welcome to the secrets of college planning i'm your host anthony uva and today my guest is about baseball it's recruiting at the college level my guest is joe kenny and he's the head baseball coach at lafayette college and welcome to the show anthony thank you for having me yeah no problem so usually it's not my guess where they went to college so when you go to school well my story is probably a little unique pertains to lafayette i went to lehigh which happens to be or are tribal lafayette li i was the most played college football rivalry so i played for years graduated there also to graduate school there and strangely enough wound up at our drive all for less seventeen years w so so let's just go back first before we get to where you are today how did you pick lehigh when i was in high school yeah quite honestly a big impact was i school football coach i had who played there and kind of set me up a little bit on the football recruiting side even though i probably was not good enough to play football or baseball is always more of a passion and interest i always felt that was probably a little bit better you had a little more success in high school maybe on the football field but  if you could say that but he connected me with the with the football coaches to visit to see the place like the school i grew up in northern new jersey so it was a popular place for students to go reputation obviously academically was very good and i got in  and decided to attend and you know play baseball there as well but this is what i was the only school you really were looking at you know you know i played like probably not as much as a lot of guys did well as a lot of students that maybe i come in contact with four or five schools and got into three of them in iraq or speak of the jersey resident penn state penn state football back then was you know really really solid in the mid eighty's there was an allure to walking on if you would out there i'm not sure i would have even gotten past the first day and if you smaller schools were i thought of possibly playing both you know ball baseball yeah so so you graduate from high and then how do you go from there to head baseball or something of that nature my mother was an education my father was an attorney so i did have some education background in my family had always coached going through town scenarios if you would so i was playing in college in college to play in a summer that's a big deal but i was also coaching in the summer in whether be legion or what was called a suburban league in northern new jersey and you could fit in around your playing schedule etc as a hobby and a passion quite honestly but a couple things that impact one thousand and seven was the fall of my senior year in college there was a pretty significant stock market crash for those that can remember that and i was an economics major with pursuing a bachelor of science that's what my degree is and had interned for two summers with the of hud and again people my generation or older will remember one of the most famous commercials of all time people talk if i can talk to people listen there so i thought i was on the path to wall street finance you know big business if you would and i had done some things to kind of put myself in place so the stock market crash kind of prevented people like me from getting a lot of attractive jobs count got jobs but the finance type people really struggled to get jobs that that that year eighty seven eighty eight i went to getting a and opportunity at metropolitan life was going to be mostly a commission based job it was going to start in august and that last summer you know i was that typical college graduate going to the beach on a weekend still playing baseball still coached on the summer and just trying to enjoy life as best they can before the the real world sort of kicked in in august and i got a call in july and i remember to this day from a gentleman who is now the head football coach at my high school he had been an assistant coach when i played and knew him very well and respected him and so he asked if i wanted to be the freshman football coach so this is a high school  home you know work that out and so on and so forth so i passed up the job with much part of life which again i was commission based but you know who knows what that would have led to for a two thousand dollars a year you know sniping at the head school had the high school level head coaching football position for the freshman team and that kind of got me into the school and i was able to become the j v baseball coach and did some subbing in some teacher's aid work that pete benefits  and did that for two years and that kind of got me on a path to education if you would went to graduate school back to lehigh where i was a ga graduate assistant where at least i paid for the education but had lined up opportunities to coach football baseball teach you know was getting ready to go on the interview process and had an opportunity to stay in college my situation it was to go to the u s naval academy and be assistant coach there it was an interesting situation in the head coach is retiring and so on and so forth but it was division one it was a school we had i'd always played against in college i think for many years we played against them and we played them that year when i was at lehigh as well they were also coming into the patriot league at the time of which lee i was a charter member and lafayette as a charter member so i had familiarity with them and then maybe  head coach at least knew i was a young assistant that might be someone that would be interested in coming down there so i decided to do that and it leads from a career standpoint probably the best decision i ever made i was there for seven years we were highly successful best team in the patriot league over that seven year period i got married while i was there but my first album my first child now plus my own was a really nice down to live in not too far from home but you know a little bit away that kind of be on your own and you know and then you're an assistant coach at the college level a goal often used to become a head coach and often your best opportunities are going to be in your conference number one and then probably have places that are making a change because things may be one going as well as they would have liked and that's sort of what led me to connect with lafayette they were looking for a head coach i applied we have to go to what n c a a tournament that year that was the ninety nine season and i  get back we are in alabama in the n c a a regional and get a call from lafayette the come interview i did it so you are seven years later seven now seventeen years later seventeen years at lafayette wow interesting so let's go into baseball at the high school level what do kids need to go on to college and play baseball at the college level why does he need the academic ability to get into the schools that of academic standards that are often even higher than the n c a a standards so we're looking at test scores we're looking at transcripts classes that students are taking absent performance in those classes  in communicating with our admissions office to see if we can get these these students and that's that's probably the big piece you know another big piece is managing cost is not cheap optically a private school like lafayette so looking at aid that a student may qualify for obviously possible scholarship scenarios based on their ability is a is a big part in trying to make school the school was affordable as we possibly can baseball certainly important as a baseball coach we're going to look at the abilities but the academics are a given and if it's not affordable it's not going to work so you try to identify those those pieces really early in the process baseball's a growing process obs who are starting to talk to people when they're still younger in high school sophomores maybe sometimes even earlier depending on the student and then you're watching those gentlemen those young guys sort of vaal from growing as young people as as athletes and then looking at the abilities that they have in the field based on their position based on what you're trying to do with your team etc so no you taught you talk about scholarships scholarships at the college level a sport like baseball doesn't get what football and basketball get  the audience out there what what's what's a scholarship at the college level for baseball or baseball as a partial scholarship sport we have eleven point seven scholarships it's the n c a a mandated number for  maximum of thirty five man roster so predominantly in college baseball pure athletic money everyone's on a par if you're on a scholarship it's a partial scholarship even the higher level programs  now they might be able to in some schools can combine academic with scholarship combine financial aid with scholarship there is a lot of play and variety at a variety of schools but almost across the board you're go players on partial scholarships and now recruiting at the high school level is it just the surrounding area or do you pretty much can the whole country the whole world how does it work baseball players a lot of places obviously throughout the country in baseball's going to be probably the best in warm weather places florida texas california georgia you know or probably for the larger states in terms of the really strong baseball population and the re's certainly more than that as well blocking it's in pennsylvania it's in the patriot league which is the mid atlantic to the new england conference and we're private school so we don't have any limitations in terms of pennsylvania residents new jersey residents etc and our conference with the exception of the two service academies are all private schools as well so our strength our alumni reputation is going to be roughly philadelphia new york city is our strongest base if you would so that's always going to be a place that we're going to start with if you would and everywhere in between that that area but since we we don't have any regulations or rules  illinois so we're trying to go to areas throughout the country that we know there are or strong baseball players obviously strong academics and that a school like lafayette would be attractive quite honestly so know how to how do you find those types of kids is it just high school baseball or is it out so well in school or how do you find all those kids die school seasons going on during our season so it's difficult to use the high school season soley as a basis for finding guys evaluating guys i school season my opinion is the best way to evaluate somebody because the games matter they're playing to win and a lot of the summer right now is not always based on the winning piece  but it's very difficult for us to get out you know to watch guys because we're involved with our teams so the evaluation piece predominantly is in the summer and then also remote a little bit so video and online services and things of that  so we're spending a lot of time in the summer at a variety of events local and beyond to identify guys to watch young guys that we've been in contact with and ideally more than once because baseball you know you could go to a opportunities to see somebody and evaluate them as much as you possibly can so now at the college level is it is it more the opportunities that are coming up in that particular position that you're recruiting so let's see if you have a lot of second basemen in shortstops  pictures every year college baseball you have a roster of thirty five guys that you won in two your average pitching staff is probably around fifteen guys so that means if you do the math that's roughly four guys a yeah and a lot of my competitors are probably doing something similar if you would for a position players are probably doing something roughly the same every year you need catching you can't just have one catcher so you might look to bring a catcher in every year you're probably bringing in at least one infielder every year or at least one elfie other every year and then you may double up on a position prickly infield our field depending on maybe who's graduating and cetera you know but if you're looking at a roster of thirty five guys you're probably looking at bringing in one hundred ten here quite honestly because there's going to be some attrition injury you know what cetera so you'll balance two outfielders when you're one of the few other two until there's a next year so so at the at the college level how does it how does it work for baseball is it annoy you around type a sport can you take me from when the kids get there is it in august is it in july do they start in september give me for  month to month powell how it works at the college level for baseball division one athletics is here what we have rules that govern what we can do when the students are in school and rules that we have to adhere to when they're not in school in terms of our contact with them or our ability to work them out but starting when they report to school which for us is late august we have essentially a forty five day period in the fall where we can have a fall season we're logical twenty hours a week  that includes obviously on field that tiffany's lifting team meetings things of that nature so we do that sort of mid september to the end of october the remainder of our fall semester we're allowed to work with our guys eight hours a week two of those are baseball specific hitters are doing some things are pitchers are doing some things and if there's games in the in the photos and there can be at the pens on each school how do you decide to utilize the allotment of games that we have fifty six is the number and if you play in the fall if the ducks from your number of the know build build build the entire fall semester we have this break they have to keep building because when they come back in about for us a week and a half you know we're hitting the road i think mid january when they correct it so our guys will come back mid january we have  start date division one the first day of practice it's the end of january i think the twenty seventh this year so we're allowed that eight hour week period until we get to that point twenty seventh we're going full speed we start playing february sixteenth this year that's the first  start date for division one and how many not every school decides to start then but a lot or how many games are in the spring again you're a lot of fifty six so that combines from the fall and this from correct i have fifty six scheduled t spring and then once we start february sixteenth or last regular season game as i think may sixth ideally we're still playing beyond that in the conference tournament for us which would go the next two weekends a semi final weekend if you win then a final weekend and then your object your your your objectives obviously to win that and if you win that you're in the n c a a tournament and that's usually the first weekend you the first round and that goes until when the end of june so w so so potentially you could be playing baseball the way until the end of june beginning of july you could garden again back at the end of august you could you could i mean that for a school like lafayette and quite honestly a lot of our competitors to get the but the other thing college baseball you're playing in the summer too so college baseball players there's going to be an expectation by and large to play in the summer so there is a host of college summer baseball throughout the country so the new god league would be the you know the most recognized one but there's numerous leagues up and down east coast west coast they were in between that quite honestly we're sending our guys throughout the country to play this so that you do you give was to to the almost and i have a system that sort of handles the placement process if you would and you know you're looking at the player who's ability because the leagues are sort of on officially ranked if you would  again to keep being a premier league one of the most difficult leagues to get guys in and try to get guys in a spot that is a good fit for them concern you know understanding with three able to do what they want to do and then communicate with the teams and there's contracts and so on and so forth so just to give some of the sense of what parents look for the biggest question that i always get from parents is  the it's all about the sport nothing about the academics what do you say about something like that at a school like lafayette in terms of getting in terms of the student when they go there to play baseball they go parents always think that it's all about the sport and it's that's it it's not about studies classes themselves what do you say about you know well against those kind of things i would hope anybody education regardless of what you do is promoting the education our guys are student athletes and i mean that sincerely i do have some guys on scholarship i want to win i'm going to work them to the extent of the rules demand a lot have high expectations no doubt about it but they're going to class and they're going to graduate and lafayette they're going to graduate in four years and if someone does not take that seriously coming in the quite honestly we don't want to because they're wasting our time they're wasting their time they're also is that a lot of money and that doesn't make sense i have some guys playing pro ball that's tremendous but most of my guys are as they say on t v you probably are to commercial are going pro and something else yeah you know and they all have and they've and they're doing well and that's really the one of the biggest benefits that i get as a as a coach is seeing people that i've connected with his high school students grow as men in my case while they're in college and now move on to have careers have families you know and cetera which is what you know what most people strive for in this country well because the they always you always look at you know ninety nine point nine percent of the students are going to be playing at the major league level right after college that's usually the case how many how many people actually get drafted into the major leagues each and every year well you don't go right to the most people who go right to the majors you get drafted you play in the minor leagues and there's a the you know process of moving through the minor leagues are forty rounds thirty one hundred people get drafted that includes puerto rico and high school students so you're probably looking at i'm going to guess four for fifty college students who are drafted of course they're not all division one division two division three junior college et c so it is a long shot no doubt about it and everybody can aspire it's great want to play with the big leagues and i wanted to do that too there's comes a point in time we start to realize it's probably not going to happen but you go out of things hard hopefully enjoy doing what you do you like the competition the strategy of the game certainly teamwork teammates the bond that you develop with people and some guys ability to develop and  that opportunity comes a take advantage of it so tell me a little bit about lafayette college what what interest kids to come to lafayette college well i touched on it a little bit there are academic reputation i think is very strong  higher education is certainly very competitive and you have a lot of schools that are trying to create their niche in a crowded marketplace if you would and that lafayette we've really worked hard and i say if we meet in the entire school board ministration faculty etc to me candidates that we have in higher end which is a small liberal arts college for about twenty four hours students only undergraduate that happens to have a really really unique and strong engineering program and then also happens to play the vision one college athletics so there really are only a handful of schools in the country that can lay claim to those characteristics that lafayette is so it's somebody that's going to want  a more hands on approach their education certainly it's an opportunity vironment i think that you can make your own name but it's really hard to kind of you know throughout you're here for your experience as an undergraduate student where you go to a larger university we can get a great education no doubt but you know the opportunity to sort of hide the shadows i think certainly exists not going to happen in lafayette so you are looking for interaction with faculty looking for interaction with support staff you know the ability to get assistance when you need it you're going to graduate in four years you're not going to need five years to graduate opportunities to do co curricular or extra activities beyond the classroom summer time or right now this is an interim period for us to study abroad that's not really something to do that leads can do quite a bit but it's a big part of our first body doing that  community service etc well we're coming to the end of our show and usually i asked my guest at the end what advice you want to give to parents out there that their sons are interested in going to college to play baseball what advice would you like to give them i think the biggest thing for young people and for the parents parents let their children in my case sons take ownership of the process a major turn off for a parent who is driving through recruiting process driving the college search process parents need to be involved there's no doubt about it particularly when it comes to finances and things like that but the communication piece whether be phone calls e mails even on a visit it cetera let the young person the student drive the process as opposed to the parent sort of being the lead role in the process needs guidance and center that can be kind of done in advance on a site but parents that are dominant are