Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Matt Jones Shippensburg Univ
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BIO
- HC at Shippensburg University (Since 2008 17 years)
- Over 400 with Raiders, over 500 total as HC (Former HC at Elizabethtown)
- 2008 ABCA/Diamond Sports Company North Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
- 2-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2022 East, 2008 West)
- 2 College World Series appearances
- 10 PSAC Tournament appearances
- 4 NCAA Regional Tournament appearances
- 35 victories in postseason play – including a 10-6 record at regionals.
- Six Raiders (MLB) Draft
- Several other players have gone on to play professionally as undrafted free agents or in an independent league
- Overall, Jones has coached in 54 conference tournament games,
- 21 NCAA regional tournament games
- 5 College World Series appearances
NOTES
- IF you don’t like where you are at you get a new hat
- You have to keep recruiting your guys when they are there
- I want the player to be with my players by themselves
- The family to be with the players by themselves
- Make sure you take two visits before you commit
- No one gets married after the first date
- New facility allowed to never go inside
- Winter workouts to be ready for 20-30 pitches and trust guys to get it done
- Replicate the starters stuff on a machine
- In our program its still about the program
- It needs be team first
- The younger you are the more blinders you have to have
- As you get through school it will widen
- Moving guys around the locker room
- Changing hitting groups
- Moving guys around in study hall
- Purposeful seating or hotel roomates
- Checking up with guys at practice that have nothing to do with baseball
- Let them see me as more than a coach
- We don’t hide things from the team
- Most of the things kids dealing with are not full reality
- No ugly pictures on IG
- Not posting the 0-3, but will post the HR
- You still need to decide how much to of the truth to tell a kid
- Respect their feelings and understand where they are and how much info you give them
- Fortunate to have bosses that appreciate how we do business
- Number #1 rule - “Don’t be a jerk!”
- Its not all about winning the last game of the year
- I want the 90 minutes of the day at practice to be the best part of the day
- Be someone that someone wants to be around
- I am an educator, I recruit kids to a university, and guide them to what they are going to do the rest of their lives
- Ultimate responsibility of the university is to guide people in to being productive adults
- Coaches should Ask more questions than give directives to players
- Communicating and getting guys to understand what your saying and understanding it is their career
- We are going to have different relationships with all of you
- I will be here as much as you need me here!
- Coach? I will be coach
- Dad? I’ll be dad
- You have to be ok to admit when you need help
- I don’t have to do it, I get to do it!
- I work with the travel ball tournament parents to get them to realize that it does not matter in those tournaments
- Balance time with team time and individual time
- Record practice and spend some individual time
- Figure out how they learn and what they respond to
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