Collegiate Baseball expands the Pitching Coach of the Year Award

This is the seventh year that Collegiate Baseball has recognized an outstanding pitching coach. Almost all have been offered head coaching jobs in major programs. Some have rejected the position to stay with their current program and lead the pitching staff. All are remarkable men.

During those years as we considered the nominees we found it difficult to differentiate between two particular skill sets - the skill set of a pitching coach who coaches or manages his staff with competitive excellence and those men who in baseball vernacular we also refer to as coaches but who are actually incredible teachers. These men may not even be associated with an amateur team program or educational institution. They are teaching professionals.

Great players may not necessarily become great coaches. Contrary to public perception all coaches are not great teachers. Great teaching professionals are not recognized by win and loss stats. They are recognized by student achievement which manifests itself at many personal levels and has an impact on the student for a lifetime.

Teaching Pros comprise an industry that is not acknowledged by NCAA or coaching associations, as if the only learning one can obtain is in a school on a field, yet they are responsible for huge skill development for the individual player and coach. They have opened a door of continuing education for everyone. Because they are independent (largely outside the political confines of the mainstream), innovative and eager to learn, they are the first to embrace the emerging technologies and contemporary instructional methods. The Collegiate Baseball Teaching Professional Award was created to honor such men who define instructional professionalism. Baseball has traditionally only referred to players and coaches who have participated in major or minor league baseball, as professionals. However signing a contract does not make anyone a professional. How they conduct themselves in the course of their occupation does. As in the business world, many in baseball have come to recognize the term ‘professional’ as an hallmark of integrity. So do we.

Professional instruction is relatively new, taking hold only in the mid 80’s. We can remember comments like, "You mean you are actually gonna charge money to teach people to play baseball? in those early days. As many of you know, we have come a long way in a short time. As always there were but a few pioneers in the early days, the ones who caught the spears for the rest of us. We followed, learned and now teach and lead.

Pitching Award Named for Tom House

Therefore we are pleased to name the Teaching Professional Award in Pitching after Dr. Tom House. It is only proper that Tom receive the first Award. Tom has devoted a lifetime to research and instruction. Always on the path of discovery, Tom said in the early 90’s that his biggest technique debate came from his earlier produced books and VHS tapes. Tom once said, "If I show up with last year’s information I’m not needed!" Many criticized Tom in those years for changing his mind so much. Eager students did not. Baseball has a major league reputation for resisting change of any kind. Tom and a few of his early students, including at that time ol’ pros like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson, broke that barrier. In addition to his mechanical focus, Tom’s devotion to nutrition, conditioning, and video analysis has developed a method of instruction that has as its hallmark the term information retention. He has led a movement that focuses not merely on repetition of practice but players owning the information; a complete understanding of the fundamental concepts. A generation of new pitching coaches has become successful largely due to the work of Tom House.

Tom House created a need to know about pitching. Prior to his work, many assessed the problems of a pitcher from a series of assumptions. Tom relentlessly sought to bring people together to find the facts, explain the scientific and kinesthetic causes and effects, the truth as it was known at that time. As we know, science is in constant evolution. If we have learned anything from Dr. Tom House it is that we must continue to open ourselves to change. We owe it to our students to constantly learn.

Tom created the National Pitching Association (NPA), an organization devoted to clinical study and the education of pitchers, parents, and coaches to support … "non-professional baseball programs, (youth, Little League, college, etc.). Too many pitchers get injured thus limiting their opportunity to continue playing baseball. Many times the desire to win has superseded what is best for a young athlete's development and future potential. Excerpt from the NPA website.

The 2009 Pitching Coach of the Year and the Teaching Professional Award recipients will again be honored in front of their peer group at the Pitching Hot Stove at the ABCA Convention in Dallas. This is a unique opportunity for pitching coaches. The event usually draws hundreds of the best coaches in the game. Many congratulations to Tom and his tireless effort to "Inform, Instruct, and Inspire."

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