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 Brian Billings, the head coach at University of Pugent Sound.

1. How long have you been coaching? How long at you current college or university?
I have been a college Head Coach for 12 years, the past 10 years as the Head Baseball Coach at the University of Puget Sound. I’m also an Administrator at Puget Sound serving as the Athletic Facilities Coordinator.

2. Who are some of your mentors or coaches that you look up to?
The list is very long…Probably the person who has made the biggest impression on me was my high school coach Miles Struxness who is a great person with a tremendous amount of integrity. Some of my other mentors are my college coaches Ken Garland and Bill Cohen. Coach Garland was a great leader and somebody who you always wanted win for and play very hard for. Billy was a mentor, teacher, and friend. I attribute a lot of my personal playing success to Bill who taught me a lot about hitting, playing infield, and about life. In fact, Bill and his wife conspired to hook me up with a girl about 15 years ago that they knew who I’m happy to say is now my wife and mother of my son Ben. Baseball and the people who have coached me over the years have given me so much and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to give back to the game and pay it forward.

3. What is the first thing about your school and program that you’d want a recruit to know about?
The University of Puget Sound is fun place to be! I think recruits get bogged down with talk about academics, athletics, and social life. We’re very strong in all those areas, but who wants to be boring?

4. What qualities do you look for in a prospect on the field? Off the field?
We look for ultra-competitive, talented, athletic prospects who are committed to hard work. Off the field we look for a few different qualities. First, we look for extremely good students with strong un-weighted GPA, excellent SAT or ACT test scores, and a challenging course load. Additionally, we recruit players who have strong character and morals. I want good citizens who are accountable and selfless and put team goals above their own personal goals.

5. How has video helped your recruiting?
We use video to evaluate the potential of players, especially if we are unable to see them in person.

6. Do you recruit from Junior Colleges?
We don’t recruit from Junior Colleges very much. If a JC prospect contacts me then I will follow up and see if he can play here. But we don’t go out of our way to identify JC players.

7. Can you break down your fall practice schedule? What will you try to accomplish?
In the fall we are allowed 16 practice dates. Some NCAA Div. III colleges set it up differently, but we typically spread our practices over a 4 week period in September and early October. We like to culminate our fall program with an Alumni game that we try to hold on the Sunday of Homecoming weekend to ensure a strong Alumni representation. We use our non-traditional season to evaluate our players (both new and returners). We do this while putting them in competitive situations (scrimmages or game speed drills), teaching them skills and techniques, and implementing our philosophies on hitting, pitching, defense, and base running.

8. Do you have a strength and conditioning coach?
Coach Kainoa Correa is our Strength Coach and Infield Coach. We focus on keeping our players healthy and developing functional strength.

9. Anything planned for your facilities (upgrades, changes, etc.)?
We are in the midst of a capital campaign to raise money for a $17.5M Fitness Center / Aquatic Center / and Fieldhouse renovation that will include a new fitness center, climbing wall, and aquatic center. We also have recently finished a major renovation of our baseball infield. Additionally, we have a functional indoor facility and a multi-use Turf practice facility at our disposal.

10. Is there anything you would like to add about your assistant coaches, recruits, parents, or program that we have not asked you about?
At Puget Sound we have lofty goals that include winning NWC Championships, Regional Championships, and National Championships. These “outcome” goals help to shape our “process” goals which go into much more detail. These goals are very important to us, but the most important thing for my program is the players and coaches enjoy the experience and have fun playing the wonderful game of baseball. Go Loggers!

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