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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
Feb. 22 2013
Checkpoint in the Process
 It
all started months or years ago. You heard about or saw a possible “GUY,”
front-line arm, middle-of-the-order bat, a no-brainer, an impact guy. You
called, emailed, mailed, begged, pleaded to get the kid on campus. All fall you
have put your heart and soul into this “guy,” making sure he is prepared. In the
off-season, your strength coach has built this guy into a man putting 20 pounds
on him. In January, you’ve had great practices and prepared this kid for every
possible situation he will face in the game. This is going to be the guy, the
difference-maker, the guy that takes your program to the next level! But before
the first game, even the first two weeks, you have this knot in your stomach;
this thought in the back of your head, I hope he can do it! I hope this kid pans
out! My butt is gone if he isn’t! Ha-ha have you ever gone through this? Don’t
BS me, we all have, that’s why you travel all over the country and make all the
calls.
That’s what we are going through right now, trying to see if the
guys we thought we recruited or players who had great success in the fall are
going to be able to carry it over when it counts! So far our guys have been, as
they have been since they showed up on campus, “everyday guys.” Just like in
practice, school, weight room, pool, color war, or whatever we have put in front
of them, they go about their business and give their best. Right now we sit 6-1
on the year, dropping a game to a good Jackson St. team out of Tennessee. As we
thought, the pitching and defense have been great, and on offense we scrap it
together. The record’s cute and all but to me, it’s all about the
culture/process. Our guys in practice, on the bench, or on the field, get after
it. They are a competitive group and are working to better themselves and beat
you! I love it! Results are results but when you have guys with some talent,
some athleticism, and that nastiness to want to get after somebody, I like our
chances.
 We
have a great group but a guy who really stands out on our team is Clay Wallace.
Now if you are from the Midwest and you just saw that Clay Wallace is one of our
guys with that nastiness, you probably think I’m not a credible writer and
stopped reading after that line. Wallace, who was highly touted out of high
school, really relied on God-given ability. When Clay arrived in Mount Vegas
last year, he knew everything, didn’t need to lift weights, run, or work hard.
He was Clay Wallace and he just turns it on in the game. I saw it coming. We had
talks, we had knockdown dragouts, and Clay ended up having a subpar year and
didn’t pitch much down the stretch. I tried to send him somewhere to play summer
ball but he said he was going to go home to get a trainer and work out all
summer. This really upset me. I really believe the summer is a critical time for
growth and plus, I knew Clay’s work ethic in the weight room.
 This
fall when I returned, I was on my Navy Seal/cross-fit kick, so one day I had the
team do it with me. Clay, the guy who last year would have complained about
running and then finished dead last, smoked all of our butts! He set the tone
for his year that day. I randomly ran into him at Subway in the fall and we were
talking about schools recruiting him. He told me, ‘I just want a chance to play
D-I. I don’t need money, I just want a chance.’ I know I can pitch at that
level. Well, the University of Cincinnati rolled the dice and took a chance on
Clay and I really believe it is going to pay off for the Bearcats. Clay Wallace
is now 1-0 with a save, getting us out of critical situations, and will start
Sunday. Wow, a guy with talent that works hard is having success? How about
that? Thanks Wally, its guys like you that make being a coach the best job in
the world!
If you need junior college players I will be tweeting after every
game on how our sophomores did as well as talented Juco players I like on other
teams we play so follow me on twitter at Dustin Coffman @Dustin_coffman or email
me at
coffmand@iecc.edu
P.S. Matt Pletzke hit 92 this past weekend with a good breaking
ball, might want to get on him.
Good luck this weekend boys!
Best
DC
(photos courtesy of Dustin Coffman) |
