UTK Special 4/21/20

"Quarantined Coaches" Episode

Who are you? What do you do?

That’s a question you’ll get at a cocktail party, if you’re the type that goes to cocktail parties or the like. For me, that question has always been difficult and for the last few years, complex.

“I’m a sportswriter” was alway the easy answer. Explaining “Baseball Prospectus”, in the inevitable followup, was tougher. It got easier at ESPN or SI - tho the name of SI is almost an age test at this stage.

“I write about injuries” is better, more direct, almost a mission statement.

When I went to Motus, my one complaint is that my job titles never explained what I really did. That’s a small complaint and I’m sure one that’s true around the corporate world. “PR” was an easy answer. “Media relations for a biomechanics company” was a conversation ender, usually.

But “coach”? That one still feels off for me. I haven’t earned it, I feel. Yes, Ive been working with pitchers for years, so what I do at UIndy is really no different, but the imposter syndrome and my personal need to prove myself continually is there.

Which is a long way to get to Josh Rudd’s “Quarantined Coaches” show. Josh has made lemonade out of the housebound lemons by putting together a show with a great list of college coaches. That I’m on there at all is stunning, but hopefully I added something.

I hope you’ll watch, and watch more of Josh’s shows if you’re into this sort of thing. I think you’ll be interested in the “best practices” part, because I think what major league teams do isn’t ahead of the curve, that there’s an ability to recreate the true best practices at all levels, and that there’s a real asymmetric advantage at both the team and player levels.

Special thanks to Josh for having me on, but man, did you have to make my head look so big?