Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / TABLE TALK: A Dive Into College Athletic Coaching

Transcript

TABLE TALK: A Dive Into College Athletic Coaching · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we recorded
0:03
this podcast episode on Monday, February fifth, twenty twenty four. By the
0:07
time you hear this, some things may have changed here or there, but
0:09
we hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, welcome to Table
0:35
Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
0:39
sports podcast show in the world that's right over ten and a half years strong.
0:42
We got a great discussion coming your way here on Table Talk. I
0:45
am so excited for this particular episode here because we are going to be diving
0:50
into a subject matter, quite frankly, that we have not necessarily dove into
0:54
in this much detail over the ten and a half years that we've been doing
0:58
this show. That it's actually college coaching. And we have a college athletic
1:03
coach that is going to be joining us in just a few seconds here.
1:07
But we're going to get into the ins and out of college coaching itself,
1:11
and specifically with regard to college baseball coaching. And I'm really excited for this
1:17
guest. I'm really excited for this conversation. Again, it's something we haven't
1:19
really dove into much on this podcast over the years. So without any further
1:25
ado, let's just get to this conversation right now. It is great to
1:29
have in the podcast for the very first time. He is coming to us
1:32
from the Lafayette College. He is the head coach of the baseball program again
1:37
at Lafayette College. And pull back the curtain a little bit. He is
1:40
my next door neighbor. It's great to have him on this show. We've
1:44
got Aj Miller. Aj Man, thanks for jumping on the pod this week.
1:47
No, I appreciate it. Thanks for literally having me over next door
1:49
exactly. I think this is the first time you've been in my studio area.
1:53
Yeah, I think this might be the first time you're actually in my
1:56
house. Yep. I gotta say, folks, it was great. Aj
1:57
was fantastic during our last help me out a little bit with the snowblower and
2:02
some snow removal. I just wanted to throw that out there, just say
2:06
he's a fantastic guy. So I sure Lafayet College they believe you're somewhat of
2:12
a fantastic guy too, in terms of being the head coach for the baseball
2:15
program there, which we are certainly going to be getting into but ag I
2:20
wanted to bring you on the podcast to really talk about how individuals like yourself
2:24
get to this level, get to become a college athletic coach, because there's
2:30
different levels of course, you know, you know, D one, D
2:32
two, D three. You know, you know, you are in the
2:36
Patriot League with Lafayette College and the talent that you have around you. It's
2:42
different, say than perhaps maybe the University of Florida or the University of Texas,
2:46
California, Washington. So with that being said, I kind of wanted
2:49
to first get into the foundations of your athletic career that brought about the college
2:55
coaching path that you are now on. So, you know, let let's
3:00
talk about your story here. You know, when did you when did you
3:01
get started playing sports? In general? I'm assuming you were a kid when
3:07
you were playing sports, and what sports were you really drawn to? Yeah,
3:09
you know, I think growing up. You know, I grew up
3:13
down Jersey Shore, and you know, during that time, I talk like
3:17
it was a long time ago, but it certainly feels like you're a young
3:21
man thirty five this month. Certainly my kids make me feel way older,
3:28
Dixie. Yeah, but like I grew up in a time where, like
3:31
you know, social media still wasn't a thing. Internet really wasn't booming like
3:37
it is now. So we like after school, like we'd all be at
3:42
the church parking lot. We'd be at the local park, like whether it
3:46
was playing flag, football, whiffootball, soccer, like that was the norm.
3:50
Like yeah, played until the sun went down, and that's when you
3:53
knew to go home, and depending who was around that day, that those
3:55
were the kind of the sports you played. You knew you had athletic ability,
3:59
and your family knew you had athletic ability. We're gonna get to that
4:02
second. And I think part of my upbringing my dad. My dad owned
4:09
a batting cage growing up to go in North Jersey, so days that I
4:13
did not stay home, which as I got older became more and more,
4:16
he'd pick me up from school. We would make the hour and forty five
4:19
minute drive to Lynhurst, New Jersey. Place was called the Batter's Box,
4:24
and you know, we'd get there about five o'clock. We'd stay there till
4:28
almost midnight, and while he was running his business, and when you know,
4:31
while he was working, I was hitting, like that's all I did.
4:35
Like I'd do my homework in the car ride and then just hit.
4:39
And that's what I did up until really like sophomore almost junior or high school,
4:44
and that's really where my love of baseball came from. Yeah, so
4:48
that was it for you. It was baseball. It was really baseball.
4:51
You said, you know, you play some flag football. There may have
4:54
been some other sports here there that you you know, would try out,
4:58
but at the end of the day, it was baseball for you. I
5:00
mean, aside from your dad being that foundational piece for you as well.
5:04
Was there anything else about the game that you said, you know what,
5:06
this is fantastic. I love this game. I need to play and I
5:10
want to be a part of it. I joke now, you know,
5:13
I joke with my players. You know, you don't have to be in
5:15
the best of shape all the time right now. But I think for me,
5:19
like that's just what I was around. Like I did play football in
5:23
high school, I wrestled. I loved both of those, but I saw
5:28
baseball taking me in a different direction. Like my sophomore year of high school,
5:31
I played for Team USA and the Junior Olympics, and like that was
5:35
a cool experience, you know, traveling for a couple of weeks, missing
5:39
school, like baseball afforded me that opportunity to meet different people from all over
5:44
the country and travel to new places. And I think at a young age,
5:48
I realized that, like, if baseball can do this for me,
5:50
Yeah, I enjoy traveling right in different places. Like let's let's invest the
5:57
time into it, Let's make the right sacrifices to see how far this can
6:00
get me. Okay, very good. Well, I mean I kind of
6:02
want to talk about your college career too in terms of baseball too, because
6:06
you were a former Patriot League Player of the Year back in twenty eleven.
6:13
AJ, tell me about that, you know, tell me about that season,
6:15
you know, whether it was from a stats perspective or even like a
6:17
leadership perspective too, or just how and why it was special for you.
6:23
I'm assuming a lot of hard work, of course, determination, blood,
6:26
sweat and tears leading you to that point in that echelon that you got to.
6:30
But talk about that season a little bit, just why it was so
6:33
special. Yeah it was. Actually, that's a it's a weird year in
6:36
college baseball because in twenty eleven, they they implemented the new bats. It's
6:43
called bb core. Basically they deadened the eggs of velocity yep, for safety
6:46
purposes. It was the first year they were rolling out these bats, and
6:49
if you look at the numbers as a whole in college baseball, that year,
6:54
like the batting average as a whole dropped like thirty five points. Home
6:58
runs went down like on my one hundred and fifty percent. It was just
7:01
it was weird, like scouts didn't know how to evaluate, uh, and
7:05
it was just like a weird transition. Bats were breaking like crazy. I
7:10
remember that year like going through four metal bats, like it's hard to break
7:13
the metal bat. When times I'd barre up a ball and the bat just
7:15
split right. But you know, for me, my batting average went up
7:20
over one hundred points. I set the you know, school home run record
7:24
and uh again, Like I was actually talking to a former teammate of mine
7:29
he's now the pitching coach at IOWA the other day and uh, he's like,
7:31
you know, like we're reminiscing about that year. He's like, you
7:33
know what's crazy? Like that year, you know, I had I hit
7:36
twelve home runs, Like I had more home runs than some Power five Conference
7:41
teams. Combined. It was just like the dead ball era, right,
7:44
And you know he jokes and me and him joke all the time, like
7:46
might claim the fame that year, and I hold it true, and I'm
7:49
not like envious or spiteful of it. I think it was the only Division
7:55
one all American draft eled will not drafted. Wow, And like that's what
7:59
I tell ain't had on that. Yeah, I was actually gonna ask you
8:01
about that. Not drafted at all. I'm sorry, go ahead, no,
8:03
And like I think people just didn't know what to do. And I
8:09
remember going to pro tryouts, you know, shortly thereafter and talking to scouts
8:16
and they just kept asking me, why weren't you drafted? I don't know,
8:20
Like that's not my job, that's yours, right, I'm pretty sure
8:22
that's why you get paid. And I ultimately ended up signing with you know,
8:28
a independent team in normal Illinois and played there for a year and ultimately
8:31
played in Nebraska. And uh, it was just a weird time. Like
8:37
I think, you know, if it was even the year before or a
8:41
couple of years after, I think maybe my path would have been a little
8:45
bit different. But I don't regret what happened or where I'm at, Like,
8:48
this is where I wanted to be. I do this before my career
8:52
really blew up. I knew I wanted to get into coaching, and I'm
8:56
back kind of where it all started. It's amazing how how sports can change
9:01
over time. We've seen it time and time again. You look at the
9:03
history of sports, whether it's baseball, football, soccer, you look at
9:07
hockey and how certain rules, certain regulations, certain aspects of the game have
9:11
changed so much where it will change the course and direction of where the talent
9:16
can go, where it does go in the success of that talent. And
9:20
that's what you're essentially telling me right now, is that twenty eleven season,
9:24
because of the changes to the to the baseball bat itself, really helped change,
9:31
in a sense, potentially your career trajectory. I find that fascinating.
9:35
I really yeah, And like you know, for a while, I think
9:37
I was pissed off about it, absolutely, yeah, you know I would
9:41
have been, But like you know, I gave a speech the other night.
9:45
We had our first pitch dinner over at Iron Pig Stadium and yep,
9:48
we sold out and it was awesome, And you know, I said to
9:52
the crowd. I said, you know, this past win or break for
9:56
me really was kind of eye opening. You know, I I have two
10:01
kids. They are you know, about to be three and one years old,
10:03
and you know, the winter break time for us as coaches is really
10:07
like when we spend the most time with our kids because we're away so much,
10:11
and so daddy day cares fully on and you know one of those days
10:15
is my kids are covered in breakfast and mismatched clothes and hair all over the
10:20
place because I don't know what I'm doing exactly. It kind of hit though,
10:24
like I say, exactly, Yeah, if I didn't have a wife,
10:26
my daughter's ad be eating and probably every day they'd be eating like me
10:30
and looking like me, like like poor them. So my wife's probably happy
10:35
I'm gone, no, but I'm sitting there looking at them, and for
10:41
me, like it hit like this is like the pinnacle, Like I have
10:43
a job that I want a roof over my head, two healthy girls that
10:48
you know, maybe they don't look like it on that particular day, but
10:52
but like it all came together right, And if my path won a different
10:56
direction, like I don't know if i'd be here. I don't know if
10:58
I'd be here talking to you right. Absolutely, it could be totally different.
11:03
I'm a big believer in that everything happens for a reason. Yeah,
11:05
and like I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Absolutely, And
11:11
I look at you know, whether it's your career, you know, whether
11:13
it's my career. With a bunch of different stuff outside of this podcast,
11:18
I think we look at moments of time that are defining moments for us.
11:22
So I'm wondering, aj when you look back, was there a moment in
11:26
time, one specific perhaps incident, where you decided what kind of coach that
11:31
you actually wanted to be for your student athletes, you know, something where
11:37
you said to yourself, you know, I'm going to do it this way,
11:39
not this way. You know, was there a defining moment for you
11:43
where you know you wanted to create your coaching foundation in a certain way.
11:46
Is there a specific story or anything that you have. Yeah, I think
11:50
there is one moment I would say that. You know, over the course
11:54
of my career, all the different coaches that I've had, you know,
11:56
I think I've taken bits and pieces from all them, and you know,
12:01
whether it's stuff that I use or stuff that I'm like, no way,
12:03
I'm not using this. But even some of the coaches I've worked for too,
12:09
right, you know, both sides of it. But you want to
12:11
define who you are as an individual and like make your mark, right,
12:16
you don't want to totally emulate somebody else. But for me, I think
12:22
that my recruiting process in high school going into college kind of defined and help
12:28
me figure out at an early age, like coaching is what I wanted to
12:31
get into. Like I remember telling coach Kenny, you know, he's my
12:33
coach at Lafayette, like I wanted to be a coach, and him telling
12:37
me, I'm crazy because I'm going to a you know, top academic school
12:41
spending all this money. He's like, you want to be a college coach.
12:43
I'm like, yeah, but when I went through the recruiting process,
12:48
and it's still kind of true today for some schools and some individuals, and
12:52
everybody has their own right to you know, handle it how they want.
12:54
But people lie, and people lead people on, people drag out the process
13:01
and quite honestly just crap. Yeah, yeah, that's not who I am.
13:07
I make that very clear upfront to families and to kids. The program
13:11
I run is built on honesty, trust, and being hurt, having your
13:18
voice matter. And I'm not a dictator. I'm a human being and I
13:24
surround myself with good human beings. Like that's what I tried to do.
13:28
So when I went through the process, you know, ultimately I was committed
13:31
to a Power five school before Lafayette and I was lied to. And I'm
13:37
fortunate and lucky that I found out prior to signing anything and going there.
13:41
But that process really opened my eyes. And and part of it too is
13:46
my dad, right, you know, he always said, like you want
13:50
to have your PhD and whatever you do, passion and purpose, humility and
13:54
honesty and determination and drive. I love that. So for me, I
13:58
have a tattooed on my chest like that's like those are my morals, Like
14:03
those are my beliefs, like and very true to it. And I tell
14:07
parents when they sit in front of me, listen, like there may be
14:11
days where your son calls you and says, no, Coach Miller is like
14:15
really on my case, Like he's being an ass, But you know what,
14:18
like you can ask him or ask your son, like, but is
14:22
he being honest? And like yes, I am, Like it's it's my
14:26
perspective. My perspective is my reality. But I'm always going to be honest,
14:31
Yeah, good, better and different. The truth is coming out of
14:33
my mouth. I expect that from you know, the people in my program.
14:37
So that's like kind of it for me, was that recruiting process was
14:41
being lied to and that's just not me. I don't do that. I
14:46
was definitely going to talk to you about the recruiting process and you and it's
14:50
a you gave a great segue there into this next aspect of of the recruiting
14:54
process. I find it interesting and I want to get your take on this
14:58
bit of a personal story. My niece is going to York College on a
15:03
softball scholarship, right so she's going to be down there, and she specifically
15:09
had gone through this recruiting process, interview process, but it wasn't just her.
15:13
It was my brother in law and my sister in law that were going
15:16
through the process as well. In fact, my brother in law said to
15:20
me over the holidays, he said, man, I got to tell you
15:22
some of these programs, like we were being interviewed a little bit more than
15:26
the actual student athlete, like my niece, we're being interviewed more and I'm
15:31
assuming that's because, quite frankly, maybe parents are a pain in the ass
15:37
and you want to get to know the parents and how the parents have laid
15:39
the foundation for that particular student athlete. And I was thinking to myself,
15:43
Wow, it's really amazing where and maybe it's been like this for a while,
15:48
but where scouting recruiting has actually gone in terms of, you know,
15:52
understanding the high school athlete, their family and what it means to the program
15:56
itself. Have you been through that type of situation where it's import to actually
16:00
get to know the parents of these high school I'm sorry of these college athletes
16:03
as well as you're moving forward with your program. Yeah, you know,
16:07
And again I've been coaching for nine years. From year one to now,
16:11
how the landscape of recruiting has changed is like, I think the dynamics with
16:17
parents in general, that like that's the biggest piece. Right Like again,
16:21
when I first started, social media wasn't as big. The ability to you
16:26
know, jump on a podcast like all like to have your voice heard.
16:30
It's a little bit harder, I think right now, like it is a
16:33
big piece because you know, I joke my staff always makes fun of me.
16:37
Like I spend more time with my baseball players and sometimes even their families
16:42
than I do my own. Yeah, because that's what the job entails.
16:45
So I have to make sure that I like these people, right, if
16:48
I'm going to be spending so much timely, But also like I have to
16:53
make sure that I trust them, right. I have to make sure that
16:56
they believe in me and they're okay with me being me because you've seen,
17:00
you know, on social media what somebody's voice or one tweet or one post
17:07
can do to somebody's career. And I'm in an industry where you know,
17:12
if I if I am not very good at coaching, I can get fired.
17:15
If I get fired, that affects what I have going on next door
17:18
rightly, and so like I need to make sure like I'm firing on all
17:22
cylinders, and I could have one family potentially screw that up. It is
17:29
a like I am so conscious of that, and I tell parents, I
17:33
said, listen, like this visit when you're on campus. I'm judging you
17:37
so unbelievably hard. That's very honest. Don't fake who you are because I
17:41
know you're judging me too, I said, But like this is a like
17:45
a two way street interview, like we're both unsure what decision we're making.
17:51
But by the end of it, I said, I've gotten good at it.
17:52
That's why I'm a head coach. Now, if I like you,
17:56
I'm going to offer your some That doesn't mean I'm also offering you as parents.
18:00
Yeah, I want you to be a part of my family. So
18:03
it's a big part of it. You don't just recruit the kid, You
18:06
absolutely recruit the family. I think it's an interesting notion something for you all
18:10
out there, listeners, if you have kids that are looking to go on
18:12
to college athletics, something to keep in mind for sure. And again we're
18:17
talking to AJ Miller, the head coach of Lafayette College's baseball program. Been
18:22
there nine years right at this point or two. This is my second year,
18:26
I'm sorry, second year seven years at Lehigh. Yes, not allowed
18:30
to say either of those words at either school, but you know I have
18:33
a degree from both, so it's okay, absolutely all right. Well,
18:37
as we're moving along here at AJ, the word balance, balance is a
18:41
word I often use, you know, in the grand scheme of life,
18:45
and as a college baseball coach, you know, I'm wondering what kind of
18:51
balance do you try to generate, not only for yourself during practices or whether
18:56
you're trying to make in game decisions, but also for the baseball players that
19:00
you coach. From an athletic and an academic standpoint, how do you do
19:04
how do you secure that balance athletics over here, academics over here, knowing
19:11
that both are very important to the student athlete and also important to the baseball
19:15
program in general. What does that balance come for you? Yeah? You
19:18
know, I think last year as a head coach, I really learned what
19:23
that meant. Coaching is probably like ten percent of what I actually do.
19:29
Yes, you know, it's fundraising, it's a psychologist, it's a party
19:34
planner, it's everything in between right to make sure this business runs. So
19:44
for me, what I learned very early on the balance piece is I can't
19:48
do everything. I can't micromanage. I need to surround myself with people that
19:52
I trust, and that's my assistant staff. Very blessed with who I have.
19:57
I can't make every decision. I can't see every swing or pitch or
20:00
ground ball. If I tried to, I would drive myself nuts and I
20:06
probably wouldn't be here today. So I have people that I trust. Is
20:10
it like that for a lot of head coaches? You want it to be?
20:11
Okay? I think there are some people certainly that try to do everything
20:17
and that makes it really hard, right, And I think it changes who
20:19
you are truly as a person. It's your players see that. I think
20:25
it, you know, is a detriment to the program, detriment to the
20:27
growth of the players that come through. Because it goes back to what I
20:33
said before, like I value people's voices. I value people's opinions. I
20:37
don't I don't immediately say no or it's my way or the highway. Like
20:42
I want people to have passion and purpose and be an expert in what they're
20:48
teaching or what they're executing, like go do it together, right, don't
20:52
feel like it has to be my way. Right. But if there's a
20:55
time where as the head coach, you know, I have that power,
20:57
I could step in and be like no, like this needs to change right
21:02
well with the balance with academics and the actual baseball program itself. And again,
21:07
you know lafay At College, it's a top college. It's it's a
21:10
it's it's a top academic institution. I've known a decent amount of folks who
21:15
have come from there, especially from the engineering programs. You know, you're
21:19
not stupid if you're getting into a lot of college. So if there are
21:23
students that you know, do happen to struggle every now and then, because
21:26
it's not just about academics. There's a lot of mental health issues that happen
21:30
throughout college and as we know, throughout college athletic programs as well. You
21:36
know that balance of I'm the head coach here, how do I address certain
21:41
issues that I see as it affects the program and as it affects their life
21:45
as a student athlete? You know, how do you how do you kind
21:48
of do get involved in that type of stuff every now and again? Yeah,
21:52
you have to right again, like I said before, I spend more
21:55
time with these kids than I do my own family, and they spend more
21:56
time with me than their parents. Like that's the truth. Like they're with
22:00
me from August through December, you know, virtually every day they go home
22:04
for six weeks, and then middle of January to end of May they're with
22:08
me, right and like we're traveling, we're on the road, like we're
22:11
on buses, planes, like, it's a lot. So I have to
22:15
be involved, Like I would be doing a disservice to those families if I'm
22:19
not helping that individual grow into a better version of of you know, than
22:26
what they were when they came to me. That's my job. That's where
22:29
I see the most or that's where I get the most gratification from this job.
22:33
Right. I'm at a point where some of the players I first started
22:37
coaching or inviting me to weddings having kids like this is cool, it's there
22:41
and there they feel an obligation to tell me so like I had an impact
22:47
that makes it worth it to me. So. But yeah, like I
22:52
I have to be involved in that like my job, Like I tell my
22:56
staff, like I just want to oversee, watch and observe. I take
23:00
notes and if I see something wrong, I talk about it. Yeah.
23:04
Like we Again, the program is built on honesty but also communication. We
23:10
all talk. We don't hide things. We talk. We air it out
23:12
good, better and different. My doors open, we talk about it.
23:15
Yeah. And because if we build stuff up, then you know, who
23:19
knows what could happen? Folks. The Lafia College baseball program seems to be
23:23
a well oiled machine. And again talking to AJ Miller, head coach there
23:30
at Lafia College's baseball program, and to close us out here, Aj,
23:33
I know it's kind of a general question here, but what do you think
23:37
is just the most challenging aspect of being a college coach here in twenty twenty
23:41
four. I'm assuming maybe it's some some of the themes we've already spoken about,
23:44
but what is that biggest challenge for you? I think it's finding the
23:51
right fit. You know that that term gets overused a lot on both sides,
23:56
But as a coach, I want to spend time with people that I
24:00
just enjoy. Like skill, no doubt is important. Right If we're not
24:03
skilled enough, we're not gonna win. But I have to enjoy you,
24:07
like I have to. I have to have some type of bond with you.
24:11
There has to be something that we both have interest in. Like that's
24:15
so important and we talked about before. But it's a whole family. Yeah,
24:18
And it's not just my wife and my two kids. Like I have
24:22
a family of forty players, right their parents and my family. It's a
24:26
big family. And right now I'm at a point where it's people that I
24:30
love people, I enjoy and people that if I called any of them right
24:34
now, they'd answer and if they called me, I'd pick up the phone.
24:37
Awesome, because that's what family does. All right. Well again,
24:41
Aj Miller, it was great talking to you, buddy, and I gotta
24:45
tell you it's been great being your neighbor too. I appreciate it. Thank
24:48
you for having me on. Absolutely been enjoying it and our discussion for sure,
24:55
and come back join us down the road. I'd love to have you
24:56
on the show again at some point. Absolutely, you know where to find
25:00
what a fantastic conversation. I mean, the insights that Aj was able to
25:04
give us with regard to the college coaching experience and just his overall story,
25:12
and I'd like to, you know, equate it to just you know,
25:15
people being dedicated to a certain craft and wanting to become an expert within that
25:21
craft and from a sports world perspective. I mean, you just heard it
25:26
right there. You just heard one individual story about how they're not only able
25:30
to make a tremendous impact in the world of sports, in the world of
25:36
college athletics, but in the lives of young folks who they are coaching.
25:41
It really was fantastic discussion. Again, greatly appreciate AJ jumping on the pod
25:47
and look forward to having them on down the road for sure. That's going
25:51
to do it for us here on Table Talk. If anything happens to your
25:53
podcast feed, you can always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
25:56
We've got all of our shows over there, and of course you can
26:00
follow us on social media. I'm not gonna say I'm all right now,
26:04
just search out the Philadelphia Sports Table you'll find us out there. We got
26:08
some great content coming your way this week, great Opposition Territory Show where we're
26:14
actually gonna be talking about the new England Patriots and where this team is going
26:18
to go No more Bill Belichick. I mean, what is happening with that
26:22
offense, that defense, A lot of shakeups, lot of changes happening with
26:26
that particular football program in the NFL, and we're gonna getting into it on
26:30
our Opposition Territory Show this week. And then we do have some more football
26:33
talk coming as this offseason is here and what specifically NFL teams are gonna be
26:41
doing this are we're gonna be preparing for the drafts, are gonna be preparing
26:44
for free agency? What does the NFL front office experience really look like?
26:49
Mark Schofield from sp Nation is going to be coming on the podcast this week
26:53
to dive into that particular subject matter, So you're not gonna want to miss
26:56
that. All right, folks, you all take care, we'll cat you
27:00
next time.