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Dustin Coffman is in his fourth 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 was again this past 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
2013 season as he did through the 2012 Cape Cod campaign.
click here
for other journal entries
August 30, 2012
Welcome to the Bash
It’s 10 a.m. in Mount Carmel, Ill., and there are between 20 and
30 scouts at the Wabash Valley baseball field. For those of you who have never
heard of Mount Carmel, Ill., no worries. I don’t think it is even on a map. We
are located about 30 miles west of Evansville, Ind., and all we have in our town
is Mount Carmel High School football, Wabash Valley Athletics, and a Subway.
That is it!
 This
will be my third year at WVC. In my first two years, we have had 45 and 48
games, and have been knocking on the door for a regional berth. Over the past
two years we have had 13 kids sign Division 1 scholarships to schools like
Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Western Kentucky, Murray State, Ohio State and
Eastern Illinois.
This year’s team looks to be loaded with more Division 1 talent.
Saturday, at our pro day here at the college, RHP pitcher Spencer Drake from
Louisville got up to 92, while Brandon Allen and Kyle Rupe sat 87-89, touching
some 90’s. Transfer outfielder Garrett Gordon ran a 6.5 60, threw 88 from the
outfield, while smashing six balls over the fence.
So far I really like our team. It’s not the most talented group I
have coached, but I feel like we have kids that are here to play ball and there
is a lot of room for growth. It has been a whirlwind since I got back from
Lobster land. The first few dates running back and forth to the airport picking
up players, getting classes set up, dorm work, paperwork, paperwork, and oh yeah
more paperwork. GOOD TIMES.
 We
have been practicing for two weeks now and like I said earlier, I have been
impressed by the way the kids have gone about their business. On paper, our
pitching staff should be pretty strong. Brandon Allen is coming back after going
8-0 for us last year with a 1.63 ERA, and this year we add transfers Kyle Rupe
from Indiana State and Spencer Drake from University of Kentucky. We are
experienced at catcher with both James Jewell and Conner Dishman returning. And,
oh yeah, the best hitter in the league is back in Cole Gleason, who out of high
school in Arizona was an Under Armor All-American.
On paper it looks good, but who cares. As I’ve found out over my
brief career, it always looks good on paper. Let’s see what these kids look like
here in a few weeks.
Best
DC
(photos courtesy of Dustin Coffman) |
