TC267: Andrew Wright, University of Charleston

This week’s episode will provide a lot of bang for the buck! It’s free, you say? Well, consider this an even better bargain. We’re joined this week by the head coach at the University of Charleston (West Virginia), Andrew Wright. Coach Wright is one of those forward thinkers. Here’s a guy who understands what it means to work on the program and not just in it. He runs his Charleston program like the CEO of a small company. As you listen to this episode, you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about. And today’s episode has a bonus. Not only will you learn a lot about running a successful program, but someone today could have the opportunity to land a new position!

In this episode, Coach Wright talks about growing up in Canada (and being a very serious hockey player), playing baseball in Canada and the U.S. as a high school athlete, having his father as his baseball coach, how a arm injury cut his playing career short and started him thinking about coaching, getting his coaching start at Concord College, the impact that former guest Mark Gibbs had on his career, tips for getting that first opportunity, what he looks for in a young coach, identifying the need for an Operations assistant at Charleston, and his active search to fill the Operations role.

Notable quotes:

• “You’ve got to stick your neck out to cultivate a network.”
• “It’s easy to separate the ones that you don’t think are going to work out because of how little time they put into their communications.”
• “You’re looking for someone to lighten the load.”
• “We can create within each and every program opportunity for guys to get their education and start a career.”
• “Don’t pigeon hole yourself early in the discussion.”
• “Coaching can have it’s challenges, but it also has the opportunity to expose your children to things that really matter.”
• “My job should be to facilitate an opportunity for our assistant coaches and our players.”
• “There are a fixed amount of entry level positions. That’s something I hope to change.”
• “If you learn to layer properly, you’re good to go.” (On playing baseball in Canada)

Email Coach Wright here.
Follow Andrew Wright on Twitter.
Follow University of Charleston Baseball on Twitter.
Check out Andrew Wright’s blog!

photo credit: University of Charleston 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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