SE: K-State Baseball Ready to Bring New Era to the Field
Feb 14, 2019 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Pete Hughes, in his experiences turning a number of college baseball programs around, has found it's easier with two things in place: The right people and the right mindset.
K-State's first-year head coach, whose team opens the 2019 season at CSUN on Friday to start an eight-game road trip in California, said it did not take long to realize the team he took over already had both.
Hughes referenced K-State raising more than $26,000 last fall for childhood cancer awareness as a big indicator of the type of people he had in his dugout. And the more he has watched those same players practice this spring, the more confident he has become in the direction his team is headed.
"When you want to turn a culture around and you have the right people going, it facilitates things a little easier," said Hughes, with more than 650 career wins under his belt along with five coach of the year honors. "Their preparation is awesome and good enough to have success. So, let's just get caught up in working hard every day and holding each other accountable to a super high level, and when you pick your head up, usually a lot of wins come with it.
"That's what I've seen in the past in the programs that needed to be a little rejuvenated and the cultures needed to be flipped a little bit. One day you pick your head up after doing the right things every single day and you're winning a lot of games."
Hughes put no timetable on this. He never does. He said he frequently talks to his team more about how important it is to "get caught up in the process" of working hard. Still, he noted, the expectation is to win whenever the Wildcats take the field.
"We break every day by saying win. These guys dedicate a huge chunk of their lives (to baseball), and it's all about winning," Hughes said. "These guys need to know they're good enough to win, and they are. They're motivated that way, and they're going to pick their head up one day soon and they're going to be winning baseball players."
Amongst the long list of changes within the program in the last year, the culture and the confidence it has bred within the Wildcats has been palpable. Just ask K-State's three junior leaders: Will Brennan, Kasey Ford and Cameron Thompson.
"It's been remarkable. Coach Hughes brings out the winning mentality in all of us," Ford, K-State's most experienced starting pitcher, said. "With Coach Hughes, it's been nothing but driving forward and moving forward from where we were. The culture changed drastically and immediately. He really just brings out the winner in all of us."
"I think we're going to be a lot better than we have been in the past," Thompson, who will move to second base this season, added. "I think we have the work ethic for it."
Brennan, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, agreed.
"It does feel like a whole new team that we can succeed with, based on what our coaches have taught us and the work we put in every day," Brennan, a two-way talent who will pitch and play center field for K-State, said. "The work we put in now, the consistency, it's all what builds a winning culture and program."
Like the facility enhancements currently underway at Tointon Family Stadium, K-State's roster has also been somewhat rebuilt since Hughes was hired in June.
K-State added 19 newcomers and returned 15 letterwinners. Along with securing players that committed when Brad Hill was head coach, Hughes and his staff — assistant Austin Wates, pitching game coordinator Cord "Buck" Taylor, former Wildcat standout Shane Conlon, now a volunteer assistant, and director of baseball operations Ryan Connolly — scoured across the country all offseason to fill some areas in need.
In total, the Wildcats added six left-handed pitchers to the roster, notable because K-State had only one left-handed option last season. K-State also brought in three infielders and a pair of catchers. K-State's newcomers hail from nine different states, with one coming all the way from Canada. This group, broken down another way, includes 11 freshmen, three community-college additions and five Division I transfers, including three who will be able to play this season.
"In this league, at this level, you better match up from the sixth inning on, and you better have left-handed options starting the game and out of the bullpen," Hughes said. "It's pitching and defense that wins you games. We've focused solely on fundamentals and defensive play."
Both have been the foundation to his success at past schools. Both, he also pointed out, have keyed the success of the K-State men's basketball team. It's a message he brought to his team recently.
He started it out with a question: How many five-star players does our basketball team have?
"Our guys knew it. They said none," Hughes said. "It's an approach. It's a way they go about their business. What's the least glamorous thing to do in basketball? Play defense. There's no one who plays better defense than us and gets loose balls. It's attitude, it's urgency, and the next thing you know you're at the top of the Big 12.
"That's who we have to be. We have to come to the field with urgency. We have to play defense like crazy, and we have to run to first base as hard as anyone in the Big 12."
Pete Hughes, in his experiences turning a number of college baseball programs around, has found it's easier with two things in place: The right people and the right mindset.
K-State's first-year head coach, whose team opens the 2019 season at CSUN on Friday to start an eight-game road trip in California, said it did not take long to realize the team he took over already had both.
Hughes referenced K-State raising more than $26,000 last fall for childhood cancer awareness as a big indicator of the type of people he had in his dugout. And the more he has watched those same players practice this spring, the more confident he has become in the direction his team is headed.
"When you want to turn a culture around and you have the right people going, it facilitates things a little easier," said Hughes, with more than 650 career wins under his belt along with five coach of the year honors. "Their preparation is awesome and good enough to have success. So, let's just get caught up in working hard every day and holding each other accountable to a super high level, and when you pick your head up, usually a lot of wins come with it.
"That's what I've seen in the past in the programs that needed to be a little rejuvenated and the cultures needed to be flipped a little bit. One day you pick your head up after doing the right things every single day and you're winning a lot of games."
Hughes put no timetable on this. He never does. He said he frequently talks to his team more about how important it is to "get caught up in the process" of working hard. Still, he noted, the expectation is to win whenever the Wildcats take the field.
"We break every day by saying win. These guys dedicate a huge chunk of their lives (to baseball), and it's all about winning," Hughes said. "These guys need to know they're good enough to win, and they are. They're motivated that way, and they're going to pick their head up one day soon and they're going to be winning baseball players."
Amongst the long list of changes within the program in the last year, the culture and the confidence it has bred within the Wildcats has been palpable. Just ask K-State's three junior leaders: Will Brennan, Kasey Ford and Cameron Thompson.
"It's been remarkable. Coach Hughes brings out the winning mentality in all of us," Ford, K-State's most experienced starting pitcher, said. "With Coach Hughes, it's been nothing but driving forward and moving forward from where we were. The culture changed drastically and immediately. He really just brings out the winner in all of us."
"I think we're going to be a lot better than we have been in the past," Thompson, who will move to second base this season, added. "I think we have the work ethic for it."
Brennan, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, agreed.
"It does feel like a whole new team that we can succeed with, based on what our coaches have taught us and the work we put in every day," Brennan, a two-way talent who will pitch and play center field for K-State, said. "The work we put in now, the consistency, it's all what builds a winning culture and program."
Like the facility enhancements currently underway at Tointon Family Stadium, K-State's roster has also been somewhat rebuilt since Hughes was hired in June.
K-State added 19 newcomers and returned 15 letterwinners. Along with securing players that committed when Brad Hill was head coach, Hughes and his staff — assistant Austin Wates, pitching game coordinator Cord "Buck" Taylor, former Wildcat standout Shane Conlon, now a volunteer assistant, and director of baseball operations Ryan Connolly — scoured across the country all offseason to fill some areas in need.
In total, the Wildcats added six left-handed pitchers to the roster, notable because K-State had only one left-handed option last season. K-State also brought in three infielders and a pair of catchers. K-State's newcomers hail from nine different states, with one coming all the way from Canada. This group, broken down another way, includes 11 freshmen, three community-college additions and five Division I transfers, including three who will be able to play this season.
"In this league, at this level, you better match up from the sixth inning on, and you better have left-handed options starting the game and out of the bullpen," Hughes said. "It's pitching and defense that wins you games. We've focused solely on fundamentals and defensive play."
Both have been the foundation to his success at past schools. Both, he also pointed out, have keyed the success of the K-State men's basketball team. It's a message he brought to his team recently.
He started it out with a question: How many five-star players does our basketball team have?
"Our guys knew it. They said none," Hughes said. "It's an approach. It's a way they go about their business. What's the least glamorous thing to do in basketball? Play defense. There's no one who plays better defense than us and gets loose balls. It's attitude, it's urgency, and the next thing you know you're at the top of the Big 12.
"That's who we have to be. We have to come to the field with urgency. We have to play defense like crazy, and we have to run to first base as hard as anyone in the Big 12."
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