On this week’s ABCA Podcast we head on location with Weatherford College assistant athletic director and head baseball coach, Jeff Lightfoot. Lightfoot has spent 22 years as a head baseball coach and the last 18 years at Weatherford College. Lightfoot is closing in on the 700 win plateau with his time at Eastfield and Weatherford. Lightfoot’s 1998 Eastfield team won the Division III Junior College World Series. In 18 years, more than 150 former Coyotes have moved on to play baseball at the next ...
Oct 18, 2021•32 min•Ep. 240
Next up on the ABCA Podcast are Terry and Nick Gobert. Terry is a legend in Indiana High School Baseball. In his time at Jasper High School, Gobert has won six Indiana State Championships, including the final two single class titles. He is one of five coaches in the state to reach the 800-win plateau. Jasper High school is a tradition rich program that includes Scott Rolen and Matt Mauck as alums. Nick is entering his first season as an assistant at Walters State. He started on varsity for 4 yea...
Oct 11, 2021•3 hr 2 min•Ep. 239
Jumping on the ABCA Podcast this week is University of Tennessee Associate Director of Sports Medicine, Jeff Wood. Wood just finished his 21st season with the UT Baseball program. Wood is a baseball lifer in the athletic training world. His career path mirrors many of our players and coaches. Wood grew up in West Virginia and did his undergraduate work at Marshall. After graduation, Wood started his AT career in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He was named the Southern League Athletic Train...
Oct 04, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 238
Another great baseball family joins us on the ABCA Podcast with Mark & Sam Gjormand. This is our first Father & Daughter episode. Mark “Pudge” Gjormand is heading into his 27th season at James Madison High School in Northern Virginia and his 35th season overall. Gjormand has led James Madison to three state Championships. The 2021 squad had a phenomenal season finishing second in the nation and winning the class 6 state championship. He was named the Atec/ABCA Region II Coach of the Year...
Sep 27, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 237
Our next guest on the ABCA Podcast is Driveline CEO, Mike Rathwell. Driveline has been on the forefront of testing data driven player development and they are continuing to push the envelope of cost effective player development. Rathwell has a lot of new things to discuss. In this episode we cover Driveline’s rebranding of the Motus Sleeve to Pulse, Traq, their new facility opening up in Arizona, his 3 books that he is re reading right now, Driveline’s hiring process, his views on leadership, th...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 236
We dive back into peak performance with Kris Goodman, Tampa Bay Rays minor league mental performance coach. Goodman had a phenomenal career at the University of Iowa and was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2015 draft by the Miami Marlins. After Goodman's playing career was finished he got into college coaching and received his Master of Sports Psychology degree at Minnesota State. This is a deep dive into peak performance and player development. Goodman works with the Rays minor leaguers. He is...
Sep 13, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 235
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Div. I NJCAA national champion McLennan Community College head coach, Mitch Thompson. This finishes our series of ABCA coaches that were national champions this year. Thompson was honored with the ABCA/ATEC Coach of the Year Award. The Highlanders were 47-16 winning their last 23 games and running the table in Grand Junction. They had a .961 OPS and 4.12 ERA as a team. This was McLennan’s second national championship in program history. Thompson has 30 plus seasons...
Sep 06, 2021•54 min•Ep. 234
In this episode we cover all things high school baseball with Patrick Robey, Madison Central High School head baseball coach. Madison Central went 34-2 and won the class 6A Mississippi state championship ending the season ranked #1 in the Baseball America poll. Robey was honored with the NHSBCA Coach of the Year Award. Robey competed collegiately at Jones County Junior College and Delta State. After playing professionally Robey started his coaching career at Delta State and East Central Communit...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 233
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Div. I national champion Mississippi State University head coach, Chris Lemonis. This continues our series of ABCA coaches that were national champions this year. Lemonis was honored with the ABCA/ATEC coach of the year award. Lemonis just finished his 26th season as a collegiate coach with stops at the Citadel, Louisville, Indiana and Mississippi State. In that time span he has a national championship, five college world series appearances, 16 NCAA tournament appe...
Aug 23, 2021•55 min•Ep. 232
This week on the ABCA Podcast is Richard Kent. Kent did his undergrad work at Rutgers and got his law degree from Boston College. He represents basketball and lacrosse coaches. He currently is a sports law professor at Manhattanville and is the author of 11 books. In this episode we dive into the current topic of name, image and likeness. NLI is a new frontier. Kent came on to give us a deep dive into what is going on currently and what the future might look like. Kent’s 11 books cover a wide ra...
Aug 16, 2021•46 min•Ep. 231
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Jeff Willis, NJCAA Div. II national champion LSU-Eunice head coach. Willis has done remarkable things with the LSU Eunice program. They are now tied for most national titles in one sport at the junior college level with seven. Eunice had a phenomenal year, going 51-17 and scoring almost 400 more runs than their opponents. In this episode we break down Eunice’s national championship run, their coaching staff, people development, practice planning, wreaking havoc on ...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 230
Up next on the ABCA Podcast is Doug Wren, head coach of NJCAA Div. III national champion Tyler Junior College. Wren is entering his 13th season as head coach at Tyler and has won five national championships and posted a 459-194 record. The Apaches have made eight World Series appearances in the last 11 years. He is very active with the NJCAA, serving on the Executive and International Committees. In this episode we break down Tyler’s national championship run, coaching staff, player development,...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 229
This week on the ABCA Podcast, we hear from NCAA Div. II national champion coach Jeff Gregory of Wingate University. This continues our series of ABCA members who won national championships this year. Gregory just finished his 11th season as head coach at Wingate, going 39-13 this year, after time as an assistant coach and player. He has led Wingate to the NCAA Tournament four times. The Bulldogs got hot down the stretch, going 13-2 in the playoffs. Gregory takes us through how a team that hit ....
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 228
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Georgia Gwinnett College head coach Jeremy Sheetinger. Sheetinger was an ABCA staffer before he took the GGC job, and he also spent time at Spalding, Kentucky, St Joe’s (KY), Brescia and Georgetown College. He has a 160-55 record in five seasons as a head coach. Georgia Gwinnett capped off a phenomenal season, going 51-10 and winning the NAIA national championship. Sheetinger has picked up some post season accolades with the Skip Bertman Award, Rawlings NAIA Coach ...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 227
This week's ABCA Podcast features Troy Brohawn, head coach of 2021 NCAA Div. III champ Salisbury University. In his seven seasons as head coach, Salisbury has made the NCAA Regionals seven times and been to the College World Series twice, including this year's title. Salisbury has a great tradition, having been to the NCAA Regionals 22 years in a row. Brohawn is one of two coaches to win a Major League Baseball World Series as a player and a Division III National Championship as a coach. He play...
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 226
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is former Central Michigan head coach, Athletic Director and ABCA Executive Director Dave Keilitz. Keilitz spent 14 seasons as the Chippewas' head coach from 1971-1984. He led Central Michigan to six NCAA Regionals before spending 10 years as CMU Athletic Director. He was also chair of the NCAA Baseball Committee. From 1994-2014 he was the ABCA Executive Director, overseeing saw some of the most important legislation that was put in place for college baseball as well ...
Jul 05, 2021•49 min•Ep. 225
Interviews in this week's ABCA Podcast were recorded on the scene with ABCA member coaches at the NJCAA Div. II Championship in Enid, Oklahoma, and the NCAA Div. III Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We kick it off in Enid with Kellog’s Eric Laskovy, Madison’s Mike Davenport, Lackawanna’s Mike McCarry, Frederick’s Rodney Bennett, Kirkwood’s Todd Rima, Phoenix’s Kevin Kimball, Lincoln Land’s Ron Riggle and national champ Jeff Willis from LSU-Eunice. Then we head over to Cedar Rapids with Adrian...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 224
Next up on the ABCA Podcast are Falmouth Commodores manager and Gunnery head Coach Jeff Trundy, San Francisco Giants national crosschecker Brian Bridges and Lake County manager Greg DiCenzo. Trundy is heading into his 25th season coaching in the Cape Cod League and his 21st as the manager of Falmouth. He has coached a laundry list of Big Leaguers including David Aardsma, Luke Scott, Rhys Hoskins, Kyle Gibson, Cliff Pennington, Khalil Greene, Jacoby Ellsbury and current Rays manager Kevin Cash. T...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 223
This week we hear from Tony Schifano, head coach at San Francisco State University on the ABCA Podcast. Schifano was named head coach in 2015 and led the Gators to a No. 17 final ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Poll in 2019. His team went to the CCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, which was something the program hadn’t done since 2004. Prior to San Francisco State, Schifano was the recruiting coordinator at his alma mater UC Davis, where the 2008 squad earned a bid to the NCAA Regio...
Jun 14, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 222
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is former CIA Agent Marc Polymeropoulos. He spent 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in June 2019. His positions included field and headquarters operational assignments covering the Middle East, Europe, Eurasia and Counter Terrorism. Marc is the recipient of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the Intelligence Commendation Medal and the Intelligence Medal of Merit. His Book Clarity in Crisis is available June 8. The book covers ...
Jun 07, 2021•59 min•Ep. 221
This week's ABCA Podcast features University of Utah associate head coach Gary Henderson. Henderson has a long and successful track record in coaching, starting at the high school level and from there moving on to San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, Riverside Community College, Chapman, Pepperdine, Florida, Oregon State, Kentucky, Mississippi State and now Utah. If you were going to map out coaches to learn from it would be guys like Jim Dietz, Dennis Rogers, Larry Cochell, Mike Weathers, Andy...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 220
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Dr. Matt White, an orthopedic surgeon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, specializing in elbows and shoulders. He earned his undergraduate degree at Notre Dame, went to medical school at Indiana University and finished his residency at Wisconsin. After his residency, Dr. White went to Birmingham for his fellowship at the American Sports Medicine Institute working with some of world’s best surgeons, including Dr. James Andrews. We cover a lot of ground in this episode on arm su...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 219
This week on the ABCA Podcast we catch up with Eric Crozier, head coach at the Potomac School in Maryland and founder of the Mizuno Outlaws. Crozier grew up in Columbus, Ohio, played collegiately at Norfolk State and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2000. He played pro baseball for 11 years and made his Major League Debut with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004. He is one of our unique members who coaches at the high school level but also runs a facility and coaches travel baseball. This is a ...
May 17, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 218
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Bonnie Hoffman, coach of DC Girls Baseball and member of the ABCA Diversity in Baseball Committee. Hoffman has spent a lifetime in the game of baseball. She had an opportunity to play in an all girls baseball league growing up in New York and later moved to the Washington D.C. area. After law school, Hoffman founded the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference and pitched for over 20 years. DC Girls Baseball is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting girls' part...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 217
This week on the ABCA Podcast we have Dr. Joe LaPlaca, founder of Ares Elite Sports Vision. He did his undergraduate work at Marquette and has a Doctorate of Optometry degree from the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago. Dr. LaPlaca is an adjunct professor at Butler University and works with the Butler baseball team. He is also the Optometrist for the Final Four. Although all of us in the baseball industry understand how important vision is to the game, we are still on the ground floor of h...
May 03, 2021•44 min•Ep. 216
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Joel Pelland, head coach at Glenbard East High School and founder of Pelland Performance Consulting. Pelland has the been the head baseball coach at Glenbard East in Illinois for the last 10 years and is the all-time winningest coach at the school. He played baseball at Central Michigan and is a certified John Maxwell Leadership trainer, PECI certified performance coach and an AFPA nutritional coach. He is also a board member for the Illinois High School Baseball C...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 214
This week's ABCA Podcast features Andrew Riddell, National Player Development Director for Baseball Australia. Riddell grew up in Sydney, Australia and picked up the game of baseball at 14 years old and fulfilled his dream of playing in the United States by cold emailing 200 schools. He ended up at Dodge City Community College and finished his undergraduate and master's degrees at Nebraska-Kearney. He interned with USA baseball after college, working with the top 80 18U players in the U.S. Ridde...
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 213
Next up on the ABCA Podcast are Kimya Massey, Senior Associate Athletics Director at Oregon State, and Richard Kanter, Founder of Kanter Legal. Both are members of the ABCA Diversity in Baseball Committee. Massey has been an administrator at Oregon State since August 2015 and previously worked at Central Florida, Memphis, Indiana and Michigan State. He pitched collegiately at Michigan State in the late 1990s and received his Master’s in Sports Administration from Michigan State in 2004. Kanter h...
Apr 12, 2021•59 min•Ep. 212
This week's ABCA Podcast features Tim, Nolan and Doc Neiman. Tim is entering his 32nd season as the head coach at DeSales University. Tim's sons Noland and Doc both played at DeSales and served as assistant coaches. Nolan is a 2005 DeSales graduate, has coached at every level of baseball and also scouted professionally with the Texas Rangers. He is the general Manager at Square Up Academy and head coach at Manatee High School. Doc is a 2011 DeSales graduate and is in his second season as head co...
Apr 05, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 211
Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Dr. Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball For All and the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization. After earning her Ph.D. in Sports Psychology from Springfield College, Siegal became the first woman to coach with the Oakland A’s and to throw batting practice to an MLB team during Spring Training with the Cleveland Indians. In 2016, she served as Mental Performance Coach for Team Israel at the MLB World Baseball Classic Qualifier. She has also c...
Mar 29, 2021•44 min•Ep. 210
