Meet the softball coaching candidates :: Tom Gray
8/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | General
Aug 12, 2013
The three finalists to become the first coach of the Montana softball program are interviewing on campus this week. On Monday, Tom Gray, an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, made the rounds.
Q: What appealed to you about this job?
TG: The first thing that jumps off the page at you is that it's a chance to start a Division I program from the ground floor up. How often are you going to get that chance? It doesn't happen anymore. That's the first thing. The opportunity to make my mark and leave a legacy on a program.
I did a little bit in inquiring into what Montana was like. Everybody told me it's good people and beautiful country, and that Missoula is a great community. I have a friend in the coaching world who grew up here, and he was telling me what a great atmosphere it is, so it was intriguing to me.
2. What do you think made you one of the three finalists?
TG: I have a lot of experience, and I have some skills that can help you start a program. The ability to recruit. The ability to talk to people and really communicate. And I believe I'm a teacher of the game. Hopefully those are the characteristics they picked me for.
3. What's your favorite part about coaching college softball?
TG: One of my favorite parts of coaching in general is that moment when something clicks for a kid. That might be on the field or it might be off the field, but that moment when they finally get it. When that light bulb goes on and you see it in their eyes. To me, that's really special.
I think your best coaches are your best teachers. It really comes down to caring. You love what you do and then care about the kids. When those two things meet up, you're in good shape.
The other thing I really enjoy is being able to be associated with young kids and being a part of their lives and hopefully help them get to that point in life where they're ready to be independent and move out on their own.
4. How do you see your roster taking shape over the next year, and what is your ideal roster size?
TG: For the initial part of that question, we're going to have to hit the ground running. We're going to have to get out and really recruit the local area. Find the right Montana kids for the class of 2014.
Across the country, most of the class of 2014 kids are already committed. So we're going to have to find the ones who have fallen through the cracks. The ones who want to be part of something and who want to be the building blocks. Kids who want to be the foundation of something..
For roster size, 18 is a really good number for me. Too much more than that and it becomes a little prohibitive in being able to work with all of them as much as you'd like. Too much less than that and you start getting pretty thin in some areas. So 18-20 would be my goal size.
5. What kind of schedule would Montana play?
TG: The first six weeks you're going to be on the road, I'm afraid, but that's necessary because of the weather. So you get to tournaments where you can play five games on a weekend, two on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday.
We'd want to start out kind of small (that first year), tournament-wise. Go to some tournaments that have smaller Division I schools, the mid-major type of thing, just to kind of get the blood flowing.
Before I started scheduling nonconference opponents at home, I would have to get a better grip on the facility situation and the weather. But we'd try to bring as many of those games to Missoula as we could.
If we're only getting our five conference weekends at home over the course of the year, I don't want that. We need more than that. We need people to be able to come out and see us. In that scenario, you've got home games in April, and then you're done. That's a pretty tough way to build a following.
6. What are three words to describe coming into a situation where you don't yet have an assistant coach, you don't have a single game scheduled, you don't have a single player, and you don't even have a bat and a ball in the equipment shed?
TG: The first word I come up with is urgent. It's going to be making sure we have a sense of urgency about getting stuff done. We're going to have to get after it right away. We won't have time to think and ponder. We have to get after it.
Exhilarating is another. This is an exciting time. While it's going to be hard work, it's going to be worth it, because you get to build this program.
I guess to kind of piggyback on urgent, we need to do it now. Decisions are going to have to be made right away.
7. What's been your favorite moment of your coaching career?
TG: At Oklahoma State we had two young ladies, Mariah Gearhart and Alysia Hamilton, who were really pillars who got us to where we needed to be the year we went to the College World Series (in 2011). Hard workers. Great kids.
Right after we won the Super Regional against Houston that sent us to the World Series, I walked out toward right field to meet with the team, and Mariah and Alysia were sitting on the ground, facing each other, holding hands and crying.
I've won a national championship at the club level. Won some (California Interscholastic Federation) championships, some conference championships. But that moment, when those kids had realized their goal, it was total joy for them.
For me to see the fruition of their hard work, that was really cool. That was about as good as anything I've ever done.
8. What's your advice for the girl from Small Town, Montana, who is in the eighth grade and has two loves in life: softball and the Montana Grizzlies?
TG: Work every day. Don't forget about your academics. Make sure you balance yourself. And every step along the way, try to play at the highest level available to you. Don't be content to stay home and just play against the neighborhood kids, so to speak.
If you want to be a top-level Division I player, you need to strive to be at the top by playing the best competition you can all the time.
