In this week’s episode, we connect with a young coach who we know will continue to thrive in our coaching fraternity throughout his career. Clay Cox, head coach at Paris Junior College in Texas, jumps on the airwaves to discuss his path in baseball and the details inside how he is building the Dragons program. He offers his perspective on coaching high school baseball, creating his own luck, working to find his break into college baseball and now leading his own club in one of the most competitive regions. Cox pulls back the curtain to define exactly who ‘his kind of guys’ are. A strong advocate for Junior College baseball, we hear how Cox views that level and how more high school players should consider the two-year option. Plus, we gather his thoughts on building culture and developing young men to committing himself to stay on the ‘transformational’ side of coaching.

Coming off his time on the Youth Clinics stage at our ABCA Convention in Indianapolis this past January, we reconnected with Steve Nicollerat, the head coach at St. Louis University High School in St. Louis, Missouri, and also the creator of Coach Baseball Right. We explore how coaches can enhance their practice planning and provide a tremendous experience for their players. Nicollerat is a terrific steward of baseball, offering coaching and player clinics, educational resources, as well as his time and energy towards growing the game. We dive headfirst into practice planning, how coaches can improve time with their teams and find efficient ways to break down fundamentals, and how to add clarity to what they’re teaching their kids. Nicollerat offers his perspective on coaching for the right reasons and helping more players have fun and keep them playing baseball. Pen and paper are needed on this one as Nicollerat empties his pockets and delivers great takeaways for coaches to put right into their practices.

From the high school ranks, we connect with Chuck Box, the first year head coach at Hartfield Academy in Jackson, Mississippi. Here is the stat line on Chuck: 30-year continuous ABCA Member, 28 ABCA Conventions, head coaching experience on the four-year collegiate level, the two-year college level and now a high school head coach for the past 11 years. One of our most loyal members, we are proud to connect with him over the airwaves as this episode is packed with tremendous perspective from Box as the Hawks are preparing this week for the state championships games in Box's first year at the helm. You will hear his passion for learning, challenging himself to grow and evolve as a coach. He even offers his approach traveling around the country to connect with the nation's best college coaches to learn from them directly. Box opens up his charge to impact lives, what he has learned about championship culture over his career. He offers tremendous advice for coaches on how to implement positive change inside their own programs.

We open the airwaves to connect with loyal ABCA member and current Seattle Mariners Director of Player Development Andy McKay about all of the dynamics being considered by Major League Baseball clubs when it comes to developing their rosters throughout their organizations. This is a powerful show and McKay forces us all to take to pen and paper to keep up with this discussion on topics such as developing the mental game, adjustability in the box, controlling the strike zone on both sides of the baseball and the important analytics and technologies inside the game that are driving development. McKay opens up his growth, spending most of his career in the college ranks to evolving with the game and embracing the trends towards data-driven viewpoints and letting the numbers guide his department’s mission towards developing their Mariner players. We also uncover the culture inside the Seattle organization, how focusing on the ‘people’ and the ‘process’ has centered the club’s vision plus how the Mariners are focusing on building team chemistry and building selfless teams and teammates across all their various levels.

In this week’s episode, we dive into the travel baseball circuit and connect with Jeff Petty, who is the President and CEO of one of the top organizations in the country - Canes Baseball. Winners of 10 Perfect Game Championships since 2009 and four Wilson Premier Championships in two years, the Canes have built a stellar reputation of putting elite talent on the field but there is more behind the ‘C’ as Petty opens up about his unique approach to building an organization and growing young men. Petty also explores the positives of travel baseball and the potential negatives inside this space. Petty also opens up his stance on early recruiting, which leads us right into his mission of helping players and their families find the right fit in college baseball. As a member of our newly-created ABCA Travel Baseball Coaches Committee, Petty breaks down his membership inside the coaching fraternity plus highlights his career in baseball and the people who have impacted his life, as he hopes to do with his players.

Baseball is easy – score more runs than your opponent and you win. But there is a recipe for building your offense and we connected with two coaches who have consistently placed their programs at the top of offensive columns: Matt Bragga, head coach at Tennessee Tech University and Tom Eller, head coach at Harford Community College. Both coaches are having tremendous seasons so far. Bragga’s offense is ranked first nationally in multiple categories including 11.5 runs per game. Eller’s leads the country with 194 stolen bases and also walks. Inside this show, we pull back the curtain on what truly goes on inside the cages and batting practice, the inner details of what’s being taught and the language that drives each unique culture. We also explore constructing a lineup, which is different for both coaches, plus the statistics that they pay attention to that provide the true glimpse into who is producing inside their offensive group. This is yet another ‘take feverish notes’ episode as both Bragga and Eller offer up drills, ideas, concepts and specific batting practice routines and competitive situational routines that should find their way into your practice plans.

This week’s show takes us out to California to connect with a top young head coach as we chat with Jake McKinley from William Jessup University, who has turned the NAIA upside down this season. In his first season at WJU, McKinley has led the Warriors to their first-ever conference championship, getting the program ranked in the NAIA top 10 and closing in on 40+ wins (the previous school record was only 10). McKinley is a special coach and this comes out in full force inside this show as we discuss ‘constraint-led approaches’ inside the practice plan that McKinley feels have made all of the difference in developing his players plus team building and competition ideas from McKinley that coaches will want to implement right away. This is a ‘take-feverish-notes’ episode as McKinley offers terrific resources and becomes fully transparent as to what is being built at WJU while taking us through his growth inside coaching and the ups and downs throughout discovering his ‘why’ in coaching.

Following up from his main stage presentation at this year’s ABCA Convention in Indianapolis, we re-connect with Tim Cossins and dive deeper into his simplistic approach to player development, especially with his catchers. Cossins, who serves as the Chicago Cubs’ Field and Catching Coordinator, sat down with us and opened up on the approach he has taken to preparing his catchers daily as they look to thrive in the era of velocity and movement. Inside this episode, Cossins pulls back the curtain on the details from Spring Training and throughout the season as they teach the specifics inside receiving, blocking, throwing and the intangibles they want behind the dish. Cossins’ presentation was one of our most popular in Indy and he is regarded as one of the best developers in catching circles. His insight will challenge our listeners to think differently on the specific fundamentals we teach our catchers.

This week’s show finds us connecting with 14-year continuous ABCA member and UCF head coach Greg Lovelady to talk with a winner in all facets of life. From finding success on the field as a player to finding himself inside multiple NCAA Regionals throughout his coaching career, Lovelady has built a solid reputation as one of the top young coaches in college baseball. In this episode, Lovelady offers his perspective on the true mission and ‘why’ of coaching – guiding players towards their full potential and helping them realize their dreams. This is a powerful show that is packed with takeaways for any coach as Lovelady opens up his approach to helping players play the game without fear, how he and his staff teach the mental game inside their practice plans while also delivering tremendous advice at the end of the show that will be worth the wait.

Bruce Brown knows the ABCA Convention main stage as well as anyone and stands among our coaches as one of the most popular clinicians over the years. This episode shows us why. Brown delivers listeners content that will allow them to introspectively ‘inventory’ themselves, their approach to coaching and also where their teams/programs stand at this point in their seasons. Inside this show, Brown opens up the 10 lessons that he has observed from the very best leaders he has encountered and we hope you bring pen and paper with you! The back end of the show gives Brown the platform to open up the impact of trust inside our programs and he unravels the characteristics of low and high trust teams that each coach should be able to identify exactly in their teams. This is a powerful show at the perfect time to look ourselves in the mirror and get on the right track towards success.