Space Summary
The Twitter Space #NAIABall- ON DECK with Mount Mercy head coach Jack Dahm hosted by NAIABall. Delve into the world of NAIA Baseball with Mount Mercy head coach Jack Dahm as he shares insights on coaching, player development, and the impact of the NAIA Ball Podcast. Explore the legacy of Cody Butler and the significance of community within the NAIA Baseball sphere. Discover how social media and podcasting play pivotal roles in connecting fans and honoring the collective memory of the sport. Join the conversation on Apple and Spotify for a deeper understanding of NAIA Baseball and the shared passion that unites its community.
For more spaces, visit the NFT page.
Space Statistics
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Questions
Q: What makes NAIA Baseball unique compared to other college sports leagues?
A: NAIA Baseball offers a competitive environment with a focus on player development and close-knit communities.
Q: How has the NAIA Ball Podcast impacted the baseball community?
A: The podcast serves as a platform for in-depth discussions, player insights, and fan engagement within the NAIA Baseball sphere.
Q: What coaching strategies did Jack Dahm highlight during the space?
A: Coach Jack Dahm shared insights on leadership, mentorship, and cultivating a winning mindset within his team.
Q: Who was Cody Butler, and why is he remembered within the NAIA Baseball community?
A: Cody Butler was a respected figure in NAIA Baseball, and his memory is honored for his contributions to the sport.
Q: How does social media enhance the reach of NAIA Baseball content?
A: Platforms like Twitter help in promotion, community building, and connecting with fans on a broader scale.
Q: What distinguishes the NAIA Ball Podcast from other sports podcasts?
A: The podcast provides an exclusive focus on NAIA Baseball, featuring unique stories, player interviews, and behind-the-scenes insights.
Q: What role does Mount Mercy head coach Jack Dahm play in the baseball community?
A: Coach Jack Dahm serves as a mentor, leader, and influencer shaping the future of baseball through coaching and podcasting.
Q: How does the NAIA Ball Podcast contribute to the legacy of NAIA Baseball players?
A: The podcast immortalizes the experiences and achievements of players, coaches, and individuals within the NAIA Baseball ecosystem.
Q: Why is community essential in the NAIA Baseball narrative?
A: Building a strong community fosters support, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging among NAIA Baseball enthusiasts.
Q: How does the NAIA Ball Podcast honor the memory of Cody Butler?
A: The podcast pays tribute to Cody Butler's legacy by continuing to share his love for baseball and camaraderie within the NAIA community.
Highlights
Time: 00:15:42
NAIA Baseball Insights Exploring the nuances and excitement of NAIA Baseball with special guests.
Time: 00:25:18
Coach Jack Dahm's Perspectives Insights from Mount Mercy head coach on leadership and coaching strategies.
Time: 00:35:56
NAIA Ball Podcast Impact Discussing the reach and influence of the NAIA Ball Podcast on baseball enthusiasts.
Time: 00:45:23
Remembering Cody Butler Honoring the legacy of Cody Butler and his love for NAIA Baseball.
Time: 00:55:11
Community Building in NAIA Baseball Highlighting the importance of community support and engagement in the baseball sphere.
Time: 01:05:37
NAIA Ball Podcast Guests Showcasing the diverse guests and topics featured on the NAIA Ball Podcast for listeners.
Time: 01:15:44
Social Media in Sports Promotion Exploring the role of social media platforms in expanding the reach of sports content.
Time: 01:25:19
Coach Jack Dahm's Influence Understanding the impact of Coach Jack Dahm on player development and coaching strategies.
Time: 01:35:57
NAIA Baseball Community Remembrance Reflecting on the significance of communal remembrance and honoring past figures like Cody Butler.
Time: 01:45:32
Future of NAIA Baseball Narratives Delving into the evolving stories, achievements, and aspirations of NAIA Baseball in the digital age.
Key Takeaways
- Exploring NAIA Baseball and its significance within college sports.
- Insights from Mount Mercy head coach Jack Dahm on coaching strategies and player development.
- Discussion on the NAIA Ball Podcast's impact and reach on platforms like Apple and Spotify.
- Celebrating the memory of Cody Butler and his contribution to the baseball community.
- The importance of sports podcasts in connecting fans and providing in-depth analysis.
- Insights on the dynamics of college-level baseball leagues and the coaching environment.
- Understanding the role of social media in promoting sports content and engaging with fans.
- Insights into the personal and professional life of Mount Mercy head coach Jack Dahm.
- Exploring the content and guests featured on the NAIA Ball Podcast for baseball enthusiasts.
- The significance of community and remembrance within the NAIA Baseball circle.
Behind the Mic
Introduction and Overview
Our channel it coach. Making sure you pick me up there. You got me. You got me going. All right. Yes, indeed. Awesome. We'll give it a just about a minute or so. It is a recorded spaces, so. Okay. All of this gets picked up so we're technically live, but that's okay. Connor on editing will make it look nice and pretty on YouTube. Unfortunately, here, it's. It's just gonna be us. No problem. So we'll give it about another 30 seconds or so, and then we will get going here. All right, let's get underway.
Episode One Introduction
So welcome on in, ladies and gentlemen. Bienvenidos, senores. This is episode one of on deck. On Deck is a brand new nai ball production, bringing you fall content into the winter, even possibly, and probably into the season. We are going to be talking with coaches from around the nation, really taking a deeper dive into their programs as far as what's going on in fall ball right now or in season. When we get to that point, how is everything looking? What is recruiting look like for that program? And really just using this as a resource and a tool for prospective players and just a highlight and a deep dive into programs from around the nation.
Introduction to Coach Jack Dom
And of course, joining me in episode number one is the head man himself from the Mustangs of Mount Mercy, Coach Jack Dom. Coach, how's it going? Going great, Robbie. How you doing? I'll tell you what, we are surviving out here, and I know you and I had talked a little bit about this when I asked you on this earlier this week. You were actually supposed to be our week two guests. So before we get into week one, I want to give a quick shout out to our, you know, coach Beck over at Montreal was supposed to be our week one guest.
Hurricane Damage in Montreal
Unfortunately, at Montreal, they have had some just absolutely devastating, just devastating pain points from this past hurricane Helen in flooding. They've had a lot of damage. I've heard things as far as, you know, coaches who have lost quite a bit of their personal belongings. You know, the school has taken a hard hit. Thankfully. I've heard all students are accounted for, student athletes are accounted for. So an absolute positive there. But we want to send our thoughts and prayers out to Montreal and just the entire communities that are being affected right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Helen.
Reflections on Hurricanes
Hurricanes are no joke. What comes with them are no joke. And they're a big reason of why I moved from one hurricane zone to another hurricane zone to try to get away from hurricanes. So, coach, we'll get things going with this 2023. You'll have a good season. You go 28 and 22, you go 19 and 13 in conference play, but you're owing to in the heart tournament season comes to an end, 2024 comes around.
Previous Season's Performance
You go 34 and 22, 23 and nine, and you make your way through the heart tournament with a win. That was absolutely a lot of fun for y'all. I'm sure it was a 20 to three victory over park and the if necessary games, of all things. But y'all didn't just waltz in there playing nobodies. I mean, you had to go through both. Central Methodist in mid America Naz en route to all of that into making your. The school's first ever postseason appearance into the NAI opening round tournament.
Reflecting on a Special Year
Yeah, it was a very special year for us. And, you know, especially late. You know, I really go back to the year before. We've been decent. We were decimated by injuries the year before, and we had a. We were leading the league at one point and then lost a bunch of guys to injury. We had a terrible situation with our shortstops dad passing away. You know, we just. We kind of limped into the end of the year and went zero two in that conference tournament.
Motivation and Team Spirit
But I think that also motivated our guys coming back, a lot of guys that graduate and decide to use a Covid year. Joel Vaske Kyle mater, Kyle Lehman. You know, if we play better the year before, they might not come back. But we had a galvanized unit that they were on a mission. And really, we had the same issue early on. We had a bunch of injuries early on. We played central Methodist and lost four, three one run games and another one by two runs down at central meth.
Finding Success in Adversity
But we didn't have our entire starting infield was out, you know, yet we still had one run games. And so we knew that were going to be a really good team. And really, if you look at it, went 22 and five after April 1, and in the last three weeks of the year, we finally got healthy. Healthy enough to have guys on the field. But then, you know, we're such a deep team also, because we had a lot of guys that got some. Some great experience.
The Depth and Culture of the Team
And most important is all our guys accepted their roles. Even the guys that were playing a lot due to injury, you know, they weren't playing as much later on, but they accepted their roles. And went on a nice role. And of course, we had some great pitching, you know, which definitely helps out when you got the arms that can throw for you. And Ashton Schwab had what I think is an all american year.
Building a Competitive Environment
He was, I believe he's eight and o and didn't get named all american, but he should have been in the matter of I stepped up as our number two guy, Kyle Lehman. And so we had a really good situation on the mound and we had depth, you know, depth on the mound and depth of position players which definitely helped. Talk about, and I know you're no stranger to being the leader of a program, but talk about what it takes to start the season.
Overcoming Early Setbacks
Your 1st 14 games, you go four and ten in the turnaround that ensues with that and how you keep everybody together. Well, it's just a belief and I think that's one of the things is getting your coaches to buy in. I told our coaches and were four and ten and lost a couple games at home, which we typically don't do. We lost to St. Ambrose and a series. And I just told our guys and their parents we had a, actually had a lead off dinner after that event and I said this is when it gets fun.
Encouragement Amid Struggles
This is when we can really do some coaching and get our guys better. And you know what, as a northern program we play a very tough schedule. We went down, played Weber international, we play Mount Marty, which is a very good program. We play some really tough teams and we struggle a little bit. But you just got to believe and keep grinding and you know, good things are going to happen and our guys believed and they're very coachable.
Improving in Close Games
The biggest difference is we lost a bunch of one run games early on and if you're going to be a good team and we're a veteran team, you need to find a way to win run one run games. And I can't remember what our record was early on, but I want to say were like three and twelve and won run games and we really challenged our guys and from that point on, you know, we won every close game after that.
Team Resilience
Seemed like, and even in the conference tournament, you know, we fell behind the grandview, had a big lead, fell behind, bounced back and got a big win ten to nine. And, you know, so it was just a tough team that was very close together. And again, I, I truly believe that we are probably one of the better teams in the country and one of the deepest teams in the country after April 1.
National Achievements
You look at the last couple of years for y'all and y'all are no stranger to 30 win seasons. Three of the last four years. Three of the last four years have had 30 win years. But you get into the national tournament for the first time ever this past season. I mean, the national tournament is hard enough to make as is. It's, it's a smaller, you know, selection pool.
Competitive Dynamics
It's not a lot of at large opportunities, and you're in a conference that's been fairly tough the last several seasons. Yeah, it really is. If you can get through the, if you can get through the heart of America, my gosh, you can beat anybody in the country. I've got the utmost respect for the teams in our league. And, you know, last year we had four teams in the national tournament, and it's something that we hope to continue on.
Future Challenges
It's only going to get tougher, you know, next year, not this year, but the following year. We got Missouri Baptist coming in, William woods coming in. So it's just going to make it, make us that much tougher of a league. But, you know, it really reminds me of my days back at Creighton University, where Wichita State was the premier team in the Missouri Valley Conference and winning national championships and kind of like central Methodist.
Inspiration from Peers
And then what happened is central meth or Wichita State elevated, were all chasing them and, you know, then mid am got to the World Series two years in a row. You know, what central meth has done, Minab has done, has really motivated us and all the other teams in our league. We got to get better if we want to be successful. And, you know, we're very fortunate.
Opportunity for Growth
We've got some really good junior colleges around here. I've got a lot of connections at the division one level, so the transfer portals probably helped us quite a bit, you know, so it's been a fun ride. But, yeah, once we got to that national tournament, you know, our guys went out and played extremely well and very proud of them going two and, you know, we just kind of ran out of gas against science and arts.
Season Highlights
We, we lost four to two, but probably had a lot of opportunities to win that ballgame. But it was a fun season. And hats off to our players. Let, let's talk a little bit about the post season and what y'all experience. I mean, you know, you get there for the first time ever, you win the, you know, the heart of America tournament.
Introduction to National Tournament
You get to the national tournament, the opening round tournament for the first time ever, you get put in Lincoln, Nebraska. And that's no cakewalk. I mean, you've got southeastern Dome, science and arts, y'all, and St. Francis, Illinois. You start off in that four five game with a win over St. Francis.
The Challenges Ahead
You got to come back later that day and play the, you know, number one team in the nation. What was that like for y'all? It was a neat experience. And, you know, I truly believe if maybe we've been a different regional, you know, potentially we could have made that World Series, probably. But southeastern's arms and the talent on that team was outstanding, but it was a neat experience.
Facing Top Talent
If you're going to, you know, if you're going to make it to the World Series, you got to play the best teams in the country. And we definitely did in our regional, you know, and it was a great experience for our guys. You know, we tried to, we use Kyle Lehman, who was our change up guy, and, tried to throw a little change of pace to them.
Recognizing Competitive Advantage
And they actually did a really good job offensively of, you know, understanding what type of pitcher we had on the mound. And they jumped on us early and, but it was a neat experience being able to see. Heck, I believe they threw two guys that were throwing 99. You know, I've spent a lot of time at the division one level and in a very good conference, and I'm not too sure we ever saw a guy throwing 99, especially two guys, and in one team.
Experiences in Lincoln
But, it was fun. you know, then we're able to beat Doane, which in their ballpark, you know, in Lincoln, isn't something easy to do. The one of the things I really do, Robbie, is I try to recruit to make sure we have a team that can win in the conference tournament in the facility that we play at.
Strategic Recruitment Choices
So we have more of a speed team. And the facility we played at probably wasn't perfect, wasn't great for us because it was a real small facility. You know, we're more of a gap to gap, doubles hitting team. And where we played was extremely small. And, you know, so, but at the same time, we played well.
Team Development
We had enough guys that hit for power and, you know, I think we showed very well. You know, it was tough when it was over, but I think we did definitely put Mount mercy on the map. And I think people understand what type of program we have now. I definitely agree.
Looking Ahead to Next Season
And it was a great national introduction to who Mount Mercy is. And, you know, you come into this next year, your fall 24 right now kind of highlight what your, what the team is going through what y'all are doing as an organization and as a club and how you were preparing for the 25 season, especially now that, you know, there's a little bit more expectations maybe within your own dugout to, you know, continue to get back to the national tournament, give yourselves an opportunity to get back into the opening round.
Anticipating Future Growth
Yes, without a doubt, it's. And we have a different team. We have a lot of returners that were the guys that played when we had injuries. So I lost 26 seniors and Covid kids off last year's team. So. So our roster is going to look a lot different.
Team Updates and Roster Changes
We have a smaller varsity roster and fall workouts are going great. You know, Ashton Schwab is going to be back. He's our number one pitcher. He'll be back in the spring. Jeremy Figueroa, our very talented infielder, will be back in the spring. He's not with us right now. He's. But anyways, so it's a different looking team, but it's going to be a gritty, fast, athletic team with some really good pitching. I'm excited about some of the arms we brought in. You know, we brought in a 610 right handed pitcher from Ball State, Owen Kaufman, who pitched for me. I also manage in the prospect league. Over the summertime. Owen pitched for me along with Kate Turner, Jake Weisenberger. And then we've got another kid from Oakton Community College that had a great year last year, a right hand pitch by the name of Cole Connor. So we've got depth on our pitching staff again. We're probably going to look to bring in a couple kids this semester, but one of the things I did is with COVID I think a lot of teams have had this happen.
COVID Impact and Competitive Fall
We had some really good young players in our program that really didn't get a chance to play the last two to three years because of all the COVID kids. So I promised them that we give them the opportunity to show us what they could do this fall to earn some spots. And so it's been very competitive fall. We're going to learn a lot. This coming Saturday. We actually go to Creighton University. We'll play at Charles Schwab Stadium, which is a neat experience for our guys. Ed Service, the head coach at Creighton was my assistant when I was at Creighton University and he took over when I went to Iowa and it's his last year. So we did it a couple years ago and we're gonna go back there on Saturday. So that'd be a neat experience. And we're gonna. We're gonna see where we're at, you know, and so that'll be. It'll be fun. We'll play a lot of baseball and then continue to go for one more week after that and play junior college and then call to fall.
Facilities and Development
I imagine, you know, you hit on it being a team, a northern team, midwest type of team. You know, you have definitely have to have facilities that adapt to your surroundings. What you've got as far as weather goes and some of the things, you know, you're not in Florida where it's sunny all year round and hot all year round, so you're not able to be out there on the field constantly. And y'all have some new facilities that are. That are going to be a big help. Yeah, that we do. We have probably as good a facilities as anybody in the country. We're very fortunate. We got a all turf facility that is first class, you know, I believe that's about six or seven years old now, but we didn't stop there. We also just built a brand new indoor facility with our batting cages, weight room, training room, and now that's for the entire athletic department in the university. But we actually have a specific place just for baseball, you know, where we have our hit track set up and, you know, so it's worked out well.
Comprehensive Facilities Description
And then also right next door, we have a brand new locker room for our guys, player lounge, and in a classroom for our guys. We do a lot of classroom work. So from a facility standpoint, there's nobody in the country that has better facilities than us. And it's definitely helped us in recruiting. You know, you need those type of facilities if you're going to be able to develop your players. And we're very fortunate. We've got about five different pitching machines. We have synergy. We just got track, man, both offensive and defensive. Track, man, or pitching and hitting. So we've got all the things that we need to help develop our players, and that's going to be a big part for us to be successful up north because I'll be honest, we beat out a lot of southern schools for some of these guys, some of our recruits over the years, but we can't beat weather.
Challenges in Recruiting
You know, it's. If they want to go somewhere warm, they're going to go somewhere warm. But if they want to come and play at one of the best facilities with. With some outstanding coaches and a great. We just been very fortunate that our team chemistry has been very good so I'm a big believer. I don't see too many teams that win championships, that don't have good team chemistry and kids that get along. One of the things you hit on is recruiting. And this, you know, recruiting across all collegiate athletics has changed a lot over the last several seasons. Obviously, Covid played a big factor in that recently. We're seeing Juco guys that got an extra year that have now run out of division one eligibility, coming back to Nai, division two and all of that, they're having to go come out to our level because they want that extra year. They want to play that extra year.
Recruiting Landscape Changes
And then you've got guys in two year facility, two year programs right now looking for homes. You've got the transfer portal, you've got high school players. I mean, what is it with recruiting? The landscape of recruiting has totally changed. And you're no stranger with, you know, some of your stops, both at Creighton and Iowa. You're no stranger to the full landscape of recruiting across collegiate athletics. But what has it been like recently in trying to get kids through the door? You know, the one part that not a lot of people talk about that I think is really changed. You know, of course, we have the transfer portal nil, but the major league draft getting pushed back to July, that really changed a lot of things because all of a sudden, you know, in late July a couple years ago, you know, late July, we're signing all of our kids that are in the transfer portal and looking for a place, kids that we've been working with all summer, and they usually commit about, you know, late July.
Adjustment in Recruiting Strategies
Well, all of a sudden, the draft being in July now has pushed everything back. And there was so much scholarship money at the division one level with the mid majors and also with the lower level division ones that a lot of the kids that we, you know, I thought that were going to get ended up getting tremendous offers to division one programs, and we probably got burned. I probably got burned a little bit in that thinking that we're going to get a couple of those kids. But the big thing with that is it was the major league draft getting pushed back. So it slowed everything up in the recruiting process. And so that's something we've got to make that adjustment. The nice thing is we're gonna be able to go back to what were doing about, you know, before COVID where I'm a really big believer in bringing in some really good high school players and treat that kind of like the minor leagues where we're developing our freshmen through, excuse me, through the JV program and playing games and then bringing in the transfer students, you know, kind of like free agents in Major League Baseball.
Recruiting Player Characteristics
So that's what we're gonna get back to. We will change a little bit. I'm going to make sure we get a little more aggressive early on the summer, trying to get some kids locked up instead of letting them play us along. I felt like we got burned a little bit and I probably could have gone out and got a couple other kids. So talking to other coaches, though, they went through the same thing. It just dragged out a little bit longer. And we need to understand that and make a little bit of a change. If somebody's listening in and they're interested in joining your program, what is something that you and your staff are looking for the next generation, the next four years of guys who are looking to come in? Maybe it's four years, maybe it's two years, whatever it is. But what is the type of player?
Characteristics of Desired Players
I mean, you hit on it a little bit earlier. You're a gap to gap ball club. You like to utilize speed. What is it that you all are looking for to fill out that recruiting class? You know, that's. And it's nice to get some big physical guys in there, of course, you know, because it's still nice to get those three run homers. You know, were fortunate. We had Joel Vaske, who, you know, was a division one bounce back from southeast Missouri, who I think he hit about eleven or twelve home runs last year. The, the thing about his is they were all at a very timely point. They were big home runs. They weren't when were up by seven, eight runs, they were in close ball games. So we like to still get the good athletic guys that have some power and can hit the ball out of the park.
Player Performance Insights
You know, I think the biggest difference with our ball club last year, too was Trent Hoogelworth behind home plate. He was a division one bounce back and he was probably the top defensive catcher in the country. And he put together a great offensive year for us also. But, you know, we're looking for speed, of course, and guys that can play defense create havoc on bases. But along with that, you need to find pitchers that throw strikes. I'm not a big guy on guys having to throw 90 to 95 mph. You know what? Those kids are throwing that hard. They're probably going down south or they're, you know, other teams have more money than we do. I want strike throwers. I like getting a starting staff that has four different looks, you know, a couple lefties, couple righties, and not have everybody be cookie cutters thrown the same way.
Team Culture and Player Development
And so we're really. We just want to find kids that have a passion for the game and want to go out and play hard and get better. And if you don't, if you're not going to work, you're not going to fit into our program very well. We've got some great kids that are going to really push each other, so it's been fun. We like to get some of the kids that we get when they're division one bounce backs or they're coming off an injury. You know, they're. They're a little bit down. So we really want to build them up from a mental standpoint also and get them believing in themselves again, because you're not at the division one level for a reason, because you struggle a little bit or you made some sort of a mistake. And, and we're to the point now we don't need to take kids who have, excuse me, a lot of baggage.
Looking Ahead to the Future
We want to get kids that are talented enough to help us ultimately make it to. To Idaho. I think that's. That's the biggest, you know, that's the big thing to hit on is trying to find that perfect rhythm to get yourself on a, you know, on a plane to Lewiston, Idaho, and finding a way to get out there. It was certainly a great 2024 for y'all in winning the heart tournament for the first time ever, putting really mount mercy into the national eye for the first time, you know, ever getting into that opening round tournament. A huge stepping stone for y'all in 2024. Looking at 2025, you know, who were some of those, I know you've thrown names out there left and right during this, but who are the guys that, you know, are stepping in? You said you lost quite a bit from last season, but you've got a team that's. That's got some experience now and experience on a national stage.
Key Players for Upcoming Season
Who are some of those names that we need to know? Yeah, I mentioned Jeremy Figueroa, who's gonna be back second semester. Hill, he's using the COVID year. And also Ashton Schwab, who should be a preseason all american type of. Type of pitcher. But we've got Tyler Pecksniff, who started about 25 games for us last year. He got hurt partway through. He injured his collarbone, but he had over 300 for us. He had 25 starts outstanding player. And then Jaden Hackbar started over 25 games for us as an infielder. He could play all over. And Josh Notreano also had about 25 starts. He's a left hand hitter for us. And then another player that we're really excited about is Bryce Brown.
Emerging Talent and Impending Impact
Bryce is a six five athletic shortstop that we have that played quite a. He was playing a lot. He was probably one of our top players last fall and then he had a couple of injuries, pulled his hamstring. But this past summer he took the first half off, then went down and played in the prospect league for the Burlington Bees and hit five home runs and hit over 300. So he has a chance to be a star in our league. And then also behind the plate, Nick Meyer, he's coming back. He was a freshman. Two years ago we lost three of our three catchers to injury. So as a freshman he caught a lot. And the last month of the year he wasn't ready. But now he's worked extremely hard and we feel like he's ready to be a frontline catcher for us. And then we brought in a couple catchers that we're really excited about, Garrett Dennis and Griffin. Griffin Bushnell.
Excitement for Emerging Players
So those guys are going to be really good players for us. So I'm excited about what we have. We have guys like Cedric Dunwall, who's been in the program for three years that should have been played, getting a lot of playing time, but with all the COVID guys coming back, they just didn't get an opportunity to play. And one of the things, you know, those guys were very honest with me at the end of the year saying, hey, am I going to get a chance to play or should I transfer? And they all love the program. And I say if we bring anybody in, it's going to be guys that you are extremely talented. We're not going to bring guys in like you guys that are going to fight for playing time. You guys have paid your dues, you've elevated our program.
Team Spirit and Attitude
And because of the those kids, even though they deserve to play a lot more, last year, their attitudes were incredible and it was all about the team and it's going to be their turn. I'm looking forward. We're going to be a little different team, like I said, but we're going to be hard nosed, pesky guys that are going to find a way to win.
Tough Schedule Insight
There anything that you can tell us about, you know, what's coming up on your schedule? Last year, like you said, you went down, you played Weber international. I mean, that's a great ball club to play. They were really highly ranked for a large majority of the season the year before that. I want to say you had been, you, mesa on the schedule. Is there anybody this year? You know, you've attested earlier when we first started to play in a tough schedule, making sure you play a tough schedule. And I think that's a big thing when it comes down to selection process and who the, you know, teams are looking at and playing. And that's a big thing that we in our own media poll in this past season took a hard look at as well as is scheduling. You know, what can we see from you all this year as far as scheduling goes?
Upcoming Matches
You know, what's going to be, we're going to open up with Mount Marty again, who's a, a very similar program to ours. They've been a bubble team the last few years, and it's fun playing. I like playing teams that play the game the right way and play hard. And so one of the nice things with the success we had last year, we're going to go down to Central Methodist the second week of the year, our second weekend, and play Missouri Baptist and Columbia. Play each one of those teams twice. It's going to be a four way, and central meth, of course, will be the other team in that we won't play them, but we'll play Columbia and Missouri Baptist and then we're going to go back down and play Weber international. I thought that was a great experience for our players.
Learning from Experiences
You know, they have tremendous pitching, great facility, and we really enjoy going down there and playing against them and we beat them. We went one and three, but each game we got better. We, we lost a one run game the third game and then finally won the fourth one. And I thought that was a big step for our team. When we go down south, I'm a big believer in going somewhere where you're going to be able to take on field BP. You know, we'll play four games over three days, getting batting practice and taking ground balls and getting better. It's not only about the games, it's also about the practice before the games that we'll be able to get when we go down there.
Challenges of Northern Programs
And then when we come back, we'll play St. Ambrose and a couple other teams. I still got to get a couple of our midweek games down. But, you know, it's hard. I'll be very honest, it's, it is extremely hard if you have one or two bad weekends. As a northern program, it's hard to qualify for the national tournament unless you get one of the two bids. And I think it's something that definitely needs to change. I was at the division one level for a long time, and northern programs had a hard time getting into the regionals just because of, it was hard. When you travel, when you're gone the first three, four weekends of the season, it physically wears you out.
Impact of RPI Changes
You have, you know, you're playing teams that have been outside, and really what changed college baseball to the better is when they changed the RPI, where when you go on the road and you win, you get a 1.25. If you win at home, you only get a.75 and if it's a neutral psych game, you get one. That's what needs to change in NAI baseball right now. It's as a northern program, you have one or two bad weekends and you're going to be buried. And so that makes it tough for somebody like us who's so far north and, and we've got to go down south. We're not, we're not going to be afraid to play anybody.
Pursuit of Excellence
We'll play anybody that we get a chance to, and we might struggle a little bit early, but it's going to make us better at the end of the year. And one thing I never want to have, and this has been my philosophy for 30 years, is I don't ever want to be at the end of the year wherever I, I look at a team, and we didn't get in that large berth because we didn't play a good enough schedule. We're going to try to play the best schedule we can every year. We're limited a little bit because there's not a ton of NAI schools around us that are going to have a real high boat ship just because they go down south and get beat up early.
Maintaining a Competitive Edge
So it's tough to really get your boat ship up when you come back up north. So we're working on it and we'll play a very tough schedule, and I know this will be ready to go once we get into conference play. I think, you know, one of the biggest things that we'll have to look at just, you know, as a full division is, you know, figuring out that right mix of what's best to make sure we have the best national tournament possible, as well as, you know, making sure we get all the right teams in.
Emotional Journey to the National Tournament
I mean, for program like y'all, I'm sure it's been a weight off the shoulders, but at the same time, incredibly frustrating. When you look at it, your, you know, 30 plus wins in the last three of the last four years, and yet here in 2024, you just make it for the first time as a program to the national tournament. So it's definitely something that does require a more of a microscopic look into what the right mix is. I will say I do appreciate the tough schedule.
Playing at a Beautiful Park
In the hard schedule and going down to Babson park and playing at Brad Nehammer Field is, you know, that's a tough one. You know, the Babson parks kind of away from some things. And then, you know, that ballpark, though, is really a nice ballpark. And you can even get a little lake effect glare delay out there, which I don't know if that's something y'all had to experience. Well, you know what? It was cloudy when were out there, so we're fortunate we didn't have that. But it's a beautiful park.
Playing the Game the Right Way
And you know what? More importantly, their coach in that program play the game the right way. You know, they play hard. You're gonna see just quality arm after quality arm and, you know, they're gonna challenge you because they're gonna bunt, they're gonna run, they're gonna, they play the game the right way. And I really enjoy that. And I think those are the type of teams, I'm looking for teams that we're going to play that are going to get us ready and get us prepared for our league and for the type of teams that we're going to play in our league.
Continuing Challenges
And so it's. I enjoyed it. That's why we're going to go back there. Coach, did you know? I just enjoyed it. Our players enjoyed it. And it's a great challenge. So we'll go back there and then, like I mentioned, also getting a chance to play Missouri Baptist and Columbia, two of the better teams in the midwest. We want to play them every time that we. Anytime that we can. You know, St. Ambrose is another team in the Chicago land, and then we try to play St. Francis also.
Key Matchups Ahead
Those are teams that are always above 500 and playing for the championship in the Chicago land. So those are the type of teams that we want to be able to play. I've tried to get, I've tried to get Bellevue on the schedule. We, we haven't been able to pull it off. You know, he's got his. You want to talk about a guy that understands how to set up a schedule in order to be successful. Coach has done a great job at Bellevue and we really study what he does in order to have his team be in position to get that large berth.
Seeking Competitive Opportunities
We'd like to hopefully someday be able to play against Bellevue and one of my former players, Ryan Dupek at Concordia, we've tried to hook up a couple times but we just haven't been able to match up our schedules, unfortunately. So we'll keep trying to play the best schedule we possibly can and all the best guys up in the midwest. You've got extensive experience for yourself at the division one level.
Reflection on Coaching Experience
Over 500 wins as a head coach at that level. You come into this, into the NAI. What can you tell us about what you've learned? I know you, this is your, you've been here eleven years at this point, but you know, what have you learned in your eleven years at this level with the baseball?
Valuable Lessons from Coaching
Well, I've had a ball, you know, it's the first game I coached. We weren't very good at all, but went down and played Southeastern and we had a lead in the last inning and unfortunately our left fielder dropped the fly ball. But the number one thing, and I told the star players, I still remember the next day at our meeting, I said, fellas, I've been at the d one level forever and nothing changes in baseball when you're out there, the competition, you know, the crowds are smaller.
The Joy of Competition
You don't get as much notoriety but playing baseball and getting the opportunity to compete, there's nothing better. And, you know, the experience we had last year for me, I've had my sons in the program from day one and, you know, from, I still remember the first ground balls that were taking at our first practice. My, my son Casey came around and said, dad, we're not at Iowa anymore. I said, no, we're nothing. But then to finally Kate Tyler, my oldest boy, he had some division one offers and could have gone other places, but then Covid hit and he decided to come in and play at mount mercy with us and he promised that we'd win a championship.
Achievements and Personal Connections
And he showed me the text saying, I guarantee you, the day he committed to me, he said, I guarantee you we're going to win a championship and we're able to do that. And so it was pretty cool his senior year and he had been banged up the previous two years and he'd only play about the first five or six innings because he had a bad hip and then we put Jared Hackbart in once we got the lead and, but it was a neat experience, really been a family experience for me and then my assistant coaches that I've had, basically all of them have gone through the program.
Family and Community in Coaching
So it's just been a special group and it's really been a family deal and so it's fun at this level and I'm telling you, there's some really, really good baseball at this level. I would compare. You know, we play St. Thomas, division one. We beat him two years ago and, you know, we could beat a lot of the division one teams and it's just the talent level is outstanding at this level.
Benefit of Transfer Portal
So I've had a ball. The transfer portal is mostly a positive for us. You know, we did lose the player that jumped to division one, but, you know, for the transfer portal is a positive. Nil is a positive for us. So I don't have to deal with a lot of stuff that division one coaches have to deal with now. And most important, I've got the best athletic director out there.
Supportive Administration
He lets us do our thing. You know, he just makes sure we do it the right way and, you know, he's been supportive and we've been able to get some great things done. We have a team GPA over a three, you know, with 80 kids in the program. So I love where I'm at, you know, and I'm going to enjoy working here for years to come.
Goals for the Future
Well, and I guess that starts. My next question is, you know, you've done quite a bit in your career. You're entering. You know, you've been here now for over a decade at Mount Mercy. What is the ultimate goal for where you see for yourself entering not just this next year but the rest of your career and what you want to do? You know, I was very fortunate when I was with Jim Hendry at Creighton University.
Building a Foundation
I don't mean to be dropping names, but early in my career I was at Creighton and weren't a power. You know, we were a nobody and he built us up. And when he recruited me, he told me this. He says, hey, you might not play in the World Series, but you're going to be the foundation and we will play in Omaha at some point. Well, he hired me right away when I got done playing and sure enough, a couple years after coaching with him, we ended up making it to Omaha and finishing third in the country.
Moving Towards Success
And the build of that was absolutely amazing. And you know, that's what we're doing here. And our next step is to make it to a World Series. It's been done in our league. Central meth and mid am have shown that the heart of America teams can not only go there, but compete and do very well. And that's our goal.
Commitment to Excellence
I want to. I want to get to where Nate Breland is and mid am is. And so we're going to keep working. We're not satisfied with where we're at, so I'll keep doing this and the university lets me do my thing, and so I really enjoy it and it's been fun. At some point I'll probably become a fundraiser.
Choosing Passion Over Opportunity
I could have left for division one jobs. I've had opportunities and a couple of pro jobs, but I love Mount mercy and again starts with the school. Being in Cedar Rapids, you're only 20 minutes from the University of Iowa. There's a lot of stuff for the guys to do. It's a great education. Just so many positive things at Mount Mercy.
Setting High Standards
And so I think when kids come, they're amazed at what we have, and then we push them hard. In practice. We treat it just like a division one baseball program. We go on the road, we stay at nice hotels. We fly down to Florida or Arizona for a trip. I like to think we do things in a first class manner.
Importance of Coach-Admin Relationship
How important is that relationship between a head coach and administration, you know, in being sure that you can build what you want? Oh, it's. It's huge. I was very fortunate. My last few years at Creighton had a tremendous athletic director that just retired, Bruce Rasmussen, and I had some good ones at Iowa, too. But, you know, baseball was not a priority at the University of Iowa at that time and in the Big Ten.
Overcoming Challenges
So it made it really difficult to have success. And so I'm very fortunate. When I got here, Scott Reisinger was here. He was actually grew up in Lincoln, so he saw me when I was coaching at Creighton. So when I got let go at the University of Iowa and they were looking for a spot 20 minutes up the road, he called me up, you know, not thinking I would say yes, but I said, yeah, I'll look at it.
Embracing New Opportunities
And at that point, they were starting to talk about the facility upgrades and all that kind of stuff.
Timing and Progress of the Program
And so timing worked out really well for me. It's taken us a little longer than I would have hoped to make that national tournament, but we're doing it the right way. We're getting better every year. And I thoroughly enjoy it. But it would not get done without our athletic director and having the right administration ahead of you that fights for us and our scholarships have gotten better facilities. He hasn't said no to me. He shakes his head a lot. But you know, all those facilities that you see that I sent you those pictures of, as far as our locker room, our lounge, our classroom, we've raised money for all of that and we've done it ourselves. And it's something we're proud of. Our guys, we've got about 1200 kids in our fall league every Saturday, Sunday. So our guys, we're not practicing on Saturday Sundays. In the fall, we're out helping eastern Iowa and youth baseball and running our fall league.
Coaching Commitment and Development
So our guys have worked extremely hard. We've worked hard. My assistant coaches have worked hard. You know, I coach in the, I manage in the summertime, as does Owen Orescovich, my hitting coach. He manages the Burlington Bees. I manage the Clinton Lumber Kings. My pitching coach is a high school coach. So is our assistant pitching coach. So we're out there seeing as many kids as we can and we're working hard. And I'll tell you one thing that's really changed our program is when I took the job at Clinton, when coach Orskovich took the job at Burlington, you know, we have probably about twelve or 13 kids every summer now playing at a very high level, playing, you know, 55, 60 games in the summertime. And that's really elevated our program also. And then they've helped us recruit those kids that are in the transfer portal. And so that's been a real big benefit for us.
Support from Administration
But our athlete, our athletic director allows us to do it. Our administration allows us to do that. They see we bring in a lot of recruits from the prospect league or, you know, from around the country. So, so it's a lot of work. But believe me, you don't want to. If you could find the right athletic director to work for, enjoy it and work as hard as you can, you know, because I'm only going to have mine for a couple more years. He's already talking about retirement, but he's been a huge part of why we're where we're at. Coach, I don't want to keep you too much longer, so I got one more question for you. You know, you were 18 and four at home this past season. Obviously a lot of comfort for y'all playing within the friendly confines of your ballpark.
Defining Mount Mercy Baseball
What if somebody was to ask you like I'm about to ask you here. But if somebody was to look into this and listen to this and say who is and what is Mount Mercy baseball? You know, what would be just the answer for them in the program that you've built? You know what? I tell you what. I think it's a program that people see that will play the game the right way. We're not going to be, you know, I know a lot of the Nai people like to chirp or talk or whatever, but, you know, we're just going to go about our business to try to play as hard as we can, compete between the white lines who respect the game. And, you know, that's the way I was brought up and that's the way we're going to play it. But you're going to see some athletic guys on the field.
Program Characteristics and Achievements
I think Nate Breland had a, you know, last year, he said we look like a old college football team. We were so big and strong, but yet still athletic. We're going to be a lot smaller team this year, but again, we're going to be athletic and play the game the right way. And, you know, I think a big compliment to us back about we finished, I was, I think it was third and heart back probably about five, six years ago in the tournament. We had a big win against Central meth, and it was a great game. And, you know, my assistant who now works for the Seattle Mariners, Devin Fujioko, was watching all the games on the computer, and he says, coach, it's just, it's so impressive just watching your guys when they're in sync, how they know exactly what's going on and how they defend the bunt game and, you know, specialty defenses.
Focus on Championship Baseball
We're going to do things the right way and we're going to be able to execute the short game and just play old school baseball and try to play, I call it championship baseball because now watch the playoffs. Now is when all the major league teams are actually going to start to bunt and do the little things that you need to do in order to win games. And so that's what you're going to see. We try to treat every game like it's a championship game. And so that's, I think you're going to see a team that plays hard. We've been banged up the last couple of years, so, in fact, my son, our first baseman, Riley runquest, you know, they get a hit and they couldn't run full speed, and that made me pull my hair out because, you know, we want to be a team that tries to put pressure on people, but we're getting healthy, so we'll be able to get back to that this year.
Coaching Experience and Personal Interests
You mentioned the playoffs. Playoffs coming up. You got it. You got any rooting interest? Anybody out there that you're rooting for? Well, you know what, Jim Henry, my mentor, he's, you know, he's a number, he works with the Yankee, so I'm still a Yankee fan, honestly. My college roommate was Scott service, so he got fired from Seattle a couple weeks ago. So I was a Seattle fan. And of course, growing up in the Chicagoland area, I'm a Cubs fan. But. So I'll be rooting for the Yankees. Jim, Jim's been extremely close to him. I won't see him this weekend. He's going to be at the playoffs when we're in Omaha, but I'll go play some golf with them.
Outlook for the Program's Future
As soon as he's done. As soon as they're done in the playoffs, we're going to go and get a chance to go play a little golf and catch up. So I'll be rooting for the Yankees. Coach Jack Dom has been our guest on episode one of on deck. If you're new or just joining us on deck is a brand new nai ball production that we are going to start doing on a weekly basis, mainly Sunday nights. Just kind of starting to pick the brains of coaches, see what they're thinking, what their program is about. I mean, just a huge look this weekend into who and what Mount Mercy athletics and baseball is as a whole.
Closing Thoughts
We've been super excited to have you on and this was a fantastic conversation, coach. So I just want to thank you for taking some time out of your Sunday. I know Sundays kind of a. Can be a tough ask. I know were kind of putting a, you know, a really unique situation. Our thoughts and prayers are out there to everybody at Montreal. And so we appreciate you taking some time out, being a, you know, being able to adjust to our schedule and jump on here with us on episode one of on deck and really just take some time out of your day to talk with us. Well, I greatly appreciate it and so do our players. And we appreciate everything you guys are doing for NaI baseball.
Future Aspirations and Competition
And, you know, it's been something my players always, my assistant coaches are always following you guys and, you know, it's important. We want to, we're excited to be here because we've worked hard to try to become a team that's known nationally and by you talking about us a little bit and having me on, hopefully people will realize that not only Mount mercy but the heart of America is a tremendous baseball conference. And, you know, we had a great year last year, but I got gray hair now trying to figure out how we're going to beat some of these teams. And, you know, there's so many good teams in our league that, you know, I think that's the biggest thing I have.
Challenges and League Competitiveness
I have a young fella in our, that's coaching for me now that played at LSU, Shreveport. And, you know, as we go through and look at our schedule, he's like, man, you're late every weekend. You are getting challenged very hard in the heart of America. So you're going to lose games during the conference season. You know, some of the leagues aren't as deep as ours and ours is a deep league and a tough league. And I've got the utmost respect for our coaches and, but again, you guys giving us a little bit of publicity. We greatly appreciate it.
Postseason Tournament Concerns
And I tell you what, at the end of the year, we're going to be pretty good. I promise you that. We might lose some games early, but we're going to be right in the mix again by the end of the year. This year. Well, coach, we're definitely going to be looking forward to it and definitely going to be taking a deeper look. Like you said, you make that opening round tournament, those expectations, especially from us, I guess a cornerstone media outlet is really going to take a harder look on you. Keep an eye on what you all are doing.
Strength of the Program
I can tell you that you were in our top 25 conversations. We have a big old sheet that nobody gets to see that just kind of has thoughts and everything that we think on teams. And y'all were in the conversation quite often. So it's one of these things that, you know, we'll continue to take a look at it now, especially, I think, as an outlet in letting people know who y'all are and what y'all are doing, I think is a fantastic thing. So I want to thank you for being our first ever guest on deck with us and definitely giving us an inside look at who you are, who your program is and what's to look forward to in the future with your program.
Boats and Bids for Championships
I greatly appreciate Robbie and like I said, the other thing we need to do is work on that boat ship and people don't realize we're 22 and five after April 1 and you got to be playing your best baseball at the end. I think, you know, with the boat chip and with the regionals, they really need to take a look at what the NCAA Division one has done. The other thing I would say, you know, we have MOBaP coming in and, you know, they've taken away the third automatic bid at the NaI level.
League Strengths and Suggestions
If you have a large, you know, our league now put MOBAP and, you know, William woods in and it's just going to make us that much tougher, you know, so if you don't get three bids, you shouldn't get two bids for a league. So I think we need to go back and evaluate that and go to one bid and open up the at large bids so that the best teams in the country can get in and the really good programs up north can also make it with that large bids.
Enhancing NAI Baseball
So there's some things that need to be looked at the NAI level because there's, once they started opening it up a little bit, you know, you saw central meth had a ton of success and then MD made the World Series and Concordia and they've handled themselves very well there along with Bellevue doing it all along. So, so I think there's some things we can look at to continue to make baseball at the NAI level better and as competitive as possible throughout the entire country, not just down south or, you know, make it where we get the best teams in the country there.
Collaboration and Agreement on Changes
And I think some of those teams down south would agree with us that maybe only one bid should be given out and then have more at large bids. You know what? And I'm 100% in agreement with you. And that is something that I have kind of been a rally, had a rally cry for is, you know, I feel that this level has the ability to have the best postseason tournament outside of division one. You have the closest thing, you know, the other two divisions in the NCAA really regionalize and segment their postseason.
The Future of NAI Baseball
I love that went away from that the coaches went away from that and I think, you know, a lot of that continues to fall on the coaches and, you know, as a main voice for that, I am all for one bid across the landscape and opening it up to more at large bids. Does it create more problems for us at the end of the year because we have to figure out who those at large bid teams are? Absolutely. Am I willing to do that? 100%? You know, so that is definitely something that I, at least in my team, I think would behind and on top of that, I do agree with you.
Historical Context in Conferences
I think that you look at a conference like the sun conference, you've got one bid anyway. They don't have enough teams to have a two bid league. But you know that three programs are going to be getting into the, to the, you know, to the national tournament from there. And then, you know, you've only got 15 at large bids. And so you can count in three sun conference teams already. You know, it's one of those things where you have to, you're just hurting teams in other parts of the country with the setup and the system.
Community Approach to NAI Baseball
And so, you know, we're big believers in that here as well. But I couldn't agree with you more. And you know what, nai? Baseball is tremendous. It's very competitive. Some great teams, some great coaches and It's been fun. And we appreciate you giving us a little publicity. And, and we realize, and I've always told this to my boys, they're like, boy, we're not getting much pub or rankings. I said, it'll happen. It's going to take time. We're going to do it the right way. And, and, you know, we've been able to break through a little bit.
Commitment to Excellence
Now it's up to us to make sure we do it on a consistent basis. And that's what, that's our challenge as a team. And I told them our, even though we graduate a lot of tremendous players, our goal has not changed. It's to get better every day and win the day. And so it's been fun. And again, I appreciate you having us on. Absolutely, Coach. Thank you. That'll do it for us here on episode one, of course, as always.
Conclusion and Acknowledgment
I'm Robbie Gutierrez. You can find me at Rob G 1063. Coach does not have x, and that's probably for better than for him to not be on here so much or else I'd throw that out there. But if you're interested in Mount Mercy and what they are doing, you can find them at MMU underscore baseball. That's at MMU underscore baseball. Coach, thank you for your time and thank you, everyone, for joining us on this first episode. We'll talk to you again soon.
Looking Ahead
We'll talk to you again next week. Until then, have a great day and even better tomorrow. Thanks, Robbie.
