Conversations with College Coaches: Lower Columbia College
Baseball Factory is privileged to work with programs from every level of college baseball. We strive to educate and guide our players when it comes to choosing the right school. In our latest interview, Dan Mooney spoke with Head Coach Donegal Fergus from Lower Columbia College. LCC is a Junior College program out of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC).
1. How long have you been coaching? How long at you current college or university?
I have been coaching at the collegiate level for 13 years now. This fall will start my second stint at Lower Columbia College, this time as head coach. From 2000-2005 I was an assistant coach here. I have also spent time at Tacoma Community College as a head coach (5 years) and most recently at Seattle University as the hitting coach.
2.Who are some of your mentors or coaches that you look up to?
I have had the unbelievable good fortune of having worked for some legendary coaches, including Scott Carnahan at Linfield College, Kelly Smith at Lower Columbia College, and Donny Harrel at SeattleU. I look up to all of those guys with tremendous admiration for what they’ve done and how they’ve done it. Carny was the one who gave me my first opportunity to coach, after my playing career was derailed by injuries. If not for him, I would not be in the position I am in. He scared me when I played for him, but he’s got a real soft spot I just didn’t know about!
3.What is the first thing about your school and program that you’d want a recruit to know about?
Well Lower Columbia is simply the best junior college program in the Pacific Northwest. The tradition and standard of winning is just unmatched. Our list of players playing at the highest levels is incredible. Its an phenomenal place to play and coach and I am blessed to be here. Our facility is second to none, and we have an administration and a community that support us better than anyone else out there I believe. Our history sells itself, what my staff and I talk to recruits and their families about are the people within this program. My coaches and administrators are terrific at what they do, but more importantly are first-rate people who genuinely care about our players.
4.What qualities do you look for in a prospect on the field? Off the field?
Obviously we look for big-time talent first. Any coach that says he’ll take lesser talent guys with big hearts is lying a little bit. I want huge talent AND big hearts. We have the great fortune to be able to attract highly-regarded players with tremendous skills, but also to be able to get the young men with incredible character as well. Our job is to produce great young people who can also play baseball at an extremely high level, so we look for those kids who crave that structure and environment. We do a lot of work in the community as well, so we want our boys to understand the importance of that aspect of being a student-athlete as well. Naturally, at the junior college level, we get guys who have issues perhaps in the classroom or off the field, but deep down there is a burning passion to be great at baseball and at life. That’s a Red Devil.
5.How has video helped your recruiting?
Video is huge for us. Because we don’t have the recruiting budget of a Miami, or South Carolina, we have to rely on other avenues of evaluation besides flying off to see kids in person all the time. Video gets us an initial picture of what skills or tools the player might have and allows us to move forward, or move on, with the recrui9tment process. I wish more high school and club coaches utilized video so that college coaches could have more access to be able to see kids from wherever they live. A well shot video clip can really mean the difference for us between taking a longer look at someone , or moving on to the next recruit.
6.Can you break down your fall practice schedule? What will you try to accomplish?
We have six weeks in the fall, and we will use every second of that time. Our staff will evaluate the skills of everyone on our roster in a competitive environment to see where they need to improve and grow. We will begin implementing our style of play. We play an up-tempo aggressive style of offense and we need guys to learn to play with the right mindset. It’s not easy and it does take some time to get used to so we really push the attack level on the bases. Our pitchers will be focusing on command and mentality, much more so than pushing the innings envelope. We want to install our throwing program, which is a little different than some, which we feel like is more important in the early going than to simply log more mound time, especially after a long summer for most of them. We use a lot of controlled and coordinated scrimmages in the fall to create competition and also to prepare our players for every scenario we can imagine on the field. We want them to be over-prepared for what the games in the spring might bring. There is a ton of individual skill development as well, but our biggest push will be to create an environment of fierce competition.
7.Do you have a strength and conditioning coach?
We have 5 of them. We consider all of our coaches strength coaches, because of the importance of it within our program. It’s something we all share the workload on. We actually use a company called Volt Athletics to implement our strength program. Its founders, Dan Giuliani and Trevor Watkins our friends of mine who have developed this ridiculously great online-based workout system. It’s a web-based system that allows players to access their individualized plan on a daily basis, complete with explanations and photos of correct technique. It’s in essence a virtual strength coach who is constantly analyzing your progress and making adjustments to maximize your growth and performance. We have the great pleasure of being beta testers for these guys and it is just phenomenal. We can track progress online too as coaches, but we always staff our workout sessions with at least two coaches to monitor as assist our players. I know this is turning into a shameless plug for Volt, but I CANNOT recommend them highly enough. They are incredibly bright guys with a vision for strength programs for those who can’t afford their own strength staff. Tremendous stuff.
8.Anything planned for your facilities (upgrades, changes, etc.)?
We have a new automated sprinkler system going in this summer, as well as plans for increased seating. Our big project though, is a new indoor facility that will include hitting and pitching tunnels (which will serve the community as well), in addition to a clubhouse and Hall of Fame lounge that will showcase our tremendous history.
9.Is there anything you would like to add about your assistant coaches, recruits, parents, or program that we have not asked you about?
I strongly believe I have one of the best staffs in the country. We all balance each other so well, and they give me great counsel when I need it (and that’s a lot!) They work so hard for so little and we haven’t even worked a full season together yet. I am so excited about what they’re going to accomplish once we really get this thing rolling. We’re all fairly young and I think that helps us on the recruiting trail to a certain degree, but we also have families so we understand the importance of that aspect of life. It’s a great balance I think. I cannot say enough how excited I am to work with our administration here as well. Kirc Roland, our AD, is someone I have known since I was a kid and there is not another AD in the country with as much passion for his school, I can tell you that. Our new President Chris Bailey, and Vice president, Lisa Matye Edwards, are such dynamic leaders who have a great vision for this campus, and know how to get things done. The chance to work with them was too much to pass up. Lower Columbia has been great for so long, and I really believe it’s going to stay that way for the long haul because of the people that are involved here.
