June 10, 2023

TC232: Todd Carroll, MIT

April 10, 2017 admin TOP COACH PODCAST 1

Recruiting is a difficult proposition at best. What if I shrink your potential recruit pool exponentially? That’s what I imagine that Todd Carroll is up against at MIT. Coach Carroll, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at one the nation’s elite academic institutions, would tell you that his task is actually made easier because of what the school offers. Well, I guess he’s right from one standpoint. But still — you’re trying to fill out a roster with super-smart engineers. Don’t shed any tears for the MIT coaching staff, however. They seemed to have figured out a formula that adds up to success.

In this episode, Coach Carroll talks about 33(!) different athletic teams that MIT supports, Todd’s high school coach who’s been going at it for 52 years, selling cars, working three jobs while coaching at Salem CC, the incredibly smart idea of eight programs sharing a beach house while recruiting at a summer showcase tournament, the “academic recruiting circuit”, late practice starts to accommodate academics, solving differential equations on road trips, and MIT’s support of Pete Frates and Strike Out ALS.

Coach Carroll talks extensively about the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association. Check out the NEIBA here.

Notable quotes:

“You need to turn back, There’s trouble ahead!”
“America is a great country. It took me five and a half years to get a history degree, I’m a solid 40 pounds overweight, and I’m about to teach a college weight training class.”
“We’re loyalty people in New England.”
“We have so much more in common than we have different.”
“It’s all about the relationships.”
“When you’re on the road a whole bunch, you’d better enjoy the people who are around you or you’re going to be a miserable son of a gun.”

Follow Todd Carroll on Twitter.
Follow MIT Baseball Baseball on Twitter.

photo credit: MIT Athletics

Intro Music: Matt’s Blues, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)