Celebrating 100 Episodes With Athletes and Coaches

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Athlete One podcast.

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I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and today we celebrate episode 100.

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What started out as an experiment on December 30th of 2020 is now a little over three years old.

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Looking back, I've realized that I accomplished one of my main goals, and that was to provide the audience with an understanding of what it takes to be a successful coach or an athlete.

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My guests have been incredibly open and honest about their experiences.

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They've taken us behind the curtain and share great stories from their careers.

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I thought I would put together a sampling of some of the great guests, who had tremendous stories and lessons they've learned as athletes and coaches.

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You can listen to the entire episode wherever you get your podcasts, and Season 2 will begin on May 8th.

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Welcome to the Athlete One podcast.

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Veteran high school baseball coach Ken Carpenter takes you into life's classroom as experienced through sports.

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Go behind the scenes with athletes and coaches as they share great stories, life lessons and ways to impact others.

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Lessons and ways to impact others.

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Today's episode of the Athlete One podcast is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time.

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The netting professionals specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball.

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This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more.

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They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies.

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The netting pros aren't limited to just baseball and softball.

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They work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses.

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Contact them today at 844-620-2707.

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That's 844-620-2707.

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Or you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom.

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Or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects.

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Do you know somebody you think would be a great guest at the Athlete One podcast?

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If so, go to athleteonenet.

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That's our website, where you can find all of our episodes from Season 1.

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And you can register to be a guest and give us some feedback.

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Click the Reviews button, leave us a review and rate the show.

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That's athlete1.net.

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I have to start with my first episode with a good friend and someone who I coached with and against Chris Huseman and the great story he shared about being a player for legendary Audubon University head coach, dick Fishbaugh.

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We used to go to Panama City, florida, for our spring break trip and we would be, you know, bed check would be at a certain time, whatever it would be 11 o'clock and Fish, uh, come in and um, for whatever reason, this night he came in in his underwear and, um, very windy night there on the beach in panama city and his hair you know, he kind of had the donald trump hair, you know went off to the side there and it was flying all over.

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And you know, I look in the doorway and here's this man, heavy set man, and his underwear pulled up past his belly button and hair flying all over and I'm like I'm thinking my God, what in the world is this?

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And, uh, fish looked at me.

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Now you got to understand.

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Bed check was one of those things in division three college that you know you pretty much.

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You would, you would sneak out a lot and, uh, being on the beach and everything else, all my roommates snuck out.

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And I was the only one in their room check and I remember Fish looked at me and said hey, Hirsch, you got them all there, you got everybody.

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And then they're looking in the same room I am and I turned to him and I said yeah, fish, we're all here.

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And he nodded, his head and his underwear and his hair flying everywhere, and said okay, we'll see you at seven o'clock at McDonald's we're.

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you know I'm gonna get $7, $7.

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That's all you got at McDonald's.

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And I said I'm just, this is all new to me.

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You know this whole Division III thing.

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And meanwhile my roommates are out on the beach somewhere, you know, chasing girls or whatever.

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You never know how an interview is going to go, but this amazing story about a Little League baseball coach, league baseball coach bud ritchie, and the huge impact he had on the life of n-a-i-a national champion georgia guinette college head baseball coach, jeremy sheetinger, and he drafts me.

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This is a true story.

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Um, man, this is, this is this is gonna hit me.

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So, uh, he calls me and says hey, jeremy, I just want to let you know that I drafted you.

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And uh, the reason I drafted you this is gonna hit me.

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So, uh, he calls me and says hey, jeremy, I just want to let you know that I drafted you.

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And uh, the reason I drafted you this is oh, man, I you're, you really are gonna make me, uh, shed one here.

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He calls me.

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I'm, I remember standing in my kitchen and butter ritchie calls me and my mom answers the phone and she says hey, it's coach ritchieie.

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Hey, jeremy, hey, coach Richie.

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Hey, I just want to let you know we got practice tomorrow night.

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I drafted you for this team because I think you are the hidden gem inside the Frankfort Little League system.

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And I said, coach, what's that mean?

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He goes.

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I've watched you play since you were seven, eight years old.

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You've always been putting right field, they finding a bat for you here or there.

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I know you love basketball.

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He goes, but I'm telling you, son, you are a baseball player and you don't know it yet.

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And I just I'm like looking at my mom like who is like what is going on?

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And he goes, just just get to practice.

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This is, I can't make this up.

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This is, this is a book.

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So I hang up the phone.

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I'm jazzed out of my mind, I'm fired up from practice.

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Can we get out of school?

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My mom takes me to practice On our way home.

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We're pulling into Tereralanda and we can see fire truck lights right over the hill and we turn down my street.

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My house is on fire.

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So, to make the story even deeper, my parents had divorced.

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My mom was working a lot and a lot of times was.

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I was literally myself unlocking the door, playing basketball, running in fixing my own dinner, start my own laundry, put myself to bed at nine o'clock and set my alarm to get up at 6 30 to get ready and go to school.

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Doing that all of my own.

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It from nine years old through 12, 13 years old.

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That's why my wife gets upset when I only do my laundry.

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I'm so used to doing my own stuff.

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That's baked into me.

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The fire started at 9.15.

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I would have been laying in bed hanging out by myself and the house would have been on fire.

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So baseball practice saved my life.

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Winning your first state championship as a coach is special For Chris Casmar Walsh, jesuit baseball head coach.

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He relives the extra inning win for his first state championship and little did he know he was going to go on to have one of the most storied careers in the history of Ohio high school baseball.

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I remember that day, coach, literally like it was still yesterday.

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I can't believe, you know, two decades over two decades now have transpired since we won that game.

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It was an amazing game, extra inning game uh, I still remember, uh, us at that final moment in the ninth inning, when we scored that winning run, uh, you know, it was one of those moments where, you know, it literally happened to me everything slowed down.

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It was almost like I remember it all happening in slow motion, uh, and the thing I remember most vividly, coach and I I laugh about this with my assistants is that, uh, I jumped so high in the air in elation that, as I was at the peak of the height of my jump, I I remember looking down at the ground and, honestly, I had a thought that quickly went through my head, thinking to myself I can't believe I just jumped that high and then from there, when I landed, I proceeded to high step across the field like I just scored a touchdown and hugged my assistant coach.

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But it's a special, special moment to make it, to state, to be able to experience that.

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It's a special moment, of course, to win the championship.

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But all coaches that are as invested and put in the time like they do.

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I wish that everyone could feel a moment like that winning a championship.

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Imagine getting the call to go to the major leagues.

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Tim Dillard recounts his experience with the Milwaukee Brewers and the hectic day and his first appearance in a major league baseball stadium.

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I was playing for the Nashville Sounds and we were about to take a bus trip to go to Memphis about three hours and luckily I had a cell phone.

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This was 2008.

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I hadn't had a cell phone long.

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I said like a little flip, but hello, and anyway I was already up getting my stuff ready because we were going to leave out early.

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It was probably 5.30 or 6-ish and yeah, I get a call from my AAA manager.

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He's like what are you doing?

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I'm like, uh, just woke up trying to get my stuff together, about to make it to the bus.

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What's going on?

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He goes okay.

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He's like, hurry and come to the field, get your stuff and then go to the airport.

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You have a flight.

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You're flying to Washington DC, uh, to meet with the big league team, and I was like I getting called to the big leagues and uh, and she was a fleet.

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So she, she decided us.

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You know that's nice honey, like when the whack out, you know, uh.

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So yeah, I went grab my stuff and we both went to the airport and I flew to Washington DC on Memorial day weekend.

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So, um, to pay for her a flight was like a thousand dollars to get a plane ticket, like last minute to go, and we didn't have a thousand dollars but my visa credit card, though, it had a thousand dollars on it.

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So, yeah, we had to get a plane ticket for her.

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Got to Washington DC and she got in a cab, went straight to the hotel.

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I got in a cab, went straight to the field and the cab driver I was wearing a suit too, you know, because if you're going to get called the big leagues, you right, you got to wear a suit.

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So, you know, I had a I don't know where I got the suit from, piece it together from like a bargain hunt.

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But I, yeah, I get to, I get to the field and and, uh, the, the cab drop, uh cab driver drops me off, and and, uh, I, I realized that he, he dropped me off on the wrong side of the whole stadium.

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So I had to weasel my way into the stadium because I had no credentials, like now that I think they kind of give you like a, like a pass or something, I don't know.

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Uh, but I didn't have anything.

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So I just weaseled my way in and I'm down underneath the concourse, like in the little city that's under those stadiums, and, uh, that was a brand new stadium to billion dollar stadium for the national.

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So it's, it's massive.

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And here I am just sweating through my suit in may and I mean I'm just I got this big old bag on my shoulder and and, uh, by the time I got to the clubhouse, you know everybody was coming in for batting practice.

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So I changed real fast, go out, play catch with the bullpen catcher, come back in.

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It's immediately time to go back out.

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So I just basically changed my jersey into my game Jersey, went back out, made the Anthem, go to the bullpen.

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I sit there and I finally have a moment where I can just kind of like cool and phone rings it's like the fifth inning or whatever and they're like get dillard going.

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So I get up, start throwing and then they call down dillard's in the game.

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So all of a sudden I'm like this is unbelievable, 42 000 fans there.

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I just they open the gate and I'm thinking don't trip.

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Oh yeah, that's what.

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I did not trip.

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But I just was like I did.

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I was thinking don't trip.

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Left right, left right, get left right, get to the mound.

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I have no idea what happened, I know.

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Later on I struck out Aaron Boone.

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I didn't know that at the time he went on to have a good career.

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He's managing the New York Yankees, not too bad, not too shabby.

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I'm sure he remembers getting punched out by me.

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But yeah, I think I got I don't even know maybe a ground ball, a pop fly, I have no idea what happened um, but anyway got off the field and I mean I my whole goal in that moment.

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You know, I don't really do long-term goals really.

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I guess I just I wanted in the moment to make it look like I'd done it before.

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The last thing I want to do is look out, you know, be out there, and all the other hitters on the other team are going oh dude, let's get to's, get to this guy.

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This is his first time pitching, this is his debut.

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Look at this guy.

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He's scared to death, has no idea what he's doing, you know.

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So I just wanted to make it look like I knew what I was doing.

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And anyway, jason Kendall was my catcher, which is really funny because he came out to the mound.

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I mean, he's got 16 years in the spring training, I don't know.

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Hey, man, I got a couple cards I need you to sign, but uh, but kendall was awesome.

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He came out and you know, I mean I don't even know what the score was, it didn't matter, you know.

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And he's real laid back and he's like all right, what do you got?

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And I'm like one three wiggle, he goes all right, what do you want to do?

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The mail on second.

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I was like you know, first, sign, shake first.

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And he's like, okay, he's like all right, let's go.

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I was like yeah, let's do this like a real, like a real aggressive, like let's do this.

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And he kind of took a double take like what is that?

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Like defending the world series, bud?

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But like for me, maybe it was, I don't know, oh yeah.

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So he was back there catching my warm-up pitches and like kind of talking to the umpire and the umpire is kind of laughing and he's like pointing at me and then laughing and I'm like he's he's making a joke of me.

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But after the game we're done.

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Uh, head back to the team hotel and I'm walking through the lobby and jason kendall was in like the hotel restaurant area, and he sees me through the window like runs out there, grabs, he says, come on, I'm gonna buy you a beer.

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So we sit down.

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He buys me a beer and he goes man, tell you what.

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You went out there today and it looked like you had done it before and you knew what you were doing and I thought that's like the ultimate compliment, right.

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So it really came full circle.

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I mean just me being a catcher but then eventually going to pitching and then just kind of having that debut and having this, you know this bettering catcher.

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Um, I don't know.

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I'm saying nice things, it was a good day, it was a hard day.

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I don't think I ever worked.

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That suit was completely soaked 600-game winner George Powell at Audubon University talks about the role of parents and how his dad had a huge role in his success as a player and a coach.

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My dad just little things in the game.

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He was a guy that taught me how to handle things and when I didn't handle things he didn't let me off the hook.

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I think that's the problem today sometimes with parenting when parents get involved, I think, the negative side of it.

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I think parents' involvement is fine as long as they let the kids experience their experiences and not try to force the experience and within those experiences there's going to be negative outcomes, which is growth.

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So you want that, but sometimes parents don't.

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But my dad was just so influential in sports he thought athletics was a mechanism that will teach you about life.

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So whether I played growing up, football, basketball, baseball, I did high school at Westfield North a long time ago but his attitude was just that the athletics teaches you about life.

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So and he made a big point in that and especially when we had tough losses as little kids and when I would cry when we'd lose, because I hated losing as a little kid and you know you would say that's, that's part of this, that's, those are good things that happen.

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And little things in baseball that I still, you know, teach here and talk about all the time is.

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And I'm happy now cause we're, we're.

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We've been real successful this year as our two strike approach.

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My dad baseball wise was just was just a big guy choking up moving to baseball, and that was always something that stuck with me, even though I would be, you know, growing up in my high school and college career.

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I'd be a middle lineup guy, but it was always important for me to move to baseball.

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Hall of Fame high school head baseball coach Phil Callahan, who had 200 wins at three different schools, talks about giving 100% effort.

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And I said to him you're going on to Taylor University.

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Now I got news for you you are going to see great players at Taylor and you're also going to see a culture that makes healthy choices.

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I said how are you going to compete?

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He goes oh, I'm kind of worried about that myself, and we talked about it.

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I said here's a simple way I go.

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When you hit the baseball, can you run as fast as you can?

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Well, yeah, yeah, can you do it every time?

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Yeah, yeah, I go, then do it.

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Why didn't you do it in high school?

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Well, I mean a lot of times, and it doesn't matter if it's 2023 or if it's 1991, we can all do things to the best of our ability.

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We just got to make a choice that it's going to happen.

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So, maybe one of the most positive things of this year.

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I turned on the TV last night and was watching the regionals and watching Kentucky against Indiana, and I saw six ground balls in the 15 minutes and every single guy ran down to first as hard as they could and three of those were to second base.

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And you know, at the high school level now, whether it's the pandemic or the phones, I would say ground balls to second base maybe get ran out one out of six, zero out of six times, and that is something that every single person can control.

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We can't control how much talent we have, but we can control how much effort we give.

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Coronado High School football coach, Kurt Hines, on players having passion and love for the game and how he was supportive and happy when a player quit his team.

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Listen before you judge, yeah so absolutely love that.

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So I had.

00:19:22.406 --> 00:19:24.413
He and his older brother played for us.

00:19:24.413 --> 00:19:32.884
His brother was a stud, showed up early, a light of life, smiling all the time, just a great football player, a great human being.

00:19:32.884 --> 00:19:35.169
The younger brother and you're behind him.

00:19:35.169 --> 00:19:39.635
If he showed up on time, we were lucky.

00:19:39.635 --> 00:19:44.169
You know, he was showing up late and never seemed to be happy.

00:19:44.549 --> 00:19:48.057
And we we have a sticker on the back of our helmet just says the word.

00:19:48.057 --> 00:19:49.108
It's a little circular sticker.

00:19:49.108 --> 00:19:50.936
Just says the word why all capital letters?

00:19:50.936 --> 00:19:54.075
Why and I talk about all the time like why are you the man you are?

00:19:54.075 --> 00:19:54.679
Why are you the man you are?

00:19:54.679 --> 00:19:55.525
Why are you the woman you are?

00:19:55.525 --> 00:19:56.770
What gets you out of bed in the morning?

00:19:56.770 --> 00:20:00.435
Why do you choose to study for your test and not just flunk out, whatever it is?

00:20:00.435 --> 00:20:03.875
And I think our Y drives us in all we do.

00:20:03.875 --> 00:20:09.317
And I always tell our players football's not for everyone, it's a tough sport.

00:20:09.317 --> 00:20:19.059
But if you choose to walk away, don't lie to yourself and say I want to focus on my grades, because no one goes home at three o'clock and does homework from three to ten.

00:20:19.059 --> 00:20:19.742
You're going to play video games.

00:20:19.742 --> 00:20:20.244
You're going to watch TV.

00:20:20.244 --> 00:20:21.830
You're going to be scrolling on your phone, whatever it is.

00:20:21.830 --> 00:20:36.690
But you know, come to me and shake my hand and look me in the eye and return all your gear and say, coach, my heart's just not in it and I'll never question you and I'll always love and respect you.

00:20:36.711 --> 00:20:41.666
So the younger brother, the older brother, graduated and, uh, the younger brother came to one practice with his bag and he looked so scared and so apprehensive.

00:20:41.666 --> 00:20:45.277
And I yell and scream all the time on the football field it's never derogatory.

00:20:45.277 --> 00:20:46.588
We have no swearing policy.

00:20:46.588 --> 00:20:48.836
Kids can't swear, coaches can't swear.

00:20:48.836 --> 00:20:50.964
Um, there are consequences in players.

00:20:50.964 --> 00:20:56.432
All coaches do um, nothing big, just 25 push-ups and then, if it becomes a habit, then other consequences.

00:20:57.766 --> 00:21:02.229
But he came into the office and it was about 10 minutes before practice and I said hey, sit down for a minute.

00:21:02.229 --> 00:21:03.512
I said just talk to him.

00:21:03.512 --> 00:21:04.015
Why are you going?

00:21:04.015 --> 00:21:05.228
He goes.

00:21:05.228 --> 00:21:06.172
Well, I just don't love it.

00:21:06.172 --> 00:21:07.771
I said thank you.

00:21:07.771 --> 00:21:13.034
He said I appreciate the honesty Talk bit more because I wanted to get to the why not just the blanket statement if I don't want it?

00:21:13.034 --> 00:21:15.715
And he's starting to say he goes.

00:21:15.756 --> 00:21:17.938
Coach, my brother loves football, english.

00:21:17.938 --> 00:21:21.401
You know that my dad loves football, my mom loves football because we're a football family.

00:21:21.401 --> 00:21:23.768
And you just saw him when he said we're a football family.

00:21:23.768 --> 00:21:25.932
Just looked the weight of the world on him.

00:21:25.932 --> 00:21:32.954
No, it's just like you know, saying hey, we're a vegan family, but there's the one kid that loves things, like yeah, we're a vegan family, you know, um.

00:21:33.817 --> 00:21:34.357
So I looked at him.

00:21:34.357 --> 00:21:36.269
I said I said are you a football family?

00:21:36.269 --> 00:21:38.458
He was well, the rest of them are.

00:21:38.458 --> 00:21:40.044
And I looked at him.

00:21:40.044 --> 00:21:40.767
I said I'm proud of you.

00:21:40.767 --> 00:21:43.515
And he looked at me like what are you proud of me for, like you know?

00:21:43.515 --> 00:21:49.352
And I said it takes courage to come in here and be honest and say I'm just not passionate about this.

00:21:49.352 --> 00:21:54.598
So I talked to him a little bit longer and I said hey, do you mind if I share this with the team?

00:21:54.598 --> 00:21:56.361
He goes, you can share this with anyone.

00:21:56.361 --> 00:21:57.488
And my message.

00:21:57.508 --> 00:22:00.167
So I did a little video right when he left it, just as you mentioned.

00:22:00.167 --> 00:22:05.934
I had a little follow up, did a little selfie video and, with his permission, I wouldn't have shared it without his permission.

00:22:05.934 --> 00:22:11.413
He gave me permission and I said I said I love you, I'll always be here for you.

00:22:11.413 --> 00:22:13.255
If you need anything, please come by.

00:22:13.255 --> 00:22:14.756
Practice you can come to the game, let me know.

00:22:14.756 --> 00:22:23.740
And I I saw him smile for the first time in two years, a genuine smile, and so I got amped up, like for me that that would like to be a fun.

00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:25.422
So I'm gonna turn the phone over.

00:22:25.422 --> 00:22:29.734
Um, so I gotta do a little video and just say I'm so excited.

00:22:29.734 --> 00:22:49.530
You know, young man quinn, I figured that if I forget exactly what I said in the video or how I said it, um went out to post the video, went out to practice, talked to the team and praised him and said hey, so, and so just stepped away from the program and I got like emotional for a second and I said you dang well, better make sure you do not treat him any different.

00:22:49.590 --> 00:22:53.769
Right, he was a member of our team and did it with class, walked away with class and character.

00:22:53.769 --> 00:22:55.596
So when you you see him at lunch, still sit with him.

00:22:55.596 --> 00:22:57.310
When you see him in the hallway, still befriend him.

00:22:57.310 --> 00:22:58.615
And you could see the players.

00:22:58.615 --> 00:23:06.635
They understood where I was going with that Got my truck after practice and I think I had something like I don't know it had gone viral.

00:23:06.684 --> 00:23:08.050
I had a lot of tweets, a lot of comments.

00:23:08.050 --> 00:23:17.589
The funny thing about that was I mean, it was on like USA Today and News Maps, a few other different, whatever you know outlets.

00:23:17.589 --> 00:23:27.635
There were several people who read the caption, as you did, who didn't watch the video, who commented like you should get out of coaching, how dare you be happy, a young man just quit, and all that stuff.

00:23:27.635 --> 00:23:33.420
And then there were people who watched the video, who came after me and said, oh great, congratulations, coach.

00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:37.402
You just created a Twitter, you know, and I thought about that for a minute.

00:23:37.402 --> 00:23:38.363
I'm like wait a minute, did I?

00:23:38.363 --> 00:23:42.490
I was like no, and I'll never get into a Twitter war or social media war with anyone.

00:23:42.509 --> 00:23:50.829
I don't want to fight with anyone, but I remember responding to several people saying, no, how many of us date young women throughout our lives?

00:23:50.829 --> 00:23:55.979
We don't quit on that, but we realize they're not the one, so we walk away from that relationship?

00:23:55.979 --> 00:24:02.170
How many of us have jobs in our lives that we, after finishing our contract, walk away from that job?

00:24:02.170 --> 00:24:06.092
We're not quitting, but that wasn't for us and we go take a better job somewhere else.

00:24:06.092 --> 00:24:16.156
You know, in my opinion, I feel like I empowered him to say hey, listen, it's okay to walk away from things you're not passionate about to follow your dreams.

00:24:16.156 --> 00:24:21.458
And that was my message, I guess, in the video was to say, hey, when you have players that are passionate about football, support them.

00:24:21.458 --> 00:24:25.536
When they're passionate about something else, support them in that, just the same.

00:24:27.244 --> 00:24:32.877
Greg Burge on program and development and getting the right players on the bus.

00:24:34.046 --> 00:24:35.531
One is get the right people on the bus.

00:24:35.531 --> 00:24:37.888
We can talk into detail on this.

00:24:37.888 --> 00:24:39.132
Obviously, people matter.

00:24:39.132 --> 00:24:42.127
When you're a coach, when you're a leader, it's a people business.

00:24:42.127 --> 00:24:45.338
I think it's easy for us to sometimes forget about that.

00:24:45.338 --> 00:24:50.478
The relationships and the people we have matter more than anything.

00:24:50.478 --> 00:24:53.807
I tell myself, as a principal, my most important job is to hire good teachers.

00:24:53.807 --> 00:24:56.231
If I hire good teachers, my job is easy.

00:24:56.231 --> 00:24:58.276
Same thing goes with players.

00:24:58.276 --> 00:25:03.653
We can develop good kids, good players, get good coaches working with us.

00:25:03.653 --> 00:25:04.954
That's step one.

00:25:04.954 --> 00:25:09.353
And then step two would be develop those people, develop those players.

00:25:09.353 --> 00:25:12.565
What is your plan to develop players in the offseason?

00:25:12.565 --> 00:25:14.046
Develop players in season?

00:25:14.046 --> 00:25:16.008
How do you develop and grow coaches?

00:25:16.008 --> 00:25:17.348
How do you develop and grow yourself?

00:25:17.348 --> 00:25:22.333
You know, and those are really the first two steps.

00:25:22.333 --> 00:25:26.655
And then you know step three once you have your people, you're developing your people.

00:25:26.675 --> 00:25:29.077
It's all about culture in a nutshell.

00:25:29.077 --> 00:25:35.566
If you want to go deeper, let me know.

00:25:35.566 --> 00:25:43.946
But I define culture as what we allow as coaches each and every day, what we emphasize as coaches.

00:25:43.946 --> 00:25:49.605
We can't emphasize it all, so we have to pick what's important to us and then doing that each and every day.

00:25:50.126 --> 00:26:06.613
I think sometimes, as coaches, we, you know, we think our culture is set and then we kind of just move on and worry about other things and all of a sudden our culture, you know, takes a turn and you know staying on that every day.

00:26:06.613 --> 00:26:15.965
Things happen with teams, but as a coach with a good program culture, we have to address those things in a very timely manner to keep our culture.

00:26:15.965 --> 00:26:20.775
And then, lastly, I think on that post, control the controllables.

00:26:20.775 --> 00:26:28.726
We get so caught up and pointing the finger at other people or blaming or complaining things that are outside of our control.

00:26:28.726 --> 00:26:39.294
And I think the best teams, the best programs, focus on their attitude, they focus on their habits, they focus on their habits, they focus on their effort and they just focus on getting better each and every day.

00:26:39.294 --> 00:26:44.114
And in a nutshell, those are kind of my four keys, I guess, to program development.

00:26:44.134 --> 00:26:46.000
Going back, one percent better.

00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:55.881
Podcast host joe farrell on communication with today's athlete I think that deep down, coaches are lifelong learners.

00:26:56.020 --> 00:27:03.888
So I get a little concerned when I see coaches dig their heels into the ground and say, well, I'm not going to change, this is the way we've always done it.

00:27:03.888 --> 00:27:06.134
I don't think that's the majority of coaches.

00:27:06.134 --> 00:27:14.134
Now, the other piece that we have to be careful about is there's so much wisdom, there's so much experience Even that quote that you opened the show with.

00:27:14.134 --> 00:27:17.643
The expert has made the mistakes more times than the beginner has tried.

00:27:17.643 --> 00:27:20.092
So we don't want to throw that out, we want to utilize that.

00:27:20.092 --> 00:27:23.144
But hey, listen, we go back to John Wooden.

00:27:23.144 --> 00:27:25.530
It doesn't get more old school than John Wooden, right?

00:27:25.530 --> 00:27:30.008
And if they don't learn the way you teach, you got to teach the way they learn.

00:27:30.008 --> 00:27:33.773
If Wooden's saying it, then heck, joe Ferraro better be saying it.

00:27:34.895 --> 00:27:45.574
You never know who's going to come and watch you play Chris Jones on his recruitment and how he ended up at Ohio State University and a fourth-round draft pick later on.

00:27:47.625 --> 00:27:52.692
Our high school was in a town that was right on the Ohio River, so we were just across the border from Ohio.

00:27:52.692 --> 00:28:07.509
So we were playing Bridgeport Ohio one day and, just out of the blue, coach Montgomery came up and said well, there's a college coach going to be here to watch you today.

00:28:07.509 --> 00:28:13.176
And I was like, okay, he didn't tell me what college, he didn't say anything and I had no idea who Coach Harbaugh was.

00:28:13.176 --> 00:28:14.984
So I had no idea who Coach Harbone was.

00:28:14.984 --> 00:28:27.291
So I remember just warming up for the game and I was ultra relaxed and I think he stayed and watched three innings I think it was nine up, nine down.

00:28:27.291 --> 00:28:32.573
Didn't really seem to strike that many guys out, but I felt really comfortable.

00:28:32.573 --> 00:28:36.356
I just remember I felt really comfortable.

00:28:36.356 --> 00:28:44.163
I just remember I felt, uh, really calm, um, even knowing that he was there to watch me and um, and then after those three innings he took off.

00:28:44.163 --> 00:28:48.013
So I'm thinking, oh and you know he didn't love it, like what he saw he just left.

00:28:48.013 --> 00:28:51.105
But um, it turned out that he was.

00:28:52.127 --> 00:28:57.818
He was mainly coming to see a left-handed pitcher from St Clarenceville High School.

00:28:57.818 --> 00:28:59.049
His name was Joe Slavik.

00:28:59.049 --> 00:29:13.518
He was actually a good friend of mine and he was going to watch Joe pitch in West Virginia against Wheeling Park, which was the big school in Wheeling, west Virginia and very good baseball.

00:29:13.518 --> 00:29:17.976
So he left after three innings and went up there and watched Joe.

00:29:17.976 --> 00:29:36.996
And then, you know, after he saw Joe, he went back and reported to Coach Finn, who was the head coach of the Ohio State fan, and I think Coach Finn had the mind that, you know, joe was going to come back and Coach Grabova would come back and report to him about Joe Slavik.

00:29:36.996 --> 00:29:46.588
Well, he also reported that he'd seen me and that, you know, he thought I could help the program.

00:29:46.588 --> 00:29:57.671
And I remember Coach Cabone telling me that Coach Finn got real angry and said you're supposed to go see this guy and you're going to go and see this guy Now you think this guy is a world-beater.

00:30:00.229 --> 00:30:09.699
So Coach said he was kind of angry but in the end I was able to come to Ohio State.

00:30:09.699 --> 00:30:13.556
I felt blessed to get that opportunity.

00:30:14.586 --> 00:30:21.413
Team USA coach Butch Chaffin on moving players around and putting your best players on the field.

00:30:23.486 --> 00:30:26.816
I'm playing and it looks like he's been doing it quite a lot.

00:30:26.816 --> 00:30:31.836
So we just built another catcher and he can play all of them.

00:30:31.836 --> 00:30:40.810
Well, I'm, with his bats a little short but I would not hesitate to put him anywhere on the field because I have that much confidence in him and it's all been quite honest.

00:30:40.810 --> 00:30:41.849
He was willing to do it.

00:30:41.849 --> 00:30:43.510
You know some kids are willing to do it.

00:30:43.510 --> 00:30:49.775
Practically come to us like when the short's up their whole life and we're like, hey, you know, flick over there and play second.

00:30:49.775 --> 00:30:51.166
You can just tell by the body length.

00:30:51.166 --> 00:30:53.148
They've never been there, they don't want to go there.

00:30:53.148 --> 00:31:09.976
And then you lay it out like, hey, man, you want to play JV ball for a few years, or do you want to play a year of JV and then maybe make the varsity as a second baseman, as a sophomore and boy?

00:31:09.976 --> 00:31:11.661
That opens up the eye.

00:31:11.661 --> 00:31:12.923
Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

00:31:12.923 --> 00:31:19.113
But you wish you could just have a rusker full of just multi-position players.

00:31:19.113 --> 00:31:19.955
You know I have to be in ken.

00:31:19.976 --> 00:31:21.741
Sometimes coaches in practice are afraid to do it.

00:31:21.741 --> 00:31:25.671
You know they're afraid to move guys around and uh, we've had.

00:31:25.671 --> 00:31:29.880
We have a long tradition, a long tradition.

00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:36.416
Uh, taking that left side infielder whose arms a little short, and making a first baseman out of him.

00:31:36.416 --> 00:31:46.303
And defensively, I don't know why more guys don't put their back end shortstop as a first baseman.

00:31:46.303 --> 00:31:49.734
Also because those guys usually have good hands and make them fake it.

00:31:49.734 --> 00:31:52.071
And we did that this year.

00:31:52.071 --> 00:31:55.321
I took my third baseman from last year, who was really good defensively and his arm was a little short, and put him that this year.

00:31:55.321 --> 00:31:58.969
I took my third baseman from last year he was really good defensively and his arm was a little short, and put him at first base.

00:31:58.969 --> 00:32:01.336
And this guy, he's a natural over there.

00:32:02.986 --> 00:32:21.896
Bluffton University head baseball coach, james Grandy, sat down to discuss the tragic bus accident that killed five of his players, the bus driver and his wife, while the team was traveling through Atlanta, georgia, on their way to Florida for their spring trip.

00:32:21.896 --> 00:32:24.011
He pays tribute to his players.

00:32:25.026 --> 00:32:26.030
And really the aftermath.

00:32:26.030 --> 00:32:29.050
But I mean the takeaway.

00:32:29.050 --> 00:32:37.308
Yeah, it's been 14 years, but it's with me every day, it's with the university, every day it's with our uh, the leadership that was here at that time.

00:32:37.308 --> 00:32:45.032
You know, working through the, the aftermath, um, every day it affects us still with the players from.

00:32:45.113 --> 00:32:47.357
I know you had a 10-year anniversary a few years back.

00:32:47.357 --> 00:32:48.928
Can you talk?

00:32:48.948 --> 00:32:52.795
a little bit about the, the players that that were lost from that action.

00:32:52.795 --> 00:32:55.479
Yeah, so we lost five players.

00:32:55.479 --> 00:33:02.512
You know that team to go back, the 2017 was the first team of mine.

00:33:02.512 --> 00:33:03.455
It was my fourth year.

00:33:03.455 --> 00:33:11.415
It was the first team of mine that had all of my own recruits on it and we didn't have any seniors on that team either.

00:33:11.415 --> 00:33:16.688
And the year before we had finished in a four-way tie for second place in the conference.

00:33:16.688 --> 00:33:21.326
Uh and we we just missed out on the conference tournament to do to a tiebreaker.

00:33:21.326 --> 00:33:31.315
But, um, you know so that we had a lot of high hopes going into that season and three of the players we lost were freshmen and two of the players we lost were were sophomores.

00:33:31.315 --> 00:33:33.008
So I'll start with the sophomores.

00:33:33.048 --> 00:33:35.846
David betts uh was a sophomore from brian, ohio.

00:33:35.846 --> 00:33:41.499
Um, he was uh man, he was like everything you wanted in a division three student athlete.

00:33:41.499 --> 00:33:42.287
He was a good student.

00:33:42.287 --> 00:33:44.090
He was involved in a lot of things.

00:33:44.090 --> 00:33:49.048
Um, you know, good family is his sister and uh had played softball here.

00:33:49.048 --> 00:33:51.954
His grandpa was a former president of the university.

00:33:51.954 --> 00:33:54.268
Uh, his his freshman year.

00:33:54.268 --> 00:33:59.192
Actually, he did not make the florida list, and so I tell the story a lot of al here's.

00:33:59.192 --> 00:34:08.090
Here's a young man who didn't travel to florida his freshman year, um, but then, not only was going to travel his sophomore year, but he was going to be our starting second baseman.

00:34:08.090 --> 00:34:16.215
Uh, in our first game I had already I announced the lineup before we got on the bus, just so so they knew what was going on.

00:34:16.215 --> 00:34:17.018
He was really excited.

00:34:17.018 --> 00:34:19.713
One of the things about him was he was going to wait to tell his dad.

00:34:19.713 --> 00:34:20.929
He was going to surprise his dad.

00:34:20.929 --> 00:34:23.670
That was really hard.

00:34:24.144 --> 00:34:25.989
We also lost Tyler Williams.

00:34:25.989 --> 00:34:27.253
Tyler is from Lima.

00:34:27.253 --> 00:34:28.215
Tyler was awesome too.

00:34:28.215 --> 00:34:32.490
He had so much energy, one of the fastest players I've ever coached.

00:34:32.490 --> 00:34:34.507
Him and David both were our two fastest players.

00:34:34.507 --> 00:34:39.771