Here's the second story from my one-on-one interview with Nick Mingione. If you missed the first one and want to read it, you can find it here.
In the summer of 2008, shortly after he joined John Cohen’s staff at Mississippi State as the recruiting coordinator, Nick Mingione was searching for a new church home in Starkville.
He visited many different buildings and churches of all sizes, but the one Mingione settled on was Crosspoint Baptist, a church that opened in Starkville in 2005 and held its sermons on Sunday mornings in an auditorium but later moved to a gymnasium.
“When church gets done the pastor says “Let’s pick up our chairs!” Mingione said. “Then we got up our chairs and after that a few hours later I’m sure the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club came in.”
The new Kentucky head coach was making a point that pertained to facilities and how he plans to sell his program to new recruits. Cliff Hagan Stadium is one of the smallest -- and one of the oldest -- ballparks in the Southeastern Conference, but athletic director Mitch Barnhart is working to change that.
At Mingione’s hiring press conference in June, Barnhart said Kentucky has invested around $4 million into new stadium designs. The Board of Trustees will vote on the project after football season and then hopefully sign the contracts to begin construction, according to Barnhart.
Those designs, along with stadium plans and pictures, are at Mingione’s disposal when it comes to recruiting. It would be easy for the first-year head coach to promise a rosy future with a beautiful ballpark to potential recruits, but Mingione has decided not to share any information on the new stadium at all.
“The reason is, number one, we don’t have an official start date,” Mingione said. “Construction hasn’t started, so I’m not a person that wants to make any promises that I don’t know if I can keep.”
But more importantly, Mingione wants future players to choose Kentucky the same way he selected Crosspoint Baptist -- because of the belief in the vision of the people, not because of elegant architecture.
“You win with people,” Mingione said. “I’m not looking for people to choose the University of Kentucky because of a building. Ultimately a facility is not what gets you recruits. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe you build a facility and then all the big recruits are going to come. If that’s why someone wants to come then they’re coming for the wrong reasons.”
His decision to sell what he currently has is working so far. The Wildcats have landed commitments from players in eight different states to this point, with several of the kids selecting Kentucky over prominent programs. Mingione and his staff’s strategy is to recruit from the inside out. That means starting in Lexington and then expanding their search to the other parts of Kentucky, before going as far north as Massachusetts for a recruit or as far west as Colorado.
Mingione is quick to point out that Kentucky’s SEC Championship team in 2006 -- his first season as a volunteer assistant at Kentucky under Cohen and the Wildcats’ only SEC championship in baseball -- featured six players from Lexington. According to Perfect Game, five of Kentucky’s commitments for the 2017 class are from Kentucky. Two more are already committed for the 2018 class.
“We have to start from the inside out," Mingione said. "Then we’ll go to the different counties and then move out."
Still, college baseball coaches must walk a tightrope in recruiting that is unique to the sport. The goal is to recruit the best players, but coaches also realize the best high school talent can be drafted and signed by major league clubs straight out of high school.
Kentucky’s coaching staff will prioritize players whose goals include one day making the major leagues. If a player is not interested in playing in the big leagues, Mingione said it’s likely his staff will not recruit that player.
“You’re basically setting yourself up for guys that are probably going (to sign with an MLB team), but that’s how we believe the best teams are built,” Mingione said. “Obviously when we talk about development, we talk about the student, the person and the player. They have to understand that they have to go to school and have aspirations of graduating. But to play in the big leagues is something that I will ask every single player we recruit.
“That’s part of the nature. Is it hard? Yes. But so is the Southeastern Conference and so is making it to the big leagues. That’s part of the draw and the challenge of being here at an SEC school.”
That challenge, in part, helped lure Mingione to Lexington. Now the coach is armed with the Kentucky brand, one that could shake-up the recruiting trail under a new regime.
“The University of Kentucky is a place where we can recruit nationally," Mingione said. "It’s a well-known brand. You can go anywhere in our country right now, and if we have UK on our chest, I promise you people are going to know who it is.”
In the summer of 2008, shortly after he joined John Cohen’s staff at Mississippi State as the recruiting coordinator, Nick Mingione was searching for a new church home in Starkville.
He visited many different buildings and churches of all sizes, but the one Mingione settled on was Crosspoint Baptist, a church that opened in Starkville in 2005 and held its sermons on Sunday mornings in an auditorium but later moved to a gymnasium.
“When church gets done the pastor says “Let’s pick up our chairs!” Mingione said. “Then we got up our chairs and after that a few hours later I’m sure the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club came in.”
The new Kentucky head coach was making a point that pertained to facilities and how he plans to sell his program to new recruits. Cliff Hagan Stadium is one of the smallest -- and one of the oldest -- ballparks in the Southeastern Conference, but athletic director Mitch Barnhart is working to change that.
At Mingione’s hiring press conference in June, Barnhart said Kentucky has invested around $4 million into new stadium designs. The Board of Trustees will vote on the project after football season and then hopefully sign the contracts to begin construction, according to Barnhart.
Those designs, along with stadium plans and pictures, are at Mingione’s disposal when it comes to recruiting. It would be easy for the first-year head coach to promise a rosy future with a beautiful ballpark to potential recruits, but Mingione has decided not to share any information on the new stadium at all.
“The reason is, number one, we don’t have an official start date,” Mingione said. “Construction hasn’t started, so I’m not a person that wants to make any promises that I don’t know if I can keep.”
But more importantly, Mingione wants future players to choose Kentucky the same way he selected Crosspoint Baptist -- because of the belief in the vision of the people, not because of elegant architecture.
“You win with people,” Mingione said. “I’m not looking for people to choose the University of Kentucky because of a building. Ultimately a facility is not what gets you recruits. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe you build a facility and then all the big recruits are going to come. If that’s why someone wants to come then they’re coming for the wrong reasons.”
His decision to sell what he currently has is working so far. The Wildcats have landed commitments from players in eight different states to this point, with several of the kids selecting Kentucky over prominent programs. Mingione and his staff’s strategy is to recruit from the inside out. That means starting in Lexington and then expanding their search to the other parts of Kentucky, before going as far north as Massachusetts for a recruit or as far west as Colorado.
Mingione is quick to point out that Kentucky’s SEC Championship team in 2006 -- his first season as a volunteer assistant at Kentucky under Cohen and the Wildcats’ only SEC championship in baseball -- featured six players from Lexington. According to Perfect Game, five of Kentucky’s commitments for the 2017 class are from Kentucky. Two more are already committed for the 2018 class.
“We have to start from the inside out," Mingione said. "Then we’ll go to the different counties and then move out."
Still, college baseball coaches must walk a tightrope in recruiting that is unique to the sport. The goal is to recruit the best players, but coaches also realize the best high school talent can be drafted and signed by major league clubs straight out of high school.
Kentucky’s coaching staff will prioritize players whose goals include one day making the major leagues. If a player is not interested in playing in the big leagues, Mingione said it’s likely his staff will not recruit that player.
“You’re basically setting yourself up for guys that are probably going (to sign with an MLB team), but that’s how we believe the best teams are built,” Mingione said. “Obviously when we talk about development, we talk about the student, the person and the player. They have to understand that they have to go to school and have aspirations of graduating. But to play in the big leagues is something that I will ask every single player we recruit.
“That’s part of the nature. Is it hard? Yes. But so is the Southeastern Conference and so is making it to the big leagues. That’s part of the draw and the challenge of being here at an SEC school.”
That challenge, in part, helped lure Mingione to Lexington. Now the coach is armed with the Kentucky brand, one that could shake-up the recruiting trail under a new regime.
“The University of Kentucky is a place where we can recruit nationally," Mingione said. "It’s a well-known brand. You can go anywhere in our country right now, and if we have UK on our chest, I promise you people are going to know who it is.”
