In the beginning of summer 2019, my wife and I took a huge leap of faith and sold our home, in hopes I would get a full time coaching position. We made this decision because I knew the market was strong, but also because I was that confident I was going to secure a job. The past year had been a real grind bouncing back forth with the New York Yankees and coaching at  Saint Petersburg College. In saying that, I learned so much that I was extremely ready to step into a full-time role. In summer 2019, I was coaching in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and we were having a great season. As the season started coming to end, I was getting very anxious because I had not secured a job yet. I was applying to jobs like crazy but only got one interview. In that interview, I knew from the very beginning that I was not the right candidate for the job. We finished the summer season winning our division and losing in game 3 of the championship series. It was a painful blow that I was going back to Florida with no where to live and making little to no money. I was trying to take things in strides after the season was over, we were visiting with my wife’s family in Pennsylvania. My wife also knew that I was ready to take on a challenge, and she was trying to pick up my spirits. It was then when I saw a tweet from a coach that I had made connection with the year prior, Tyler Gillum. He mentioned that his buddy was looking for a full-time hitting coach at the division III level. I decided to reach out and he told me that he thought I was perfect for the job and would put me in a group text with the head coach. It was then I realized, I had already met the head coach, Clint Helton. Clint called me soon after and after a hour long phone call he asked if I could come the next day. I had just made a 8 hour drive to see my wife and now I was about to drive another 10 with her to a part of the country I had never been to- Maryville, Tennessee. My wife and I packed up, and we took off bright and early the next morning. 

When we arrived in town our thoughts were, “A little bit of a change from Florida, huh?” We met with Clint and our other assistant, Drew Henry. They took us around the campus and it already felt like home. It had the same feeling that I had been missing since the day I left Catawba College. After the tour, we went to Full Service BBQ to eat and talk. This is where I got excited, because they were talking in tense that I already had the job. We then left to go back to Clint’s house after, as he was nice enough to let us stay there for the two nights. Taylor and I felt as if this might be a done deal and we couldn’t hide our excitement. The next day Clint was hosting an entire staff pig roast at his house and that’s when I knew this was home. We met all the great people of Maryville College and had a night we’ll never forget. We went home the next day waiting for the call that we would be officially heading to Maryville, Tennessee. 

I got the call and flew up to Maryville soon after. This was going to be my first time at the Division III level and I had some learning to do at first. It was a shock to me to learn that we only had 16 days with the team in the fall to practice. This was going to be interesting for me on many levels. I had never had that much time with no practice since I was in t-ball (funny to think with the position that we’re in). It was also going to be new for my players, because I know it takes more than 16 practices to understand who I am. Within these 16 days I tried to instill how we were going to handle our offensive approach and I believe I did a good job of that. In doing a good job of that, I still left a mystery of who I was as a person. This was very evident when a player came up to me after practice one day and said, “love you coach!” I didn’t say it back and he was shocked. He brought up all the great points about how were supposed to be a family that loves each other through everything. This is all true, but the point that I brought up was that we hadn’t been through anything yet. I was going to make that long lasting connection…but I wanted the first time to say “I love you” to mean something. Soon after was the first time I saw how strong the Maryville College connection is. It was homecoming and we had our alumni game with a strong turnout. I met alumni who were excited in the direction our program was heading but most of all it was the first time I could relax and get to know our guys. It was that night I knew we had something special going into the season. 

January hit and it was the time that we started to become family. Once I saw we understood the offensive program, I started coming out of my shell. I knew they would respect what I had to say while keeping the atmosphere loose. That’s what I loved most about this team, I could go from talking about posture during stride to yelling, “Gator needs some barrels!” For those that don’t know, that’s a scene from my favorite movie of all time, The Other Guys. This season was already a tough one because of the amount of rain that we received. It seemed for the entire month of February we would hit in the cages for 5 days and then go play 3 games. I was proud of the way our team came back from a devastating 3 game sweep to start conference play. The team was coming together and I had never in my coaching career been so excited to get to the field each day. I was building a real relationship with every single player. I could go player by player and tell you exactly what made them a vital part of our team. When news starting spreading about a possible cancellation of the season due to COVID-19, our entire team was on pins and needles. On March 13th when the news became official that we were done, I had never seen and felt such sadness. I sat there for hours just thinking about how could this be true? After feeling sorry for myself and the team for a few hours, I looked at what we had accomplished in only a month and half. If you follow me on social media you can see what we did on the field, but that is only a small portion of it. It is all the memories that we made off the field that mean the most to me. Just being able to talk crap to these guys day in and day out makes it worth coming to office. I smiled while being on the field more in only 6 weeks than since I played my last game. This was the first time in my life that I really was able to see that people cared for me as a person rather than my connection to baseball. I had people in my life show me this was the case such as Jim Gantt, Sean O’Conner and obviously my family but I’ve never have had the feeling I did when the season was cancelled. I can be with this team, without baseball, and still love every single one of them. This is the difference of Maryville College Baseball of any program that I’ve been apart of. We can all say that a team is a family…but when you come to Maryville College you will become apart of something that is bigger than yourself. When I said I was going to wait to say “I love you”, it was for these type of moments. Little did I know it was going to be a moment that no one has ever had to deal with. I have never been happier in my life and I can only thank Clint, Pokey and Drew (the coaching staff) for choosing me to be apart of such a special program. We will get through this and when I see everyone back on campus, be ready. We have some unfinished business and I couldn’t pick a better group of guys to get it done with.  

Update- 12-23-21

It’s currently a few days before Christmas, and a lot has happened since starting this blog in the beginning of this pandemic. I had no idea, like everyone else, we would still be battling this virus. The 2020-2021 season for Maryville College Baseball was a battle. It started with small groups of 10 and extreme precautions campus wide. We saw some hope in the middle of our fall, as we were able to have one full team practice on a beautiful fall weekend. The next day was when the school brought back the strict covid-19 protocols, and we went back to groups of 10. A year ago today, I was in the middle of our 6 week winter break because our students were sent home until January for the thanksgiving holiday. The season began with less than two weeks of practice and on top of covid-19 restrictions, we had to deal with rain. The games were pushed to Lakepoint complex just outside of Atlanta. We lost two tough ball games and little did we know that the rest of the season was going to be just as tough. I’m not here to tell you a sob story and give you excuses as to why we had a 9-21 record…I’m here to tell you (again) why Maryville College is a such a special place.

Going into the last series of the year we were 7-20. No playoffs or anything to play for other than pride. We took the series winning 2 of 3 and it was one that I’ll always remember. We left the field the last day of the season with hope. I’m not sure how many teams that went 9-21 or worse can say that. We had our exit meetings with the players, and almost every single one of them said that they were excited for next season to get here. You could say that they were excited to play baseball in a normal school year. We knew it was more than that. They never gave up and still believed in one another, that this group of guys could win a championship together. We saw every bit of that this fall and added some great additions to the program. Maryville College Baseball is a special program, and I’m excited for everyone to see what have going on here this coming spring season.

GFS!