Episode #186: Andrew Kachel

⚾ Building a Program a Community Believes In with Andrew Kachel 

Winning games is one thing. Building a program that an entire community believes in is something much bigger.

On this episode of The Significant Coaching Podcast, Matt Rogers sits down with Andrew Kachel, Head Baseball Coach at Northeastern Junior College, to talk about how he has built far more than a successful college baseball program in Sterling, Colorado.

Coach Kachel shares how his players become part of the community through weekly service at local schools, preschools, nursing homes, and youth organizations—and how that community has embraced his players right back. His program averages nearly 2,000 hours of community service while also producing Academic All-American teams and winning at a high level.

The conversation also explores family, relationships, coaching young men through adversity, holding players accountable, and why the most meaningful moments in coaching often have nothing to do with the scoreboard.

This is a conversation about baseball, leadership, service, family, and building something that matters long after the final out.

Significant Recruiting Resources — Take the guesswork out of college recruiting with Significant Recruiting: The Playbook for Prospective College Athletes, sport-specific Recruit’s Journals, and the Significant Recruiting Launchpad. Practical tools to help families research schools, stay organized, and build a smarter recruiting strategy. Learn more at CoachMattRogers.com.

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What does it really mean to build a successful college athletic program? Is it wins? Championships? The number of players that become pros? My guest today, Andrew Kachel, has certainly done those things as the head baseball coach at Northeastern Junior College but as you'll hear in this conversation, what he's building in Sterling, Colorado, goes much deeper than baseball. His players aren't just members of a team, they're family. They're spending time in preschools, elementary schools, nursing homes, and being great mentors and friends to coaches' children. They're learning that representing their program means something beyond what happens between the lines. And in return, that community has embraced them. Today, we're talking baseball, leadership, relationships, family, and what can happen when a coach decides his responsibility is to build something much bigger than a winning team. I'm Matt Rogers, and this is the Significant Coaching Podcast Welcome back to the Significant Coaching podcast. I'm here with, Andrew Katchel, head baseball coach at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. Coach, thank you so much for being on the show. No, thank you for having me. I've been following you. I live in Colorado and the, the junior college baseball programs haven't had a lot of success in Colorado, so I've been paying attention to what you've been doing, you've really putting a great program together, so I'm excited to talk to you about all those things and dive into your philosophies. But I want to talk about being a dad and a coach to start with For you, where do you find that balance, and are there some things that you've changed over the years because of having those kids and how important they are to you and where they are on your priority list? Yeah. My, my wife jokes around, even though it's the summertime, a couple weeks ago she said she thought she's seen less of me this summer than when the student athletes are even on campus and during the school year. I think it's that balancing act of making sure you're able to make enough, room in the day for not only your team and the expectations of running a program, but more importantly, that it's big in our culture here and our program is, it's always family comes first. And I think especially this year of all the years I've done this at the, the collegiate level, this, this team, this group of young men was beyond special. It also helped that, preschool daycare hours were a little wonky this past year, so I had a four-year-old in tow with me every Tuesday. Every Tuesday you walk in, wake up a four-year-old and he knew right away it was boys day. So he was gonna come to the ballpark, he was coming to work with me, he was gonna get to eat lunch in the cafeteria with the baseball boys crush the salad bar, and as soon as that, plate of food was gone he knew it was early out. So we had to rush to get back to the baseball field and on went the little rubber molded cleats and the helmet and off he went. I think this year was especially, sincere, special, more than n- normal for me just because of how much y- our group, our team embraced, my, my son being here one day a week and being at practice and, like I've told you for many years it's, I've balanced not having a full coaching staff, so a lot of practices are split group type things where maybe, infielders are in the batting cages and outfielders are doing defensive stuff with me on the field and I could peek over and look in the cage and, Braden Stuffed our All-American, or, Tanner Piri our all-conference outfielder they've got him in there doing two ball, and he's a four-year-old jumping in all the hitting drills with his w- with his buddies, with his big brothers and they embraced him and treated him like, like he was one of their own. And I know Pack the Park, our big game at the end of the year we have around 1,000 fans. We do a free kids camp. The kids stick around and during the game that night is kind of that, that Northwoods Cape Cod feel where y- you got kids huddling at the end of the dugouts and, our 18, 19, 20-year-olds are signing jerseys and autographs, which they've never done before. But then you have the on-field activities, the dizzy bat races and the the mascot races and, it, it's really fun to take a step back and remove yourself from the moment and the game and what inning and the score is and catch those, those really special, cool moments where, it's the mascot race and you stop and look and the whole dugout's, cheering 'cause Cal and Charlie, my, my son and daughter, are racing the mascot on the field, yeah. I've been extremely blessed to incorporate or involve my children, with kind of the day-to-day life of being a coach. And then without a doubt I've definitely learned the longer I've done this that it's really important to make sure that you get that family time. We just, we spent a week in Myrtle Beach, just got back from going to South Carolina, and I tell you what, it was probably the most needed, you know- Yeah one, one-week vacation I've needed in a long time and it was wonderful to get away from work and baseball and mowing a field and recruiting to teaching a four-year-old how to boogie board and- Right Going dolphin watching and, enjoying the things that without a doubt I, I miss a lot of weekends, driving that bus and traveling and being gone fall season, spring season, but without a doubt, this year's group was extremely phenomenal with my two kiddos and for me it really hit home we lost in the final four to go to the World Series and we got eliminated in the morning game. So we hit the road, we're driving back and I was disappointed the, just the way the season had ended. Guys had gotten sick, the bounces didn't go our way. Season came to an end. And driving that bus, we were about an hour and a half from crossing the state line, being back in Colorado, and about eight sophomores came to the front of the bus and were like, "Hey Coach, we're gonna get back at 6:30, 7:00. Most of us are gonna, pack up our dorm rooms tonight and go ahead and hit the road, head on home. Any chance we're gonna get to see the kids one last time?" For me, that's where- Yeah all the success, the winning, everything that the group accomplished, th- that was the biggest part of the whole season, the cherry on top that- Yeah This group got it. So sure enough, we detoured. We we pulled a 35-passenger bus in the driveway and- and 20 sophomores got off and then hugged my kiddos and took pictures and said goodbye, and- Oh I'll remember that much, much longer than the 42 wins and, all the records that were broke. I can tell how emotional you are telling that story and how much those relationships mean to you, so it it's hitting me in the heart. Those are the things that I miss about coaching. It's, I stepped down as a college coach when my daughter was three. We went 12 years without having kids, so basically my entire college career as a head coach, we didn't have kids. And I look back and that's my biggest regret, that my kids didn't get to grow up in a gym or on a field with all these great young people, and and what, how that would've affected their lives. So I know how much that means to you and it's great to hear that. The other thing that pops out to me is all that you're doing at the junior college level with a very limited budget, very limited staff, at least in what you can pay them, and what you're doing to create an atmosphere that's electric that you don't even see sometimes at the D1 level, and definitely not at the D3 and NAI level and what you're doing to bring your community into that, to show them what sports should look like, what a team should look like. It's really powerful, Coach, and it says a lot about your character because- Oh, you don't need a lot of money to do those things. It's just the effort to say, "Hey we're gonna be welcoming. We want people to be a part of this." So that's really cool to hear. Yeah, we have two quotes in the program. Our biggest one is, "How you do anything is how you do everything." I- it's a known fact, I think now, after seven years here, that you're gonna do one hour of community service every week. And we've got the three preschools in town, the two elementary schools Family Resource Center for troubled youth, troubled teens and then two nursing homes. Every, every athlete is assigned a site. That's their place that they're gonna serve all year long, and if on Thursdays they don't have class till 11:00, great. From 9:00 to 10:00 every Thursday, you're gonna, you're gonna be at the preschool coloring. You're gonna be playing PE. You're gonna be, doing something on out of, at recess. Same thing, it's going back to my kids. After every game, players know I'm not starting the bus till I get in that FaceTime call. So it's like- Yeah the moment the game ends, gotta quickly FaceTime the kids. "Hey, how was your day?" First question out of their mouth, "Did you win or lose?" Ah. "We were winners today," or, "We were losers today." And then immediately my daughter almost always would be like where's Josh?" To where she didn't even wanna talk to me. She wanted to talk to, our first baseman that volunteered at her preschool, that's great. Those are the things that I think the, the longer guys are here they really buy into the culture or the process of it. It's not just about baseball. It's about, hopefully cultivating and growing quality young men, and they're gonna give back to the community weekly and come the end of the year, that Pack the Park game, 1,000, 1,200 people show up, and a, fireworks show that's donated, and, and- Right those types of things, I think the guys then really get it that for everything they've given back, this, this community truly is grateful, I think for them as well. It just goes to the power that we have as a coach. And I think there were years when I was a young coach that I took that power for granted, the effect that we can have on these young people and in terms of how they can live their life and what type of an adult they can be, and anybody that's not around athletics it's hard for them to understand that, 'cause they don't see the intricacies. They don't see, they don't see the small moments. Yeah, the fireworks is great. Yeah, it's great when 1,200 people are there, but the relationships that are being built and what you're teaching them about the actions that they can have in their life and the choices they can have in their life that's really cool. I- if you Did you have a mentor that demonstrated these things, or is that something that you've made choices on as you've gone through your coaching journey to say we're gonna do this way. I don't care what anybody else says"? I've been so fortunate throughout the course of my playing career to have played for, Mark Swope right there in, in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain High School was my high school coach back in the day at Doherty. So I had Mark Swope all through high school, who's going to be a Hall of Famer. It's probably long overdue. And beyond that, I had Bill Percy. So Bill Percy has coached at multiple high schools, and in Colorado Springs he's, one of the winningest coaches of all time. But he's also, had such an impact on an international level, coaching the Croatian national team, and the third base coach for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. And all the individuals he's introduced me to at ABCA conventions and, the Dick Birminghams and Hall of Famers of the world. And then really for me, the moment I came back here to NJC Brian Shepard was longtime coach here, 17 years, really left the program, on great standing, good footing for, for someone else to take the reins and move it forward. And I had a unique opportunity for one year to, to coach with Ronnie Deck, who, Ronnie Deck had coached for, been a bench coach with Baltimore and with Miami and he definitely has still left his fingerprints on this program even though he was here one year. And a lot of the community service ideas and kind of those types of things were just, basement, he and I sitting down having a drink, talking ball, talking ideas, ideologies, culture. T- our entire offensive scheme literally was a one evening conversation sitting in a basement about what do you like? What do I like?" And trying to mold it and fit it. And I think a lot of that was not just, like I said, an offensive scheme or how to handle pitchers, but also, the day-to-day culture of, I, I really would like to get these guys out in the, the community doing more. And we came up with the idea of the assigned community service groups and then, community service and academics. Th- those are the things that I'd hope by now things are really recognized or special about our program is in seven years we've had six academic All-American teams. We've averaged about 2,000 hours in community service. Tho- those are the things that are gonna have much longer lasting effects than baseball. So- Yeah. I've got a weird question for you, Coach, and this just popped in my head. I grew up with a tough dad and, he wasn't raised with a lot of affection and, definitely never probably heard from his dad, "I love you," or, "I'm proud of you," and, we got very little of that, but y- you knew he was there, you knew we were, he was proud of us, but those words didn't come out. Wasn't a lot of hugs. As, as a coach, we live in a world now where that the ph- the physical contact and what we say, it can be taken so many different ways, and we have It's often we have to just be careful because we don't know how a kid's gonna react. We don't know. Where are you at as a coach with the words you say and in terms of affection, how you touch your guys in terms of giving a hug or a fist bump or, a bump in the shoulder as you walk by them. Where are you at with that and where do you think we should be with that as coaches? Whether it's right or wrong, I think every coach has their beliefs, has their- Yeah their philosophies or ways. I won't lie to you that's what steered me towards college baseball was I wanted to work with young men, and no offense, I didn't wanna work with parents. And unfortunately- Yeah I think a lot of parents have ruined the high school or the youth level for coaches. Yeah so for me here at the college level, I think that's definitely something I'm still growing and I would hope always growing and learning and trying to get better at, but I think it's definitely something that's known within our clubhouse or our program is that I am probably the two furthest ends of both spectrums, I think, that you can get as far as same way I grew up, with old school coaches who- Yeah who were tough and hard and coached you hard but you knew they cared. And I think in today's changing society and way of life- Especially the way the world is our players have to know that life isn't easy. And beyond college athletics, when you get to the real world and you have real responsibilities, real bills, a- and real things that you need to take care of on a day-to-day basis, that, life is tough. It's not easy. It's gonna beat you down and c- probably kick you while you're down. And I think that's one of those things where I am probably, an old school coach at times, and I can be known to, to be firm or be a yeller or be vocal, but- But I- Yep, me too. Yep hope, I would hope or think every one of our guys know that, I might be the first to get on them, but I would hope I'm also the first to lead the charge to give that hug or to pick somebody up or to let them know when they did a good job. I think it's that balance of A- and I think that is important in coaching, is that i- if they know you, you love them and they know you care, I would hope you can coach them a little harder to where- Yeah th- there is that, that relationship of the two that are there times that I'm gonna tell them the thing they don't wanna hear, but they need to hear, yes. That's right. Yep. But, I think it's much easier to have those tough conversations or, to coach someone hard when th- when they do truly know that you'd give them the shirt off your back or, that you truly love them, you're there for them for anything they need It, it's funny how things can be taken and especially with a young man's perspective on life, when they hear something that's new in their life, whether it's somebody's hard on them for the first time, or somebody tells them, "I love them" for the first time, or someone gives a hug for the first time. Or they're not expecting it, 'cause they haven't had that in their past. It c- it's a challenge in their brain. And how do we, how do I deal with that? Do I accept it? Do I... Am, am I supposed to show coach how tough I am? And so the fact that you're modeling that spectrum, I think is where the value is. I think that's where the necessity is. I think the coaches that say I'm gonna be old school, I'm gonna be hardcore, and that's gonna be how I am," or, "I'm gonna be light and I'm gonna be loving, and I'm gonna be their father figure and their big brother, and that's who I'm gonna be," I think there has to be that balance. Because like you said, life isn't always gonna be roses, and life isn't always gonna be a punch in the face. But if we can teach them in the two years you have them that there's gonna be both sides of it, and I want you to learn how to be comfortable and be yourself and be authentic no matter that situation I think that's really impressive. I think that's really cool. Yeah. And like I said, we're still far from perfect. There's been- Yeah more than one time we've had to, maybe call a player back into the office to be like- Yeah. Maybe we need to just make sure he's all right before we send him home to dorm tonight. That's right. That's right. Just that reminder I do care, and yeah I jumped him pretty good but this is why. Yeah. And it's truly because I care, and as long as they know that, like I said there's more than one occasion I've probably overstepped or used the wrong word or tone- Yeah or whatever it may be, but no one's perfect, and I think that's part of the culture, too, is guys understand they're gonna make errors, they're gonna strike out and, and- Yeah we're very open with that here, too. I tell the guys all the time I don't have stats. I don't have statistics anymore. Yeah. My job is to push buttons, and- Yeah most times it's, that's what the fall baseball season's for, is we're gonna push buttons and I'm learning, too, 'cause come spring, I'm g- now probably gonna know what buttons not to push, 'cause we learn- Yeah the good and the bad throughout the fall. I think as long as you're very open and honest and transparent they know you're gonna coach 'em hard, but they know you care. At the end of the day, I think, that's where groups come together and everyone can get on the same page. Yeah, I, o- my career's become, I help kids with their college recruitment, and then I am also coaching coaches and consulting with athletic directors and university presidents. So I'm kinda sandwiching all these ideas now. I, I miss being on the field and on the court coaching every day, but it's so great where I can tell a kid, "Hey, I just got off the phone with Coach Catchell. He's, this is a great coach, and this is what he's thinking and what he's looking from his players." And then I can talk to a coach and say, "Hey, I just got off the phone with these two families, and they're struggling with this, and they wish a c- college coach would say this to them." And I'm really enjoying that side of it because I look back at my coaching career, I was a head college coach at 26, and nobody taught me anything. No, no one said, "Hey, this is how we build our budget. This is how you recruit efficiently. This is how you have work/life balance." I was just like, "I wanna keep this job. I wanna win. I'm gonna work 80-hour weeks." And there was none of that. So- Yeah I'm interested from your perspective, are there things that you're learning now that you wish somebody would've taught you in your 20s about being a coach? Are there, are those little nuggets that you're like, "Gosh, I wish I would've had that in my pocket when I started. I wish somebody would've taken the time to sit me down and walk me through this"? Yeah. It's a really good question. I don't think there is the perfect cookie cutter approach to- To coaching a- and as we've talked, the, the levels of, athletics are so different as well. I think, at the NCAA level you obviously Depending on what level you're at get the older, more mature, more experienced student athlete. Oftentimes the guy who's been through JUCO and gone through the grind and- Yeah done a lot of that learning. Whereas n- back here at JUCO, that's, I think the most rewarding as well as probably the most frustrating part of junior college athletics, is you get the 18-year-old kid that's coming out of high school that's, was the best of the best, probably on whatever high school team or club team he played on. They've never failed. And you get 50 brand new ones every year and- 25 of them are gonna keep on succeeding and 25 for the first time are gonna fall flat on their face. That's right. And they've never done that before. I think that's why my hair's gotten more gray and, and- the, has fallen out in the past seven to 10 years here. But same token, it's also that I think that's the most rewarding portion or part of being the JUCO coach is watching the light bulbs come on truly for the first time. Getting through their first dose of adversity and failure. And then trying to navigate the how do you support them, but how do you coach them? I just feel like we go through so many more emotions with young men at the junior college level than I ever did at the NCAA level. And I guess learning how to better navigate that year by year i- is not something I guess someone could ever truly give you advice on, but is more just the, as mentioned, trial and error and learning as you go to where, I think every, every year, every group is different and it's no different than having a bunch of 6'4", 225-pound, big physical guys that hit the long ball or the home run ball, and then the next, the following year having a bunch of 5'9" guys that are speedy and run well, and you're gonna have to bunt and- Yeah and so I think it's coaching to your group's personalities and their needs, much like every year, what, what talent do you have on the field and trying to get the best out of, what most efficiently works for, like I said, whether they're a home run hitter or a base stealer. I, I think it's more so that's the biggest piece of advice, is in a roundabout way coming back to, coach to what you have. A- and you can't be- Yeah necessarily set in your ways, and you have to be willing to change and alter, based on what you're given to work with every year. Yeah. Tell me if I'm wrong. I was a baseball player, but baseball players have a bit of a, a personality across the board that's pretty consistent. They're not always the most outgoing. Y- they're not always the loudest. They're oftentimes the guy that's never gets too high, never gets too low. It's almost like we're taught that too, as a pitcher or a batter, you don't wanna, you don't wanna be emotional up there. You wanna stay level and, baseball players are always the ones that are a little bit more monotone. Am I wrong? Yeah, I think they're a little more even keel, even keel, yeah. I... For me, my, my question is as a coach, I'm sure your mindset is I'm gonna make everybody a better swinger, a better hitter based on their swing. I'm gonna figure out how to maximize their ability to hit that ball. If they're a pitcher, I wanna be consistent, I wanna figure out what pitches they throw really well, get that kid to the point where they can throw strikes with all of them and be confident to throw strikes. We have that mentality as a coach, I'm gonna make that kid a better ballplayer. My question is for you, and this is a big question, this is more of a, a general coaching question: What's our responsibility- As a coach, on the other side to, to... and should we have that responsibility? Should we put that on ourselves to say, "This kid's real quiet. I wanna teach him how to speak in front of a room. I wanna teach him how to find his voice. I wanna teach him how to lead." Should we have that responsibility? Or should that be something that if the kid wants it, we give it to him, or should we have that same mindset about making them better hitters and better throwers and better fielders? Yeah. Where should we be with that? I think that's a conundrum for coaches today. I think it's a conundrum and in a much bigger picture as far as, unfortunately same today. Junior college coaches we're not making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nope. You're not. We're on teacher salaries spending weekends away from our own family to drive a bus ourself and be creative with a budget. And oftentimes I think all coaches would admit we oftentimes spend more time with other, husbands' and wives' sons and children- Yes than, than we spend with our own children. But I know that's same thing at least in our program, I think it's made very apparent the number one very first day one meeting where, we take more pride in how we act and how we are off the field than we ever will on the field. I, I typically will never ever yell about a, an error or a strikeout or a mistake on the field, but you will hear me yell, the moment you miss a class or, you didn't communicate with a professor or a teacher. To where I think day one if y- you immediately shift and show them that the priorities aren't just baseball and aren't just winning and that there's a much bigger picture to what they're about to involve themself in the, the one year or two years they're going to have here, I think that sets the tone then to then move forward wi- with every conversation afterward. A- and for us, that's typically conversation number one, and then ironically, kinda touching on what you were just speaking about, for us when we talk about with our pitchers and our hitters, ultimately our goal is to make them their best coach. So i- it's not I'm trying to make you the best catcher or the best shortstop or the best right-handed arm, I'm trying to teach you to be your best version of yourself. And remind them, 'cause I think this goes back to that fine line of what I talked with junior college where- They've never failed and they've never had, that adversity. So it's now teaching them that, you're here for a reason and reminding them that if they weren't any good, they wouldn't have got recruited. So I think that's definitely something we see, especially at the junior college level, is that first semester, that first fall of every year's, every new freshman's first, time in college where y- you see it so much within the room. And junior college especially, I've got 50, a team of 50 and 25 of them are freshmen. So half that team is coming in here and typically trying to press and go above and beyond and do more, or feel like they have to do more. If they fail, they're not gonna make the team. And it's now having done this so long, understanding and realizing that and just nipping it. Or day one, it's, "Hey," making that apparent that some of you guys are gonna fail. Don't worry. If you weren't any good, you wouldn't be here. But my, our goal this fall is to make you your best coach. And why? To give them the end goal, 'cause this, I always joke around, there's the X generation, the Z gener- this is the Y generation. They always wanna know why. They want an explanation. So to tell these guys like, for the first month, yes, I am about to be captain dictator of everything we do for the next month, but there's a reason. And walk them through that process of I'm gonna control the drills, I'm gonna control the swings, but we're gonna teach you why we're doing these drills, what the purpose is, what we're trying to accomplish. And Our hope is that through doing this step by step, you're gonna learn the hitting drills or the things that are specific to you. So when you do leave our program two years from now and you go to that NCAA school that only has 30 some odd practices in the fall with coach and three outside competitions where you're not attached to the hip of me all the time like you have been here, you now have that foundation of knowing what drills are specific for your needs what things help you tick what things are gonna help you prepare at open field and captain's practices at the next level when you don't have coach holding your hand. And that's where I think I would hope our program has had success or maybe differs than others is the tone is set from day one that, we're all in this together. You 20 some freshmen that think, you're hot stuff and you know it all, you're gonna learn real quick this fall you don't, and that's okay. Yeah. And you're gonna fail. Yeah. But I think that transparency and openness to, to set a tone that we're gonna work through the baseball and the baseball's gonna take care of itself. Go look at the record board out there. Every, every record in the last handful of years is from teams that have recently been here. We're gonna, we're gonna teach you how to hit, we're gonna teach you how to pitch. Yeah. We're gonna win plenty. But more importantly, how we do it the pride we take in our academics and in the classroom and in our community service and as teammates, and when my kids are around in the dugout, no swear words and when we eat with our hats off and showing them that this is much bigger than just wins, just losses, just a batting average or an ERA I think is the biggest learning thing I, I've grown or gone through over the years is trying- Yeah to do a better job of that. Just knowing I, I've seen 10, 15, 17 years of kind of rinse and repeat the s- the same model. Yeah. It's it's amazing what this profession does to us. I- if you really think about it. All right? Tell a middle school teacher they're gonna have 53 kids in their classroom n- next year. Every class is gonna be 53 kids. Not only that, but you have to go find those 53 kids to fill those 53 seats, and you have to balance a budget, and, if you want teacher's aides, you've gotta hire them and train them, and so on and so forth. Tell a business manager that's, you've gotta have 53 people underneath you. You've gotta go hire them and train them, and then you have to supervise them, and then you have to excel. Where in, on the planet do we have that outside of being a head coach? You didn't even mention they- they gotta mow the playground and- That's right. That's right and- That's right. That's right clean the mud and drive the bus and pick them up- That's right and drop them off. You gotta go find the, your cage has got a bad net. You gotta go fix the net. You're sewing. You're putting uniform patches. Whatever it is. You're mom, you're CEO, you're the boss, you're the firefighter, you're the nanny, you're doing it all. My question for you: Are you fair to yourself at the end of the day? I think in time, same. I've learned More of how to be, t-t-to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. We do ment- Yeah we do mental meetings. We actually do we call them Mental Mondays where, you know- every Mon- every Monday after a weekend we're gonna sit down, we're gonna talk over a little chapter in these sports psychology packets we have with what went well, what didn't go well. Timing, tonality, how are you talking to yourself? Is it in positive terms? All the things that we preach to these young men, I think same. In turn, over time I've had to learn to, to do a better job myself and realize that, this isn't LSU and it's still- a tremendous place and, and- Yeah that goes back to, w- way at the beginning of the podcast I said we have two quotes, and the second one is, "The grass isn't greener on the other side, it's green where you water it." So- That's right I think- It's a great line taking care of, in-house, what's here a- and the glass is always half full and keeping that, that mindset or mentality that, i- what we're doing there, there's a lot of good. A- and I think- Yeah even though things might not always go the way you want or the, at the end of the year there's only one team that finishes with a win, everyone else finishes with a loss. And- Yeah I think coming back to terms with at the end of the day they'll look at all the good we've done from the young men and the relationships, the culture, the values, the, the lessons taught that'll always outweigh, like I said, I think the personal aspirations or goals or championships. And keeping that in mind is something that definitely, I've had to take a step back and- Yeah and also- Yes remember at times. I won't dishonor you by saying you and I are a lot alike 'cause you're a hell of a coach and I'm really impressed with everything, and that's why I reached out to you and I've loved our conversations up up to this point as well. You seem like the guy that's walking out of the grocery store and you've got two carts full of food. It's overwhelming. And there's 10 kids walking behind you under the age of 12 that it's your responsibility to feed them, and in your head you're going, "Gosh I need to... we need to do some reading tonight," or, "We need to do these 10 other things," and you barely have time to do what you're there to do. We had five core injuries this year. You seem like the type of guy that's beating yourself up that you didn't do yoga and Pilates with the kids twice a week. You know what I mean? So a- at what point as a college coach, and give some advice 'cause you've been through this, you're at that point in your career that people, young coaches should be calling you and saying, "Hey, Coach, I'd love some advice." I wanna give you that opportunity. At what point do you just gotta say, "I've done all I can do today. I've done everything. I've hit, I... If I do any more, then that four-year-old and that eight-year-old I love, they're gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna lose me for that hour that they need me. That wife who forgets what I look like, in the daylight she's gonna lose that hour with me." At what point as a coach do we go, "I've done as much as I can do today," and be okay with it, and be proud of that? Yeah. And same, I think that- That varies, I think, person to person and probably relationship to relationship. Yeah. I tell people all the time my I'm beyond fortunate for my wife. I don't think she truly knew what she was wrangling herself into- eight years ago, nine years ago when this all started same token I joke around. I took over a program two weeks before school started. Yep. I had 86 my first year and I inherited the program. I had- Wow no, no coaching staff. So we literally ran practice starting at 1:00. I brought them in 45-minute, hour and a half waves, kinda based on groups, based on what day it was. And my daughter had just been born that, that year I took over. So I blocked out about a 45-minute timeframe where we'd start at 1:00, we'd go to about 5:30 with all the offensive groups, and then I would take a break, and I'd go home for 45 minutes to an hour, eat the Crockpot meal or slop down a sandwich, and then read a goodnight story, kiss a newborn goodnight, kiss my wife- Yeah and then back to the field. And then we'd go from 6:00 to 8:30 and finish up the remaining groups. 'Cause it was balancing the how do I feel... I felt obligated to take care of a wife and a daughter, but I also felt- Yes obligated to do a job and I didn't feel right bringing 80 guys at once and there's one of me, to where I wanted to make sure they got that, that one-on-one time, individual time that, that they also deserved. And I think th- that first year to where, like I said, no, no paid assistant coaches, inherited 86, and then three months later, a national pandemic. Yeah. Welcome to be a head college coach. That's right. It was quite the learning experience, we'll put it that way. And I'm very grateful that my wife is still my wife and didn't punt and run as fast as she could after year one, as many hours as I spent at the field. But that's where I, that was a huge learning moment for me, too, to, to then I think like anything it's, perform, evaluate, and then reconsider to where can we always fix or improve or adjust? Yeah. But I think that balance of understanding at the end of the day, like we tell our players, it's, this is still a game and Monopoly's a game. So- That's right. at the end of the day I think coming to terms with sometimes it... Today I've done everything that I needed to do or get accomplished, and you know what? Yes I need to go home and s- and go swimming at the in-laws' pool with the kids and- Yeah and spend a little family time and realize to draw that, that big fat line in the sand that at the end of the day, baseball will still be here tomorrow, and there's plenty of days to throw BP, but, my, my four pound, premature daughter's now eight years old and bright and brilliant and athletic and all the above, and it all those sayings and talks about former coaches or parents saying, "Hold on tight, it goes fast," it's true, and it- It does it's it goes back to like we tell our players you don't know until you don't know. And it's the same thing I think coaching and raising a family and having kiddos yourself. And I have a four-year-old that's, his speech right now, his vocabulary seems to grow daily and- Yeah and those are the moments that I'm never gonna get back, but there's plenty of time to throw BP and hit ground balls. And same, I think as long as players know that, that's something as well is, first team meeting, "Hey fellas, I'm gonna spend more time with you than my own kids, so if there is an occasional Friday practice is done at 4:30, or we need to cut it early at 5:00 'cause we've got soccer, I'm going to soccer. 'Cause no offense, I'm not gonna get those soccer games back." So- Yep. Yep I think- Same as always, we're not perfect, but I think learning over time and I think with your partner, with your, your wife, your children, what are those needs, and just doing the best you can to balance the both. I'm sure if she was here, she'd be sitting in the corner rolling her eyes going, "Yeah, you still got a lot of learning to do." But- but I promise I'm working and trying. Just take a breath every once in a while and look back at those eight, nine years ago and now look at where you're at and what you've built and what you're doing and the relationships that you've created and the love that you have for your guys, and it's obvious the love they have for you and your family. I w- I want you to appreciate it. You're blessed, but you've created that blessing and it's really cool, coach. And this the title of this podcast, you're the epitome of it the significance. Y- you're taking chance out of the equation, but you're also doing something that your heart is guiding you towards and you're trying to make it special for everybody you get to touch. So that's why I do this. That's why I'm so happy. If you don't mind, I'm gonna call you a friend, and you're gonna hear from me every once in a while. I'm gonna check up on you. I'm gonna I'm gonna be s- cheering for you guys and following you, but this is exactly why I do this, and this is what coaches need to hear. This is what young coaches need to hear. We talked about the kids. Appreciate it. The kids are gonna fail. Man, that first year you're gonna fail. You're gonna fall flat on your face. As a coach, you're gonna get this situation and you're like, "Oh, my gosh, how do I handle this?" And you're gonna find a way through it. And the key is to not lose yourself and to remember I've got this family, I've got a heart, I've got health I've gotta take care of and I'm gonna get through it. Failure is just a part of that journey. So thank you for doing this, coach. And for those of you that love this conversation as much as I have, come back on Monday. Coach and I are gonna do a short talk on recruiting. He's gonna give some great advice to high school coaches and club coaches and parents and kids that wanna play at the next level. Thank you, coach. Appreciate it. Thank you. That's a wrap. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you were as inspired as I was. Coach Catchell has built something special at Northeastern, not just a winning baseball program, but a family that serves its community and a community that has embraced them right back. That is fantastic, and that's what significant coaching looks like. Until next time, stay focused on what you can control, stay humble, and keep chasing significance