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Hello and welcome to the Athlete One podcast, a podcast teaching baseball coaches and players the key to performance success by exposing the secrets of those who have played and coached the game at the high school, college and professional level.
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On today's podcast, I sit down with three-time state champion head baseball coach, mark Monaghan, who returned to his alma mater at Starkville High School in Mississippi.
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He breaks down why parents play a critical role in their son's success by letting the coaches coach them hard, play a critical role in their son's success by letting the coaches coach them hard how to stay focused and handle high-pressure situations and stay until the end to hear the unbelievable story of how a game-winning hit in dogpile turned into an out.
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You're locked in to Athlete One, a podcast for athletes and coaches coming to you from Dublin, ohio, here to bring you expert advice, insightful conversations and powerful stories from guests who play or coach sports.
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Now veteran high school baseball coach and someone who has jumped out of perfectly good airplanes your host, ken Carpenter.
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Hello and welcome to the Athlete One Podcast.
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I'm your host, ken Carpenter, joining me today from Starkville High School in Mississippi.
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Head baseball coach Mark Monaghan Coach.
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Welcome to the show.
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Hey Ken, how you doing.
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Happy to be here.
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Appreciate you having me on Well.
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I like to start off with something that's a little bit different every now and then, and here's my question for you If I'm coming to Starkville, mississippi, I'm a big barbecue guy.
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Is it Little Dewey Moe's Barbecue or Two Brothers Smoked Meats?
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It's Little Dewey's, but Two Brothers is pretty special in its own right, but Little Dewey's is legendary and I could not point you in that direction.
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There we go.
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That's what I was thinking.
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Well, you left DeSoto Central High School where you won three state titles tremendous success and an amazing amount of guys that went on to play in college and even signed professional contracts.
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I guess the question I need to ask is you're going back to your alma mater there at Starkville High School?
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How does it feel to be back home?
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It's been incredible.
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It's really a surreal experience From the moment I arrived, navigating this first season and just the family move.
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You know, obviously a lot went into it but just the overwhelming amount of support, you know, in making a transition.
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Even though it's home, I felt like such, a, you know, a newcomer to the entire community.
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It had been so long since I'd been here.
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Stalvel's changed a great deal but, you know, overall it's just been an absolutely, you know, special experience, one that I'm very grateful for and you know and very excited about.
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You know the future of, you know, not just Starkville High School baseball, but you know the entire school district and the community and the direction that it's going.
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You know Mississippi State obviously always you know forever growing and just great things happen and really happy to be a part of it.
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Well, I read the letter that you wrote to your former school that you coached at DeSoto Central and, excuse me, you had, you know, 11, just unbelievable years there, and but what stood out to me was you thanked the parents for allowing you to coach the players hard.
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How?
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If you could explain that, I guess.
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Yeah, you know it's.
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You know I think it's what every coach, you know, truly, truly wants is to, you know, to be able to be passionate and to be intense and to be, you know, demanding, to allow you to just kind of implement your system and implement your coaching and your discipline and everything.
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And you know, I think today, you know, a lot of times parents can come in between you know your relationship with your players and maybe what you're trying to do and trying to accomplish.
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And at DeSoto Central, it was an unbelievable experience having the constant support from the parents and from the families allowing you to do that, allowing you to coach them hard and not really just allowing you but even being supportive of it, being an extension of your process and the culture that you're trying to build.
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They were in our corner as a coaching staff, rather than pulling in the opposite direction, and I feel like it had everything to do with our amount of success was having the support of the parents.
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Well, obviously it worked for you and you had eight players that went on to sign professionally and, if I got it correct, 70 earned college scholarships.
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Is that correct?
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It's close to it.
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Yeah, I'm not positive of the numbers.
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So, just, you know, really, really blessed you know I had very little to do with the success up there you have to, you have to have good players and and we were very blessed with that and and they were, you know, unbelievably fun to work with and develop and and they earned their rights, you know, for those college scholarships and the professional opportunities and and such and so, again, just you know, a bless blessing you know to have been a part of, uh, you know, such a talented group over the years well, I, you know, I appreciate you being humble, but uh, you know, the reality is a lot of these college coaches, they, they want, they go after guys that they know that they've been coached well and it's going to make their life a little bit easier when they get to get to them at the college level.
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And, um, I would imagine that you probably assembled a pretty good coaching staff too yeah, I think that's, uh, it's been extremely important.
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Uh, really, ever since I've gotten into coaching and and was an assistant coach and and and really did, uh, you know not to toot my own horn, but I, I really took a lot of pride in my, you know, my being my assistant coaching position.
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You know, when I first got into it, I immediately realized how difficult it was to be a head coach and looking at the struggles and the frustration you know with just with dealing with, you know, dealing with parents and playing time and budgets and everything, and all eyes on that head coach, and so I really wanted to be, you know, as supportive as I could and just really, you know, get in the trenches, you know, with the head coaches that I, that I coached under and you know, and it really tried to find, you know, those great characteristics in assistant coaches.
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You know that I've had, and my assistant coaches that I've had, man, they, you know some come in for a year, two years.
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You know some they're with you for a long time and, man, I couldn't, I couldn't thank them enough.
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They have so many brothers, you know that I've, you know I've, you know, you know, came to have, or you know even younger brothers and just you know mentors.
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You know I learned a long time ago to you know if you can hire assistant coaches that know more than you.
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You know that you know that's a great thing to have and I've never, never, shied away from you know, from from having you know assistant coaches.
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Come on that, uh, you know, or have been established head coaches, um, but uh, you know you're only as good as your assistant coaches and uh, and I've been blessed to have, uh, you know, some, some great ones over the years how would you define your coaching style?
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man know that's people have asked me that before that is, and that is such a that's a tough, tough thing.
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To to really to kind of narrow down.
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You know, yeah, definitely Very, very detail oriented and very passionate about those, those, those details.
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I will say that it's no secret, I've been criticized of being OCD about you know a lot of things.
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I don't like to use that term.
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I just like to, you know, say I'm very committed, you know, to the details and you know.
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But you know I do believe that discipline is everything in a program and I believe that you know it's all about taking care of, you know, execute bunts, you know.
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And do the team defensive, you know, type things that win ball games if we can't, you know, take care of our pre-practice duties and our post-practice duties and do all those things, you know, that have to happen, you know, before the game's ever played.
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So discipline is a real strong part of my mindset.
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I guess you could say Let me ask you this You've coached and had your players in some big time games, especially when you're winning three state titles.
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Are there any particular exercises or routines that you incorporate to help your players with focus and handling pressure?
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Well, I think it's just something that is covered from day one, you know, and I think consistency is such a big part of you know, of coaching and if you want consistency out of your players, then you have to be consistent as a coach.
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So you know the things that we preach within our program from from day one, you know.
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You know in talking about, you know responding.
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I probably talk about failure and handling failure way more than I talk about just being successful, you know, and handling success, you know.
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Just in this game, obviously, everybody understands how much you know you're going to fail in the game.
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So you know, we do.
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We spend a tremendous amount of time on that.
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So when you know, when you know when the, you know what hits the fan, you know which it's going to do and whether it be, you know, just a regular season game or big time playoff games or in the state championship, you know.
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I like to think that our guys are never going to be in that situation and not know how to handle it, that they're going to be prepared to respond and respond in the right way.
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So I think it's just you know, just over time, you know.
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You know day after day.
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You know, week after week, month after month, year after year, you know we're never going to not, you know, continue to talk about.
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You know, you know how to respond, you know to, to the things that happen to us in our lives.
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Well, you've won, like we've said earlier, three tight three titles there in Mississippi, tons of players going on to play in college baseball.
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How do you handle because I've had several coaches on, you know, coach Fitz down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, coach Held at Cincinnati Moeller how do you handle when you've got more than nine players that are deserving of being in the starting lineup and somebody's got to set the bench?
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How do you handle that?
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yes, it's not ever easy, um, you know, but again, I think it goes back to the, to the very beginning and, uh, and everybody understanding that, uh, you know this is this is not about you.
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You know that this is about us and building relationships, you know, with the players and, I think, allowing yourself to be vulnerable, you know, at times, and letting them know that you know how difficult it is for us and that we don't take it lightly, you know, I think you know, instead of just you know, putting names on a lineup card, understanding that this guy might be, you know, just as you know rewarding of the starting, nod here or there, but being able to pull them over and have one-on-ones.
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I call guys into the office all the time, you know, before, after, to just let them know.
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A lot of times I feel like I do it too much, that I don't have to tell them this.
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We don't have to have this conversation.
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They can handle it.
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But it's just important to me that each and every player understands, you know, the why, you know and why certain decisions are being made, and I think when you develop those relationships, they understand that you know it's not easy and that we, as coaches are, even struggle with it, you know, at times, and but are truly, you know, inspired.
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You know, honestly, you know, at how guys handle not being the guy and and I and I do believe, you know, the cream rises to the top and and and a lot of times that those, those guys that might be going through those struggles and or completely deserving of the opportunity that they're going to get it, you know and they're going to, they're going to seize the moment, or they're not, and it's going to be more of an understanding that that the other guy you know has deserved it.
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But you know, just the relationships you know that you create with the players helps, you know, those decisions.
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Now, of course, the other side of it is the parents.
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And how do you handle that with the parents side of it when they got a kid that's maybe committed to playing college and he might not have got that opportunity in that game?
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Yeah, yeah, well, and I can come off as Mr Tough Guy here, because we're going to have conversations at times that we don't want to have with parents, but also it's very known in the beginning that we're not going to have conversations about players and their playing time, regardless of what you know, what a parent might think, or players that feel like.
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You know, how can I sign with a, you know, with a college here, how can I ever, you know, get any offers if I'm not on the field?
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You know, and I should be on the field, and this, and that those are all things that we're going to talk about with the players.
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Again, like I said before, over and over and over again, and so I make it very known in the beginning that you know, the greatest, greatest thing that I get out of, out of this profession, the, the number one gift, is the relationship that I have with the player and that I don't want parents to get in between that.
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And so, whether it be about playing time, you know you're moving on to play college baseball and those opportunities.
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You know, as soon as the parent, you know, gets in between, you know, coach and player, then then the relationship you know with everybody is, you know, is a is a struggle.
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And so again, covering things in the very beginning you know, you know we.
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We have a handbook.
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You know the the the parents receive information.
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You know you know we have a handbook.
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You know the parents receive information you know early on about, you know what's allowed and what's not allowed.
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So really just covering all of that in the beginning, you know, really helps those situations and limits them.
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You know a great deal.
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Well, let me ask you this the top when you're're.
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What are your top three priorities when you took over there and start strikeville?
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uh, well, you know, really, I guess you you kind of you, you uh, you know, start with, you know making sure we have everything that we need.
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You know, um, you know to develop.
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You know all the young men that come through the program and that's just from a you know facility standpoint.
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You know to develop.
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You know all the young men that come through the program, and that's just from a you know facility standpoint.
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You know, and you know, obviously we're trying to win baseball games, you know, so we've got to have the.
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You know the necessary tools and equipment to.
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You know to develop players.
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From that, you know, from the physical standpoint, you know on the field.
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And then really, you know, when we navigated our first tryout and developed the first standpoint, you know on the field.
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And then really, you know, when we navigated our first tryout and developed the first staff let me back up and say staff would have been number one.
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You know that was obviously numero uno was making sure that the you know that the coaches involved, you know, understood you know our plan and we had the right staff.
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And then it would go to, you know, again, making sure that we had everything that we needed, you know, to develop the players.
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And then when we had tryouts, it's, you know, you just you're looking at your, you know the players that are, they're trying to be a part of it and and you're trying to really you know you'll get the right ones, and that's just from a tryout standpoint.
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But then once we created our team, then it's it's, you know you're creating the right mindset and and and and culture and things like that.
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But our leadership as a, as a coaching staff, you know when you're, when you're entering a new program, has, has got to be, you know, got to be on point, if you will, and extremely consistent with with what we're preaching you know every single day.
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And then you start developing the leadership you know among the players and they're starting to take the reins and so that's just kind of that's really it.
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And then it's just it's understanding the marathon of it.
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That it's.
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You know it's not as it's going to take some time, but you know being patient and all that.
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This was the first time.
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You know it's not as if it's going to take some time, but you know being patient and all that.
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This was the first time you know and it had been 11 years, 12 years, since taking over a program, and so you know you have to kind of step back a little bit and be more patient and really develop those relationships and not come in and you know it's my way, or the highway or anything like that.
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And but you know, the guys here, you know, you know the start of a high school baseball program have been unreal in their ability to, you know, to truly buy in and believe in what we're trying to accomplish.
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Even with the, the bumps, you know, and the slow start to our season and things like that, I mean they never wavered and you know it really, really, you know, inspired me and motivated me every day to, you know, to get up and get there and get going.
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Explain a favorite drill that you have that you think the players get the most out of.
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Ooh, let's see I love, you know, I love team defense and I love things that involve everybody.
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So you know, I guess you could say you know I love you know, or see, I guess you would call it a double play drill to where you know.
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It started with just the infield.
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You know you're trying to turn.
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You know X number of double plays in a you know in 30 seconds.
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And then we started incorporating the outfield to where you know, you know they're.
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They're catching a fly ball and throwing a guy out at the plate.
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You know do or die situation catching a fly ball and throwing a guy out at the plate.
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You know do or die situation.
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But anything you know, and there are several others, a lot of our PFP drills are really, you know, really.
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You know upbeat, fast pace.
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You know a lot of ground balls and a lot of plays being made at one time.
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You know doing things like that really keeps them engaged and they, you know there's not enough time for them to worry about their.
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You know.
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You know botched play here or there because there's something else going on.
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Someone else is right behind them, so anytime I think that you could speed the game up for them.
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You know helps out so they don't sit there and dwell on, on the mistakes you know and that's how it normally is in the game is that's what you're battling is those.
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You know, those 20 seconds in between each pitch to where you know you got to think about that.
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You know that error that you just made.
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So I think anytime you can kind of, you know, speed them up and get them going and, you know, minimize that thinking.
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Well, tell me about a time where maybe you failed as a coach or even as a player, and how you responded to that and turned it into a positive.
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Well, I guess you could say that all of my teachings, everything that I've brought to the table as a coach, I didn't always do as a player.
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You know I had a successful career here at Starkville.
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I, you know, you know, started every game and played two years and was really successful in junior college.
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And then I got to the university of new Orleans, and you know, and I didn't.
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I didn't play every day, you know, I started playing and then then I wasn't playing and I didn't really deserve the right to play.
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But for the first time, you know, I guess, in my life, you know, I didn't go to the park every day to play.
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You know, I hoped I would and I saw my own, my attitude kind of deteriorate and I realized that I wasn't, I wasn't a great teammate, you know, I guess I I guess I credit my mom to kind of checking me and and and getting my mind right and I really started to dive into to my attitude and and and and get you know, forgetting about what I couldn't control.
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You control the controllables, all those things that I dove into as a coach, I never really did as a player.
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So I started to that year and it was a struggle and I would kind of a couple steps forward, a couple steps back and then finally I committed to it 100%.
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I didn't care if I played when I showed up to the park, did not care.
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I was going to be the absolute best teammate that I could be.
00:23:59.006 --> 00:24:15.727
And what that did is it propelled me into a senior year to where I was able to start every game as a senior and then learn that that, no matter what, you know, I happened to be playing over one of my best friends, you know, on on the team.
00:24:15.887 --> 00:24:41.366
You know another, another, another infielder, and and I knew at that point that you know I, I, he could not see me have a bad attitude or, you know, not absolutely run every ball out, and so you know, that kind of helped me out and really I used those kind of those last two years, you know, as a player to kind of propel me into.
00:24:41.366 --> 00:24:48.035
I didn't know I was going to coach, but once I did, you know, and then I realized the struggles you know today with players, and you know I want to play, I want to play.
00:24:48.035 --> 00:24:50.483
You know today with with players, and you know I want to play, I want to play.
00:24:50.483 --> 00:24:57.532
You know, and not understanding how to be a great teammate and and, and you know, and, and just stick into the process and the grind of it all.
00:24:57.532 --> 00:25:01.393
So you know I guess that I hope that answers your question.
00:25:02.384 --> 00:25:03.448
Definitely definitely does.
00:25:03.448 --> 00:25:06.656
Do you hate losing or love winning?
00:25:06.656 --> 00:25:08.586
I hate losing.
00:25:09.348 --> 00:25:10.210
Yeah, why is that?
00:25:10.210 --> 00:25:20.705
I don't know you, you know that it's, it's just, you know I love winning.
00:25:20.705 --> 00:25:24.751
So I mean, I, I don't know that, you know, that's kind of one of those loaded questions.
00:25:24.751 --> 00:25:31.839
Uh, but yeah, I, I, I, I hurt way more, you know, losing than I feel the great satisfaction of of, of, of winning.
00:25:31.839 --> 00:26:05.596
You know, I don't know, it's just, you know, and I think it just goes to you know, I'm not a big I don't celebrate, you know I, you know players kind of that's one of my big struggles as a coach today is is how the players want to, you know, celebrate things and you know, to me it's too much of a look at me, you know, and so I just like to, you know, hey, we, we, you know we expected to win, we wanted to win, and I understand the big wins and the comebacks and the things like that.
00:26:05.596 --> 00:26:09.333
That, yes, your emotions can take over, you know.
00:26:09.333 --> 00:26:16.915
But overall, sometimes I find myself, you know just, you know, dwelling on the losses, you know, way more than enjoying the wins.
00:26:17.981 --> 00:26:18.644
Yes, definitely.
00:26:18.644 --> 00:26:25.847
And my last head coaching job, last game I ever coached as a head coach.
00:26:25.847 --> 00:26:28.718
We lost the game on a foul ball.
00:26:28.718 --> 00:26:39.557
That should have ended the game and our first baseman reached up to catch it and one of my own players reached up with his glove and knocked it out of his hand who was sitting on the bench?
00:26:39.557 --> 00:26:43.474
And the next pitch was a base hit and we lost.
00:26:43.474 --> 00:26:56.932
So some of those things, like you said, stick with you forever and I mean I could sit there and see it happening every single day, you know, and it blows your mind when you hate to lose.
00:26:56.932 --> 00:26:58.297
That's right.
00:26:58.297 --> 00:26:58.857
That's right.
00:26:58.857 --> 00:27:05.574
Well, you could have dinner with three players or coaches throughout history to pick their brain.
00:27:05.574 --> 00:27:07.131
You could sit down there and pick their brain.
00:27:07.131 --> 00:27:07.653
Who would it be?
00:27:08.765 --> 00:27:12.092
Three players and coaches or and or.
00:27:12.152 --> 00:27:12.814
More coaches.
00:27:14.678 --> 00:27:19.252
Oh man, you know John Wooden, I think for sure.
00:27:19.252 --> 00:27:26.633
Oh man, let's see Derek Jeter.
00:27:26.633 --> 00:27:30.489
John Wooden, Derek Jeter.
00:27:30.489 --> 00:27:47.951
And last one, you got me John Wooden, derek Jeter, that's a tough one.
00:27:47.951 --> 00:27:50.332
I'm trying to think outside the box.
00:27:50.332 --> 00:27:54.413
No one's jumping off and of course, when I get away from this I'll I'll.
00:27:54.413 --> 00:27:57.575
You know, why didn't you say you know?
00:27:57.575 --> 00:28:08.179
You know, look, I have a, I have a, I have a relationship with him, but our conversations never, never, get old.
00:28:08.179 --> 00:28:17.583
So to include, uh, you know, ron polk in in this, you know, in this dinner, you know, uh, you know, I, I would, I would still absolutely enjoy.
00:28:17.583 --> 00:28:21.935
So I can throw, you know, ron polk in there with jeter and wooden I.
00:28:22.237 --> 00:28:31.913
I was wondering if that name was going to pop up there, being in starkville yeah, yeah, very fortunate to have a, have a relationship with him and, uh, he'll stop by every now and then.
00:28:31.913 --> 00:28:35.273
Just a great human being, that's for sure.
00:28:36.785 --> 00:28:37.207
Well, here's a.
00:28:37.207 --> 00:28:37.990
Would you rather?
00:28:37.990 --> 00:28:48.895
Would you rather have a strong hitting team with average pitching or a strong pitching team with average hitting?
00:28:49.926 --> 00:28:51.818
Strong pitching team with average hitting.
00:28:51.818 --> 00:28:52.724
Strong pitching team with average hitting.
00:28:53.868 --> 00:28:54.471
Why would that be?
00:28:56.808 --> 00:29:03.470
I'll never get away from pitching and defense wins championships, the teams that I've had.
00:29:03.470 --> 00:29:10.855
Some people would think I'm crazy because of how well some of our offenses were were.
00:29:10.855 --> 00:29:12.746
But you know if they were.
00:29:12.746 --> 00:29:15.633
You know in the dugout and saw things unfold.
00:29:15.633 --> 00:29:18.267
You know how we pitched it and how we play defense.
00:29:18.267 --> 00:29:21.957
You know, you know put us in every one of those championship situations.
00:29:22.017 --> 00:29:26.193
So Okay, the next one is I'm going to give you a choice.
00:29:26.193 --> 00:29:50.615
You can either tell a crazy story, or an unbelievable story, or the most hilarious story from your time as a coach you pick all right crazy, or unbelievable or hilarious oh my goodness, crazy, unbelievable.
00:29:50.736 --> 00:29:51.698
Unbelievable or hilarious.
00:29:52.459 --> 00:30:09.064
Man, because throughout the time that I've been doing this over 107 episodes I've got some really great stories from coaches and you're like you know they get together at clinics and stuff and they retell them over and over All right.
00:30:10.469 --> 00:30:13.356
Well, I do have one that kind of rises to the top.
00:30:13.356 --> 00:30:28.200
It's a story that, since it happened and I might get this wrong this was early or mid-2000s and I was asked to coach an all-star team.
00:30:28.200 --> 00:31:19.497
It was basically the state games of Mississippi to where you know, uh, you know, the state has broke down into, uh, I believe, eight, eight or nine districts and and, and, uh, you know, guys try out, you know to, to, to make that district all-star team and and they go to, uh, Meridian, to Meridian Community College, and they're, they're, they're basically, you know, kind of playing a double elimination deal, for you know, gold medal and silver, you know medals, and so myself and I was able to coach with a mentor of mine and a pitching coach at an opposing you know high school, and so there we were, you know, basically, you know coaching a lot of players that were not our players, and at the time I had been at, it was at Pearl High School.
00:31:19.497 --> 00:31:32.807
At the time we did not have any players on this particular team, so it was a bunch of other high schoolers, a bunch of other high schoolers, very, very, very talented team.
00:31:32.807 --> 00:31:38.291
We are in a it's not an elimination game, but very, very late in the game.
00:31:38.291 --> 00:31:42.236
I believe we are up.
00:31:42.236 --> 00:31:44.939
No, excuse me, we are tied.
00:31:44.939 --> 00:31:50.247
I want to say we might already be in extra innings and I'm coaching third.
00:31:50.247 --> 00:32:08.166
And mind you that that all the other coaches within the state, when I I was a young coach here and I was asked to do this, all they told me was you know, you know, district six has has won, you know, the gold in baseball as long as I can remember, don't screw this up, don't screw that.
00:32:08.166 --> 00:32:13.558
That was my, that was the support that I had, you know, and so I would laugh it off.
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