if you've gotten your work, sometimes rest is the most beneficial thing. So, you know, I don't, you know, as. As far as his competitiveness and wanting to win in the relationships, that's always been there and hasn't changed so. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Well, when you win that many games every year, like, the competitive fire is still there. Like, it's. It's every year. Like, it's. It's a lot of wins. You guys have cracked up a ton of wins. [00:35:10] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been. It's been fun. And, you know, everything I've learned over the last 10 years has been from him. So he's. He's. He's taught me so much, just how to carry myself and, you know, just the relationships I've been able to make and help me a ton. [00:35:28] Speaker A: So how often do y'all meet on recruiting? [00:35:32] Speaker B: I keep him up to date pretty much, you know, two or three times a week. Just kind of where I'm at with different guys, you know, and I bounce things off of him, he bounces things off of me. You know, we're all in it together. It's not. It's not just me. It's all of us. We're trying to figure out, you know, which. Which way we want to go. And, like, hey, I'm. I'm, you know, I. I'm not super sold on this kid, but I'm hearing great things. You know, I need another set of eyes, you know, and he'll do the same with me. So we're all in it together. [00:35:59] Speaker A: Love it. Any other. Any arguments on guys? [00:36:04] Speaker B: No, not that I could think of. No. We've just kind of been on the same page for so long. I think that's what's worked. Worked so well, even as a player, you know, that he would get after me, which I probably deserved. But, like, when there was always just such respect, and we've Always kind of been on the same page with, with what we're looking for. You know, I've always known what kind of guys played will will thrive under him. So I try to do a good job of that just find, you know, making sure we're finding the right guys that will play well in our system. And he, he knows that I'm not going to bring in here, bring, bring someone in that's going to give him a whole lot of trouble. So we're on a pretty good same page that stuff. [00:36:49] Speaker A: You guys have good master's programs there. I saw you guys have some grad transfers. [00:36:53] Speaker B: Yeah, we have quite a few grad students. There's, there's actually a ton of programs. I can't even keep up with them all. I feel like we keep adding but our grad school is 100% online as well. So we have guys that do grad school with us and they'll have, you know, jobs throughout the day. You know, 8 to 2 they'll be working somewhere in town and then we usually get going 2:33 o'clock for practice. So we do have quite a few grad programs. [00:37:20] Speaker A: For anybody listening in that doesn't know much about your guys program or the school itself, what would you tell them? [00:37:27] Speaker B: We win a lot. It's, it's the third, third largest college in Kentucky. Super competitive in everything. And what I tell our players is as great as the winning is. And the reason why I am still here outside of, you know, the people at this school make this place. You know, we raise our son here and it takes a village. Our, mine and my wife's family, we're not from here so we're down here raising our kid and it's this just the support that our guys have that we have. It's just, it's just a really neat environment from a support aspect and just the competitiveness within our athletic program. Everyone's got a chance to be successful and the university, our president, some of the things he's done for our school is incredible with, you know, we don't have a single person that goes to our school that has to pay for books. When six years ago tuition was 23,000, now it's under 10, which is just absurd to think about. So there's just been so many things like that that have happened. It's, it's really all about this, the student athlete experience. [00:38:45] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's a byproduct of creating online classes like that because you can keep it more reasonable for tuition? [00:38:56] Speaker B: I don't know if I'm the right person to ask about that. You know, one of the things is there were so many scholarships that it's all about discount rate. Right? So I think big numbers scare people off when you were getting big scholarships and things like that. But the big number at the beginning of the conversation was scaring people off before you could even get to those scholarships. So I think now when people say, oh, tuition is less than $10,000, you're not scared off instantly. That's just from my perspective as far as those numbers, there's people way more smarter than me that figured all that out. [00:39:33] Speaker A: They're doing the right things. And I. Yeah, I think it's a. I think it's a great point that you don't have to make costs real crazy expensive to make it work, like, because you guys are a great example of making that work with less. Where I think more universities need to think about that. [00:39:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's. I don't know how much it costs for the operation part of it, but I think, you know, when I talk to guys, you know, obviously one of the first questions they ask is, how much do. How much is tuition to go there? And I said, oh, it's, you know, $9,875. Everybody gets free books. And they're like, excuse me? And I'm like, no, like, super cheap. And they're like, oh, okay, I'm interested. You know, I'm interested right off the bat. Just because of how cheap the sticker price is. [00:40:24] Speaker A: Because it gets. [00:40:25] Speaker B: It get. [00:40:25] Speaker A: It gets your foot in the door with anybody. Because cost of attendance matters. [00:40:29] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And now, you know, that's. We're super fortunate. And, you know, college debt is. Is kind of a crazy thing. So we're fortunate that we don't have hardly anybody that graduates. We will have no player that graduates with that has to pay more than $4,000 a year. [00:40:47] Speaker A: So because of preseason, ranked number five, I saw. [00:40:51] Speaker B: Yeah, we're. We're excited. We're fortunate. We return every offensive starter from last. [00:40:56] Speaker A: Year'S group, your roster. I'm like, okay, returning, returning, returning. Like, I'm like. And older. I mean, you do have freshmen, but when you look at your roster, it's a lot of grads, seniors and juniors, which. [00:41:08] Speaker B: Some of the COVID Covid seniors are in there. Last year, you know, Evan Sinclair graduated for us offensively last year. He was an All American. He was a good player. But every. Every other starter is back. You know, we did bring in a couple Pieces that we. That we think have a chance to be, you know, impact guys from us. I think we only brought in three. Three new bats, but everybody else is back. You know, Charlie Muniz is back somehow. He had 36 home runs last year. You know, him and Max Harper have kind of been all Americans every year they've been here and, you know, just kind of go down the list. All of those guys had such good years last year. We even believe some of them, you know, can have a better year this year. So we're excited about it offensively on the mound, about half. Half is returning, half is. Half is new. So that's. That's kind of where we had to put a lot of our efforts in and recruiting and, you know, excited about it. You know, the five guys we got coming back that from last year's team pitched a lot, were huge impact guys. And, you know, there's a couple more than that that have gotten so much better. I'm just over the summer going out and throwing and training that that'll have an impact for us. And we pretty talented new guys in. We're excited. You know, they had good falls, so we're. We're ready. You know, we're just trying to get a little bit better each day. [00:42:25] Speaker A: How do you keep it fresh for your returning guys so they're not the same thing over and over again in the fall. [00:42:32] Speaker B: One of the things we had to talk about, you know, the most this fall, especially from an offensive group, you know, a lot of these guys have been here two or three years, so we had to come up with some creative and new things to do that they just weren't used to. You know, a lot of situational stuff. You know, we're not huge into the drill stuff, but just trying to find ways to keep practices competitive is something that we had a lot of discussions with throughout this fall, because a lot of them are 23, 24 years old. You know, we wanted to try to keep it competitive, but not monotonous. [00:43:11] Speaker A: So what were some of the things you guys tweaked? [00:43:13] Speaker B: Like I said, a lot of it was some of the situational stuff, like trying to put guys in uncomfortable situations. [00:43:19] Speaker A: I like to draw it out of a hat. I love it. [00:43:24] Speaker B: They were doing some stuff like that, playing some guys in some positions that they never played before, just, just so I, you know, like, you know, Charlie Muniz has caught every game since he's been here, but we're like, you're going. You're going to first this fall you know, you know, just like just doing some things like that, having some infielders play out, like just trying to, just trying to switch it up and being situational is, you know, we're trying to figure out as good as we were last year, we're trying to figure out what can we continue to do better. You know, we didn't really strike out a ton. We hit a lot, a lot of home runs. But we did feel like there was a couple things, you know, situationally that we could have done a little better. You know, with run our third, less than two outs, you know, we don't have to have a home run, you know, so we really tried to focus on some things that we felt like we could have done just a little bit better last year to maybe win another, you know, get another, get another round here or there. [00:44:20] Speaker A: How has that. Go ahead. [00:44:22] Speaker B: I was saying, especially against such, such good arms that you see in Lewiston, obviously the field is hitter friendly out there, but you're going to run into an arm that, that's pretty elite for our level. And you've just got to be able to find a way to produce runs differently. So that was something we just, you know, I'm a big golfer, you know, so I always try to use the analogy is, you know, there are some days you just can't hit the driver, man. Like you're going to have to get a four iron. You can't find a way to hit it. So, you know, that's something we talk about is all, all good offenses produce runs and we just got to be able to produce runs in different ways. [00:44:58] Speaker A: Well, you look at the last two champions, you know, you got Hope and then you got Westmont and their traditional west coast style offenses. [00:45:07] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, we had, we had played what we opened up in 23 with Westmont had a lead in the eighth and you know, that was. They just manufactured runs, you know, they didn't, they didn't chase, they didn't swing and miss, got guys on base, you know, moved runners over. You know, they just did so many good things and that was their way, you know, and you know, we, I did not get to see, I maybe got to see Hope play a game last year, so I didn't get to see them. You know, Westmont was kind of up close and personal, but everyone's just kind of got their own way and we just don't want to be one dimensional. [00:45:43] Speaker A: How has the landscape of Nai baseball changed since you played? [00:45:48] Speaker B: I'd say that the talent level keeps Increasing and I think it's only going to get better if things continue at the Division 1 level, like we're hearing with roster limits and things like that. But we have eight or nine Division 1 transfers and a bunch of junior college kids and some really good high school players. I think it's going to keep getting better. I think baseball players in general are continuing to just get better because the resources available. So, you know, I, I think it continues to keep getting better and better, but everyone at probably every level is going to say that and I just think it, it's a testament to probably even starts in youth baseball. [00:46:32] Speaker A: I just, I'm impressed. I get an opportunity to see all the championships and, and I, I say it every year. There's not a lot of difference between the eight teams left in Lewiston, Cary, Omaha, any of the championships. Juco, it doesn't matter. Like those teams that are left, they're. Everybody is very similar, which is impressive for me that everybody's doing such a good job. [00:46:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And I, you know, I don't, I don't, you know, obviously I know some of the really, you know, friends with some of the really good assistants that are, you know, in our area and things like that and we're just not, you're not afraid to turn over a leaf, you know, look for a guy under a rock, you know, like there are so many guys from just kind of everywhere that end up at some of these schools and you're like, how did this happen? And I just think there's a lot of really hardworking coaches that do a really good job and recruiting and developing. So did you go ahead? You know, everything that we do defensively I've gotten from abca. I didn't invent anything, you know, like I didn't invent any drill that we ever done. You know, it's always, it's come from a resource. So yeah, I think that also, you know, goes back to you guys with what you guys are able to provide. It allows us to be able to develop guys better because we're being able to see how other programs that are successful are doing things. [00:47:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I think this is the greatest time for resources for everybody. Now there's a lot of information to sift through. I think that's a double edged sword is there is a lot of information out there, but you also have to sift through a lot of information out there. And I think that's key for all coaches is really finding what works for you and your own program because everybody's got to do it a little bit different. [00:48:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I would agree. [00:48:14] Speaker A: Do you have a fail forward moment, something you thought was going to set you back but looking back now helped you move forward? [00:48:21] Speaker B: That's a come back to me on that. Let's talk. I need a second to think about that one. That's a good one. [00:48:26] Speaker A: Did you coach the only the one summer of summer baseball, the Ohio Valley. [00:48:31] Speaker B: League, two summers, same coaching staff. Trey Porsche was our head coach. He's the head coach of Wharton Junior College in Texas. I still talk to him almost every day. He was such an awesome guy. We hit it off right off the bat. Great friend of mine, if Trey watches this, I've still never gotten a player from Wharton County Junior College. We have that conversation about once a week too. But yeah, for two years I loved it there. The people there were incredible. Such a good atmosphere. And you know, I still talk to the GM and people like that, you know, pretty regularly. [00:49:05] Speaker A: I see both sides of it because I did that side. But then eventually you got to get on the road and recruit and do some of that. But the bonds for the guys that coach summer ball together are unlike anything you're ever going to see because you're with each other every day. [00:49:19] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I had a, even when I played, I had a great time doing it. Just, you know, you get to meet people from all over the world that have the same passion that you do, same love for the game. Kind of get a little bit of, you know, if you think you're, you want to be a professional baseball, you kind of get a little bit of decks you play every day, you don't get a whole lot of off days and you know, there's, there's some, you know, neat things that go on, you know, in their environment, in the crowds with, you know, things in between innings and stuff like that. So it's just kind of, kind of a neat, neat way of getting to play baseball, but probably doing things a little bit different than at the college level. So, yeah, I enjoy it. We, you know, we've got some guys that go off and play. Some guys need to go home and work. We get that too. There's, there's different ways to get better. But, you know, we encourage you guys, they want to go play. There's nothing like it. [00:50:07] Speaker A: It's something position players. It's the pitchers that need extra innings. Like I, you, and you said it earlier, the only way you get better by any of this is as playing. [00:50:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:50:21] Speaker A: You can't discount that. I get. There's A time for training. But a majority of your work and your improvement, and especially why I love summer baseball is it's a little more laid back and you can focus on a couple things to work on. And yes, you still want to win and it's competitive, but at the end of the day, you're going to find out a lot more about yourself in this. In the summer situation because it's a little bit more laid back. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. You know, and we encourage guys to go off and play if that's something that's available to them. And, you know, we get so many guys there from so far away from home, they want to go home for the summer, and I get that too. But, you know, if it's something that they want to do, we just, we try to find. We try to find a good fit for them somewhere that they're going to be able to, you know, have some success and some failure. You know, swing of wood for hitters, you know, regularly is. It can be challenging at first, but, you know, it's something that I think in the long run is super beneficial for them. [00:51:14] Speaker A: So you're in. Your wife's path is similar to mine and my wife, because we did not live by anybody that we knew while we were trying to raise kids. How are you guys making that work? [00:51:24] Speaker B: It's, it's. It takes a village. It's all. We took our son to Lewiston. It's, it's everybody and, you know, the community, we're fortunate. We have a sitter. That's great. Coach Shelton's wife helped us find her. So, like, it takes, you know, our guys are great with him. Like, when we went to Lewiston, me and my wife, we were not able to be on the same flight. So she took at the time, you know, 11 months old to Lewiston, Idaho, by herself, but she, she was on a flight with. With a couple other of our guys. And, you know, there's. We have such good people. They were, you know, hey, you want us to take him? Take. You know, she ended up handing him off. You know, Coach Elton was with her. Coach Elton and his wife, they're. They're angels. You know, they. They help us a ton. And just. Even when we took him out there, hey, we'll take him for a little bit. Go get a nap. You know, it really does take a village. And that's, that's one thing so special about here. It's our guys and Coach Shelton, his family and people in the community and just other people that work at the school. We're super, super fortunate because it's not easy when, you know, you just can't, can't drop him off at Memo and go do something. You know, we don't have that luxury. But we take him everywhere. He does everything with us, so it's been really cool. [00:52:35] Speaker A: That was always my first conversations with our guys when fall ball started. I'm like, hey, if you know anybody on campus that you feel like would be a good babysitter, hit me up. And our guys were like, 100%. Like, they. All our kids always had great babysitters because of our players. Yeah, they've been around. One was one year, it was Jim McMahon's daughter. Anybody knows about Chicago Bears football? He was quarterback during their World Series, during their Super bowl championship, and Cody McManus was a player from Montana. He goes, coach, I got somebody. She'll be great. And so my wife always had to interview our babysitters and she told me her last name and I'm like, where are you from? She goes, well, I'm from Chicago. I'm like, is your dad Jim McMahon? She goes, yep, my dad's Jim McMahon. And she was great. Lexi. Shout out to Lexi McMahon. She's probably not going to listen to this, but shout out. [00:53:23] Speaker B: All right. [00:53:23] Speaker A: Back to fail forward moment. And I think that term, like, throws people off. I consider it a fail forward because maybe it's something you thought was going to set you back, but looking back now, it did help you move forward because I asked that, because I think successful people take certain situations that unsuccessful people and turn them into successful situations. [00:53:46] Speaker B: You know, this isn't from me personally, but just from some colleagues of mine that kind of brought it up to me. I guess the biggest thing is they were like, why are you staying there? Why are, you know, you've had success, you want to, you know, like, don't you want to go be a head coach? Further your career? What, you know, whatever they want to say. And I, I appreciate them, you know, trying to look out for my best interests. But I, I have none of those feelings. Like, you know, like, I just. We love it here. We feel like God has put us here for a reason. This is where I want to serve. So I, you know, people are saying, oh, you, you stand in the same spot is holding you back. I, I just disagree. You know, I don't feel like that. I feel like it's only helping me grow as a person. So, you know, that, that may be something, you know, not something that I feel, but just something that, you know, Some people that I'm close with have asked, you know, family and friends, things. [00:54:44] Speaker A: Like that, but I think the opposite is. Is true. I think the people that are so worried about moving and bouncing, those are the ones for me that. That haven't been able to stay in it very long because you just never know what the next situation is going to look like. [00:54:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And I agree. And, you know, I just. I love working with Coach Shelton and, like, you know, I'm perfectly content with what I'm doing and where I'm at. I just want to be where my feet are and, you know, like, it would surprise me if I ever leave here, be honest with you. Yeah. [00:55:17] Speaker A: I never say never, but my dad always said, be careful what you wish for. [00:55:21] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, I just, you know, just super fortunate to work with Coachella and be here. You know, we can't ask for a whole lot more. [00:55:31] Speaker A: What are your daily habits and routines that you. You do personally that you like? [00:55:35] Speaker B: You know, I just try to lead by example, you know, so, you know, and I don't like the two mom, but I. I want to be at the field. I want to be working on the field. I want to be. Find something to do. If I talk to a recruiter, I'll put them on my airpods. I want to be at the field. I want to be getting my hands dirty, blue collar, things like that. You know, I don't. I don't really like sitting in the office a whole lot. That's not really my thing. So, you know, just. Just being able to create those habits of, if coach is doing this, I can do it too. You know, he's not the big time to go pick up, you know, sunflower sheets that someone spit on the turf. You know, like, I'm always just kind of actively looking for something to do. Even in our downtown with turf, you don't have about as much field maintenance. You know, our grass, the outfield still grass, but. But, you know, just. Just being able to find. Just being able to find things to do to. To show guys that, you know, I'm blue collar. You know, I take, you know, I take what I'm doing seriously, you know, and, you know, I would. I would be lying if I said, you know, half the time I don't want to work out, but I do because I want our guys to know that, you know, it's not. It should be important to them. So I can't be a hypocrite and not do it myself. If, If, If. If I'm going to Preach how important it is to them. Sometimes I don't want to go, but that, that, that probably inspired me more than anything. [00:56:54] Speaker A: That's a, that's as good a habit as you can get is, is going in there when you don't want to. It just builds that muscle. That habit muscle is when you're doing things you don't want to do. [00:57:04] Speaker B: I'm just such a routine based person that I, it's almost like clockwork for me every day. [00:57:11] Speaker A: I know what good habits are over time, as it becomes automatic. [00:57:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I know I'm going to work out this time. I'm going to check my emails here. I'm going to, I'm going to go to the field from this time to this time. I'm probably going to take my wife lunch and you know, and, and then by the time I get back and mow the field and get things ready, we'll be in the weight room and you know, it's, it's kind of like clockwork. Now. [00:57:34] Speaker A: Would that be some advice for some young coaches listening in is be willing to. I always say nothing's beneath you. Like, I think that's a good, that's a good mentality to have. I think any coach is that nothing should be beneath you. Whether that's picking up trash or doing the little things to make it better. I think nothing should be beneath you. [00:57:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's something that even in high school I had seen in Coach Yelp. Nothing, nothing has changed. She's probably the most blue collar person I've ever met. You know, we had her. You know, it'd be nothing for us to have recruits in both of us. We've got grass stains on our pants, you know, like, hey, sorry, you know, we had some stuff we had to get done today. You know, I'm just, I would advise, you know, I would say you're not, you're not too good to do anything. But you know, that's just kind of the way me and him were both brought up. We both come from farming backgrounds and things of that nature. So I think that's just kind of in our blood. [00:58:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I have a lot of respect for farmers. I worked, I worked harvest for five years at Western Illinois. So I have a lot of respect for farmers. Farmers. [00:58:36] Speaker B: Yeah, my, my father has, especially since me and my brother are obviously out of the house now. You know, that's just something that our family's done forever. And you know, I, I had to raise five acres to back it. About my first vehicle, he gave me A thousand dollars to start up and took me to go get the plants, and I had to give him a thousand dollars back when I. But I made my money. But that was just something that I'm fortunate that him. That he instilled in me. Yeah. [00:59:03] Speaker A: And patience, man, I think it teaches you how to be blue collar and also have patience. [00:59:07] Speaker B: You know, I didn't have a ton of patience. Coach Shelton has way more patience than I do. So he. He has helped me. You know, one of the. One of the biggest things that I've had to learn is to be even killed. Right. And. And there is no better person to learn from than. Than Brad Sheldon on how to be even killed. I even asked him times, like, how do you keep your emotions just. You. You couldn't tell. We just gave up a big hit in the ninth. Like, you couldn't tell, you know, and I was never like a vocal person, but I could just see my body language. You know, I could go back and see it on video. I've got to get better at that. And I'm just like. So then I'm like, next game, I'm just going to watch coach Sheldon, see what he does those situations. But that's probably one of the biggest challenges that, you know, just. Just being able to say, even kill, not. Not getting too high or too low in certain situations. [01:00:02] Speaker A: I think it. I think it allows you to stay away from some extended losing streaks when you're that way, because then the players aren't focusing on the negatives. [01:00:10] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, one thing he always talks about, even when I was a player, is you're never. You're never as good as you are, and you're never as bad as you think you are, you know, so just kind of keeping that in perspective. [01:00:20] Speaker A: What are some final thoughts before I let you go? [01:00:24] Speaker B: Obviously super blessed to get this award. You know, I think there are a ton of coaches at the NI level that work just as hard as I do, do the same things. You know, we just won a ton of games over, you know, and I don't know if I don't deserve that credit. Our players do, but I just think there are so many really good and hardworking and knowledgeable coaches at our level that I've been fortunate to bounce ideas off of and learn from. You know, I would start naming some, but then I'll forget somebody. But just. Just kind of the relationships you're able to make that I've been able to make with guys on our team and other coaches at our level. And I think that just makes it really special. [01:01:05] Speaker A: Chad, thanks for your time. Hopefully I see you guys in Lewiston again. [01:01:08] Speaker B: Appreciate it, sir. Hopefully. [01:01:11] Speaker A: Congrats to Coach Martin on the well deserved honor and to the Patriots on this historic run they're having. Looks like he and Coach Shelton have set themselves up to have another great season in 2025. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, Matt west and Antonio Walker in the ABCA office for all their help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email r brownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. CoachBeabca 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. [01:01:44] Speaker B: Behind you World will always return and your love was never for yearning and you know that way Wait for another day.