If you’ve never heard of Wisconsin-Whitewater, then you obviously just don’t pay attention. The whole athletic program up there in Cheese Land has been knocking it out of the park for years. If you watch SportsCenter even casually, you’ve no doubt seen one of their teams hoisting a trophy somewhere. And the baseball team in no exception to that. They’ve come home with hardware after a short drive to the D3 World Series just down the road in Appleton, Wisconsin. Today’s guest is at the center of all of that. Since arriving in Whitewater, John Vodenlich has seen his teams play in the D3 World Series six times, winning it twice.
In this episode, Coach Vodenlich talks about the rapid growth of the school, his playing days as a three-sport athlete, his immigrant parents, his mother the Olympic skier, his All-American days as a player at UWW, playing European baseball, turning around Edgewood College in his first head coaching stint, loyalty, D3 as a destination, closing the gap between D1 and D3, the importance of a good and consistent staff, and facilities upgrades.
Notable quotes:
- “You know how I work. We’ll be doing things together.”
- “The grass isn’t always greener. Sometimes it’s brown.”
- “Do the best you can with the circumstances you’re given.”
- “I view my role as an advocate of our program.”
Follow UWW Baseball on Twitter.
Find out about the International Sports Group.
photo credit:Â University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
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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