Conversations with College Coaches: Fordham University
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, Dan Mooney went one-on-one with James Jackson, assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Fordham University. From his mentors, to the type of players he recruits to his approach during fall ball, Coach Jackson gave some insight into the outstanding program he’s helped developed in Bronx, NY. Check out our list of College Alumni and see what alumni played last year at Fordham and other Division I programs.
1. How long have you been coaching? How long at Fordham University?
This is my 9th year of coaching and 2nd at Fordham.
2. Who are some of your mentors or coaches that you look up to?
All 3 coaches that I have had a chance to coach under have all taught me so much and been mentors to me. Steve Miller, who I coached w/at Archbishop Spalding HS, really showed me how to be a player’s coach. He related to the kids in such a close way, they trusted him w/everything. Tony Rossi, at Siena College, taught me every little detail about being a college coach. From the recruiting aspect to the organizational skills needed to succeed at the college level. Kevin Leighton, here at Fordham, has showed me that hard work will rub off on your players, and they will begin to take after your work ethic as a coach.
3. What is the first thing about your school and program that you’d want a recruit to know about?
The Fordham University Baseball Program offers the best of both worlds. We offer one of the top educations in the country, while competing at the Division 1 level. Fordham is ranked in the top 55 in U.S. News for top academic schools in the country. Our baseball program is the all time wins leader in the history of college baseball. Over 3,350 wins.
4. What qualities do you look for in a prospect on the field? Off the field?
Talented, hard working, team first players are what we are looking for. We need these qualities in order to have players help us compete in the Atlantic-10 Conference as well as succeed in the classroom at Fordham.
5. How has video helped your recruiting?
Video gives us a chance to see more players in less time. You can get a good read on a player’s athletic ability from seeing them on video. We have high school players reach out to us a lot and the first thing we ask for after finding out their grades, is for a video. Seeing a players video could give us more of a reason to go see them sooner.
6. Do you recruit from Junior Colleges?
The hard thing for us is the academic side of things. We have come across a bunch of student athletes from junior colleges that can get accepted into Fordham but have fallen short of the transferrable credits in order to be eligible. We will continue to try to recruit from Junior Colleges though.
7. Can you break down your fall practice schedule? What will you try to accomplish?
The Fall starts off with 2 weeks of individuals so that we can work more hands on with all of our players before we get going with team practice. Then we will practice 5 or 6 days a week, with 3 of them being intrasquads. Our team will lift 3 days a week throughout the entire Fall as well. We have also planned a couple scrimmages against Columbia University and the Toronto Mets (amateur travel team out of Canada). We end the Fall with 2 more weeks of individual workouts in order to go over things from the Fall and so that our guys know what to work on throughout the Winter. During the Fall we try to teach and evaluate as much as possible as well as making it as competitive as possible.
8. Do you have a strength and conditioning coach?
Yes, we do have a full time strength and conditioning coach for our team. He meets with our coaching staff once a week throughout the entire year to go over everyone’s progress and accountability.
9. Anything planned for your facilities (upgrades, changes, etc.)?
We are getting our turf resurfaced in the summer of 2014. Right now we feel that we have one of the best facilities in the Northeast. With the turf and lights we are able to play games and practice outside when a lot of other schools are not able to.
10. Is there anything you would like to add about your assistant coaches, recruits, parents, or program that we have not asked you about?
I would just like to add that in my two years here at Fordham I have been overwhelmed with the support of the alumni and administration. We have a great athletic department here that is always looking to improve facilities and give us everything we need to be successful. The alumni have supported us not only by attending games and coming to events but by very generous donations every year.
If there are any questions that you'd like to see our staff ask in future installments of "Conversations with College Coaches" or any schools that you'd like to see featured, please contact us at [email protected].
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