Live from NHSI: Coaching Conversations

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Brownlee. Get the Pro treatment and design your very own custom Rawlings Glove just like your favorite big league stars. Choose from countless patterns, web types, lace colors and more to showcase your unique personal style. Start with a pro design and change it up with your team colors or build yours completely from scratch with your name, number and state flag. Visit Rawlings.com to design your custom glove today. Happy fielding. 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. Continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or infoettingpros.com, visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast. The next three weeks will be on location interviews from Cary, North Carolina and USA Baseball's NHSI Tournament Coaches. It's another great event. Congrats to all the coaches, players and teams that competed in Cary today. We're joined by Granada High School's Corgan Willis, Trinity Christian's John Murphy, Regis Jesuits Matt Darr, Castile's Matt Denny and Edwardsville High School's Tim Funkhouser. Let's welcome everyone to the podcast. Here's Corrigan Willis, Granada High School, but over here in Cary, congrats on being here. I know it's kind of an honor, but thanks for being here. [00:02:40] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. [00:02:42] Speaker A: State Coach of the Year last year. [00:02:44] Speaker C: Yes. [00:02:45] Speaker A: So talk about that a little bit. That doesn't normally happen, but I mean, congrats. It's a huge honor. [00:02:50] Speaker B: Yes. Thank you. It's kind of a product of the season. We had definitely a team award and coaching staff award, I think so. Couldn't have done it without the talent and the work ethic and having good buddies as coaches that are really bought in and are there for the right reasons for the kids and to coach good baseball. [00:03:11] Speaker A: Talk about Northern California baseball. I know how good it is. You Know, everybody kind of focuses on Southern California baseball, but I know how good Northern California baseball is also. [00:03:20] Speaker B: Yeah, there's definitely, I mean, if you look throughout the big leagues, there's, there's Northern California guys just littered out throughout the MLB. So we don't have as many people as SoCal, but you know, the weather's very similar. It's, it's pretty much year round up in Northern California and baseball is a big thing up in NorCal. [00:03:40] Speaker A: What's it mean to coach an alma mater? [00:03:43] Speaker B: Oh, it's amazing. You know, my dad taught at Granada for 34 years. I went to Granada, I'm teaching there. So it means a little something extra. When you do something like we did last year and then getting invited to this, being a part of your alma mater, for sure it's extra special. [00:04:01] Speaker A: Did you talk much after the game with the guys yesterday? [00:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, we had a rough one yesterday. Probably played our just, you know, worst game of the year. Obviously Corona del Sol is an excellent programming team, but we didn't show out like we know we can. And so I think there's a little extra motivation today and focus to perform. [00:04:22] Speaker A: Better with this type of format. Did you prep any different coming out here this week? [00:04:27] Speaker B: Well, yeah, we had to line up our pitching staff. You know, we have a few injuries too, which made it a little more challenging. So, you know, you come in with great plans and sometimes you gotta, you gotta change those plans on the fly and so. But you know, you prepare the same way no matter who you're playing because at the end of the day you're just trying to play good baseball and you can't really worry about who you're playing. You just want to focus on the process. [00:04:54] Speaker A: And you got two younger boys. Have you had an opportunity to coach them much yet? [00:04:58] Speaker B: Yes, I've coached both of them. I coach my, my youngest, I coached his all star team for Little League for a couple years and my oldest is actually in the program. He's on the JV team. So he was in my fall baseball class at Granada. And so it's, it's, it's good to have that experience. I'm still dad to him, but, you know, when I'm on the field, I'm coach. So they enjoy it. I really enjoy it for sure. [00:05:23] Speaker A: And obviously they both love baseball, so talk about that process a little bit. I think a lot of parents try to navigate that process early where you're trying to cultivate that love, but it's also can be a challenging relationship too. Talk about that process for maybe parents that's trying to go through that the first time. [00:05:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. So I've come to the conclusion that when I'm doing baseball with my boys or going to the game and you know, after the game, I don't talk about baseball with them. You know, it's just like, hey, where do you want to go to get dinner or ice cream or whatever? Because they don't want to hear from me because I'm dad, you know. [00:05:56] Speaker A: So has your coaching style changed much over the years? [00:06:00] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. I think I'm a little more relaxed than I was early on. I let my assistants, they're phenomenal. So I let them. I give them a lot of responsibilities, which eases my plate. And when you have good help like that, definitely you got to utilize it. [00:06:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, give some tips on that. I think that's a hard part as a head coach, is to give your assistants autonomy and trust them to do their jobs. And that's not easy thing for a head coach to do sometimes. [00:06:28] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:06:28] Speaker B: And you got to put your ego aside. Absolutely. And if you're only as good as your assistant coaches. So you got to utilize them and be able to use their strengths. Use your own strengths. And one of the strengths as a head coach, I believe is being able to step aside and let your assistants do their job. [00:06:45] Speaker A: Do you have any advice for coaches trying to get in profession for the first time? [00:06:49] Speaker B: Say that again. [00:06:49] Speaker A: You got any advice for coaches that are trying to get into the profession? [00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah, have a lot of patience, especially high school ball. When you're the head guy, it's. It's like you're a CEO of an organization. You're just. It's not the on field stuff that's a challenge a lot of times it's. It's all the planning, the scheduling, the uniform ordering, you know, dealing with, you know, the community, parents, it's all a good thing. But it's something that you definitely need to be prepared for. Going in and eyes wide open. [00:07:21] Speaker A: Do you have a checklist you use every year for what you're trying to get accomplished? [00:07:24] Speaker B: I used to. Now it's just kind of automatic. I know I gotta have my schedule done, you know, by July, uniforms ordered by September apparel. You know, coaches got to be cleared and all that stuff. I get that done before January 1st. So it's all. It's kind of secondhand nature right now for me. [00:07:43] Speaker A: What are you guys trying to get accomplished today? [00:07:46] Speaker B: We want to go out and just play a good game and do. What we do typically is we just. We throw strikes, we pound the zone, get ahead, play good D. And timely hitting and, you know, situational ball, you know, score runs with less than 2 is our main goal offensively. [00:08:02] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:08:05] Speaker B: Absolutely. Shout out to Eileen Greenlee. She's our ad. She surprised us yesterday out of nowhere. Just showed up at our game. Took a red eye the night before to get out here. No one knew she was coming, so that was. That was kind of special seeing that kind of support. And I know back home they're really supporting us. I think some teachers are playing our games live stream in the classroom, so that's kind of cool. For sure. We got a lot of support back home. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Good luck today, coach. [00:08:30] Speaker B: All right, thank you. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Hey, we're John Murphy, Trinity Christian. Guys played really well yesterday, but been the baseball coach since 2019. Talk about your journey a little bit. [00:08:42] Speaker E: Yeah, so I took over the program like you said. 2020, the COVID year is actually my first year as the head coach. That was an interesting experience. First year head coach playing nine games and then kind of getting put on pause. I was at a school called Providence before that and actually played there as a player in high school. So got an opportunity over at Trinity that opened up and jumped at it. Just a school that really fit my family really well. I've got some young kids, they all go to school there. It's a Christian environment. Get an opportunity to share the gospel with the boys and pour into them that way. And so I just knew it was something I felt like God was calling me to do and an opportunity for me and my family. And it's been really encouraging and been really cool to be a part of the Trinity Christian family over these last six years. [00:09:19] Speaker A: How does this type of environment with the one and done kind of get you guys ready for the playoffs in Florida? [00:09:25] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. So this year is really interesting for us. We actually start our playoffs next week. So we end Saturday here. Tuesday is our district tournament and it's go time for us. So I can't think of a better atmosphere and environment to be in than here, where kind of your life's on the line every day when you show up. And so we're hoping that mentally that'll get us prepared for what it looks like to go try to compete in the playoffs and ultimately try to win a state championship this year. [00:09:46] Speaker A: Talk about your starter yesterday. One of the most polished high school arms I've seen in a while. [00:09:51] Speaker E: Talk about him, man, Aaron, he's easy to talk about because he's just such an awesome kid. He's a worker, right? So obviously you saw the talent yesterday. Aaron's story is so cool to me because if you saw him as a freshman, you would have seen a kid who's got some length, really clean arm action, but it just wasn't all coming together yet. Right? And that happens like. And nowadays though, you see some of these freshmen that are 90, 92, and these guys are just like, man, just wasn't that guy. He was a typical. He's kind of 80, 83. He was learning how to pitch and he got his butt kicked a little bit on JV baseball as a freshman, he'll tell you that. But his response was so good that summer. He got to work. He didn't make excuses, oh, this, that, No, I got to get to work, I got to get better. And every year after that, he's worked so hard. The velocities come, the confidence, the pitch ability. I mean, to see a three pitch mix at 93, 95, touching 96. He's sinking it, he's riding it. He, he's dropping the slider. Anyone? And yesterday the split was on. It's just fun to watch. Honestly, I'm just sitting in the dugout enjoying the show. Whenever he's able to do that, it's really cool to be a part of. [00:10:44] Speaker A: You know, in this day and age of everybody kind of chasing velocity. That's probably the. And we talk about it a lot on the podcast. There's a timeline to Vlo and that's probably allowed him to stay a little bit healthier too. [00:10:57] Speaker E: I think so too. And just the way he prepares his body, I think that's so important. Right? So he's created a baseline of strength, especially on the lower half. He gets after it in the weight room. He doesn't miss days in the weight room. He doesn't miss recovery days. He has a really regimented routine after he throws. He has a plan for how he's going to get his body ready for the next start. That includes lifting, that includes the way that he's stretching, the way that he's prepping. And so I think that's contributed to his health a ton. Just the way that he prepares is so important. And he's built such a strong foundation over these last three or four years in the weight room where he's generating velocity really easy. He doesn't seem to work overly hard to get to his velo. [00:11:31] Speaker A: Yeah, talk about his recovery Day then. So when does he lift? So post throw day. Does he lift a day after? Does he take a day off? So he lifts a day after? [00:11:39] Speaker E: Yeah, he'll take a lighter lift and then he'll have a heavier lift, you know, two days after. And then he's just really good about the recovery. The soft tissue work that he's doing on his own, getting in. He's got a physical therapist that he's able to get in with and help with some of that soft tissue stuff. He came to us, we obviously would never do this as a staff, but he threw recently 85, 90 pitches. And he comes to us like two days later and he's like, hey, I could pitch today. Obviously we never would. But the fact that he even his body was in position where he felt like, he's like, hey, my arm feels good. Just a testament to how he takes care of himself. [00:12:08] Speaker A: And you know, those of us that have been in it for a while know how important lifting is. And what would you say to maybe a player or a coach hesitant to have their players lift in season? [00:12:20] Speaker E: So I would say this one. Look at a college baseball field. Look at a professional baseball field, right? Those guys are lifting in season now. Does it look different in season? Absolutely. Maybe it's more maintaining and those type of things. But if you don't lift in season, I mean, define in season now, that's the tough part, right? So in Florida, we, our first practice is January 6th. We're going to run till hopefully about mid to end of May, and then those guys are going to hop right into showcase summer ball through mid July. If that's your season, when are you, if you're not lifting, then when are you lifting? Like you've lost all that time. And so, yes, you have to be smart. You've got to pick and choose your spot, especially as a pitcher. Right? You've got to pick those days where I'm going to get after it, where I've got time to recover for my next start or whatever it is. But you just don't have the luxury. If you want to play at a high level now and you look at the physicality on a baseball field, you don't have the luxury to not be in the weight room regularly. [00:13:08] Speaker A: You were an assistant before you took over as head coach. What were some of your challenges taking over program for the first time? [00:13:14] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. So I was an assistant over at Providence across learned a lot over there as an assistant. And so coming over, I think the biggest challenge is the on field stuff. Was there's some things to navigate. Learning how to win and make pitching changes, how to. I'm a position player, so communicating with pitchers took a little while for me. I rely. We have John Wasden and Storm Davis as our two pitching coaches. So they've helped me a ton because I'm like, guys, I don't speak pitcher. Okay? I just. And so like, how do I make sure they're mentally prepared for what they need to do? How do I communicate without getting the guy's hopes up that he might be in the game when he's not? So they've helped a ton for me to navigate that part of it. And then as a high school coach, just to off the field know, trying to figure out fundraising, making sure you're communicating well with parents. Building relationships with parents and their families is really important because there's times we have to have tough conversations as a head coach and if you haven't built that relationship, those conversations don't go very well. But if you've built a relationship, the family knows that you love and care about their son and actually want the best for them, it helps those tough conversations go better and hopefully their son ends up better on the back end because of that. And so I'd say that was probably both the coolest opportunity, but also a challenge. Right. We've got 50 kids in our program. That's a lot of relationships to try to build. [00:14:20] Speaker A: Do you have a parents meeting? [00:14:22] Speaker E: We do. Yep. So we have a parent meeting. How we kind of handle our communication. At the beginning of every year we have a parent meeting. And then post fall we're able to do kind of do a fall season in Florida. And then post spring season I do a one on one with every player. And so we do. Summary. Here's how I thought your season went. Here's the things you did really well. Here's some things to work on. Here's where you fit in our program going forward. And if you want this role going forward, these are, you need to do X, Y and Z. For the fall, it'd be over that winter stretch, hey, here's what you need to do to be prepared for the spring season. At the end of the spring season, going into the summer, it's, hey, these are the things that I'd like to see you work on. And everyone's in a different place, right? That could be a JV player who's like, I just want to be on varsity next year. We've got a couple guys right now who it's, hey, you're one of the best players in the country. We've got a few guys like that. If you want to get drafted first round, you're here. There's still some things that need to be done to get you to that level. So everyone's always got something to work on. And then we also want to take time to praise the things they did well, you know, especially being a good teammate and showing up and working every day, those types of things. We want to take time to say, hey, we saw that. We recognize that. Let's continue in that path. [00:15:22] Speaker A: We talk about that a lot on the podcast. You know, how do you balance someone's strengths with what they're really good at, with also trying to help them work on things they need to improve on? [00:15:32] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. And I think I touched on. I think the relationship part of it is so important, Right? So if I come to a kid and I haven't built any sort of relationship and I'm viewing this transactionally and just, hey, how can you help me win baseball games? They're going to sense that and they're going to know that. So when I come to them and say, hey, I need you to work on X, Y and Z, they're thinking, well, you're just saying that because you want to win more games. It's about you. If hopefully they see that we love them and we care about them, when I come to you and I say, hey, this is what I see. This is what I want for you, they know it's coming from a place of love. That coach genuinely wants what's best for me. And so if he's saying this, it must be really important, and it has a big impact on my career and where I'm going to end up, and so that you just can't miss that piece, it's so important. [00:16:11] Speaker A: Trinity had good tradition before you got there. How did you try to continue that when you got there? [00:16:15] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. So Gil Morales was the coach before. Did a phenomenal job. They had gone to two Final Fours, I think, before I got there and won a state championship. One thing that I think we've really tried to incorporate, we do an alumni game every year, so in December. We love bringing the alumni back. We've had a ton of facility upgrades in the last five years. So just bringing them back and letting them know, like, none of this would be possible. Our team that we have now, the facilities without them and the foundation that they've laid for our program, and so we really just want to honor them and let them know how much we care about them, respect them. What they've been able to build for us because we're the saying we use a lot is we're standing on their shoulders. Right? All the players that have come before us, we're just standing on their shoulders. We're just trying to be next. And hopefully the group behind us will take that same mentality. [00:16:55] Speaker A: Baseball family. With your brother Daniel, were you always going to go to Jacksonville? [00:16:59] Speaker E: Yeah, so I actually was committed to Lake Sumter Community College originally. Chris Hayes, who's the head coach at ju, he might not like this story, but my brother had to call him and beg. He was the recruiting coordinator at JU at the time. And I was a decent high school player. I wasn't anything special. But so my brother was, I think, with the Mets at the time, and I was getting better. You know, I was kind of a late bloomer. And so my senior year, Daniel calls Chris and he's like, hey, I think my brother can at least have a roster spot for you. And he's like, I'll take a look. And so I think honestly, out of a favor to my brother because he graduated from ju, he's, you know, an alumni at that point, they gave me a preferred walk on spot, ju, and so I jumped at the opportunity and, and got in there and it worked out really well. I love my time at ju and it was a great opportunity and experience for me. But yeah, I think it was a little bit of a favor how I ended up at ju. [00:17:49] Speaker A: The younger one's usually better than the older one anyway. I did the same thing. My brother went to Evansville and there was no way I was going to Evansville. But then I ended up going to Evansville. [00:17:58] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:17:58] Speaker A: So I followed my brother behind him. [00:18:00] Speaker D: That's good. [00:18:01] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:18:05] Speaker E: Yeah, I don't think so. I think that was it. I really appreciate it. [00:18:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Thanks for your time. [00:18:09] Speaker E: You got it. Absolutely. [00:18:12] Speaker A: I'm here with Matt Darr, Regis Jesuit. We talked in 2022. So it's good to see you again. [00:18:17] Speaker C: Yeah, thank you. [00:18:18] Speaker A: Time flies. [00:18:19] Speaker C: I know, it's crazy. It feels like just. Just like yesterday, right when these. These cycles of this. But it was great. Yeah. [00:18:26] Speaker A: How'd you talk to the guys to prepare? Because not any of them probably were here last time. Time you were here. Correct. [00:18:32] Speaker C: We had one kid, Christian Lopez, who's our center fielder, was a freshman that year. He didn't. I don't. He didn't play a lot in the Field. He pitched a little bit for us, but we've only had one kid that was here in that experience. [00:18:43] Speaker A: So what. What did you relay to the guys about coming out here? [00:18:46] Speaker C: You know, you really have to emphasize, I think especially for our guys, you know, it's just. It's just a baseball game and nothing bigger than that. Right. You walk into the environment here, you see the stadium, the past champions, and it's obviously super cool experience, but you kind of have to say, let's just relax and play the game. And yesterday before our game, we went to a movie. We tried to get their mind off of it. Right. Because you don't want them ready too quick. And I think it helped. Right. You know, you just got to play the game. [00:19:15] Speaker A: So what movie did you go see? [00:19:17] Speaker C: We saw Minecraft, and it was one of the. The worst movies I've ever seen, but it was fun. [00:19:21] Speaker A: Oh, it's doing great at the box office, by the way. [00:19:23] Speaker C: But it was great because it was a great team builder. You know, we got. We rented out the theater and, you know, stuff like that. That. [00:19:28] Speaker A: So you all played well yesterday. [00:19:31] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:19:32] Speaker A: Good, hard fought battle. But you guys looked like you belonged here yesterday. [00:19:36] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. It was important, you know, that first game's hard, right. Because of the environment. You know, I think the altitude difference affects our kids. We did come in two days early, which I think has helped a little bit with the humidity. Even though it's not, you know, hot, but it's still different. And, you know, it was important for us to. I don't know if you got a chance to see our game, but, you know, we ran a lot, we bunted a lot. We kind of played our game and that showed those guys that that's how you win. Right. We're not going to bang a lot of home runs right. With this team, but we can pitch and we can play defense. Then we can run. [00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And you talked about the elevation. And I came and watched you guys BP yesterday, and I was expecting you guys to lift a lot of balls in BP yesterday and you did. And you guys stayed low and hit a lot of low line drives yesterday. [00:20:18] Speaker C: Yeah, we're more of that team this year. You know, it's a little different than in the past. I think we only have one home run so far, which is great because, you know, I tell these guys all the time, you know, you're gonna hit some home runs in Colorado, but you're also gonna play games when it's 35 and snowing and the wind's blowing in and you ain't gonna hit a home run no matter how. How big of a power hitter you are. So. Yeah. [00:20:38] Speaker A: Does this format help you guys get ready for the playoffs in Colorado? [00:20:41] Speaker C: Yeah, in Colorado, you know, we lost state championship last year, and they play. We'll end up playing, you know, three games in a weekend. So it really. It tests your pitching depth. It tests your depth. You know, behind the plate typically don't have the same kid catch, you know, so it's a good preparation. And I think the other thing is the emotional side of it is been trying to teach these guys and talk to them about that. To ratchet it up several days in a row, emotionally, is tough. Right. Like yesterday, obviously, first game, they're super high. You know, winning makes it easier because now you're in a quarter final matchup. Right. So. But again, how do you match that intensity? Every game is tough. And I think that it's a learned skill. It's not something you can just do. You got to learn how to do it. [00:21:24] Speaker A: So, I mean, do you handle it any different today to, again, help them get relaxed and go out and play the game a little bit? [00:21:31] Speaker C: I mean, again, like, I think the. I think they're more relaxed just because it's day two. I think there's an excitement over playing. Obviously, Trinity Christian is a fantastic team and program, but I think the fact that we've just gotten on the field, gotten that one out of the way, that naturally they'll relax. I think it helps that we got our dude on the mound with Albert going. There's a relaxation about that. Naturally, that just comes when you watch him and see him out there. [00:21:59] Speaker A: I mean, is it his turn in the rotation? [00:22:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, we just kind of. We wanted to set it up this way. Reezbeck threw yesterday because he's a senior. You know, he's been in a lot of big games. He typically doesn't throw a ton of pitches. So we want to not tax our bullpen right away. Alpert's obviously very good as well, but we just, like, you know, let's. Let's roll with this. And then if we win that first game, we've got our dude for game two, and it kind of sets up better. [00:22:28] Speaker A: I mean, how nice is that for you to have that kind of one, two punch? Because Reese back, he looked. He looked like a veteran yesterday. [00:22:34] Speaker C: Yeah. And, you know, if you saw him yesterday, Luke. Luke's not as talented as Alfred, but he competes every day as well. Yeah. And he'll just you know, he gets out there on the mound, and you're gonna have to beat him. He's a bulldog. And I think that's another important thing to have on the mound the first game when things go south a little bit. We kicked, we made an error, and he just like, okay, I got it. I'm gonna take over here. [00:22:56] Speaker A: So I saw you're on the Rockies podcast. [00:22:59] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:23:00] Speaker A: Because Peterson was in town. [00:23:02] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, we were here. He was on the team when we were here in 2014. He was hurt at the time, but yeah, he made his major league debut. Not debut, but his first start in Colorado. So they. [00:23:15] Speaker A: And we talked about that. In 22, he's still one of the best high school arms I've ever seen. [00:23:20] Speaker C: Yeah, just fantastic. And it was unfortunate he was hurt that year. He didn't get a pitch a lot, but, you know, he's having some pretty big time success for sure. [00:23:27] Speaker A: Did you get a chance to go inside the indoor facility at all? [00:23:29] Speaker C: Yes, we practiced there last. Oh, fantastic. Yeah. And I think in 22, it was just starting the construction on that, so it's pretty cool to see. And obviously it's great to have that along with the turf fields, so we don't have those weather issues. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Any other shout outs you want to give? [00:23:46] Speaker C: No, I mean, I just, you know, I'm really excited for our kids. I think it's great. You know, when you have a program like ours, quote, unquote, clothes, cold weather, state, I don't know that I don't think people do it intentionally, but I think there's sometimes a lack of respect for. For those. For our program in those states. And I think it's great to. To come out here and have success like we have in the past. We've done well, so. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah, and I. You and I talked about that last time. People that have never paid attention to Colorado high school baseball. It's very good. It's a great state. It's been a great state for a long time for high school baseball. [00:24:18] Speaker C: Right? For sure, yeah. Cool. [00:24:19] Speaker A: Appreciate you, sir. [00:24:20] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:24:20] Speaker F: Thank you. Good luck. [00:24:24] Speaker A: All right, here with Matt, Danny Castile over here in Cary. Really good game yesterday. Great high school baseball game. What'd you talk to the guys about after the game yesterday? [00:24:35] Speaker F: Yeah, I told them, obviously it's disappointing. Disappointing. You know, we're here to win. Obviously had some days to prep for a monster, right? Number one team in the country. You don't get that opportunity very often. We know they're who they are very Talented. And we just talked about it all week. We're gonna blue collar it and hard nose it and see where we're at and we're gonna run towards it. You know, it's not something we're gonna shy away from. As soon as we saw the bracket come out, it's been difficult because we've wanted to talk about it, but we say a lot of times be where our feet are. And we've had some big games last week on Friday and so finally we got to talk about it for, you know, two days going up there. But obviously, you know, we played well. We played well enough to win, didn't go our way, had some unlucky breaks and to their credit, you know, clutched up and made one more play than we did. Nothing to hang our heads on, obviously, but it allows us to know that we can beat anybody. You know, obviously we do our thing, we can beat anybody. [00:25:28] Speaker A: How often do you play four games in a row? [00:25:31] Speaker F: Not very often. We do have a couple stretches where we'll play three out of four and four games in a week, but four in a row. We did it earlier in the Boris Classic tournament earlier in the spring. So really during the tournament times is the only time that we do that. Obviously a tough night to sleep on and bounce back. So we're kind of trying to treat this as ours, our state tournament, double elimination tournament. So we lost one. Now someone's got to come out of the losers bracket. And that's our goal today, is just fight and go three and one. Here would be an incredible accomplishment considering, you know, the tough loss and kind of the gut punch that was yesterday. [00:26:05] Speaker A: How important is it to play a challenging schedule, to get ready for the playoffs? [00:26:09] Speaker F: Oh, it's, it's really important. Since the day I got here, I've, you know, always tried to play the best. The first year I got here, you know, we hand picked some 6A schools and we're in 5AMy athletic director called me in and said, are you sure you want to be doing this? And absolutely, you know, that that preps us for, for the state tournament. Trying to see the best that we can every day. We've seen some incredible arms this year and some incredible teams already this year. There's some big arms in Arizona that we've, that we've, you know, gone toe to toe with. And again, like our motto is, like, we're going to run straight towards the storm and see what happens. We're not going to shy away from that. And you guys saw that yesterday. You Know, in that game for sure. [00:26:46] Speaker A: And you guys have jumped up levels, correct? [00:26:48] Speaker F: Yeah. This is our first year in 6A, so handled it well. We lost 16 seniors last year. Very talented group. And these guys have answered the bell and answered a lot of questions that we have with maturity, with toughness, with iq. Really proud of our staff over the last, you know, from summer and fall ball. We had Corona del Sol opening day. They're here. Incredible team and, you know, played well there and just we've really answered some bells. We've had some learning curve. There's going to be some mistakes. You know, there's some, there's. There's only about, you know, we have three returners really, that contributed last year. So there's a lot of unknowns and I couldn't be more proud of them still, you know, staying together and just working real hard to get to where we are right now. [00:27:32] Speaker A: What's with the helmet tap? [00:27:34] Speaker F: Yeah, so that's for the brand. We have a saying, our motto is for the brand. So our two strike approaches for the brand means a little bit something else that I can't say inside of our team, but that's, that's where it is. Just the toughness. Just, you know, refuse to go down and just extend the at bat, get to the next guy, pass along and just grind it out. It's kind of, kind of our, you know, our, our deal is just be tough. [00:28:00] Speaker A: Your BP that you showed at Chandler Gilbert a couple years ago, are you still doing that with the guys pretty consistently? [00:28:06] Speaker F: Absolutely. Yeah, we did. We call it clutch up. We do that less in the spring just because that's, that's real. Go, go, go. And that's, you know, these guys, I have to tame them down a little bit in BP constantly, especially on game day. I'm sure if there's things in the background, you're going to see guys diving. I don't necessarily want guys, you know, diving during BP before a game, but I would much rather we don't call it shag in the thing. We talked about that. We call it defense. And so I'd much rather them do that than just being lazy in the outfield and not getting reps and work on some IQs. The last round, something we've added since the, since the Barnstormers of Chandler Gilbert. Our last round of bp, we call it spot special. So they're IQ plays where we're deeking middle guys, we're double deeking the tags, which in the game yesterday we had that play and. Right. So we're applying that as well. But again, same thing I said. You know, in Chandler Gilbert, our BP isn't exit velocity, distance, that kind of thing. It's more of, of work. We want to find hitters during BP, not BP, hitters. [00:29:09] Speaker A: Quick turnaround. You guys normally play at 10 o'clock in the morning? [00:29:12] Speaker D: No. [00:29:12] Speaker F: And to be honest, this is what, this is 5:15 right now for us. So I just told the guys on the bus like we're not hanging our heads, we're not feeling sorry for ourselves right now. We'd be getting ready for lifting. We lift at 6 in the morning. We'd be thinking about a math test. We'd be thinking about our training after school. Unbelievable place. Like it's hard not to even considering yesterday. It's really hard not to be juiced up to be here, you know, all the way across the country. So. So we'll be ready to go. We'll be ready to go for sure. [00:29:40] Speaker A: Talk about Ryan Harwood, I thought I, I mean I saw everybody yesterday, I thought he's the best hitter in the field yesterday. [00:29:45] Speaker F: Yeah, no, he's, he's locked in right now. He's incredible hitter. People see the big, big body, the big physicalness and they think that, you know, he's a, he's a bruiser. Only the kid can hit. He really can, he can go. He showed it yesterday both sides of the field. He's clutch. Just, he wants the big moment. He's played on national teams, you know, for the USA and his aspirations are large and he matches that with work ethic and leadership and everything. He's done a really good job. [00:30:14] Speaker A: That's as good as left, on left approach as you'll see for a high school kid, extremely advanced. Have you helped him develop that or is that natural? [00:30:22] Speaker F: Yeah, no, definitely. I think early on as a 12 year old, 13 year old, he's that big and it's get close to the plate and rip it and grip it to the pull side. He's definitely learned that. I'm probably more impressed with his ability to learn and listen and be more directional and be able to do that especially with lefties, you know, he's not going to be able to get, get big on, on that lefty yesterday and you know, he had a couple, I think 107 exit velocity and it wasn't that he was trying to, it's more of just you know, barrel contact and timing contact. But yeah, he can, he can go both ways and really is a, is a true hitter. [00:31:00] Speaker A: Do you guys spend much time with 2k approach. I thought you guys had a really good two strike approach yesterday. [00:31:04] Speaker F: Yeah, we talk about it a lot. We don't really traditionally, you know, where it's like choke up and, and do those kinds of things. I was that way as a hitter and I, I do, I do. You know, there are some pieces to that that we talk about, but really it's just a mentality of just we're gonna get our best swing off, we're gonna fight. A lot of times we, we get to something we call it cali approach. It's not enough to explain right now, but basically that's just get on the plate tighter. You know, a hit by pitch make them feel uncomfortable. Just, just nothing. We're not going to give away the outside. We're going to kind of react and foul off some things and sometimes we do look silly, I'll be honest. With two strikes, you know, someone buzzes us in, we'll. We'll clip it and doesn't look real clean. You saw that a couple times yesterday. But it's survive in advance. Survive in advance and just keep kind of grinding that at best. [00:31:53] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give? [00:31:57] Speaker F: No, no, just we're gonna be ready to go today. I'm excited to see our guys, guys get going. I'm really proud of them and excited for the opportunity to, you know, finish this week and then go into the state tournament and hopefully make some noise there as well. Good luck. [00:32:11] Speaker A: The rest way out. [00:32:11] Speaker F: All right, Appreciate it, man. [00:32:15] Speaker A: Here Tim Funkhouser again, ABCA high school committee member. Actually got to go to Omaha this year. Hopefully you guys are playing so you don't get there, but thank you sir for being here again. [00:32:27] Speaker D: Thanks for having me. [00:32:28] Speaker A: Ryan, how's the experience been coming out here? [00:32:30] Speaker D: Oh, it's great. USA Baseball's first class. I've heard about this event for several years from different coaches across the country. But to be able to get the invite for our squad this year and be able to experience is outstanding. So beautiful facility and the way it's run is just first class. [00:32:48] Speaker A: And you and I've talked about this. Your northern team coming down, playing some teams that are a little bit further ahead, but you can't use that as an excuse. What did you talk to the guys about yesterday? [00:32:56] Speaker D: Sure. I mean, anytime you're on the field, let's compete in the arena. We want to ultimately be in the arena. Whether it's having a tough regular season schedule, playing an event like this, you learn a lot from ourselves. So we'll learn a lot more and we'll have more time in the positive. We'll have more time to refine that and I think that helped us last year. We went to Hoover in the beginning of the year and played teams that were 20 more games into the season. But ultimately you got to get out there and compete. We're not looking for excuses. [00:33:23] Speaker A: What are your expectations coming into this season? Got back to back state championships last year, didn't get there. But then this year coming in, you got a pretty good squad again. [00:33:32] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, the back to back. And then last year we ended up getting third and had a few injuries at the end of the year. So we have a lot of those guys back back. We have some other guys that have to fill in and continue to grow from where they were last year. But like our process has been great with the offseason leading in. So we have high expectations. We're getting a few guys back from injuries, so as the season flows on I think it'll be even rolling more. But we really like our squad. We got great guys that like to work and it's going to be fun to continue that process. [00:34:05] Speaker A: How's your coaching involved over 20 plus seasons? [00:34:08] Speaker D: I continue to improve daily, whether it's going to ABCA clinics, our state clinic, i70 clinic and down the road and meeting all the different contacts and just being able to grow and discuss. It's constant evolution for me. So I think a lot of it is kind of believing in my own words. I've always said, hey, trust the process and everything and for several years I would get in the game, feel like we need to do extra and really we just need to do the stuff and practice and then trust that and then see how it comes out in the game. So I think probably all coaches fight that a little bit and whether that's taking control or whatever. For me, I've grown in my faith and try to trust in God and to go out there and just enjoy the game and enjoy that moment. [00:34:55] Speaker A: How's the game evolved? I mean, look around here. I think the game at every level is as good as it's been. You walk around here and watch the type of baseball that's being played at the high school level. I think it makes you proud as a high school coach. [00:35:07] Speaker D: It does, it does. There's so many people that impact the players. I think it's continuing to grow from guys respecting the game, playing it the right way. There's more information out there just from the videos that are now accessible after Covid on abca. Now I don't have to hodgepodge or from past ones, I can go watch all those. But the resources are great, the players are getting great experiences and it's helping our game. Our game's in a great place. [00:35:38] Speaker A: Does the one and done format here help you guys get ready for the playoffs? [00:35:42] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I think this whole weekend, even though we just got knocked out yesterday, yeah, I think throughout it's going to just continue to help us. And, and talking to guys going in, they're like, this is just like being in the postseason just earlier in your season. And that's exactly what it's going to be. And we're going to have. We're going to have our hands full in each game and that's going to be great to be in that arena, in that competitive realm, which I think all our guys, our guys love being in different events. We already hosted a 46 team tournament at the beginning of the year and tried to play the most competitive schedule and we got other guys throughout as well as a competitive conference. So we're looking forward to each day. [00:36:20] Speaker A: You guys have had a ton of rain early in the spring. How nice is it to get to somewhere where you're gonna be on the field every day and outside? [00:36:26] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, we had been outside the last week. Just like a lot of parts of the country, we experienced it for four or five days before we got here, so we were able to get back out on our field. We're blessed. We have access to an indoor facility nearby, so we're still able to get work. But being able to get on the full field, have some timing and stuff like that has been nice. And today it's going to be upper 60s or whatever and so it'll be great weather. [00:36:58] Speaker A: Do you have any tips for replicating even if you're inside, for trying to replicate game competition even if you're inside? [00:37:04] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, for us, we really try to start with a foundational process of just the fundamental skills, the, the basic things that we don't want to overload our players with, something I've done. And then after that we continue to kind of tier the information as far as decision making and including more whether it's not having, whether it's predetermined baserunners and kind of scripted what they're going to do and then start to randomize it and then add it live off the bat and stuff like that. So we kind of slow play a lot of that process. Like if we play in the kickoff Classic that we host at the beginning of the year. We're not going to, I mean, we've done some of that maybe one time or whatever in Illinois. We, we get about 12 practice days and we're going where some of these teams out here have been practicing all fall. So. But we realize that that's going to be a process that we want to be fully clicking on all cylinders towards the end of the year. But we did, we did more decision making in the week leading up because we wanted to speed up that process because we didn't want it to speed up for the players on the field. [00:38:07] Speaker A: Ball wasn't carrying yesterday and as coaches are wanting to do, hey, get the ball out of the air. How do we kind of instill that approach on a day where maybe it's not caring started carrying a little bit later. But how do we instill that approach of trying to stay low but still hit the ball hard? [00:38:24] Speaker D: Sure, that was, that was kind of our nemesis yesterday where few guys might have hit a ball fairly, fairly firm but had a little too much loft. And I just talk about like the external targeting we'll use. I mean we use in batting practice all the time, whether it's the top of the fence, our flagpole, the batter's eye here, like nothing above it. And just try to use that external targeting. We do that at the indoor that we have and just the advertising signs or whatever for you, nothing above this. I think that allows them to organize their body. Ultimately, when you're in a game, it happens pretty quick. So that'll be something that even in bp, I mean, we stress it each day so we want to feel like, we want to feel like they're guiding themselves and we're not having to harp on it. But yeah, that got us yesterday. And some of that I think is just guys wanting to do too much with a pitch and not, not fully trusting themselves and doing that extra and then all of a sudden the barrel tips and it goes up in the air a little more. [00:39:22] Speaker A: Guys had a good two strike approach yesterday though. How much time do you spend on 2k approach? [00:39:27] Speaker D: We spend a lot. I always feel like we need to spend more. We struck out looking a few more times this year than times past, but we'll get through. Like today we're going to do offset BP on the field, which I don't think many teams are going to do on their pregame, but we think that cleans up a lot of our swings on both the oppo side and the pole side. And then we'll go into our BP circuits, we'll do some mixed bp, we'll throw some breaking pitches in there and then we'll do some two strike rounds. We do a lot of situation stuff. Towards the end, it's all about managing our at bats. And that's something that we continue to. We try to have about six, seven different BP routines. So we're just not set in one thing because when we've done that in the past, I feel like we get exposed on those others. So maybe we can't do everything every day. And down Here you get 30 minutes for BP on the field so it happens quicker. [00:40:16] Speaker A: Moved up to the All America Committee for the abca. Now, how much does coming to an event like this help you? Maybe chime in on some guys and get picked. [00:40:24] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, it's an honor to serve. ABCA is just a great organization. I think it was 1998 was my first one, or excuse me, it was 19. Gosh, you're gonna have to edit this part. Finished College. It was 1995. It was 1995. Whenever I went to my first ABCA, I believe that was Chicago. And I knew right then, like, I knew I wanted to coach, but I knew I wanted to be a coach and continued to expand and that right there, it was full right in my face that there was great people. Unfortunately, I was with some other people that helped guide that pathway of getting knowledge and being a lifelong learner. And that's continued to grow with everything that the ABCA has done and yourself. But to be able to serve on the committee and be able to see different guys around the country is going to help in that room. A lot of times you're looking at a paper or talking to somebody and you value every person's opinion. But when you have to actually get in that room. I've been on our IHS BCA board job. It is not fun. It's like coaching an all Star game, trying to get everybody in. But ultimately, the contacts here and the contacts I've had over the years, we'll just, we'll use that information, get together as a group and try to make our best decision. But there's going to be a lot of players that are well deserved. [00:41:50] Speaker A: Any other shout outs? [00:41:52] Speaker D: Just overall, like our coaches association. Illinois's got great baseball and we got coaches. Yeah. And they run a great convention. I mean, there was Probably, I think 600, 800 people at our convention this past year. Guys that just want to learn the game. So there's good baseball in the Midwest. And up north and we're just honored to represent our school. We've had a great tradition, a lot of guys impacted and we told our guys coming here was about what, what our guys are capable of doing and have done in the recent past. But also our, our history has also gave us this opportunity and we want to kind of pass that on to the next generation. Respecting the game, play it hard and see where the games take us, but give that next group a chance in the future. [00:42:38] Speaker A: We got double barrel BP getting ready to start. How often have you done that? [00:42:42] Speaker D: We do a lot of it. We do a lot. I think we do a lot with, I think for us we can get going through BP today. I think with the stands we might not do it fully like we do where two guys are hitting at the same time. We're going to just offset but we try to do our offset BP at least once a week and when we get it rolling, we can really get through a BP circuit in 25. We don't get. We get some of the live off the bat, but more of it's just shag. But when we're going full bore, it's a good thing. [00:43:16] Speaker F: Love it. [00:43:16] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, coach. [00:43:17] Speaker D: Appreciate it. [00:43:19] Speaker A: Thanks again all the coaches for taking time out to interview with me and USA Baseball for being a great host. I look forward to the NHSI every year. All of our high school coaches should be proud of the product they're putting on the field. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale and Matt west in the ABC office for all the help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email our brownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram and TikTok CoachBCA or direct message me via the MyBCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks and leave it better for those behind you. [00:44:00] Speaker B: And you know that way. [00:44:03] Speaker F: Yep Wait for another day. [00:44:09] Speaker A: And the. [00:44:09] Speaker B: World will always return as your love. [00:44:15] Speaker E: Is never for yearning and you know. [00:44:20] Speaker D: That way. [00:44:23] Speaker C: Wait for another. [00:44:29] Speaker E: Day.