BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED

The Secret Sauce to Winning 3 State Championships in 5 Years

• Ken Carpenter • Season 3 • Episode 54

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What separates consistently successful baseball programs from the rest? For Coach Jared Ingersoll of American Fork High School (UT), it's creating what he calls "the AF way" – a distinct approach to baseball marked by exceptional energy, relentless hustle, and players who genuinely compete for each other rather than themselves.

After leading his program to three state championships in five years, Ingersoll pulls back the curtain on building championship culture. He reveals how fostering authentic team chemistry creates an almost tangible feeling in the dugout when players truly buy into playing for something larger than individual achievements. "Very few people actually have an idea of what it means to be on a team where you can almost feel it," Ingersoll explains, describing the rare chemistry that emerges when players learn to value collective success.

Particularly fascinating is Ingersoll's approach to player development and role management. Rather than avoiding difficult conversations with players receiving limited playing time, he creates space for honest dialogue: "I want your heart. I don't want you to sugarcoat how you feel inside." This vulnerability-first approach allows him to help players find meaning beyond statistical contributions. His story about a senior catcher who barely played but received MVP consideration demonstrates how deeply Ingersoll values attitude and team contribution over mere talent.

Throughout the conversation, Ingersoll shares practical strategies that have built his championship program: pressure-filled practice situations that prepare players for big moments, detailed pregame routines that signal professionalism, and constant communication with parents about expectations. He balances traditional baseball approaches with modern adaptations, demonstrating how championship programs evolve while maintaining core values.

Want to create a baseball program known for both winning and developing exceptional young men? Listen as Coach Ingersoll breaks down his blueprint for championship culture that goes far beyond just collecting trophies.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.

  • 0:00
  • Introducing Coach Jared Ingersoll
  • 5:20
  • Keys to Championship Success
  • 9:33
  • Handling the Pressure of Big Games
  • 16:48
  • Managing Players' Roles and Expectations
  • 27:31
  • Evolving Coaching Philosophy
  • 32:43
  • Coaching Reflections and Baseball Memories

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Speaker 1:

Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, you'll learn what it takes to win a state baseball championship, not just once, but three out of the last five years. We discuss the underrated factors that contribute to a team's success how to develop players' buy-in strategies used to help players handle pressure in big games, with Jared Ingersoll, head coach at American Fork High School in Utah. Next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Speaker 2:

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.

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter, and today, if you're looking to build a championship program that's consistently winning year after year, you're going to really enjoy today's guest. Jared Ingersoll, has been doing it for 24 years at American Fork High School and winning state championships. That's his job. If you enjoyed today's show, please be sure to share it with a friend and don't forget to hit that subscribe button and leave us a review. It helps us to grow.

Speaker 1:

The show Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The netting pros specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball, softball, and this includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles screens, ball carts and more stops, batting cages, bp turtles screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The Netting Pros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse, golf courses and now pickleball. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Check out Netting Pros on X, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Coach, thanks for taking time to be on Baseball.

Speaker 3:

Coaches Unplugged, you bet it's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1:

Well, we were going to try to do this recording a couple days ago, but you had something come up and I have a lot of firsts on this podcast and you were going to be the first one to say I had to take a trip on a helicopter, so we needed to back out. So, for the sake of the listeners, what happened on this helicopter ride?

Speaker 3:

So it's my brother's 50th birthday. We're one year and 10 days apart. He also was a head coach at Lehigh, which is one of our same region schools. We've had to coach against each other for a while and he stepped away and his assistant over there. And for his 50th we have a buddy, a common buddy that I don't know if you've heard of bucked up energy drinks or bucked up pre-workout or they do creatine, they do all kinds of things.

Speaker 3:

Well, he's kind of the CEO of it. He's kind of the CEO of it and last year we went to Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field for two times in three days and that's what we did last year. So he was putting a lot of pressure on me. So I asked my buddy, ryan's his name at Bucked Up and he says we've been talking about going helicopter fishing. So there's a mountain range in Utah called the Uintas and it's out in the sticks and he said let's do it. So he picked us up the other day and we went down there and took a helicopter deep in the mountains and fished this lake and caught like fish almost every cast and it was a lot of fun and that's kind of that's my first time on a helicopter and if I ever hit the lottery, that's the first thing I'm going to buy, because it was pretty sweet.

Speaker 1:

Really Wow. What were you fishing for?

Speaker 3:

We were fishing for trout brookies, eastern brookies. They weren't very big but they were sure marked up and pretty fish at this time of year.

Speaker 1:

Great. Well, there you go. That's a first for me. I love a coach with a great story, and that definitely is a good one there. Well, you just capped off your Utah State Championship in, I believe, the last five years. Yeah, what was the most underrated factor that contributed to your team's success this year?

Speaker 3:

Well, we kind of underachieved, in my perspective, in 24. You know, we went into the state as the number one seed and, to be honest with you, we were kind of honoring me and my coaching staff. We talked a lot in the fall about better leadership, being better prepared, playing more together as a squad and, you know, going into the season we knew we were going to be tough just not how tough and especially when our backs are against the wall. But this senior group was probably one of our more did just an incredible job of leadership and playing for each other and not caring who gets the credit and being very unselfish in our bats and just finding ways to put the ball in play. And with two strikes and just so impressed by our senior group and their leadership, that was probably our biggest thing that we focused on and asked the kids to do and they responded and totally got the job done you know you, you had mentioned that.

Speaker 1:

Um, you know you, you you got your guys to basically buy into a concept and yes, and it really paid off. What, um, what have you had happen in the past where you're like, okay, we, we've got to make a couple of changes and, going into the season, that was one right there. Were there any other changes that you made?

Speaker 3:

Well, I don't know. You know, looking every year is kind of different. But we, I think we have a really good system in our program if the kids do buy in, but we weren't playing. I mean, one of the biggest adjustments really is we just I hate boring baseball Like I expect high energy, I expect them to play hard.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of we call it the American Fork way or the AF way, and our kids kind of say that and it's kind of some verbiage that's used around the locker room and on the field. And what does that really look like? Well, hopefully we think it looks like the world just a little bit different, a little bit tougher, a little bit more excited about the work and the task that's in front of us in the game. And you know there was a time in 24 where we got deep in the state tournament where it just didn't click. And it's weird how some years it'll click and some years it won't.

Speaker 3:

And you know we've tried to prepare our kids to make it click every year. And it's winning a state championship. It's not easy. Um, it's sometimes and I told our kids the other day in the classroom that you can't take for granted the success that we've had and we can't relax because when you do that you'll get beat. And I was just, really just. We ran in, we sprinted off the field, we went and charged out to defense. I don't know, the kids just bought into that and played really hard and was just so proud of them just bought into that and played really hard and was just so proud of them.

Speaker 1:

Well, I wanted to ask, if a coach is listening out there right now and they're in that situation where they've made a couple deep runs but they just can't quite take that final step to win the state title, what would you recommend?

Speaker 3:

Well, a cool thing about our program is, I feel like and this is my 24th year here at American Fork. I've had to dodge the mob a few times. They came after me when we were unsuccessful.

Speaker 3:

I don't think there's a coach out there that hasn't dodged the mob. You know, parents or admin or leadership, that's above you kind of a thing. But the biggest thing that I would say is that our kids, we get into them in a respectful way, but they know that we care about them and I talk a lot about them. I tell them I love them, I want them to love each other and that's a hard thing because they come from all kinds of different walks of lives and just getting kids, hey, you don't need to hang out on the weekends, but when we walk through and we're between the white lines, you guys need to have a common respect and a love for each other. Very few I say this a lot to our kids very few people actually have an idea or a feel of what it actually means to be on a team where you can almost feel it in the dugout that if we get behind a couple rounds or if we get up a couple rounds, that we're going to extend the lead. It's almost a palpable like, you can almost touch that feeling. And the kids have to be held accountable, they have to be respected, but they have to know that you care genuinely and that you love them. Because if you have that kind of that common I know it sounds kind of cliche, but if they're not going to care until you know how much they, you care about them.

Speaker 3:

And I feel like we have a good relationship with most of our players we push our players. There's the way they handle the failure part of the game. I mean, sometimes a kid will make a mistake and he'll come off the field and he'll have like six or I have a really big staff. You have like six or seven coaches that they'll be told by other coaches hey, what do you think you could have done better? Well, what about this? What about that? I mean, really the only time I ever really kind of lose my mind is when there's a lack of effort or a lack of that's pretty much. It Just not hustling, but just the team concept is what you have to have to get over the hump, in my opinion, and it's rare to actually get teams to actually all be pulling in the same direction and it's a culture thing and it's an everyday fight to get that culture to be there.

Speaker 1:

Well, you talked about dodging the mob there and, uh, you know, do you think over your career that? Has there been any change that you've noticed where you're like? I think players want to be coached hard Sometimes. Mom and dad maybe may not be quite as receptive to that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's. It's a weird time in high school athletics, especially baseball. You have the showcases, you have the summer baseball and you know when, when we get our kids back, all from those things which we want our kids to go to. We've had a lot of guys go play college baseball, those things which we want our kids to go to. We've had a lot of guys go play college baseball. But the parents sometimes we have a parent meeting as soon as I make the final cuts and I just kind of lay it out there and kind of stick it to them a little bit and I times we have usually have about 35 players in our program. That's sophomore to varsity and I times that by 24 and that's something like 1500 athletes. I don't know what the number is, but I go 0% and I go.

Speaker 3:

I personally I don't do a lot of things really right in this world, but the one thing that I can do is I can read your son's body language and I can tell by the way it's getting talked around at the dinner table and it should be talked around at the dinner table. I can tell by the way if it's positive or it's negative around at the dinner table. I can tell, by the way, if it's positive or it's negative. And parents, I go. If you feel like bucking that trend by telling them you're getting screwed by the coach or you should be playing over this guy, you're not doing your kid any favors. They need to learn how to compete and battle for that position and through the game of baseball there's a lot of life lessons that are learned. And if you tell their kid or rescue them from the battle or the position that they're in, that's not helping them out in life. And it's a hard, hard challenge. But I kind of stick to the parents I go, let us do our job. But I also have an open door policy. Like I don't want to see you up in the stands with a dark cloud over you trying to get other people to pull over your side about what should be being done, I go. If you've got a problem, come look me in the eyes. Let's try to find common ground. You deserve an explanation of why we do what we do. You're invited to all the practices. Come to the practices. Come see what we've got going on. I mean, we're with these kids more than their parents are really and we want them to understand why we're doing what we're doing and I feel like I used to be really good at this.

Speaker 3:

But sometimes, now that I'm getting older, I find myself being a little bit lazy on the communication with the kid. Like we started a freshman in center field over a junior and I went to the junior and I said you deserve an explanation of why we're doing what we're doing. And I just said he's more of a playmaker, you both will make the plays, but I feel like he'll go get the ball. He's more of a competitor and so I had to explain that to him and I go it's not that you can't do it, but you've got to find a way to get better at that of competing.

Speaker 3:

So under helping daily communication and sometimes I swept stuff under the rug in my past and it's come back and bit me Like you have to have those kind of talks, the hard talks, but I think that it's the way that we have to communicate with the kids or with the parent. But I've had parents come in and they want explanations and we try to explain it to them of why we're doing what we're doing, and I'll always have another coach with me and it's not an easy thing when their kid's not playing. But it's not about their kid, it's about us. It's about our team and about what makes us the best. But also one of the keys is, like in the past years, we've had seniors that like, maybe their role is just pinch running, maybe it's their job is to come in later innings when we need a defensive sub that we make us better defensively. Maybe it's you're just a pitcher only for us. You know, whatever the role, helping them to feel comfortable and to helping them feel valued that is the key.

Speaker 1:

Without a doubt, and that's that's kind of what I was wanting to know is how do you treat and handle the player who you know he he's just not going to get that much playing time. But you don't want to mess up the team chemistry and sometimes you know you get those guys that'll be like I don't care, coach, I want to be on the team. But then once the season gets rolling, it's like their attitudes change a little bit. How do you handle that? You know?

Speaker 3:

just pull them aside and say how are you feeling right now? You know, like, where are you at, like what do you see? And I go and I'll say I want your heart. I don't want you to sugarcoat things. I want, I want to know how you feel inside about what we're asking you to do. Maybe you don't know what we're doing. Well, here's what I think you should do. I want your heart. I want you to not sugarcoat how you feel inside. Okay, and they'll explain to me and I'll go. Well, how can we make you feel more valued?

Speaker 3:

You know, in this program, for example, we had a senior this last year. We have a really good junior catcher. He's committed to BYU and this senior catcher that came in you thought he was the starter and it was going to be the final game, like he came in and just worked his guts off. So I had an awesome opportunity to talk to him after the season out in Omaha. We go to the College World Series every year for like 10 games and he happened to be out there and I had him come sit down by me and I said, just so you know, I'd probably give you the MVP, and he kind of looked at me, like huh, and I said he probably had four bats, he probably caught maybe two innings.

Speaker 3:

I said what you did, how you came in every day and gave us everything and try to improve and try to get better, and when we'd score runs he was the first guy out to congratulate. Like his attitude and like going from here forward, like in his life, whether he's going on a mission or he's going to be a ceo or he's going into the business world, that attitude will make him so valuable to whoever he's around and to help kids understand that it's hard and I've lost the battle on some of those things too, you know, and and but that helping kids feel valuable in their role, whether it's the bench or the starting pitcher or the shortstop or the catcher, is so crucial. But it takes time and I can't do it all myself. I'm lucky that I have great assistants.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, those guys are critical to your success. And if you could talk a little bit about those guys and if you could talk a little bit about those guys.

Speaker 3:

So I have my yeah, we. I feel bad when I see some of these coaches that try to do all their selves. Some I'm, I'm, I'm not I'm not very good at handling things by myself Like I put a lot on my assistant's plates, like I expect them to coach. My head assistant's been with me for 24 years and we've had disagreements and just a relationship but we trust each other. We go to these, we go to the College World Series, we go to these ABCA conventions together and we kind of fishbowl Like our coaches meetings.

Speaker 3:

When we're talking about some of our personnel they get kind of heated sometimes because one guy you know, and ultimately it's obviously my decision. But I want their input, I want them to challenge why we're doing what we're doing or why we're doing what we're doing with this kit or this player, um. But at the end of the day, like before the state tournament we'd had, this was kind of crazy because we'd been winning. But I felt like me and the pitching coach and the pitching coach and the defensive like adjusting the defense. We were kind of chirping at each other during the game and we talked about how we need to broadcast to the team that we're all on the same page. If we have disagreements, let's not do it in front of the kids. Let's try to do it off the field or talk about it when they're not being able to see that maybe we're having disagreement, kind of a thing.

Speaker 3:

But I have him. Coach Homestead is his name. He's unbelievable. His boys have all played for me Scott Jepson and Brandon Devereaux. We have two pitching coaches and I wish I could sell headsets to listen to those two guys banter about what they saw between the game. I could make it is and I'm always down by them and just listening to them because there's so much going on and they both see different things but they work so well together.

Speaker 3:

My hitting guys were Mitch Jones and Sean Johnson. Mitch Jones played in the big leagues, played forever in AAA. He was a teammate of mine back in college. Sean Johnson was a head coach at a time down at another school in Utah. And then we have Brennan Mascara, whose boy just committed to TCU and is at TCU as a freshman this year. Ryan Draper I mean I have like seven or eight coaches and we just got another one of my old players back who finished college and coaching at Friends University in Louisiana. So we always have a meeting and I tell them what their roles are or what their expectations are and what my expectations are, and then I just let them go and they know our system enough to know what exactly needs to be done. But I'll tell you this I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't for them. And they may come into the yard fun, even when we're struggling a little bit or what it might be. They just make it easy coming to the field.

Speaker 1:

What strategies do you use to help your players handle pressure, because you guys have been in some big games the last five years, and do you have something that you or your coaching staff does?

Speaker 3:

You know, every practice we need to do something competitive. Um, so we do a lot of stuff actually. Um, we have a drill, we have a bunch of drills that we do where we coach pitch it or we um machine pitch it, and it encompasses every aspect of the game other than the pitchers actually pitching. But they're covering, they're backing up bases, they're moving around. If the ball gets hit off the screen, they roll too, and it's for every base.

Speaker 3:

You get on offense, you get points, and so like I'll divide the two teams up, not the varsity versus the JV, but I'll try to divide them up. It takes a lot of organization and planning, which is not my strong point, and they'll sit and they'll like almost fight each other in this drill and I'll say, hey, we're just a team here, but inside I'm like we got these guys, like they're learning to compete inside the game and so like if we have a runner first and you hit a base, hit up the middle and the guy goes first to third and they overthrow the cutoff guy trying to throw the guy at third and our hitter better be on second base, and when we go to the big fields in the state tournament it will eat teams up because of the pressure that we put on people through running to the bases, we'll do like a 21 outs, where they got to do 21 clean outs, and they get three chances. If they don't do that, they have a triangle which is where you run from home plate to the right field pole, across center field to the left field pole, back to the home. And it's kind of an older way of thinking but there needs to be some kind of pressure and so and so like. When we get to like 17 or 18 outs, I'm looking around at which guys you know doesn't want to make a play that I'm hitting it out of.

Speaker 3:

We believe in tough love when we do our individual defense, like we'll hit a bunch of ground balls and we'll throw it across the diamond to one and then I'll go two times clean, which means they have to fill, set their feet, make the throw. First, baseman's got to receive it, he's got to throw the catcher, so everything's got to be clean. If they don't, then we start it over. So we're constantly trying to put pressure on our guys because, let's face it, and we talk a lot about being comfortable in the uncomfortable situations. We talk a lot about a process, about breathing, having a focal point when you're in the box or when you're a defensive spot or when you're on the bump. You know everything we do is to try to help them to breathe and be their very best when it matters the most.

Speaker 1:

What's the biggest shift you've made in your coaching approach over the years, and what do you think led to that change?

Speaker 3:

Well, when I was a young coach and I took over this high school program. I played for this. This is where I went to high school and we had the best coach in the world. His name's Kim Nelson. He's still coaching. I swear he's been coaching for 50 years and he's won a bunch of state championships and he is the epitome of what a coach should be.

Speaker 3:

Well, he left and went over to this other school and we hadn't been to the state tournament in seven years. So when we got back, obviously that was our goal, was just trying to get to the post season and we weren't very good. We did a lot of West Coast style baseball where we expected the kids to wear pitches. We expect them to be aggressive when they got there. But we bunted a lot. We bunted the hell out of people and it's won us a lot of games. It's put a couple of banners up in the gymnasium because we were so good at it and I've kind of gotten away from that a little bit, not that I don't, because I think bunting is the sleeping giant of baseball, because it puts pressure on our whole offensive scheme, is trying to put pressure.

Speaker 3:

Let's steal bases, let's hit and run, let's move guys around and I've kind of stepped back just a little bit and trusted more of the hitter than trying to actually force things, if that makes sense is one area where I've kind of backed off it. But at some point in the season a bunt's going to win us the game, so they better be able to do it. And we do work a lot out in practice. But in the summers and the falls and in the spring we bunted all the time and so we were really good at it. Now I don't bunt as much, so when we need to do the bunt it doesn't always work out as much as I would like it to, because we haven't been doing it all damn year. So I don't know.

Speaker 3:

That's one area where I've adjusted a little bit. I would like to think that I'm getting better at some things and learning. That's what's great about the game of baseball. It's constantly evolving. You go to those ABCA conventions and you're going to learn real quick that you don't know very much. You're not the smartest guy in the room, that's for sure. Like you're. It's like drinking from a fire hydrant. So I used to go to those conventions and I go to them every year and I would try to take away six to seven things. Well, now I've simplified that down to three things and just kind of try to add that better to our program.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that approach because you could sit there and try to do all these things and then you're like, oh my God, I just don't have enough time to do it. But if you take two or three things, that's a great way to do it.

Speaker 3:

Jack of all trades, master of none. Sometimes we get way too. I'm over like we had a practice back in 24. It was right before the state tournament and we had a, we had a buy, and so we had a practice and I showed up and I think I had like a gazillion things on the practice plan and I'm like we get done with practice and I'm just like what, what? What were you get? What was your goal trying to accomplish here?

Speaker 3:

You totally screwed this practice up by what you. You wanted everything done and everything, all T's crossed and I's dotted. You just should have stayed at what's got you here and focused on what we do and what we do well. So that was a learning thing for me and I do evaluate myself a lot. Like when we lose, it's not the kid's fault. It's like what do I have to do better? What does me and my staff have to do better to try to prepare these kids? It's never the kids when you win, it's the kids. When you lose it's my fault and that's kind of the approach that I've taken to it.

Speaker 1:

Well, when people watch your team play and they kind of know what they're getting over the past 24 years, what do you hope they notice about your coaching style and the way your players carry themselves?

Speaker 3:

Well, it's funny you ask that because after the state tournament I had probably six or seven people come up and they said you guys won that in your in and out. You won that in the way you prepared the game, like when we go out to play catch, which is the most important thing we do every day. Like you'll have coaches that are kind of over to the side or whatever, but me and my staff were always on the guys, like even watching them catch and throw, and that's probably the most important thing we do every day is our catch and throw just getting loose. But just the way we go about it, the way we're getting ready for the game, like when we game from the first pitch, I want our kids to be game ready. But I had six or seven people come up to me and say, man, the way you guys prepare your in and out and everything else, it just looks better than everybody else's, and sometimes it wasn't because we were kicking the ball around a little bit.

Speaker 3:

But I want people to look at our program and say number one, they're playing for each other. Number two, they don't care who gets credit. Number three, they play it the right way, like it's a hustle, like it's a tougher style of baseball and I don't know. Like I already told you, you know boring baseball sucks. We're competing. This is a fight. We've got to win every pitch and when we don't win every pitch, it's the next pitch and I just want our kids to compete.

Speaker 3:

I think that everybody has an idea of how to play the game, but I think there's not very many people that know how to compete inside the game and every year we get these sophomores to come in and some of them are exceptions, like some of them can really know how to compete and they're ready. They're varsity ready to help us. But just trying to get them to learn how to fight and compete inside the game what that looks like like taking the extra base, advancing on a dirt ball, wearing a pitch, getting up there and being aggressive, offensively, like those things are what I hope people look at our program and say man, af does a really good job with that well, you just talked about your pregame.

Speaker 1:

in and out there, you know, I've seen coaches purposely not let their team watch the other team take infield outfield, because they're like, oh my God, they're going to watch that and they're going to be like we're beat already. What is it that you guys do that makes it so special?

Speaker 3:

Well, we do it a little bit different. We start by. I start with the infield. Most people will start with the outfield. We always start with our infields and we'll throw it around a couple of times, then we'll pull them in and we'll do some cut fours, then I'll pull them back and we go about three times through.

Speaker 3:

We've been accused of doing too long of infields, like tryouts is what some of the people have said to me. But we do a lot of throws across the dime and then we'll do double plays and then we'll do slow rollers and then we'll go into the outfield and then I'll do the pop-ups and I always keep the because I used to be good at. I'm getting old now so I can't do the dishes very well. So I keep the infield and the outfielders will scoot in and we'll do a little pop-up priority and then maybe on my fifth swing I'll get one that will hit to the catcher and he'll catch it and then we're off the field. So I don't have to be embarrassed about hitting one out center field or hitting one to the third base. So when I get one to the catcher and we catch it, then that's when our in and outs are done and they sprint off and get fives or whatever.

Speaker 3:

But I think it's really crucial for our pro kids to watch the other guys. Oh, how well does this outfielder throw If a ball goes to him and moves him to his left and right? Can I get the third? Can I go from first to third or two to four?

Speaker 1:

I think that that's crucial, that they watch those kind of things and kind of learn a little bit about the other program. Well, for young coaches or coaches that are taking over a program that might be listening right now, what advice would you give about building a championship program to that coach?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think they've got to be coached tough. But I think that again, that that comes with the relationship that you have with them and invest it. I think it's crucial. I'm at the school, I teach at the school. For someone that comes in and doesn't have the relationship or the dynamic of being at the school, I would say you need to be in front of your kids as much as possible and talking to them about their day and finding out as much about them as you can and what makes them tick. That would be important.

Speaker 3:

We try to play the toughest schedule we can. We're going in the spring to the Bishop Gorman Tournament in Vegas. Hopefully we get beat up a little bit and learn a little bit about ourselves. Losses aren't always bad. It's okay to take one step back if you take two forward. Um, and learn from why we got beat. Um, we have a quality of that chart. We have a freebie war chart. I mean there's constant things of measurements that you can actually look at. Um, that will help you to overcome all of that stuff. And you've got to put pressure on them. You've got to make them compete. It's not just a baseball game. It's a fight inside the game of doing the little things better than the other team.

Speaker 1:

Do you hate losing or love winning?

Speaker 3:

You know what You'd think after 24 years I would be able to handle losses better. You know what You'd think after 24 years I would be able to handle losses better. I think there was one time in 23, we went into the state tournament on a six-game losing streak. We haven't lost six games in a season. Sometimes and I would come home and start snapping at my wife and my kids. I literally had to go into my room and just withdraw because I was so worked up in my own head about it.

Speaker 3:

I love winning, but my dad always says it he's a former coach the highs of winning are never as low as the lows of losing. And we I take it personal when we get beat and it hurts and I tell the kids I go. It better hurt because I know I'm going home tonight and from the entire time to my, from the field to my house, I'm trying to make sure that I'm in control so I don't snap at all my family. And it hurts Like I got to take a little bit longer route sometimes because it takes me a little while to move past it. I don't like to lose, it sucks. But again, if we are getting beat, I take a step back and I hear a lot of coaches do this Well, the kid didn't do this, or that kid didn't do that, or our pitcher didn't do this, well we didn't hit. Or well, that's my job as the coach to have them ready so that they can do that stuff.

Speaker 1:

So I look at myself, well, I'm convinced you know I had to step away from coaching after 27 years because of health issues and I developed ulcerative colitis and I think I'm convinced I can't take losing. It just eats at me and I really think that created the ulcerative colitis that I got. That had forced me to get my large intestines removed and put me in the situation I'm in now. But I really wish, looking back on it, that I enjoyed the winning a little more than I did, because you know, like you said, the loss is just to eat at you and it drives you crazy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, you know, after this season I mean I do a lot of fishing and I'll be in the river and or I'll just be sitting on the couch or watching TV or something, and it'll just hit me and I say this to myself all the time I go I hope you enjoyed as much as what you guys just accomplished. I don't think I step back and really enjoy it. I don't know, maybe because I've just been in the fire for so long, but I really hope that one day I can step back and really look back at what the kids did and the kids deserve the credit because they bought into what we have going. Would I like to think I have a little hand in it, and me and my staff Sure, but really it comes down to good kids and not always the talented kids, just the kids that buy in or the ones that help us, you know, with the hump. But man, I just I hope that it's funny.

Speaker 1:

You say that because I don't think that there's times where I really enjoy the great way that we're playing the game. I got to do a better job, especially when you're winning state titles. The way you're racking them up, that's for sure. Well, let me ask you I'm going to hinge with a couple more questions here and a little bit off the beaten path here you have one MLB pitcher from the history of baseball that you could pitch in Game 7 of the World Series. Who do you send it out to the mound? Wow, that's a good question.

Speaker 3:

I'm old school baseball pitch in game seven of the world series, who you send it out to the mound? Wow, that's a good question. I'm old school baseball. I don't follow the pro game like I used to when I was a kid, with all the baseball cards and stuff. But I'm probably going with Nolan Ryan just because if he hits you and you go out after him, he's going to win that war too. We don't, we might not win the game, but we're going to win in the parking lot. He's just tough. I just love the way watching him, the way I mean he's just was so good Like. I don't know if you've watched that Nolan Ryan documentary, but I was like that guy for what he did. As long as he did, it was incredible. I'm probably sending Nolan Ryan.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know it's funny, as I saw something this morning where on the MLB network where he threw seven no hitters and never won a Cy Young and Roger Clemens threw no no hitters and won seven Cy Youngs. And so you know, it's really interesting, because Nolan Ryan was just, he was just different.

Speaker 3:

Just a big dude that just chucked hard but seemed like he was a really good guy. To me he was the ultimate competitor on the mound.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's flip it now. You've got one MLB batter from history with the game tied in the bottom of the ninth.

Speaker 3:

Who are you going to send up to the plate? Well, I'm telling you about my favorite player growing up, because obviously I'm'm an LDS guy and my favorite player growing up was Del Murphy. And the cool thing about Del Murphy like everybody, my kids know how much I love Del Murphy and they like to get me going by saying that some hitter today is not as good as it was way better than Del Murphy, and I'm just like bull crap. I go, I'll fight you over this.

Speaker 3:

Del Murphy not only was a great player, but he's an incredible human being and I actually he actually helped, was one of my assistants for one year. He his boy, was a senior at America for high school. He came down and played football and he actually was our assistant coach and we'd send him over to the cages and he'd start talking hitting. I'd like stop what I'm doing, I'd go over and listen to him. Well, he ended up his son, jake, who lives in Atlanta, actually married my niece. So I actually talked to Del quite a bit. He actually just came and got a bunch of old uniforms for us to take the dominican to give to those kids that they're for one of the things that he does. So am I a little biased because I tell everybody that I'm related to del murphy and he's just an incredible player, but an unbelievable, unbelievable human being. So I'm going going, del Murphy.

Speaker 1:

All right, You've got plenty of coaching experience and playing experience. I try to pull this out of coaches and if you need to hold back names or whatever, but what is the your funniest memory from coaching baseball?

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh, I've had way too many. Is it like an umpire story or something like that? Oh, the umpires, they love me here in Utah. Let me tell you when I played, and so I played at I went to Snow College before when I was out of high school and I played football and baseball down there. When I came back, I went on a mission for the LDS Church and I came back and I played at Utah about and then I went to Southern Utah, which was a division one program, and I played for two years there and I coached for a year and a half.

Speaker 3:

One of the funny stories in my my brother, he we were getting just stomped and we still had two more games and our head coach had got kicked out.

Speaker 3:

So I was the guy in charge and I made the decision that I was going to put my brother, who wasn't a pitcher, on the mound because I knew he'd compete, so we wouldn't have to use any of our good pitching. So we had a chance in the next two games Like we were down by 10 runs or something. So I put him in there and he we call it this he threw a split finger. We called it the Inger split because of our last name and he sawed this guy off and it was a little pop over the mound and he went back my brother's super athletic but he went off the back of the mound and fell down and it was like he'd never seen a fly ball before and we were getting killed and I'm over there in the dugout in tears because it was the most unathletic thing that I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 3:

I thought that was funny. I've been in a game where we were playing Mesa State and there was one game where one of their players made all three outs and one inning. I've been in some wild stuff, I don't know. I could go on for days and days.

Speaker 1:

They made all three outs and one inning, meaning they hit around that many times.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it was a football score Again. Yeah, and that's even with the. I think that was when we still had the minus threes, when we just barely started those things, the BB cores and stuff like that. Yeah, he made that's how many times they went around. Mason State's a great program they can hit. They could do it all around. Mason State's a great program they can hit. They could, they could do it all. Um, as far as the coaching one, I don't know. I don't know. It's just when you think you've seen it all, you finally see something that you haven't seen. You know, but probably those, probably those situations.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's, that's well, coach, I, you know I it's. It's, it's jared ingersoll. He's a state champion head baseball coach at american fork high school in utah. Coach. Thanks for taking time on uh labor day here to join me on baseball coaches unplugged anytime, god's grateful to be a part of it.

Speaker 1:

Special thanks to Jared Ingersoll. Don't forget to tune in every Wednesday for a new episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged, where I sit down with some of the greatest coaches from across the country. Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals improving programs one facility at a time. One facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. As always, I'm your host Coach, ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

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