Rob Swendra
St. Cloud State University
Hometown: Cokato, Minnesota
Education: St. Cloud State University
Twitter: @RSwendra
Email: rmswendra [at] stcloudstate.edu
Official bio
The moment you first realized that you might like to make coaching part of your career.
I’ve been coaching baseball since I was a sophomore in high school, coaching for our local community education program. Since then, I have coached at many levels. But, in 2010, it was a friend and head coach of a small Division III school who asked me to help at his baseball camps that got me really thinking about coaching at the college level
Outside of mentors, talk about one way you’ve learned some aspect of coaching.
Real life experiences on and off the field have contributed to my learning. However, the best way to learn how to coach is to get involved with whatever sport you want to coach. For me, I wanted to coach baseball at the college level so I took every opportunity to work camps and clinics and learn from the people around me.
If you could go back to your rookie coach self and give one piece of advice, what would it be?
Study the game as much as you can. Ask questions and create conversations about every aspect of the game. Even if you think you know the answer ask someone else and see what they say. They may have a different perspective you haven’t thought of.
What is one thing you didn’t know about what coaches do before you got into coaching?
The first thing that was eye opening to me when I first joined St. Cloud State was the number of off-the-field responsibilities our head coach had. Before and after practice he was doing everything from scheduling next season’s games, ordering equipment, making hotel/travel reservation, recruiting, fundraising, and the list goes on and on.
Your dream lunch date. One coach. Any sport. Any level. Living or dead. Who is it?
Many names came to mind when I was thinking about this question. But, one name kept coming back to me. Mike Martin, head baseball coach at Florida State. To be the best, you need to learn from the best. If I ever get the chance, I hope we are not limited to just an hour for lunch.
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