The Winning Mindset
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The Winning Mindset
Leading with Purpose: From the Diamond to the Director's Chair
When Coach Jonathan Burton took over as head baseball coach at Reinhardt University seven years ago, he wasn't just inheriting a team – he was accepting a mission to transform lives. After 17 years as a head coach at the NAIA level, compiling over 560 wins, multiple World Series appearances, and developing dozens of All-Conference and All-American players, Burton has mastered something far more significant than winning baseball games: building complete human beings.
"I used to chase the scoreboard a lot," Burton confesses with the wisdom of a coach who's seen it all. "Now I barely even look at that thing. I don't look at it until we have to because I'm just thinking about how to build people up." This philosophy has guided him through three different college programs, each one transformed into a national contender under his leadership.
What makes Burton's approach exceptional is his unwavering commitment to developing the whole person. While many programs focus exclusively on athletic performance, Burton's teams participate in weekly personal development sessions, attend church together, and build relationships that transcend the diamond. "Most programs are just trying to build the baseball player," he explains. "At Reinhardt, I've tried to build both the baseball player and the whole person because 98% of the players we have aren't getting drafted. They've got to be able to handle this world when baseball is over."
This whole-person approach is anchored in Burton's faith and his understanding of what truly matters in life. Now, as he prepares to transition from head baseball coach to Athletic Director, Burton hopes to influence an entire athletic department with these principles. Reflecting on coaching his own children versus other people's children for nearly two decades, he shares: "In six years, you're going to be 50, and in six years, Turner's going to have a permit," revealing the personal motivation behind his career shift.
Whether you're a coach, athlete, parent, or leader in any field, Burton's wisdom on building championship cultures, maintaining emotional balance ("play with emotion, don't play emotional"), and making difficult decisions offers a masterclass in transformational leadership that extends far beyond the baseball diamond. Subscribe now to hear the full conversation and discover why Coach Burton's legacy will ultimately be measured not in wins and losses, but in the lives he's changed forever.
Welcome in, ladies and gentlemen, to Episode 8 of the Winning Mindset Podcast. I'm your co-host, jeff Moyer, alongside Chris Mullins, our guest today is Coach Jonathan Burton, head baseball coach at Reinhardt University, a top-five NAIA program here in the country. Today's episode titled Leading with Purpose from the Diamond to Director's Chair. So we've got Coach Burton here. Coach Burton's been coaching college baseball for 20-plus years and has led he's one of six coaches I think it is to lead multiple NAI programs to the World Series A couple third-place finishes, a fifth-place finish, 560 career wins, 150 all-conference scholar athletes and a coach whose impact goes far beyond the diamond. So, coach Burton, thanks for joining us from the AAC Conference Tournament after a big 4-1 win over Pikeville. Appreciate you joining us today, coach.
Speaker 2:Sir, thanks for having me, Jeff.
Speaker 1:Coach, why don't you give us a quick intro, tell us who you are, how you got to where you are now and let these guys know who you are?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is year 17 as a head coach at the NAIA level. I started at Trevecca, nazarene, when I was 26 years old. I had a chance to be a head coach and knew absolutely nothing about what I was doing Kind of trial by error. You get yourself and you kind of learn to get through mistakes and make good decisions. But you've got to figure out how to correlate all that together to have success. Trevecca was a place that I played my college ball at and then was an assistant coach for three years and then the head coach for three years. And then I went to Lindsay Wilson, was there for seven years, took over a program that we didn't have a lot of success there and turned that into 540 win seasons and we had three conference titles and went to two World Series and felt like we needed to make a change and we decided to move south a little.
Speaker 2:Better baseball weather in the beautiful state of Georgia we call it, but this has been great. I mean, reinhardt, this has been here for seven years. We've been here for seven years as a baseball family with me and my wife and two kids, and we've really, with the help of yourself, we've been able to really turn this program into one of the top programs in the country. That was on the brink of winning a national title last year and here we are again with another chance to hopefully do that again. We're one win away from number 40, and we haven't seen ourselves get below number six in the country this year and just came off a back-to-back conference championship in the AAC, which is pretty special, but hoping to get our first tournament championship in school history this year, and then we'll get ready to what we feel like is going to be another host and hopefully get our way back to Lewiston and make another run at it.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's right, coach. I want you to talk about that when you were head coach at a young age. I know not a lot of people get the opportunity to be a head coach at the college level at 26. Walk us through what it was like A coaching at your alma mater and then B some the things that you learned. You know being a head coach at 26 years old and obviously navigating respect from players and maybe some of the kids that are dang near close to the same age as you.
Speaker 2:That was probably the hardest part is that you know there's still players that you know you're a GA with or you're an assistant coach with. Now you're a head coach and you know obviously the game has changed dramatically in terms of how you recruit now and the longevity of how long people sometimes stay in college sports. You know it's just it's mind boggling to kind of see these waivers and these extra years and all that. But you know, back then you know 17 years ago it was basically you've got four years If you got a fifth you were really lucky. To come out of being an assistant coach and then to get a chance to be a head coach at your alma mater is one that I'm forever grateful for because it put me in a position to where I'm finally starting to feel like I've got a grasp on what's going on. Like anybody that kind of says that they've got a grasp on being a head coach after two, three years is is just not not being honest, it takes time and you know, even at 17 years I'm still learning and there's still things that I still come across that I didn't know before, that I'm just like man I, you know those can help us this year. Those can help our team and hopefully I can lead those into the next generation of coaches that I'm in charge of now.
Speaker 2:So my biggest thing is that, at 26, probably the one thing that I would share is that when you make a decision, you've got to stick to that decision. You can't be easily persuaded into doing what makes everybody happy, and that's really hard because you want to make people happy. And the hardest thing that I had to learn is that the decisions that you make for the team are decisions that aren't personal, and I used to take them personal because kids would get upset and you would take it personal because you can't make everybody happy. You're trying to do what's best for the team. So staying grounded in what you believe in and, most importantly, the things that you feel like is best for the program and the team at the time, and then learning how to sell that message to where you can get people that are going to follow you. It takes a while to learn how to lead young people, and it's not something that happens overnight. It's it takes a lot of work and it's you got to put yourself around good people too. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think one of the biggest things that I learned pretty quickly from you, coach Coach B, was just the fact that there's there's no gray area with you. It's it's black and it's white, and I think you know, a lot of times we get sucked in and and I was guilty of this I feel like we've got to operate in some gray area with these kids. But when you operate in that gray area, you open yourself up to look vulnerable to your team. That's when culture slips, that's when team bonding slips and they lose trust in the coaching staff. I think learning that at a young age was huge for you.
Speaker 2:I mean you look at this year. I mean no, I was going to say you look at this year, jeff, like I mean you were a part of it last year. You look at what we lost and the players that we lost and the kind of people that we lost. We didn't just lose good players, lost good people. And so then you're going to reset that with a brand new coaching staff and a brand new group of players and you're just like holy cow, like how's this even going to come together? And it's actually come together better than it did a year ago, like the culture's in place and it doesn't have to take a whole team, it's just got to be able to take one or two guys that understand what you're trying to do as a head coach. And those are things, man, I mean that takes a long time to get in place.
Speaker 1:Coach Burton, I want to jump into a lot of what we like to talk about here is the mindset. I don't know that I've been around a person in my coaching career and I've been around some good coaches that have such a strong mindset for being goal-oriented, being team-oriented. Talk to us about some of the biggest principles that you focus on when you talk about building a championship-level team level team.
Speaker 2:Well, I think a lot of it is. I know that. The values and beliefs that I have, that I learned when I played and coached forehand at Lipscomb. He's my biggest mentor. Jeff was a guy that I played for, he was a guy that I coached under, and there's a lot of similarities between me and him in terms of how we do things, but we have our own little nicks to kind of separate ourselves. So as I start thinking about how to, how to build championship programs, it's not always been with having the best talent, like we're not the most talented team, and but the reason that I feel like we have success is because we have a genuine love and care for each other that goes beyond the baseball field. Like you know, when we go, when we go, when we go Whitewater Afton, you know, and we do all those things, or we go and we spend time together on Easter Sunday and we go. We just try to find be intentional so that these kids understand that you want them more than just baseball and you know us the depth of what we do and why we do it is not for the wins and losses.
Speaker 2:I used to chase the scoreboard a lot. I used to figure out how to win on that scoreboard and now I barely even look at that thing. I don't look at it until we have to, because I'm just thinking about how to build people up. I've probably enjoyed this year more than I have in previous years because I know that this year is more of a hands-on type group, that they need more of that hands-on type interaction than years past. I've been able to build some relationships with these guys that, yeah, we're going to fail, but man, we find ways. We're in games because we can pitch and we play really good defense. And then you start to believe you can win.
Speaker 2:You start to believe that you can win just simply because the care that you have for each other and that's hard to get in this day and time of where college athletics are when you start thinking about you've got to be selfless and you've got to care more about the individual next to you than you do yourself, and those are important qualities that I want to make sure we have.
Speaker 3:Coach, I love what you're saying. With that. One thing I want to make sure that we highlight, on just talking about your career specifically, is right 44, first team, all conference players, 12 NAIA, all Americans, um and 13 players throughout your career that have gone on to play professionally. So, with your approach with those players individually, how did you approach the development for those individuals to get them to the level they needed to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a lot of it. Oh boy, some of them were hard. Some of it was hard because they just want the baseball side of it. But I keep trying to tell them that you know the baseball side is only going to take you so far. You've got to learn how to be a whole person. You've got to be a good teammate. You've got to go to class. You've got to be on time. You've got to be on time for weights. You can't skip reps. You've got to do all the little things right.
Speaker 2:Like you know on field cleanup, you know if your job is to clean the small things, the little things and the details that nobody wants to do, you know that's the separator and you know when I think about sweeping the corner, most people want to sweep it into the corner. I'm talking about sweeping through the corner and pulling it out and getting all the stuff that nobody wants to get. So that's where the real substance lies. With me is that. That's all the little details that no one wants to be there, wants to do or be a part of, because they just want to have the instant success, that microwave society that we live in. They want it in 30 seconds and it doesn't work that way. Like it's just, it takes time to build success, it takes time to build champions. And what I've figured out too is that and I wouldn't say it's too late, I wish I had learned this earlier in my career is, you know, you've got to be able to allow kids to fail and when they fail, they got to be able to know that they can come to you, that you're going to be there for them. Like I feel like as I've gotten older, as I've had kids, I've opened up more to that side.
Speaker 2:Before, you know, I was probably a little harder on most kids than I probably should have been, but I also feel like that we had some good success but we weren't getting to the ultimate peak and where we were trying to go, and I was like, well, what am I doing differently? And you know, I feel like a lot of it is. We spend time. We go to church together as a team. You know we find ways to talk about our faith and you know those are things that we don't shy away from on our team either. And we've got to. I mean, our bus driver is a preacher, you know, at Eagle Christian Tours, like we've yeah, dr J. I mean, it's just we try to surround ourselves with good people and when you do that on the field, yes, talent matters, but, man, when you got a team that plays together as one, I don't care how much talent you have, you're going to be in the game and have a chance to win it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, go ahead, chris. I was just going to say I mean, you're obviously you're kind of hitting right where I wanted to segue to talking about your faith, with your Christian faith being a major part of who you are. How does it influence your leadership, not just on the field but off the field?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I've always said it's important to have your players see that you're vulnerable, like it's okay if you cry, like you know, like when I told our team that you know this is my last year and I'm stepping away, but it's not because I'm tired of baseball. All right, I love baseball, I love the coaching. It's just the way that you have to recruit now and how intentional you have to be in order to get people just to come to your school now, like you know it's, it's, it is a night in, it is a day in, day out, night in, night job just to get players to buy in to this type of atmosphere now. And it's hard to have players that don't want to just come in for a year and move on to the next best thing. We always talk about being where your feet are and, as a Christian and as someone who's a believer and we try to instill that in our players is there's nothing that's more permanent or nothing that's more valuable than appreciating where you are and the things that God has put in place for you.
Speaker 2:I've told everybody you're a Reinhardt for a reason, and it may not be because you were the best player. It may just be because you got overlooked, but God's put you here for a reason in order for you to take the next step in your life, and it's our job to help you open that door and go through that door. So, whether it's the right way or wrong way to look at it, I really feel like that our guys know exactly where I stand. All right, in terms of we pray together, we go to church together, we talk about our faith together, we try to love each other the best that we can okay, and do all of those things that we need to be successful, but my faith and what I do with my kids and my family, and all those things, I think showing vulnerability in moments other than just being tough all the time on the baseball field, I think, is what builds those relationships too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good tough all the time on the baseball field, I think, is what builds those relationships too, yeah, yeah, I think one of the one of the biggest things that I I took away from from coaching with you and really all three coaches, but you specifically coach be like I always remember like you'd let me dip out of practice to get to small group and if something was going on at home, it's like, hey, man, just just go take care of it. Like I think your players see that and they understand, like this is bigger than baseball to Coach B. And I think when kids see that they take ownership of it and they believe in it, I think even those little things, even though it may not be to them, they understand like man, coach B really does care. And you know, I always appreciated, appreciated, like you know, the prayers after practice and before practice.
Speaker 1:But you know, nothing in in, inside the program was forced Like we, we asked you to go to church, but it's like, hey, man, we just think there's a higher being, Like we just want you to have some sort of like connection to you, know something spiritual, whatever that is.
Speaker 1:And you know, I think you do a good job of um, not forcing it on people but kind of live more, so living it out, than just like hey, this is how it is, this is how it is, this is how it is, which it's not easy to do, and it's it's a. It's a hard line to toe when you're dealing with the type of kids that we deal with and the age demographic that we deal with. So it's definitely not easy to coach that way, but I truly think every kid that comes through the program they may not see it now, and I know you make these jokes after, but you get texts seven, eight years down the road. Man, coach B, you were right. They don't see it in the moment, but they always go back to those moments at some point in time in their lives.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's big coach. What? So, as far as like with your faith, have there been moments where where your faith has helped you through uncertainty, disappointment and even I know we're going to dive in a little bit more, but but in certain times of transition in your career, um?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, listen, we won three straight conference championships and we averaged 43 wins a season at Lindsay Wilson. We went to two straight World Series and I thought, man, this meeting's about to be great. And then I come to find out we can't spend this much money this time of year. I'm like what do you mean we can't? And I turn bitter. Like you know, you start losing scholarships, you kind of lose some things, you know. And listen, that's not anybody's fault. I mean, I get it. Those things happen.
Speaker 2:But when you're that close to something, you work that hard and you pour your heart into it and you move, when you heart into it and you move, when you first get married and you move up there to, to a small town in Kentucky, you know it's, that's, that's a, that's a kick in the gut. And after two years I you know it wasn't good, our marriage wasn't where it needed to be. Um, you know, because of me and I was always in a bad mood and I finally got after the second year, I said look, amanda, we're out of here, I can't do this. She goes. What do you mean? We're out of here? I said I can't, I'm not good for you, I'm not good for me. I'm just going to move back to Nashville and we're just going to figure it out. I said I've got enough connections there, we'll figure it out, I some way. And if I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2:Well, like two days later, you know, the AD down here at Reinhardt calls me and says hey, why don't you come watch us in Bowling Green and watch us play in a regional? I'm like, okay, no big deal. I hadn't seen Bill in forever and I thought it's no big deal. And so I ended up watching him for a couple of days. Then he asked me to come down to Reinhardt and I'll never forget I remember him closing the door and saying all right, we're not leaving here till we get this figured out. And because I was done, I was ready to done, I was done, and I was like, well, you know like he started asking me what we need and I started, you know, kind of telling him what we need. And you know, first thing, we talk from everything you can think of. And he's like, yeah, done, yeah. And I'm like, well, good grief, I, I shot too low like I should have. I should have came in here and asked for a whole lot more, um. But I remember pulling that chick-fil-a in dalton and telling amanda um, I said okay. I said I said let's do this. And she goes, are you sure? Because she had saw it before.
Speaker 2:The facility was in really bad shape. There wasn't any kind of excitement going on. They had just come off a World Series and you're just like, how does it look like this? So immediately we moved down here and we started rebuilding things and we started fixing the facility, we started fundraising, we started building culture, we started doing all these things. The next thing, you know, the winds start piling up, piling up. But going back to that story where I tried to leave baseball and God kind of said no, like literally, I came down here, I took the job, my wife left her job, she got a job down here in three days. We put our house on the market and sold full price in five days.
Speaker 2:And I always tell everybody all the time that if you have any kind of a struggle with God, those are God moments, like you might be done with something, but God's saying I'm not done with you in this part of your life and there's still more people for you to reach and there's still more people for you to touch and you know I don't regret this at all coming down here. And now we move into the next phase of life and the door that's open there and this is going to be hard. This is going to be really hard leaving a game that you love. But also when you're doing it for the right things, you've prayed about things and you have guidance and you have clearance and you walk through that door. That's the problem.
Speaker 2:A lot of people get the answers they want, but they don't want to trust God to go through that door and they try to do it themselves and then they put themselves through that door, like I did, and then it all starts happening. So the hardest thing to do is trust God's plan. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it, because we as humans want to do our own thing. But through prayer, when your heart is right and you know what you need to be doing, and then you look for your why and you got a nine-year-old and a four-year-old and you know your nine-year-old is going to be a really good baseball player and you want to be a part of that. I've been coaching someone else's kids all my life and you know now it's kind of it's time to coach my own? Yeah, but this is not going to be easy by any stretch. But I also know it's the right thing to do, yeah.
Speaker 1:Coach, I want to pivot here a little bit. I know we're skipping around a little bit, but I think this is kind of a perfect segue. You're going to finish out the season, you're going to be the new AD at Reinhardt. Talk to us about, like, ultimately, what led to that decision and you know what, what made you?
Speaker 2:new Like, okay, this, this is the right time to do it. Well, from the baseball side, we lose everybody. That's the, that's the perfect. That's the perfect time because of the amount of recruiting that we're going to have to do. But even beyond that, this is the last group of those three to four year guys. You think about Nash being here for three years. Think about her before Pauly four. You know everybody else is. Now it's a chance for the new guy to come in here and to restart the program in a way that will have my hands still in it to help him still be successful, but a chance for no one else to compare like a team full of Coach Burtons. Now it's going to be a team full of the new coach to come in here and have his hands all over it, and they're not even going to really have anyone to compare to. So I always think the transition of that's important, because a lot of coaches go to programs where there's a lot of returners and they're always like well, why are we doing this here? This year we won 40 games and coach so-and-so didn't even have us do this. Well, you know, this year, coach, this is trying to get us to win 50 games and be, but there's always that tug of war, so there's a lot of freedom to be able to bring in his type of players to build on the success of our program. But also too, when Reinhardt offered this opportunity, I set it alight in Canton.
Speaker 2:I remember sitting in town and I was struggling. Some days I was like okay, I'm still going to keep coaching. Other days I was like nope, it's time to move on. And I kept going back and forth, back and forth. Then I remember sitting at a light and I was like it just kind of hit me, like in six years you're going to be 50. And in six years Turner's going to have a permit.
Speaker 2:And I was like I'm not ready to miss all this time and I'm not ready to miss all this time and I'm not ready to miss being a dad. I've already Amanda's basically had to carry the load as it is. At times she's a single parent as much as I'll have to be gone, and I'll never apologize for doing something for our family and our kids, just like you wouldn't either. But also we kid all the time too. It's like you know Reinhart may get in there, in there, and you know as active as I am in fundraising and raising money and facilities and upgrades and all those things, they they may get tired of me and what's the worst thing I do? I go back to being a baseball coach.
Speaker 1:So it's just you know it's.
Speaker 2:I feel like, from a resume perspective, you feel like you've built enough clout that people would still be attracted to you if you decided that you still missed the game and want to get back into it. I've given everything I had. I don't know that I have anything else left to do. The only thing we haven't done that I've been able to be a part of is win a national title. To me, that doesn't keep me up at night. If I don't win a national title, I'm not going to keep chasing it. It's not something that's a bucket list item for me. Title I'm not going to keep chasing it. It's not something that's a bucket list item for me. I'm proud of what's been accomplished and my biggest thing is being able to help people have the success that I was able to be a part of, and to me, that's going to get way more gratification for me to be able to change people in a different way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things I think about. Let's be honest here for a second. We lose sleep over last year. I see that hop over profits all the time.
Speaker 1:Um, but no one of the things I think about the most is like when I think about just obviously, we've had a lot of conversations over the last four or five years just about literally my transition out of coaching. I mean, you've talked to me a little bit about you know the whys of of you getting into this ad job. But you know, I think you're kind of built for this, like you're almost ready for a new challenge. Like you've you've accomplished everything. Just because you win the last game of the year doesn't make your coaching career successful. Like you know that that doesn't really mean anything.
Speaker 1:It's sometimes you're just ready for a new challenge and you know, with me transitioning out of coaching into this, it was a new challenge for me, like, and I feel like for you, like you're ready to. You've built a baseball program and you build a baseball department. Now you have the opportunity to build an entire athletic department and, knowing you, you like this guy doesn't back down from challenge. Like chris, I'm telling you, if you would have seen reinhardt, he was modest when he told you the facilities were bad brother, they were brutal.
Speaker 3:So so I I had a friend in college who dated a girl who played volleyball for reinhardt. I mean, mind you, this is like what? 2009, 2008, 2009? And I remember going like with him to watch her play a game in the gym and I was like I didn't know the school existed, let alone like, I mean, the facilities were very underwhelming. So, yes, I mean, and it's I, I was my son played a tournament at waleska park just a couple weeks ago and literally it was the first time I had driven by and actually seen the baseball facilities.
Speaker 3:And I mean, you know, my 10 year old is easily amused, but like, driving by and he saw the, he saw the field and and he was like, wow, that is nice. And I'm like, yeah, I mean I was, I was impressed, you know, to see what the facilities look like. I mean not knowing in comparison sake for what, what the baseball facility looked like at the time, but just what I remember Reinhardt looking like in the early 2000s. Just seeing that, I was like much improved. Yeah, definitely. I mean, yeah, I can believe it. I didn't see it, but I can definitely believe it based on what it looks like now. It's a beautiful ballpark, beautiful ballpark.
Speaker 1:Coach, let's go back. I want to touch on mindset a little bit. Um, when I read this question it's kind of funny to me because I picture the walk-off grand slam that we hit at your place and you laying in the door on your uh, on your back. But you know, through all of that, like one thing that I have learned about you is you're you're able to stay level headed, do the ups and downs. What do you kind of attribute that that to? From mental mindsets, that point of view.
Speaker 2:Well, a lot, a lot of mistakes early. I think, learning from your mistakes, because I mean, the biggest thing for me, like you mentioned, that Grand Slam, I remember that, like you know, you always remember the losses more than you do the wins, like those are things that stick with you more because you always try to fix those things, like how can you be better, like what can we do differently, differently. But yeah, listen, going in a baseball game and probably one of the things I've learned is that you know your players feed off you more than you know, like if I go in that game and I and I'm not confident, your players aren't going to be confident. If they go in the game and they they sent you being tight or different, or you know you're supposed to bring them up, you know in a certain part of the game and you don't do that, they get tighter and the pressure builds. So I think, the more that you can know that you're there for them when they're trying nobody's trying to strike out, nobody's trying to ground out. I mean we all get frustrated with things. I get frustrated in this ballpark we're in, we never hit here Like I, just it's outside of a couple games in our tournament last year. We never do anything. This place is like hitting out of Yosemite sometimes, so it's just a frustrating game.
Speaker 2:Baseball is a very, very hard game to play. You all know that. It's one of the hardest games to play. That's why they reward you, for you know you hit 300, usually in the Hall of Fame. So it's just, it's such a hard game, but it's important for you as a coach to be able to not get too high or too low, just simply because we play so many games. You play again the next day and the next day and it is a challenge.
Speaker 2:But the mindset for me, it's just simply because sometimes you got to swallow your pride and sometimes you got to find a way, even when you, when you're upset and you want to, you want to rip some tail. Um, you know, at times it's not good and you've heard me rip some before, but it's it's, you know it. There's a time and a place of when you need it, but there's also a time and a place when sometimes you just pull them together. When you're on a slide, you just pull them together, you put your arm around them and you just say, look, you're going to come out of it. You just got to keep swinging. We're not going to stay in this rut ever. But you got to believe and you got to be with each other. You got to read your team.
Speaker 3:Some teams need chewings team and some teams need need chewings and other teams need need more like arm until sitting down to record this.
Speaker 3:But just from your demeanor, it seems like you carry just a. Your players are going to respond to the way that you're you're reacting and I think you know, I think that I love, I love hearing that what, as far as like, what do you say that you know with having, you know, developed the hundred fifty six, all you know, all conference scholars and stuff, that what, what are the priorities that you go into? You know, developing their mindset, what are kind of like when you're, when you're saying, when you see a player, you see an athlete, maybe maybe he's got you know, got a tendency to to react emotionally, right, because I mean, not, you know, gosh, I I got on my 10 year old at a baseball tournament this weekend, struck out and he's in the dugout crying and I'm like dude, no, we're not doing this. But you see those tendencies right with athletes that you're coaching, what are the priorities with you as a coach to adjust that in them and how do you go about handling that?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the biggest thing is I always try to encourage our players to play with emotion but don't play emotional. Biggest thing is I always try to encourage our players to play with emotion but don't play emotional. And the difference in that is emotion is excitement and engagement and cheering for your teammates. Emotional is reacting to things that don't go your way and our players. For this year, what we've done a really good job of is that if guys strike out, they're not coming back to the dugout and throwing things. We had a guy today struck out at one of our best hitters and he's coming right up next to the guy on deck and giving him information that he saw. Those are things that we don't always have, but I think it shows a selfless approach and next thing you know he comes up there and he gets a big hit for us today.
Speaker 2:So, having a short memory, but for me, most of these kids, I mean we have had a lot of success with young men that not only work hard in the classroom, work hard in the weight room and they work hard on the field, but they've also bought into a coaching staff and a culture.
Speaker 2:But from the mindset of how you develop these all-conference players. A lot of it is just less is more and you know you can overcoach and there's a lot of people now that will overcoach and you've got to be able to know when you need to push that button and sometimes you need to just let them breathe and let them slide. And there's a lot of times that I want to talk to them more than I do but I know it's not the right time just simply because they need a moment to themselves. But we have done a really good job. I feel like each year of playing with emotion but not being emotional, not feeling like we're trying to personally challenge or attack in a way that's bringing out the worst instead of trying to bring out the best. So I'm really proud of how we respond to adversity. I think these guys overall have done a really good job of not getting too high and too low and I think it kind of goes back to the style in which I want to coach with too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the Coach. Talk to us one of the things that we did for four years when I was there. I know these kids kind of are taught you know mental toughness. I mean we did everything from from read books to you know, share life stories to all that kind of stuff. Talk to us a little bit about how much that classroom has meant to you guys in terms of mindset, with your players.
Speaker 2:That's really the root of who we are and why we have the success we have is because I think trying to get your players to be vulnerable and be willing to be comfortable being upset or speaking about you know, the hardest thing for guys to do in a team setting is tell somebody that they love them. It's hard, like this generation of getting guys to say that they love somebody is really hard. But when you can get to the point to where those kids are comfortable and they genuinely do care and love each other, that's when you got something, that's when you got that special group and you don't ever want to let that group go. But that classroom setting for us like whether it's one of the John Gordon books that we read, whether it's having guest speakers, whether it's being vulnerable and talking about what you struggle with, the things you need to get better, finding ways to identify real problems outside of baseball, talk about those situations Like that is a weekly thing that we do in our program and this year it's on Mondays.
Speaker 2:But that's a weekly thing that we do because it's exactly how we build the whole person. Most programs are just trying to build the baseball player and listen. That's fine and they're really good at it. But at Reinhardt I've tried to build the baseball player and build the whole person because, let's be honest, 90%, maybe even 98% of the players we have come through here they're not getting drafted and they've got to be able to handle this world in a different way when baseball is over. And the small percentage that do come here that can play professionally, we do everything we can to help them. But you can't just focus on one person and that's why these meetings are so valuable to me, because you kind of learn about people, of things that you didn't even know about, and that gives us a whole other avenue of how we can reach those kids of how we can reach those kids.
Speaker 3:That's good. So you said one thing I want to transition into the next part but you said one thing that kind of got my mind thinking and I want to ask you this. And obviously you know, with the, with the time span that you've coached, you've probably seen different generations of players come through what, from when, like you, started playing to to what you're, what you're seeing now as collegiate athletes come in, what are the biggest differences that you're seeing in generational personalities as far as the way that these athletes think and act now coming in, as opposed to maybe when you started your coaching career?
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think how to word this properly Be gentle, be gentle. It's, it's uh, it's a here's, to be honest. Okay, the game is not what I'm tired of. Okay, this, this is. I'm not tired of coaching. I'm not tired of game planning. I'm not tired of scouting. I'm not tired of any of that stuff preparing none of that.
Speaker 2:I'm tired of the recruiting the recruiting in which you have to re-recruit your players, but you also have to be able to recruit kids and get them to understand that it's not always about how much money you get, what type of NIL deal that you make. There's a thing bigger than those things. And kids now and I don't want to lump all kids in, because there's kids out there that aren't like this at all, but a lot of the players now are always one foot in and one foot out now are always one foot in and one foot out, and they're always looking to feel like they're wanted by other teams, other people. I think there's a lot of bad advice that's being given out there on what kids need to be looking for, not just in college, but in high school. High school kids have gotten the raw end of the deal ever since COVID. It's been a really difficult time for high school players to be able to be identified because a lot of them feel like that they need to go, do all these things that you know, take away from their team, their high school team, and they get pulled in so many different directions. And then our youth, like you know, Turner's getting things for perfect game stuff. At nine years old I was like, no, we're not doing that. So, like those are things that concern me a little bit about where we're headed in this sport with the lack of direction from the NCAA and how they manage the rosters to the rules, how renegade it is at times. It's very concerning to me.
Speaker 2:But the recruiting side for me has just burned me out because the relationship side it doesn't seem like kids want that as much. I'm a builder, I'm a program builder and the way that four-year schools operate now it's kind of like a junior college program. If you're lucky meaning you're lucky to get kids there for two years, Most kids are there for a year. They're on to the next, on to the next and the ones that do stay there for two years probably are leaving in their third.
Speaker 2:So it's a harder time to coach because of the amount of distractions, of how kids are getting pulled in so many different directions, and I want to be a part of the group that brings that culture back instead of just dismissing it and getting it away. That's why in the AD role I'm hoping that I can help influence coaches that there's a different way to do it, other than the way that we have been doing it. But the recruiting side for me has gotten where it's just exhausting. It's taken a lot of valuable time away from me because you can't get kids to make decisions and, most importantly, you can't get kids to make decisions and, most importantly, you can't give get kids to commit. When they do commit, you can't get them to stay because somebody else comes in and pulls them away. So it's just a really difficult time. It's kind of a young man's game now is what I call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's for sure, coach B. One of the things that you know not a lot of programs have like I, I would I would agree Like the recruiting aspect of it is hard. I mean it's hard to get kids to come here or come to Reinhardt. But I can attest to this and you know I think it speaks a lot to your character. But when kids come to Reinhardt, when they do make that decision, I would say 99% of those kids if they would have known it before they got there, it would have been the easiest decision of their life.
Speaker 1:And you know, I think that's a big thing for a lot of kids is like it may be small college baseball, it may not be the place that you want to be, but there's a reason that you know you're going to end up there. I don't think kids think about those things in this age, in this day and age, and I think that's probably one of the biggest things. It's like well, maybe it's just, maybe that's not the place for me because it's too small and the coach there is not you know who it is at florida or arkansas or whatever. But like a lot of times, the coaches at the small college level are more of people, person and transformational coaches at that small college level, because because that's what their programs are, are built on, and I would venture to say a lot of kids in this day and age need that and I think if more kids gave an opportunity and were open and willing to give that a shot, you know, baseball may look a whole lot of different, a whole lot different in our level.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's huge and coach. So so to segue into the to the next part that we wanted to talk about with you is is, obviously you've led three teams, you know to nai appearances, three for now three for now. That's right led three, hopefully four, right, we, you know we'll come back and fix it. Um, obviously, coach, dozens of all-conference players transform facilities, like we were talking about earlier. When it's all said and done, what do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker 2:Oh boy, that's a good one. That's hard because I think the biggest thing is I want everybody to know that I genuinely care about every player, whether they play an inning or they don't. I do my best to try to make them all feel a part of the program and that they have value to it just because they're not playing. And that's hard because people just look at results, they look at stats, they look at how many innings you played. People just look at results, they look at stats, they look at how many innings you played.
Speaker 2:I feel like now people are starting to see a side of me that they genuinely do see that I do genuinely care about every player and I do want to have a difference in their life.
Speaker 2:Listen, I could stay in this game for another 17 years and I could be 61, and we could probably be talking over a thousand wins and who knows what. But that stuff to me, is not what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. And the whole purpose of me in coaching is because I'm trying to share the experiences that I had as a player and as a coach with young people to help make a change in our society and, most importantly, in their life and Jeff said it a lot already but being transformational and not being a transactional coach to where you're just focused on results, but you're focusing on the depth of a relationship that allows them to be able to have some type of successful life, whether it's as a dad, a successful business person, whatever it might be. I just want to be a small part of it. So the baseball side, I feel like, is always going to be something that people will talk about, but for me I'm all relational. It's just hard for me to think about anything other than that.
Speaker 3:That's good, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a big part. I mean, I think a lot of times when people think about legacy, it's like it's what you did. Legacy is not what you did, it's what you leave behind in the people that you got to touch. And you know I've told you this multiple times there ain't, there's not a lot of people I would want to work for at any level in baseball other than you, and I think that speaks to kind of like the, the legacy that you leave, not only, you know, in your players, but in your coaches too. So this is a question we ask every every guest that we have on to kind of close this out. But what is one piece of advice you would want to?
Speaker 2:give, or you would give a young coach or play young coach in this, in the coaching world, I would just be say strong, be strong in your conviction. You know, if you feel like it's right, you know I tell our pitching coach. I'm like he'll ask me say, hey, what do you think? I'm like, go with your gut. Like, go with what you feel like is the best pitch in this situation. So, just like in every coach, when you make a big call, be strong in it. When it works, you look like a genius. When it doesn't work, you look like you're the biggest. You know you're a terrible baseball coach and you just got to be strong in your conviction. You got to be confident and you got to know that you're ready for that moment because someone trusted you to be a head coach and they trusted you to come in there and be able to make those decisions and lead that team. And you got to be confident in yourself, even when sometimes nobody else is. You got to stay true to yourself.
Speaker 2:So I would tell every young coach that is you're going to make a lot of mistakes and you're going to have to learn from those mistakes, but if you take those mistakes personal, you're never going to be able to grow, and don't be afraid to go ask for help, like, put yourself around as many smart people as you can. I've always tried to build a coaching staff around, to have coaches that I feel like are better than me, because that's what makes me better, and not every place gets a chance to do that. So having good assistant coaches, allowing them to work and coach, is going to take pressure off you to be a better manager of people and of players. So those would be the things that I would share most. That for young coaches is not just being organized, not just being true to your faith or true to your belief system and everything that you do, but also be confident in your ability to come out and and be a head coach of the team that someone hired you to be.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 3:I, I, I, genuinely appreciate that advice as as a as a coach myself, on obviously the rec level not not not where you guys have been, but I, I even appreciate that I think so much of that could be used down. You know, with with coaching youth sports as well. But, coach, I just I want to thank you again so much for being on. You know, I think one thing that's that's very clear with with talking with you, that you know on this episode, is you, you clearly lead with conviction and and humility. You know I, I think that that's that's important to say and and you know I, I love that you lead with your faith in front. I think that's big and the impact that you're, that you're leaving on young men and and really I mean it's a generational, you know, change that you're making. You know it's something that you may not even know right, somebody's, you know somebody's grandchild has changed one day because of the impact you left with the college baseball player. So thank you so much for sharing your heart and insight with what you've done as a coach and wish you the best of luck. And obviously I guess I should wish you luck for two things. Number one, for for the for the rest of this baseball season leading, you know, leading into the, to the, to the title, um. And then also wishing you, you know, the best of luck in, in transitioning into, uh, the athletic director role, um, and I will wish you even more luck for coaching your own child, because that is, uh, I promise that is by far the the hardest job in the world.
Speaker 3:I, I, I've you world, I've coached Harlow, my son. This will be my seventh year coaching him in football and it's kind of the heart behind why I started this whole podcast thing was learning the things that I've done absolutely terrible at as a dad and as a coach and kind of hey, like you shared earlier, let's learn from people who have done it better and done it longer. But coaching your kid, you know, I mean you, you were arguing with yourself many times and it's, it's, it is a, it is, it is a challenge in and of itself a lot of times. But I'm excited for you, I'm excited for, for your son that to have the as his dad and as his coach. But wish you the best of luck with the new role, the athletic director role, and I know that Reinhardt Athletics are going to be in absolutely great hands.
Speaker 1:So thank you so?
Speaker 2:much, Coach for your time on this episode. Thank you, Thanks, Coach B, Thanks fam, Thanks man Outro.
Speaker 1:Music.
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