TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

Last weekend, your team tied a school record with a 24-hit performance against University of Maryland Baltimore County in a 13-8 win. Is that the type of performance that can propel your offensive outputs for the remainder of the season?
As a coach, you hope that is the case. We got better over the spring break and started to hit the ball better as a team, so I was pleased with that. Whether or not that will spark us for the remaining 40-plus games that we have left, I don’t know. One performance is not always indicative of something that will carry on because it is a long season.

Junior second baseman Joe Mihalics and sophomore pitcher Sean McWilliams have gotten off to strong starts this season. On a relatively young team, what does it mean to have players like those two performing so well?
Joe Mihalics is obviously having a great offensive year. He’s off to a quick start and is certainly our offensive leader. Andy Wengert, James Kingsley and Aaron Otto have also made an offensive impact for us here at the start of the season. Al Barbato and Joey Welch have also stepped up.

Sean McWilliams has really had a good outing each time he’s been on the mound. A couple of his losses can be attributed to us not scoring runs on those days he pitched. Our pitching staff has been taxed, with guys like Nick Bellacose and Dustin Clark injured. So we’ve had kids out there that we had hoped to give more time to in order to get ready, but based on the injury situation they’ve had to play right away.

On Friday, April 2nd, your team kicks off its home schedule with a 3 pm game against Akron. What were some of the off-season changes that were made to Amherst Audubon Field?
We felt that the addition of a new outfield fence was an important part of dressing up our facility. Our athletic department has tackled a major project each year to get us to the same level of quality as the other parks in the Mid-American Conference.

I had a background in fundraising prior to taking on head coaching duties at UB, and I also got help from alumni like Jon Dandes, Kevin Brinkworth and Mike Dixon. They helped me put the whole project together. Now that it is happening, we are all excited.

We have one more phase – adding a new set of bleachers – which we need to get in order to have as good of a park as anybody in the conference.

How important is having a strong home facility in terms of recruiting?
Obviously, it can be a good recruiting tool. It shows a commitment to the program. There is an additional advantage here at UB, because what we add to the field benefits the Town of Amherst, as well. We have a great working relationship with them, and now their American Legion teams and summer programs also get an opportunity to play in a great park.

One of the new additions to your schedule is the Big 4 Baseball Classic, which will be held at Dunn Tire Park during the end of April. How much planning went into that event from your perspective?
Along with the other Big 4 coaches –Larry Sudbrook at Saint Bonaventure, Mike McRae at Niagara and Mark Notaro at Canisius – we were able to put it together last year, because typically schedules are done two years in advance. The Buffalo Bisons’ organization helped out a lot, too.

Though we all recruit against one another, we think this is a great opportunity to get everybody in one place and highlight the college baseball here for the high school kids in Western New York. Without question, we all want to win it – but it really provides a great chance for kids looking to play high school ball to go and see the local teams play.

What does an event such as that add to the Western New York baseball community?
The marquee high school players in Western New York are being recruited by schools that are south of this region, like East Carolina and Pittsburgh. Hopefully something like this event will showcase the caliber of college baseball we have in this area. Three different conferences will be represented, so it certainly will be an event that has a lot to offer.

Having played collegiate baseball for Southern Mississippi, how would you compare the baseball culture in the Southeast as compared with the Midwest and Northeast – where the MAC is located?
In the three years that we have been in the MAC, we’ve had four first-round picks from our conference and an average of over 17 players drafted. Reading publications like Baseball America and talking to pro scouts, you know that people feel that there is a lot of talent in the MAC.

I think over the years we have been in the MAC, schools are beginning to do what has been done for a number of years in the South – for example, enhancing the facilities. I think most Northern conferences were behind in that regard, but at least in the MAC I certainly see that gap being bridged. The MAC takes its baseball seriously and wants the schools to invest in their programs.

As a head coach, how often do you draw upon your near 15-year experience as an administrator in collegiate athletics?
I can use that experience to obtain a more realistic conclusion as to how the program is progressing. By that I mean not only baseball, but UB’s athletic program in general. For example, I truly believe and understand that the investment needs to be made in our football and basketball programs, even if it is – for the time being – at the expense of the baseball and other non-revenue programs. I think that UB needs to continue its commitment to the basketball and football programs and give them the resources to be successful.

I have been here 16 years, and the last few weeks of the basketball season were absolute proof that if you put a competitive program out there, this community will support it. With that comes a new revenue stream, which eventually helps out the other programs. As a former administrator, I truly understand the goal of our current athletic administration.

What (UB men’s basketball coach) Reggie Witherspoon did was fantastic. I hope not only our athletic administration, but also the campus administration sees that they are going to need the resources to be competitive on a national scale. I always look at things optimistically and know that eventually a sport like baseball – which is one of the six sponsored sports by the MAC – will have its time at UB. I know that eventually there will be an increase in scholarships and even more improvements made to our facility.

Last year’s graduating senior class was the inaugural group of ballplayers as part of UB’s resurrected Division I baseball program. How much did those players mean and what impact did those athletes have in terms of long-term baseball success at UB?
They were certainly important to us. When we played our first game in 2000, we had one kid on our roster that had played in a Division I baseball game. I always told members of that class that when they got older and had a chance to look back, they’d realize that they did something that most other athletes had not done – which was build the foundation for a Division I baseball program.

They were good players and did everything we asked of them. Certainly I would’ve liked to have them been able to win more games, but that was to be expected. We weren’t going to immediately compete for NCAA bids, but those guys were very crucial in getting the program going in the right direction. I will be forever grateful to all of them for coming here and giving me the opportunity to coach them and get baseball going again at UB.

What are your thoughts on the recent performance-enhancing drugs scandal that has rocked Major League Baseball? What type of effect does something like that have on college athletics?
There is no question that performance-enhancing drugs have found their way into not only professional sports, but also college sports and probably even into the high school level to a lesser degree. Everything has become a power game – certainly that’s the case in baseball and football.

It is unfortunate, but I think what happens at the professional level permeates downward. Kids might be under the impression that they need to do something like that to get an edge. At that point, it is incumbent upon people in the coaching profession to educate the players and let them know that it does not have to be done that way. There are ways to do it without breaking the rules or harming yourself physically.

It has become such a newsworthy topic and it comes up so often that it has created a guilty-by-association feel. That is very unfortunate. I have been a baseball fan my entire life and it is a disappointment to see a type of environment like that evolve in sports. It is a reality though, and every college program – and high school, as well – has to deal with the situation. We do that through both NCAA and University drug testing. The bottom line is that it is in place for the well being of the student-athlete.

It looks like now the federal government is getting involved, and hopefully they will mandate some legislation to punish the people that don’t follow the rules.

-The "10 Questions with…" feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.