To begin with,
John Scolinas,one of the great coach at Cal-Poly Pamona. He had a unique way of
teaching using a combination of examples that were both instructional and
entertaining. You always knew when he was speaking at the coaches conventions.
The hall would be filled.
LSU Baseball Team coach Paul
Mainieri is the greatest name in this list.
Another of the best was Jerry Kindall, Arizona's great fundamental
baseball coach.
Skip Bertman is
certainly on that list. The fact that LSU is in the College World Series again
this year is a great testament of his hard work and team expansion. Paul
Mainieri has picked up where Skip left off and continues the winning tradition.History of baseball proves that the
coaches win matches.
Hill Denson was
the skipper for Southern Mississippi for many years. His eagerness was a big
factor for the success of the Golden Eagles. Coach Corky Palmer brought the
team to Omaha this year for what is
USM's first CWS
appearance. The bricks were put in place by Hill Denson. And Corky took it to
the next level.
While Rick
Jones' Tulane University Green Wave just missed the playoffs this year, he
achieved a personal milestone surpassing the record that I had set at Tulane as
the winningest coach in the history of Tulane Athletics. He is a great coach,
organizer, and hard worker. This was recognized by his selection as coach of
the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team.
Mike Martin,
Florida State's long time coach, a great fundamentalist, teaches the game as good
as or better than anyone. His teams are always ready to play. I've heard it
said that this year might have been Mike's best coaching year ever. His very
young team's activities are due much to his leadership.
And who could
ever forget Ron Polk. This great Hall of Fame coach has left a mark that will
be hard to top. His Baseball Playbook is the best book on fundamentals that can
be found. When we talk of fundamental details, we are talking Ron Polk.
There are many
that I am leaving out and I have not even mentioned any of the great Pros. But
here is the point. I was able to gain a wealth of information over the years
from some of the world's greatest, and I was able to give back as well. I was advantaged
to be a part of that great fraternity of college baseball coaches and spoke
myself at many of the same NCAA conventions, usually on hitting.
Now we are privileged to make this information available to anyone
who loves the game of baseball and wants to play or coach at their very best.
