February 10, 2014
CBI
Patriot League Preview
Nine
Innings with Army's Matt Reid
By Sean Ryan
CollegeBaseballInsider.com
Co-Founder
sean@collegebaseballinsider.com @collbaseball
In
his sixth season at Army, Matt Reid (left) became the top
assistant in 2010 and was named associate head coach prior to
the 2011 season. This past September, Reid was named interim
head coach.
A 2002 graduate of the University of Richmond,
Reid works primarily with the infielders and hitters at West
Point.
Prior to his arrival at Army, Reid was an
assistant at Louisburg, VCU, VMI, Old Dominion and UNC
Asheville.
Reid recently took time to answer our questions.
First Inning – How did your transition from
assistant coach to interim head coach go this fall, and how did
the players react to the change?
The transition was smooth. Our focus has always
been and remains getting better in the classroom, as cadets and
as baseball players. We take things day by day and pitch by
pitch.
Second
Inning – How did your role change the most?
I come ready to go every day at practice excited
to coach our players. We have a great pitching coach in Anthony
DeCicco and we brought in a great hitting coach in Eric Folmar
and a very good outfield instructor in Matt Smith. Those guys
work very hard in teaching and recruiting. They are very
organized and we keep practices energetic and competitive.
Third Inning – Heading into the 2014 season,
what are some of the Black Knights’ strengths?
I think we will have some good experience heading
into the season and some tough and talented guys on the field.
They are a bunch of guys that you want to compete with and be
around every day. They are smart players, too.
Fourth Inning – What are some of the keys to
Army’s recent success?
Our biggest key to recent success has been a plan
to get better every day and playing sound fundamentally. We want
to work to playing our best by the end of the season and I think
we have worked to that goal the last couple years. Our players
take great pride in holding everyone accountable in everything
we do and that is a special team characteristic.
Fifth Inning – Your dad has been a
football coach for a long time – what are some of your earliest
memories of him as a coach?
My dad has been a great role model to me (as well
as my mother) but to me he is the best coach I have ever been
around. I know all of his football players will tell you the
same thing. I could never do what he does but I have tried to
pick his brain as much as I could growing up and now. I was a
waterboy for UMass football when I was a kid so I saw him
coaching at an early age and his intensity and the way he could
motivate players was something that I always thought was
amazing. His attention to detail when he coached on the field
and the detail he had off the field keeping up with his players
was something he took great pride in and it led to a lot of
success in his programs and developed successful men once his
players graduated. And he works 21 hour days but he tells me
that is something you should stay away from doing.
Sixth Inning – Did you always feel like
you were going to become a coach? When did you decide you wanted
to be a coach?
I decided I wanted to coach after being around it
so much growing up and I got the itch to coach baseball during
my playing days at Richmond and being around Ron Atkins and Mark
McQueen. Then working with Tom Slater at VMI my first year out
of college motivated me to keep going with it. Tom is an
outstanding head coach and I learned a lot from him and Marlin
Ikenberry. Then I was able to continue being around more
outstanding coaches like Billy Godwin, Paul Keyes, Jerry Meyers
and Willie Stewart and then here at Army.
Seventh Inning – Describe yourself as a
player.
As a player, I was an infielder and played a lot
of second base and tried to take pride in that part of my game
first. I tried to knock some base hits around and bunted for
hits a lot. My job was to try and put some pressure on the
defense. I had a little speed so my coaches expected me to hit a
lot of groundballs and situationally hit. If I started to hit
fly balls I wouldn't find my name on the lineup card.
Eighth Inning – What are some of the
similarities and differences to recruiting players to Army?
I think recruiting players to West Point is a lot
of fun. There are so many great benefits and opportunities to
this experience that it's fun to educate high school prospects
about them. A lot of young men out there just do not know what
it's like to be a cadet here at West Point. When we get the
recruits to campus, they fall in love with the place. It is fun
to go through that process with them. Recruiting here is just
like anywhere else. We don't try to sell West Point to anyone.
We want them to see it, understand it, be around our players and
let them make the best decision for themselves.
Ninth Inning – A former infielder in
college, what are some of the things you look for in infielders?
When I look for infielders I try to find guys
that look like Clint Moore and Zach Price. I think we have a few
right now that fit that mold. They were outstanding players and
leaders here at West Point. They had great feet, great balance
and played low to the ground. You never saw those guys out of
control.
(photos courtesy of Army Media
Relations Office)
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