Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saluki Baseball Conversation | Lance Rhodes
10/09/2019 | 6:00:00 | Baseball
Lance Rhodes is entering his first season as the head coach of Saluki Baseball. We sat down with him to discuss the top priorities of a new head coach, the rest of the coaching staff, his impressions of the 2020 Salukis, and more.Â
Now that it's been a few months, how are you settling in?
The support for the baseball program here is incredible. It seems like every day, I get an email or a phone call, or I run into someone around town welcoming me. It has been a warm welcome from the start until now, and it just keeps expanding. It has been great for my family; I couldn't have asked for a better welcome than I've gotten.Â
Take us through the first 90 days on the job after you're named head coach.
The first priority was to get the coaching staff in place as quickly as possible. Obviously, we want to get the right guys, and I feel that we hit a home run on the staff. Right when we got the staff in place, we started to identify the immediate needs, recruiting-wise. We're looking for people that can make an immediate impact, and we were able to land a couple guys that can do that. Right after that, we're looking at junior college needs for next season. That's where we're at right now—hitting the recruiting side from the junior college scene to secure next year's team, while also hitting it with our guys here, from the individual workouts to the team practices.Â
After a few weeks with the team, what are your first impressions?
The effort they have been giving every single day is incredible. If we can continue bringing it with the intensity and the mindset we have right now, of just getting better, then we have a chance to make some big-time improvements. The one thing that stands out is the team speed. It's incredible. We have a lot of guys that are difference-makers on the bases. They're going to cause havoc within the system we have offensively. The offense has been a component that in the last couple years hasn't performed to the standards you would have hoped, but it seems that the guys are improving every day. There are some really good offensive players; and hopefully, we can get them to perform to the abilities that they have. It's a team that needs to continue to get better. From Day One until now, it's been a great transformation. We need to continue to do that on the pitching side, on the defensive side, and on the offensive side. And that growth mindset isn't just for the fall—when we come back from winter break, we need to continue to grow all the way through the season.Â
What have your assistant coaches been able to bring to the table?
Hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Nick Magnifico: "He has done a great job with the hitting side. He has taken each individual hitter and broken down their video from last year. He sees the areas needed for improvement and given them each an individual plan, and then attacking the issues each hitter has. Then, also, he combines that with the team approach we have. There are a lot of details that a hitting coach has to attack, and he's doing that extremely well. He's also out on the road identifying the players we need for next year. He has a lot on his plate right now, and he's doing a great job with it."
Pitching coach Brad Neffendorf: "He's doing a great job implementing the system we have from an arm-care standpoint to get these guys to be on a good routine every day, to get their arms in the best shape to go out and perform and handle the workload that you have in a college season. We want these guys to be as strong as they ever have been when they step on that game mound. It's a continual process. It's all brand-new to everyone right now. We have taken it slow on that side, making sure they understand what we want with the pre-throwing activities and putting in the new throwing programs, then getting on the mound. The biggest thing for us is to get them to throw as many strikes as they can. If we can do that, we have a chance to make plays behind them defensively. That's all we're going to ask for. And he's been right there, side-by-side with Nick on the recruiting side as well. It's a team effort. We have all been out on the road for the last three weeks to identify as many players as we can. The recruiting side never stops. For us, it's a huge time recruiting-wise. They have done a great job, and we have had several visits so far. It's looking very bright on that side."
Volunteer coach Ben Brewer: "He has been working with our catchers, and that's a huge responsibility. We have to be good behind the plate for many reasons, from improving the pitching staff to commanding the team defensively. (Brewer) is doing a great job back there, and he's also helping Coach Mags with the hitting side and done a great job.Â
On the recruiting trail, what has the response been like?
It's been really, really good. The biggest thing in recruiting is making a connection with the student-athletes, and Coach Mags and Coach Neff have done an outstanding job of that throughout their careers. That was a huge priority when I hired the staff. I wanted to make sure they had a strong background recruiting. When you build that relationship with a kid, and he feels close to you as a coach, they want to come play for you. It's about selling the vision we have. We have a great conference, a great facility, a great university, and a great coaching staff. We're going to win. There are a lot of players that are looking for that. They want playing time; they want to win; and they want to play for a coaching staff that they enjoy being around every single day. We have a lot of good things to sell here; we just have to get the right people and players in this program, and we will be very successful.Â
From a baseball standpoint, what are the top priorities for this year's team?
The first thing was to get the players in the locker room to trust us as coaches. We didn't recruit these guys. We have new ideas, new philosophies, and new systems. We have to be able to connect with these players, get to know them as people. Once we build those relationships, they have a reason why to go out on the field and trust that everything we're doing is for the betterment of them as a person and as a player. You can get buy-in. You can ask for changes, whether it's a swing, a pitching mechanic, or defensively. You can ask for those changes, and they will respond because they know you have their best interests in mind. Once we can build that trust, we can start working on the team and making them a family. We want them to be like-minded and have a team goal that's bigger than their individual success. Put your individual pride to the side. What is best for SIU baseball? That's winning a Missouri Valley Conference championship and going to a regional and beyond. If we can do that, if we can get outside of ourselves, we can put the team first. That starts in the locker room—building those relationships, hanging out in the players' lounge, being together off the field. That's what we have been trying to do early in the fall. Once we do that, it's about staying on top of things academically. We have great resources here. The academic team has been unbelievable in the help and services they provide. Once the guys can take care of that side of things, they can walk on the field and not have the stress of homework or tests. They can enjoy playing the game they came here for. The final piece is working on giving back. We have accumulated a lot of community service hours so far. Hopefully, our guys are enjoying giving even more than playing. We're going to be a bunch of givers here in this program. We want to get involved in the community. We want people to be in the stands when we play; in order to do that, we have to show that we're here for the Carbondale community.Â
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