[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host Ryan Brownlee.
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[email protected] this episode is sponsored by Netting Pros.
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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 Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast over the course of his career, Tom Griffin has earned a national reputation as one of the most respected catching instructors and collegiate coaches in the game.
Griffin completed his 20th season at the helm of the Carson Newman program in 2025 and has spent 28 years as a collegiate coach with 746 career wins.
Known for his expertise in catching instruction, Griffin is a staple at national events such as Catcher Con and has been a featured clinician at four ABCA conventions.
He also served as a coach in the Prospect development league from 2021 to 2023.
In addition to coaching, Griffin holds the role of assistant Athletic director for Coaching Development at Carson Newman. Griffin was inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches association hall of fame in 2024.
Get ready to take a ton of notes. Coach Griffin is a lifelong learner and is a shining example of evolving over time.
Let's welcome Tom Griffin to the podcast.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Here.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Tom Griffin heading into 21st season at Carson Newman, but 29th season overall, over 700 wins. Tennessee baseball Coaches association hall of Famer has spoke at four ABCA conventions, but this year's recipient with Kermit Smith for the Dave Kylitz Ethics and Coaching Award. So thanks for jumping on with me, Tom. I'm excited about this.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: I appreciate the opportunity, Ryan. Thank you.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Does it get any easier to speak on the main stage at the convention?
[00:04:07] Speaker B: No. No. You're excited. You know, you want to do a good job. You want to provide content and information for guys. So.
And really, now, the way, you know, you guys at ABCA prepare everyone, I mean, really, it's a PowerPoint presentation. And so the more you can put on screen for guys to see things, the better it is. They want to see the content. They don't want to necessarily hear us talk.
It's. It's more about the, I think the, the videos you're able to put out there. So that makes it a whole lot easier, for sure.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Do you feel like it's easier with the PowerPoint? Because I do. I get, I get sidetracked and, and I'm sure you've done a ton where you don't have the presentation up there, as I have, too. I, I just think, because I go on so many different tangents, that keeps me kind of concise and, and staying on task. Do you feel the same way?
[00:05:01] Speaker B: 100%, yeah. I think it's a good guideline, an outline for you to go by, and then certainly you're reminded by the time. I mean, you know, you really got to be on time. And I know guys prepare over and over again. That's their biggest fear, is going over.
And I think for all of us, you know, you see the outline and I think as coaches, you're like, okay, let's make sure you get through everything, because he's got some good points down here at the bottom. We hope he gets to that. And when they get cut short, like, oh, man, now the question answer period helps, because now you can go over to that and speak on that. So. But yeah, I think the timeframe they give you and trying to fit that in with the outline.
You look at the speakers over the last 15, 20 years, and I mean, it's been tremendous. It gets better and better all the time.
You know, it's a good product, but it's just like what you try to do in coaching is how can we make some improvements and adjustments.
And you guys at the abca, I think, have done a tremendous job of providing a great clinic. And you do this as well. I know you talk to other coaches in other sports, and when they hear what's going on, it's almost not a jealousy. But we don't get that kind of response. We don't get that kind of interaction with the coaches.
It does seem a little different.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah. When you look at some of the other associations, they're not doing as well as we are. And we. That's something we talk about a lot in the office, is how do we keep this thing going? How do we evolve? Because we don't want to get in the same situation as some of the other associations. So we are constantly. Not that it's pressure, but. But you do want to continue to grow and evolve and make sure that. That the membership feels like they're getting value out of everything.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Well, and you guys also, you make everyone feel included, like everyone's important.
You know, from. From your Power 5 coach down to your. Your little league coach in a local community travel ball, all coaches, all are trying to teach kind of the same game and gets information out of it. And whether it's the barnstormers that you guys do, and you talked about the local clinics and, you know, the, the publication that comes out, I mean, you're staying connected and, and that's what this whole thing's about is connection. Connections and networking and learning from each other.
Very rarely do you find many guys who are like, I'm going to say anything about what we do with hitting. Guys really want to talk about what they do. And I think it's not a fear of, well, they're going to steal something. It's like, well, I'll tell you what we're doing. I don't think you're going to do it as good as us, but I want to provide this information because this is how someone gave it to me. And as stewards of the game, we got to give it back.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's the biggest part of it now, as you've gotten into it? Because I feel this way. It's your time to give back.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Now your opportunity to give back to the coaches that are just getting into it. I feel that way now where it's okay. This is my opportunity to try to help the coaches that are just getting into this.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. I think, no doubt about it. Especially, you know, you come from a coaching tree, you know, your dad and all that. That's, that's what you did. I mean, whether he was probably doing that with the local high school coaches or guys that came to the camps or clinics he had, you know, they'd ask them questions probably like we all do. How do you guys do this?
I spend every summer and I also make sure our staff does it of calling coaches in the summer to pick their brains, you know, this year talking pitching coach at Northeastern because their numbers are tremendous. High points head coach, phenomenal, right?
And then you're talking to someone like, man, you know, I'd like to get better in our slugging percentage. Oh, you need to call this guy. Bam, we're going to call them. And I've, I've never, I don't want to say like Jerry Weinstein, there's no always and nevers, but I've never had a guy not share what questions we've asked and been very open about it. And you know, we try to pick a guy won a world Series and find out how the team, you know, evolved and that was Wisconsin white water and you know, just pick guys brains and it's, it's awesome for, just to get to know some guys but really try to keep our program from evolving and not getting stagnant for me, myself and our staff is not to get stagnant as well and, and see how we can put a fresh coat of paint on this house here.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Did you add any of the high point swing decision drills in? Have you added anything yet?
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we're talking about and doing it. Yeah. And I also believe also I'll tell you something else, right, because you knew, you gave me him.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Well, because I, you know, that's, that's the thing you reached out to me because I just saw you at the regional and you called me and I said, well, I just saw High Point. And I talked to coach and he was, he was very adamant on, on some of the things that they switched just because his son, like it's a good story for people that don't know High points head coach Coach Hammond, his son was the first, I think first round draft pick but got hurt and so couldn't really swing a bat. So they added some swing decision stuff in without even really swinging in with their team. This year and he felt like it, it really helped their squad. And when you looked at high points, offensive numbers, they were really, really good.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Really good. And he was great. He was great to talk to and you know, busy guy but found time to spend time and yeah, we talked about the swing decision and, and, and really kind of some of the mentality about their hitters and that's really came down to the intent of what we're going to do in practice. Like theirs was like, hey, listen, we're going to, we're going to deliver a blow to the ball. By gosh, we're going to deliver a blow. And yes, so it helped me mentality wise and also in structuring certain things. So, you know, things like that, talking with guys and figuring out who does something really well and let's pick their brain and that, that's been a big part of the continuing learning.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Yeah, they could drive the ball to all fields. So it wasn't just pull sides pop. They had oppo pop too. So they were driving the ball the other way also.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Right, right. Yeah. He obviously developed his son pretty well too.
It wasn't bad. Right.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Hey, when was your first clinic you ever spoke at?
[00:11:19] Speaker B: The first one was down in Orlando, Florida.
And I was fortunate Steve Smith was picking the lineup at that time and you know how things go. There's a local high school coach here, legendary, named Tommy Farr. Pitching guys, tremendous. Tommy. Tommy knew Steve and I think, you know, just in conversations, hey, do you know a catching guy? Tommy gave Steve my name and that and that was the first one.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: Hey, but I'm talking your first one ever, like way before that when, like.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: When I attended one?
[00:11:52] Speaker A: No, like when you spoke like it could have been like a camp, could have been like a high school clinic. When was your first one? You.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I guess, I guess Princeton University with Tom o', Connell, you know, work in those camps in the summer. You know, he, he was great at this, I thought. You know, I've been to Jack a lot of camps. I think, I think we've talked about this. I think working camps is the best thing ever. And I've worked with it with Virginia back in the day and Old Dominion and Clemson with Coach Leggett and Tim Corbin at Vandy and Simcox and Delmonico ut. I love working summer camps. Princeton University was unique, man. Tom o' Connell and there was a who's who of coaches up there. I remember Dan McDonald just starting out as a coach was up there and Chris Finwood. So you had a Lot of great coaches, but o' Connell would find a way, like, hey, you're going to do the catching talk today, so you got to go out in front. You're going to talk to these guys. He put you out there, and if you weren't good at it, boy, he would let you know, too. I mean, he was old school about it.
So I think that was my first experience as a young coach of getting in front of people and speaking.
And, you know, I think it's the people I've been around just, I think that the main thing is being passionate about what you do. And if you're passionate, it doesn't matter how it comes off. I think people will gravitate towards that. You love doing what you do, and I think that goes a long way.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: How do you work through some of those nerves, though? Now that's, that's like one of the top fears for people is actually getting up in, in front of people and speaking.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I, I, I think we all have that fear. I don't think anyone's, you know, unless you're, you're John Gordon. You get up there and you're just, it just flows. But, you know, I think of it like, you know, really, I, I think it's kind of like when we sit around in a hotel room or in a, in a lounge area and you're just talking with your guys. It's, I think when you're comfortable with and passionate about something, you want to share it and then you want to give this information to people. And I'll go back to, again, just have some videos up there and talking over the videos. That kind of does the talking for you as well.
You know, look at Jerry Weinstein and the other guys. I've seen that they've done the catching ones. I mean, the information is up there. You could literally just play that and not even say anything on stage. And guys are going to get great information and content for it. But I think the nerves is a good thing. I enjoy that because you don't get a lot of them anymore in life and, you know, the games provide it and things. But, you know, I think that's, that's what keeps us fresh, is the idea of keep trying to do this and can we do it better and can we add more content? And, you know, I'm going to Illinois to do one, and my goal is to get over 100 drills in, in 30 minutes. I told him I want to get catchy blocking, throwing drills, and I want a hundred drills that I can Provide. I'm not gonna have to talk much. I'm probably just show it and then, you know, obviously share the content.
The biggest problem I'm having, Ryan, is, like, these PowerPoints, when you want to send them to someone, like, the files are too big to do email, so you got to purchase something to send it. I can't figure that out. To Dropbox.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Dropbox. That's Dropbox. That's why we use Dropbox.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: All right, so is it that easy?
Just put it in there.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. Just. And Dropbox has a free trial, so you can get a free trial through Dropbox, or you can probably get a free month and then just send it, and then that's all you would need. That's the only way that you can. Can do it, because the files are so large.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: So large. Right on. Okay, I got. I got. I got it. I learned something new today. I'm gonna get the free access to Dropbox.
Beautiful.
[00:15:43] Speaker A: What does being honored with this award mean to you?
[00:15:48] Speaker B: First of all, man, I don't know how I got it. I. I really don't now. When I got the call, Dave, I thought he wanted me to do, like, a catching talk or something. I. I look at the guys that have been selected, and I look at the guys that are out, around, and I'm thinking, man, you know, I'm still a sinner. I'm still at fault with a lot of things. I. I feel like I've got to get better in this thing as. As far as a coach, and I just feel like I've got so much more improvement to make, you know, And I see other guys, I'm like, I want to be more like that guy, you know, I like how he does it. And so I do. I feel like I'm still a work in progress, but I guess what it does, right, it helps me to reflect on the people who really have changed my life from growing up in New Jersey and Roxbury and Tennessee Wesleyan, the coaches, teammates.
It goes to my first job at Tusculum and learning on the fly.
The transition to Carson Newman and where faith played a big part in me developing, I guess, and improving.
Your family, the coaches, your team, the players.
There's so many people that both of us have had in our lives who have helped, I guess, shape us, shape our thoughts, shape the way we do things, correct us when we're going in the wrong direction. And I've been so fortunate right now. Fred Corral. Fred Corral is one of those mentors in my life. We speak weekly we speak about our faith, we speak about our family, we speak about the struggles we have.
That's invaluable for me to have a person like that in my life who cares that much.
Ty Blankmire has become one of those in my life. Mike lynch, in that we talked about, this Bible study group we do on Mondays has been tremendous for me to remind myself of this is my purpose in life and make sure every decision I'm making and what I'm trying to do.
Who am I glorifying? Am I glorifying Tom Griffin? Am I where my glorifying Jesus Christ? And so those are the things and the people in my life, I think, have helped me the most. So it's more about reflection.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Do you have a definition of ethics?
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. I think what I think about with ethics is, is doing right, being your best.
Treat others the way you want to be treated. I use the three. We use our three standards or rules from Lou Holtz, you know, and I think if we live by those three things, those are ethics. You know, how we're going to treat people. What's our humility like? How do we handle success and failure?
Are we being our best?
And what does that mean, being our best? Does it mean how many wins we have? Or is it. Or is it about what my purpose in developing players is? Is it for them to win games? That's a byproduct, like all coaches, really, what we're trying to do is to prepare these young men to be husbands and fathers and community people that will help their community.
The byproduct then can become some wins. But truly, I think more now than I did for sure, 30 years ago. I wasn't thinking about that in. Fine. We talked about that. I was just figuring out how to get wins and when we didn't win, let's run them, let's punish them. And the. The life lessons were happening because it was part of the game.
But my mindset and how we were structuring our practice didn't have that in there.
And I think then it also goes to how I'm going to operate off the field. You know, with. With recruiting, with our budget. You know, we're getting gifts given to us, you know, money from the school and from alumni. What do we do with those gifts? How are we using them? Are we using them in the right way or the wrong way? And I think that's all part of ethics.
And so it's not only on the field, but I think it's. It's what people See of you off the field.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Did you get to coach catchers when you first got into coaching?
[00:20:04] Speaker B: Yes. So my first coaching job was the head coach at Tuscaloo.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: So you. You got to pick then.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. So it was 23 and by the way. Right. Like a lot of young coaches, I was the only coach when I got hired.
Literally, I did pitching, infield, outfield, catching. And I think that helped develop me to learn more about, you know, I didn't play the outfield. So we've got to learn some drills for outfielders. And, you know, I think as catchers, we always have a feel for pitching.
So that, that wasn't too bad. But during that time back in the, in the late 80s, man, I was calling all these former coaches I had and coaches I knew and said, hey, I need a. I need a practice plan for pitchers. I need a throwing program. A bullpen is what we're going to do.
Library full of information guys gave me that I used as a young coach. And I think everyone should go outside their comfort zone.
I. I got a goal. I. I would love to do a talk at the ABCA somewhere. I could do outfield and infield play. Yeah, I got thousand drills for outfielders. I got a thousand drills for outfield, infield pitchers. I love the fact that I get to work with those guys still. I do catchers here, but I'm involved in every aspect of it, for sure.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Not because you're way more than that. I've been over there to watch. I filmed you guys practice like you're. You're way more than. Than that. Like, it's an impressive practice when you go watch you guys, like, you have it down to a T. Like, you can tell you've done other things besides that.
And I do think it helps to. You know, I think the best thing to happen to me is I had to coach catchers and outfielders when I graduated at Evansville. And I never really. I mean, I played those positions a little bit, but having to coach those two positions and not really having done that much, that was the best thing for me as a young coach was having to coach something different.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: I agree 100%. And I hear some guys that are moving into catching and they call it or ask them advice on it, and my first question to them is, what positions have you coaching? They'll be like, well, I was an infielder. I said, well, whatever drills you were doing with them might work with those catchers. I mean, you're going to bring a different perspective that actually Might be more beneficial to your catchers because you coached another position.
You're. You're looking at it in a different way. I think could be actually more helpful. And I think it's their perspective of looking at things. Not need to never have to play the position. But what you're bringing could be a whole new light to these groups you're working with, for sure.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: What'd you take out of the regional last year?
[00:22:44] Speaker B: I'll be honest with you, it was pretty emotional because of the people that were there.
And it was reflection, you know, Right. As we get older, don't we reflect more, Man? Like, I wasn't reflecting at 25. I was just worrying about the. What we were going to do that day. But I think being around Coach Cantrell, right.
I think that was reflection of a guy's career, that we knew each other for a long time and that, you know, this was his last year of coaching Coach Anderson. You know, I think it was just, hey, we've had relationships, we've played against each other.
We talk on the phone about various things, like all coaches do. I think it was reflection and being thankful and so blessed to be around these guys and in this environment. And that could have been game one, where it would happen to be the regional, you know, which was a big deal. But, you know, anytime I get to go play Jim Gantt, I reflect on what a great coach and guy this is. And the talks we have about the game of baseball.
I think that's really what I'm taking out of everything now is just the reflection and the people and the times we have, good and bad.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought it was cool because then you had Adam Schanicki, too, who's first year head coach.
You had the buffet of all of it. You had Tom, who's retiring. Then you've got you there, who's been doing a long time. Coach Anderson, Coach Kanicki. Like, it was a cool dichotomy there at the regional.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, me and Adam are the only two guys from up north. The other two were from down south. So it's good when you talk to Adam, he's got that accent. He's got that. That buffalo going in him. But no, you're right. It was neat to be around all those guys. And, you know, obviously you get to watch great baseball. You know, it was fun to watch those teams compete and what they do. And I think as reflection, you look at this also, like, how did we prepare our team for this? Did we do it? If we get the opportunity again. Were we ready? Is there something else we could have done?
It had been so long since we'd gone to the regional, I probably, you know, thought, hey, this is what we should do based on what we did years before.
Do we change that up next time? I thought we competed very well in that and played late in the games to lose them late. But, yeah, if there's something else we would do and. And maybe that's something. I need to talk to more guys that go there more often, like Jim Gantt, who. It's just another day to that guy. He goes to him every year. But for a guy like me who goes once every right now, it's like, I think every 17 years. So I guess I'll be 79 the next time I go.
Hopefully I'll be better prepared.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Well, and I was happy because I got a chance to see what watch Colton pitch.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Who was probably one of the best freshman arms I saw last spring.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Wow. Wow.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: I told you that. I told you that. When we text after the game, I felt like he was one of the best fresh.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Just pure pitchers. It's nice to see a kid who has good feel for pitching.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And I don't know how he. I don't know how he did it. I mean, like I said, he came from a small town, and he came because Brandon Turner, a guy I'm friends with from Exposure, said, hey, you. This kid, no one's gonna see him. And he's really athletic and he throws strikes. So I get him. And we were fortunate to get him and watch him develop, and he's a great young man.
You know, in this world, people were like, you know, we. We play Newberry and had a great young freshman. Me and Coach Snyder are sitting there like, hey, you think these guys are coming back? That's an awful question to have to ask each other during the years. Can we keep them?
And I don't worry about it. I really don't. I don't worry about it. The guys want to be here. Great. If they don't, we worry about the guys that are here.
I think there were some people reaching out to him, and in this climate.
[00:26:41] Speaker A: Like, you know, before the I I looking through the roster, and he was the first person I looked for just to see, because in this climate, you just never know. So I was extremely happy that he was still on the roster.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: I know. And. And Right. We go back to this now. There were some guys that I thought were friends of mine, and I see.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: They got a guy following no Honor among thieves.
[00:27:00] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I was thinking like, wait a minute, why are you following this?
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Young life's too short for that. Like, you can't. That's a karma thing. Like, you know, I don't agree. Everybody's trying to win, but at the end of the day, the relationships with the coaches that you've built over a long period of time, not one player's ever worth ruining or burning bridges with somebody that one player ain't gonna make a difference on. If you're going to burn a bridge with somebody you've known forever, it's not, it's not that important.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: It's not. And I don't know how that's going to change. Right. I mean, you're, you're around this thing, you're seeing the insides of them. I don't know how it changes with, with, with people. I don't. Unless rules come up. Right.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: There has to be guardrails like there. Yes. We got to get some guardrails on it.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: For sure, too, because at the end of the day, we're losing sight of, of what college athletics is supposed to be, which is kids graduate, they have a good experience, you know, they develop lifelong relationships, they develop networks that are going to help them down the road.
We're losing a lot of those things with the climate of college athletics right now.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: And it's trickling to high school.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: I got a, I got a friend of mine down in Florida, and this was yesterday, so I may not be exactly right, but apparently you can transfer mid season.
High school football.
So a kid quarterback that, let's say Tampa High School, he can transfer after three games, four games, he transferred to another school with good, with good cause.
And I guess you can, if your team's not playing well and there's another team that might be a playoff bound, you can transfer in I and high school.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: By the way, high school is hard enough. Imagine if you were in high school and you had to switch schools in the middle of the semester to go to a different high school to be around high school kids. You don't know.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know. Absolutely. No, I know. And you know, we've talked with Kijuk. You know, I had, we had some upperclassmen tell this young man, hey, listen, are you happy? Yes. Don't mess with happiness because you may go somewhere. And all we hear are the one or two cases that do really well. But you Forget about the 80 that went and didn't play this year. They're not On a club they're not going to play as much as they did last year. The experience is not going to be good. That is probably the majority than the success rates. I don't know how many kids in that portal are still in the portal. I don't even know if they even found school. Some of them, you know, and have decided like well I didn't find a school I wanted. I'm just going to go to school. Which is fine if that's what they wanted. But I don't think they went in there with that purpose.
That that's the shameful part of this thing. And like you say, hopefully there'll be some guardrails.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: And back to Colton. How do you get freshmen ready in this climate? Everybody is so like older transfer portal. How do you get freshmen ready to go? Because they are going to be playing against kids that are four or five and maybe six years older than them right now.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: I know, right? You see some old teams, man, there's some veteran guys out there. It reminded me the Morris county majors men's league I played in. I mean it was just some, you know, 27 year old guys and they're physically developed now. Coaches talk about this. All right, so now the landscape is we can't get those guys in. So now let's get the better freshmen. So now some of the freshmen that you probably didn't have a chance to get before now you have a better chance of getting because they realize, well, the, the mid d ones aren't recruiting me so I want to find a place that wants me.
You know, when you're having those conversations sometimes it may, you know, they're like well how do you guys, when they leave here like one of those parents will ask, you know, kind of like they're, they're giving you a prelude. Like if he comes and does well, we're probably going to move on. And that's a question you got to be like as a coach like well we don't want to deal with that. We're not dealing with the future, we're dealing with now and we're not bringing you in here to send you somewhere else. Although some people may want to say that, right? To get a young man. And I get it, we're all different. We're all different. But I'm not bringing a guy in here thing.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Now if I'm a parent of a child and I've got two kids, I've got a 22 and a 20 year old.
If my kid goes to a school and they're happy.
It's like, okay, stay there.
Yeah, stay there.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: If you're happy, I think as a parent, you just want your kids to be happy and feel and feel fulfilled in what they're doing. If you're in a spot where it's going well, don't even worry about going somewhere else because then all the other outside noise comes into play.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. No, you're right. You're right. And so, yeah, I think there's a lot of programs, you see them all the time, that they've done a great job bringing freshmen in and developing them and they've done very well and a lot of them have stayed at their school and there's obviously a couple that, that will move on, but we can't worry about that. You know, we're going after some more freshmen and I think like everyone else, you use the Portal or the Jucos to kind of fill in if you can.
But it's not like that's where we're going to go fully in the co. The teams that do that, that like, hey, we're just going to do Portal. It's great, it works for them.
There's no one way to build your roster, that's for sure. In fact, we have more ways to build it now.
You know, as far as that goes.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: You'Re right in the middle of fall ball. How has your fall calendar development wise changed over the years?
[00:32:31] Speaker B: That's a great question. I think the biggest thing we've changed is we scrimmage more, we scrimmage more. We're spending more time playing the game. So guys are seeing live pitching, live hitting. We've done that more than what I used to do in the past. I think that's a big one. I think using our players more and more as teachers to explain things, I think we're doing that more and more.
I think the aptitude of kids is not great. We need to get better at that. The attention spans seem to be getting smaller and smaller.
So if we're explaining something, we always want to follow it up with I get a player to go explain it as well, maybe in their own terms that maybe the new player will understand better. And sometimes it's about technique and fundamental. I think most of the time it's about what the expectations are in the mindset and your body language. You know, what's acceptable.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: How do you set those peer led groups up? Are those small groups? Is that in front of the whole team? How are you setting those peer led groups up?
[00:33:42] Speaker B: Both. I think that's a great question. I think you got to do it always one on one small group. And I think sometimes they have to come out in front of the group and be able to talk about whatever that point may be, whether it's with the whole team. Maybe it's about an effort level, maybe it's about a how we handle failure or success.
But I think you have to get these guys in all situations. And at first we spend time talking about leadership. There's a book we use by Dr. Jansen about leadership and we use that book with our guys and talk to them about. Here are the different tools in order to help talk with your teammates during practice in situations. So I think part of that is what we do a lot of is to teach it and then give them opportunities to do it and then give them feedback. It's like if Ryan said, hey Ryan, I don't even know what you just said. That just made no sense, you know, you know, let's next time have a little better point of view or what you're going to say. Think about it and just keep it to one where I got a guy who just rambles on. I'm like, hey, you got to land the jet sometime, man. You can't keep flying, circling, like land the jet, like get to your point, land it and that's it.
So I think that's just part of the learning process. But the pure part is a big part of them understanding it because they hear too much from me and our assistants. They gotta hear from their peers. It means more.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: You playing outside competition.
[00:35:10] Speaker B: This fall we have two jucos that we're playing with a lot of scrimmages and some of them are controlled scrimmages. They might be, you know, two, three innings with a practice, but just to get that live action going and you know, put them in very difficult situations, make it hard for them and just see how they respond to the difficulty that they're getting, you know, bats. When they go to hit, they don't pick their bat. It's like today you're using a 32 inch bat today. In today's game we have 132. You're going to use like back in the 70s and when you get hit, you leave it there at home plate and everyone's going to use one bat. And every inning, starting with multiple runners on base or a guy on base, you're never getting a clean. Any. How uncomfortable can we make things?
The counts, put it in, the hitters count, put it in, pitchers count.
We don't want any situation to be comfortable for them at all.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: You've seen just about everything, you know, over the course of your career. But in the last 10 years, what do you feel like has been the best development switch for the game?
Could be tech, could be just coaching, could be any. Anything. What do you feel like has been the most impactful the last 10 years from a player development standpoint?
[00:36:29] Speaker B: That's a great question because you could go technology.
We've seen how that's developed with Rapsodo and Trackman and the analytic.
I truly believe this.
I think the resources that coaches have today, from the abca, all the past clinics, the Barnstormers there. If you don't know anything about pitching, there are so many resources now to go figure something out on how to develop your pitching staff. So I think the resources that we have available now. We used to have to buy the VHS tap. My first one was Itchy Jones on hitting that VH test. I used to buy those Gary Ward.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: The sequential unlock the interlocking sequence of parts.
You can still see it on. You can still see it on YouTube. They have like cliffs. Not the whole thing. But I looked like last year because we watched it every year in high school. That was the only. My high school coach is awesome. But we didn't. He didn't really talk mechanics. We just watched that video before spring practice started. Like, I had four years of notes on the interlocking sequence of parts. But I was a good hitter because of all that, like short levers. Like, my setup was like Robin Ventura's because it was close. Elbows close, knees. Like, it worked like it's perfect.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: I was just talking to a kid the other day about hitting. I was like, just imagine you got a ball between your knees. You know, I deal with youth kids.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: I still. I'll bring the dodgeball out with in camp. I have them squeeze the dodgeball in between their knees.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: Yes. So I think we had those resources, but now, I mean, it's at. It's right here in front of us and to pull that stuff up. And like I say, when we get assistant coaches or volunteers, the first thing they have to do, whatever position is, they have to go watch five to seven videos from ABCA or Barnstormers and take notes. And they're going to present that. And so I think that in the last 10 years that the continued development and what the ABCA does is. Is amazing.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: When did you start your catching Olympics?
What year?
Oh, man, Right.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Yeah, Top Gun. Yeah, yeah, Top Gun. Oh, we did that back When I was at Tuscaloom, really, I. I had that going on way back then. Yeah. Yeah. Just. We used to do it with all positions. You know, we had a competition and different things. The outfielders would do throws and different agility things. But the catching one, I. I did a little bit in Tuscalum and then kind of evolved. It used to be just the throwing and the receiving. Then we took it to where every aspect from tag plays to force everything we have a competition for.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: And that's at the end of the fall, right?
[00:39:19] Speaker B: That's at the end of the fall. It really is. Yeah.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: Probably gets their juices going, too.
Something they look forward to all fall is doing that at the end of the fall.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And we're still experimenting with some things, like the receiving. At one time, I would have them like, Stan, you know, they couldn't see the machine. And I'd blow the whistle and have to turn and catch the ball in the machine. Well, you know, one time I didn't blow the whistle, and the freaking kid got smoked. And I was like, all right, let's find another way to do this receiving stuff. So I'm evolving on. On what drills we're using so we don't hurt no one in it. But, you know, the Top Gun music's playing, especially when they're doing the. The catching gear. They got a. Like a fireman. How quickly can they put the gear on and get out the home plate? We got that Top Gun music playing blaring right there. They all got to come up with names from Top Gun Merlin, and they all get their names right there. And. Yeah, I mean, I. I love that time. That's a. That's fun time for them.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Do majority your guys go out and play summer ball?
[00:40:19] Speaker B: I'd say 50%.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Do position players or pitchers? Both.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Both.
Any kid that we have that pitchers that have thrown like Colton did not get sent out. And some said, well, yeah, good idea, because he know.
[00:40:34] Speaker A: But he throwing enough.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. There's no need to go.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: But he threw e3. 80 innings.
[00:40:40] Speaker B: 80 innings, yeah.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: That's perfect for a freshman.
[00:40:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. Now you're right. And so there's some guys we shut down just to get back in the weight room and let the bodies recuperate. I'm fortunate. I've got a young man who played for me, Morgan Gregory, who's with the Philadelphia Phillies. He's their head strength coach. And we've talked a lot about, you know, what do we do about the arm? Should we continually throw? How Much time do we take off? And he's been invaluable, I think, helping me along with a guy named Evan Djurjevic who was with the White Sox, physical therapist. And I think they've helped us in like, hey, what do these kids need to be ready for us?
And what time off do they need? Like, what's a good time off for them? And it does vary individual to individual. But I think it is important to have that time off physically, mentally, mentally. Big one, as you know. Right.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Plus, then they're fresher for the fall then too. Especially like.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Like he's through 80 innings. Take the summer train and then get ready for fall ball.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I think we see that with him. He is fresh. I mean, he's been great. I mean, he's, he's bigger, he looks stronger, stuff's coming out great. So I think it was really good to him. Could that have happened? Going to play summer ball? Maybe. But like you said, he already had way too many innings.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: And that's a cognitive learning thing for people that don't study the brain, that's a cognitive learning thing. You have to have a rest period and doesn't have to be a long rest period, but to allow those markers to set in. That's why sleep's important for athletes, because you learn all this stuff during practice.
You have to. It's called the glymphatic system in your brain. It cleans your brain out, but it also allows those markers to set from alert learning standpoint, where you're going to retain information better. And so you do need a rest period for a little bit, because if not those markers that, that you have set to learn, they don't. They don't work as well.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Interesting. So have you been talking with guys? Do you think there are more kids playing summer bowl, or do you see maybe a little pullback from that happening right now?
[00:42:50] Speaker A: I think it's a mix. I think it depends on the school, you know, and I see it more with the arms then I do see it with the position players where more arms are getting shut down as they should, you know.
[00:43:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: You know, look what Major League Baseball is doing now with the scouting. That's a long shout out to Major League Baseball.
They have to, you know, we can try or USA Baseball can try. But it really does have to come from Major League Baseball with some of that, because until they start doing it, it's really just lip service because they have to take the charge on that to help alleviate. It's never Going to stop all injuries. But at least if kids see, hey, there's a dedicated period where I'm not going to be scouted and that's in line with the division one off period too now where I think it's, you know, it's going to be five, ten years down the road if you see it makes a difference. But I do feel like it's going to make a difference.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: What are your responsibilities as associate AD for coaching development, by the way? Great. I think every baseball coach probably should have that title on campus because baseball coaches are so good at that, developing coaches. But what, what does that entail for you?
[00:44:07] Speaker B: Well, there's no extra pay on it. Our athletic director, Matt Pope is very generous in giving me a title and I probably need to do more. But what we do is, you know, beginning of the fall, we do a, all the coaches get together, we do a coach's clinic and talk about developing as coaches. We actually had Liberty men's soccer coach come in because we're kind of similar schools with the Christian background. And you know, how do we coach at a Christian school? And you have kids that are non Christian. So he came in and talked about what they do. So we'll bring in guest speakers.
You know, I think part of that is, that's the development. I think the other part is just me going up and talking with coaches and how things going. What are you struggling with?
Knowing their season and how they're doing. Sending a phone call, sending a text congratulating them on wins. I think we all sometimes feel like we're on an island.
We hear from our family and close friends, but then everyone's doing their own thing. Thing. I want to try to connect all those dots that, hey, soccer game. You're struggling right now, man. Thinking of you. If there's anything you need, need to talk, let me know. I think it's things like that we try to do.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: What were some of his tips on coaching faith based kids with, with intermingling faith based kids with non faith based kids. Because I think every coach is going to go through that, you know, with kids lifestyles or political beliefs or religious beliefs. I think you're going to run into that every year. And, and how do you intermingle or what were some of his tips with intermingling?
[00:45:43] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think like both of us for, you know, we're at schools where you, you, they tell them right up, this is who we are and what we are. I mean, so he talked a lot in the recruiting process about they got to know exactly these are expectations, not only from the school, but from your, your program. And, and you lay that out. Now you have to make a decision if this is what you want to do. When we have prayer and we have kids giving their testimony, if we have someone come in and talk about their faith, this is a part of who we are. So that's being upfront.
And at the schools we're at where we can do that, State schools can be a little bit more, maybe more of a challenge. But I think their whole thing was in the recruiting process being transparent exactly who they are, not hiding anything. And I think when kids look at Liberty, they know exactly kind of what that is already.
I think when people look at, let's say a Christian based school like us, that has to be like, what are you guys doing in a program?
And so we've got to be transparent about the things we do, what's important to us, our conduct on and off the field, what's allowed, what isn't allowed.
So I think the transparency is crucial and that's what we got from them.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: I liked it, having different viewpoints on our team. Like, I felt like it helped our players grow because people grew up in different environments, people believe different things.
Like, I felt like it allowed us to see a different viewpoint from somebody else. And yes, you may not always agree with people, but at the end of the day, we're on the same team and you got to find a way to have some common bonds, regardless of what you believe. Away from here, we've got to try to find some of those common bonds. And I really liked when, when we had kids that had different viewpoints or were brought up from different environments and different beliefs to allow them to come to some common bonds on some things, which I felt like was part of the growth, development and again, sending them out into society. Because by the way, when you get out in the real world, not everybody's going to agree or believe in what you believe in. And you still got to find a way to get along with people.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. Dan Lanning talked about it with Oregon. Like the locker room, like you're saying. I mean, the locker room needs to be, you know, basically a blueprint or a picture of what society is. You know, it's not all just utopia one way thinking. And we have kids that have come to Carson Newman that weren't Christians or believers or really strong followers. But you know, they played, they interacted with their teammates, they're best friends with those Teammates, maybe we planted seeds, maybe they planted seeds in us that we don't even know. You know, the thing that took place here recently became a conversation and I think that's important. And you're right. I think the differences are good.
It's healthy.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: I think, by the way, still goes back to the golden rule. It still goes back to, yeah, you.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: Want to be, absolutely.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: Treat people how you want to be treated.
[00:48:54] Speaker B: Exactly. That's exactly right. Isn't that part of the ethics?
Right? I mean, that all coaches do. And I, I like to think in baseball we, we have this world. Although we talk about the recruiting. I know, but generally speaking, man, you go to the ABCA and you come in contact with baseball coaches.
Good people, man, they're good people. Values are strong.
I, I don't know if that's just, I don't know. I'm looking at it with rose colored glasses, but I do feel like baseball coaches.
[00:49:25] Speaker A: It's the blueprint, Stanford. Yeah, that's society. It really is. Yeah, it's the blueprint for society.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: I agree. So that's good.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: I love watching you guys. I loved watching at the regionals. I think your assistants do a great job too. Do you have any tips for hiring assistants and developing assistants?
Because you had a lot of them.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Yeah, we go through, you know, volunteers every year and then our, our assistants, usually it's three to four years. Fortunate to have great ones who are passionate about the game.
I tell them one thing all of our guys said, look for things to do. Don't look for things to be told to do. Like I, I, I'll be like, I should be able to look out. And you're doing something that we didn't ask you to do, but you're doing it. You're pulling the weeds out of the rocks and you're cleaning cobwebs out of the dugout.
You're, you're, you're, you're booming the front door area where people are coming in. Like, do the things, look for things that you weren't asked to do, but in the early morning, get it done and after practice, get it done and then continuing learning. I mean, I make these guys call coaches up, I make them research, I get them outside their comfort zone, give them opportunities to teach on the field.
But I want them to learn. I want them to keep picking people's brains when they go recruiting. I said, you're going to sit next to someone, get to know them, ask them what's their background. If they say, I was an infielder, Ask them for infield drills. How do you develop infielders if the guy's a really good recruiter, what are you doing recruiting? Like, you're not going there just to watch guys. You're going there to network. You're going there to meet people.
That's what they have to do when they come back. Now I'm going to learn something because they met four or five guys. I want to know something about them. I want to know something they took from those guys. Now I get to learn as well.
But yeah, the big thing is the passion, man. Don't, don't wait for a coach to tell you, hey, here's what we're doing today. I tell guys, you better figure it out. And if I see you sitting in the office and you're just kind of hanging out, I want the guy that's going out there and looking for things to do.
[00:51:34] Speaker A: And, and your players are kind of that way too. Watching you all play. Is that a recruiting, you vet that in the recruiting process? I know it's hard now. Or is that just team building culture? Because you could tell your guys liked being at the field too.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: Well, that's, you're very kind to say that, man. I, I, I hope that as coaches, you, you bring energy and I think it's infectious. And so I, I, I, I want our guys to come out here and be, the music's pumping. You know, I like music playing the rhythm. And if practice isn't going good, at least I can hear a little bit of Pat Benatar or Bon Jovi. And that gets me better mood. But I, I like it to be upbeat and I, I want players to enjoy it. It goes back to, you know, but maybe this is a faith part thing. I mean, we're fortunate to get to do what we do. It's a gift. What are we doing with it each day? We maximizing it or are we lessening it? And I want to remind our guys, like, I don't want things to be fun.
And this isn't mine. I stole this. I read a article. We use it with our guys. I don't want it to be fun. I want it to be rewarding because, you know, we've lost five in a row and you bring a team in like, hey, what do we got to do? Oh, we just got to have fun again. Well, how do you have fun when our pitcher just gave up five runs? So it's going to be a miserable day. Well, instead of that, let's just say, let's it be rewarding if it was a bad day, we learned something from it. If it was a good day, it was rewarding. But fun, fun is so temporary, man. And I hate it when guys like, hey, we just gotta have fun. The guy being the dugout, we gotta have fun. It's 13 nothing. How the heck are we gonna have fun doing this? I don't know how to have fun doing that.
So I think just changing our mindset on how we're going about things each day. And, you know, teammates. Yay. Hey, you see a guy having a bad day, let's figure out what's going on. If it's nothing besides, you know, maybe a bad tired, we'll pick up the energy a little bit. Let's find a way to do this. Let's get excited about it.
[00:53:31] Speaker A: That's the best way to just switch it and reframe it and get, get rid of it is just get moving and have some enthusiasm for what you're doing.
[00:53:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And I think you got to structure practice. You know, we go watch little league practice and you see one kid hitting an 8, 10 guys out in the field. Well, that's. That's going to be tough. That's going to be tough to be enthusiastic. So how you structure your practice so it's kind of like, you know, hockey, you know, here comes a shift, you got 30. Say you're back out. Like, it's moving around.
Your structure of your practice can create that enthusiasm or you can drain the snot out of them as well.
[00:54:07] Speaker A: When are you talking about roles with your players?
[00:54:11] Speaker B: Well, great question.
Usually, right? Usually it's kind of the end of the fall going in.
We actually are starting it now because I think some kids perception of where they are is way off. And I don't want to be able to have to pull like, whoa, where'd you. How'd you get down that road? So we're kind of like, hey, here's where you're at right now. You think you're going to be starting, and guess what? Right now you're not. It's okay.
But we probably need to give you a little idea of where you're at now. So we actually have started that. It's a great question, by the way, because we usually didn't do this until more the end of the year and then going into the spring, redo it again.
[00:54:54] Speaker A: Yeah, and that's where it was always hard for me doing in the fall because it's so fluid because everybody goes home for Christmas break and some Guys bust their butt over Christmas break.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:55:05] Speaker A: Some guys take a break off and they come back and they're different. Some are different in a good way. Some might be different in a negative way. So it's. For me, I always, I always think about that with coaches now. Like when are they setting roles? Because it's so fluid throughout the year.
I think it's difficult. But I do like the fact that you're having those conversations with guys now because you don't want them to be blindsided. You want them to have an idea of like, okay, here's what you need to improve on to maybe get, get into a better role than what you, you feel like you deserve right now.
[00:55:36] Speaker B: 100 self assessment, by the way, is not great. I mean, you know, everyone around for anybody though.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: I don't think that's changed though. Like everybody thinks society's changed. I, I don't think, I don't think that group, that age group of kids is not real good at self assessment. They've never been good.
But they're there for a reason. I think to, to get to that point, to be able to actually get on a college ride roster somewhere.
I think you have to have some self confidence now. It might be, you know, diluted a little bit, but they're not going to get there if they don't have a little bit of confidence in themselves.
You know, I think that's the, that's the question too. I guess maybe you would write, not that it's inflated, but I think you do want your players to have confidence in themselves but also be able to self evaluate without beating yourself up too. I think that's the art to coaching is you want them, yes, to be able to self evaluate but not at the end of just beating themselves up. So it's a detriment to them, their performance on the field.
[00:56:40] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's a great point. Right. And I appreciate you saying that because I probably have failed in that area. I really haven't in some way now. And I appreciate you saying that because it helps me like, hey, be careful the words I'm using in assessing them. So you're not taking them down where now they're like, well, I'm defeated. So thank you for saying that because that will help me moving forward.
[00:57:05] Speaker A: I always think about this too. How do you handle senior day?
Because I've been to a lot of senior days over the years now on this side, but outside of my own, how do you handle? Because I'm always intrigued because I think it's A nerve wracking time. And it might be the last game. So I'm intrigued because you've been doing this for a long time of how you actually handle Senior Day or even if you do a Senior Day.
[00:57:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I think like everyone else, you know, you, you recognize them coming up. We, at one point we had their families come out. We don't, we don't do that anymore. We just do the individual. And that's probably my stubbornness, you know. You get that Father. I remember one year I, you know, the father and mom are there and I go to shake, say, Tom Griffin's hand, and the dad. And the dad doesn't even put his hand out. He's, he's ticked because he didn't play a lot. Mom doesn't even look at you. And I'm like, yeah, how about we don't bring him out anymore? Because I don't know what their agenda is. You know what I'm saying?
[00:58:04] Speaker A: I've said this quite a bit. Oral Roberts. Shout out to Oral Roberts. They did theirs after their game, which I've never seen anybody else do that.
[00:58:13] Speaker B: Nope, nope.
[00:58:14] Speaker A: They did theirs after the game. Now they could do that because their season's probably rolling in the Summit League every year. So like, they, Everybody for the most part, was going to be happy, but they did theirs after the game.
That, that was hard. Senior Day was hard for me. It was emotional. I'd start crying. Players would start crying. Like, it just was hard for me where I was like, oh, that kind of makes sense to me to do it after the game. Let them get through the game. And that way you're not adjusting pregame.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:41] Speaker A: Routines or any of that. So shout out to Oral Robertson.
[00:58:44] Speaker B: That was. Yeah, no, that's good. I've actually seen here recently, like, for instance, University of Tennessee women's soccer. They did it their third game of the year. I think it was really early because they could get everybody in. It was a non conference game, could get all their seniors to play in the game. It wasn't in the heat of the SEC battle. And have you ever seen that done?
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Alabama softball, shout out to Coach Murphy.
They do an individual senior day for one senior throughout the year. Wow. So pick a day to celebrate that. One player, like the whole day, I can't remember. I think he had a, like, player from like New Zealand or whatever. So it, like they had like New Zealand flags or whatever country she was from. So, like, played their national anthem. Like, it just. I, I thought that was an intriguing way to handle it. They just. They celebrate.
They take a game to celebrate. One senior throughout the year, which is cool. I think that's a great idea.
[00:59:41] Speaker B: That's a great, great one. Yeah, I like that. I like that.
[00:59:45] Speaker A: When did the light bulb go on for you that you were going to get into coaching? Did you always know you?
[00:59:49] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. High school. When I got into high school, from our football coaches and baseball coaches, I was around. I wanted to be a history teacher, wanted to coach linebackers in football and coach baseball. I wanted to be a defense coordinator in high school.
My football coach in high school was a great mentor to me. Loved them. All the coaches I had in Roxbury were just great. And then there were coaches in our county, especially baseball, that were legendary. Lee Sarris, Tom Hill. There were some legendary. Harry Chatel. New Jersey was loaded with some great high school coaches that I just. I always wanted to be like them. I used to go campsite, watch them in camps. The way they interacted with me like they were my heroes. And that's all I wanted to do, was coach high school football and baseball.
[01:00:41] Speaker A: I didn't. I wasn't.
I was going to be a brain surgeon, and then I was going to be a college professor. But then I coached. Those first two weeks of coaching and volunteering for my dad and brother, I was like, oh, this is what I.
[01:00:56] Speaker B: Need to be doing.
[01:00:58] Speaker A: Luckily, I had two classes left to finish after I got done playing. Like, it's funny how life works. Luckily, I still had two classes to finish, so four and a half years. And my dad asked me, and luckily he did because I was in there two weeks and I'd been around it my whole life. But, like, once I got to the field with the guys and we started coaching, I was like, oh, this is what I need to be doing now.
[01:01:23] Speaker B: Did your dad ever talk to you? Like, hey, he tried to talk me out of this.
[01:01:26] Speaker A: He and my mom.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Did he really?
[01:01:27] Speaker A: Yeah, just I, you know, I was. I was working in the real world, too. I was bartending, but I was making a lot of money bartending. And they both sat me down, were like, hey, your lifestyle. Just know your lifestyle is gonna completely change financially if you want to keep doing this. And I was like, I don't care. Like, I don't care. I'll. I'll sleep on.
I'll sleep in my car if I need to, to keep doing this. So, yeah, luckily, that's how life works.
[01:01:53] Speaker B: Oh, that's cool. Two class only because of two classes. Otherwise you'd be. You'd Be shaking up in New York City.
[01:02:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that, that was one. My dad's college roommate owned a bar in Chicago and a very successful bar. That was like an option for me or I was trying to get into a master's program for psychology.
I just. My GRE scores weren't high enough so I wasn't going to be able to do. Do that. Extremely competitive to get into programs like that. But it's just funny how life works. You just never know. That's why you got to be patient too.
[01:02:25] Speaker B: And isn't that great when you talk to coaches and hear stories like that, like one moment, one thing changes the whole course of their event. The way God has this plan different than ours. Because you never thought of that, but.
[01:02:37] Speaker A: You had two more things. That's why I try to right on people. I'm like, whatever you think you want right now, look up 12 months from now and you know, whether God, universe or whatever probably has a way better plan than you could have ever have thought.
[01:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah, right now.
[01:02:53] Speaker A: And for me, being in the position I'm in now, like I had to have coached to do what I'm doing now in all those years coaching that I loved, that brought me to another job that I love doing which is now on this side in the office with the staff and being able to provide services for people that you never get to do as a coach. Like I feel like it's a one on one, one of one job for me where you get to positively affect the entire baseball community with the things that you get to do. Like I'm very fortunate. I'm grateful. I wake up grateful every morning.
[01:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: Being able to.
[01:03:27] Speaker B: And again, you didn't think you would go into coaching and then you were in coaching and thought I would never go. And now you hear you are in another world.
How cool in life is where we get to do these things that change and we're enjoying it.
[01:03:40] Speaker A: Do you have a fail forward moment? Do you have something you thought was going to set you back but looking back now, it helped you move forward. Could be professionally or could be personally.
[01:03:48] Speaker B: Yeah, personally I think it was getting fired at Tusculum. You know, didn't think I'd get another job because I interviewed plenty of places and obviously wasn't getting hired.
And so I didn't know what was going to. I thought maybe I'd go back to the high school world, you know, and do that. But I really loved the college thing, but I wouldn't have cared going back to high school. But I think the failure There, that. That was a big thing. Big moment, right? One of those things in life, Brian, that we all have, that you got to figure out what to do there. And whether you have people in your life or whether it's faith, something in your life kind of changes it. That. That was it for.
[01:04:24] Speaker A: Let me ask you this. If you. If you don't get fired from Tusculum, do you end up at Carson Newman?
[01:04:30] Speaker B: No. No. There you go.
[01:04:32] Speaker A: And that's. And that's what it is.
[01:04:33] Speaker B: Like, there it is.
[01:04:36] Speaker A: You know, you don't end up at Carson Newman if you don't get fired at Tuscaloo.
[01:04:40] Speaker B: No, no, I don't get married either because my. My girlfriend at that time was a.
An athletic trainer, and when I got fired, she had just gotten a job down in Knoxville. So if I stayed at Tuscalum, we probably don't stay together. I mean, like you said, it's so crazy. You know, all these things happen because of what we think is bad thing.
[01:05:03] Speaker A: How'd you stay in it? So that gap. So you get let go, how do you stay in it? Because I think we run into that every year with coaches getting let go. How do you stay in it? How'd you stay relevant? I tell guys, hey, keep, keep recruiting. You know, that's always my tip when I have friends that have been let go. I'm like, I know this seems odd, but even though you're not at a school right now, stay on the road, stay active. I know it's going to be a little bit pricey at times, but make sure people are still seeing you out there so they don't about you.
[01:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah, well, when she got to Knoxville, I went down with her, and CARSON Newman was 40 minutes away. So I came up to Gary Rundle, said, can I volunteer?
He was like, sure. And thankfully, he did let me coach. And for two years, I worked at Conoco, third shift at a gas station and then did lessons.
I mean, I'd come home from conoco at like 7, slept till about 11, came to Carson Newman, did practice, go back in at 11 o' clock to the Conoco.
So I think those were good times right there.
You know, you're working the Halloween shift and everyone comes in with a mask. You're thinking, is this guy robbing me or is he in costume here? Like I thought, boy, I gotta find something. But the volunteering kept me in it. And then when Joey Seaver, the assistant, left for Walter State, Gary offered me the assistance job. And so, right place, right time, but had to Go through, like, everyone, some tough times that God puts you through to be like, okay, there's some lessons that have to be learned. And I learned that, I think, working the third shift, thinking sometimes when I'm filling that cooler up, like, man, what am I doing here? This is awful. But it all worked out. Like you said, there's a. There's a plan for it.
[01:06:56] Speaker A: What changes would you like to see for Division 2 going forward, if anything?
[01:07:01] Speaker B: Wow, that's a great one. I always, I always call Jim Gantt and ask him, what do we. What do we want to do?
Because he's really good at that stuff.
[01:07:12] Speaker A: But because right now we're trying to get more practice hours and more games for you guys. We got that.
[01:07:17] Speaker B: That would be that.
[01:07:18] Speaker A: Sponsored.
So that was a lot of work. Shout out to John Litchfield in our office. That was a lot of work for us.
But it's actually gonna be voted on in January. So now we got some. Some heavy lifting to do here.
[01:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'd love for it to be like juco naia. So anything you do is going to be great because I'd love to be on the field more.
I'd always want to get the helmet off in third base box. I'd like to go back to a hat.
That one there. I wish we could get rid of all the pitch clocks and everything have been fine. I know they're talking about regionally now, doing more of a national selection committee.
[01:07:53] Speaker A: That's what I like to see that for you guys. I really would like to. Because Division 1 and Division 3 do it. I just think more in line. I know the cost thing, but I don't think it would be a lot of switching. You're talking maybe four or five programs that are going to move. I think it just. You're trying to get the best eight teams to carry.
[01:08:15] Speaker B: That's right.
[01:08:16] Speaker A: And, you know, if you're going to move four or five, I don't think it's that big a deal, but I think you want to try to get the best eight teams there. Yeah, that's. That's what I would like to see for you all. Just to be more in line with Division 1 and Division 3 right now.
[01:08:29] Speaker B: That's that. And I think that's the reason, because the other two have that for sure.
[01:08:33] Speaker A: What's your morning set up like? How do you set your mornings up?
[01:08:40] Speaker B: Well, first thing, wake up and then Kevin Burrell, Keith Madison, I read their little prayer. They put out. They put out a little thing every morning. So I Start my day with that. I start my day with prayer for myself, my family and, and people I know that need it.
I try to get here in the office early a.m. we have a. Our meeting with all our coaches is at 8am every morning.
So I try to get in here an hour before, you know, so get our day planned. We do a little.
We read from the coach's Bible. First thing we do with our staff so we can all get on the right page. Then we'll talk about individual players a little bit. Just. Is there anybody that, hey, we need to connect with?
We just talked this morning. We have, we have two players that just spoke up with girlfriends after long term relationships. And so, hey, one of our assistants going to speak and spend some time because he's had a lot of experience breaking off with girls. So we're gonna, you know, more about what the players need emotionally and then practice plan what we want to do with our guys today. And then, you know, a little like everything else. And then I try to work out every day at 11:30 from. So we tell our players from 11:30 to 12:30 the coaches are going to be doing something. I want our guys like obviously eat lunch, but go work out, go for a walk, listen to a podcast like that. One hour. I want our coaches to connect somehow outside of what we're doing here and then battle ready for practice.
[01:10:17] Speaker A: How long does that coaches meeting last?
[01:10:18] Speaker B: Usually 40 minutes. 45 minutes. Yep, yep. We do have about 45 minutes.
Feel like we can get everything done there. Sometimes I'll text them the night before. Of course, some of the things we want to maybe talk about or cover or some players, hey, you know, I didn't get to see the bullpens. I want to check in on these three pitchers. What do you think? We used to do it at the end of practice, but it's kind of like doing meetings. At the end of games, they're worthless. I mean the guys are done, they've done their work. Let's go home, let's get back at it again. So whether we have to talk about recruiting or practice, we can, we can do it in that time. I've gotten more into learning from guys that you've talked to. You know, we don't do recruiting talk. I used to every day. Or who do we have? Come on. That was pounding sand. So we do once a week where we sit down like, all right, let's talk about this week. Who do we need to contact, what players do we have? And try to do that with our recruiting Coordinator Brendan Krove, who does a great job.
[01:11:16] Speaker A: When do you mix off days in? During the week in the fall.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: Officially or non officially, off the record or on the record?
[01:11:25] Speaker A: I mean, they still got to be doing stuff like whether it's an off day or not.
[01:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah. I tell her, listen, there's, there's days that you have to have two days off in the fall. Those two days off should be volunteer work.
I mean, you know, I'm saying, you got it. Yeah, I get work done. You want to get good at this, you got to put time into it, man. You just got to. So, yeah, we have our official days off, but, you know, there's a, there's a thing down there. They sign up, if they come in just like a doctor's office and you know, they want to be good at something, they have to invest at the same time. Ryan, as you know, there's some guys I've had and I got them now I'm like, hey, you're not coming down tomorrow, you're done. You need to go do something else. Clear the mechanism. It's too much. And when we have guys come down, like, listen, it's not an hour, two hours, 15 minutes. Get some ground balls in for 15 minutes, 20 minutes. Go down. Just go down and do some yoga, do some sort of stretching. If you have some assessment issues we have to talk about, do something. Maybe come here and just play ping pong with the boys. I mean, just, it's that networking and being around each other. But there are times where you do have to get away. You mentioned it. Just some balance and figuring that out.
[01:12:33] Speaker A: And everybody's different with that. That's the art. All different. Everybody's different. Everybody's all different.
How's your hip?
[01:12:41] Speaker B: Oh, man, it's good, it's good. It's much better. I'm having some inflammation, not at the hip area, but just because I didn't do a good job rehabbing because I didn't know you.
[01:12:54] Speaker A: What was like two days?
Shout out. People don't know this. Coach Griffin had hip surgery right before the regionals. And then he's on the field like, what, two days later? A day later?
[01:13:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it was, it was not the smartest thing. My Dr. Patero. Shout out to Dr. Patero, one of the best hip replacement surgeons around.
Yeah, he did. Coach Barnes is about to do Skyler Barnett's at Milligan. Just. This guy's great.
But he told me you could go. But he had certain things he wanted me to do and I, I, I, I I wasn't a good patient, so I got some swelling, but I'm moving around. I can walk with no pain. I'm walking upright. I can, I can do drills on one knee. I can't get into the traditional squat. So. Working on that.
[01:13:40] Speaker A: What are some final thoughts before I let you go?
[01:13:43] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate all you do. I appreciate the abca. They've been instrumental in my growth as a coach. So I'm truly grateful and appreciative.
Every coach player that I've met somewhere along the line have had an influence on me because I've tried to be really good at observing, listening and asking questions. So my growth is because of all the people that have been in my life and, and certainly my wife and my kids. You know, you can't do this without great support system there and my faith guys like Freddie Corral and the group Mike lynch have been really awesome for me. So I'm a grateful man. I'm blessed.
I'm so appreciative of everything I have and I really appreciate you, Ryan.
[01:14:28] Speaker A: Proud of you, man. It's a great honor. Proud.
[01:14:31] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:14:31] Speaker A: Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
[01:14:32] Speaker B: I appreciate you. Love you, Ryan. Yep.
[01:14:34] Speaker A: Love you.
[01:14:34] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:14:35] Speaker A: Coach Griffin's energy is infectious.
Love it. Every time I get to interact with him, it's one of the many reasons why the ABCA is so great.
He'll also be on our Catching Hot Stove panel this year in Columbus.
Congrats to him on this well deserved honor. He's one of the true stewards of the game.
Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, Matt west, and the ABC Office. For all the help on the podcast, feel free to reach out to me via email our brownleybca.org Twitter, Instagram or TikTok CoachBabca or direct message me via the MyBC app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off with America Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks. And leave it better for those behind.
[01:15:13] Speaker B: You know that way Yep Wait for.
[01:15:29] Speaker A: Another day.
[01:15:36] Speaker B: Will always return and your love is never for yearning and you know that way.
[01:15:48] Speaker A: Wait for another.
[01:15:54] Speaker B: Day.
