John Knott - ABCA/ATEC Pacific Association Coach of the Year, Mt. SAC

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Just head to rapsodo.com it's like science, but for baseball people. Train smarter. Develop faster. Learn [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 NettingPros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Miner know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast. Next up on the ABCA podcast is ABCA ATEC Pacific Association Coach of the year Mount San Antonio College head coach John Knott. Mount Sac won the 3C 2A championship for the first time in 60 years, going 45. 6 overall with a 22. 2 conference record. Not took over the Mount Sac program the fall of 2016 after a very successful high school coaching career at Bonita High School, leading them to the 2012 CIF Championship for the first time since 1951. Bonita won six straight league titles from 2009 to 2014. Let's welcome John Knott to the podcast. I HEAR John Knott, ABCA ATEC Pacific Association Coach of the Year head coach since 2016 at Mount San Antonio, full time professor in Kinese. But Mount Sack was 456 this year overall and 22 2. I think last time you guys won a championship was 60 years ago is what I read. [00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it's crazy, but we had Joe Jenna, our athletic director, his father in law played on that team and came to our game. Send me a nice email. It's pretty cool. Love it. 60 years. [00:03:52] Speaker A: What was the itch for you to switch from coach in high school? You had a really successful career at Bonita, then going to Mount Sack. [00:04:00] Speaker B: Ironically, when I started coaching, I worked at apu. I got my master's first to do this, then realized early how hard these jobs are to come by. Did high school enjoyed it. And when the job became open, it was my sister that talked me into it. You know, I applied like the last day that it was open and was really not expecting to get it. And so things kind of played itself out. And you know her, we were dealing with some family issues. My mom was bedridden and my dad actually had. Had been on hospice during this time. And so I felt guilty kind of applying and kind of going for it. My sister was the head volleyball coach at PCC and she was department chair over there and she was pushing. I'm like, I. She stepped down to take care of my parents. So she kind of talked me into applying and it kind of played itself out. [00:05:11] Speaker A: Your sister kind of knew you should be coaching in college then. [00:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And ironically I got the job in 2016. She was the online coordinator at Pasadena City college. And in 2019 or 2020, right before COVID our athletic director here, assistant Debbie Caviar, retired and my sister Tammy is now her replacement. So she's over here. [00:05:39] Speaker A: So she's back. [00:05:40] Speaker B: So she's my boss, the younger sister. [00:05:44] Speaker A: Is it harder to win a CIF championship or a junior college state championship in California? [00:05:50] Speaker B: Well, they're both hard. High school, that's actually a good question. Is hard because one game and they're too fair. What I mean by that is you can win the league, have the best team, you're at home. Game one, you play a third place team. Then game two and maybe game three, you're on the road. Even if you're playing a third place team and sometimes a whole new umpire area, it's tough in one game seven Innings to this level, you're dealing with a series. It's a much longer year and you have to keep these guys engaged. And we've just seen them like you don't want them to only be happy to be here. Keep pulling the rope, keep pushing, keep working. And then you also want to motivate it because when you have a year like this, you go 45 and 6. We're starting to get like, our better players are all getting signed to Division 1 schools. You hope they're still like engaged to do what they signed up for. And that's not always the case either. So I think the task of doing it at the community college is more challenging because there's more of a commitment. They're doing so much more from the moment we start school. And you're in implementing a commute till all the way to the end of the school year. But there's no minimizing how difficult high school is in a single elimination. I mean, we're a non contact sport that at the end of the day, baseball, you could do everything right, line out and not get the result. You get into a hot pitcher, a tough weather environment. So they're both challenging. I would say the. And then plus in our state playoffs at this level, there's one champion in high school. You'll get seven or eight. So you have different divisions too. So maybe I would, I would change that if it was single limit high school and only one CIF champion every year. [00:07:57] Speaker A: With the amount of schools in California though, the CIF probably could never go to series, could they? With the amount of schools in California. [00:08:03] Speaker B: I was on the committee before I made the switch and they've talked about doing it like it's all a money thing and you're dealing with the end of the year and people are ready for graduation, not more games. There's, you know, there's a lot of people out here because baseball's so hot and people are, you know, love it that, hey, we could run a gate at these events that there is profit here. Parents will come and pay and use that money to help with things so that way the series is possible. But no, right now they, they don't do that. [00:08:40] Speaker A: What are some of the other differences between coaching high school and coaching junior college? [00:08:45] Speaker B: Well, high school, you got three levels to deal with that can get wearing. So you're dealing with buses and you're dealing with parents and you're just dealing with a younger kid. And so at times, like especially early on, I started, I was 28, you're just like trying to find yourself, you know, trying to be consistent. You learn through failure, hoping to not get burned. Finding coaches that you trust, you know, and then find a, like, routine that works for you. And probably, if you ask me, what's the biggest difference in success from the beginning to the end, obviously experience is one of them happens, but I would say trying not to control everything. We ran way more live situations, coach pitch. The more live we ran, the better I thought they learned. And so I try to put a point game. I try to make practice as competitive as possible. We would do our structured BP and then we would try to do some form of a scrimmage with tempo and a purpose all the time. At this level, you're dealing with them being older. The turnover is much quicker. Eligibility is a little bit different. It's not just gpa, it's units passed. And then you find out if they love it or like it. I mean, that's a big part of this, you know, because the community of high school, like, if a. If a young man's having a difficult time finding himself, this is kind of all he's known. The parents are still actively involved, helping, coming to everything here, yeah, we get support. But making new friends, a whole new environment, plus a commute, plus dealing with, hey, my peers are getting a job, just going to school. So that may be pressure of, you know, this is tough, it's hard, and you're not walking on the field significantly better than a lot of other people. So you're dealing with, maybe for the first time, you're replaceable. For me, this stuff's fun because you gotta, like, build a connection with them. And it's hard, but you really see the character and the cream, the work ethic rising to the top. Like, the people that are all about it and are willing to commit to this stuff get a lot better at this level. High school, it's fun, but they're so young. You can groom them better so when they leave, you're like, man, that was a pretty special group. This one is more challenging because you're inheriting maybe some character, personality, some issues. And the turnover so quick. If a kid blows up and has a great year, he's not coming back, he's signed. If a kid has a terrible year, you may not want them back. And then you're adding the portal kind of, you know, they're much more aware of what's out there. So the movement's a lot higher. You got to get to the point. You got to be a Good educator and teacher. And you got to be a great communicator and you got to have a staff that you could turn your back and they're doing the same stuff. I mean, I feel like getting coach of the year is really like a reflection of staff of the year. I have an amazing, amazing staff that you give them instruction and they're a reflection of me. And they have a ton of experience. They've almost all have played at this level and so see the benefits of coming here. [00:12:29] Speaker A: You know, you talked about point system with your high school kids. What were you tracking point wise in coach? Pitching squads? [00:12:36] Speaker B: Okay, so I'd have like a. It would be between six to eight rounds that they can go. The first one would be like a one on one count for tempo because all want to take a pitch. If, if you start O and O, go one and one and a point of base and a well hit ball is worth an extra point. So we just play a scrimmage, play it live, clear it after three out. Then the next round we would do hit and run a point of base, including the runner where the opposite infielder breaks. So it's a free hit. If you can hit a ground ball to second, but you only get one pitch unless it hits you or bounces somehow, then we go runner at second, nobody out. A point of base for that. And I give an extra point if you could single to the right side. So if you move them over but you go to the left side, you just get the, the point. I don't want righties trying to pull it because they tend to pitch you in there, they make it challenging or off speed pitches. Right in those situations. Then the next couple rounds, and I feel like that I'll use that example during our games a lot, but we double the points. So the infields in one on one count and you got to be able to drive in a run. And what I've noticed is a lot of guys can hit leading off an inning or two outs. You know, in an environment where there's a little bit less pressure, the pitch is a little more predictable and you kind of see how well, how well rounded and how good of a hitter you have when he has to drive in a run because the option of walking then is there. Who could draw a walk, who cannot strike out, who stays inside the ball, who doesn't try to lift it, but could hit it on it on the side, stuff like that. So, and so then the last round we go runner at second, one out at second and two strikes I do one out. Because if we did two outs at second, there's no read for them to make. They're just gone on contact. So it's easy. One out, they still have to see it's caught halfway. Maybe a tag. I've tried to dummy it down. No out, tag, one out, halfway, two out's gone. I know it's not always that, but we do a competition. Most points for the individual, and then we put them into teams. Some kind of like punishment or, you know, reward, whatever it might be. We could try to mix it up and we try to do it at least two times a week. And we're doing it out here that we did it at high school. It works. But the live base running, the live balls off the bat, the light, you know, our pitcher tries to emulate what we might see, you know, in our next series, stuff like that. So it's been a positive for us. And yeah, you can work. [00:15:23] Speaker A: What about the similarities between coaching the two levels? [00:15:27] Speaker B: Well, you still got to teach. You're still trying to. The rosters are bigger in. At a community college, okay, high school, you're dealing with like 14, 15 position players, so it's a little bit easier to get them more reps and more work. Like, man, our fall, we're dealing with between 40 and 45 our roster. And it can just get like. That's part of the grind for these guys is having to wait where in high school they get a lot more attention. And I think what I've told people about high school, I loved it. I would not have left had it not been for this opportunity. Even though some people can't stand it, just recognize you're dealing with a minor. Their kids, even though they try to act like it. So when you say something to them, expect them to say it to their parents. I deal with the kid. I make it very clear that if there's a problem, baseball wise, I don't want to hear from the parent. I want the kid to come and talk to me. I actually compliment them when they do. And, you know, obviously not after a game, but if they're having a tough time figuring out their role, not confident. Want suggestions, whatever it might be, so I can give them stuff and I reward them because I know the parents want to kind of like fight for them, not not reward them, but I compliment them. However, on the flip side of that, you got to recognize you might say or do something that the school doesn't support, and they'll just go above you too. And so you got to Be professional in what you say and what you do. You got to have people that are. That buy into that stuff. I think that's helped me at this level because that's just kind of who I've become. However, you don't deal with some of the same. Those same issues, you know, you don't. I don't deal with really parents. And it was kind of nice. I was talking about this with Scott, my assistant. Like, man, we won that final game. We did pictures, you know, our families came on the field. It was pretty amazing. And then we had like 40 parents waiting for us in the parking lot like barbecue. They were celebrating. It was amazing. Like, that just had not been the case, you know. Will you help him? [00:17:50] Speaker A: How do you re emphasize that with players? They're probably not great at communicating. You know, I think that's maybe one of the differences now with kids, they're not great. How do you re emphasize that with kids? Like, hey, it's okay to come talk to me. If you're having issues. [00:18:05] Speaker B: You find times. I mean, that's the thing is you have four years with these kids and I know now high school's even changing that. So you try to find times. The top. Maybe if I'm not directly dealing with them as freshmen and JV talk to the coaches, who are they like and who's moving well, who's got some, some skill that you've seen or heard. And then if they're not bringing that energy, you're just noticed that they're dragging. I mean there I also had more autonomy in like their day to day. So I could check Aries, I could check their attendance, I could check their grade. So, you know, you're on. I'm a step ahead here. It's still archaic. It's the same system it was when I played. Like, here's a grade check. Have your teacher fill it out. I don't have access to stuff. So even though we would probably agree they're not technically adults, they're 18, they're adults. So it makes it unique. And that part of it, like the, you know, that's how you build the relationship. Are they con in you? Are they being straight up and you're trying to promote. Like, I'm not here to judge you. If you're failing a class or something happened, let us know. Are we going to be. We're not going to celebrate this. Okay. But then we could pivot. If you're afraid of, you know, what we might do or say or that stuff and go down that Road only you're, you're gonna suffer because then we get stuck the result and we can't help you. And so I've tried to like, learn that I have my own morals, try to stay positive with these guys, help these guys. However, it's important to not compromise those and make sure that I'm not judging these guys. If they do something like they get in trouble cheating, they get in trouble at the school, something happens, I deal with that, make sure I follow the protocol. And we're here to help, not here to judge. [00:20:10] Speaker A: I think they're finding themselves similar curriculum teaching wise. High school and, and at Mount Sac. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I mean similar in the sense I taught and do baseball, but in high school I was doing PE the last eight years and that was a huge help because I had taught, started doing history and my first few years teaching and even though I enjoyed it, just grading, staying on top of stuff, the lecturing, it could just really wear you out. The P.E. you're outside, you're just ahead of, hey, if a sprinkler's out, if there's a problem on the field, you knew about it. Where when you're teaching in a classroom, you're finding out sometimes after the fact here it's kind of been a nice blend. When I got the job, I was super pumped and they're like, okay, we need you to get certified to teach first aid cpr. And I'm like, what the hell am I going to do? 16 weeks of CPR? And I thought I was going to love the baseball and hate the teaching, but I've actually, the first year, I actually was probably more of the opposite. I love the teaching. The baseball was tough to kind of get going, you know, but I've really enjoyed both. I, I teach fitness for living and I teach first aid cpr. And I saw your class schedule. [00:21:36] Speaker A: It's online. [00:21:38] Speaker B: Well, it's, it's, it's been neat to see some of our guys in the classroom. Some good and some even not so good. Like, hey, I could see why maybe they're falling short on the field because, you know, granted, some could be a good player and not a great student, but there's a lot of correlations like eye contact and posture and just willingness to listen and comp. Understand. And then I'm teaching stuff that's not like math, science, that is really complex. This is more life skills. So these are things like diabetes, a stroke, heart attack, heart disease, nutrition that they're all doing and at least dealing with. Maybe they have a Grandpa that's gone through that. So getting their attention is usually easier. So if a kid's not, it kind of, it's like, okay, what's going on here? [00:22:31] Speaker A: You said baseball was hard to get going in the beginning. What'd you feel like was hard to get going when you first got. [00:22:37] Speaker B: Well, I wanted, when I got hired, I wanted to make sure that the people at Bonita knew I was committed to them because I got hired towards the end of the year. So I hadn't figured out a staff, hadn't done any recruiting. Like, I kind of waited on all that stuff. And then you're getting officially hired. That takes like time to be board approved and figure out your schedule. And so it wasn't until like probably middle of the summer that I was able to hire my first coach, Coach Zion. I brought over a couple people from Bonita and like started getting the staff here. And along the way my thought was, okay, winning would be nice, but it's secondary. Let's learn the level. Even though we played here, it's been a minute. Let's learn the routine, the schedule, the school. And if we. I understand that you get some. You when you get hired, there's like some energy for the school, like, hey, you might get some people. But for me, the winning part was secondary. Let's build the infrastructure. And it tested us because I think the first year we were sub 500. We had lost like 11 in a row. I mean, there were absolutely days that you're, you know, leaving here going, what did I do? You know, is this the right decision? And you're dealing with stuff at this level. Kids getting in trouble for things that I wasn't dealing with. Even at high school, they weren't doing that stuff. So it challenges you in that sense. Like, okay, what are you, you know, what are you about? But the cool thing was year two, when that happened, it was a lot easier to go out and find guys and tell them what we're about. But year two, we won the conference and we made it to the final four. And that was the first time in almost in over 50 years. So that's kind of cool. [00:24:38] Speaker A: Did you feel like coming out of the fall, you guys had a chance to do what you did the spring? [00:24:44] Speaker B: We knew we'd be good. But the level, no, Isaiah Mon wasn't throwing like this. He actually was coming off Tommy John. We couldn't activate him last year. He throw a pen or in an inner squad, you know, the velocity is there, but then he's done after like you know, an inning or two. So, I mean, it was so much so. One of my assistants was like, I think he's got to be a closer. You know, I don't think we can count on him. And then Ty Thomas, who had a great year for us, he had wrist surgery. He played in Alaska, hurt his wrist, needed surgery, missed the whole fall. We didn't have Landon White, who fell back to us at the break from Arizona State, and we didn't have Tyler Stoll, who fell back to us out of Chino Hills from College of the Mind. So I didn't think we'd hit with the power that we had. But you knew in the fall we were athletic, we had a good group, we had some versatility. There's character there. [00:25:52] Speaker A: With Isaiah's Tommy John timeline, where'd that put him in the spring? How many months off Tommy John was he? And coming in the spring, he was two years. [00:26:00] Speaker B: You know what's crazy? [00:26:01] Speaker A: That's wild. [00:26:03] Speaker B: Last year. Okay, I'll count it still as this year, us winning the state the year before last year, he was with us the whole time. He was a part time student. In the fall, we were ready to activate him in the spring and he just couldn't get healthy. And it wasn't his arm, it was actually his oblique. He's a big boy. He's a big boy, Big, strong kid. And it's like, man, maybe he's just not going to get healthy. And there was that conversation of like, do we want to run this back with him? And I think what made it inevitable, you know, inevitable for us was one, it's a pitcher position of need. Two, you're dealing with a kid that wanted to come back. And granted it was his fourth year, but he wanted to do what it took. And so you started to see him clean up his body. He was in the weight room on a more regular basis. His personality, like, he totally proved me wrong. Like, he was easy to judge, that maybe he's lazy or maybe he's not the hardest worker or the best kid. And I couldn't be more wrong. He was a hard worker, totally committed, great teammate, competitor, and he didn't miss a start. I mean, that's pretty amazing when we look back at it. He did not miss a start. All the innings that he threw and how well he threw and how consistent, it's pretty amazing. [00:27:33] Speaker A: He make nutrition changes too? [00:27:36] Speaker B: Yeah, he did. He was meal prepping. He was more conscious, you know. [00:27:40] Speaker A: Funny how that all works. [00:27:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Of what he was putting and that was One of the things I noticed that made this group exceptional was a lot of guys work and they were doing it even in the spring. You know, in between bp, you're seeing them eat food that they prepped the day before. I think that's the goal is, hey, we're going to lay this out. But when you see the buy in is like, what makes it pretty neat. And I've had that like asked a few times, but like, what was different? You've had some good teams. You have to give these guys different or these guys credit because obviously we had talent. But you go over this stuff like, you got to stay committed, you got to compete, you got to pick yourself up when you fall. You got to have diversity in your game. You can't just do one thing, good teams take that away. Well, you don't know how they're going to be until that opportunity presents itself. Because some of it, it's there just every day. You see the attitude, you see the effort. But when you're falling behind three runs, when you get shelled, the outing before, when you sit the bench and you get replaced, when there's an injury, like you start to see, okay, what are we going to be about? And when guys get tighter, when they get they're still all in, when they're disciplined, it's pretty amazing. Like, that's kind of what happened with this group. Like each layer, each chapter of our book, it's like, man, they are still about it. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Well, you look at the overall season, you had two different back to back losses, but other than that, you guys rolled. I mean, you only had six losses the entire year. [00:29:25] Speaker B: You know, what do you rate that. [00:29:27] Speaker A: To the guys too, being able to put those type of streaks together? [00:29:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it definitely showed our ability. But things started to work out. Like we were at one point, three and three. We lost, you know, a pretty competitive game to Fullerton jc and then we followed that with a loss to Glendale and I know we had lost to Cypress. So those were three losses earlier. I think like our group's ability in even those three games, like if you look at the box scores, we put together some stuff late, like they didn't pack it in, they didn't go, okay, this one's over, let's just move on. Because when you have that attitude, and I almost think that might be human nature to think that way, because baseball, you got to just turn the page. The problem is when you have that mentality, sometimes you can leave, have that in a 2:1 game or a 5:4 game, like, you can just think about the next one, and you got to stay present. Our level doesn't have a clock. Our sport doesn't have a clock. And when you can get to the pen and our days being as long as it is, that transition from. That's another change from high school to the community to college is you're dealing with in high school, a show and go. Games at 3, 15, you're getting there. At 2, 15 catch, you know, pre game play right here. Games at 2, no crowd, 11 o', clock, report full BP. It's hot out here. You have to mentally stay locked in, and especially the games aren't clean. You might have three errors a piece, handful of walks a piece, and the scores, you know, 10, six, you're still in this, but you got to stay disciplined and detailed. And that's like. Was this group. Those were things that they were doing. It's amazing. [00:31:20] Speaker A: That's a long conference season for y', all, starting, what, late February? Enroll till April. Through April. [00:31:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And our conference is competitive. I mean, Cerritos had a outstanding year. You know, we had won 21 games in a row, and we played Cerritos two out of three at our place. I don't know the last time, but it was like we were ranked one in SoCal and they were two or vice versa. It was one versus two. And they hammered Isaiah. I mean, part of it was he was a little bit erratic and emotional, and they had some absolutely great at bats. And they showed up, and I was kind of curious, like, okay, how's this group gonna be? Then the next game, we go to their place, and you could tell we were ready to go. Both teams, like, showed up. It was a traditional, like, baseball game. 2, 1, we're trailing, but we loaded the bases in the ninth inning with 7, 8, 9. So now coming up as 1, 2, and 3, and all three of my 1, 2, and 3 ended up all state, two all Americans, and all three are playing at a D1. So they make a pitching change. It's like, okay, we're at least gonna score one. Our leadoff hitter, three, one count fouled out. I'm like. I couldn't. I was shocked. But okay, we had our kid, that one State hitter of the year up next, and he ends up hitting into a double play. Their kid made a nice, nice grab at third, turn two, and it's like, wow, did that just happen? Did that really just happen right there? And I thought maybe in a negative way, it could have been a turning point. For us, like, are we gonna become that team that was good early and kind of fizzled out late? And we won 15 in a row after that. And it just like, I was so impressed with our group. We won Saturday at home. We showed up and we were just way more consistent. And that was the thing. I was talking to Cerritos, his coach, he liked his group. They played up for us. We were sustaining it. And a lot of these teams that are good could nip you, could beat you, but they couldn't play like that on a regular basis. And I think our guys, like played for each other. They love the game. They created a baseline for what we were going to do. [00:33:54] Speaker A: Do you like the conference schedule because it's kind of spread out throughout the week, correct? [00:33:59] Speaker B: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Yeah, I like it. I mean, you know, the idea is one arm can't win you a conference, so you try in the non conference to do that. However, if you want to keep certain matchups, sometimes you'll play on a different date. But I, you know, I think it's all good until it's not. Which at our level is the rain and you know, the lack of resources. So it's like, okay, if you're playing a road game and they don't have a tarp and it's conference, you got to play the next available day. Well, what if you go through back to back rain? What if it's a storm? Like we've just seen, you know, some headaches and trying to navigate through this and guys got to step up, you know. So, yeah, I don't mind the conference schedule at all. I think it's competitive. I think we come into the playoffs ready to go. Whoever is a part of that and, you know, you just gotta go one in a row. [00:34:59] Speaker A: Coach Zion's been with you the whole time? [00:35:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Coach Zion. Ironically, I did not know him prior to hiring him and he was. We had a handful of friends in common, so I started doing homework. He was coaching at Pomona Pitzer at the time, just meeting with him, you know, his passion, energy, kind of what he wanted to do. And I've always told people how much respect I've had for him. Not just his coaching ability, but he bet on me. And coming over here without much of a guarantee outside of a stipend, you know, he's been able to now teach classes here and really develop a pretty good resume. But it didn't start out that way. You know, we start out getting to know each other and not much of a guarantee. [00:35:52] Speaker A: Do you Have a checklist for hiring assistants. Is it just off gut feel? [00:35:58] Speaker B: No, I think you're looking for. What's the need? I mean, you want to find a pitching coach. You want to find a good mix of coaches that can connect with players but also have some experience. So I feel like we're at, like, this is such an amazing staff. I mean, this past year, Coach Vanderhook, who's actually near me, he coached Cookie. What's up, Hooky? They're saying hi to you here. The Ryan is Brownlee. Yeah. He gave you the middle finger. [00:36:38] Speaker A: Shocker. [00:36:39] Speaker B: Yeah. But no, it. I mean, we've had just a wide array of coaches and I think their experience has been huge, but their passion and willingness to kind of blend and do what we ask him to do has been awesome, you know, and it's been really a lot of fun. [00:37:03] Speaker A: Any unsung heroes on the team, like people you didn't expect to come in and. [00:37:07] Speaker B: Oh, tons. I mean, there's been so many. Seriously, I can go through probably the whole team. You know, that was one of the questions earlier. I mean, I think even early on, like, Brian Bradshaw went to ucsd and I could vividly remember saying he can't play center field. He. He's too slow. You know, he doesn't. He doesn't have the features. And he totally proved. Proved us wrong. You know, he played center, he made some incredible plays, and he's going to use. He's going Division 1 to go and play center field. Ty Thomas was out all fall. I never thought he played in every game. Talk about an ironman. Had a great year, you know, but Cole Nreiner, our catcher, was a red shirt sophomore and we brought in some competition. Ironically, the competition decided to do something else, like right within the first week. And so it was pretty much Cole and he did a great job. He got himself a Division 2 scholarship. He caught every game, even caught the double dip against Chaffee and told us before I got this, I'll give you everything I got, but don't be shocked if I blow a gasket out here, you know, and you know, our. I'm trying to think here. Our shortstop, Noah Rodriguez was coming from a Division 1, but he went to UNLV trying to find himself, really trying to do too much and pressure on himself to get that scholarship and move on. And I think he recognized the importance of being present. Be where your feet are, be a sponge, Enjoy these guys. It's not just as simple like a prescription where you come here. I got to work on my hitting. I got to get stronger. Here it is. This is what I got to do to become a good player. You also have. Yeah, that might be true some of those things, but you got to also work on, on the things you've been doing prior to this, the relationships. You're going to have to work on the detail, understanding your why, your motivations for doing things, becoming an independent player. That's the goal. Like we teach all this stuff in the fall, but the hope is like, hey, you fell a pitch off, you know that you were on your or you know, you over strider, you chased and step out, gather, go get him. Same with the pitch and that we're aware on the situation but you're not focusing on the result. [00:39:32] Speaker A: How do you help them develop that team first mentality? Because I mean obviously they're at community college to go to another school at some point. How do you help them develop that team first mentality? Because that is going to help them get to the next spot by focusing on that, that team first mentality. [00:39:46] Speaker B: That's probably another like big difference from high school. For here is like when you get them in high school, you get them longer and not just being younger, but you're able to really put that in, you know, their minds at a. From the beginning of their time with you here you're not getting everybody for two years. So the turnover is much faster some. I mean we have a couple guys that left us, they were with us for one semester and moved on and got scholarships. How do you. It's like a melting pot. You know, how do you make a great meal with all these different pieces? And that is a challenge. It's not a one way. Like it starts with the staff being clear on the expectations but also being all in and holding these guys accountable. But the players get a ton of credit for committing and being about it and not just saying it and doing it on a daily. I gotta finish that up. Okay. And I think that's always the challenge. Every year you have to check your ego at the door and you have to recognize that you're committing the kids and it's not just about moving them on. Coaches want players from good programs because usually when you've been in a winning program, you're asked to do more than just one thing. Maybe be in the game, in the dugout when you're not playing, pressure to get into the game. So you got to bring it in. Practice versatility in your game because there's other options. That's the kind of environment you want. And honestly, that's the type of world the player is trying to get to. They're trying to get to the highest level. So you can't. You might innately hope for a guarantee, like, I want to go in there and get 200 at bats. But what we innately want might not be what's best for us. You shouldn't want that. You. You should want to be held accountable. And if you're not good enough and you. Then you should draw the short end of the stick. But it's all in pencil. Tomorrow it could change. You got to keep working at it. And when you have a great staff, they notice who's making those adjustments. You asked me about like an unsung hero, and our kids having surgery today, but we walked off the second round. Our players dogpiled on our kid. That did it. He tore his ACL. It was crushing. He was hitting over.400, drove in right around 50 runs. Like, very impactful. His replacement, we were very thin at this point based off injuries and just kind of what had went down. His replacement hadn't had a ton of at bats and playing time. And he was really pressing. I mean, he's now getting at bats in the final round to get to the final four, the third round, the SoCal finals against Glendale. And he's doing some good things, but you see when he's not doing so well that he's maybe pressing, you know, trying to do too much. And just a credit to the makeup of the group and his work ethic. The final game against West Valley that we beat them in the eighth inning, he came up bases loaded, one out, hits into a double play, ground ball to third. Then he comes up in the tenth inning, bases loaded, two outs, full count, jam sandwich to the pitcher. And he's like at this point, just totally head down. And we're encouraging him. It's okay, man, be ready to go. Then in the 14th inning, when we take the lead, he comes up runner at second, one out, bangs a single to center and to give us that run. And we scored a few more afterwards. But it's like resilience, discipline, and then seizing the moment when that opportunity presents itself, you got to be ready. And that's like the makeup of the players, because you could say it, and then the guy is upset at his role, and he's just not primed to seize the moment. [00:44:00] Speaker A: How do you prep for that? You may get bounce backs, you may not get bounce backs. So obviously roles are going to be kind of fluid throughout the entire year because of. You may get bounce backs, you may not get bounce backs. [00:44:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's what we've signed up for. There's a little bit of a pro ball component to this and the bounce backs have arguably been our most impactful players. I think the two year guys have been probably the best leaders and you've seen the most growth, but like the highest ceiling have been probably the guys that started at a a four year. Like Isaiah was at Cal State Fullerton, Landon was at Arizona State. Like you could see on many occasions why they were signed out of high school. And now it's like injury. Maybe it's grades or maybe it's just discipline or a combination of things. What they. There's a reason these guys need to be here and I actually wish it was more the prereq for everyone to at least come a year because our level forces them to kind of have skin in the game. They gotta commute, they gotta time manage. There's no money, there's no nil for them. It's just such a great stepping stone. They're away from their parents, so it's now on them a lot more. It's a great stepping stone for them to be able to not only fail, but see how much they like it or love it. [00:45:29] Speaker A: And also having bounce back guys, they can kind of relay that the grass isn't always greener on the other side too. Correct? [00:45:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I think that they were able to share those specifics, like the benefits of being here, of getting the more individualized attention to recognize the opportunities that they're getting. You know, just. It was almost refreshing in a lot of ways because when you're signing kids at one point, freshmen and sophomores in high school, you're just going to miss. We all think development, we know, but we're, you know, until it's really right in front of you. You don't know because we don't know all the factors and we're all wrong at times. And so that's kind of the case from time to time is like sometimes it just was not the right fit and it's there and it's getting the player to recognize what's inside of them. And we've had just several awesome stories about doing that. [00:46:25] Speaker A: You talked about players from a successful programs. What do you feel like championship teams or programs or players do that other ones don't? [00:46:34] Speaker B: Well, I think it starts with like not words, but actions. So the stuff that they're saying they want to be about, the accountability stuff the discipline, the being coachable. I feel like we always do that at the beginning of the year. Write down goals of kind of a covenant. But you'll. You're not going to know until like those opportunities present themselves and like the actions follow. I think versatility that, hey, not only it's not about you to make it about your peers and your teammates to really. What does that mean? Like, to if somebody pinch it for you or playing above you or you're struggling to like pull for them and they're bad and not innately hope they struggle and like show some maturity, but also versatility in your game, the ability to work on your foot speed or athleticism, to play second or third or right field. And then I have an ego that, oh, I only play here. And it's like, well, that might have been the case coming here, but we have a couple of you and your skill set can play elsewhere and getting that buy in. And we had that on this group just like that dynamic. And I don't think there was any one major thing except we did do on Fridays in the fall, going over mental training stuff. We watched a ton of videos and read some stuff that coach Vanderhoek had from Brian Kane and from like planning your day. We had them write down, like, from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed, what they're doing, what they're, you know, so they're prepped, so they know two ways that they can improve their breathing. So when they get in a. A pressure cooker or a moment that they're kind of caught up in the result. Some things that are tangible that they could do to help them to maybe just some perspective on stuff that's going on and getting them to talk and open up, that you kind of get to know the player internally. And so that, that I think helped too. [00:48:59] Speaker A: Those goals and covenants, those different from year to year, the team setting those or that coming from coaches or a mix of both. [00:49:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I think you don't want the coaches doing all of it. You want the coaches to guide because at young men, like being bold and speaking out and being brave to say something that could get them laughed at. Not everybody does that well. So you want to be the type of leader that can guide, but you definitely want it player driven because this is what they want and this is how they want to be held accountable and what they want to do. And then you as the head coach and the coaches, you want to use your experience like, hey, what if this happens? How are we going to handle it, you know. And yeah, you kind of create this checks and balance for your team, you. [00:49:57] Speaker A: Know, do you have a fail forward moment, something you thought was going to set you back but looking back now helped you move forward? [00:50:04] Speaker B: Could be personally professional. I think personally I probably. I've been through a ton in the last, you know, seven, eight years. Both my parents have passed. I went through. My dad had cancer, then hospice. And about a year and a half ago my mom, she had an aneurysm. Survived but she was paralyzed. That's why my sister stepped down as head volleyball coach to take care of them. She was their caretaker. She lived 10 years. She died about a year and a half ago. That's still been tough. You know, you're just constantly dealing with issues and stuff going on and so personally recognizing why you're doing this. And I'm just, I feel like I'm at a phase in my life where I'm trying to give. I'm. I'm more open when I communicate. I try to bring my kids around. I try to, yes, I hold myself accountable and I'm the coach and leader, but I'm also a person. I'm figuring myself out post Covid like everyone else. I'm trying to navigate in this world to have fulfillment and purpose like everyone else. I'm learning on a regular even though maybe more experience and stuff. So personally a ton. And then baseball wise, I think, I think probably this year the Cerritos game was the most significant moment. The example I gave about the bases loaded and we didn't score and win that game. But I could even say when we played Chaffee the second round, they were a very competitive club. Game one, Isaiah kind of got to the point Muniz that we were rolling with him. And sometimes when you play a series, the downfall can be when you kind of blow out an opponent. So game one, we played Chaffey best at three and I think at one point we're up seven nothing, maybe nine nothing. Like he kind of handled them pretty well and credit to them. We went to the pen, they hit our guys pretty well and made the score somewhat competitive, but it was pretty one sided and then shows a testament to their character, their work ethic. Game two happened to be the Mother's Day weekend. Well, it was a double header. If you lose Game two, now we're the road team. The first game we'd be the home team and ironically out here the temperature was over 100, it was super hot and I got right before the game the water's getting shut off. They had a mainline leak. I was able or AD was able to at least get some type of an emergency that we could put some on the dirt before. But the AC in our offices and the locker room and stuff was off. So game two, okay. The, the first game of, of the double header, we had a 5, 3 or a 42 lead. Kind of went all in to try to win it right there. And our setup guy wasn't sharp. Then went to our closer who they hit him and it was just like, oh man, we, we kind of threw our chips in there, use these guys. And they ended up blowing us out. So the score looked one sided on their end but actually in like the seventh we had a lead, went to win the game and now we're having a short turnaround. It's hot as can be. We're thin the roster and I just thought the makeup of these guys, the. Their will discipline, staying with it. And one thing that was pretty cool. Bottom of the eighth inning, we're chasing a run. The score's like seven, six or eight seven. We have two on, two outs. Brian Bradshaw's at the plate, Noah Rodriguez, our shortstops at first. And one of the things coach Vanderhook was doing was when we do our leads and reads, he would get a chalker and he would chalk 12ft where they're exactly where their foot should be. And you know, these long days they take for granted because we weren't stealing at this point that he was the trail runner. Would have just been easy to get a shorter lead. And Bradshawn like the second pitch hits a ground ball to short. But what I had noticed with Noah, he was actually getting a bigger lead. And Noah beats the flip to second and called him safe. And our best hitter came up and single next time and we scored two. Like that little detail right there, totally pivotal. But credit to them, they tied it. So we go extra innings and we get first and second, nobody out. And then our kid laid down who ironically in practice we were saying he couldn't. He can't bunk because he was bunting it foul in practice and coach was saying, what's wrong? You can't get this down. Too much pressure. You can't bunt. And he laid down an absolutely perfect bunt that their third baseman threw away and we walked him off. So pretty, pretty cool. [00:55:32] Speaker A: You have double duty today because you got the E team sponsor webinar. [00:55:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:37] Speaker A: How long have you used any team sponsor? [00:55:39] Speaker B: We have used them since we've been here. They've been huge with just supporting our goals, giving our players, you know, we have a budget here. So as nice as Mount Sack is, I don't know if you've seen the facility. It's like I've been there. It's, it's pretty amazing here. We're hosting all these events. I mean we hosted the state recently, but our football field's nice, our track and field facilities, awesome. The weight room's great. But you know, buying equipment's not cheap and getting these guys the things that they want isn't cheap. So E teams has been a huge support in us, like being able to access and get those things. And, and the school has also been able to make E teams like they're used throughout like many of the sports programs here. So it's been great. Great relationship guys have been very helpful. [00:56:30] Speaker A: Love it. With your kinesiology background, what do you do for routines? Evening or morning? You work out. What do you, what do you like for routines? Your routines? [00:56:38] Speaker B: Well, I should be working out more. I get in those spurts. I got a 9 and 10 year old so I'm like try to be as present for them. My nine year old daughter, she plays soccer, she likes dance, stuff like that. So I'm going to her events and, and that's crazy because that's all over the place. I mean she's got a game this weekend coming up out In Huntington Beach, 8am, you know, double header Saturday. So those are those games. And then my son is doing soccer. Aso, we're just doing local plus travel, baseball, which I don't coach. I'm a, I'm a dad, a fan and so just helping him kind of find himself and, and be present, do that stuff with my wife. My wife has recently had surgery so she's been at home so I've been having to do double duty. [00:57:34] Speaker A: How long's her timeline? So she's back. [00:57:37] Speaker B: We'll see. It looks like she's going to be okay, but you know, it. She's been through a lot physically. She's had. Ever since we had our daughter, she's had like issues with her wrists. They. And we're not getting a clear answer on why. She was into martial arts so they thought maybe that was it. But her back wrists and this most recently was cancer and so we think we're good. It's just, I'm not putting out a timeline. We want to make sure she's up, feeling okay, but totally blessed. It's just scary when you're dealing with these Things. [00:58:18] Speaker A: Yep. For sure. For sure. All right. What are some final thoughts before I let you go? [00:58:25] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you having me. I think this was an amazing year. And I had almost. You know, Coach Zion is super positive, almost to a fault. I'm like, man, we gotta just chill. But he has been thinking of this for a long time. But I had personally accepted, like, winning a state is so difficult. Like, I didn't want that to define me, you know, because I know there's pressure at a school like Mount Sac. They went in all these sports, and for me, it's about the connection, moving guys on. I didn't want it just to be about that. And so to have a group so committed to just so amazing in so many areas that believed in the system, that worked hard, that pulled for each other, it shows that our level is alive and well. It shows the benefits of coming here, that you can move on. You can. You can accomplish many of your goals and dreams, but it's not going to just happen overnight. It's a lot of work. And just the journey, I mean, even to the last day, I had felt like we could do this, but we weren't focusing on that. We weren't coaching, trying not to lose. We really enjoyed these guys and just an amazing group of coaches that not only were committed, but we're building relationships with these players and, you know, what the player does well and maybe what they need work on. But you almost become like a fan because you're recognizing the growth that they've done from the beginning. It's pretty cool. It's a pretty neat deal. [01:00:14] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, John. I'll see you. [01:00:16] Speaker B: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm glad we got this working and hopefully it's enjoyable. [01:00:23] Speaker A: All right. Appreciate you, sir. Thank you. [01:00:24] Speaker B: Thank you. Take care. [01:00:26] Speaker A: Congrats to Coach Knott and Mount Sack on their historic season. He's been building the program for the last 10 seasons and happy for him on his successful run this year. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale and Matt west in the ABCI office for all the help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email our brownleebca.org Twitter Instagram or TikTok coachbrabca or direct message me via the My BSA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks and leave it better for those. [01:00:55] Speaker B: Behind the world keeps on turning and your life is not for yearning and you know that way Yep Wait for. [01:01:11] Speaker A: Another day. [01:01:16] Speaker B: And the world will always return as your love never for your name and you know that way wait for another day.