SE: Vaughn’s Rise to Becoming Maryland’s Head Coach Rooted in Purple
Jul 24, 2017 | Baseball, Sports Extra
For a long stretch, every day Rob Vaughn came home from Humble High School in Texas, he would check his mailbox and find a letter addressed to him. In the letter was a new reason to come K-State.
Vaughn received enough reasons to choose K-State over Texas A&M, TCU, Vanderbilt and Stanford, setting the course for his future.
He would develop into the Wildcats' regular starter behind the plate by his sophomore season, be part of K-State's first NCAA Regional team ever in 2009 and get drafted in the MLB Draft about 10 days later.
Dive deeper and Vaughn's takeaways from K-State were far greater than any memories on the field. His time in purple set the foundation for his coaching career, which took a major step up in June when he was announced as Maryland's head coach.
"It's just a dream come true," said Vaughn, who at 29 years old is the youngest baseball head coach in a Power Five conference and the fourth-youngest among all Division I schools, according to Baseball America.
To start to see the impact K-State had on Vaughn's speedy coaching ascent, look no further than his approach to recruiting. Many Maryland recruits now receive "reasons to be a Terrapin" in the mail, like former K-State assistant Sean McCann used to send Vaughn.
"One thing that Coach McCann just instilled in me from day one is recruiting and how much it means to get out there, recruit good players and really pour your heart and soul into it," said Vaughn, who served as assistant coach at Maryland for five seasons. "I learned a lot from him."
From Andy Sawyers, a K-State assistant from 2009-10, Vaughn said he gained a deep understanding of the importance of building relationships with players. In short, Vaughn said Sawyers cared about his players at a level that greatly surpassed the game of baseball.
"He took a deep interest in us, much more than as just a player, but also in our personal lives and who we were as people," Vaughn said. "He really taught me that."
Vaughn plans to implement the same type of vision at Maryland, which has recorded its three top winningest seasons (2015, 2014 and 2017) with him on staff, including a pair of Regional titles.
"Being in the Super Regional, you have a chance to get to Omaha and compete at the highest level. You have a chance to get a great education at Maryland, one of the top public institutions in the world. And for us, the biggest piece is we just want to help young men grow," Vaughn said. "We're preparing them to be better husbands, better fathers one day, because that's really what it's all about. Many of these guys won't play in the Major Leagues. We hope many of them get a chance to play professional baseball but, at the end of the day, we want you to come here, get a great education, win a championship and grow into the man you were really created to be."
Vaughn also picked up Maryland's offensive identity, coined "The Pack," from Sawyers, who brought it from Texas A&M to K-State in 2009, one of the program's best offensive years in school history.
"The Pack" gives each hitter a specific role, whether it's bringing speed, power, average or execution to the lineup. Vaughn said it worked wonders for him at K-State in 2009, selling him permanently on the concept.
"I think every kid craves an identity. That is essentially what 'The Pack' did for me as a player," he said. "I saw our offense go from what it was in 2008 to what it was under Andy Sawyers in 2009 and it was not even remotely close."
As for learning the "ins and outs of leading a team," Vaughn said that starts with K-State head coach Brad Hill.
"He is a very detail-oriented guy. He's on top of everything. There are a ton of boxes that get checked with that guy on a daily basis," Vaughn said of the Wildcats' all-time wins leader. "He gave me my first start in coaching. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him giving me a chance. I'll forever be indebted to him for that."
Coaching first became a serious thought for Vaughn during his senior season at K-State. The Wildcats' staff promised Vaughn, a fringe draft prospect, that he could return as a student assistant coach if he went undrafted.
The Chicago White Sox picked Vaughn in the 30th round of the 2009 MLB Draft, but after two years in the minor leagues he reached out to K-State's coaching staff to try and start his coaching career.
He spent two seasons with K-State as a volunteer assistant before taking a position at Maryland prior to the 2013 season, when the Wildcats won the program's first Big 12 Championship and the Terrapins' offense saw significant increases in nearly every category.
Vaughn takes pride in both because he was part of both. He now uses a quote when sitting down with recruits that goes: "Building tradition is more rewarding than simply having one."
"There was a lot of sweat, a lot of equity put into that program. The joy of 2009, of getting to do something that had never been done in the history of the school was something I'll never forget. I can look back on that and say, 'I helped build tradition at K-State. My class helped build tradition there.' That's something I'll always cherish," said Vaughn, who was part of Maryland's first trip to an NCAA Regional since 1971. "You look at that drought that we had been through and it's really similar. Tradition wasn't established. There's a side of me that really enjoys the challenge of doing that and trying to build a team to do things that have never been done before."
For Vaughn, who always said he hoped to be a head coach by the time he was 35, he's climbed the coaching ladder at a fairly unprecedented rate. He credits a combination of good fortune and hard work for his rapid rise.
"So much of this business is kind of being at the right place at the right time," he said. "You have to do a good job with whatever task you're given, whether you're the guy doing the laundry or you're the guy that's recruiting the players and running the program. At the end of the day, it boils down to taking pride in what you do. I think when you do that, when certain opportunities open up, some doors might open for you that you didn't expect. That's kind of how it happened for me."
The first coaching door for Vaughn opened at K-State, where plenty of lasting friendships were created. Many of them, people like former director of operations Justin Tadtman and Vaughn's college roommate Drew Biery, were the first to congratulate him on his new position.
"It's unbelievable how blessed we are to have the friends that we have. Justin Tadtman and I had a long conversation and he told me how proud he was of me. He'll probably never know how much that really means to me," Vaughn said. "It's such a huge blessing to see the people we're surrounded with."
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