Conversations with College Coaches: Haverford College
In our latest interview, Woody Wingfield spoke with Head Coach Dave Beccaria from Haverford College. Haverford is a Division III program out of the Centennial Conference. From use of video to strength and conditioning programs coach Beccaria gives insight to his program at Haverford College.
1. How long have you been coaching? How long at Haverford College?
I’ve been coaching at the college level for 15 years. I was an assistant coach at my alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, for one year, and then I spent three years as an assistant coach at Haverford before becoming the head coach at Haverford in 2001.
2. Who are some of your mentors or coaches that you look up to?
I’ve been around some terrific coaches, and I’m fortunate to have learned a lot from all of them. Bob Babb, my coach at Johns Hopkins, taught me a lot about the game, how to organize a program, and what it takes to be successful at the college level. My high school coach, Dennis Walker (Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware), taught me a lot about mental and physical toughness and the selflessness that’s required for success on any team. And one of my current assistant coaches, Kevin Morgan, has taught me a great deal about creating a team culture that puts a premium on clear communication, cultivating leadership abilities, demonstrating appreciation for all team members, and developing each student-athlete to the fullest of their ability.
3. What is the first thing about your school and program that you’d want a recruit to know about?
Haverford is one of the very best schools in the country. It’s basically a small Ivy League school, and we see our program as a Division III alternative to Ivy League and Patriot League baseball. We believe that academic excellence and athletic achievement aren’t mutually exclusive. Our student-athletes can excel in the classroom and work hard to achieve some special things on the field at the same time.
4. What qualities do you look for in a prospect on the field? Off the field?
I’m obviously always looking for athleticism, skill and potential. We want to bring in student-athletes who have the athleticism and ability to help our team right away, but at the same time, we look for student-athletes who have the potential to get even better at the college level. We devote a lot of time and energy into developing our student-athletes, and we have a large and talented coaching staff that has proven to be particularly good at individualizing instruction and helping each student-athlete to reach their full potential.
Off the field, there are a variety of characteristics that are really important to our program. First, we need extremely good students. Haverford is one of the most selective colleges in the country, so we need to find the best and brightest student-athletes from around the country. Second, we need guys who care more about wins and losses and the success of the team than their own individual statistics. Third, we need guys who are mentally tough and competitive. Basically, we’re looking for extremely talented student-athletes who are good, responsible people with leadership potential.
5. How has video helped your recruiting?
Video has been a huge help for our recruiting. We travel to at least 15-20 different camps and showcases all over the country each summer, but we’re not able to attend every single recruiting event that’s offered. As a result, it’s extremely helpful to see as much video as possible. Even if we’ve seen someone play in person two or three times, video can be helpful in solidifying our assessment of that person’s ability and potential. The more I can see with my own eyes – via video or in person – the better able I am to give prospective student-athletes more accurate feedback about where they’d fit into our program.
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6. Do you recruit from Junior Colleges?
No, we don’t recruit from Junior Colleges.
7. Can you break down your fall practice schedule? What do you try to accomplish?
We have a five-week fall season. We’re limited – by D-III rule – to 16 dates in the fall, so we make the most of each and every day we’re on the field in the fall. We use our fall season to evaluate everyone – returning players and freshmen – and we feel the best way to evaluate everyone is to play as many intrasquad games as possible. We play intrasquad games virtually every day we’re on the field. We teach before and after those games, but the intrasquad games allow our guys to compete on a daily basis and show the coaching staff what they can do. By the end of the fall season, each pitcher has thrown about 20-30 innings and each position player has had about 50-60 at-bats, and the coaching staff has a pretty good idea about how to start communicating roles and expectations for the spring. Our pitchers are on a very specific throwing schedule for the fall, and the entire team is in the weight room with our strength and conditioning coach three days per week as well.
8. Tell us more about your strength and conditioning coach and training regimen?
We have a full-time strength and conditioning coach who does some amazing things with our student-athletes. We have some of the finest facilities (indoor and outdoor) of any D-III institution, and our strength and conditioning coach administers a year-round, baseball-specific (and even position-specific) program that focuses on improving health, speed, explosiveness and overall athleticism. We play an extremely aggressive, fun and up-tempo style of baseball, and our strength and conditioning coach makes sure that our student-athletes are totally prepared to be successful with this style.
9. What is your favorite away game/series/ballpark?
On the college side, we really enjoy playing in some of the minor league ballparks. Specifically, our team has always enjoyed playing at Campbell’s Field, which is home to the Camden Riversharks. It’s a beautiful facility that has a lot of character.
10. What do you think of the new BBCOR bats?
The new BBCOR bats are fine. From what I can tell, they haven’t changed the game as dramatically as many coaches thought. Our team seemed to adapt pretty quickly to the new bats, and after the first few games, the new bats were a non-issue for us. Every team uses the same kind of bats, so it still comes down to scoring one more run than the other team.
11. Anything planned for your facilities (upgrades, changes, etc.)?
In a few weeks, we’re actually beginning a pretty exciting overhaul of our baseball facility. We received a half-million dollar donation to completely renovate our baseball field and some other elements of our facility. We’ll be re-grading and re-sodding the playing surface, installing a new drainage system and a new irrigation system, installing a new scoreboard, building a new backstop, adding more seating, renovating both sets of bullpen mounds, and building a new, roofed and turfed hitting facility that will include four retractable batting cages. This project is expected to be complete by the end of this fall, and we’ll be playing games on our new field this coming spring. It’s an exciting project that will certainly give us one of the very best baseball facilities in all of D-III.
12. Is there anything you would like to add about your assistant coaches, recruits, parents, or program that we have not asked you about?
Our program has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. We’ve been in four conference championship games in the past six years. We’ve become one of the very best teams in our conference and one of the better teams in our region, but we’re really focused on taking that next step and becoming a prominent team on the national stage. We’re always looking for talented student-athletes who share this vision and want to be a part of something special.
We have an extremely close group of guys on our team and an unbelievable support network of parents and alumni. Everyone is moving in the same direction, and the progress that our program has made is really a collective effort.
We have an outstanding coaching staff that really cares about each individual on our team. Our coaches are really good at developing the whole person and getting the very best out of each individual, and we take a lot of pride in providing our student-athletes with an amazing overall college experience.
