BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
The Ultimate Baseball Coaching Podcast. Step inside the dugout with Baseball Coaches Unplugged, the must-listen podcast for players, coaches, and parents who want to unlock the secrets of baseball greatness. Hosted by Ken Carpenter, a 27-year coaching veteran, this show delivers exclusive insights from top athletes and coaches, revealing what separates champions from the rest.
Imagine gaining insider access to the mental strategies, elite skills, and game-changing drills that fuel success. Whether you're a coach shaping the next powerhouse team, a player ready to elevate your game, or a parent guiding an athlete’s journey, every episode is packed with real-world lessons on resilience, preparation, and mastery.
From behind-the-scenes stories of triumph and setbacks to the unwritten rules of baseball success, Baseball Coaches Unplugged is your ultimate playbook for thriving on and off the field.
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BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
How To Build A State Champion Without Flamethrowing Pitchers
What does it take to build a championship high school baseball program without flame-throwing pitchers or Division I talent? Wisconsin Hall of Fame coach Jeff Ryan pulls back the curtain on his old-school approach that's produced 438 wins and a state championship at small-school Prescott High.
Ryan's journey from milking cows on a hobby farm to becoming one of Wisconsin's most respected baseball minds reveals how traditional values translate to modern success. "Consistency, fairness, discipline, and professionalism," he shares, form the bedrock of his coaching philosophy. His 2012 state championship team epitomized these principles, displaying what he calls "quiet intensity"—a focused, unflappable demeanor that carried them to a 26-2 record despite not having a single pitcher who threw harder than 78 mph.
What truly sets Ryan's program apart is his meticulous attention to fundamentals. His teams spend 30 minutes every practice on scripted situations, mastering pickoff plays, controlling the running game, and executing defensive fundamentals that "steal outs" in crucial moments. Ryan's approach to middle infield defense—eschewing the common "alligator funnel" technique for a more precise method—exemplifies his willingness to embrace proven techniques over trendy methods.
Perhaps most remarkable is Ryan's candor about coaching's challenges. He considers making out the lineup card his most difficult task, understanding that his decisions affect not just players but entire families. His solution for surviving 27 years as a head coach? Setting clear boundaries with parents while maintaining unwavering consistency in how he treats every player, from stars to bench players.
Ready to transform your coaching approach? Discover why Jeff Ryan believes "baseball doesn't teach us how to win; it teaches us how to lose," and how this philosophy creates not just better players, but better people. Subscribe now to gain insights from one of high school baseball's most thoughtful practitioners.
Emphasizes four pillars of success: consistency, fairness, discipline, and professionalism
• Believes making out the lineup card is the most challenging aspect of coaching
• Credits his 2012 championship team's "quiet intensity" as key to their success
• Explains how small-school programs can compete through fundamentals rather than pure talent
• Advocates for 30 minutes of situational practice during each session
• Shares techniques for controlling the running game and "stealing outs" through pickoff plays
• Discusses the challenges of coaching longevity and managing parent relationships
• Focuses on infield defense, particularly middle infield play and bunting fundamentals
• Views baseball as teaching players how to lose with dignity more than how to win
• Maintains clear boundaries with parents to survive 27 years as head coach
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and I've had that. I had a grandmother come into my house on a Saturday morning, literally Didn't even knock on the door. She came into my house and confronted me while I'm sitting at this table where I am right now. The door is right there. Knocked on the door, there she was, came in and wanted to know why her grandson wasn't playing.
Speaker 2:I hope you have the popcorn ready Today. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged, we go to the great state of Wisconsin and hear from an old school baseball coach. He reveals how they shut down the running game, why you should spend 30 minutes every practice working on situations and why the hardest job for him is to make out the starting lineup each game. Wisconsin Hall of Fame head coach and state champion at Prescott High School, jeff Ryan.
Speaker 3:next, on Baseball Coaches Unplugged Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by Athlete One. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches, with 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills. We're covering it all. Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field. Discover how to build a winning mentality. Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success. Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories. Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
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Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button and leave us a review if you have the opportunity. It helps us to grow the show. Remember to look for a new episode every Wednesday at 5 am Eastern Standard Time. Now let's get to the guest out of Wisconsin Head Coach Jeff Ryan. This guy is the reason why I got into podcasting. He is so good at what he does and he makes my job easy as the host today at what he does and he makes my job easy as the host today. Please enjoy what Jeff Ryan has to talk about because he's an old-school coach and he has great stories and there's a reason why he's a Hall of Famer and a state champion baseball coach. Thanks for taking time to be on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 1:I appreciate the invitation and I'm humbled by having the opportunity to share a few things. So thank you very, very much. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2:When you grew up on a hobby farm milking cows, dealing with pigs and chickens chores morning and night. What did that teach you about work ethic and how do you get your players to understand the importance of hard work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question. I think one of the things that I've always said anecdotally to my coaches you know, prescott, is we're about a half an hour from Minneapolis and St Paul. We're as far west as you can be in Wisconsin and still be in Wisconsin. So we're not too far from, of course, a major metropolitan area and we're basically a bedroom community of St Paul, minnesota. And the reason I bring that up is I always say that you know there aren't enough kids that I don't think have thrown hay bales around. I've always said that would be kind of a hilarious drill to have the kids come to practice and have a bunch of hay bales set up in the outfield and say we're going to throw hay bales as our condition. I've never done that. I thought maybe I should do that one of these times.
Speaker 1:But you know, I think, growing up on a hobby farm with great parents, real humble parents and five brothers, you know real humble parents and five brothers. You milk cows, you clean the barn with a wheelbarrow, you cut wood, you butcher chickens, I mean you bale hay, you do all that stuff. That's important. And again, having older brothers too meant in the summer, after you got the lawn mowed and after you got all the chores done on Saturday, you know it's light till nine o'clock, so it's time to play baseball time to play baseball in the backyard, and a ball off the barn was a home run. A ball that hit the stump was a double. We all had like you did, probably too your quirky ground.
Speaker 1:You know I really cherish those moments growing up and a lot of the things that you know. I would stop by my parents. You know the values and you know work hard, be respectful. I think that's something that I learned growing up. So you try to instill those same type of values as a coach, because we know that coaching baseball is not just about coaching baseball, it's about coaching life skills. And once those kids, you know, graduate, you want them to remember those things too. Um, so that's, that's really really important.
Speaker 2:so, yeah, how I grew up is really really important well, 438 wins in a state title Later, what's your biggest key to building a sustainable winning program?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, I think, four things Consistency, fairness, discipline and professionalism. You know, as a teacher and as a coach, I firmly believe that players and students, they like rules. They like rules, they want what the parameters are, but they want those rules to be applied fairly and consistently. And that's one of the things I think we've we've done. When I say we me and my two assistant coaches, who have both been with me for over two decades I think we've done a really really good job of doing that. Um, it doesn't matter if you're the number three hitter or the number one pitcher. Uh, you know that 18th player, that guy on the bench, uh, you have to let them know that they are important and that's really challenging, that's really really difficult and it's got to be done in a way that's genuine.
Speaker 1:So for me I'm kind of maybe getting off topic here a little bit I've always said that in my 27 years of coaching, being a head coach, the most difficult job I have is to fill out the lineup card. That's not an easy thing and I'm very thankful that I view that as being a difficult job because you know you've got 15 to 18 kids in the dugout. It changes, you know, from game to game, you could put nine guys on the field, nine kids on the field, and there's five or six kids in the dugout who aren't playing and they want to play. You know you want to play, everybody wants to play and I get that. And of course they're going to be disappointed. But it's not just the kid Mom and dad are disappointed, grandma and grandpa are disappointed, aunt and uncle are disappointed, brothers, aunt and uncle are disappointed, brothers and sisters are disappointed, girlfriends are disappointed, friends are disappointed, and you know that.
Speaker 1:Again, it's one of the things that I'm thankful that that really bothers me and I think the players know that too. And of course, those decisions that you have to make as a head coach have to be made with purpose and you've got to be honest with players. I think you really really have to be honest with purpose and you got to be honest with players. I think you really really have to be honest with players and sometimes coaches get themselves in trouble, especially young coaches, I think they make promises to players that aren't playing and then you know you break those promises. But I think it's about keeping your promises, being honest with players and, again, I'm all about professionalism, professionalism, consistency, and I like to think that the teams I've coached over the years kind of act a particular way that I think the community should be proud of.
Speaker 2:Well, you know you mentioned your two assistants being with you all this time that you've been there. I would imagine you guys probably can know what the other guy's thinking.
Speaker 1:Yes, no question, we have real, real good conversations when the three of us get together about game strategy, practice planning. It's really, really important to have that kind of a relationship because in this day and age I don't know what it's like in Ohio the coaching profession has really become kind of a revolving door, a turnstile, so to speak, and when I tell people that I've not only been coaching for 27, 36 total, but to have two assistants that have been with me for two decades, they kind of give a double take and they say to me I hope you understand how fortunate you are. Believe me, I know how fortunate I am to have two coaches that have been so loyal and that share the same philosophy, the same approach to coaching the game.
Speaker 2:Take me back to 2012, that state championship run. What set that team apart and what did you learn as a coach during that ride?
Speaker 1:Well, that 2012 team was just was a dream team. Now I say a dream team. They did experience some nightmares when they were sophomores. You know, I we didn't have a lot of really talented underclassmen, so we had seven sophomores that started that year and finished the season actually 12 and 12 finished 500 and. But there were some bumpy parts of the season, as you know, you're going to have when you have, you know, 10th graders, when you have underclassmen. But as they became juniors, they had a very, very good year as juniors and then when they became seniors, of course they were about as dominant a team that I've ever had the opportunity to coach.
Speaker 1:Now, when I say dominant, the word dominant today is different than it was back in 2012. You know, for whatever reason, it must be our coaching, but in 2012, we had five pitchers that we threw and not one threw over 78 miles per hour, not one. We just we threw strikes and we caught the ball ball and we played great defense. That's one of the hallmarks of the 2012 team great defense. You know, we 26 and 2 that year for a high school team. Uh, the team turned 26 double plays, which is pretty good for a small school. Um, so our, our defense, uh, was just fantastic and our approach, our, our, our, our defense, uh, was just fantastic and our approach, our, our, our approach, our quiet intensity. It was just the dugout.
Speaker 1:You would have thought maybe, um, the way the kids acted, I mean of course they reacted to great plays, but between pitches and the dugout you would think, man, that he's kids in church. I mean just quiet and so focused. But again, that's the type of player that I love coaching. You know, you don't have to be a fist-pounding, rah-rah, drum-playing, fence-slapping type of player in the dugout. You can just tell. I mean some players just in the zone and that team, which was, you know, a veteran team by the time they were seniors, just all of them have had that intense, quiet, intensity that just made them unflappable and they were just a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic team, but a lot of great players. Been lucky enough to coach a lot of great players, um, been lucky enough to coach a lot of great players, but I would say, collectively, there's never been a team that I've had players that have had that same look, but not a team that had that quiet, intense look, which was just a joy, a joy to watch and a joy to coach.
Speaker 2:Well, how have you adapted throughout the years when it comes to your coaching style, because I think you know, the kids may have been a little bit different, you know, as, like you said, 2012 or even before that compared to now.
Speaker 1:Say that again. How has your ask the first part again?
Speaker 2:How have you adapted throughout the years your coaching style? Oh, okay, that's, that's a good question, and, boy, you adapted throughout the years, you're coaching now?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, that's a good question. And, boy, you know, baseball has its evolution too. I mean, you have to adapt, and if you don't adapt, that can lead to problems. You know there have been changes in the game that I have not been particularly fond of. One of the things that you have to adjust to is just how hands-on parents are. I mean really hands-on. And you know, one of the things that I do as a coach at the beginning of the year, like all coaches, do you go through the rules.
Speaker 1:Now, if you've got a question, if you've got a problem, there is a hierarchy, there is a way to do this, there's different steps, and I insist on those steps being followed. You know you have to have things like. You know, the first thing, the kid has to come up to me and has to talk to the coaches. Now, I will never, in this day and age, I will never have a conversation with a player one-on-one, I just will not. I will never have a conversation about playing time one-on-one. You know, maybe 20 years ago, but now there's no way I would do that, and I always have an assistant coach with me all the time listening. So I have a witness, so to speak. But one of the things that I'll say at our meeting is that you know, step one isn't a phone call from home, it's the student or the player has to come up and talk to me and then I'm sure that might be a parent that might say well, that might be difficult for the kid. I said well, you know what? That's part of growing up. That's one of those skills. I think that is important for that young kid to, if not, approach me, approach an assistant coach. But I am going to be involved in that discussion and that's usually where it stops. I did have this is a few years back a little story where a parent called me up and we're having a conversation and then the parent said I have a question about you know, my son's playing time. I said stop, stop for a second. I said have you had this discussion with your son, or I haven't heard from your son. No, I'm just inquiring. I said, well, this conversation is over with him and I ended the conversation. I mean, I'm not the only coach who does that, but again, you have to be honest with parents. You can say something forcefully without having a confrontational tone in your voice, but again it goes back to being consistent. These are the rules and these are the rules that you have to have. I think I had this Coach. I had this one moment Actually, it was in 2010 when we had all the sophomores that were playing.
Speaker 1:A student was a player who was a senior, had asked me if he could come and talk to me because he wasn't playing enough and, of course, I was the reason why he wasn't playing and he wasn't that good of a player and I tried to find a way to get his uniform dirty, which you can do in football. It's a lot easier to get a kid in a football game get his uniform dirty than baseball and the kid came into my classroom and said Coach, I just want to tell you that I'm going to quit. And I said okay, and I asked the kid why. He says well, I just want to tell you I'm a senior this year and it's nothing that you've done, it's nothing that you've said, it's got nothing to do with your coaching, but I'm not the baseball player that I want to be, that I wish I was, and I am going to respectfully quit. And he says I know I'm disappointing you and I'm disappointing you and saying this, I says well, you are disappointing me. He says, but I'm just, I need to do this. And I told him. I says you know what? That's one of the most mature things that any student, any athlete, has ever said to me and one of the things I am doing. I'm very proud of this. I'm writing a book and that's one of the stories I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:I have a top ten moments in coaching and, in a weird way, that moment that young man that's one of the greatest moments I've ever had as a coach.
Speaker 1:It was just so unbelievably impressive what that young man did. You know I know the family very well and when you live in a small town, everybody knows everybody. And you know I know the family very well, and when you live in a small town, everybody knows everybody. That young man teaches at a nearby school, is a social studies teacher, like I am. I see him quite often and I have so much respect for him, so much respect for him, and you know those moments are really, really important. It's not just winning that state championship or winning those conference championships, but those moments like that that you really see kids really do some things that are impressive. So yeah again, honest conversations. The 2012 team was a real easy team to coach. Real easy team to coach, real easy team to coach. You just fill out the lineup card and you let them play Hustle on the field, hustle off the field, just very respectful, very professional, just class A individuals, every one of them. They were an unbelievable club.
Speaker 2:When it comes to your offensive philosophy, do you build around your athletes each year or do you stick to a system that works regardless of the personnel.
Speaker 1:That's a great question and I think you know, for a small school like us, it goes back to consistency. I think there's a foundation. We have a reputation in Prescott as teams that pitch well, play great defense, execute the short game, execute the short game and we just utmost respect for opponents, umpires, when we address umpires, I think this is kind of a funny thing. I heard somebody say this at a clinic. A lot of the stuff of course we do is stolen. You were talking about that at the beginning of the show how we steal everything. Coaches that are willing to share and we can steal, we don't get arrested for it. So that's. You know. That's good to do that, but I forgot my train of thought now what I was saying. Dog got it. That happens to me sometimes Talking about philosophy, oh, when it comes to defense, I know this is controversial, I know it is, and I was lucky enough.
Speaker 1:A few years ago I got invited to speak at the National Clinic in Oklahoma City and my topic was an infield play, middle infield. I was a middle infielder in college and that's kind of my thing and we work really, really hard. A middle infield, really, I mean all infield, but middle infield. If I could choose one thing to coach, it would be middle infield and catching. But middle infield is kind of my thing and, uh, you know I'm all about separation, separation and this is a controversial thing. Um, we don't, we don't funnel, we're not, we don't funnel, we're not alligator funnelers, we don't, we're a. We're a pancake, pinky pinky ball out of glove I. I mean, we really, really focus on that because, again, at a school our size, you know, the athleticism is there but it's not like it is at a Division I school. We're a small Division II school. We've got about 400 kids and you've got schools near us that are 1,900, 2,000. We've got about 400 kids and you've got schools near us that are 1,900, 2,000. But every year we're not going to have the great athletes. We'll have some good athletes. From time to time We'll have some really, really good ones.
Speaker 1:But those defensive philosophies that we've taught over the years have really, really served us well and that is our infield play, our glove work, our pitchers. Again, I told you we don't have any real, never. It's just really strange. We've never had a real fireballer. We've had very good pitchers and our pitching coach, brad Matzik, who was actually a teammate of Jared Washburn I don't know if you remember him pitched for the Angels and Jared played at UW Oshkosh and that's where my assistant coach went to school and he was on the 1994 National Championship team with Jared. We haven't had a pitcher like Jared come through our program, but one of the things we do.
Speaker 1:You know we really really work hard at controlling the running game. We really work hard at that. So I can never coach the major league level because of course you can only pick twice and that's it. But we really work hard at that and teams, when they play us, I would say, have a tendency to be quite timid. They come into the game having a reputation for being very aggressive but when they play us they know that.
Speaker 1:You know we are going to control the running game and we've had good catchers not great catchers, but in high school baseball you can have a great catcher but of course if you don't do a very good job of you know changing your looks and working on your, you know everybody throws to the plate, count one or count four, you know you got to go on two, go on three. We really work hard at that and I think that's also one of the things that we've done consistently that has enabled us to be successful. And we bunt, we bunt and we're good at that. We're good at that. We also our pickoff plays, our first and third plays, our sneak behind play from first base. I mean we practice that, practice it, practice it. But you have to be committed to it.
Speaker 1:And you know, I think I treat well, I'm really rambling here I treat baseball practice like doing a lesson plan for teaching. I mean it's like all coaches, very, very specific. You know, from this time to this time you work on this drill picks to first base and then you work on, you know, your V-tag at third and work on just really, really specific stuff. And we don't practice for longer than two hours. I mean anything over two hours is a typical game. A long high school game is two hours. So I've never really understood my personal philosophy. I never understood those long practices. But we get after it. In practice Kids have 11 seconds to get into the dugout after the third out. So we practice that and I'll have the stopwatch. I'm sure a lot of coaches do this and there might be a little bit of silent griping. The left fielder says I got the longest run to make and the first baseman only has 20 steps. But we watch them all and we want to get in and hit. We're ready to hit, so get in there quickly.
Speaker 1:Everything that we do in a game, you got to practice it, you know. People say that you know, bunting is easy. No, bunting is not easy. And people say, well, we don't bump because it's easy to do. No, you're wrong, bunting is not easy. And if you bunt, well, in practice you're going to get more cuts before they swing. Everybody, of course, wants a hit in the cage, they want to hit in the field with the shell, they want to show off, and so on and so forth. But you know what? You're not going to get nine cuts unless you get six out of six bunts down. You have to provide some incentive, you have to show that it's important and then in the second season playoffs or then when it pays off, then, and then in the second season playoffs or then when it pays off, when the kids start saying, well, yeah, we understand why we're working on this.
Speaker 1:So you know, I think there are some things that we do yearly. Sometimes you can't be as aggressive on the bases if you don't have good team speed, but you don't have to be fast to be a good base runner, to be aggressive. But no, I think there's things we try to do consistently and have done consistently that have enabled us to be successful. And this is another thing that I really really like is when kids will watch the other team warm up and they'll see how they throw, they'll see how they field and they're like shaking their heads, so they see those fundamental things that we drill, drill, drill so hard, not manifesting themselves in their opponents in the pregame, and I think that gives us a little bit of an edge. Our pregame is pretty good and the players get after it and again, we do so without screaming and yelling and hollering. It's just I'm going to be focused and I'm going to throw a dart over first base and, yeah, it's a joy to watch.
Speaker 2:Well, you know you mentioned a couple things there that you know the 11 seconds. That is the one thing that stands out to me is, when you do that, umpires are going to be happy with you, you know. And then I as a coach, you know 27 years I never had a guy hit 90. I was like I don't know how every kid in the world is throwing 90 now.
Speaker 1:Yes, that.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's right, but yeah, there's a lot of things there.
Speaker 2:Now you mentioned the pickoff in controlling the running game. Can you give me an example of something you guys might do that really helps coaches, helps you guys as a team prevent teams from running on you Sure, I don't know if you know of I'm guessing you have and it's probably different terminology aggressive teams.
Speaker 1:We played some aggressive teams this year that did, on their leads from first or leads from second, they do that vault step or almost that running start and if you, I mean you can steal bases at will against teams that don't practice trying to control that. And we've played. We had a big tournament game last week that we lost in the bottom of the seventh. That's a whole other story, but anyway, a real aggressive base running team that we knew that they had done this vault step because we had scouted them, we had sent a couple coaches to watch and we really, really worked on, of course, changing our timing but also picking at one, picking at two, picking at three, picking at four, and not just picking, you know, or just stepping back and what we did and we have to again, we're a little school, you know, we're a small school and you have to really practice this and we had some kids serve as stand-ins Boy, I'm giving away a big secret and we had our catcher. We had our catcher give a signal to the pitcher when the kid was in the middle of his vault. And we picked three guys off, two off a second and one off, or two off a first and one off the second base and the base runners. Well, you know, if you're in the air, it's over, it's over. And and what did that do to that team's running game? Basically eliminated it. That was in the first three innings, so they didn't try anything after that and it just.
Speaker 1:I was just really really and it was so exciting to see the kids get so excited after working so hard on this. The pitcher and the catcher and the team was just really really fired up. So that was a big thing. And you know we have all these different. We love throwing from behind with bases loaded. We'll throw from behind to first base, you know, but you got to practice that and we're not afraid the kids, we got to drill into those kids. You can't be afraid to try to make that play. You know you got a number three hitter up with the bases loaded and you got that guy who's kind of a sleeping and that first base coach isn't doing a very good job of paying attention and, holy cow, that can just and we've done that quite a few times and it is just deflating for the other team. You know it happened last year, I think a tournament game where that happened had number three hitter up and we had a left-handed pitcher, so a little bit easier to do with a righty, but the righty is a great play. I love that one more than anything because that's even more dangerous, and so we picked the guy off first and then we walked the number three hitter to face the number four hitter who was left-handed. We got over the ending. It was just perfect, just absolutely perfect, so you can steal outs like that man.
Speaker 1:We worked hard on that. We worked hard on stealing outs, picks first and thirds, all the different plays that all coaches do. We just really, really drilled that. This is another thing. I think that is really really helpful for us and I'm assuming you've heard of Bill Walsh, the 49ers coach, if you remember how he, when he was coaching and there's still coaches today who do this he has scripted plays, plays that he has identified, that we're going to run, I don't know 10 plays or 12 plays or 15 plays. We have scripted situational section of practice where we'll have 20 plays, situational plays, runners in first and second, runners in first and third, one out, two outs.
Speaker 1:Have two coaches. You have the base runners, who are told what to do, what to happen, what happens, and it's just been a really, really good way for us to cover basically any situation in those scripted situations. So you have the varsity. Players will be on defense, then they'll flip-flop, then the JV will be on defense and it probably takes about 30 minutes. But, boy, you get a lot of reps and you're working on base running, you're working on defense, you have pitcher throws a pitch and the coaches hit fungos. But it's just great. It's really, really been a good thing. And again, it forces kids to think on their feet and communicate. So that was something I got that from a coach in Oklahoma City just gave a couple examples. I thought, man, that's a cool thing to do, that's a good way to do it, instead of just saying, okay, we're going to work on first and thirds, now we're going to work on bunt coverages, do it all at once. It just is great and the kids like that too and they make it competitive.
Speaker 2:Try to find a way to make it competitive JV varsity and they have a good time something that's, uh, you know it seems to be increasing, you know, and there's more and more of it happening is the number of good coaches that are are leaving high school baseball, and you know some. You know some are leaving for you know very good reasons, you know they want to spend more time with their family, uh, but but others just being pushed out, whether it's the parents, the athletic director, the school superintendent, whatever it may be. What is your take on it and what's the secret to your longevity?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, of course you know everybody says the easiest coaching job to have is to be a varsity assistant, because of course you don't have any decisions to make. You make all the recommendations in the world, but of course you know your name's not on it, so to speak. You know, I think in this day and age, because of going back to what I talked about, the starting lineup you have to recognize that you are going to disappoint people. You are going to disappoint people, and a lot of people. I would say more so today or get tired of the. Some coaches today would say I'm just not going to do this. Some coaches today would say I'm just I'm not going to do this, I'm not willing to go through that type of, I'm not going to allow people to treat me that way. And I get that. You know and I've. You've probably had that and I've had that.
Speaker 1:I had a grandmother come into my house on a Saturday morning, literally didn't even knock on the door. She came into my house and confronted me while I'm sitting at this table where I am right now. The door is right there. Knocked on the door, there she was, Came in and wanted to know why her grandson wasn't playing. I mean, you know, we've all had moments like that. I don't know if you've had a grandmother and curlers come into your house and I think for a lot of people that's tough. Now I've got a phenomenal wife, phenomenal and she loves baseball too, so that helps.
Speaker 1:But being a coach in a small town, there's not a lot of places to escape to, there's really no escape. And one of the things I've chose and I'm not complaining, I'm not complaining about this One of the things that I've chosen as a head coach is to kind of isolate myself. You know, I'll go to area restaurants, you know, and I'll. You know, of course you got to go shopping, go to gas stations, see people. But what I do not do is I don't put myself in social situations that could end up in a parent with some liquid courage coming over and offering me advice. So I just avoid those situations and I think sometimes again, in small towns, that some coaches can get themselves in trouble in those situations.
Speaker 1:You know, I think you have to keep parents at an arm's length. You have to. Again, that's my philosophy. Some people don't I mean some coaches are very, very close with parents and I say, well, how do you define close? I've had some situations where I've lost friendships because of coaching decisions and I've had parents who have done things for me without being asked.
Speaker 1:Then, two years later, of course, when things don't turn out for their son, then they won't have anything to do with me or we'll say negative things about me or the program, and again, that's, that's part of coaching, that's we we get. So I mean I'm a parent, I have three kids, all graduated, but I mean we want the best for our kids and sometimes, you know, wanting the best turns into behaviors. That clouds people's judgment and I understand that. But I think it's been best for me to kind of remove myself or not put myself in those situations and I think sometimes people then view me being like that is that I'm kind of aloof, that I'm unapproachable, which I think is far from the truth. But so there is a price to pay.
Speaker 1:I've paid a price for that, but I think for me it's been one that has served me well. I think it has, and again it's, you know, I've had to sacrifice some things and thank God like thank goodness I have I had three great kids who understood that baseball was important and I have a wife who's just A1, just an A1 wife very, very supportive. So you know, I think a lot of coaches and this is going to sound negative just don't have the spine to put up with some of the nastiness that's out there, because there's some nasty stuff, real nasty stuff.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I, I, you know I agree with a lot of things you're saying there.
Speaker 2:You know the the the one thing that I, really, looking back on it now, when I was at Buckeye Valley, I, my athletic director, had my back and you know she would, you know, know she was also the softball coach, so she understood and, uh, you know they, if you've got an administration that really backs you and is willing to stand up for you as a coach, that that is helpful. Because you know, like I put out something on x the other day where you know somebody was talking about a coach and I said that I had an administrator friend of mine who he used to be a athletic director, and you know he said that he's heard that if the athletic director has got to decide between your one year stipend, you know, contract that you have, and them having to deal with parents all the time, they're going to just move on from the coach because one it's a spring sport, non-revenue sport, and why? Why spend the time you know fighting for you when they can just go get another coach and maybe make that?
Speaker 1:parent group happy After my life. I wonder you know, when I walk away, when I decide that I'm done will that be the same for the coach that replaces me?
Speaker 2:Well, looking back on your career, what do you hope that players remember most about playing for Coach Jeff Ryan?
Speaker 1:You know, I think you know respect, professionalism and, again, being fair. You know, one of the greatest you know and this is nothing revolutionary, you know this Baseball doesn't teach us how to win, baseball teaches us how to lose. I mean, that's the most important thing and I think one of the greatest moments coaching is when a player plays his last game and you know to see how they react and you know to see how they react. You know, and usually of course you have these kids, these macho 16, 17, 18-year-old kids, of course, where the last thing they're going to do is show any emotion. But of course, when they realize, especially in baseball, that the career is over with and if it ends in a disappointing manner, to see the tears well up in their eyes, I think that is a beautiful moment. That is a beautiful moment, the emotion of empathy.
Speaker 1:And one of the reasons why that is important to me is my oldest brother had Down syndrome and he passed away at the age of 44. And I've always told people I mean he was the first home run hitter I ever knew, he was the first one. I mean he was Babe Ruth, I mean when we were, you know, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade him, the world would be a better place. So he is having that relationship with him and him being a. He loved baseball, was good at it, had a heart condition, of course, as many people with Down syndrome have, but he had a great life and you know, having parents, humble parents, who did what a lot of parents didn't do then when he was born in 1950, a lot of parents you probably know this that a lot of parents who had Down syndrome children were told again, the emotions of the game are just, they're beautiful, they're beautiful moments, beautiful moments.
Speaker 1:And I, you know I cherish those hugs. And when the, you know when a 17-year-old kid cries, like you know, like the, like the four-year-old you know who had a sucker taken away from him, and he balls like crazy and then, after he's done crying about two minutes later, there's one more. You know when a player does that. That's priceless.
Speaker 1:And when they're the ones who initiate the hug too. You know that's beautiful.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful. I'm really interested in what your response is to this one Hate losing or love winning.
Speaker 1:At the end of every game we talk with the players, but we do it a little bit differently. Okay, we go by the dugout to the right of the dugout or, if we're on the road near the dugout, right near the fence, and that's where we have our conversation, and we'll have parents and other people will come over and they'll be able to hear everything that is said. So we do it in front of everybody, and for two reasons First, first of all, I have no secrets. And also, um, you know, we, we got to be careful what we say and how we say it. Um, it doesn't mean you don't say what you want to say. Um, but in that moment, one of the things we do when we win, I give game balls like everybody else does. So, two game balls or three game balls. Now, going to graduation parties there's been a few of them, I've gone to a few players it is just so tremendous to see those game balls on little pedestals. You know what they did, you know who was it against and everything like that.
Speaker 1:And some people say, oh well, when you talk to the kids, then you go back to the school, then you talk to them again. No, uh-uh, no, no, no, no, no, that's it. That's where we talk, and there's a lot of coaches who say, well, I'm not going to do that because that's a moment for us. That's why we go out to left field, that's why we're for what's to come, because there are going to be disappointing things that happen in your life and athletics teaches that. And that's what bothers me, that some people don't understand the importance of competitive athletics, because it teaches you to deal with difficult times that we all face in our lives. It gives you kind of a taste of it. So you know again, I've been teaching for 36 years and I love teaching. I just love it. But I love coaching too.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Did you get a chance to see the College?
Speaker 2:World Series game yesterday.
Speaker 1:All right, I wanted to get your thoughts on the ejection of the Coastal Carolina. I don't get it. I mean, I don't know if the umpiring is very good in Ohio. Our umpiring is very good in Ohio. Our umpiring is adequate. We had a.
Speaker 1:Our season ended on a very suspect call. Really, really bad. It's terrible when the umpire or referee determines the outcome of a game and that's what happened to us and I know it kind of sounds like sour grapes but I still taste those sour grapes in my mouth and it's been two weeks since our season ended. But no, I I mean, come on, he's got to understand. This is a national championship game. I'm not talking about the coach and talk about the umpire and all the.
Speaker 1:All the coach said and I saw the press conference too is that you missed three already. He didn't say you're blank and blank and you're terrible, you suck, just said you've missed three already. All you need to do is put the stop, sign up and just move on or come over and say okay, that's enough. Yeah, I didn't understand that. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. And again, sometimes I look at some of the behaviors that I've seen in the College World Series and the Super Regionals like and that guy doesn't get ejected. It's like my God, that's a guy who should be tossed, not the coach of Coastal Carolina doing something as you know One pitcher and one hitter in a Game 7 of the World Series.
Speaker 2:Group A you got Pedro Martinez as your pitcher and Willie Mays as your hitter. Or you get Group B, greg Maddox as your pitcher and Barry Bonds as your hitter.
Speaker 1:That's me. I get past the Barry Bonds thing. Sorry, I'll take Willie Mays. I'll take the Say hey Kid. Yes, and Martinez, I'm a huge Maddox fan. Maddox was awesome. Maddox was successful. You know, at the beginning of the fireballing pitchers man he was just, oh, just yeah, he's wonderful. He was a tactician and you know that. But yeah, I'm a Maddox fan. But you put Maddox and Bonds in the same duo. So I'm going to go with Martinez and Willie Mays.
Speaker 2:Well, to finish up, can you share the best story from all your years of coaching high school baseball?
Speaker 1:I don't say a whole lot during games, I just don't and I don't argue with umpires. I'll ask questions of umpires. And we were playing a tournament game I was coaching third base, of course and we had this umpire that says, get your foot back in the batter's box, and he had one foot out looking and the kid puts his foot back in the batter's box and then he got quick pitched and another strike was called and then he looks down for a signing Home plate umpire comes out and I said, mr Umpire, can I just one?
Speaker 1:more word out of you and you are gone. I said one more word, so I had to turn into a mime, literally the rest of the game. So I get back to the dugout, back to the dugout, back to the first base coach. He follows me all the way to the dugout. He did that every inning for the next five innings. He was waiting for me to say one thing, and if I would have said one thing he would have tossed me. So then after the game I ended up losing, which made it worse.
Speaker 1:After the game I said really loud, really loud he came over to bring the baseballs and put them over, because the game was at home, put them by the dugout. He was right there. And I said really loud I said you have got to be kidding me. And then he said to me you're lucky, you're not playing tomorrow, because you wouldn't be allowed to play tomorrow. I said one word and then, as he's walking away, I said you've got to be kidding me. And then the bass umpire comes up to me and he apologizes to me.
Speaker 1:So I've never turned into Marcel Marceau coaching. You know, I need everything but the white mind face and the striped shirt. So that is just an unbelievable story and that's not very. But again, coach, when I was walking by him he did this and he turned around and watched me go to the waiting for me to say one word yeah, so that guy's name, I won't mention it Mike Schmidt.
Speaker 1:There's a couple coaches, there's some umpires here that I know really have a good relationship with and they heard about the story. They wanted me to tell the story and then just this year a really good umpire says hey, coach Ryan, come here. He says, yeah, I almost couldn't make it today and I had a sub ready for him. Mike Schmidt was going to be here. I'm like whatever. So they all know the story from that. So yeah, that's kind of like the College World Series, you know, to the 100th power, you know. I mean come on. So yeah, that was awful, awful, awful, right when I was in college. Again, if it was the umpire from the Coastal Carolina game, yeah, I definitely would have been tossed, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, no doubt. Well, it's Jeff Ryan, head baseball coach at Prescott High School in Wisconsin. Coach, wow, I've loved the stories and I love for you taking the time to be on Baseball Coaches Unplayed.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you believing me worthy of saying this, that and the other about the greatest game in the world.
Speaker 2:Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Be sure to tune in next Wednesday for a new episode. As always, I'm Coach Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
