THE GROWING SEPARATION BETWEEN COLLEGE BASEBALL COACHES

You’ve probably watched Sam Houston State’s Coach Matt Deggs’ speech, of June 11, 2017, from the postgame press conference after the Bearkats lost 19-0 to Florida State in the NCAA Super Regionals. It was a heartfelt display of what brought this team one step away from the College World series. It was the verbalization of a mindset of how faith and giving people second chances has changed his point of view as a coach. It was about coaching the players as humans, not simply as pieces on the field. He says: “It’s not about wins or losses. It’s about love. It’s about building men, building relationships that will last forever. I got a second chance. This guy is a second-chance guy. This guy is a second-chance guy. This guy is a second-chance guy. We’re about building people up. It’s not mission Omaha. It’s mission build and save lives.”

In a system that is committing 8th graders to major D1 programs. Where coaching staffs are routinely eliminated for missing the “mission Omaha” agenda. Where players are viewed as a replaceable commodity that are there to serves the agenda. This type of mindset creates a coaching separation…a divide between a coaches that focus simply on the agenda versus those that focus on the players themselves. Hopefully, many more coaches will run with the Deggs’ philosophy.