This blog is going to be about something that has been weighing on my heart as of late. My dream of being a college baseball coach (full-time) came true last year and I was given the chance because of my background. Which includes both hitting and strength & conditioning. This was the foot in the door, but what Coach Helton (head baseball coach at Maryville College) and I truly agree on is that we are here to build men and make sure that they leave a better person than when they came in. I am truly lucky to have found Maryville College and I explain that in detail in a previous blog of mine. The point is…I think this needs to be the norm for more college coaches. I don’t claim to know why head coaches hire who they do, but I do hear about what attributes coaches have when they’re hired. When I hear a coach is a “hitting guy” or, even worse, a certain type of a position coach. What I mean by this is that they get described as “Teacherman” type hitting coaches. This describes the type of hitting that they teach. I don’t like that at all, because I want coaches to be known for how they help players in their entire life and not just certain aspects of baseball. I’ll go in depth of why this means so much to me.

My first blog that I ever wrote means the most to me because it describes the most transformative portion of my life. I’m speaking to my college days and a few years after. I went through so many ups and downs that I had never experienced before. I know first-hand what it’s like to be on a roller coaster during the college years and the ones to follow. I truly feel a calling to share that experience with as many kids as I can and being a college baseball coach is the best way that I can do this. It just so happens that my passion for baseball is right behind the passion I have for my wife and loved ones. Picking the right job for you has a lot to do with what you’re passionate about and I couldn’t have picked a better calling if I tried to. With my background, you might see that I chose this profession to be a transformational coach and not a transactional coach. There are places for the transactional coaches out there but I feel passionately that team coaches are not the place for that. I feel that we are falling too far down that rabbit hole as a community and I want to share my thoughts on how we can make this shift. 

When coaches interact whether it be recruiting, social media or at conventions, we have a tendency to only talk about baseball specific information. This makes sense because of what our job titles are but we are missing the bigger picture. I want to make it acceptable to talk at conventions about how to give our players a better life and not just if we should squish the bug or not when we’re hitting. There are so many ways out there that we can do this and also make better baseball players. I recently wrote about having a checklist, and how it can be a game changer for baseball programs- or any programs out there. This is true because it will increase performance…but it will also give those players structure for what they’ll need later on in life. The checklist covers other things that help in baseball and in everyday life as well. I put a significant focus on sleep because it’s important as an athlete, but even more important once you have a job. These broad topics such as nutrition, sleep, breathing, mediation, spirituality and working out all have benefits for the player and the person. Now…does having 17 bunt plays along with the best 1^st and 3^rd play in the league going to help them when they get to the workforce? I would much rather focus the majority of my time on the topics listed than having practices shaped around dictatorship throwing anxiety onto the players. 

 I feel passionate about eye wash things such as 6am lifts, punishment runs, strict rules, hours of bunt play and much more. These things create an environment where it’s acceptable to complain about a bad situation you’re going through, without having any say. How many players in those situations have been asked about what they should do for training or how practice should be run? It’s common knowledge that in order to have a successful culture, you need everyone on board and to feel valued. I don’t think that any of the things listed above create a culture breeding a sense of belonging. I do believe that we are doing a good job of shifting away from this, but we are shifting to another type of transaction. That is the transaction of being the best at a certain type of coaching. I see many coaches who post drill after drill but nothing on the relationship aspect of coaching. There are tons of different swings, flyballs, groundballs and throwing motions we can critique but there are a boundless number of more personalities that we can talk about how to navigate. I have to put this quote in capital letters because the more I learn about coaching the more I realize how ridiculous the statement is, “HE’S UNCOACHABLE.” That is the biggest load of crap that I’ll ever hear a coach say. We are paid to coach everyone on the team and find a way to make them the best player and person they can be. Just because someone does not take to your style of coaching right away does not mean they are uncoachable; it just means that you are an extremely lazy coach. I am not saying that you should be able to make a difference in the life of every player you coach but should try until they are no longer in your program. Jim Gantt at Catawba could have easily given up on me because I was “uncoachable” but he let me learn through mistakes and my life took a turn for the better because of it. College baseball coaches are here to add to the collegiate education system and not just to make the best baseball player. 

My time spent with Coaches Conclave made me realize how important it is to have a coaching philosophy as well as the book ‘Win Forever’ by Pete Carroll. There were numerous great guests that came on our talks with Rob Cooper at Coaches Conclave and they all preached similar methods. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the majority of these head coaches had very successful programs. You want to play for someone who cares about you as a person and not just a player. I am currently in the process of creating my philosophy that I will carry with me, but I do believe it is very similar to Phil Jackson’s coaching Philosophy. I found this out through the book ’11 Rings’  that he wrote. There was a quote that struck me to a core and it was, “What you do for yourself, you do for others and what you do for others, you for yourself.”. I could add a ton more quotes from the book that I believe with all my heart, but that quote just means a lot to me. To be a transformational coach you have to be fully comfortable with who you are as a person, and I am. The reason I am is because I have a job that allows me to be who I am while being able to take care of everything I need to do outside of it. Now can you create that same environment for your players to be fully happy with who they are. My hope is that you can. 

References

https://www.animascoaching.com/our-knowledge/faqs/what-is-transformational-coaching-98/

https://tjwhartonbaseball.sport.blog/2020/03/26/why-maryville-college/

https://tjwhartonbaseball.sport.blog/2019/07/12/how-baseball-made-tj-wharton/