ABCA Podcast

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Frid...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is ABCA 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Fond du Lac head coach, Marty Paulsen. Paulsen has coached in 7 different decades. Paulsen is entering his 54th season at Fond du Lac. Paulsen has over 600 wins and is 2nd in all-time wins for active coaches in the state of Wisconsin. The Cardinals have appeared in the state tournament in 5 different decades and won the 2000 state cham...

Joining us this week on the ABCA Podcast is former Ohio Domincan athletic director and head coach, Paul Page. Page is in this year’s ATEC/ ABCA Hall of Fame class. In 29 seasons with Ohio Dominican, Page won over a thousand games. Page is in the top 15 for career wins in NAIA. Page started his coaching career with 2 legends in Mississippi State’s Ron Polk and Marietta’s Don Schaly. Page coached 2...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is ABCA 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Dave Barnett. Barnett is entering his 35th season as the head coach at Flagler College. He is close to eclipsing the 1000 win mark and is 12th in wins among active Division II coaches. Barnett spent 15 seasons as athletic director and head coach at Flagler. He oversaw the transition from NAIA to Division II. Flagler competes in one of...

This year’s Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award winner is Wake Forest head coach, Tom Walter. Walter is entering his 13th season at Wake. Walter is one of the best we have in the game on developing players. In the last 9 seasons, Wake Forest has had 34 players improve their draft stock from high school. 27 of those players were not drafted out of high school. Walter’s path has taken him all over...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Baseball Coaching Legend, Ron Maestri. Maestri is the ABCA Wilson/Lefty Gomez Award Recipient this year. This is the highest award that the ABCA gives out every year. Maestri’s footprint is all over the Baseball Industry. Over 16 seasons as head coach at the University of New Orleans he had 543 wins and led UNO to the Division II and Division I World Series. Maestri...

The name David McDonald is synonymous with baseball in the State of Georgia. His career in Georgia started at Wheeler High School in 1979. He ended his run as head coach in 2010. In that time he led Wheeler to almost 500 wins and 7 state playoff appearances. After his time at Wheeler, McDonald has been an assistant at Mt. Paran and the Lovett School. Outside of coaching, McDonald has made a larger...

Our 2nd installment of our ABCA Award series continues with former Norfolk State athletic director and head coach, Marty Miller. Miller has spent over 50 years at Norfolk State as a player, coach, administrator and now his role in development. In 32 seasons as head coach, he was the CIAA’s winningest coach and was coach of the year 15 times. Norfolk State won 17 conference titles during his tenure...

This week kicks off our celebration of our 2022 Hall of Fame, Lefty Gomez and Dave Keilitz Ethics Award winners. We start the series off with Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore. Gilmore is the definition of a program builder. He has amassed over 1200 wins as a head coach at Coastal and USC-Aiken. Since taking over the Coastal program in 1996, the Chanticleers have 16 regional births, 3 super...

On this week’s ABCA Podcast we head on location with Weatherford College assistant athletic director and head baseball coach, Jeff Lightfoot. Lightfoot has spent 22 years as a head baseball coach and the last 18 years at Weatherford College. Lightfoot is closing in on the 700 win plateau with his time at Eastfield and Weatherford. Lightfoot’s 1998 Eastfield team won the Division III Junior College...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast are Terry and Nick Gobert. Terry is a legend in Indiana High School Baseball. In his time at Jasper High School, Gobert has won six Indiana State Championships, including the final two single class titles. He is one of five coaches in the state to reach the 800-win plateau. Jasper High school is a tradition rich program that includes Scott Rolen and Matt Mauck as alums....

Jumping on the ABCA Podcast this week is University of Tennessee Associate Director of Sports Medicine, Jeff Wood. Wood just finished his 21st season with the UT Baseball program. Wood is a baseball lifer in the athletic training world. His career path mirrors many of our players and coaches. Wood grew up in West Virginia and did his undergraduate work at Marshall. After graduation, Wood started h...

Another great baseball family joins us on the ABCA Podcast with Mark & Sam Gjormand. This is our first Father & Daughter episode. Mark “Pudge” Gjormand is heading into his 27th season at James Madison High School in Northern Virginia and his 35th season overall. Gjormand has led James Madison to three state Championships. The 2021 squad had a phenomenal season finishing second in the natio...

Our next guest on the ABCA Podcast is Driveline CEO, Mike Rathwell. Driveline has been on the forefront of testing data driven player development and they are continuing to push the envelope of cost effective player development. Rathwell has a lot of new things to discuss. In this episode we cover Driveline’s rebranding of the Motus Sleeve to Pulse, Traq, their new facility opening up in Arizona,...

We dive back into peak performance with Kris Goodman, Tampa Bay Rays minor league mental performance coach. Goodman had a phenomenal career at the University of Iowa and was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2015 draft by the Miami Marlins. After Goodman's playing career was finished he got into college coaching and received his Master of Sports Psychology degree at Minnesota State. This is a deep...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Div. I NJCAA national champion McLennan Community College head coach, Mitch Thompson. This finishes our series of ABCA coaches that were national champions this year. Thompson was honored with the ABCA/ATEC Coach of the Year Award. The Highlanders were 47-16 winning their last 23 games and running the table in Grand Junction. They had a .961 OPS and 4.12 ERA as a tea...

In this episode we cover all things high school baseball with Patrick Robey, Madison Central High School head baseball coach. Madison Central went 34-2 and won the class 6A Mississippi state championship ending the season ranked #1 in the Baseball America poll. Robey was honored with the NHSBCA Coach of the Year Award. Robey competed collegiately at Jones County Junior College and Delta State. Aft...

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Div. I national champion Mississippi State University head coach, Chris Lemonis. This continues our series of ABCA coaches that were national champions this year. Lemonis was honored with the ABCA/ATEC coach of the year award. Lemonis just finished his 26th season as a collegiate coach with stops at the Citadel, Louisville, Indiana and Mississippi State. In that time...