Change of Season

It's been too long since I've last posted and I apologize for being lazy, busy, overwhelmed.....etc. It has been an awesome experience this semester. First, I'll detail my life outside of coaching:

I picked up four classes as an adjunct professor. I teach in the Health and Human Performance department in First Aid/CPR and Weight Training classes. Not too bad and there's not a lot of preparation for me. However, I also teach two courses for Bossier Parish Community College, which meets on campus of NSU. My undergraduate degree is in Physical Education and coaching, while my master's degree is in Sports Management. So when seeking other courses to teach, I was presented the option of teaching........College Algebra! That's right math. I am teaching entry level math for the community college. It's not been too difficult, as I have teaching and presentation material to help prepare for class. I only have to be one step ahead of the class to look like a genius. And trust me I'm no genius, let alone a math whiz. But it has helped to stretch me professionally and learn to communicate better. That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

As far as baseball goes, the season is 13 games old and the schedule is pretty brutal. We play games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have Monday off with a practice on Thursday.

We played at Ole Miss, who was #2 in the country, and got beat pretty good. We travel to New Orleans tomorrow to play #23 Tulane University and I'll post more on Thursday.

The Demons will have a new website up tomorrow and will post the link so you can follow details of our games if you would like.

2007 Demon World Series Champions

Taste the Steak!

The spoils of victory!

This has to be the biggest steak I have ever seen or eaten in my life. This was the victory meal Kelly's Heroes shared for winning the Demon Word Series yesterday 12-1. This was the text message I sent to the team on Saturday night before the game on Sunday. It was one of those coaching psychological things that you hope work, but really had nothing to do with winning the game. It was fun to see the replies from each guy; probably more excited that they found out that I can text!

For more details on the thrilling victory and to catch up with Demon baseball click the headline above.

Pictures from NSU Baseball

2005 Southland Conference Championship

Received an automatic bid to NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, LA

Demon Baseball Locker Room

Locker Room spread for recruits
NSU Baseball has a contract with Louisville Slugger/TPX



Assistant Coaches Office

Small but efficient!

Equipment Room
Also serves as my office!

Demons World Series Game 1

We have completed our fall workouts and look to end the fall season with the Demon World Series. This is a chance to put on game uniforms, turn on the lights and see how the players react to the spotlight.

I'm coaching one team, Kelly's Heroes (after the old war film by the same name, starring Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas) and back in the managerial seat. We had an official draft the day before and Bobby Barbier is heading up the other team, aptly named after a hard-nosed player on the Cleveland Indians, The Garko's.

We also get to practice game day preparations with pre-game BP and infield/outfield warm-ups. Helps to normalize game days, although you can't reproduce the feeling of playing at LSU, Ole Miss, and Tulane during the season. What fun those games will be!

I drafted our best pitcher with the #1 pick, opting to go for pitching over defense with that pick. Coach Barbier then got to draft the next two picks (since I had the #1) and picked our best catcher and arguably our 1A pitcher. I was able to stock the outfield with some good picks, but failed to draft a "true" shortstop. Nonetheless, I had my team and look to get it on.

The first inning was a disaster as we went down in order in the top and my #1 pick gives up 4 runs in the bottom! We scored in the second off a solo home run by our senior 1st baseman, but trailed 5-2 in the fifth. However, we surmounted an awesome comeback in the next inning to take a 6-5 lead and went on to win 8-6. Justin Morgan, senior pitcher, threw 3 strong innings only giving up 1 run.

The Heroes showed some guts after a horrible start and we look to win the series tonight in Game 2. By the way, the winner of the series gets to eat steak, while the loser has to serve the winning team and eat hamburgers.

I feel like some steak!

Changing Roles

I've just completed my first two weeks here at NSU. It has been exciting and a thrill to be here at the DI level. But, I have come to realize that it's really not that different from level to level. I've discovered that these student-athletes are the same 18-22 year old kids. They may have a little more talent, but still struggle with life issues and how to play the game the correct way.

We had a scrimmage this weekend and it was surprising to see common mistakes made here just like coaching DIII or Junior college baseball. This does, however, help to confirm that I can make an impact here and know that I can coach at this level.

My role from the past 7 years has obviously changed, as I'm no longer the head man. I can only offer my opinions and need to persuade change as much as I can. The staff here has been great and we've been learning together, but seem to work well together so far.

With this change, I've started at the ground level and have duties that reflect that:

1. Fieldwork - mowing, raking, watering, weed-eating
2. Laundry when needed
3. Equipment room organization
4. Equipment ordering
5. Any duties required to make the team better

I also have outfield duties and hope to make them better this year. They struggled last year and this is a good chance to make them better and leave my mark.

I hope to have pictures soon, so keep checking on the site!

Southern Bound Travel

What a whirlwind of a week! I'll get into some details about my first week here at NSULA. But I wanted to share some thoughts on my trip down south. I left last Saturday and had a quick trip down to KC, MO. I spent the night at my uncle's house and had a good visit with them. I left for Arkadelphia, AR the next morning to spend the night with one of the coaches from the KC Grays team, Dirk Kinney. He just started at a NCAA DII school (Ouchita Baptist University) as the pitching coach and I was able to watch a few bullpen sessions with pitchers working out. This was a great opportunity to catch up with Dirk and continue to split up the trip. I was able to relax and watch the Cowboys beat up on the Giants.

Some of observations I had as I was driving down from Minnesota:

• How flat the Midwest really is
• The hills of Arkansas and how beautiful those mountains were
• The pace of life really slows down in the South, I forgot about that
• Down in the bayou of Louisiana feels a long way from Rochester

I arrived on campus of Northwestern around 10 am and literally got to work. It was a smooth drive down, but I did have to replace a O2 sensor in my car before I left Rochester! The car ran well after that and I had no other problems. It was a good trip and I'm glad to be here.