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Join us as coach DJ Butler of Barnesville High School (OH) sits across from me, Ken Carpenter, and we unravel the playbook to success that transcends mere wins and losses. We dissect the crucial foundations set by youth programs and the ethos of self-improvement that can turn any coach into an architect of victory. Our conversation ventures into the unique terrain of small-town sports, where each player's contribution is magnified, and the challenges of indoor practices are met with inventive strategies.
The echoes of cheers from the Ohio Valley are still fresh as we reminisce about the high school baseball team's heart-stopping journey through a regional tournament. Making their second appearance in the state final four. It's a tale of perseverance, community bonds, and the embrace of chance moments that can define a season. We recount the energy of a 12-inning game that danced with the twilight and reflect on the deep-rooted support systems from parents, administrators, and entire towns that fuel the passion and dedication of long-standing coaches like Coach Butler.
But what about when the cleats are off, and it's time to address the delicate waltz between coaches, parents, and athletes? Sharing from my own coaching playbook, I open up about the strategies that foster clear communication, respect, and understanding within the team's extended family. We pay homage to the value of alumni in linking the past with the present and future of the program. It's not just a game; it's a lineage of shared experiences and wisdom that Coach Butler and I are thrilled to pass on to you, our engaged listeners, in a discussion that's as enriching as it is enlightening.
Next up on the athlete one podcast DJ Butler, barnesville High School Baseball.
We had about a two to three year stretch where we weren't living up to expectations and I started with myself looking in the mirror and saying, what can I do better? What do we need to change to get the ship righted in the right direction? And what we really kind of did at that point was we really bought into our youth program.
Welcome to the athlete one podcast. Veteran high school baseball coach, ken Carpenter takes you into life's classroom as experienced through sports. Go behind the scenes with athletes and coaches as they share great stories, life lessons and ways to impact others.
Today's episode of the athlete one podcast is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The netting professionals specialize in a design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The netting pros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Check out netting pros on Twitter, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Before we get to our sit down with DJ Butler, I'd like to ask you, the listener, a favor If you could leave us a review, subscribe and rate our show. It's as simple as clicking on athlete one dot net. That's our web page. That's athlete one dot net. Tell us where you're checking in from or just give us an honest review. It's the only way that we're going to get better here on the athlete one podcast and I really do appreciate taking the time to do it. Now to my interview with DJ Butler Barnesville High School Baseball in Ohio. Hello and welcome to the athlete one podcast. I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and joining me today is DJ Butler, head baseball coach at Barnesville High School in the Ohio Valley here in the great state of Ohio. Coach, thanks for taking the time to join me on the athlete one podcast.
Coach, thanks for having me, it's my pleasure.
Well, strimmages will be starting up here in the next couple of weeks, and what's the expectations for Barnesville Baseball this season?
We are cautiously optimistic. We lost two seniors, one full time starter and gained a lot of experience. Last year Started out kind of slow and as those guys got better, more games under their belt, we got a lot better as we went, so optimistic as to where we could, where we could be.
Well being a coach in a small town. How many players are on your current team? How many players are multi sport athletes and how does that make you guys a better baseball team?
Almost all of them. In fact, I still have four kids that are wrestling this weekend at the state wrestling tournament that you know. They're their first time out on the field, maybe the first scrimmage. So we have a lot. And we have a lot of basketball players. And then, even if they're not a three sport athlete, a lot of our guys play football across country. You know I have a few golfers, so we have guys that are involved in sports throughout the year. As far as how it helps us, I like our guys to compete. I mean, obviously you want them getting their cuts, you want them in the weight room, you want them doing the training that we need to do, but I like them being competitive as much as anything else.
So I think that benefits us as much as any, and that's small town baseball across the country, I would assume because you got to have guys to make make all sports happen.
Yeah, I mean, in your best athletes, I think, play, play multiple sports and you want them on the field. I think, and we're, we're blessed, all of our coaches, we all get along, we work together, we train together. So being a small town and having to share athletes, you know, having that camaraderie with the other coaches is huge for us.
Well, spring weather can be challenging here in Ohio and you know I'm looking out the window right now and it's starting to rain and you know you, you've been coaching where you guys have an all dirt skin infield. Talk about the things you do to have productive indoor practices.
We divide up, we do split sessions and we're a lot of schools that have bigger facilities can go varsity, jv. We do it a little bit different and we go infield, outfield. Our catchers go with our outfielders, so that way we can get a lot of individual instruction in a, you know, short window of time. We try to keep our practices about hour 45 for each group and then we have like a half hour overlap, so we take three hours and divide it up among the two groups to get our work in that way. And then we designate two days as our bullpen days, instead of having different guys throw, you know, throughout the week we go Tuesday, friday as our bullpen days. Everybody who's throwing is throwing and everybody else is just throwing.
A lot of offensive work on those days Now with the school, your size, how many, how many of your guys? What does your roster look like and how many of those guys are like, hey, you guys, you got to be a pitcher.
Well, one of the things we do and I think it's benefited us over the years when you come in as a freshman, you're a pitcher, whether you like it or not, and we'll determine that you're not a pitcher. You know whether it's sometime in your freshman year, sometime in your sophomore year, but we make them all throw and just to develop as many arms as we can, just because we are a small school and that way, even if they're not, you know, going to throw 85 plus, they're going to learn how to throw the ball over to play, give our defense a chance to make plays, and I think that's benefited us through the years.
Well, you've been coaching the head coach at Barnesville there for nearly two decades now. What are some things that you and your coaching staff do to motivate the team both during the season and off season, to keep them excited about putting that rocks uniform on?
One of the things we're blessed with is going all the way back to Coach Wilson. I think there's been a tremendous tradition in Barnesville from when he took over in the 80s. Community support is huge. So, honestly, the buy-ins just always there with our kids. You don't really have to sell a program to them. It's you know something that you know when you're a young kid in Barnesville. You go to the park on a Wednesday night and it's packed and you know they're watching every baseball game and you know when the high school's playing there's people all around the field. We get to play in front of big crowds for a school of our size so we don't really have to sell it as much as it sells itself and just try to keep it going in the right direction that Coach Wilson started years ago.
You know I can remember playing as a, you know, opponent coming out to Barnesville to play. And then I had the opportunity, when I was at Buckneye Valley, to come down for the I believe you guys call it the Barnesville Classic, the Shermrock Diamond Classic. And you know, to me it was always a special time because, like you said, the crowds show up. I mean you get a real nice crowd for a high school baseball game. And you know I, you know it brings back a lot of great memories for me, you know, and I had a couple of times where I came down and you know things didn't go well as a coach, but you know that's that's what made it special is the, the, the crowd that came out for the games.
Yeah, it's. We have the, the Grandstand area, behind which they they recently they just redid it last year and then down the fence line, down the right field and around the back of the fence and right field in the outfield there's, you know, cars parked up and people sitting in the back of their vehicles and watching and you got the center field crew that's out there. That's been there for, you know, probably since Coach Wilson was there and and other things. You know the people that are putting their chairs in their tarps and everything out down the left field line. So it's, you know, pretty unique situation and we're fortunate we just got the infield read down this year as well. So you know we're going to get to play on a on a really nice surface again. That's great to hear.
Well, talk about the the importance that you know I'm sure Coach Wilson did it when he was there and and I'm sure you're carrying it on but the importance of building relationships with your players and coaches and how that leads to team success.
It's. You know the saying, you know they don't care until they how much you know how much you care. I think that's true. I mean, and we just talk to our players. Just I think if you just talk to them one-on-one, if you just interact with them during the course of practice, you know how school, how things at home, you know whatever. I think that that goes a long way and and getting them to buy into what you're doing with them.
Well, every, every player or coach can look back at their career and remember both their highs and their lows and talk about a time where you struggled or failed and how you made the made adjustments and turned that you know, a negative into a positive.
We had. We did have a stretch run where we just I don't know whether it was a lot of talent, whether not a lot of talent, whether it was me, you know, whatever it was we had about a two to three year stretch where we weren't living up to expectations and I started with myself looking in a mirror and saying what can I do better? How do we need to change to get the ship righted in the in the right direction? And and what we really kind of did at that point was we really bought into our youth program, got more involved with it, got our pony leg going in the right direction and saw the, the successes of that filter in. And we were really lucky. At that same time we were doing that, we had some guys who had played for Coach Wilson, who had kids coming up through, that were teaching their kids the right way and being a part of what we wanted to establish with them.
Now you mentioned, you know your, your summer program. You know me growing up in Eastern Ohio. We we played lead in baseball for those of the guys that were good enough, but you know we really depended on the pony league and the Colt leagues and different things like that. How many players do you have typically play travel baseball now? Because travel baseball is the the thing you know Legion, is it quite I wouldn't say quite as popular as it used to be?
With us. We have maybe two, three kids at the most that'll play like true travel ball, like is in the central district. There's really not a lot of opportunities for that kind of travel ball in our area. I mean, you're driving to Columbus, you're playing for a team in Pittsburgh, the closest. We do have an alumnus that runs a team out of Lancaster, but it's 16 you so there's not a. You know, without traveling all over the country, not a lot of opportunities. We've tried to Legion in Barnesville but we were relying on just Barnesville kids for the most part. In staying within the rules of what you're allowed to do with the state and relying only on your kids, it put us at a disadvantage at that level of competition. We had a handful of kids who had come in from Union Local Monroe Central. You know close schools. You know if you're looking at my limited contact days when you do that, you know just staying within the framework of what the OHSA allows, kind of limited what we could do with success with the Legion. So we ended up just going back to just a high school summer program and play in other schools that are doing the same.
That makes sense. The? You know I, when I when I do these podcasts, I like to do a little research and you know, at some point I said I can't have you on the show and not talk about the 2021 season. How special is that.
Unbelievable. That's why I said at the time it happened. It's something as a coach to get there you dream of, as a player you dream of and as a player in high school we fell short. We made it to regional tournament a couple times and fell short of getting there. So to get there as a coach, I think may have even been more special watching the kids that you coached accomplished something like that and what that group of kids did is the closest team I think I've ever had and I think that's how they got there. They would leave practice and they would go to P-Dubs together, they would go video game tournament at somebody's house and they were just always together and I think that kind of showed as we got going through the tournament and the run we made.
Now talk about the run. If I remember correctly, you guys hit like a little bit of a slump during the season and then you got hot at tournament time. Is that correct?
Yeah, end of the year we hit a little slump in our competition and it actually, I think, helps us when we get into tournaments, our competition at the end of the year once we start playing some of the Black I-8 schools in our area St Clairsville and Martin's Ferry, and some of the schools like that. It's a challenging schedule at the end of the year but I would hope it benefits you going in. So we did hit a little bit of a low and then just got hot at the right time. We were blessed with four arms, five arms that we put out throughout the tournament that we could count on. We're a lot of schools. Once you get to that time you're one or two arms and if you go beyond that you struggle. And we just had those guys that could throw strikes and we made plays behind them and got some really timely hits throughout the tournament, some really tight game.
Now did you have a game where you were like an extra inning game? I believe that were you.
We went 12 innings with Frederick Town in the first round of the regionals at Muskingham College. So 12 innings and it reached the point where you're going. Man, I hope this doesn't get called because of darkness. They didn't have lights there. So, yeah, the 12 inning game with them, and that was one of the most memorable games that have ever been a part of. Neither team made an error. Both teams got clutch hits, clutch performances. It was one where you didn't want to see either team lose because we played both teams played so well.
Now for your term everyone I mean it seems like a coach could look back and say, wow, we won, things went right for us. Were there times where you're like you know, holy cow, I. I can remember going to a game and watching a regional game and a pitcher threw you know, he was just having a great day on the mound. The guy got a hard base hit up the middle and he stuck his hand out and knocked it down and that prevented what would have been a beginning and they went on from a regional semi to to win the whole thing. And you know I can remember the kid saying you know, I, I just put my hand out there and, you know, instead of it turning into a game where they could have lost because of the hit, they end up going all the way to the state. Did you experience a little bit of that at times?
Yeah, tuskey Valley who was? I mean, they were a very good Tuskey Valley team and the and the district semis is one nothing game. It may have been the fastest game in high school history. I think we're done about an hour and 15 minutes, one nothing. And we got a couple guys on and just kind of a routine play Ground ball back to the pitcher and it gets overthrown over to catch your head and we get two runs out of it, out of one, you know. One miss cue and up went into one. So you know we got. We got that break at the right time.
Yes, that's. You know there's a lot to be said for. You know, sometimes the baseball gods are on your side and 99 times out of 100 if you're making it to the state tournament, you're, you're doing some things right as a, as a team and as a coaching staff and and you know it's it's always special when you make it to that final four and get out there and experience that. And that kind of leads into my next question. As someone who grew up in Ohio Valley, what makes high school sports special is the community and, in the community, support and what you know you talk about the crowds you get at your home game. I imagine when you make a run like that, the community just really gets into it.
Yeah, I mean, I think when we went to Lancaster I think they had said that you know Barnesville had accounted for over 550 tickets to get into Lancaster, which you know that's a big number for baseball. And then when we got to the state finals game or semi-final game, I remember just turn around and it just looked like a sea of green behind us. So it was neat. And then the other thing, you mentioned, the Valley. Just seeing the other Valley schools there, I mean we all, you know, within our district, I think we all support each other really well and seeing the coaches and the community members from other schools, you know, going there to support you as well, it's always always pretty neat.
Yeah, and what people that aren't familiar with the Ohio Valley that might listen to the podcast and the? There's just such great tradition with sports and some of the great athletes that have come out of the Ohio Valley and you know that. That's what makes makes it special. And especially when you talk about that, to me it always seems like when you go to a state tournament game, regardless of sport, you go watch these smaller schools and it's like holy Toledo. You just can't believe the support and how, how they come out to to to watch the team.
Yeah, yeah, it's, and that's you know. Small school, ohio, you know high valley is just is what I grew up in and it's, you know, one of the things that make living in this area so special.
Well, great leadership is important to consistent team success and I was kind of I went back and looked at, looked at some of the championships for sectionals, district regionals and the the Eastern Ohio tournament champions and stuff like that. And Barnsville has been pretty fortunate, in my opinion, to have both you and Brad Wilson and I believe you guys combined for over 40 years of leading Barnsville baseball. What, what keeps you coming back?
Uh, first, I mean being in Barnsville, the community, being around the kids. We get great kids. I mean, I don't deal with a lot of discipline issues that other schools have to. Parent support is phenomenal, so that makes it really easy to come back when you. You know, that's always one of the things that gets coaches out of coaching early. Honestly, when you don't have that kind of support, um and just, I love the game. I I don't know. I honestly don't know what I would do if I wasn't around baseball in some way.
Yeah, but you know you mentioned about coaches, uh, getting out of coaching, and you know you see it across the country and you see great coaches that are either not renewed or they're just stepping away because of the, the thousands of issues that coaches have to deal with. Talk about the administration and how, how they work with you specifically, and you know it seems like you know you said you had a a short run there where for two or three years where things weren't living up to expectation, but how important it is to have that athletic director and administration have in your back.
No, it's. I've been lucky. I've only had to work with two athletic directors of Barnesville and both have been, have been great. Um, I mean full support. You know, if one issues do arise, because they're still going to arise, but they're a hundred percent supporting you, a hundred percent behind you, um, no matter what. And then just a, whether it's financial or anything else, you know we need stuff for the program. Find ways to get it. Um, so you know it's, it's a blessing to have that kind of support from the administration. Um, and even in those couple of years where we weren't living up to the expectations, I didn't have to worry about. I'll know, if we don't win, I'm going to get fired. Um, you know they were going to work with us to get us going back in the right direction. Um, rather than, uh, we're just going to get rid of you and find somebody else. So knowing that you have that support is huge.
Yes, definitely as far as dealing with parents and, and you know you say you you're in a pretty good situation there, but what is your? How do you handle whenever an issue comes up, whether it's playing time or something's going on with the, with the student athlete? How do you handle it with your coaching staff?
Well, first thing, we meet with the parents from the very beginning and just lay out everything in front of them so they know, going in, you know what the expectations are. We have a school 24-hour rule, which makes it nice because if it's after a loss, either sides, you know, might say something they don't want to say or shouldn't, and after a win you're really happy and you just don't want to deal with it. So we have a 24-hour policy and then just, you know, kind of a respectful back and forth, you know, is not allowing it to escalate or get heated. And I've had a lot of instances where you know we've both parted, you know the conversation and agreed to disagree. But I've been fortunate where in most instances the parents have said well, you know, I don't agree with you're the coach and you know we'll go with, you know, with what you've said.
And that's that's great to hear because it's there's a lot of coaches out there that are unfortunate to have that agreed, agreed, disagree. You know it's. Sometimes it goes up the line to the superintendent and it can. You know it gets ugly at times, but that's great to hear, you know. The thing I wanted to ask you about was your coaching staff. How, how important are they to you? And you know, are you a hands-on coach with them or do you kind of say, hey, this is your area, you go ahead and run with it?
I am. I'm blessed, with my assistance I've got Jeff Miller played at Barnesville. He's been with me, you know, the entire time I've been there and as knowledgeable as anyone. Well, I've gotten a lot of players who've come back to work for me. Who who played for me? I got right now Kate Hanna's who played shortstop. Jake Edwards who was our first baseman on that that state run on a pitcher. He's going through education classes now to be a teacher and a coach. Brady Tree Hearn, who was our catcher and when my, you know, right in about the middle of the time I've been there. So with those guys I'm blessed that they played in what we do and I'm really hands off with with those guys, especially cause you know full trust in them. Bryce Allen, who is. He played for Coach Wilson, so he takes the outfield and same thing. I always kind of joke when we do our our throwing routine or throwing program. We'll go catchers. I'm telling you, catchers, catch and stick in. Fielders, get a work on your transfers. Outfielders do whatever it is Coach Allen has you do. Yeah, I'm really pretty hands off with them and just kind of I try to float and get around with them. And I have one other he's kind of a part-time coach because he's got younger kids and he's very involved. Joel Atkinson, who is a pitcher for Coach Wilson, who's as good as I've ever been around working with pitchers and I'm very, very hands off with them. I'll go over and work with the catchers and the bullpen more than I will with the pitchers and what they're doing on their end.
Well before we, before we started recording, you talked about a tradition you have where you you have former players and coaches come back and talk to the team. Talk a little bit about that.
It's actually something we just started this year and I've gotten to be on the, the rep for a state board, and you kind of talk to those guys. You hear so much of the good things that those guys do and I want to give credit for it. Corey Kahn from Lancaster is one of the people I heard talking about doing this and it was something we kind of sat around like you know that'd be really good. We've got some really good you know alumni that could come back and talk to these guys that maybe they like the guys that are going to hear Coach Wilson on Saturday you know they weren't born yet when he coached his last game. So, being a small community, they know who he is, but they've never heard him talk baseball. They know Coach Wilson, the announcer to Diamond Classic. Or you know Coach Wilson, the singer, you know, and his group, they don't know Coach Wilson, the you know, hall of Fame high school coach.
Yeah, and what a what a great guy. Coach Wilson is one of my all time favorite coaches, you know, and I had a chance to have him come up and play at our place and we come down for the Diamond Classic and just you talk about a great guy and and I had no idea that he was going to become a singer that he turned into yeah, and when I was at my first year's teaching and coaching as a small school called Jewett Sio in Harrison County and one of the scrimmages I made sure we got every year was Barnesville and Coach Wilson was there because, honestly, I wanted to to emulate what he did and I wanted to see it up close.
So even at that you know, young age of my coaching career, I knew that's one of the guys that you know, you, you follow it, you emulate and you're going to do a good job if you can do that.
Yeah, and it's ironic, you and him are the. The two coaches took the team to the state final four or so at different time. Yeah, but that's great to say.
Yeah, there hasn't been many other ones. I mean, there was one coach between us one year and then before him I mean they had you know kind of a scatter of three, four coaches before his time.
Well, I like to jump into a thing I call rapid fire and I'm going to hit you with some questions here and just kind of give me what you, what you think here. Okay, I hate losing or love winning.
I hate losing. Why I, I, I lost. I take a loss with me a lot longer than I enjoy a win.
No doubt. Well, thank you very much. You're an MLB manager, and if you could have these three outfielders on your team, who would you take, group A or Group B? Group A Roberto Clemente, mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr, and Group B would be Willie Mays, barry Bonds and Mickey Mannell.
Wow, that's tough. I'm going to go Group A just because growing up and Ken Griffey Jr is always my favorite and with Roberto Clemente, I love that strong arm dial fielder and Mike Trout, I think is as good as there is in the game right now. So I'll go Group A, yeah.
Well, tell me something that most people don't know about you.
That's a tough one. My affinity for golfing as well is pretty well known, especially with my players. So you know I don't know what there is. Are you a good golfer? Very, very apt, Very apt, yeah.
It's tough to be good at it If you don't do it a lot.
That's for sure, I'm convinced that, as I'm working to play a little more and get better.
So I'm convinced if I took a fungo bat out, I could do better than if I just took golf clubs, because I was so good at hitting it where I wanted with a fungo bat.
I would definitely hit it a lot straighter.
Yeah, without a doubt. Who are three people throughout history? If you could sit down and have dinner with them to talk to them, who would the three people be?
One would be FDR Franklin Roosevelt, my favorite president, to be a guy who got us through the Depression and through, you know, most of World War II. I'd have a million questions for him. Another one would be Yogi Berra. I just when the documentary that was on Netflix, I just became kind of infatuated with Yogi Berra. After that it's his knowledge of the game and what he did and everything that he did related to baseball I think is fascinating. And then his family life outside of it I think is equally fascinating how he could have that strong of a family bond and be a major league baseball player and manager. Third, probably JFK. Just what he did through his life up to his presidency and the decisions he had to make as a president, I thought I was always interested in that.
Well, you know, going back to the documentary with Yogi Berra, I had a chance to watch that and one of the things that jumped out to me more than anything was when they interviewed Joe Garasiola and he said I wasn't even the best baseball player on my block and he was a man. You know, he was a major league player. That's probably unheard of as far as major league players growing up on the same street. Pretty much, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, to finish up, the funniest story in baseball for you as a player or coach that you could share.
Oh, probably my college playing days. As a freshman I played and I love the guy. Rick Carver is my coach. He was at Bethany for 30 plus years and his first year at Bethany was my freshman year. So he was that young guy I mean, he was probably mid to early 20s when we had him in college as a coach. So we're at Mary Group College in Tennessee or Maryville College in Tennessee playing, which was his alma mater. He didn't want to lose to and we didn't make a very good showing in the first game and I was a freshman. I was catching bullpen so I had gear on but I wasn't in the game and he was pretty upset with us. So we're running sprints between games. I was so scared and so nervous that I didn't even take the equipment off. I'm running and everything but the mask. Running sprints is punishment because I was too nervous or too afraid to take the time to take it off, as mad as he was.
That's great, though. I love when coaches share stories and I want to thank you for taking the time during the school day and during the season, basically to take the time to be on the podcast. It's DJ Butler, head baseball coach at Barnesville High School Coach. Thanks again for being on the show.
I appreciate you having me. It was fun I appreciate it.
You've been listening to the Athlete One podcast, powered by the netted professionals. They're the best in the business and they're improving programs one facility at a time. Get them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Also, don't forget to follow us on Twitter, instagram and Facebook. At Athlete One podcast, I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and, as always, thanks for listening.
