After spending the last few months in my new position at Hillsdale College, I'm long overdue in sharing some of this wonderful experience. I may repeat things I've written before, but most coaches (and parents and teachers) are good at repeating things, again and again.
I have to say that I absolutely love going to work every day. I have always tried to have that attitude and it has always been the truth, but with my own kid as my boss, working on a beautiful college campus with so many fantastic people, enjoying work is an easy thing to do. Every day truly is Saturday!
After I passed the NCAA Recruiting test in June, I began hitting the recruiting trail for the first time since the summer of 2003 at Siena Heights. While at Adrian College for the past nine years, I benefited from the recruiting of the full-time coaches and was blessed to work with the outstanding players who they brought to campus.
For the first 6-7 weeks of recruiting this summer, I have to admit that I often experienced information overload. There were so many tournaments, games and showcases to see. At each of those there were seemingly endless lists of players, along with their school info, academic achievements, positions, graduation years, and so much more data for me to try to consume. Other coaches, including my friends, Eric, guys I have coached with, and even people in the stands, knew so much more about all of these potential college athletes than I did. It seemed to take forever for me to get it all compartmentalized in my mind.
Some of that information started to sort itself out, and eventually I felt like I at least had a general grasp of the recruiting landscape. The recruiting process and the way it is done is much different than it was when I recruited in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s. What has not changed though, is that it takes legitimate effort to do a good job of recruiting, to seek out prospective student-athletes who may be a good fit for our program and our institution. Successful recruiting still requires leg work, so to speak, and travelling, some late nights and many weekends on the road. It is still necessary to actually see guys play the game on the field, to interact with teenagers and their families, to be genuine and honest.
Recruiting doesn't end when the fall semester begins, and we have had two successful recruiting events on our campus in the past few weeks. We couldn't have had those without the selflessness of our current players, though. These guys have been tremendous every single time I have interacted with them. We have now finished a week of practice and they seem excited to play and make sacrifices for their teammates and for the program.
The foundation for success had been built by our current players and the other two coaches before I arrived. I am happy to be a part of strengthening that foundation and for the opportunity to be included in the achievements of the current Chargers and future Hillsdale College baseball players who we have seen in our travels.
If you believe, you can achieve!
