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Scott Manahan’s unexpected return to the world of baseball coaching is an inspiring tale that echoes Michael Corleone’s famous line from "The Godfather 3." After retiring from a stellar high school coaching career, Scott found himself drawn back into the game he loves at Capital University. In our conversation, he shares the unique challenges and joys of transitioning from high school to a Division III college program, offering invaluable insights for coaches contemplating a similar leap.

For families and aspiring college athletes, Scott sheds light on the crucial role of academic performance and work ethic in securing opportunities at the college level, especially in Division III. We dive into the often-overlooked financial realities of this level of college sports and offer guidance for managing time commitments, understanding the offseason grind, and navigating the transfer portal. Scott’s candid advice to high school coaches considering a move to college reminds us of the dedication and mindset needed to thrive in this competitive environment.

Our discussion also ventures into the balancing act that college athletes face as they juggle academics, athletics, and personal growth. Scott shares personal anecdotes that highlight the importance of building confidence, fostering teamwork, and setting realistic goals. We reflect on the complexities of travel baseball and the bittersweet lessons that both winning and losing bring. Finally, Scott unveils the coaches he’d choose to join him at Capital, emphasizing the delicate balance of striving for victory while never losing sight of the joy that sports bring. Join us for a rich tapestry of stories and insights that promise to resonate with coaches, players, and sports enthusiasts alike.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.




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Chapters

00:01 - High School Coach Retires, Returns

05:53 - High School to College Baseball Transition

10:59 - College Baseball Challenges and Goals

18:43 - Recruiting Baseball Players From Multiple States

22:47 - Coaches Reflect on Winning and Losing

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:01.824 --> 00:00:02.645
High school coaches.

00:00:02.645 --> 00:00:06.554
Imagine deciding to retire after an incredible career.

00:00:06.554 --> 00:00:10.867
You've done it all State title, hall of Fame inductions.

00:00:10.867 --> 00:00:17.510
Numerous players go on to play at the next level and, more importantly, become productive members of society.

00:00:17.510 --> 00:00:26.894
But, just like in the Godfather 3 movie, al Pacino's character, michael Corleone, is trying to retire from organized crime.

00:00:26.894 --> 00:00:32.091
He says just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

00:00:32.091 --> 00:00:44.395
Back on March 3rd 2021, scott Manahan joined me on the show and he talked about how he's enjoying retirement and having fun.

00:00:44.395 --> 00:00:47.259
He's enjoying retirement and having fun.

00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:52.203
Then he takes a phone call from a coach, an alum from Capital University.

00:00:52.203 --> 00:00:57.753
Now, three years later, scott's trying to build the program at Capital University.

00:00:57.753 --> 00:01:04.546
Sometimes you return to the game you love and what you do best, and that's coaching.

00:01:04.546 --> 00:01:18.620
In this episode, you'll discover why you should think long and hard about making the jump from high school to college coaching ranks, why good players struggle when they go to college, and great stories from fellow high school coaches.

00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.405
Next, on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

00:01:22.807 --> 00:01:27.495
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by Athlete One.

00:01:27.495 --> 00:01:41.710
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches, with 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills.

00:01:41.710 --> 00:01:42.902
We're covering it all.

00:01:42.902 --> 00:01:51.319
Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field.

00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.846
Discover how to build a winning mentality.

00:01:53.846 --> 00:02:04.846
Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success.

00:02:04.846 --> 00:02:11.247
Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories.

00:02:11.247 --> 00:02:15.181
Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game.

00:02:15.181 --> 00:02:17.084
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

00:02:22.573 --> 00:02:29.444
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00:03:35.941 --> 00:03:41.711
Before I get to my interview with Scott Manahan, be sure to hit the subscribe button and follow the show.

00:03:41.711 --> 00:03:46.615
We put out a new episode every Wednesday and if you really enjoy it, text it to a friend or a fellow coach.

00:03:46.615 --> 00:03:47.157
Button and follow the show.

00:03:47.157 --> 00:03:51.389
We put out a new episode every Wednesday and if you really enjoy it, text it to a friend or a fellow coach and tell them to check out our show.

00:03:51.389 --> 00:03:52.865
We would love the support.

00:03:52.865 --> 00:04:00.292
Now to my sit-down with head baseball coach at Capital University, scott Manahan.

00:04:00.292 --> 00:04:06.669
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

00:04:06.669 --> 00:04:13.748
I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and joining me today is Scott Manahan, head baseball coach at Capital University.

00:04:13.748 --> 00:04:15.927
Coach, thanks for taking the time to be on here.

00:04:15.927 --> 00:04:17.625
Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

00:04:18.581 --> 00:04:19.584
No problem, ken, I love it.

00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:23.593
Well, I want to start off with.

00:04:23.593 --> 00:04:29.531
You know you go from Hall of Fame high school coaching career to retirement.

00:04:29.531 --> 00:04:42.492
And now you know you've been the head coach at Division III Capital University for a few years now and is it kind of like the Godfather, where you got pulled back in?

00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:45.345
Yeah, I'll tell you what.

00:04:45.345 --> 00:04:50.004
You do something long enough and you love to do what you do, and and then you leave it.

00:04:50.004 --> 00:04:57.346
And you know I left at the right time because I wasn't dealing with all the COVID stuff, so I figured that was a pretty good idea.

00:04:57.346 --> 00:04:58.490
It just happened that way.

00:04:58.490 --> 00:05:00.526
Of course I didn't plan it that way, but it was okay.

00:05:01.288 --> 00:05:09.846
And the first, the first year, you know, it was all dealing with all the COVID stuff.

00:05:09.846 --> 00:05:21.339
And then all of a sudden, you know, then the next year I'm going and watching games and I was there for two or three innings because it was just frustrating.

00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:24.788
And so you start to think to yourself I wonder if I could get into it again.

00:05:24.788 --> 00:05:29.805
And all of a sudden the old coach at Capital had resigned right in the middle of the season.

00:05:29.805 --> 00:05:41.471
And then Tom Marker who I blame a little on Tangy Orange, the guy that graduated from Capital, so he's an alum and he called me and said would you like to take the team for the rest of the year?

00:05:41.471 --> 00:05:43.226
I've already reached him up to the AD.

00:05:43.226 --> 00:05:48.946
So I worked with the people at Waterston and they thought it was good to do.

00:05:48.946 --> 00:05:52.048
And now I'm going into year four.

00:05:53.483 --> 00:05:59.788
What would be your message to high school players who want to play college baseball, since you've been on both ends of the spectrum now?

00:06:01.442 --> 00:06:07.225
Well, especially at the Division III spectrum, and I used to tell my guys this when I was at watterson and hamilton, wherever I was at.

00:06:07.225 --> 00:06:11.242
You know it's all about academics and your gpa, right wrong or whatever.

00:06:11.242 --> 00:06:20.271
You have to get academically set so you can go ahead and use that to get money off the tuition to go to division three university.

00:06:20.271 --> 00:06:28.769
So anybody that people that's going to look at you, your grades are going to be important, but in the Division III level grades equals money.

00:06:28.769 --> 00:06:42.026
So you know, I think the first thing I always talk about is if you have interest in playing at the next level, you better be ready, active and work Then after that that's your work ethic.

00:06:43.841 --> 00:06:46.851
And don't tell me you want to play if you don't want to work at it.

00:06:46.851 --> 00:06:52.367
There's so many guys now that want to play baseball but they don't know what work ethic is.

00:06:52.367 --> 00:06:54.605
They get to college and they play.

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For a guy like myself who's asking them to come in and do the things I'm asking them to do to get better shape physically, mentally, and it's a lot of time and they're not ready to do it.

00:07:06.132 --> 00:07:16.211
So you have to be academically set and you have to really make sure that you're working hard on your game weight room and all those kind of things.

00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:25.487
What would you recommend for a high school coach who's maybe considering making that jump to becoming a college coach?

00:07:27.380 --> 00:07:28.244
Think long and hard.

00:07:28.244 --> 00:07:32.869
Think long and hard, I mean it's a whole different thing.

00:07:32.869 --> 00:07:33.822
I always ask myself.

00:07:33.822 --> 00:07:39.973
I remember years ago asking George Powell at Otterbein what he made to do what he did.

00:07:39.973 --> 00:07:45.812
And he told me all the different things that he did to make extra money and all that kind of stuff.

00:07:45.812 --> 00:07:52.406
And I went home and talked to my wife about it and she said, no way, we can't afford to live on that.

00:07:52.406 --> 00:07:57.168
And I was on a Catholic school salary, so it wasn't like we were making a lot in the first place.

00:07:57.168 --> 00:08:06.209
So it became really out of my mind and then this whole thing is different.

00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:06.449
Now.

00:08:06.449 --> 00:08:12.930
I don't want to say they're overpaying me, but it's really going to be a good wage for what I have to do.

00:08:14.281 --> 00:08:22.386
Would you say that with Division III coaching, division III baseball, what is the time commitment?

00:08:22.386 --> 00:08:25.353
I guess comparing offseason to inseason.

00:08:29.721 --> 00:08:31.065
That's a great question.

00:08:31.065 --> 00:08:34.447
During the offseason again, we're talking about the 90 days of darkness.

00:08:34.447 --> 00:08:38.268
I have nothing to do in the summer when it comes to my players.

00:08:38.268 --> 00:08:38.769
They're gone.

00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:47.951
In reality I don't get to the Manahan tailgate of the house as much as I used to, because fall is busy.

00:08:47.951 --> 00:08:50.806
We're fundraising.

00:08:50.806 --> 00:08:54.091
We're going to go to Vero Beach again this year, jackie Robinson.

00:08:54.091 --> 00:08:59.846
So we're going to Cedar Point raising money at Cedar Point and I'm staying at a dorm real much.

00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:03.169
My guys go to work for three days and that takes away time.

00:09:03.169 --> 00:09:07.672
But September and October is really busy, really busy.

00:09:07.672 --> 00:09:15.009
And then November, december and most of January we're not allowed to do anything with the guys.

00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:22.514
And then, boy, when it starts in January, you know, february, march, april, everything's crazy.

00:09:22.514 --> 00:09:30.826
So it's as you know, in the summertime you're recruiting and you're doing the other things that you're doing, but that's really pretty much a weekend thing.

00:09:30.826 --> 00:09:40.369
But with high school I spent a lot more time Just because of all the six-man hitting stuff.

00:09:40.369 --> 00:09:44.150
You know the great thing that Urban Meyer built the illness batting cage.

00:09:44.150 --> 00:09:45.410
All of a sudden, that batting cage.

00:09:45.410 --> 00:09:46.541
All of a sudden that batting cage was there.

00:09:46.541 --> 00:09:49.208
Everybody wanted to use it.

00:09:49.208 --> 00:09:50.441
Now, guess what?

00:09:50.441 --> 00:09:53.927
I didn't have it in me to just give a code to anybody If we were going to do it.

00:09:53.927 --> 00:09:56.927
Somebody was going to be there for liability reasons.

00:09:56.927 --> 00:09:58.643
I was usually.

00:10:00.942 --> 00:10:01.908
It was a lot of time.

00:10:02.461 --> 00:10:04.729
I had less time to call than I did in high school.

00:10:06.181 --> 00:10:09.410
How has the transfer portal affected you as a D3 coach?

00:10:12.962 --> 00:10:17.865
Well, we lost a kid that went up to Division II last year, a kid from New Jersey.

00:10:17.865 --> 00:10:24.509
It's in Philadelphia is where he's going, so he made a jump up to Division II so we lost him.

00:10:24.509 --> 00:10:29.289
I haven't really done a whole lot of bringing guys in.

00:10:29.289 --> 00:10:33.511
I'm a real big believer of the high school guys coming in and graduating.

00:10:33.511 --> 00:10:41.167
We've had them for four years so I won't say I won't get involved with the transfer portal, but I really haven't too much right now.

00:10:41.167 --> 00:10:48.818
We've lost a couple guys over the last couple years now and it's a good move for them, so good for them.

00:10:48.818 --> 00:10:51.859
Not a problem with bringing in guys and helping them move up levels.

00:10:53.086 --> 00:10:55.105
You know you talked about the players, not really.

00:10:55.105 --> 00:10:58.666
Some of them haven't figured out the whole work ethic part.

00:10:58.666 --> 00:11:05.568
What would you tell their parents to kind of get them to kind of start talking that up with their son?

00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:07.741
I'm going to knock on.

00:11:07.741 --> 00:11:13.976
You can hear my knocking on wood.

00:11:13.976 --> 00:11:15.350
Okay, I'm going to knock on wood.

00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:17.551
I don't deal with parents.

00:11:17.551 --> 00:11:20.650
I'm not calling their parents.

00:11:20.650 --> 00:11:22.730
I'm not going to motivate their parents.

00:11:22.730 --> 00:11:26.212
To motivate them, I'm not calling them about the kids' grades.

00:11:26.212 --> 00:11:35.889
You know, in this world we live in, these young men, they want to be young men, but sometimes they want to be high school students and I'm not.

00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:36.778
You can't be both.

00:11:36.778 --> 00:11:44.027
You're in college now, so you're 19 years old, and if you have situations that we need to deal with, my door is always open.

00:11:44.027 --> 00:11:50.690
My assistant coach's door is always open, and I talk to the kids, not to the parents.

00:11:54.086 --> 00:11:54.951
Makes total sense.

00:11:54.951 --> 00:12:07.061
My wife's in the hiring business and she hears stories of parents trying to take part in interviews once they graduate college.

00:12:07.061 --> 00:12:10.850
It's a different world.

00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:12.034
It seems like I can see it.

00:12:12.965 --> 00:12:15.894
Yeah, it really is, and we have to deal with it.

00:12:15.894 --> 00:12:23.871
Division III baseball if you're here to play Division III baseball at Capital, it's real simple.

00:12:23.871 --> 00:12:24.587
It's number one.

00:12:24.587 --> 00:12:25.572
It's faith and family.

00:12:25.572 --> 00:12:31.894
Whatever everybody's faith is, that's fine, but family's got to be very important to all these kids, and I want to preach that.

00:12:31.894 --> 00:12:41.275
Number two is academics, because that's why you're here, and if you're here just to play baseball and your academics fails, you're not going to be here long.

00:12:41.275 --> 00:12:47.335
And then baseball is number three, because who's going to go out and play at the next level?

00:12:47.335 --> 00:12:49.331
We don't know, but not most of them.

00:12:49.331 --> 00:12:52.668
Yeah, so we really.

00:12:52.668 --> 00:12:57.331
I just really put the, I put it on the kids and I'm saying, calling them kids.

00:12:57.331 --> 00:13:02.110
I'm 61 years old, but they're not kids, they're young men, so you can't be both though.

00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:05.633
You can't be a high school kid, you can't be treated like a college guy.

00:13:05.633 --> 00:13:08.437
So we put it on them to take care of all that.

00:13:09.505 --> 00:13:22.296
What are some of the biggest challenges that incoming freshmen struggle with outside of the work, ethic and things that Time management is the number one thing that incoming freshmen deal with.

00:13:23.067 --> 00:13:32.048
They're away from mom and dad now, which 50% of their mom and dad have been on them for 18 years of their life over top of them.

00:13:32.048 --> 00:13:39.696
You know, making sure everything's getting done so they don't have the ability to be on their own and then how to manage their time.

00:13:39.696 --> 00:13:45.437
So most of the guys don't have a problem on the baseball field.

00:13:45.437 --> 00:13:47.870
Their time management is not bad.

00:13:47.870 --> 00:13:55.955
You know, when we have all this free time, they got to come over and work on their own and you'll get a couple of guys that aren't interested in doing that.

00:13:55.955 --> 00:13:59.272
That's why you have a big roster.

00:13:59.272 --> 00:14:06.596
If you don't want to do it, you don't want to put the time in, it'll show and then we make decisions off of that.

00:14:07.527 --> 00:14:13.504
So baseball the guys are really cool to get it, getting over here and getting their work in and they're in practice and they work hard and everything.

00:14:13.504 --> 00:14:20.479
But in that time in between you got to start playing video games and then get lost.

00:14:20.479 --> 00:14:27.077
All of a sudden it's 9, 20 o'clock at night and then you try to get ready for class the next day and it's tough.

00:14:27.077 --> 00:14:31.144
So we sit down with our freshmen right away and we get them a planner.

00:14:31.144 --> 00:14:37.975
I have an old OHSAA to-do list right on my desk that I use.

00:14:37.975 --> 00:14:48.751
We give all these guys a copy of this, make copies for them and use it, check it off and do all the things that you need to do.

00:14:48.751 --> 00:14:50.890
Some do a good job of it.

00:14:52.110 --> 00:14:52.852
And get wins.

00:14:52.852 --> 00:14:56.154
Is it harder than it looks?

00:14:57.548 --> 00:14:59.731
I can go down the list, I don't want to forget anybody.

00:14:59.731 --> 00:15:05.296
But Ryan Harrison at Baltimore can care less about my high school career.

00:15:05.296 --> 00:15:13.514
George Powell, everybody in our league they can care less about what I did as a high school coach.

00:15:13.514 --> 00:15:18.961
And what I'm saying is, when I came here I thought I was going to be able to turn things around right away.

00:15:18.961 --> 00:15:22.950
Those guys don't care, they're going to beat you, they're going to play the game.

00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:23.852
The way that they play.

00:15:23.852 --> 00:15:25.870
It's a great league.

00:15:25.870 --> 00:15:29.009
I've never seen anything like it.

00:15:29.129 --> 00:15:34.749
Of course the Catholic League was such a small little group that I co-founded for Waterston, but that was a great league.

00:15:34.749 --> 00:15:36.091
There just wasn't that many teams.

00:15:36.091 --> 00:15:45.929
But you look up and down the OAC, you know it is year in and year out, one of the best leagues and we've been kind of hanging on up there in the bottom trying to work those things up.

00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:48.427
And you know, last year we got our first big win.

00:15:48.427 --> 00:15:53.072
We went and we were able to beat Paul and Wallace who were number two in the country.

00:15:53.072 --> 00:15:56.716
So then the second game we played, we lost 4-1.

00:15:56.716 --> 00:15:59.600
So you can see a little bit of confidence building in our guys.

00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:05.691
And then we finished with a win against Canyon and a real tough doubleheader against Marietta that we lost both of them.

00:16:05.691 --> 00:16:09.235
But you just can see that we're getting a little bit better.

00:16:09.235 --> 00:16:12.548
So the kids came back with a little bit more confidence.

00:16:12.548 --> 00:16:15.674
This year we got a real good freshman class that we're excited about.

00:16:15.674 --> 00:16:18.078
So now, hopefully, we take another step.

00:16:18.078 --> 00:16:26.345
We won 10 games and the kids' goals are to win 20.

00:16:26.345 --> 00:16:29.365
So every time we start slacking in the weight room or anything, I will see guys over here getting our score.

00:16:30.808 --> 00:16:33.096
All I just said on group is number 2-0.

00:16:33.096 --> 00:16:36.552
You guys said you want to win 20 games.

00:16:36.552 --> 00:16:38.370
It's not going to be easy.

00:16:38.370 --> 00:16:40.052
Our schedule has changed.

00:16:40.052 --> 00:16:41.426
You know.

00:16:41.426 --> 00:16:45.932
We tried to play some teams early just to get wins and we weren't getting those wins.

00:16:45.932 --> 00:16:48.190
So it's like it's time to get better.

00:16:48.190 --> 00:16:53.615
And then let's go ahead and let's take our chances and play hard and see how we end up this year.

00:16:53.615 --> 00:16:56.485
So it's frustrating, but at the other time go ahead and let's take our chances and play hard and see how we end up this year.

00:16:57.445 --> 00:17:02.510
It's frustrating, but at the other time the pressure that I felt like I had all the time on Waterston was probably self-induced.

00:17:02.510 --> 00:17:06.233
If we didn't win the state of Waterston, it was a bad year.

00:17:06.233 --> 00:17:14.074
Now I'm just trying to take this group to another level and I've never been involved in anything like it.

00:17:14.074 --> 00:17:16.276
I have no ego.

00:17:16.276 --> 00:17:16.637
I have no ego.

00:17:16.637 --> 00:17:20.351
I have no ego, I have no.

00:17:20.351 --> 00:17:21.394
It's all gone.

00:17:21.394 --> 00:17:34.455
I'm starting over again and I've probably lost more games in the four years of capital than it took me 15 years of water, and that's tough, but get over yourself.

00:17:34.455 --> 00:17:34.915
But get over yourself.

00:17:34.915 --> 00:17:35.998
You get over yourself.

00:17:35.998 --> 00:17:38.621
It's not about me, it's about these guys.

00:17:38.621 --> 00:17:40.148
You know we're doing things in our field.

00:17:40.148 --> 00:17:44.750
Now that we're improving some things, I think we're doing some things the right way.

00:17:44.750 --> 00:17:46.476
So I didn't retire and get out of here.

00:17:46.476 --> 00:17:49.575
I can look back at it and say it's better than it was when I first started.

00:17:50.486 --> 00:17:53.474
Yes, and there's no doubt that that's going to be the case.

00:17:53.474 --> 00:17:57.994
That, yes, and there's no doubt that that's going to be the case, that's for sure you know.

00:17:57.994 --> 00:18:09.333
You mentioned earlier about summertime and, when it comes to recruiting, what do you think travel ball is getting right and where does it need to improve?

00:18:11.028 --> 00:18:13.268
That's a travel ball question, you know.

00:18:13.268 --> 00:18:34.913
I just go back to the day when it was the Worthington, it was 239 American League and you had the best players from Thomas, roentgen, watterson at the time and Kilbourne, you know, but it was like that all-star team of four or five guys that came together and they were pretty good and then everybody else played summer baseball.

00:18:34.913 --> 00:18:36.792
Remember we'd have summer baseball leagues.

00:18:36.792 --> 00:18:40.353
I had three teams in Waterston at one time in the summertime.

00:18:41.576 --> 00:18:42.217
And that wasn't good.

00:18:43.448 --> 00:18:51.452
So then the parents started to get away and that food started to fall down a little bit because of their own issues, and then it became travel ball.

00:18:51.452 --> 00:18:58.798
And then at the end of my Waterston career, the parents were asking me if we could get summer teams together because travel ball was going to be too much.

00:18:58.798 --> 00:19:03.375
And I just laughed at them and said no, I'm not doing that again.

00:19:03.375 --> 00:19:09.415
That was a lot of work to do that and these kids wouldn't commit if somebody picked them up to go somewhere.

00:19:09.415 --> 00:19:12.875
Then all of a sudden they were not coming to play for us at Waterston.

00:19:12.875 --> 00:19:23.195
So where's it at now, man, being in Columbus, I don't have to travel the state of Ohio because everybody somewhere comes into Columbus for one of these tournaments.

00:19:23.195 --> 00:19:32.596
So for me I'm not going to complain much about travel ball because it gives it an easy way for us to see these guys.

00:19:32.596 --> 00:19:36.073
I remember George Powell back in the day.

00:19:36.073 --> 00:19:38.493
He would be at everybody's summer games.

00:19:38.493 --> 00:19:40.413
I'd never seen a guy run along so much.

00:19:40.413 --> 00:19:43.914
He would show up and do all these different things.

00:19:43.914 --> 00:19:51.955
Now I can just go to one spot, my assistant can be in another spot, my other assistant can be in another spot and we're recruiting.

00:19:51.955 --> 00:19:53.070
So back to the travel ball question.

00:19:53.090 --> 00:19:58.190
The only thing that bothers me, the travel ball question, the only thing about travel ball anymore, is the overuse of the pitchers.

00:19:58.190 --> 00:20:03.211
We've got so many kids that come to us as incoming freshmen.

00:20:03.211 --> 00:20:11.452
We had one kid last year, 50 innings in the summer, 50 innings in the summer after pitching in the spring.

00:20:11.452 --> 00:20:16.068
So guess what His arms hurt.

00:20:16.068 --> 00:20:19.671
He's seeing our athletic player before we just got to school.

00:20:19.671 --> 00:20:23.172
So whose fault is that?

00:20:23.172 --> 00:20:28.836
It's the summer coach's fault, it's the parent, it's the kid.

00:20:28.836 --> 00:20:34.630
Somebody just say, no, this is too much.

00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:45.635
So you know, you get the position guys, they're getting swings, they're getting reps, they're getting as many ground balls as they can get in a game.

00:20:45.635 --> 00:21:09.424
But I guess the only other issue that I have with travel ball is the fact that these guys show, don't practice, show up on Thursday, you know, play Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, go home on Monday, tuesday, wednesday, do nothing, no-transcript.

00:21:09.424 --> 00:21:15.884
But the pitching thing is really my biggest concern.

00:21:16.830 --> 00:21:24.340
When you consider bringing a player to Capital, how important is your conversation?

00:21:24.340 --> 00:21:27.403
Is it more with the travel coach or more with the high school?

00:21:28.107 --> 00:21:38.102
Right, okay, yeah, I try to do both, especially if I know the high school guy, which I do know most of them I'm still being involved with HSBCA and all that kind of stuff.

00:21:38.102 --> 00:21:42.141
I do reach out a lot when we get guys.

00:21:42.141 --> 00:21:47.041
Probably half of our roster in North Carolina is from out of the state.

00:21:47.041 --> 00:21:58.382
We have kids in our roster from the Dominican Republic, from Puerto Rico, from Florida, louisiana, california, all over the place.

00:21:58.382 --> 00:22:01.217
So those guys are even those guys.

00:22:01.237 --> 00:22:06.361
Just to even recruit them now is usually through Twitter or some kind of videos that they'll send me.

00:22:06.361 --> 00:22:13.538
But then I'll reach out most of the time or my assistant coach will reach out to the high school coach or the travel coach.

00:22:13.538 --> 00:22:18.461
If it's a real good travel coach and I don't have a high school bag, I may call the travel coach.

00:22:18.461 --> 00:22:27.238
I usually if a guy's got a 3.5 and this or that thing, he's usually probably not a problem in high school, so that helps me a little bit.

00:22:27.238 --> 00:22:36.355
If I have somebody on the 3.0 that we like, I'll call the coach just to make sure it's not because of a lack of effort or anything like that.

00:22:36.355 --> 00:22:39.419
3.0 may be the best thing to do, so good for him.

00:22:39.419 --> 00:22:41.973
I try to reach out.

00:22:41.973 --> 00:22:44.701
Yep, I try.

00:22:47.471 --> 00:22:48.877
Do you hate losing or love winning?

00:22:51.251 --> 00:22:54.282
I really hate to lose, but I love to win.

00:22:54.282 --> 00:22:56.469
But I love to win, I love winning.

00:22:56.469 --> 00:23:04.580
You know, at Watterson we used to spell fun W-I-N, and that was just where we were at.

00:23:04.580 --> 00:23:12.079
When we win it's damn fun, when we lose it isn't, and you all feel that way and I feel that way.

00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.317
So why don't we do everything we can every game to have fun and win?

00:23:16.317 --> 00:23:20.976
So I love winning more than I hate losing, but I hate both.

00:23:20.976 --> 00:23:21.998
I hate losing.

00:23:21.998 --> 00:23:23.721
That was fun.

00:23:25.372 --> 00:23:39.356
I almost felt like you know, when you won, you kind of were you expected it, wanted it, and then all of a sudden you're moving on to the next one and then when you lose, it just seems like it sticks with you.

00:23:39.778 --> 00:23:42.469
Well, without a doubt, You're right, you've been around it long enough to know that.

00:23:43.592 --> 00:23:49.776
and that's really the issue is just trying to get past that loss and move on to the next one.

00:23:49.776 --> 00:23:55.342
But I did not enjoy all the wins that we had at Waterston.

00:23:55.342 --> 00:24:01.117
If I knew better now, I would have enjoyed them a little bit better, because I can't tell you much about wins.

00:24:01.117 --> 00:24:03.317
I can tell you a lot about losses.

00:24:03.317 --> 00:24:04.854
I remember a lot of them.

00:24:04.854 --> 00:24:08.276
I remember a lot of them Now at Capital.

00:24:08.276 --> 00:24:10.040
I can tell you about the wins.

00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:13.636
We haven't had them as many as two.

00:24:13.636 --> 00:24:15.016
I mean you really appreciate it.

00:24:15.016 --> 00:24:20.586
I mean, when we got done at Baltimore last year, I really felt, finally we had this made it.

00:24:20.586 --> 00:24:21.369
It was a good feeling.

00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:28.718
You know we were finally able to do something and taking it step by step, you just have to be really patient.

00:24:30.089 --> 00:24:38.817
If you could convince three Central Ohio head coaches, past or present, to join your staff at Capitol, who would you pick?

00:24:38.938 --> 00:24:39.660
Do I want to win?

00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:42.576
Do I want to win and have a lot of fun?

00:24:44.060 --> 00:24:44.260
That.

00:24:44.260 --> 00:24:46.295
Those were the two things win and have fun.

00:24:46.295 --> 00:24:47.257
That's what I was going to say.

00:24:48.942 --> 00:24:57.382
You know I don't want to offend anybody, but you know you got guys in high school and I saw these guys last night.

00:24:57.382 --> 00:25:04.271
Okay, I'm going to get real serious and we're not going to have as much fun, but we're going to be.

00:25:04.271 --> 00:25:07.696
Because these guys aren't fun, it's just because I'll focus on them.

00:25:07.696 --> 00:25:13.742
I'll take I can't believe I'm one because I Tom Markert.

00:25:13.742 --> 00:25:30.336
You know, in Tangier Horns, central District Hall of Famer last night, ryan Alexander, craig Kyle those guys would be so into it and so serious I could just sit back and watch.

00:25:30.336 --> 00:25:33.253
Practice would be done All these young guys and it would be done.

00:25:33.253 --> 00:25:37.476
Stats analytics all these young guys and it would be intense.

00:25:37.476 --> 00:25:39.853
Now can we have fun?

00:25:39.853 --> 00:25:55.580
Okay, I'm going to have Ray Benjamin, tom Newbert and for somebody to pick on all the time, tim Saunders.

00:25:56.931 --> 00:25:59.460
I thought Tim would jump in there at some point, that's for sure.

00:26:01.571 --> 00:26:04.875
No, there's so many good coaches, man, and young coaches too.

00:26:04.875 --> 00:26:10.056
Well, I said the other group, but you know Dave, mike Rance from Delaware and Michael.

00:26:10.056 --> 00:26:12.422
Slandon and Chris Fugate.

00:26:12.422 --> 00:26:18.000
There's so many great coaches in Central Ohio so I could pick and choose from a lot of different dudes.

00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:30.127
But you asked me I don't know how much I'd ever be home if I had Ray and Tom and Timmy on my side.

00:26:30.127 --> 00:26:34.884
It probably wouldn't be good for my 37 years of marriage, but we'd have fun.

00:26:35.266 --> 00:26:42.579
Yeah, I had the pleasure of being around Tim and Joe Carbone and watching those two play off of each other.

00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:43.788
That was.

00:26:45.015 --> 00:26:45.897
I still have drinks.

00:26:45.897 --> 00:26:49.057
I have drinks with Tim and Joe and Brian.

00:26:49.057 --> 00:26:54.394
Thomas and Brian's over helping Tom Newberg out with the scales Between Timmy and Joe.

00:26:54.394 --> 00:26:55.778
We're working on each other.

00:26:55.778 --> 00:26:56.392
I'm just like.

00:26:56.392 --> 00:26:59.316
These two are a piece of work and I enjoy everything on the road.

00:27:00.290 --> 00:27:12.957
To me, one of the most memorable things was we were riding a bus at the end of the season and Tim looked back at Joe on the bus and said we're having the banquet tomorrow.

00:27:12.957 --> 00:27:16.540
We're just going to do a cookout and I need you to be there.

00:27:16.540 --> 00:27:24.440
And Joe looked at him and said well, it's actually my 75th birthday and I was kind of going to do something with my family.

00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:26.936
And he's like ah, you've had 74 of them.

00:27:26.936 --> 00:27:30.634
He goes you're good, you know, save a little money and come have a hot dog.

00:27:30.634 --> 00:27:31.717
Yeah.

00:27:33.361 --> 00:27:36.173
Oh yeah, I can't imagine.

00:27:36.173 --> 00:27:39.801
You just didn't have Snickers and Pepsi for the banquet.

00:27:39.801 --> 00:27:45.998
I did watch that little guy eat three meatballs last night next to me at the Central District Hall of Fame banquet.

00:27:45.998 --> 00:27:46.731
I told Timmy.

00:27:46.731 --> 00:27:48.499
I said, man, you're really starting to get crazy.

00:27:50.431 --> 00:27:56.595
That's the thing that I don't think parents realize is how much coaches enjoy being around each other.

00:27:57.577 --> 00:28:01.636
Yeah, I'll tell you what Baseball coaches are really good.

00:28:01.636 --> 00:28:03.374
I was always the remember.

00:28:03.374 --> 00:28:15.717
For the longest time I was the young guy and I would just I would go to the clinics and I would just hover around these dudes, man, and everybody that they would share and the things that we would discuss, and you know the fun we had.

00:28:15.717 --> 00:28:18.018
It was unbelievable.

00:28:18.018 --> 00:28:32.750
So I'll have a hard time missing the clinic because I've learned so much from so many great coaches, on stage, at the bar and then in the rooms, you know, sitting here and talking baseball.

00:28:33.912 --> 00:28:45.096
One of the greatest pictures I'll have is sitting in the lounge in the state clinic with Donnie Thorpe from Lakewood and Rich from Florida West Mr Christian, I don't know his name.

00:28:45.096 --> 00:28:55.541
He was A-Rod's coach, two of the most winning coaches in the country, and I'm just sitting there with my notepad and somebody took a picture of us.

00:28:55.541 --> 00:29:02.236
I'm a 42-year-old coach and I'm still, you know, I'm still learning from these guys and we're having a drink.

00:29:02.236 --> 00:29:03.775
We're having so much fun.

00:29:03.775 --> 00:29:08.901
Yeah, I've never been in a lot of other clinics, but baseball coaches are the best.

00:29:10.032 --> 00:29:17.811
Well, I know you've got things you've got to do and I want to finish up with one last one and I'm going to take a real chance here.

00:29:17.811 --> 00:29:28.541
You know I don't really say a whole lot about myself as far as the podcast goes, but here's my chance I'm going to take.

00:29:28.541 --> 00:29:33.546
Go ahead and share your best or funniest story about me.

00:29:33.645 --> 00:29:42.441
Usually I'm asking it the other way but something that you shook your head about I still don't.

00:29:42.441 --> 00:29:49.549
I still have no idea why in the hell you did it.

00:29:49.549 --> 00:29:53.963
So we have our fall meeting for scheduling of planks.

00:29:53.963 --> 00:29:54.566
Everybody's eating pizza.

00:29:54.566 --> 00:29:55.430
Everybody's eating pizza.

00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:56.508
Everybody's eating stuff.

00:30:00.714 --> 00:30:01.296
And what did you order?

00:30:01.336 --> 00:30:10.227
Chicken and noodles, chicken dumplings, yeah, or something yeah, and I'm looking at you like when the hell is he eating chicken, dumplings or whatever at that plank?

00:30:10.227 --> 00:30:11.375
Well then, what?

00:30:11.375 --> 00:30:35.219
A week later you're like ready to die and I'm talking to you and you're like, oh, you know, I'm in really bad shape and I'm like, well, you dumbass, you were eating chicken and dumplings at Planks and when you made it and you were okay, then it was really easy to give your shit about that one.

00:30:35.219 --> 00:30:39.179
So that's really my best one.

00:30:39.179 --> 00:30:41.836
Can I tell my second favorite one?

00:30:41.836 --> 00:30:44.843
Sure, why not, let's go.

00:30:46.112 --> 00:31:04.630
So we're going to play a district tournament at Dublin-Coffman and you remember it well, and we won't even use any names of the umpires that did that, but they happened to be from your county and I was really excited because I think I knew who the umpires were and you didn't.

00:31:04.630 --> 00:31:07.317
Yet I think Tim told me or something.

00:31:07.317 --> 00:31:19.080
So we're standing and talking or doing whatever, and here come these two umpires around and I'll never forget the look in your eye like, oh my God, we are screwed.

00:31:19.080 --> 00:31:21.384
And you were.

00:31:21.384 --> 00:31:38.477
Every call went my way and I think TC's in the dugout with me and I'm like, I know this is the district final, but I kind of feel bad for Ken, but I think you brought it all upon yourself.

00:31:38.477 --> 00:31:50.740
Yeah, you brought it upon yourself in earlier games, but I'll just never forget those two umpires showing up and the look in your eye was just like my God, we're already playing Water Center and now we got these two guys.

00:31:51.625 --> 00:31:54.557
Yeah, it was a huge challenge to begin with.

00:31:55.670 --> 00:32:00.422
And every other game had Central District umpires.

00:32:00.422 --> 00:32:01.574
You know Franklin County.

00:32:01.574 --> 00:32:09.823
In our game we had umpires from your group of guys that umpired and it was amazing.

00:32:10.150 --> 00:32:15.859
I'd be willing to bet that the assigner at that time probably had a little something to do with that too.

00:32:18.824 --> 00:32:19.305
Who knows.

00:32:19.305 --> 00:32:22.914
But, man, I was like the look in your eye was just unbelievable.

00:32:22.914 --> 00:32:38.915
And then the last thing is the fact that your beloved wife would like talk to me for like two years because we beat you guys and then I had to show up to her somewhere and let her know that I was that bad of a guy, so I think she likes me now.

00:32:41.255 --> 00:32:42.460
Well, scott, I can't thank you enough.

00:32:42.460 --> 00:33:03.243
You've been such a great friend over the years and you never took any mercy on me, just like you say the coaches now at the D3 level are and I wouldn't have had it any other way because I, you know, the memories is what I'll always, you know look back on and wish it could have went some different ways.

00:33:03.243 --> 00:33:06.386
But hey, that's life and you know I.

00:33:10.638 --> 00:33:12.588
I can't wish you nothing but the best at Capitol.

00:33:12.588 --> 00:33:13.371
I appreciate it, man.

00:33:13.371 --> 00:33:13.431
We.

00:33:13.431 --> 00:33:14.933
Those are good days and I do miss the high school days.

00:33:14.933 --> 00:33:17.159
But you find out who your friends still are.

00:33:17.159 --> 00:33:39.277
You know, and a lot of those guys are all my former high school coaches that we played against and you know there's, like I said, there's so many good coaches around here and what they're doing with their programs are deeply and above levels, you know, with the things they have and the facilities they have and the time that you guys, that high school guys, have, man, I'll tell you what they're intense.

00:33:39.277 --> 00:33:41.637
So I'm still learning.

00:33:41.637 --> 00:33:44.155
I'm still learning and hopefully I can teach my kids.

00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:46.442
All right, Well, thanks again.

00:33:46.442 --> 00:33:51.661
It's Scott Manahan, head baseball coach at Capital University here in Columbus, Ohio.

00:33:51.661 --> 00:33:53.023
Scott, thanks again.

00:33:53.023 --> 00:33:53.304
Take care.

00:33:53.324 --> 00:33:54.928
Thanks, Ohio Scott thanks again, Take care.

00:33:54.928 --> 00:33:55.388
Thanks Ken.

00:33:56.010 --> 00:34:01.496
Today's podcast was powered by the Netting Professionals, improving Programs one facility at a time.

00:34:01.496 --> 00:34:10.822
Contact them today at 844-620-2707, or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom.

00:34:10.822 --> 00:34:14.679
As always, I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter.

00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:17.679
Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.