TC228: Jim Penders, UConn

This week we’re back in Connecticut, talking to old friend, UConn head baseball coach, Jim Penders. We had a tremendous visit with Coach Penders back in episode 140, where he shared a lot about coaching your son and being coached by your father. Now he’s back for a long overdue part two and you won’t be disappointed. 

In this episode, Coach Penders talks about the Jim Penders coaching tree (please note, SIDs: this is a great idea for all school baseball websites!), “changing the world” in the coaching world vs. the political world, changing responsibilities as you move up the bench, the challenges for a coach in the Northeast, practice plans (options A, B, and C), the UConn stadium update, the college sports calendar, scheduling midweek games, recruiting “inside-out”, networking, balancing evaluation between high school and summer ball, balancing business vs. fun on road trips, using a stop watch to measure intangibles, and “coaching the whole person.”

Notable quotes:

• “I thought you were just screwing around.”
• “It’s not about chairback seats. It’s a home for the team.” (talking about the ballpark/stadium)
• “It’s difficult to hide in athletics.”
• “The game of baseball makes the best people.”
• Coach Penders on fundraising: “The best way is just to ask.”
• “The high school coach is the best source of unbiased info.”
• “This is a relationship business.”
• “We are coaches first, recruiters second.”
• “If you miss those opportunities to educate, you’re not doing your job completely.”

Listen to our first visit with Coach Penders from July 6, 2015.

Follow UConn Baseball on Twitter.

Photo credit: UConn Athletics

Intro Music: Matt’s Blues, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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