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086 - "How to Win" Awareness w/ Jay Johnson
121 Plays19 days ago
LSU Baseball's Head Coach Jay Johnson—a two-time national champion who has built one of college baseball's premier programs. From his humble beginnings transitioning from player to coach at Point Loma Nazarene to leading LSU to back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2025, Coach Johnson shares the leadership principles and developmental philosophies that have shaped his legendary career.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- The player-to-coach transition
- The power of mentorship
- "How to Win Awareness"
- Team Over Me
- Development as the driver
Coach Johnson also shares powerful stories from both championship runs—from the emotional roller coaster of the 2023 comeback victory to the process-driven excellence of 2025—and offers practical advice for youth coaches and parents navigating the college recruiting landscape.
Whether you're coaching at the highest level or in your backyard, this episode is packed with transferable wisdom on leadership, culture-building, and what it truly takes to develop people—not just players.
*NEW* Education - Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
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Transcript
Introduction: Winning Awareness and Strategy
00:00:00
Speaker
HTWA, how to win awareness. And i believe that your team has to be connected to how it is going to win. And it might mean different things for different teams, definitely in in different sports, but how I expect our team to win games has to be outlined for them.
00:00:21
Speaker
And then how we train and prepare both individually and collectively as a team has to be it has to be geared towards those things that you expect them to do in the game to drive winning.
00:00:34
Speaker
And that's what we call our process of winning.
Featuring Coach Jay Johnson from LSU
00:00:38
Speaker
Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host, Tex McQuilkin, and today we are calling Baton Rouge to sit down with one of college baseball's elite coaches, Coach Jay Johnson from Louisiana State University, a two-time national champion who's built something special in Louisiana.
Coach Johnson’s Journey and Philosophy
00:01:00
Speaker
Coach Johnson's journey from player to coach at his alma mater to leading programs at Nevada, Arizona, and now LSU is a master class in leadership development.
00:01:10
Speaker
Shout out to Logan Gilbert for connecting us today. love you, buddy. In this conversation, we dive into the transition from teammate to and captain to coach. what it takes to build a championship culture, his philosophy on person development over just wins, and how he's carrying forward the legacy of LSU's legendary Skip Hurtman.
00:01:30
Speaker
From how to win awareness to building teams around toughness and togetherness, Coach Johnson shares the frameworks that have led to building a championship culture.
00:01:40
Speaker
With that, let's throw it out to Coach Johnson who helps us raise the game. Ready, ready, and great.
00:01:48
Speaker
Recruit ready chairs. Yeah, that's right
Transitioning from Player to Coach
00:01:50
Speaker
Yes. All right. Action. Welcome to Louisiana State University. Sitting down with Jay Johnson, two-time national champion, highest level, and shout out Logan Gelbricht, former athlete of Jay's, to connect us. So get that out of the way.
00:02:07
Speaker
Logan's the man. Yes. Yeah. Deuce Jim out of Venice Beach. ah historic run here at LSU, but it started way back when. I mean, we can go as far back as as University of San Diego days, but even before that, transitioning from player to coach at your alma mater, that's something that I did through lacrosse, was transition and get that first coaching opportunity at my alma mater.
00:02:33
Speaker
So speak to us about that humble beginning to it turn from player to coach. Yeah, i've ah all I've known is competitive athletics and teams and winning. My dad was a legendary high school football coach and track coach. He didn't lose like a track meet for like a 10-year period. and So it's really all I've known. And then I was fortunate to play baseball in college and junior college and at Point Loma Nazarene. And I gave it like a three-month period after I was done playing. Yeah.
00:03:04
Speaker
was trying to maybe focus on doing a something else and it it didn't work. So I went and and saw my coach, Scott Sarver at Point Loma and just asked if I could help out and I'm really glad I made that decision. And, um,
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's really all I've known is is teams. I've never not been a part of a team. And so very thankful to get an early opportunity in coaching and just try to make the most of it.
00:03:30
Speaker
And then do you feel the leadership role from being a player helped you with the coach? Or is there any growing pains because you had to treat people differently as team leader to now coach? Yeah, that's a good question. i really... always played in the middle of the field, you know, and in all the sports, you know, i was running back in football, point guard in basketball, shortstop, second baseman in baseball.
00:03:55
Speaker
And so that always just kind of came natural, I think, to me. Obviously, I had a great example, you know, with my dad as well. And i think, you know, awareness is just such a big piece. And you know i i'd seen what it was like to to be a coach you know before becoming a coach and understood the differences like when you're not a player anymore you're not a player anymore and so just try to have the respect level of of being approachable you know as as a young coach i think that's really important i've hired a couple guys that have played for me that are closer to our players ages because i think there's a connectivity relatability that you can really use as a strength
00:04:38
Speaker
but then you have to be on board with the coaching staff. And that's something I always took seriously. And I probably, you know, nobody ever really told me that, but I probably just learned from my dad.
Development and Winning Strategy
00:04:50
Speaker
Yeah. And then i struggled with this because I was then coaching my teammates. So I had a rapport. I had that relatedness. But now I stepped into an authority role.
00:05:01
Speaker
When you took over in a coaching role, was there a rift now that you're really holding these guys accountable? Yeah, not really. I think I i also understood my role. it was like I was coaching first base.
00:05:12
Speaker
um, with half the job of the first base coach is to high five or fist bump the guy when they get down to first base. So you're, uh, you're doing that. I was really engaged and involved in recruiting. And so I spent a lot of time doing that.
00:05:26
Speaker
And then it was really the next year, my responsibilities started to kick up. And so there was you two years removed and, really there was a complete separation. I think, again, being young, understanding what it's like to be a player is a real, real valued commodity that young coaches bring to the table. I think the key is you just have to have the maturity to know you are a coach and I've never really had a bad story of being challenged or, you know, crossing the line the wrong way on either either side of that. And I'm just thankful. The way I look at my first like opportunity in coaching at Point Loma was
00:06:09
Speaker
You know, two years out of playing, i was the recruiting coordinator. Then I'd moved over to coach third base. I'm running the offense. I'm designing practice plans. You know, I'm i'm a key a key part of player development. Well, not everybody gets to do that. And that was an amazing training ground for, like, make some mistakes, you know, and learn from those mistakes, have some successes, develop a a process and a plan, and was really fortunate because not a lot of people get to do that at, like, 25 years old.
00:06:38
Speaker
No. Yeah. And at the the lower levels, no disrespect to the program, but you get guys that need the development. So you really understand player development from that perspective. No question about it. And it's interesting. Like I love, love winning, but I love more how to put the pieces together to win. And I think a lot of gratification that comes with winning is feeling like you deserve it, you know, and feeling like that you earn it.
00:07:06
Speaker
And That's why it's always meant a lot to me. So player development is like the most important part of that thing. Kind of like my process, and this is probably a later question, is how can I spend my time that's going to help us win? Number one is recruiting. If you want to be successful in anything in life, you have to surround yourself with as many good people as possible. For me, that means players,
00:07:32
Speaker
coaching staff, support staff. And then number two is develop. you know If I'm not spending time recruiting, I need to spend time developing players and developing our team, mentally, physically, emotionally, ah situational and game awareness or how to win awareness. Then the third thing is focusing on like what's important like right now. There's so many distractions, um but having a ah role of development early on was really you know helpful to like, hey, don't get too far down the road, be right here right now, focus on development. And then the discipline to like repeat that. And I think, yeah, starting out at
00:08:12
Speaker
an NAI school at the time, which is now a division two school. And then being at two mid majors, you know, before I went to Arizona, then obviously here to LSU, development was at a
Preparation and Mentorship in Coaching
00:08:24
Speaker
premium.
00:08:24
Speaker
And I love that part of it because you're not just helping your team and your program. When you do that, you're helping a player be more successful at what they want to do. Yeah. And then everybody's athletic career ends.
00:08:35
Speaker
So what tools can you hand off that then are force multipliers for the workforce as well? Yeah, no doubt. And um I think any, like, like say, CEO of like a company,
00:08:51
Speaker
they They can teach people usually to do the skills of the job, if you will. But I think they love probably hiring athletes because of the time management, the self-discipline, the doing things sometimes you don't always want to do because they don't feel good, which is against human nature. Yeah.
00:09:12
Speaker
all the skills that you learn as part of being as part of a successful organization are definitely transferable. And it's been really cool to watch a bunch of my former players, even back to that time that are close to my age, have like rockstar type lives like Logan, you know, for, for example. um And I think to know you were a part of some of that is, is really cool.
00:09:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Logan is rockstar. I want to stick with NCAA success because you then stepped into head coaching roles. So from USD into head coaching roles, were you ready to be a head coach, do you feel, at that time? Was it appropriate jump or you you shot for the stars?
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good question. I get asked that all the time. i think if you would have asked the 27-year-old head coach, Jay Johnson, at Point Loma, I would have thought I was ready.
00:10:07
Speaker
then and um would have definitely always worked to be better and all of that. But the most important thing that I did in terms of success for my career is I spent eight years at the University of San Diego and as the associate head coach for Rich Hill, who, in my opinion, is the best head coach in any sport,
00:10:31
Speaker
like I've ever known. Now, obviously I'm biased and got an inside look of eight years of learning what that was really about. But what I did is I did not rush out of that opportunity. I was i was very happy, you know, was very content. I think coaches sometimes make the mistake of always looking for the next thing.
00:10:49
Speaker
it was a training ground of how to recruit at the highest level, you know, how to really learning how to sell, you know, at mid-major and trying to beat what are now power five schools for the same players. Cause we were trying to go to Omaha and go, and go to the college world series. And mean, to get to the NCAA tournament six times in an eight year period at a school like that, to win four conference championships is something to always be proud
Coaching Milestones and Growth
00:11:12
Speaker
of. We had great wins, you know, over,
00:11:15
Speaker
Texas, you know, over Vanderbilt, like the best programs in the entire country. And there was a lot to be proud of, you know, in what we did there. But I think that the reason I felt like I was ready is because I did not leave until I knew it was the right opportunity and that I was prepared to do it. And again, working for Coach Hill was the best of both worlds of like the the autonomy, the respect to like really do my job to create like my own ownership, you know, in the program at the same time every day until the day I walked out the door, literally packing my office, he was teaching me something that became very valuable.
00:11:56
Speaker
And, you know, we still talk. at least once a week and know about both of our teams. He's now the head coach at Hawaii and probably outside of my dad and then out, you know, along with my college coach, Scott Sarver, probably the most important ah relationship I've had in my entire life.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah. That, that, that mentorship does go a long way. That's why I love the relationship between team leader, head team captain, and head coach. It's just such a valuable relationship that you take into the next phases, whether it's still coaching or just into to manhood and life.
00:12:31
Speaker
um So now taking what was Rich Hill's program that you were a big part of and into starting your own program. So the was Nevada the next step? Yeah, University of Nevada. Yeah, it's only it was only two years, but easily two of the most enjoyable years I've ever had in my entire life and and in coaching.
00:12:53
Speaker
So then what what was that mindset to now just stepping into you are a leader of a program? This is my program. Yeah, I think ah I mentioned timing and place.
00:13:03
Speaker
I had had another opportunity the year before and I decided not to do it. And there was a few reasons for that. I knew we were gonna have another really good team. Chris Bryant, you know, you know, all star, four time all star.
00:13:17
Speaker
Rookie of the year, National League MVP, World Series champion, you know the greatest player I've coached probably along with Dylan Cruz here. um He had one more year.
00:13:28
Speaker
And it was kind of like, I felt like it was important to like finish that journey. I think I'd probably made a promise to him and his family that I would stay at San Diego until he was done. And so we we were able to finish that up.
00:13:42
Speaker
And then the Nevada thing was interesting. um I thought it was a really good opportunity to take a program that had been successful. Gary Powers, the coach previous to me, did a great job there and in the 1990s. And they went to regionals and those types of things.
00:13:59
Speaker
And they, they, at that time, they'd kind of had a blueprint of what they were doing of recruiting Southern California really, really well. And i felt like I could bring that to the table because that's where I, my whole professional journey to that point had, had been, benten that's where I was.
00:14:18
Speaker
And then it was also only two and a half hours from where I grew up in Northern California. And so my, uh, family was like elated, you know what i mean? That they could be a part of this journey. And it was my first division one head coaching job.
00:14:31
Speaker
And then, the university of Nevada is in Reno, Nevada, um actually is a really sneak, good college town. And because of some of the success that they'd had, you know, let's say a decade plus before there was some interest in, in the baseball program and it just needed to be rebooted a little bit.
00:14:50
Speaker
And it's everything. There was just a lot of things that were a good fit about it. And then really it was just dive in and go, you know, not worry about the challenges, not worry about the limitations of mid-major, you know, not exactly the best baseball weather.
00:15:08
Speaker
all of those things, but highlight the things that, you know, the program had as strengths connected to maybe what I thought my strengths were and a ton of enthusiasm for, you know, it's your first division one head coaching job and just poured everything into it. I mean, it was really like, I probably would not have left if it wasn't for a, you know, perfect opportunity at Arizona. I love my time in Nevada. Very proud of those players. We won the first Mountain West Conference championship in any sport, you know, in in baseball there in 2015. Yeah.
00:15:39
Speaker
yeah And then speaking of Arizona, I know you had a historic run, finishing runner-up in the World Series. So were the pieces in place there, and they just needed the right and man at the helm? Man, that's a ah really – another like life i've been very blessed like timing and uh people like you know like no intention of leaving nevada i honestly have told people this had i stayed at nevada one more year and in 2016 i believe that team could have also gone to the college world series there's numerous players from that team or would have been on that team that have made it to the major leagues um but
00:16:20
Speaker
You know, when I took the job at Nevada, it was all about that but At one point, and we're having some success, it was almost like if there's a okay if there was a job that came open that maybe I would be interested in doing, it definitely was Arizona. And the pieces in place were very simple. It's like Andy Lopez, Hall of Fame coach. mean, he's a top five coach of all time in college baseball. To me, he was getting a little bit older.
00:16:45
Speaker
and then again, you know how would you build a program like Arizona up or back up the the recruiting in Southern California? um and And then that that eventually, you know, there was a goal to jump to like ah a Power 5, you know, school or job.
00:17:02
Speaker
And then it came open on the heels of us winning that championship. And so then it was like looking at, man, I'm going leave a really good team behind in a situation where I'm really happy. And that's been a unique thing about all these...
00:17:15
Speaker
these four moves I've made, I've never really wanted
Challenges and Success at Arizona
00:17:18
Speaker
to leave. you know And I think that's a sign of you know being around good people, like I mentioned. um But when I looked at it, they had not made the NCAA tournament in the previous three seasons.
00:17:30
Speaker
um I did do a quick look at the roster. and felt like there was maybe some players that could play better than maybe they had to that point in their career. And sometimes sometimes change helps everybody, you know, coaches, players. And and I don't know anything about that because, like i said, Coach Lopez is one of the the best coaches of all time in this sport.
00:17:53
Speaker
But I do feel like um my assessment of where the program was with, you know, guys like Bobby Dahlbeck, who's been a ah big leaguer,
00:18:03
Speaker
You know, J.J. Matajevic was a big leaguer. You know, two guys named Cody Raymer and Zach Gibbons, they were actually one and two in the country that next year in hits, hadn't really performed at that level their entire career. Ryan Aguiar was another player.
00:18:19
Speaker
And it was it was cool to, like, look at at Nathan Bannister, um Looking at it and then going like, hey, we're going to add like five or six pieces in the in this summer.
00:18:30
Speaker
And if I can get these guys to play better, man, we could have a really good team. Now that I... think we would be a base hit away from one of the national championship. I did not think that, but I remember, you know, going into the spring, um, we had kind of a ah transition fall, like, you know new way of doing things like things weren't really that smooth, I would say. And then we came back and we were preparing for the season and the weather's great and all those types of things. And I remember,
00:18:59
Speaker
talking to Dave Lawn, our pitching coach, and ah go, hey, like, I know nobody thinks we're going to be any good. We were actually picked finished 10th out of 11 in the Pac-12, like 10th out of 11 in our own conference.
00:19:11
Speaker
I'm like, I think we've got a pretty good team right here. And he's like, I think i think so too. And so what a journey. I mean, it's still like – um one base hit away from one of the national championship that will always eat at me for the rest of eternity.
Coaching Today’s Athletes: New Course
00:19:27
Speaker
um But nothing but smiles, happiness, pride, and in thinking what we did there in 2016 at Arizona. Timeout. Coach, have you ever felt like your athletes shut down, tune out, or just too cool for coaching?
00:19:42
Speaker
You want them to listen. You shake them. You know this attitude and approach that they're taking with their training or their practice in front of you is not going to lead to success on the field or off the field later in life, and you have to change it.
00:19:57
Speaker
Athletes today are operating on a different internal system and we need to course correct on how our approach is going to land with them. And that's why I wrote the new course, Why They Won't Listen, Coaching Today's Athletes.
00:20:13
Speaker
If you want to learn more, head to listen.captainsandcoaches.com for this online course. If you want the first lesson free, see how I break down and combine whiteboard lecture and practical demos, movement-based lessons,
00:20:28
Speaker
that you can bring them to your practice and your training environments. Again, head to listen.captainsandcoaches.com to learn more and get that free lesson. And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break.
00:20:41
Speaker
And what's what's your approach where you see the potential with these guys, but getting them to believe it? Because they know they're athletic, they've probably been told that the entire lives, but then they were not successful for one, two, three years, and they but may believe the hype.
00:20:58
Speaker
So now how do you get them to believe in themselves again? Yeah. You know, I think a couple things, and I think this goes for players and teams. like the the pathway to success like has to be outlined and you have to have marks along the way and you have to validate it when those marks are hit so you can build the next thing. And I think if I was to look back at that specific situation, the fall, like I said, was not comfortable or easy and it was a completely different way of of doing things and and operating.
00:21:33
Speaker
And then when we got to the season, we went to Rice to open up. And I think they were a preseason top 10 team in the country, really good pitching staff. And opening night, we beat them like 8-1. And, I mean, there's the energy in that dugout was amazing. and then nicece At Rice? At Rice for us.
00:21:52
Speaker
And I think there was a lot of confidence. Like, that will be a night I'll never forget the rest of my life, you know, um because at that time I used to coach third base and just how the team played in the game. And then the next day, we were in a 2-2 game in the eighth inning.
00:22:07
Speaker
And ironically, the previous Saturday night, We were scrimmaging and it's kind of getting to that time. Like, man, we need to get to the season. We need to play somebody else. I literally like pulled them up to try to finish the inner squad at a high level and go, hey, next Saturday, eight we're going to be in a two to two game in the eighth inning.
00:22:26
Speaker
And like, I want you to compete. Like this is next Saturday night and we're going to be prepared to win that game. And then we put together like one of the best offensive innings of my entire coaching career. I won't get into the details of how it all unfolded. And ended up winning 6-2.
00:22:41
Speaker
And then so now you've won a series against a top-10 team on the road. I think that really like built so much confidence in our team. And so if you can give them marks along the way, you can outline what success is going to look like.
00:22:55
Speaker
and then all of your preparation being lined up to hit those marks, then they start believing in a process of winning.
Championship Wins and Team Mindset
00:23:03
Speaker
And and that's that's something I think we definitely did a good job of there and have really tried to do a good job of here, obviously.
00:23:12
Speaker
Nice. Well, now now that we're to the LSU road, I mean, two championships within three years here, and that's the first time that's ever been done, or two in four years.
00:23:24
Speaker
Set some record as a coach was just an accomplishment. Yeah. And the and those were won in two different fashions. One would blow out, and then this 2025 in a a just a ah moment to clinch it.
00:23:38
Speaker
So I'd love to explore just the the emotional roller coasters, the difference of those wins. Yeah. Yeah. Great question. Um, everybody asks me about, ah Omaha all the time. And it's like, the first thing I say is like, when you hold something in high regard, like of what it will be like when you're there.
00:23:57
Speaker
sometimes it lets you down. Like I've held Omaha high regard my whole life and been lucky to be there four times now. And it blows it out of the water how awesome it actually is. But there is a unique part about it as as a coach or is like, I'm working the entire time we were there.
00:24:13
Speaker
And um so it's kind of like this, you're not ever really looking up at where you're at and what you're doing type deal. But The two different experiences. So we're playing Florida, who's great team. I met big leaguers all over that team. We had big leaguers on our team.
00:24:32
Speaker
We had beaten a great Wake Forest team in the semis, Rhett Lauder, another big leaguer already. Like the talent in that, we'd beaten Tennessee twice. i mean, the talent in that College World Series was like, well, this is like a next level.
00:24:46
Speaker
deal. And so we have this dramatic win in the semis. Tommy White hits a walk-off home run, sends us to the finals, but we'd come through the losers bracket and Florida had been sitting there for a couple days and hadn't played.
00:24:58
Speaker
So we're getting ready for a game one. And then we're trying to line up how we're going to win two out of three. And it's like, hey, guys, we have to win game one. Like, we're we're in trouble in a game two because the games that we had played was finally going to catch up to us from, like, a pitching standpoint. But we were throwing Ty Floyd, one of our starters, in game one.
00:25:18
Speaker
And so we went an extra inning game four to three. And i mean, Cade Beloso, Homer in the 11th inning, Riley Cooper comes in, throws three great innings out of the pen.
00:25:30
Speaker
That game kind of gets forgotten about because this Wake Forest game was like an epic game. But then we're looking at the next day, and I don't know if I'd already programmed myself. Like, I actually got sick between games one and game two, and we got beat 24 to four in game two. And it was like they put it on us. Yeah.
00:25:47
Speaker
And then, so it was so such like a demonstrative win. Everybody always wants to know like what I said to the team. and I just wrote that note. What was the pregame speech? So after the game, we went back into the locker room. It was like a hot day. And I just said, hey, think about what we said we wanted to accomplish on January 15th in our goals meeting for the year.
00:26:11
Speaker
And I said, if if I told you we'd be standing here with this team nine innings away from winning a national championship, we would all sign up for that. I don't even have to ask you the question. I know we all would have
Overcoming Post-Championship Challenges
00:26:24
Speaker
signed up for that. So let's let's put this off of us.
00:26:28
Speaker
Let's go go back to the hotel. We need to get some rest because we literally played like six games in seven days, something like that. And let's do what we do tomorrow and prepare and and let's let's go win the national championship tomorrow.
00:26:41
Speaker
And literally, we went to the press conference after that and you know Dylan Cruz, who was i mean as good a college baseball player as I've ever seen, it just said to me, it's like, we're we're past this.
00:26:53
Speaker
we'll be We'll be ready to roll roll tomorrow. And he said it with such confidence. It was like... Yeah, this this will be all right. And then it's just going to come down to who plays better. And when it just comes down to how you play and not anything else, there's a lot of peace of mind and freedom in that.
00:27:10
Speaker
And that game three, one one game for the finals, I've never had a team play better in any baseball game my entire career. And it was amazing.
00:27:20
Speaker
And while that game's going on, it's like – I still didn't want to look up. Like I hadn't even let myself go. Like we're going to win the national championship. And we scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to make it like 18 to four. And it was great. I mean, these guys are all coming up for their last at bat in college. I mean, they were just driving the ball and it was just this great, but I hadn't even like, okay, we're three outs away from winning. And then in the, the it was like the first pitch at the bottom of the ninth, Jordan Thompson, our shortstop makes this unbelievable play for the first out.
00:27:50
Speaker
And then like like it hit me. like We did it. We won the national championship. And I started tearing up in the dugout. And it's a lifelong like like dream.
00:28:02
Speaker
So that was a long answer to to the first one. But it was like you know your whole life, you've pushed for like one thing. And it's like it was like this moment of like all that work was was worth worth that that that one day, if you will. Then this year,
00:28:18
Speaker
I mean, I'm so proud of our team in 2025. It was just a team that you talk about process, you talk about um doing things the right way over a long period of time consistently, like they mastered it and they modeled it. I don't even think we were necessarily the most talented team in college baseball, but we were the best team. And it was just because we operated at such a high level.
00:28:45
Speaker
And then in that one, It's five to three. I have two freshman pitchers in the bullpen. One of them was going to be the game three starter if it had gotten to game three. So it's like, man, when do I pull the trigger here?
00:28:59
Speaker
Do we go for it right now? We're the visiting team. i mean, the wind's blowing out. yeah We had Chase Shores on the mound who's throwing a hundred mile an hour sinker. So he's a hard guy to to elevate.
00:29:10
Speaker
I'm looking at, okay, that their best player is on deck right now. Am I going to make the move? with one of the two relievers, because that'll be the second time he'll have seen him. But I like how he's pitching. He's going pretty good as the defense set. And then, bam, double play, national champs.
00:29:27
Speaker
And it was like I hadn't even processed anything other than like where we were at that time and trying to do a good job to help my team execute in the moment. So, And it was just as awesome. like yeah People ask me, like, ah which one did they – hey, they are tied for first and just super proud of of both
Maintaining a Championship Culture
00:29:45
Speaker
teams. and But two different experiences at the Bell.
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah. I'm a big Pat Riley fan, and he mentions after the first championship with a squad, the following years are the most difficult. He tells it the disease of me.
00:29:59
Speaker
People want more playing time. They want more of X, Y, Z. So now what was the mindset? Was it a whole new roster stepping into it? Guys, I know you had two first round picks in that 2023. Yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker
so what was the roster change? What was the mindset change? Yeah. There was a lot of turnover. And and in modern day college of baseball, you can't get to the pinnacle of winning a championship unless you have old experienced players. Like you're not turning ah in baseball, you're not turning it over and winning in the national championship with five freshmen in the starting lineup. It's Impossible.
00:30:32
Speaker
Darn near impossible. So, like, we actually only had 12 players on the 25 team that were on the 24 team, the team in between. We had eight of those guys were on both teams.
00:30:45
Speaker
Now, a couple of them were actually red shirts on the 23 team. So, there was, like, a sense of, like, this team was its own entity. But I love Pat Riley, too.
00:30:56
Speaker
And I actually showed our team a video of... There was a show on HBO. It was called Winning Time. I don't know if you saw that. yeah um Of talking about, like, the difference between wanting to win and needing to win. yeah And he's like before like, before they won that first championship, like, they needed to win.
00:31:16
Speaker
And it wasn't like they didn't want to win now, but he didn't see... the need. And like he was running out of ways to like motivate the team. So I actually showed that clip to our team. Yeah, know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. And I mean, I still have it on my phone. I watch it for myself, you know, from time to time. And it is really challenging. And there's so many good quotes about Handling failure. I think people are resilient. Like you're going to have adversity in your life. It's actually, I think, easier to handle failure than it is to handle success. um
00:31:51
Speaker
And um I actually this year was reading some article about Theo Epstein when he was with the Red Sox. And he talked about why is it so hard to sustain success? And so he called Bill Belichick when he was coach of the Patriots at the time. And he and he said the first thing that Bill Belichick told him is, you're screwed now.
00:32:12
Speaker
and And I was like, oh, I can't wait to read more about this. And he goes, the problem that you'll have is when you ascend to a certain level, people will be afraid to like tell you the truth. And so like I immediately like brought this to my staff's attention. It's like, hey, we all have to tell each other the truth. like our desire to constantly make our team and our players better is the reason we're in this place in the first place. So we're definitely not going to get full or high on ourselves or think we're somebody. Like, we're going to keep working, and we have to tell each other the truth. The second part I thought was really interesting, too, is like when you get to a certain point, everybody starts wanting the credit for being good.
00:32:54
Speaker
And it's like, I have a great coaching staff. I don't think any of them fit into into that mold at all. And so we've talked about, like, to me, none of that, like, matters, you know? I want to play in Omaha, whether who no matter who contributed what to us playing and in and Omaha. Yeah.
00:33:14
Speaker
So we address that part of it. And then there's a last piece with the players that is really, really important. Because you know players come to LSU, they they want to win a national title, but they want to go to Major League Baseball also. yeah So you have to fight this this human nature desire to, now that we won ours, I'm going go get mine.
00:33:32
Speaker
like That can't be a part of the thought process. And if it is, you're in real, real trouble. And so I think... We try to be out ahead of, you know, the problems. Like I had a former staff member that would always say, if you can predict something, you can prevent it. Yeah. And so like those three areas we're trying to constantly be out in front of.
00:33:51
Speaker
So you don't get that disease of me. You know, that's kind of the last piece I was talking about, or you don't fall into, you know, the complacency, you know, Nick Saban, what is the biggest threat to excellence is complacency.
00:34:03
Speaker
And I try to revert all the way back to something I'd already said, the reason winning it feels so good is because when you know you've put everything in to try to get to that point. and i I love it. And I want to get to 2025's team. The motto is tough and together.
00:34:20
Speaker
So my my question for you is, do you allow the team to come up with the mottos? Do you as a coaching staff instill it? What's the process for finding that? Yeah, that's a real good question. and And I will tell you this, we don't always have one because I think if you try to force it It does not work. It's cheesy. It's corny. if you'd rather I'd rather have nothing than something that people are not buying into. yeah So last year, i actually, i like it when the team comes up with them. I actually did that one myself last year. And and I only bring that up. It was like, I looked at 2024, which was a very successful season also. We lost in regional final at North Carolina to a great team where we had the lead in the ninth inning.
00:35:03
Speaker
And they ended up beating us in 11 innings. And i tried to look back and go like, okay, where were we a little short, you know, from being at the national champion in 2024? And I felt like there was a little bit of of toughness and then ah a togetherness piece. Now, a lot of it really had to do with you were just losing so many great players and leaders from the 23 team. it Goes back to surrounding yourself with...
00:35:26
Speaker
all the right people. But we just made a conscious effort last year. We were going to elevate our toughness and then elevate our togetherness. So from day one, that was kind of our thing in the thought of team over me So you have to define things that you're trying to put out there. So what is toughness? And to us, toughness is just being able to focus on your job, regardless of circumstances.
00:35:54
Speaker
Like you're not going to be in comfortable and perfect situations in baseball, in athletics, in competition all of the time, no matter how good you are. And so could we really hardwire our team to be so mentally tough that no matter what was going on, they could focus on right here, right now, what is my job?
00:36:16
Speaker
And they were the best I have ever seen at that. And i think it reared its head, and and some of the the most iconic games of of last year's season involved LSU a lot. And it was it was us coming through and in clutch moments because they had the ability to do that.
00:36:34
Speaker
And some of it was just maturity. Some players needed another year under their belt to be able to do that. um And then togetherness. and And we have a saying here is that LSU baseball, I, meaning whoever is saying that, coaches, players, I will always place the needs of the team above my own.
00:36:50
Speaker
And I've found if you don't take time teaching players the value of being a great teammate and how to do it, they will not succeed. they won't be able to do it because the society that we're all involved in now is very me, very what can I get?
00:37:10
Speaker
And I don't think there's anything wrong with our players wanting to be big leaguers or wanting to be the best hitter or the best pitcher at LSU baseball. that Competitors are wired that way. But doing it in a mature fashion where it always comes back to the team and the thought of big team players and small me. And ironically, like I was out in California recruiting, mean, I've had there every August, but the previous August and um the Saints, so they're right down the road, we're doing their training camp out there. And that was their motto for the year. And I started thinking about that and I'd already kind of had my head around the tough and together piece and what a way to define together as team over me.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yeah, I love it. And ah another phrase I came upon listening to a couple interviews from you was how to win awareness and that that just blew my mind certain things and in coaching I just glob on to like the disease of me so well experienced coaches they've they've been through it it's a lesson that I can hand off to the athletes I'm working with and this is one that I want to dissect So how what is how to win awareness?
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's a nod to the the goat of college baseball who built this dynasty here, Coach Skip Burtman. That was one of his many sayings.
00:38:29
Speaker
Actually, he had a videotape when I was first starting coaching. It was called How to Win the Big One and had all of his motivational tools. and you didn't find that yeah it's uh it's on a vhs so you might need to break the vcr back out but htwa how to win awareness and i believe that your team has to be connected to how it is going to win and it might mean different things for different teams and definitely in in different sports but
00:39:02
Speaker
how I expect our team to win games has to be outlined for them. And then how we train and prepare both individually and collectively as a team has to be it has to be geared towards those things that you expect them to do in the game to drive winning.
00:39:19
Speaker
And that's what we call our process of winning. And so with Coach Burtman, I want to keep his legacy all over our program. And so it's a real simple way to bring that in and talk about how to win awareness. you know Another one of his is TOB, transfer of blame. We will have no transfer of of blame.
00:39:43
Speaker
And, um you know, it's really cool, you know, to be the coach here and and be able to look back at in my opinion, the greatest coach in the history of our sport and and be able to still include
Learning from Mentors and Continuous Improvement
00:39:54
Speaker
him. He still he lives right over here, you know five minutes away. And you know honestly, the coolest part of being the coach at LSU is the relationship I have with him now.
00:40:02
Speaker
That's great. And still continuing to find new mentors that have been at this level. That's fantastic fantastic. Not assuming you can just step in and and try to will your way to win. Yeah, my dad I've referenced a couple times was a great coach.
00:40:19
Speaker
He talked a lot about, and he actually showed me how to do this when I was a kid. And I don't know that he was doing it intentionally, but he was a really good high school football coach, really good track coach.
00:40:29
Speaker
So I would go to coaches clinics with him when I'm, 10, 11, and 12-year-old running back in Pop Warner, I think I'm going win the Heisman Trophy someday. Craig James. Yeah, there you go. the He took me to see Lou Holtz when he was the coach at Notre Dame. He took me to see Tom Osborne, who was the coach at Nebraska. And i would i would really just sit there and see him like work and listen and apply these things at the high school level.
00:40:58
Speaker
you know I can't remember the coach's name. i feel really bad. But whoever was the track coach at Oregon back in the day i think it was Bill Dellinger was the guy's name, um legendary track coach. He bought all his videotapes on technique and developing his track teams.
00:41:13
Speaker
And I always saw him like trying to improve what he was doing while he was winning and and was very successful. And so i was kind of like, that's that's that's how you do this. yeah and And I've i've definitely you know done that, and I think I've done a good job of that. like As a young coach, I went to the coaches' convention every year and, I mean, literally sit there and and try to take pieces of you know what the best coaches were doing and apply it to what we're doing. in a couple like examples of – he's retired now, but Brian Shoup, he was the coach at Birmingham Southern –
00:41:48
Speaker
Alabama-Birmingham, the very first coaching convention I went to, he gave a talk on like offensive baseball. And I'm like, this is like the greatest things I've ever heard. like I couldn't write fast enough. And actually got on the phone with him after that.
00:42:03
Speaker
and and made that this is how we're going to play offensive baseball at Point Loma, Nazarene. And very impactful. Or you know Dan Hefner, who actually I coach coach against all the time now at Dallas Baptist, i mean just unbelievable program.
00:42:16
Speaker
His thoughts on hitting and how he was able to articulate and explain things gave me a little better clarity about how to teach what we were trying to do and get get buy-in with with players.
00:42:29
Speaker
and so i'm always like trying to do that and um what's awesome about being here and and being on this stage is i've actually got some good access to coaches and people like i never would have remotely thought possible and have developed some good relationships that have helped me you know continue to do that and that i mean that Building those relationships, that's that's success as well. Absolutely. You're continuing to grow and then you're teaching your coaching staff how they can continue to be successful.
00:42:58
Speaker
And I'm curious on how you establish and help your team, your athletes, define success.
Defining Success Beyond Winning
00:43:04
Speaker
Because a lot of young guys are coming to college, they got one thing on their mind, which is winning. But more often than not, winning is not the only way to define success.
00:43:14
Speaker
Really good question. And the first thing I would say is um another thing, and this was a Lou Holtz thing. I just mentioned him, and I remember this being 11 or 12 years old, listening talk. It's like, the way you can get what you want is help as many people get what they want.
00:43:33
Speaker
Like, that's how that's what success is. And it's like, we have a saying, right? is this has in recruiting, like this has to be a mutually beneficial relationship where LSU wins and you add value to the LSU baseball program, but we add value to you and what you want to accomplish in in the future. and I think, you know, winning those and getting to Omaha is like, can you develop as many major league players as possible?
00:43:59
Speaker
Because if you get a bunch of those guys on the field and you have a good strong team culture, you have to trust in what you're doing that the winning will take care of itself. But when we start out, a lot of it is individual development. That could be weight room, that could be mental game, certainly you know improving baseball tools, but also improving baseball skill to win.
00:44:21
Speaker
And so we try to develop all those things for all the players. And I think some of the the coolest parts of the success here is guys that emerged to the front that weren't always at the front when they got here and really improved throughout their time.
00:44:36
Speaker
And so success for maybe freshman on the 23 team might have been a role player, might have been a great teammate in the dugout. A guy named Ethan Fry really comes to mind when I think about that. This guy's as talented as anybody. He only got 27 at bats on that team.
00:44:52
Speaker
And then his sophomore year, he got hurt when it really limited what he could do. Well, last year, he's batting the two hole signs for a million dollars with the Astros ah front and center. probably the best player on our team at at the end of the year last year.
00:45:07
Speaker
um Perfect example of what I'm talking about. And then like, you know, somebody that stayed with it, stayed with the team concept, had the maturity to do that, kept working, kept improving and and found success, you know, that way. I mean, there's other guys and it's it's cool being in Louisiana is if you're a really good player out here, you know, the state, this community is going to take care of you. Like we have guys that haven't gone on to pro baseball that,
00:45:33
Speaker
I would just say I have pretty good first jobs. There you go. that's That's successful. You're entering into this network, this family.
Responding to Adversity and Setbacks
00:45:41
Speaker
um ah I love your aspect for adversity where you're analyzing how the team responds to the first loss.
00:45:49
Speaker
So does that change every year? Was there a year in coaching where it clicked for you of how they responded to the first loss determine the rest of the season? I don't know if I could even go back and articulate that. I do have a good story about last year with that, though. we um We hadn't played yet, and a lot of our pro players train here in the offseason. And so Dylan Cruz and I were standing out in the outfield, and is the day before he was going to go back to spring training. And I'm talking about his year and setting up and all those things.
00:46:22
Speaker
And then he's talking to me about the team and just kind of a last powwow before he heads out and goes and does his deal. And he basically asked me what I think. I was like, I think i think we have a pretty good team. You know, it's the SEC. I don't get too excited about anything. You have to earn every win that you get. um And he goes, you know you know, you'll know what you have.
00:46:45
Speaker
after your first loss. And I just sat there and I listened to that and, um, we didn't really go much further than that. And I was like, that's a good, that's a good thought. That's a good opinion. So we win our first five games and then we have to play a double header because bad weather or whatever the next day come in and we lose the first game of the double header to Nebraska, oma or Omaha, Omaha.
00:47:09
Speaker
And, um, So I immediately went back to that conversation and they all respect Dylan. He's an unbelievable player. He works his tail off. He's a phenomenal human being, like the greatest humility you've ever seen. And they know him because he's ah around here training all the time. Washington Nationals.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah, he's gonna have a great career. And so I brought the team in, in the ah in but the meeting room in between games and i said, hey, i I wanted to share this with you.
00:47:38
Speaker
I think this is relevant. You I was talking to Dylan and he had said, you know, you'll know what you have this year after right after the first loss and how you respond to that.
00:47:49
Speaker
And kind of threw it out there as a challenge to get him motivated for the next game. And won 12 to one. played really well in the game. It was the first game of a 17-game winning streak. All right.
00:48:02
Speaker
And then I drew one that we finally lost a game. I think it was at Texas, second week of SEC play. I said, hey, remember that conversation we had? Like, I don't think you could have responded to adversity any better than you just did.
00:48:16
Speaker
Let's be ready to do it tomorrow and and and go
Leadership and Self-Improvement
00:48:20
Speaker
for it. But if that's how you're going to handle adversity, you should have all the confidence in the world and what you can do and what this team can do. Man.
00:48:28
Speaker
Awesome. So shout out Cruz for instilling, playing this little scene. He's the best. He's the absolute best. um ah I'd love to highlight some of your own expectations of yourself because I mean, you're, you're teaching these guys to, you see the potential in them and you know what grows possible, but that's the challenge of being a leader, being at the helm.
00:48:49
Speaker
How do you continue to see potential and growth for yourself at the top? Yeah, i always look at ah it as a challenge. And um we mentioned Logan Gelbricht a couple times, and I had him come talk to our team at Arizona all right one time.
00:49:03
Speaker
And he was defining leadership for the players, and and he had two thoughts on it. He said, you know, real leadership is taking accountability for things that you cannot control.
00:49:16
Speaker
And in coaching, there are a number of things that you cannot control. And I'm not talking about, oh, that's my fault and things coaches do in press conferences and I've got to be better. That's not what I'm talking about.
00:49:28
Speaker
I'm talking about internally, you know, not leaving anything to chance, you know, not passing the buck on an assistant coach, a player, or any of those things. Because if you do that, the players are smart nowadays.
00:49:42
Speaker
they They will jump out of the fight if you are not in the fight with them. Yeah. I never want to have that. But I liked what he said about that of like – Leadership is taking accountability for things that you cannot control. And then he had another quote about leadership that I really liked is the leader has to take accountability for the gap between their current reality and what perfect is. And there is no perfect probably in baseball, but that really spoke to me. And so it led me back to something that I had learned from Coach Hill that I say to the players all the time is if you're truly aspiring to be better,
00:50:21
Speaker
don't ever accept in winning what you wouldn't accept in losing. So that brings you back to it's all about how you play. And if you want to sell, it's about the process of winning to our team.
00:50:35
Speaker
That's what that means. And that's what that's about. Because otherwise – your're you' selling you're you're selling out yourself to just the result. And again, the players are smart. They'll read right through that. And so I actually got a ah boost last year, and we were 31-3 at the time.
00:50:50
Speaker
I think we'd lost the series at Texas. and But i you know I was like, man, it's game 34. I'm actually kind of tired right now. And i talked to a coaching mentor, and he's like,
00:51:03
Speaker
double down on what you believe in the most, which is back to the play and back to the process. And I immediately got a kickstart of inner energy and enthusiasm for what
Recruitment and Player Development Focus
00:51:13
Speaker
we were doing again. And that's what our team focused on. And they played incredibly free, easy, and loose in the tensest moments of the year and and ultimately came through because I think they did such a good job of that. So for me, it's all about like, these are great.
00:51:28
Speaker
but also want us to be the best at how we're doing all of this from recruiting to developing players to running a program. I would love for somebody someday to go like, that's how this whole thing is supposed to be done. That would be like success to me.
00:51:44
Speaker
Time out. Tex here at trainheroic headquarters meeting with the team to talk about the coaching experience that I'm able to provide for my athletes. So if you're a coach and want to put your program out there on an app that athletes actually enjoy using, trainheroics for you. I've been using it since 2014. delivering literally over tens of thousands of workouts to athletes.
00:52:07
Speaker
And Train Heroic allows me to provide the unique coaching experience that I want to. Uploading video, providing coaching feedback, directions, and building a community, that's why I love Train Heroic. And if you want to take your athletes where they can't take themselves, that they want to go, head to trainheroic.com slash captains and check out how you can deliver programming to them.
00:52:29
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and written.
00:52:34
Speaker
I love it. And I've heard you speak on recruiting a little bit where it's person before the player. So has that always been a mindset philosophy for you? It's a good question.
00:52:46
Speaker
And I will say one of the ways I got here. was not being afraid to take a chance on a player if the ability or the skills were good.
00:52:57
Speaker
If maybe something wasn't right, they weren't quite as good a student or their background was a little rough, or maybe there was this personality thing. I've had a lot of those success stories too. And I'm very proud of that because to me, that's making an impact of you know helping somebody that maybe that doesn't have it all together, find success and be successful.
00:53:16
Speaker
Now we're at a point, I'm at a program where it's flipped it a little bit, where we will pass on a player that doesn't have the right character. We'll will'll pass on the talent if if the person and the character thing is not right. Because if it's equal, who the person is, is going to have a better chance of being successful. And it's interesting. I'll i'll pay attention to how I talk to myself when we lose a recruit to another player and If it really burns me bad, I know the talent and character thing is is all there. And that just happened like a week ago. um And we're on this unbelievable recruiting role of getting a bunch of guys that are talented with character.
00:53:55
Speaker
But like this one, we did not get it. It burnt me because I know he is going to be successful because he's got the talent. He's got the it factor. Yeah. We'll hopefully see him at one point.
00:54:06
Speaker
And then just that fuels your competitive fire yep when you guys need it the most during the season. That's right. that's it Well, hopefully he just goes to pro baseball and skips college altogether.
Baseball Movies and Coaching Inspiration
00:54:16
Speaker
That's also a win. You can watch him during the season. yeah um Some fun questions to to wrap up here.
00:54:24
Speaker
I'm a big movie buff. Me too. My favorite sports movies are baseball just because there's there's no way to do lacrosse in a movie sense. It's just too advanced a skill set.
00:54:35
Speaker
So what is your favorite baseball movie of all time? And I don't think there's a bunch of bad ones. I mean, I think they're usually pretty all pretty good. um i think I appreciate a lot about.
00:54:51
Speaker
um several of them like the the natural always comes to mind with roy hobbs and i just i think it's a great movie like the storyline and uh r.e.p redford yeah that's right um what uh that one if it's on tv i will stop and and i will will watch it um Bull Durham, obviously a classic. You can't not love Bull Durham, Crash Davis, The Sandlot.
00:55:21
Speaker
That all probably takes all of us back to the backyard, 11, 12 years old, and trying to hit homers and running around and and and causing problems. Major League is like the funniest movie of all time. Again, like i I laugh every time. I've watched it probably 250 times in my life, and I still laugh at the same lines every time that they come on. So you work those one-liners into coaching at times? Oh, 100%, yeah. Do the guys know it?
00:55:48
Speaker
I think so. Yeah, I think so. But I'm kind of boring in that way, and and I'm starting to like age out of them because it's not just the the baseball movies. that you know We all love Wedding Crashers. Super Troopers. Yeah, and they just...
00:56:01
Speaker
They sometimes don't know what I'm talking about anymore. You need to say those to get yourself engaged. That's right, 100%. what's your take on Moneyball? Love another one. Yeah, so I only have like four or five movies downloaded on my phone, and Moneyball is one of them. Good. And I think just the constant thought process of back to how are we going to figure this out? you know And and it it was super intriguing because I'm from Northern California,
00:56:29
Speaker
but like the A's with bad stadium, no payroll, had to find a different way to win. yeah And I really like appreciated that, you know, coaching at a division two school, coaching at two mid-majors and not ever utilizing that as an excuse. um And now getting to coach at a a place like this with resources, I think that's really, really helped me and finding different ways to do it.
00:56:58
Speaker
And I've talked with you know other coaches like about this. And I think it's one of the reasons I've had success is getting to coach for, in my opinion, one of the best coaches that there is. And him challenging me, like we're going to have to find a different way to be as successful as Stanford or Arizona State or UCLA at that time.
00:57:18
Speaker
Yeah. And then following up, the best fictional coach of all time. Because Brad Pitt, he was just an executive. That's an easy one. Herman Boone, Remember the Titans. Oh, okay.
00:57:30
Speaker
Coach Boone. Yeah. that's my favorite That is my favorite movie of all time. Of all movies, that is my favorite movie of all time. Yeah, it's great. My mom went to T.C. Williams. No kidding. She was there during that wow that time.
00:57:41
Speaker
It was not as dramatic as the movie makes it out to be. They were blowing teens out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah they they had a lot of close games in the Hollywood factor. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:52
Speaker
ah Yeah, I mean, that that's a great one. Great representation. Well, cool, man. this This is an awesome experience. I'm grateful. Just flew in just for this. So shout out to Logan and thank you for for making the time and sharing your insight and wisdom.
00:58:08
Speaker
If people want to continue... I know a lot of coaches at the college level, they have open door policies. If coaches want to reach out to you or if they just want to follow along, what should they do? Yeah, i think I'll always take more LSU baseball fans on the bus. um Yeah, I think... ah We try to put a lot out there, in the normal channels like social media. I think you know people want to come watch practice. I mean, our a lot of our practices are open. The community here takes a lot of interest in it. It blew me away. The first inter-squad game that I coached here, there was like 2,500 people. I think they wanted to see how this...
00:58:48
Speaker
new way we were gonna do things operated, but try to be accessible as as best we can.
Advice for Aspiring College Athletes
00:58:54
Speaker
And then, I guess final question, I got a lot of my friends, their sons are entering into the 13 age range where college now becomes a possibility.
00:59:04
Speaker
What guidance would you give to those young bucks to to find their way into the college level? Yeah. Are we talking baseball? Baseball. Okay. um I think that the the first thing, i there's two key points to this. Number one, this game is really hard. Like there's going to be failure and setbacks. And i think if there's a thought of perfection or you have to get three hits to feel successful when you ride home from the ballpark that day,
00:59:31
Speaker
play another sport or let your kid ride home with so someone else because its the game is not designed that way. It's not designed for overall dominance or individual dominance. There's only one Shohei Otani on the planet right now.
00:59:45
Speaker
um So having some perspective of what success is, you know kind of like you said, I think that's so important. um Otherwise you're gonna probably drive your kid away from baseball yeah because the game's too hard. Secondly, you know you mentioned college.
01:00:01
Speaker
I think, and we all do this as human beings, is we get focused on the destination instead of the journey. Focus on getting as good as you can right now, whatever that means, like strength, skill, mindset.
01:00:13
Speaker
Like put all the effort into that. There will be time to figure out what the future looks like down the road. Okay, yeah. Understand that travel, lacrosse,
01:00:25
Speaker
realm and then the recommendation for moving forward there is to go to the specific school camps so you get relationships with the coaches versus just going to the the travel ball tournaments which can get very expensive is is there a way that you can approach to to keep cost limited build relationships and still get eyes on you yeah i think um when you get the eyes on you as important like i think doing that before you're really ready for it it's not a good idea. And so go back to development thing. Um, and then I think being kind of narrow, like, I think if you go to a camp and not expect anything out of it, other than it's a day, ah a really good day of baseball and an opportunity to get better, that can go a long way to helping the mindset of the player and probably perform better. And,
01:01:14
Speaker
have a good experience out of it. um I think playing the sport is is important though, I do. Like you can't get better at this unless you actually do it. So I think working on your skills, if you truly love it, a lot of people worry about burnout, well it's like, well that's how you'll find out if you truly love it or not.
01:01:32
Speaker
you know um And that's a real thing, so I'm not like shying away from that. But I think working, playing, developing, and then getting in front of people at the right time when you're ready for it is is really important.
01:01:46
Speaker
Cool. Awesome. Well, Coach, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate you. Thank you. going to give you a handshake. Yes, sir. And just take one last look at the hardware. I like looking at that.
01:01:57
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Captains & Coaches podcast. If you like what you heard here today, be sure to like, subscribe, rate, and review. If you want more weekly guidance, tips, tricks on building a championship culture, be sure to sign up for a newsletter at newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com. If you're looking to raise your game as a coach, I have online courses available connecting with the modern athlete in how to lead kids that don't want to be led.
01:02:27
Speaker
For that, head listen.captainsandcoaches.com. Thank you you again for tuning in and helping us raise the game. That's it.