New Coach Seeking Advice

I am sure your time is limited but some basic fundraising in the community might enable you to buy some basics. Easy ones I have seen work: local businesses make a donation in exchange for a banner on the batting cage or dugout. A home run derby where players get pledges per ball hit over the fence. A simple raffle where the winner gets a portion of the money collected so nobody needs to go out and get prizes. I will leave the actual baseball advice to the experts on this board

Louise, thank you for your reply but yes we are way behind the curve to start fund raising.  In the future there will need to be some of that done but as I mentioned, I was Football Booster Prez so I could not do it earlier in the year because of the conflict with football.  I think most of our "needs" are going to be met for stuff like some bats we need and hopefully our cage(s) but in the future it would be really nice to have some better equipment, a pitching machine that throws curves and pitches about 50 mph.

I applaud you for taking this on OB1.  Good luck.

For the long term viability of the program you need to engage people willing to start a preteen and middle school age youth baseball program. It’s very difficult to compete if you’re teaching how to play the game in high school. 

MIDWEST MOM, thank you. I enjoy all forms of athletics and have always been involved, it’s what opened the door for my ministry with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 

RJM, we do have a league in the county it just seems to have a closed atmosphere. We are starting a JH program at one of our schools which also means I will somewhat be sharing facilities although it is the HS field so we get priority and TSSAA rules say we can’t practice together or we would do some of our field work together. 

My church is currently evaluating constructing facilities to fill the void as well and I think that will happen in the next 3-4 years. 

This is a little out of the box thinking...but, you might want to do some research to see if its possible...some minor league teams "adopt a school/team/program"...Good publicity for the Milb team, goodwill in the community...Someone with grant writing experience would be able to help you...

My example: Hurricane Harvey destroyed our sports complex here in Rockport last Aug 25. Last week, the Round Rock Express (AAA Texas Rangers Team), Nolan Ryan & others in "baseball land" came together in a spectacular way to provide volunteer manpower & money! They are leveling & filling, building dugouts, lights, fences, seating, concession stand...You name it, this group, headed by RR Express, is doing it! 

Good luck!

Wow OB1 , you got your hands full. As far as your questions : Building a Culture at a HS program takes a lot of time and work. My son played played HS in Southern California at a public school in Los Angeles. It was a legendary program built approx 25 years ago. This coach like you started with nothing . He has since produced a Dozen MLB players( including  a current  big Name MLB Free agent ) Dozens of NCAA players and most importantly , Good responsible young men. Coach stepped aside last year. He was a living legend .

What coach did was rooted in John Wooden's 'Pyramid of Success ' book.  I strongly suggest you buy it.

My son said Coach had 3 rules :

Be on time

Do the right thing

Do things the right way

Sounds simple. My son said it was extremely difficult. Those rules were mandatory . 5 min late to practice ? You run laps. 5 min late to a game ? You run laps and sit. Do the right thing? Walk by a bunch of trash in the dugout and not pick it up ? You got hollered at. Do things the right way? If your field maintenance was watering the field , and when you finished the hose wasn't rolled up nicely you heard about it.

All that transcribed to the field . Miss a sign while hitting . You heard about it. Do it again? You sit a game. Turn the double play from the wrong side of the bag?? Hollered at immediately .

It all starts with a philosophy . Building a new successful culture is about building discipline and enforcing a few simple rules. That eventually will translate into wins on the field but most importantly it teaches young men to be accountable for all their actions on and off the field.

As far as baseball goes, Practice etc. Coach had another philosophy : PLAYERS are responsible for Daily field maintenance . Every player has a specific Job. Also, EVERYBODY pitches and EVERYBODY learn how to lay down a bunt and EVERYBODY learns how to run the bases. Period.

Also, there are no 'Free Swingers ' There was a mandatory team '2 strike approach' rule. Hitter has to see 2 strikes before he loads up to hit.  This forces opposing pitchers to throw strikes ( Which most HS pitchers don't ) and also runs up the pitch count. It also gets your team a ton of walks. all AB's are controlled via Signs from 3B coach. Every pitch ........Same goes for pitching . Cather looks into the dugout for your sign for every pitch. No exceptions.

Practice is all Defense, pitching and base running. Everyday. Very little hitting . Players want to hit. At my sons school you hit on your own time. They did some hitting via scrimmages but not enough for guys to stay sharp. With where you're at with a start up program and probably a lack of talent you might tell guys that you'll stay after late and throw BP if they want to hit. But make no mistake, Pitching and defense wins at the HS level. Spend 80% of your time on that .

The HS team that makes the least amount of mistakes win games. It's all little ball. Draw a walk. Bunt runner to second. Passed ball runner advances to 3rd. Next player bunts w/ safety squeeze , perfect bunt. Over throw to first. Runner scores. 1 out 1 on and 1 in. That's how you win at the HS level.  FYI:Bunts cause chaos on a baseball field. Most teams are not efficient at fielding bunts. Lot's of overthrows and madness . You don't need hitters , you need quick smart players who are disciplined enough to follow your signs and hustle .

With infield drills , it wasn't about hitting balls around the infield with a fungo.....All infield gloves at their positions with a pitcher on the mound and a runner at 1st. Pitcher shadow pitches imaginary ball to home. Runner is supposed to watch his front foot . And go based on what instructions you gave him . You ( coach) then hit a ball to short or whatever and verbally coach the play in real time . Reinforcing or correcting the baserunner and critiquing the infielders . There is ALWAYS a baserunner. You are teaching both defense and baserunning simultaniously ......all the time.

Everyone throws a bullpen. Once you see EVERYONE throw a pen you don't take the best 3 and pitch them . You take those 3 and 4-5 more of the 'B' or 'C' guys and you teach them how to pitch . No breaking pitches. Just Fastballs right over the plate. Your goal is to get the 'B' guys to throw strikes. Period. Velocity ? No, you'll take 70 MPH straight over the plate. And no big full deliveries like they see MLB guys on TV do. Everyone pitches from the stretch. Everyone has a real short stride to the plate. Just a notch past how they look playing catch. That's it. HS ball is about throwing strikes . Teams lose games in HS not because they lack hitters . They lose games because they can't throw strikes.

Pitchers throws bullpens 2-3 times a week. Every week like clockwork.

As far as long term goals its all about fundraising . Sell banner advertisement to local business to hang on the fences , Do team Car Washes, Create Donor letters kids can send to relatives . Dinner nights at local pizza places willing to do a % fundraiser . All that .

You might also consider a ' Study hall' night . Where after practice they stay and do homework as a team for a few hours . It also allows you to have them in a classroom with a chalkboard so you can continue teaching the game .

Pound the fundamentals of defense : Pitch the ball, catch the ball and throw the ball to the right guy .

Good luck!

Tough position to be in.  I agree about forming a culture, after all, isn't that something the football team prides itself on?  Aren't they a brotherhood?  Don't you want that same feeling on the baseball team?

Inspirational speakers over dinner can bring a team together.  Usually you can get people to talk for nothing from a local church, or a former high level player.  My son was particularly moved by a speaker last year who had a full D1 football ride until during his senior year he got drunk at a party and dove into the shallow end of the pool and broke his neck.  Paralyzed for life for a stupid teenage mistake is a hard lesson to learn, I'm very happy he chose to share his story.

As for the dinner, I've had a LOT of good success with getting local restaurants to give the team food.  Sometimes they outright say "You have $500 to spend", and other times they give us one meal and we pay for another, both parties get something from that deal, or they are willing to host one gathering at their restaurant on a random Tuesday when it isn't busy.

We have a local car dealership that donates one car for 7 high schools to raffle off.  Very large pool, but the schools get to keep the money for what tickets they sell.  Tire place, fast food place, local banks, lawn people, eye doctors, ice cream shops....etc.  They can all donate, and it becomes more attractive to donate if you are a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, which means their donation is tax deductible, like if they donated to a charity. Is your club set up that way?  How about hosting travel ball tourneys at the high school field?  Charge $200 a day for the field and we, the parents, man the concession stand in shifts and keep those profits too.

Sad to say but you need money first, everything else will come after that.

Excellent post, StrainedOblique! 

OB1 - sent you a PM

Great advice coming, I love it. 

StrainedOblique, excellent advice!  Many of the things you have mentioned is exactly what I’ve talked with the team about. Starting with field maintenance. Although our facilities are not bad they are terribly unkept, junk everywhere, equipment everywhere. One day in the fall after I had gotten my duties done on the football field and was waiting for game time I went down to take a look at what equipment needs we had so I could get a head start on requestioning equipment. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad it was. Baseballs all over the field, wiffle balls all over dougout. Tee’s broken. Field tarps wadded up against the backstop...shambles. In our preseason meeting we discussed this and I informed them that part of baseball until you reach a level where someone is paying you to play you have a responsibility to keep up and maintain the field. 

One of the others areas we’ve already discussed is errors. We’ve had discussions about the dynamics of baseball and how it is such a skilled game and a game in which you must know what you need to do in various senerios and understand the philoshy to anticipate what is coming. We have also discussed that baseball is the only sport that errors are so vital to the game that it is part of the score board. Reduce the number of errors and increase the possibilities of scoring runs and keeping runs from being scored. 

I love the 2 strike rule and think that is a good way to implement discipline at the plate even in BP. 

Thank you all, keep it coming. 

Dude, those pics are great. You're ahead of the curve. Playing surface appears to be absent lips, which is huge. Get the district to buy clay and Turface and get you a sodcutter and go to work. You can rent them for about $40 for 4 hrs at Home Depot if needed. Mound looks to be in decent shape. Use the sodcutter and more clay (turface optional) to make it bigger and get some bagged clay to finish it off up top and tarp that sucker up.

OB1: "One of the others areas we’ve already discussed is errors. We’ve had discussions about the dynamics of baseball and how it is such a skilled game and a game in which you must know what you need to do in various scenarios and understand the philosophy to anticipate what is coming. We have also discussed that baseball is the only sport that errors are so vital to the game that it is part of the score board. . "

Baseball is a hard game, and it's a head game.   Speeches about ERRORS are counterproductive.

......Also, I forgot to mention this . There are historically three types of HS programs :

1) The Coach runs it

2) The Parents run it.

3) The Players run it.

If you want a program that YOU run. The parents are to be seen but not heard. Our coach held a mandatory meeting for parents once a year. He spelled out for us clearly but also politely that he would not tolerate in input from Parents regarding playing time, position played , Batting order spot or any other madness that most HS parents try to chime in about.

The only time you should hear from parents is if it involves the following :

1) Fundraising

2) Player health issues

3) Player academic issues

You will in fact need a team mom. Or I suppose the politically correct term now is ' Parent Administrative Facilitator' . This is important. You feed all game times, Practice schedules, Fundraising events to this person and THEY email the Parents. You should never Email these things . The parents are responsible for themselves just like the players.

Saw your pics. Field looks more than workable. A lot of fencing to sell banner Ads.

Just a tip , Go the Art Dept on Campus and the Art students, teacher get the paint and your players on THIS ( See pic ) right away. It builds school pride and team pride if the dugout is nice. It also sends a message to your opponent that they are VISITORS in YOUR HOUSE. It's a very inexpensive way to Improve your Culture

I agree the field looks good, just needs some sprucing up.  We have a parent/player field day.  The concession stand, dugouts, batting shed, all get cleaned.  Trees are pruned, new turf was laid in the batting cage...last year we actually removed a tree and one of the dads is a carpenter and he built shelves in the dugouts.

Agree you need a coordinator. Food for players before games, sponsors, fundraisers, equipment maintenance....they all need people.

We, the parents, also went through a meeting with the coach.  We were politely told to enjoy watching our kids play....don't bring anything to the dugout, don't question our game decisions, and have a great year, lol.

Before you ask for volunteers for team mom be clear the position does not buy favor for the player. It’s why many moms volunteer. 

FREDDY77, I agree that getting onto players about errors can be counter productive, I had that discussion with the coach 2 years ago who was a football coach and thought it was a good idea to harass players during a game when they made an error, I told him that all it will do is produce more errors because you put undo pressure on them in a playing environment.

Yes, our field is actually very good and could be great with some work and investment.  We have a new facilities director for the school system (also a friend of mine) and he and the AD are discussing paying an athletic field management company to come in and do all the sod cutting and get the field where it needs to be now that we have people who understand maintaining the athletic fields.  I promised him that if they did it I would insure that the team would be taught how to manage and maintain it as well as help his crew understand what little things need to be done in the off-season to keep it up. 

I have little options when it comes to team parents because most of these kids come from an environment where they're parents don't even come to Senior Night.  However, I do know at least 4-5 of their parents that are willing to help, they just need to be asked.  

"Also, there are no 'Free Swingers ' There was a mandatory team '2 strike approach' rule. Hitter has to see 2 strikes before he loads up to hit.  "

"I love the 2 strike rule and think that is a good way to implement discipline at the plate even in BP. "

Don't do this.   This is not discipline. It is the opposite.   In some rare circumstances it *might* help the team win a particular game, but I don't see how it can help players develop at all.

Oh, and I have some clay and chalk, boy do we have some chalk, there’s a wheelbarrow full in my storage closet as well, not in bags, just a mounted wheelbarrow full. 

Oh, and we pain the lines now not chalk. 

Trying to just get a net for the cage frame and use some of that clay to build a bull pen mound by our dugout.