My experience with the University of Virginia baseball program has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined.  I was afforded the opportunity to take part in the planning and running of a NCAA Regional Baseball tournament, coach and instruct along side a group of college coaches that are second to none when it comes to instruction and I will forever be able to say that Coach Brian O'Connor is one of my mentors.  I still have to stop and put that into perspective for myself.  I have always been a baseball fan.  I always wanted to play in the college world series.  I have a mentor that not only played in the college world series, but is forever immortalized in the minds of anyone that attends the college world series in Omaha.  He is one of the players who's image is captured during a celebration after a win at Omaha in a statue out front of the stadium.  Now, if and when I decide to leave law enforcement and try to get into college coaching, I will be able to put forth that part of my training has come from one of the most respected college coaches in the entire country.   Let me clarify at this point about my future aspirations.  I do believe that I have the knowledge and capabilities to coach at the collegiate level.   However, I know if my dreams are to become a reality, I will have to coach at a small school.  And, I am fine with that scenario.  The trick is going to be finding a school that I can both teach at and coach.  

My internship did not turn out as I thought it would.  I really didn't understand how much time away from Charlottesville Coach O'Connor was going to be spending.  However, I was able to spend much of my time around Davenport Field and the program as a whole.  I was able to instruct at the UVA baseball camps.  This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't a part of the program already.  I was able to get to know several of the players and see first hand the type of men that Coach O'Connor is recruiting.  This are good men with a ton of heart and who understand how the game is played.  They play it hard.  Or, as Coach O'Connor preaches...Hard 90.  This was a great approach for me to see.  This is exactly how I played and what I continue to preach to my players and my own children.  

I sincerely hope my relationship with the UVA baseball program continues.  If it does not, I can take solace in knowing that I received training, guidance and inspiration from one of the premier baseball programs in the country.  And, I will be able to take that with me regardless of whether I stay in law enforcement or if I fulfill my original dream of coaching college baseball.  Either way, this summer was a huge success from my perspective.

I spent some with Coach O'Connor on Wednesday, August 1, talking about my professional goals.  I was very appreciative of this time since Coach O'Connor's available time is few and far between.  As an aside from my goals, I wanted to point out that I initially thought the summer would be a great time to do this internship with Coach O'Connor because of the available time.  The reality is that the summer is probably the busiest time of the year for these coaches.  They are on the road non-stop looking at talent and shaping the future of the program.  So, again, I appreciate anytime I can get with Coach O'Connor.  We actually had to break our meeting into two shorter meetings because of both of us needing to go meet with our wives.  So, that actually worked out well. When we were able to sit down and really dive into the topic at hand, I felt very good about the meeting.  As we talked about my potential future coaching en devours, I learned that in order for a college coach to be able to actually go out and recruit they have to pass a NCAA recruitment test.  This is an open book test that makes coaches show an understanding of compliance issues when recruiting an athlete.  I never knew there was a test.  I just assumed that once you were a college coach you could recruit.  I asked him if this was something that I could work towards so I would have the certification prior to trying to get into college coaching.  Unfortunately, Coach O'Connor didn't think that I could.  His understanding is that it isn't a separate certification that someone can get, but rather it comes in conjunction with getting a coaching job.  

I talked with Coach O'Connor about the possibility of staying involved with the UVA program even after the internship ended.  He said he thought that was a possibility, but it would probably be on a project-based need.  I admittedly was hoping for something more definitive, but I'm excited just at the potential involvement.  I also talked with Coach O'Connor about what the best route for me to take to get to the eventual goal of teaching and coaching at the collegiate level.  We both agree that getting into the college coaching world initially is a young man's game.  Unfortunately, I am not a young man and I am looking at fulfilling a dream as my second career.  However, Coach O'Connor did acknowledge that it is not unheard of to go from the high school ranks to a small college.  And, I realistically understand that is what I am looking at doing.  I know I am never going to coach at a Division I school.  I think what will be best suited for me is to find a small school in a small town where I can both teach Criminal Justice classes and perhaps start out as a volunteer assistant.  Then, with any luck, the volunteer position may turn into a paid assistant.  Further, if everything in my blissful life falls into place, Allie will be able to coach at the same school in the women's soccer program.  

Coach O'Connor and I also touched on what I should be doing in the interim to continue to move toward preparing to try to coach at the college level.  We agreed that obviously I need to continue to coach, but he suggested that I find a situation that would allow me to develop even further versus just being an assistant.  He suggested that I speak with a local gym owner, Todd Proctor, who also runs the local Travel Baseball program.  This is actually something that I have been working on for a while.  Todd asked me to take one of the U13 teams about this time last year, but I had to turn it down because of various time constraints.  However, since this is my last class, my time has opened up a little bit.  I have been talking with Todd about coaching, but nothing was definitive.  And, ironically enough, as I was working out with my son, Reid, at Todd's gym, Total Performance, I mentioned to Todd about coaching again.  We had talked recently about me helping with a Showcase team this fall, but he said that there is interest in making the Showcase Team an actual team that would continue beyond just this fall and into the Spring.  He also told me that I would be the head coach.  So, as of today (8/2), I am the Head Coach of a 17U Elite Travel team.  I haven't had a chance to tell Coach O'Connor about this development, but I suspect he will be pleased for me.

Coach O'Connor and I also talked about continuing to be an instructor and get my name out into the college coaching world.  He confirmed for me that most Division I program has their own camp.  He suggested that I send e-mails to the coaching staff of camps I am interested in working starting around March.  Then, he will send a follow-up e-mail to the same coaches endorsing me for the jobs.  This will be an important endorsement since many of the guest instructors are college coaches versus high school coaches.  So, sometime around the first of the year I will be trying to figure out which schools have camps, the dates and trying to pair them up against my known work rotation.  With any luck at all and Coach O'Connor's endorsements, I will be able to do some instructing next year and become a regular on the instructors circuit.

The original shock of being asked to work the University of Virginia Baseball camps had not worn off yet when I arrived at Davenport Field on July 15 for the Instructors Meeting.  I really didn't have any idea what to expect or know how to prepare.  I literally felt like a high school freshman preparing to go in to the big school with all the upper class men for the first time.  Was I wearing the right clothes?  Who will be there?  Will I know anybody?  Will I be able to handle myself as far as knowledge and experience?  I was one of oldest, if not the oldest, coaches in the room.  Many of the coaches in the room were from colleges. This really took me back because I didn't really understand the complexity of running a baseball camp of this magnitude.  As with anything during this experience I have had to force myself to step back and look at the particular situation from a business stand point and not just be in awe of my surroundings.  Specifically, I initially didn't understand the point of having coaches from other schools working a UVA camp.  I thought it counter productive to have competing schools helping and viewing potential student athletes.  However, I came to realize that in order to run a camp of the size the UVA runs, it is important to have enough quality instructors there to have an acceptable Instructor to Student ratio.  Additionally, since the campers stay in dorms there has to be adults there to be in charge of them.  In order to do that, personnel has to be willing to come to the area to handle this responsibility.  Then I started thinking about the Return on Investment aspect of the camps.  Most of the visiting instructors received anywhere from $350 to $500 to work the 3.5 day camp.  For the Developmental Camp (11 - 15) we had 160 campers.  They each paid $600 for the camp; unless they were commuters and then they only paid $500.  We had 24 instructors.  So, for UVA the ROI was easy to see.  They were able to make approximately $84,000 just in tuition.  Clearly there are other costs involved that take away from the Net, but it is still a lucrative venture.

I also examined this from the guest instructors perspective.  I have learned through this experience that many of the assistants that are volunteer coaches make their money in the summer.  Not every program is large enough and successful enough to host 12 camps throughout the summer.  So, these volunteer assistants have to be on the road almost the entire summer to make $350 - $500 per week.  Plus, they get room and board included.  Their only expensive for the week is traveling to get to the camp.  In addition to the income, these coaches are looking to build their network.  Many of them are young and are doing what they have to do to stay involved in baseball.  They are all chasing the brass ring and want to get exposure.  I would go as far as to say that the income is secondary to the possibility of being recognized by a bigger program and advancing their careers.  For the instructors, many are hoping to accomplish the same thing that the campers are accomplishing.  They are hoping to get better at their craft and get noticed.

That's it for now.  I'll type some more a little later, but my experience in coaching at the college level camp was incredible.  I was able to learn from some amazing coaches, UVA and others.  I had an opportunity to ultimately do what I love the most; teach baseball.  I received some positive feedback from the Lead Instructor on my instruction and leadership.  He commented on my willingness to be the last guy at the field and to be willing to help out as much as possible in every situation.  I hope this leads to being asked to work more camps.