Kurt Elbin - Associate Head Coach, Virginia Tech University

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host Ryan Brownlee. A unicorn in every sense of the word. Rolling's new limited Edition Icon Electric Yukorn Bbcor Bats performance is fully charged and will leave the competition mystified. Its seamless two piece carbon construction maximizes barrel size while maintaining optimal stiffness and increased trampoline. With a balanced swing weight and slight end load, the Unicorn is best for athletes seeking speed through the zone. Electrify your swing with the all new Rawlings Icon Electric Unicorn Bat. Happy hitting. 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 62707 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 Kurt Elbin enters his seventh season on the Virginia Tech baseball coaching staff, having arrived in June 2017 and earned promotion to Associate Head coach, offense and recruiting coordinator. In May 2022, Elin joined John Sheff's coaching staff after serving as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at vcu. Elin has a great track record coaching hitters and recruiting at the Division 1, 2 and 3 levels. Also having coached at Shippensburg University and Teal College, the Hokies hitters are consistently ranked in the top 25 for most offensive categories. This spring is no different with the.314 batting average, 151 runs scored, 50 doubles, 21 home runs and a.971 OPS through 17 games. Get your patent pen ready because this is a great episode on coaching and developing hitters. Let's welcome Kurt Elben to the podcast. Hey Kurt Elben, Associate Head Coach, Virginia Tech but worked his way up at ladder, was at Teal, Shippensburg, VCU and has been at Tech for a while now working his way up the ladder. So Kurt, thanks for jumping on with me. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Hey, thanks for having me Ryan Especially. [00:03:16] Speaker A: This time of year. I appreciate you guys because you're so busy. You had a game last night at JMU and you guys are right in the thick of things. So thanks for jumping on with me. [00:03:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. My pleasure. [00:03:26] Speaker A: What have been your biggest adjustments? You know, for somebody that's listening in right now, you've kind of worked your, you've done a good job of working your way up the ladder. What have been your adjustments on your stops and the certain, you know, with your responsibilities? What have your adjustments been? [00:03:41] Speaker B: That's a good question. I think as you go and as you grow in the game and, and whether regardless of level, like the game is the game, I think there's so much information out there now that young coaches at, quote, unquote, lower levels. I mean, we're all, we're all in this thing together in, in terms of baseball, but they have access to so many different things, you know. But as you grow in the game, as you, as you get, you know, into upwards of Division 1 baseball and then you're a Power 5, I think what I've learned is the games and just the style of play becomes a little more similar. It's closer. I think the small things matter so much, especially when you start to close the gap of talent level from team to team. So I think just the focus on detail is what I've learned. I think you can take an extremely talented athlete and you can, you can coach him in, in a lot of different areas, but if you can get him to focus on just the smaller things, I think the bigger things become a little easier. You know, that that's what I've, I've noticed and I feel like as a coach, coming from a. My background and having to not only play and coach Division 2, but Division 3 and work my way up, I, I think I've, hopefully you can see it in the way we play, but I've, I've had to work on the small things because I, you know, I've never had the talent to, to, you know, I wasn't a, a D1 guy or, or a professional player. And that's fine. It is what it is. But I think I've, it allowed me to focus on, you know, where can you gain advantages from a coaching perspective? And I, I've kind of put that into our, our, our group, hopefully. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Do you feel like being at schools that didn't have resources has helped you now that, that you have been at a place now that has some more resources? [00:05:29] Speaker B: I hope so. I think so. It makes you not take things for granted one, but it makes you, I think, a sense of, you know, you need to work and you need to coach these guys like they know nothing. That's what I've been used to and that's kind of, I hope I've carried that in to, to my eight years here at Virginia Tech on the position player side of things. But when you don't have resources, you got to be creative and you got to look at the game a little differently. And when you start to get resources, hopefully you can continue to, to have that, that path of like, hey, let's coach these guys. Like we don't have anything. But all the while like you're allowing them the ability to have control of their development when you're not coaching them. And I think that's the difference, right? Places that have resources like Virginia Tech and you know, all the schools in our league, it allows them to be in control of their development when you're not with them. But when you're with them, I think what I like to do is hopefully act like we have nothing and you know, coach them that way. [00:06:27] Speaker A: What are some things you've kept over the years? [00:06:31] Speaker B: What do you mean? In terms of what? [00:06:32] Speaker A: Player development? [00:06:34] Speaker B: Oh man, just the strike zone. I think we've had access to so much, so many different things with trackman and it allowed us to really look, take a in depth look at what guys do. But I think just using your eyes and trusting your eyes, grading out contact when you watch guys hit, but just how they handle certain pitches in the zone, I think I've kept that. I think the style of defense, just being able to get outs, keep the lead base in order, keep the double play in order. Excuse me, just, just those types of things I think have always kind of, you know, been, been my style, I think. And then also just being able to watch the game and gain competitive advantages. We have guys in the dugout that are in charge of certain things. Watching, whether it be, you know, on offense, what the pitcher's doing, times just sets, everything. You know, someone hawking a catcher. When you don't have video to go back on. When you're at those lower levels, I think what you do is you have guys that, hey, we need to, maybe we can attack this team, this opponent in these, these different areas and certainly we haven't lost that. It has allowed us to hopefully have some advantages in game. [00:07:50] Speaker A: How do you assign guys that. [00:07:53] Speaker B: Just talking to guys, listening to them, there's, there's, you know, take for, you know, for instance, like a guy that you have a pitcher that's not hot and he's a left handed arm and he does similar things to the arm that you're facing. You grab him, say, hey, let's watch these. These are things that we look for in tells in the baserunning game and. Or you might have an injured catcher sign in the game or a guy that's maybe getting arrest and say, hey, I want you to watch this setup. Help us out here. You know, I know you do these things when you're in the game and you kind of cheat to certain areas when you're trying to get to a fastball spot or you're setting up for a breaker in the dirt and you know, those, those are ways that we kind of go about that, but then you start to know your team a little bit and that's what we do. Not only just with, with that, but with a lot of different things. And you know, infielders on the bench, watching defenders maybe shift mid, you know, mid pitch call, they're giving away maybe a tip breaker or something like that. So just using your guys on the bench, I think if you talk to them, if you allow them to learn the game like you're seeing it, they can, they can, they can be, you know, you know, another set of eyes. [00:09:04] Speaker A: Jeff Duncan paid you a great compliment, by the way, over at the LeClaire Classic. Because he mentioned that. Yeah, because. [00:09:09] Speaker B: Did he really? [00:09:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yep. Kent mentioned that because I've known dunk for a long time and he said, you know what? He goes, coach Albin's really good. He goes, they're really good at picking stuff up at Virginia Tech. [00:09:19] Speaker B: We have a guy I got to give a shout out. Tyson Petersheim, Nick Khalisa, two guys that they're PA guys. I, I recruited Nick, he played for us, now he works with, works on our staff. But Tyson actually played a lot. Cavend where I played, didn't know him until, you know, his name came about and we hired him right around Covid. I mean, but then dudes are awesome in just a lot of different aspects. But in Coach Anson, same way. But those guys are, I mean, it's tough. You got to be good or they're going to get you. There's no doubt. [00:09:54] Speaker A: You know, you always hear that, well, you had to have played at that level to coach that level. And I don't agree with that. You know what's allowed you to kind of keep moving up because guys don't always get that opportunity or Great story because Guys don't always get that opportunity. And how did you get your foot in the door at certain places? [00:10:12] Speaker B: I hustled, and I don't. Look, I don't know if you can do that anymore just with. Just the way this thing's going. I hope you can. And I've had some young coaches that I don't know randomly email me and be like, hey, I saw you started at a Division 3, and you played Division 2, and now you're an associate head coach at Virginia Tech. And look, it. It starts with work. I. It's the same old cliche. I didn't make any money early. And you had to get out and grow your network and, and have contacts, and I did. I did. I worked a ton of camps. I ran all sort of baseball camps when I was at Shippensburg. That's how I met Paul Keys, who's a head coach at vcu, working a. A camp in. In Richmond, outside of Richmond, and, you know, new Sean Stifler and that. That's how I got into Division 1. But I wouldn't have made those connections if I wasn't willing to just go out and. And work and talk. Having the abca, having camps, having the ability for our network of college coaches to not only connect, but talk and grow, I think that is so awesome and beneficial for young coaches. But that's. That's how I did it. And it still can be done, but at the end of the day, the game's the game and the best minds, and I'm not talking about myself, but, you know, it doesn't change just because you play professional baseball. It doesn't change because you're a first. You know, you played Division one or first round or whatever. I think these kids, they want connection. They want to know you care, and if you can let them know that you have a little bit of knowledge, but you care about them and you want to work and you want to get in the trenches with them. You earn the respect, regardless of where you came from. [00:11:53] Speaker A: In your background, you talked about approach. How much of that is vetted out in the recruiting process, in the box. [00:12:01] Speaker B: Like hitting. Hitting approach. [00:12:02] Speaker A: Hitting pitches. [00:12:03] Speaker B: Well, that. That's, you know, it's. It's. It's a tough thing to see. Just like makeup, I think makeup is in. In our. Just with the recruiting structure right now is a tough thing to gauge, like, because it happened so fast, August 1st, September 1st. But for me, like, the approach thing is, you. I. There's a lot of guys that like to watch in different Spots, right? You want to watch the guy from the side, how does his swing work? You want to watch them, you know, from, from behind. I, I like to watch from behind. I want to see what they're swinging at. I want to see in counts. What are they looking like? Are they just always on fastball? Can they, can they change their timing based on situation? What, what in like, what do they struggle with in the zone? What can they handle in the zone? But like, you try to get through that a lot in the recruiting process. I do think it's tough because I don't know if it's being taught at younger levels, especially not the travel ball because you don't have a lot of information on guys one to develop a good approach. And I think, I think approaches come from knowing what the pitcher has, how he, how he attacks you and how you can eliminate certain things. But probably the holistic view, maybe that's not right. We're just a 30,000 foot view. Is, does he swing strikes? Does he take balls? And when he gets, when he's getting fastballs, does he move them? And for me, like those are things that we really try to, to watch in the recruiting process. [00:13:29] Speaker A: Is there a barrier of entry with bat speed with hitters to get to the Power 5 level? [00:13:34] Speaker B: There is, but it's, it's there, there's. It's like the sliding scale with, with these admission scores. Admission, admission standards. Because we'll take a flyer on a kid with lower bat speed. He might, he might roll the pole at 60, 65 miles an hour, but if he's rotating into 20s, we'll take him. So yes, there is, I mean Tanner Strobel was that way low bat speed guy, but could really rotate and just had good actions. It looked like he was a good mover to go flower him and he ended up being one of our best players. Gavin Cross, same thing. Like some, some older guys we've had Jack Hurley, kid had elite bat speed but, but, but sprayed the zone with his bat like he was like the effectively wild pitcher man. He sprayed his own with his bat. He swung everywhere, swung ugly, but he was a different guy, right? Like he had elite batsby. You're like, well, let's just take him because he would swing and miss, but then he'd hit a ball really far. And so I, I think there's some give and take with that. But I would say this. If a kid lacks bad speed and isn't a good mover, we're probably going to need to see that kid get really strong because you can get really strong and impact the ball with strength. But just trying to project that kid's tough. Yes, bad speed is important. It's not the end all, be all. I think rotation helps there. And then just watching their movement patterns, if they look like they can move and adjust and if they, if they seem athletic in the box, I think all of it kind of goes together. [00:15:00] Speaker A: And you've done a really good job with your indoor facility because you have a lot of good hitting reminders that are up in your, in your indoor facility. [00:15:07] Speaker B: Yeah, we try to, it's, it's, it's a constant. Like that's our place of, that's the lab. That's where we can work. That's where we can break down swing. That's where we can talk about moves. That's where we can talk about approach and, and you know, you kind of get away from the, the just the one on one competing side of things. But you know, whether it's banded stuff, med balls, water ball, water logs, like video trackman, like there's, there's, it can be a lot. And I think we hopefully train our guys in a way that they know where like hey, here's the low hanging fruit. Let's, let's attack this today. And they've used it pretty well. I like our spot. I like our space. [00:15:50] Speaker A: When do you know when it's time to make an adjustment with a hitter? [00:15:56] Speaker B: I think two things. I think the game tells you, I think their body language tells you if you recruit guys that hit and you watch them, whether it's in the fall or the spring. I mean, speaking of, I'm in two hours, man. We're about to make an adjustment with a couple guys. So like it happens. Like there's a, there's, there's. For me, it's, Are they like, there's some, some, some boxes. Are you swinging at pitches you want. Okay, are you seeing the baseball? Are you on time for those pitches? And if, if we're saying yes, I'm swinging at what I want, I'm seeing it. Well, I'm on time. I'm just missing it. We need to, we need to look at something. I mean there might be something with your weight, you might be something with, you know, your hands. Like these guys take thousands of swings and, and they will, they, they will literally not know that they're doing something into the naked eye because we see them in the same light every single day. Patterns start to get there in it and you don't see them Right. So now we got to go back and look at some side angle video. We got to slow down their swing on Synergy or643 or whatever it may be. That's for me is, is when you need to start to look at making adjustments, you know, numbers, body language, talk to the hitter, are you on time, are you seeing it, are you swinging at the right pitches? And if they're saying yes and they're not get, they're not getting on the barrel and they're not taking quality bats, you're gonna have probably there's something going on there. [00:17:23] Speaker A: Most of your guys still visual learners, they need to see themselves and how they're moving. [00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah, we still, I mean, yeah, I. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Always think about that too. There's so much data out there for them to look at. But, but how many of those guys still need to see themselves and how they're moving? [00:17:37] Speaker B: A lot of them and I think a lot of them need to go and see themselves when they're hitting. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I mean Ricky Henderson adage, you know, Ricky Henderson never watched in a bat that he didn't smoke the baseball he just wanted to see as good at bats. [00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt. And today or tomorrow, at some point we're just going to roll our hits back from the year. You know, there's guys that, it's such a mental game. It is so mental. And there's guys that, you know, forget sometimes that they're really good hitters. And just because of a 20 at bat stretch, I mean 20 at bats over the course of a 2 to 3 to 4 year period of out of 6 to 800 at bats means nothing. And they, they lose, you know, the insight of like why I'm good, why I'm here. Yeah. But no, back to your, your question. A lot of guys are still visual. I think there's some guys that are, feel like they want to feel certain things and, and if they're not feeling that in a BP or in their training session, they're, they're going to want to attack it. And I'm good with it. I think that's just knowing your guys to my, it's probably one of my faults. I do my best not to talk swing at all in the season until we have to. Maybe until a hitter brings it up or maybe another assistant coach. And you know, because I, I feel like there's, you know, you can, you can get off a little bit with your swing, your hands can go down, we can get closed off, we can get open, whatever, yada yada yad. I mean, but if you're on time and you're swinging at good pitches, good things usually happen. So. But we will, we will go back because. Not to ramble, but another spot, like, these guys don't know it. But, like, I do this all the time. A guy might be scuffing. I'm like, hey, I think you should take your. For your hand and just move it forward just a little bit, like, slide your thumb down on. And it means nothing. They'll be like, really, Coach? I'm like, yeah, yeah, let's do that. And they'll take a couple swings and they'll be like, oh, I know. I feel it. And it's doing nothing for them. You're just trying to get them out of their own way. So I'll slide that in there. That's an old dog trick. [00:19:38] Speaker A: It's the old tin cup to take your keys out and put them in your other pocket. [00:19:42] Speaker B: No doubt. No doubt. Right? No doubt. Oh, man. [00:19:45] Speaker A: What about Sam Tackett? Have you had to do much with him? A lot of experience with that guy? [00:19:50] Speaker B: No. [00:19:51] Speaker A: And you look at him. [00:19:52] Speaker B: I've not done anything with him. That. That kid is one of the most electric athletes, hitters that I've ever coached. And, and I'm just tickled to death that he is doing what he's doing. And I give him all the credit in the world, like. But, like, you talk about a kid that just almost works too much to where, like, he'll get to, like, he's been so good. He had the best fall I've ever seen out of any hitter that I've ever. That we've ever had here. And, and we've, we got him in the big leagues and, and last fall and, you know, just came into the spring, didn't start off good, and it just went downhill, right? And started to search and he wanted to change. And finally, like, the kid, through his faith, through his conviction, just said, you know what? I am who I am. This is me. I'm not changing. This is my swing. And it's, it's, it's. It's so good to see, man. Always makes me emotional just because that kid is. Been here through so many things with us as a group, whether he hits.200 or hits.700, he makes our program better. One of the few guys that I've ever coached that I would love for my daughter to date when she gets way older, if they're the same age. That might sound weird, but I think you know what I mean? And man, just. He's. He's been through it, and it's just such a good story. [00:21:17] Speaker A: I mean, how much of it is that kids having that experience and learning from year to year and. And staying faith. You said with their faith. Staying with their faith, faithful with what they're doing and just getting experience from year to year. [00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's. It is what it is, man. Experiences mean something when you can use them. And I think his. His first couple experiences in college were more like, I didn't get what I wanted my first year. I didn't get what I wanted my second year. All right. Instead of being cons and. And was still a really good performer in our practices, in our inner squads, and instead of staying convicted to what he was, he's like, I got to be something else. Right? I got to do something else. And I. I think he fought that a little bit in the early stages of his career now. He's. He's awesome, and he deserves everything, and I think he's one of the best hitters in the country, regardless of how it finishes. And, you know, he deserves. He deserves to be talked about in our league. Is. Is a guy that can. Can really do it. I mean, the kid gets hurt in practices more than, like, he runs into walls just going 100 miles an hour all the time, and you don't expect anything else from the kid. Yeah. So I can't talk enough. If we could talk about Sam Tag for an hour, I'd do it. [00:22:36] Speaker A: How much of that is when players finally take ownership for what they're doing? [00:22:40] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's. It's a mixture of taking ownership, but also, I think, taking what you're given. Right. Knowing, like, why you're good, like, where you're. Where you're. Send me some of the places where you struggle and. And just saying, like, okay, I know. I know I'm good. I know I can't do this. Let's. Let's focus on, you know, being me and just. Just taking ownership, like you're saying. But also, like, I think our staff has done a really good job of being like, attack it. This is why you're good. Be this guy. This is. This is where you're at your best, and let's roll. You know? And one of the best quotes out there is Jeters. Like, when he understood his limitations, he became limitless. And I think it's such a true statement when it comes to offensive players. [00:23:27] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's where we're. I think. I think we're at a great place, probably best ever, with player development from coaches across all levels. I think that's where our coaches have gotten better now, is where they're allowing players to focus on their strengths rather than worrying so much about what they need to clean up. [00:23:42] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, I think so. It's. We evolve and there's. There's more changes coming, right? Like, not only with our game, but just how we look at players and, you know, there's so many things out there. I. I think for me, it's. Yes, it's. There's. There's so much access to good information because of guys like you and organizations like the ABCA and people out there. So, like, the player development side of things is awesome. Like 100. It's. It's great everywhere. I think the next step, I think, for me is like, you know, putting that into offense, right? Like, develop. Developing the hitter is one thing. Developing an offense is another. And I think that's something that I'll just. I think that's something that I've probably put on the back burner and have struggled with a little bit. I feel like we've done such a good job with developing hitters and getting, like, them to understand pitches and sequences and all of the above, like, with their swing. But we got to find a way to score runs, right? You know, we're going through that a little bit right now, but. [00:24:49] Speaker A: Yeah, but you need to give yourself more credit. You guys score plenty of runs. [00:24:53] Speaker B: I appreciate it. Well, hey, they're never enough, right? They're never enough if you're talking to the pitching guy, right? And. But, hey, it's. It's. It is. It's a constant battle, man. It is. I think with the player development side of things. It's. It's. It's always ongoing. Like, you. You just can never think that you got it. You got it licked, right? And you just got to keep working with your guys. [00:25:13] Speaker A: And you talked about not talking about the swing much during the spring. When do you sit down and talk about the swing with guys? [00:25:21] Speaker B: We attack that all fall. And we have, you know, it's. It's offense and swing. When we're on the field, it's offense. When we're up in the cages, it's swing. It's routine. But also, back to your prior question. When is it time to make a change? Like, we're going to talk swing when. You know, back to my point. When the guy's not on time. Excuse me. When he's on time. When he's seeing it when everything's right in the box. Right. But it's just not clicking. We're gonna. There might be something going on with the swing, so that's when we address it. And, and also, like, I think you'll learn it from your guys, like, when they need it, when they, like, they're looking at you like, coach something. Right. I just don't feel right. You know? And you're like, okay, let's. Let's. Let's look at. [00:26:01] Speaker A: With the emphasis on the. On the time clock, how have you guys adjusted getting your signs in for the hitters? [00:26:07] Speaker B: I mean, I still use the wristbands. I would love to use a controller, but, like, the ACC doesn't let us put a. A thing on the field, and. And that would put me into the dugout, which, to be honest with you, I. I might be okay with. [00:26:20] Speaker A: Why are you not allowed to have it on the field? [00:26:23] Speaker B: I think people think we're buzzing them in pitches. So there's. There's. There's head coaches in our league that are paranoid about that. You know, there was. They were saying we were doing it last year. We. We had the. We used to go route. I don't, you know, and. And loved it. But, like, your watch buzz is when you put a sign in. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:43] Speaker B: And so in between pitches, it's buzzing. And people think, like, hey, we're buzzing. You know, now we're tipping with our. Now we're being verbal. We're going to tip that on the. [00:26:51] Speaker A: Astros, by the way. [00:26:53] Speaker B: Yeah. You're just. You're just going to hear us. But I think that's why they. They kind of. They nixed that. They didn't. They didn't want centers on the field thinking, you know, people would be tipping pitches, but we'll just tip them from the dugout. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I just, I feel for you guys on that part, because I, I understand pace of play, but it's like, you still got to be able to get your signs in. [00:27:12] Speaker B: It's tough, especially when it's. I don't. We don't need to talk about the. Just the. The. The struggles there with the pitch clock and eyes up and in at 8 and, you know, the reset and can you call time? And, man, there's. God bless our umpires, and I yell at them a lot. I don't think any of them do a good job, but. I'm joking. But they have so many things they have to worry about. Yes. And. But. But for us to put in signs like our guys don't have the ability to, to be inward. And what I mean by that is they might get, they might get boned on a call or they might swing and miss and like, doesn't matter. Like you got to look here and then you got to res. You got to be really good with, with, with what's going on with your self talk and just, just the, the mental side of it. All those things have to happen in 12 seconds. Not 20. 12 for the hitter, 20 for the pitcher, 12 for the hitter. So it's a lot. And when you're trying to put on signs with an emotional guy in the box, it's tough. And we missed some signs this year because our guys have been emotional and I, I've challenged them like we can play with emotion, let's not be emotional. And, and that pitch clock is, it's just like pitchers, if they don't think they have an advantage, they have an advantage when it comes to that pitch. [00:28:30] Speaker A: But benefit to this generation of kids is they're used to technology and a lot of things coming at them at once. So if, if any generation can do it, this generation of hitters probably can do it because they're used to, to so many different things bombarding them. [00:28:43] Speaker B: No, no doubt. And, and you're right. And that is something that you know, our guys are, they're a little more in tune with. But we're still old school. I do the wristbands and the numbers and we have body signs and I. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Think that's how you got to do it is a, it's a mix of the numbers and the, we use, we use the numbers with body parts. I sent that to Jeff Palumbo the other day. Just because it's, it's hard like with my fingers, my fingers were small so it was hard for guys to see my, my fingers. So I had to go to body touches with the numbers just so they could see it because they were messing up left and right. [00:29:18] Speaker B: I used to do one up, I used to do two here, three down four and then they could see one and five. So I used to do like, just like a clock but nowadays I just scream it. So like if they can't hear it then, if they can't hear then we go to the moving the hands and if that doesn't work I can just go body signs. So there's some error proof ways and it takes a while to learn our signs and some of our guys still don't know them. [00:29:42] Speaker A: You've had a ton of guys drafted here recently. You Know, how are you helping them handle the noise with the outside noise of everything. Current players, past current, the noise of everything that's out there. [00:29:55] Speaker B: Oh, it's just like, it's like that thing. It's like the elephant in the room that sometimes you don't want to talk about, but like, certain players you need to talk about. Right. There's some guys that, like, you can tell that it doesn't bother them. And there's some guys like, just watch them take bp. Watch them take bp. They walk out. Are their eyes going up there? Are they going to their teammates? Are they looking into, like, who's videoing them off to the side during BP? Because it happens a lot in our BPs, right? And so those guys that, that you see their eyes drift a little bit during bp, you probably have to drag them off to the side and hey, man, like, I'm telling you, it is not worth focusing on because the more you focus on it, the harder it's going to become for you to do your job. And that's just about being mature. But like, yeah, it is. And I think Coach Chef does a good job of hopefully keeping those guys away. The advisors these days are like, the good ones do such a good job of helping our players and being in their corner and being like, hey, man, like, I'm. Everything goes through me. Right? So it's, it's, it's a mix, it's a balance, but it's there. It's there. The whole junior year thing, man, it's there. The draft year curse and, and it's there. But our guys, you know, hopefully can, they can, they can learn from the guys in front of them because we've had a string of draft eligible players that have had some, some pretty good attention. And the younger guys see it and hopefully they can learn from that. [00:31:23] Speaker A: What a percentage of your guys that do have advisors? [00:31:26] Speaker B: 95. [00:31:27] Speaker A: 95%. [00:31:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, nine out of ten doesn't matter you're playing or not. Like, they all have them in high school. [00:31:35] Speaker A: Especially now with the Portal too. [00:31:37] Speaker B: Yeah. If you can make money, if you get. [00:31:39] Speaker A: Especially now with the Portal, that's. That's a big part of it too. Now you hate to say. [00:31:42] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt it is. I mean, it's. For me, it's like, if you think you can make money these days, you're gonna do it. And there's small organizations and, and bigger ones. They're gonna take flyers on guys, whether they're going to be frontline guys or not. What's the Risk, you know, and, and so like that's, that's it is what it is. But there's, there's a ton of guys that have them. [00:32:03] Speaker A: You said in a couple hours you're going to make some adjustments with guys. What adjustments are you making with them? [00:32:10] Speaker B: To be honest with you, I need, I'm looking at time to contact with some of our guys. Just, just like more so like when they start, when they get to the to on the barrel. I think some guys are a little loose with their moves right now. I, you know, our third baseman is such a good player. He's going through it a little bit right now and he knows it, but I gotta make some adjustments with him and kind of just look at some video and see if guys direction is right. Some guys are deep with some, some, some fastballs. I think they're just like getting, getting the barrel out front, delivering a barrel. So some things like that, I think our approaches right, I think we're swinging, swinging at good pitches, you know, but just some small things like that got. [00:32:53] Speaker A: Guys getting caught flat footed at all. That always seems like both heels on the ground at the same time. [00:32:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we have some guys like that in their nose drive. When we go to two strikes, they get, they get stuck a little bit. They're losing some rhythm, which they still become front footed, you know. And so we, we have a little bit of that. We have some guys, we, we have such a variety of, of moves and swings on our team, which. [00:33:20] Speaker A: That's why I like watching you guys. Because it seems like there's a ton of different styles, ton of different moves. I, I just, I like. It seems like everybody's got their individual thing. [00:33:29] Speaker B: Yep, yep. It's, it's. Look, you're not gonna. I think guys move a certain way for a certain reason and our drill sets allow those guys to like, understand like what is my natural bad path, what is my natural move. And once you start to watch them, they'll start to make adjustments on their own, what feels good and where they feel the strongest. And so once you start to build into that a little bit, sometimes those guys get away from it and we got to go back and look a little bit. But I think our guys are in a good spot. You know, not a plug for Virginia Tech, but like I got to remind our guys, you know, two of our best, three of our best players right now are not performing overly well. And I think we're still finding ways to produce a little bit here. So once we get going a little bit. It's going to be good. [00:34:15] Speaker A: You spend much time with two strike approach? [00:34:18] Speaker B: All the time. A lot. Probably not enough in our practices daily. [00:34:23] Speaker A: I say that because you guys do a good job with two strikes. They do, they do for the most part. You guys foul balls off. You guys do a good job of filing pitches. [00:34:30] Speaker B: Well, we cheer, we cheer foul, we cheer two strikes. [00:34:32] Speaker A: I think you have to. That's a win by mandatory. [00:34:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we, we have some mandatory dugout talk things that have to happen with our bench and that's one of them. And I wish our guys would do a better job if they just understood how important that is. But yeah, we spent a lot of time with two strike and, and yeah man, like our guys, they have a check in like they get the two strikes. They're hey man, I got you. Like they're checking in with, with the dugout like team at bat now. Right. We need to see some pitches, we need to weigh some pitches, but we work on it a lot. Yep. [00:35:05] Speaker A: What about on deck routines for guys? [00:35:07] Speaker B: It, it should mirror the approach. Right. We try to work it in our bp. So like if we're fastball, adjusting if, if we're, you know, if we're working on sitting soft, it needs to, it the timing mechanism needs to mirror what you're going to do in the box, but it also needs to mirror the guy in the box. So like what's the approach? And I need to be on time with the hitter that's in front of me. So that and, and hopefully guys are being aggressive with their body language and their mindset. Grabbing the barrel by their dominant hand, like being big chested in between pitches. But then when they're going like excuse me, they, they, they need to be on time. [00:35:51] Speaker A: Love it. Your recruiting time. How much has that changed over the years with Portal High School? I know you guys don't do a ton of juco stuff but, but how much, how much has that changed for you over the last eight years? [00:36:04] Speaker B: It was wild three or four years ago. Like it was, it was you know, to the point where my, my wife was like, yo, we might need to look at something else here. But I think the new rules where, you know, I think it's been a blessing and a curse for us. I felt like we went, we were so good at going early on guys developing relationships, not just like recruiting to recruit them. We weren't recruiting 8th graders but like you know, freshmen and sophomores. Knowing them, getting, getting them to camps, going and seeing them, spending time on them and then Being like, you know what? They have a foundation that we really like. That's how we recruited that whole 22 team. But back then, like, I mean, you were out all the time because you couldn't. Because you could recruit them whenever you wanted, right? You just. They could pick up and call you. You couldn't call them, right? So now, I mean, does it make sense to go out and actually like watch 27s in high school because you can't recruit them and you're going to have the summer to do it. So it's changed from that perspective. But also, I don't like the biggest benefit to the rule change. I don't have to wait around my phone for an 8 o'clock phone call because when I'm trying to hang out with my family. Because back in the day when you could recruit early, but it had to be on their time where you would say, hey, Coach, so and so have Johnny call me at 8pm and then he'd send a text, hey, coach, I can't call till 8:30. And you could be like, man, I got this guy's holding me hostage in my house. It's terrible. Hated it. And now we don't have that. So I like where it's at. From a quality of life perspective, I think what Virginia Tech was able to do with young guys in our camps. Our camps are so awesome and we were, they were so beneficial to our group. I think that has changed a little bit and it's hurt us. [00:38:02] Speaker A: What were some things that you were checking the boxes off on young recruiting young players? Because I thought, I felt like that was extremely difficult to figure out who's going to be a good college player or not. What were some things that you guys were checking off on young players? [00:38:14] Speaker B: Well, one, like we would have them like, do they, could they fit into your practice regardless of age, defensively, Run bat, speed bat to ball, ball player, whatever. If they check one of those boxes, like they became recruitable. Two, from the offensive side of things, like, I thought we were ahead of the curve with blast and just gauging hitters and just movement patterns and, and watching video and breaking them down and comparing them to current players on our roster. We did that so much. And so if they started to check those types of boxes, we'd be like, yo, let's, let's, let's take a, let's take a flyer on them and let's go. So those were things like it's how we got demartini showable Bitterson Cross, like Cross had Played literally four games in two years because he was hurt. And you know, we liked his length and the way he moved and, and, and you know, no one else was on him. So those, those were, those were times where I felt like we were like just our system was, was in a really good spot. [00:39:21] Speaker A: Do you still use comps on guys for recruiting? Like, hey, they remind me, they remind me of this guy. [00:39:27] Speaker B: Yep. All the time. All the time. And, and even, you know, major league hitters or hitters. Hitters in our, in our leg. Other hitters, like, you know, if they, if they, if they move in a certain way and they're barrel and they're fit. I look at finishes, I look at finishes of swings. I think the best shooters in the world finish can finish ugly but look athletic. And when they finish they look like they did something well, swinging, swing, miss, whatever. And a lot of finishes remind you of certain hitters and hitters that you've coached or hitters that are on TV and like that's where we get a lot of comps. That's where I get a lot of comps from on, on. [00:40:03] Speaker A: Guys, do you have a fail forward moment, something you thought was going to set you back, but looking back now helped you move forward? Everybody's got to answer this one. [00:40:13] Speaker B: A fail forward. That's a good one. I, I thought Covid was a fail forward with our team here at Virginia Tech. I really like the team. I mean there's, there' regulars on the team right Now, Covid, maybe 5. And we didn't, we, we liked our team. We, we just didn't know. We were just learning how to win. The 19 team had started so well and just fell on its face. 20 was the same thing. Like we started so well, had a tough series at Georgia Tech, had, I think we had got walked off twice, had the lead in all three games, you know, and then Covid comes and you're like, and then in a five round draft, we lose three players. All, all going to be in the big leagues. And you're like, gosh. And you're like, you know, is this working? And then it, then it just builds from there. That, that to me like as, just as a group, you know, and I think we're still like battling the rule changes in the, in the portal a little bit. But I felt like that, that Covid year was like, hey, this is where it's going to happen for us and everything the world came to a halt. But it allowed us to be like, okay, look, we, you know, we were Right. And we were doing things the right way. Yeah. [00:41:33] Speaker A: How'd you. [00:41:34] Speaker B: I don't know if that's. [00:41:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because that's part of the learning process and, and the life journey is. Is it's going to hand you things and how do you adjust? Because I think people that are successful handle it different than people that aren't successful. People that are successful find ways to play the cards they're dealt, and unsuccessful people will let that sidetrack them for five, ten years. [00:41:55] Speaker B: No doubt. [00:41:55] Speaker A: Yep. How'd you get connected with Coach? [00:41:57] Speaker B: Chef just picked up the phone and called me. I think he wanted a guy that had worked in the state, New Virginia, you know, coming from Maryland, and everybody on his staff was obviously kind of went through. You know, he brought fecta with him, but no one really knew Virginia. We had played against Maryland a lot, and we had pretty good success when we were. When I was at VCU against Maryland, I think that might have been it. The. The year before. This is a funny story. The year before, I was offered an assistant job at Pitt, and I knew Rob Vaughn was assistant under chef at Maryland. And I, and I just was trying to get some guys advice, you know, in the league and, and, you know, we had talked for. I picked up the phone, didn't have his number, got it from Vaughn, called him and just asked him like, his, just his, just his professional opinions, like, yo. He's like, I think something better for you might be down the road. You know, if you like where you're at with vcu, just hang in there. And just his professional opinion. Later that summer, I sat with him at uva recruiting an event, and we just talked and I didn't. We still, to that point, weren't speaking, you know, regularly and, you know, he got the job. It was announced. I shot him a text, said, congrats, that was it. And he facetimed me on accident and literally. And. And then he hung up and then he called. He was like. He's like, hey, that. I think he's like, you're my guy. He's basically what he said. So that's how that happened. But I think it was just the, the, you know, for, for what we were doing at VCU in the state with recruiting and just knowing the state. I think that's kind of what the connection was there. [00:43:42] Speaker A: And you guys work well together. And he's another guy that's worked his way up. He's another guy that came from. From schools with limited resources and works it. Worked his way up And I think your team, your program comes across that way from that mentality of a blue collar mentality that goes about their business the right way. [00:43:59] Speaker B: I hope it does. And he is. He is that guy. He is that guy. He is. He's not been handed anything and he works for it. And he's a phenomenal players coach and just an awesome guy to work for. I wish you would yell at me every once in a while and tell me I'm not doing a good job, but he just lets me do my thing. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Yeah, but if you're competitive as a coach, you do that for yourself. You don't need. Yeah, you don't need some. I'm sure you're doing plenty of that in between your, your ears. You don't need somebody to, to do that for you every once. [00:44:28] Speaker B: Oh, my wife does it. So yeah, she. She helps there, so get back off the road. And she's like, wow, that wasn't good, Kurt. You did not do a good job. Thanks, thanks. [00:44:37] Speaker A: Thanks, honey. I know that. [00:44:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:44:40] Speaker A: Do you have any routines, morning or evening? You got three kids right in the middle of it. Do you have any routines or is it just day to day with what you're doing as far as working out? [00:44:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I work out every morning. I work out at 6:45. There's a gym right around the corner that me and my wife belong to. She makes me work out. [00:44:58] Speaker A: So she's your accountability partner. [00:45:01] Speaker B: No doubt, no doubt. So I'll go hit the gym sometimes, five early in the morning and then get the kids ready for school, jump in a cold bath and crank it up. But you do cold tub? Yeah, I do. [00:45:17] Speaker A: How long have you been doing that for? [00:45:20] Speaker B: A year. Hanson got me on it. Hanson and Tyson, our staff does it. Chef and Fecto, I don't think are on to it yet, but it's just a fight. It's just a fight and. And you get uncomfortable quick. And it's just, you know, starting or ending your day with something that sucks is good. I'm a fan of it, you know, and there's days where you don't want to get in it, but you got to get in it. [00:45:44] Speaker A: I think that's. As you get older, like you need something like that. Yeah, mine's hot yoga. Like, I think you need something like that. That. Where it's like, man, I don't want to go do that. But. But you're gonna go do it. I just think. [00:45:56] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:56] Speaker A: I think there's so many benefits with that because you don't get it like that. I think that's what you miss about playing is like you don't really get those challenges anymore. Now coaching's challenging in itself but I think you got to add some of those things in there. Like I really don't want to do this right now and just give up that mentality. [00:46:12] Speaker B: There's no doubt. I think it's the same thing. You're going to preach it to your guys, you know, and there's days that they're going to suck and they got to go through certain things. They don't want to do it, they don't want to stay in there on a hit by pitch, they don't want to get the bunt down. Like there's days where like they got to do tough things on the field. But I think when we're preaching that and you're coming from a spot of like some conviction and you're going to say with some conviction, hopefully like you've done it a little bit in your own little sense. I think you can, you can show some more enthusiasm to your guys in that way. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's kind of why I do it. So you know, we asked our guys to do some tough things. I might as well try some tough things myself. [00:46:49] Speaker A: With you and your wife, how are you mapping out your guys calendar with the three little ones? [00:46:54] Speaker B: It's taken us four years to get a calendar that, that integrates because we've changed to Outlook. At Virginia Tech we used to have Google and it's completely just shattered our. [00:47:04] Speaker A: I hate Outlook by the way. I know why we have it here, it's safer. But I, for me I got a new. I know Microsoft isn't listening in right now, but Outlook, you need to change. [00:47:15] Speaker B: I could care less. No one pays me. If someone starts paying me, I'll start plugging whatever works. [00:47:20] Speaker A: So you find it's taking you that long to. Yeah, but we got hard to get it integrated. [00:47:24] Speaker B: We got an Alexa, a new Alexa for Christmas and somehow some way we started getting like our calendars to align and sync up on it. And I think, I think it's, it had to do with like I had to change my Apple, whatever. I don't, we don't need to be talking about it. But how do we map our schedules out? She, she's a, she works kind of here and there. She's a part time, she's a pharmacy manager and God bless her. And I'm, you know, I'm in a Good spot where she doesn't have to be a full time deal. And, and, but she picks some spots to work. She works for Walmart. So she work pharmacies. Would that need help? Like she's a substitute pharmacist. She'll go in and manage a pharmacy when people are out. So you know, it's constant communication. It's tough. She's a saint. I wouldn't be able to do what I do on a daily basis if it wasn't for her and my kids. And I know sometimes they hate my job and it is what it is, but they, they afford me the opportunity to do it and she's obviously a big reason for it. [00:48:22] Speaker A: So as they get older though, they'll realize what you did. Because the same thing with my kids when they were younger, like they didn't get it but now that they're, you know, they're older, like they get it. They get the fact that you put that type of work in to have a career and also help them, like they get it at some point doesn't feel like it, it doesn't feel like in the moment, but they'll get it at some point and, and they'll appreciate it. [00:48:42] Speaker B: So yeah, it's one of the struggles of coaching, especially when you throw in the recruiting side kids and man, the guys that have it nailed down where they can recruit, they can, they can, they can separate work when they come home. That's something that I struggle with. Like, like why do, why do I have to feel bad after losses? You know, like, like if we prepared our guys and they just didn't get it done, like I come home and it changes the dichotomy of the house. I, I, you know, and I'm working on that. But like that's the, that, that work life balance is, as a coach is tough and you need, well, you need a good wife and like that's, I've been, I've been blessed to have her stick it, stick it out. [00:49:21] Speaker A: So, all right, what are some final thoughts before I let you get back to work? [00:49:25] Speaker B: I don't know if I have any. I just know this like our game's in a good spot. I, I, you know, we're, we're going to see what happens with, you know, the whole revenue sharing and roster cut downs and all that. But let's, let's make it about the players. I think at the end of the day, let's, let's make it about the players and you know, if we can find a way to, to, to Continue to push our sport forward while supporting our guys and giving them every avenue that they have to build their brand and grow it. You know, I think that's. You know, that's. That's what I want. I want our guys. It's a. I want our guys to run our program. It's a players program. I want them to have everything they need, you know, so whatever administrations can do out there to. To make. To make it that way, you know, that's. That's what I want. But if we can do anything, too, Like. Like, we need to celebrate on the field. The whole prop thing stinks. Like, you know, like, what are we talking? Like, we're not trying to hurt anybody's feelings. Like, guys are still jumping and, you know, and celebrating together, like, whether it's a prop or not. Like, these kids, they put in so much work. They need. [00:50:33] Speaker A: Softball's still doing it. I mean, no doubt. Props, but they're. They're at home plate celebrating, no doubt. [00:50:39] Speaker B: Look, it's. Let them play with some emotion. Like, we're not crossing lines and. And rubbing in anybody's faces. If they're celebrating as a group, they need to be able to do that. That's. That's my final piece on that. There you go, Kurt. [00:50:52] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it. [00:50:54] Speaker B: I appreciate what you do, too. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Love our interactions together, so thank you. [00:50:58] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt. [00:50:58] Speaker A: Appreciate you. [00:50:59] Speaker B: Yep. Stay in touch. I appreciate it. Thanks. [00:51:01] Speaker A: That baby killed it. [00:51:03] Speaker B: Thank you. Hey, you're the man. [00:51:04] Speaker A: All right. Get back. [00:51:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Have a good one. [00:51:07] Speaker A: I'm sure I'll see you again this spring at some point. [00:51:09] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:51:10] Speaker A: All right. What's up? Yep. See you soon. [00:51:13] Speaker B: Thanks, Ron. Take care. [00:51:14] Speaker A: I want to give a shout out to all of our coaches that sit down with me in the middle of their seasons. Appreciate you all investing your time to help grow the game during the spring. I know how busy you all are. Thanks again to Coach Elbin for jumping on the podcast. Best of luck to he and the Hokies the rest of the way out. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, and Matt west and the ABCA office for all their help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via [email protected], twitter, Instagram, or TikTok oachbabca or direct message me via the MyABCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks. And leave it better for those behind. [00:52:01] Speaker B: And you know that way. Yep. [00:52:05] Speaker A: Wait for another day and the world. [00:52:12] Speaker B: Will always return as your life there before your name. And you know that way Wait for another D.