Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Matt Jones Shippensburg Univ

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BIO

• HC at Shippensburg University (Since 2008 17 years)
• Over 400 with Raiders, over 500 total as HC (Former HC at Elizabethtown)
• 2008 ABCA/Diamond Sports Company North Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
• 2-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2022 East, 2008 West)
• 2 College World Series appearances
• 10 PSAC Tournament appearances
• 4 NCAA Regional Tournament appearances
• 35 victories in postseason play – including a 10-6 record at regionals.
• Six Raiders (MLB) Draft
• Several other players have gone on to play professionally as undrafted free agents or in an independent league
• Overall, Jones has coached in 54 conference tournament games,
  • 21 NCAA regional tournament games
  • 5 College World Series appearances

NOTES

• IF you don’t like where you are at you get a new hat
• You have to keep recruiting your guys when they are there
• I want the player to be with my players by themselves
• The family to be with the players by themselves
• Make sure you take two visits before you commit
• No one gets married after the first date
• New facility allowed to never go inside
• Winter workouts to be ready for 20-30 pitches and trust guys to get it done
• Replicate the starters stuff on a machine
• In our program its still about the program
• It needs be team first
• The younger you are the more blinders you have to have
• As you get through school it will widen
• Moving guys around the locker room
• Changing hitting groups
• Moving guys around in study hall
• Purposeful seating or hotel roomates
• Checking up with guys at practice that have nothing to do with baseball
• Let them see me as more than a coach
• We don’t hide things from the team
• Most of the things kids dealing with are not full reality
  • No ugly pictures on IG
  • Not posting the 0-3, but will post the HR
• You still need to decide how much to of the truth to tell a kid
• Respect their feelings and understand where they are and how much info you give them
• Fortunate to have bosses that appreciate how we do business
• Number #1 rule - “Don’t be a jerk!”
• Its not all about winning the last game of the year
• I want the 90 minutes of the day at practice to be the best part of the day
• Be someone that someone wants to be around
• I am an educator, I recruit kids to a university, and guide them to what they are going to do the rest of their lives
• Ultimate responsibility of the university is to guide people in to being productive adults
• Coaches should Ask more questions than give directives to players
• Communicating and getting guys to understand what your saying and understanding it is their career
• We are going to have different relationships with all of you
• I will be here as much as you need me here!
  • Coach? I will be coach
  • Dad? I’ll be dad
• You have to be ok to admit when you need help
• I don’t have to do it, I get to do it!
• I work with the travel ball tournament parents to get them to realize that it does not matter in those tournaments
• Balance time with team time and individual time
• Record practice and spend some individual time
• Figure out how they learn and what they respond to