TC289: Pat McQuaid, Nova High School (Davie, FL)

High school baseball in Florida is one tough nut to crack. There are so many good programs at all levels and getting to the top — and staying consistently good — is a difficult proposition. Pat McQuaid has done just that at Nova High School, a public high school in Davie, Florida. And he’s been doing it at the school where he once walked the hallways nearly 50 years ago.

In this episode, Coach McQuaid talks about playing three sports at Nova High School, going to college to play football and baseball, his neighbor across the street (and our former guest Greg Brown at Nova Southeastern), working at Nova High School, the Florida high school athletic structure and playoff system, the difference between players 40 years ago and today, how he’s adapted through the years, his practice philosophy, treating the entire organization as one unit, and his incredible staff of assistant coaches.

Notable quotes:

  • “As you get older, you have a new game plan as every years goes on.”
  • “We try to give the kids a reason to want to come here.”
  • “Take care of the little things and then you don’t have the big problems.”
  • “I told my wife, ‘When I don’t want to got to practice, that’s the time to retire.'”
  • “It’s easy to be lazy.”
  • “Provide players with the resources to chase their dreams.”
  • “The greatest ribute is when the kids come back.”

Email Coach McQuaid at patrick.mcquaid [at] browardschools.com
Check out the Nova HS Baseball program at NovaTitabBaseball.com.

photo credit: NovaTitanBaseball.com
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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