Coach Rich Maloney Hiring Press Conference Comments
5/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Rich Maloney as Michigan Head Baseball Coach
U-M Senior Associate Athletics Director Megan McCallister
On the hiring of Rich Maloney ... "We had an outstanding screening committee during this search that was built the exact same way we built the men's basketball screening committee. We had a couple of student-athletes, we had a few alumni, we had some individuals who are very close to our baseball program, and some individuals who have been critical to the rich tradition of the program. That screening committee gathered a pool of individuals that were unranked for us to interview. Chris Harrison, our interim coach, was a part of the final pool. From that process emerged a man that we are very proud today to announce. Rich Maloney brings a passion as an educator. He brings to the Michigan program a commitment to the academic standards of the institution."
Head Coach Rich Maloney
Opening statement ... "I am honored to be here and absolutely thrilled. This is a life-long dream of mine, personally. It is an absolute pleasure to be a part of the Michigan family. I am honored to be able to work with some of the greatest coaches in the world at the University of Michigan. I followed all of the sports at U-M closely as a young man. It was my dream to play for the Maize and Blue. Now I have the privilege of coaching one of the greatest baseball tradition programs in the United States. I am truly honored to be a part of a great tradition. There have been so many great players in the past, so many great coaches, and to be a part of this great history is truly a dream come true for me.
| | Megan McCallister (left) introduced Rich Maloney as U-M's new coach. |
"Everybody knows the great history of all of our sports at Michigan and I am humbled by it. This is really in my heart where I feel I am supposed to be. I am excited about the challenge of building this program again. I entered Ball State's program when it was struggling a little bit. I had the privilege of working with some great young men and some great student-athletes. They did a great job in the classroom and they did a great job on the field. Now I have the same opportunity to do that here at the University of Michigan. I am all Blue. Go Blue! I am absolutely thrilled.
"My kids have done very well in the classroom and I understand the academic institution that the University of Michigan is. I am going to recruit kids that will do well in the classroom. They are going to do well on the playing field. They are going to represent the University of Michigan in a first-class manner. We are all going to be very proud of our kids. That is the expectation of not only the administration but it is the expectation of Rich Maloney as the head coach. That is going to be a top priority. We are going to get the best kids that we can get in the Midwest. We are going to try and do our best to take over the state of Michigan again in our recruiting. We will fill the rest of our needs nationally when necessary. I think there is great talent here in the state of Michigan and great talent in the Midwest to build a championship program and that is what I intend to do.
"I am also honored to have my coaches with me here. This is an absolute thrill of mine. The reason why I am here is because of the great people that have been a part of my life. I have my two high school baseball coaches, John Bladnick and Bob Steffano, are with me today. I certainly would not be here if it was not for these gentlemen as well as Fred Decker, my mentor and one of my best friends. He spent a lot of time taking me under his wing and helping me get to this point. I also have Scotty Wilson, who introduced my to John Wooden's pyramid of success. I have tried to follow some of the premises of that legendary coach. I am thankful to you gentlemen and certainly I would not be here if it was not for your mentoring. Thank you very, very much."
On the state of the program ... "Right now, obviously, the expectation of the University of Michigan is to have a championship program. Currently the program is down a bit, there is no doubt about it. It definitely needs a lift. I am going to do my best to recruit the top student-athletes that we need to be the very best program that we can be. We feel that we need to be at the top of the Big Ten. That is the expectation of the University of Michigan, it is my own personal expectation and that is what we will be striving to do. The administration understands where the program is at currently. We realize that there is some hard work ahead for us. I was able to do some pretty special things at Ball State and I am hoping that experience will help us to restore the rich tradition of Michigan baseball.
"When I was a young men and Mr. and Mrs. Bladnick used to take me over to the games in the early '80s. I would on occasion see Coach (Bo) Schembechler and I was in awe of the whole situation. That is when my dreams were very strong. At that time Michigan was going to the College World Series on a fairly regular basis. That is how I picture Michigan baseball. That is the picture in my mind of what we are going to try and accomplish. It will be a tough road ahead for us, but with the resources that the administration and the University are going to provide, with a young coaching staff that are going to be go-getters, with the rich tradition that we have, and with the great academics here at the University of Michigan, I see no reason why we cannot turn this thing around here rather quickly."
On losing most of the starting pitching rotation ... "At this time they already have done some recruiting. I will not have any opportunity to bring in new players immediately and to make major changes. I am going to be in a situation where I will have to live with what we have in our program. I will tell you that I think there are some very good players in our program. We are going to need to get quite a few more. I am optimistic that with a fresh attitude and an increase in positive energy that these kids will be able to make a positive contribution in the next year. I am excited about the challenge of that. I did have the privilege at Ball State to have money to recruit with. I was fortunate to be able to make major changes right off of the bat. In this particular case I do not have that situation, but in the next two years there is a lot of scholarship money that will be coming into the program so we will be able to make great strides in a short period of time."
On recruiting and the talent in the Midwest ... "I think the talent in the Midwest is excellent. In Indiana, when I was hired there, the premise was that the state was not a very good baseball state. Over that last several years there have been many very high draft picks out of that state and I have been able to do a great deal of my recruiting within the state and that is what Ball State wanted. Here at Michigan, obviously it is advantageous to have Michigan kids. There is no reason why we cannot have our pick of the kids in the state. In baseball you do not have to bring in that many players each season. The key is to get the right ones. Hopefully with my experience at Ball State and in recruiting we will make great decisions and get most of the kids that we need to get right here in state to fill most of our needs.
"I will personally target Michigan in my recruiting efforts and my assistant will handle most of the other areas. This is where home has been for my family for most of my life. I am excited about being back at home. I know many of the high school coaches. I had the tremendous privilege of speaking to the Michigan high school coaches at the clinic this year. My whole staff and I were able to put on a couple of day clinics so I had a great forum and rekindled many friendships that I had while I was at Western Michigan with Coach Decker. I expect that will be very helpful in our recruiting efforts at Michigan."
On a style of play ... "Pitching and defense they say wins championships and I believe that. I believe that you have to build a program with great pitching. I also believe in the fundamentals of baseball. I love the squeeze play. This year we led the league in stolen bases. I am very aggressive. You will see our guys get thrown out and I will steal again. And then they might get thrown out and we will steal again. I believe in putting pressure on the defense makes for a great offense. My teams in the past have been known as great hitting teams, for my first four of five seasons at Ball State. I then made a calculated move to try to put the emphasis on pitching. I think what I have learned is that we have to have tremendous balance. My hope is that to have the program that we want to have at the University of Michigan it will be a very well-rounded team that will be aggressive offensively, play solid defense, and have some star pitchers to carry us to our goals and dreams."
On the possibility of building a new stadium ... "I think the possibility of building a new stadium has to be a priority for our program. The stadium right now definitely needs some work. We all realize that. We will do some things to clean it up but our goal as an administration will be to raise the funds necessary to build a beautiful stadium that we all can be very proud of. We need to be able to host a regional or a super regional. I would like to see down the road a program that hosts a regional on a regular basis and we need to have a facility that enables us to host a regional. It is very important for our goals as a program. My personal goal is that we would move in the direction of building a new stadium that would enhance the Ann Arbor community as well as our baseball program and go along with all of the other facilities here at the University of Michigan."
On assistant coaches ... "I am in the process of interviewing people but at this point I would rather not publicly say who they are. I am working through the channels and I have been processing this for a while. I expect that there will be an announcement on assistants within two weeks. I will be meeting with both Steve (Merriman) and Brian (Kalczynski) and I will give them consideration. I am very open. I have to get the very best people that I can and surround myself with the best. That is one of the reasons why I am here. It is because of the great coaches that have mentored me as I mentioned but also the staff that I had at Ball State. Those guys deserve a lot of credit as well. A coach is only as good as the people that he surrounds himself with. My intention is to get the very best people that we can that are going to be go-getters, aggressive and good people that will be first-class citizens in the Ann Arbor community and people that we can be proud of."
Contacts: Jim Schneider, Bruce Madej (734) 763-4423
