Baseball Factory is privileged to work with programs from every level of college baseball. We strive to educate and guide our players when it comes to choosing the right school. The more information a player knows about a school, coach and program, the better. Recently, Woody Wingfield went one-on-one with Michael Barry the Head Coach at Keuka College. Keuka is a Division III program in the North Eastern Athletic Conference. Find out what Coach Barry has to say about his mentors, importance of video and what he looks for in a recuit.

1.    How long have you been coaching? How long at Keuka College?
I have been coaching for 15 years and this is my second year as the head baseball coach at Keuka College.

2.    Who are some of your mentors or coaches that you look up to?
Bruce Haas, my coach at Emil A. Cavallini Middle School in New Jersey, was the first coach I looked up to. I remember, in eighth grade, we were playing in Ramsey, NJ and I hit a missile to left field that hit the black top and bounced up against the school for a triple. My next at-bat, I hit another one. But this time, they moved the leftfielder back. He took off after the ball and caught it on the run before hitting the school building. I was so mad. I went back into the dugout, threw my helmet, said some things I shouldn’t have, and Mr. Haas came over. He got right in my face, grabbed the bill of my cap, and told me that if I ever acted like that again after hitting a ball like that, I’d be off the team. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown a helmet again.   

Nick Boothe, my former head coach at Virginia Wesleyan College, was obviously a huge influence. We [had] many summer days working on the field and he taught me the importance of field work and taking pride in the minutia that most people find mundane and boring. He is the person most responsible for making me want to coach at the collegiate level.

Ed McCann, my former head coach at Centenary College, taught me everything I know about recruiting. I had just finished my Masters degree at Old Dominion and Eddie hired me as his assistant. I drove to Shreveport, LA completely sight unseen. I was so green then. Anyway, Eddie threw me right into the recruiting fire, sending me all over the place and I burnt a lot of midnight oil in the office. He put a lot more faith in me than many college coaches would have.

David Baad, my former high school coach, has been my baseball father for a very long time.  He has been a sounding board for me throughout my coaching career. One of the happiest and saddest days in my life was the day I drove to Washington, DC to tell him that I got the head coaching job here at Keuka College. We were sitting in his office and he said, “Well Boomer, I don’t know if there’s anything more I can do for you now.” I know he was immensely proud because my getting to this point in my career is as much a testament to him as it is to me. I just get the name on the door, that’s all.

Dave Beccaria, the head coach at Haverford College, is definitely a huge influence. I was his pitching coach for three years before arriving at Keuka College and we are really complete opposites in how we deal with things. Dave is much more cerebral and analytical in his approach to the game while I feed on the emotional and coach like a football coach. Working with Dave helped me become a much more well-rounded coach and he took a lot of time to fine-tune me. I will always be in his dept for that.

3.    What is the first thing about your school and program that you want recruits to know about?
We are on the rise and are doing things in a completely different way than has ever been done in the baseball program at Keuka College. We have moved from recruiting solely in our backyard to a more regional recruiting power. In our first year, our coaching staff has converted the baseball program into the most geographically diverse single organization on campus, boasting a roster of players from five different states. And this is just the beginning.

Because most of the teams in our conference are state schools, their rosters tend to be limited to players within their own state. Keuka College, being a private institution, has the ability to recruit and draw some of the best players from outside the state of New York. Having the ability to recruit both within and outside the state with equal effectiveness gives us a huge advantage on the other teams within the conference.

4.    What do you look for in a prospective recruit on the field? Off the field?
Being a Division III institution, we don’t have athletic scholarships; however, our Admissions Department does a great job with academic financial aid packages. For that reason, we target strong academic students with borderline Division I and Division II talent, who may get more academic money from us than they will in athletic money from another school. Last year, this philosophy served us very well in recruiting and, since our coaching staff was able to hit the recruiting trail so much earlier this year, we’re already seeing the benefits of this approach.

5.    How has video helped you in the recruiting process?
No matter how much time you spend recruiting, it is impossible to see every prospect out there. There were a number of recruits we were talking to this summer that we just weren’t able to see in person because of commitments to other events. That’s why our program started a Prospect Weekend this fall. And, while that is helping us see more players, it still doesn’t fit into everyone’s schedule.

For that reason, video is extremely important to our recruiting efforts. There are a number of what most programs would consider “little things” that we are doing in an effort to improve our program and facilities that all cost money that, in effect, shorten our recruiting budget. So, if there’s a player in California, Florida, or Utah we’re interested in, the only way for us to see him is on video. We have a young man on the team this year from Montana. He’s a great kid and will probably get considerable playing time this year as a freshman. Well, when you’re recruiting over 100 players, it’s just not feasible to drop everything and fly out to Montana to see him play. He sent me a lot of video and, from the start, it was evident this kid could play. So he visited, liked the direction of the program, loved the campus and the fact that it’s right on the lake and, voila he’s an important member of this year’s freshman class. However, that would not have been without him sending me his video.

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6.    Can you break down your fall practice schedule? What are you all trying to accomplish?
Last year and this year’s fall schedule are very similar. Last year, I had inherited a program that, while I could look at statistics, had never seen play and only had 19-players on the roster the year before. Therefore, I had to see them play, put players in different situations and see how they respond. This year, we have a lot of freshmen who need to learn each others’ tendencies, habits, how to work together. We need to gel as a unit. So, last fall and this fall, we’re pretty much exclusively inter-squading. This allows the coaching staff to work with players [and] teach in-game strategy that is very difficult to simulate within a traditional practice. It also allows us to see and evaluate all 30-players during the course of a practice, whether that being how they play specifically during the game or how they interact and carry themselves when they’re not playing.

7.    Do you have a strength and conditioning coach?
We do not have a strength and conditioning coach; however, I’ve been around the block a few times and have a lot of contacts who have all influenced our strength and conditioning program, which the players take very seriously both in-season and out of season.

Division III schools are not allowed to have mandatory workouts anyway and the best players are going to follow the program and do their work. The players we recruit are self-starters and don’t need a coach or teammate looking over their shoulder, making sure they get their work in. If you’re not responsible enough to take care of your academic responsibilities and baseball obligations, you’re not going to last long in our program.

8.    What can you tell us about your facilities?
We have great facilities and, as I said before, we’re always looking to improve them. The college just put the finishing touches on an auxiliary gym with a 75ft drop-down batting cage. Last fall we completely renovated our infield mix and it plays absolutely beautifully. We’re in the process of giving our home bullpen a complete facelift and have a ten year plan of yearly improvements to the baseball stadium. Right now, we easily have the best facilities in the conference. Our goal is to have the best on-campus baseball stadium in the region.

9.    What part of the 2012 schedule/year are you looking forward to the most?
Seeing the team play. The returning players on the team and I have been together for a year and, although our record left something to be desired last year, we feel like we were just a couple pieces short of making some real noise in the conference. The new players are members of our first recruiting class and that’s always a special dynamic. We’re going to be counting on a lot of young players making significant contributions to the team this year, so it will be exciting to see what happens.

10.    Is there anything you would like to add about your assistant coaches, recruits, parents, or program that we have not asked you about?
The most important thing about this year’s team is that everyone wants to be here and everyone shares the same vision for the direction of the baseball program. And that doesn’t just go for the coaches or the players. That goes for everyone from our Athletic Director, Dave Sweet, to our parents.

There is a new dynamic surrounding our baseball program. Our returning players are excited to be playing with people from Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. For some of them, this is the first time they’ve been exposed to the different styles of play that exists in different parts of the country.

Our new players saw last year’s record and are ready to do whatever they can to turn this ship around.

And the parents…Gee, sometimes I wonder if they’re looking forward to the season more than the coaches and players. They can’t wait for the weekend trips to the ballpark. I’m already wondering if we’re going to have to rope-off a section of the stands just for them, they’re so excited.

The entire program has a shared vision of what Keuka College baseball can and should be and we’re seeing that take shape before our eyes at every practice this fall. This is a very exciting time.

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