ACS: Collin Wilber, Concordia University Ann Arbor

Collin Wilber
Concordia University Ann Arbor
Hometown: Virginia
Education: The Apprentice School (Virginia)
Twitter @collin_wilber
Email: cwilber2 [at] emich.edu
Official bio

The moment you first realized that you might like to make coaching part of your career?

I’m not sure that there was really one specific moment where it became clear to me that I wanted to make coaching my career, but my first year coaching was at my old high school coaching with a couple of the same guys who coached me coming up. Seeing how much they poured into this profession, and the passion they had for it, I think that really made it clear that this was something I wanted to do.

Outside of mentors, talk about one or more ways you’ve learned some aspect of coaching.

Other than learning from my mentors, I would say the ABCA conventions, social media, and podcasts have helped me along the most in coaching. If you’ve ever been to an ABCA convention, you know there’s really no need for an explanation there, the experience is just unreal. Social media has definitely made an impact, I feel like I pick something up from Twitter or Instagram that I want to try almost daily. Podcasts are a big one for me. I do a ton of driving so podcasts like Top Coach, Ahead of the Curve, Driveline Baseball, Increase Your Impact with Justin Su’a, and of course the Calls from the Clubhouse are a few of my favorites.

What is your favorite memory from a coaching conference or clinic?

2018 in Indy was my first ABCA Convention. The whole experience was just insane, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Listening to Matt Deggs from Sam Houston State talk about their run the previous year and tell his stories of his own rises and falls was just so inspirational.

What is one thing you didn’t know about what coaches do before you got into coaching?

I think the biggest thing I didn’t know about coaches before I got into it was just all the behind the scenes work that goes into it. Whether it’s the food ordering, booking hotels, or late night text conversations about playing time, or a guy’s swing, etc. There’s just a lot of time and work put in off the baseball field that you don’t see as a player.

Your dream lunch date. One coach. Any sport. Any level. Living or dead. Who is it?

My dream lunch date would have to be Tanner Swanson. I’ve never even met him, he probably has zero idea who I am, but he’s had such a huge impact for me when it comes to coaching catchers. Just about everything that I teach now has come from him. He’s changing the way we coach catchers.