|
Dustin
Coffman is completing his third year of coaching college baseball. He began his
coaching career as a student manager at Indiana University in 2009 and was
promoted the following year to volunteer assistant. Coffman spent the 2010
summer in the Coastal Plain League with the Edenton Steamers, who finished Top 5
in the country. From Edenton, Coffman took his first paid position at Wabash
Valley College. Over the past two seasons, the Warriors have compiled a 93-30
record and have been ranked as high as No. 3 in NJCAA baseball. In summer 2011,
Coffman was hired to be an assistant baseball coach with the Bourne Braves in
the storied Cape Cod League where he will return this summer.
A
native of Granger, Ind., Coffman earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science
from Indiana in 2009 and is working on a master’s degree in applied sports
studies from IU.
Coffman will share his thoughts throughout the 2012 Cape Cod season.
click here
for other journal entries
June 7, 2012
Fighting the Flinch
 What
a difference a year makes! Last year at this time I was experiencing what Julien
Smith calls “The Flinch.” Think about this: go turn on a cold shower, let it run
for a few minutes, and then hop in. The flinch is that feeling you get in your
stomach, where you are scared of what is about to happen.
I have been a baseball fan my whole life, but I’ll never forget
the day when I fell in love with college baseball. It was June 2002. My old
summer coach and now mentor, Dave Deram, loaded our whole team up in South Bend,
Indiana, and took us out to see the Irish of Notre Dame play in Omaha! I’ll
never forget getting off our exit and hearing the PING of batting practice (back
with the old bats!), thousands of people everywhere, seeing the Road to Omaha
Statue, smelling the tailgates, and seeing a small catholic school from the
MIDWEST make it to Omaha. This was the day I decided I wanted to be a college
baseball coach!
If you are a college baseball fan, you probably have heard of the
Cape Cod League. If you go to the Cape League’s website, its motto is “Cape Cod:
Where the stars of tomorrow shine tonight!” Catchy slogan, but it’s true.
Two-thirds of Major League baseball players have spent time in the Cape League,
names like Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Nomar Garciaparra, Buster
Posey, Jacoby Ellsbury, to name a few. So as a college baseball fan and young
coach, I get this dream to coach in the Cape League.
I want to go coach the best, I want to see what it’s really like.
Well, be careful what you wish for. I got a call last February from Harvey
Shapiro, the manager of the Bourne Braves, who I had been hounding for the past
two years, saying a position had opened up and wanted to know if I would be
interested. One condition: How was my BP? With the Flinch in my stomach, I said
it’s good! I didn’t tell him what it was good for: teaching kids to take pitches
or for working on hit-by-pitches.
 There’s
that quote from Bull Durham, “Meat, from what I hear you couldn’t hit water if
you fell out of a [freaking] boat.” Well, I was Meat. Funny thing is, that was
my nickname in college, and now I was going to drive 22 hours by myself in my
beat-up old Ford truck and throw batting practice to kids that play at programs
like LSU, Georgia, Tulane, Coastal Carolina, North Carolina and UCF.
We can run from our fears or insecurities, or we can attack them
head on! I chose to fight the Flinch and had one of the best summers of my life.
I was even asked to come back, so starting next week I will begin my 22 hour
journey back to “Lobster Land” to coach with the Bourne Braves. Follow my blog
this summer on CollegeBaseballInsider.com.
Best
DC
|
