Baseball Coach Elliot Avent's Chat Transcript

Baseball Coach Elliott Avent's Chat Transcript

In his seventh season as the head baseball coach at NC State, Elliott Avent is guiding a team that has become perhaps the most surprising club in all of college baseball. Now 33-9 overall and 11-4 in the ACC, the Pack is ranked sixth in the latest Collegiate Baseball rankings.

Getting there hasn't been easy for Avent and his team, which has spent most of the year on the road due to the ongoing renovations to Doak Field. There has also been the massive undertaking of replacing some key players from last year's club. Not only did Avent have to fill the void left by leading hitter Brian Wright and top pitcher Mike Prochaska, he also has made up for the loss of veteran pitchers Derek McKee and Daniel Caldwell, who are both sitting out this season after undergoing surgery.

In Avent's first six years on the job, the Wolfpack averaged 36 wins per season, won 40 games twice and been to the NCAA Tournament three times.

Just as important as the wins and postseason appearances, the Wolfpack's coaching staff has maintained a constant NC State connection, beginning with the man at the top. Born in Rocky Mount and raised in Aventon, N.C., about an hour east of Raleigh, the 45-year-old Avent was raised on Wolfpack sports and attended NC State as an undergraduate in textiles. And throughout a long coaching career that has included stops at six schools, Avent always dreamed of a possible return to West Raleigh. His appointment on August 14, 1996, to succeed Ray Tanner made that lifelong dream come true.

Moderator: Hello Everybody! NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent is running a little behind this afternoon, but we should have him for our scheduled online chat momentarily.

Moderator: Okay, we're ready to go for your questions.

Dave (Raleigh): Coach, do you consider the success of the team this year surprising, or did you have an inclination that this team might be special prior to the season?

Coach Avent: We knew it was a special blend of players because we recruited them. But can you take a mix of younger guys and older guys and transform them into a cohesive ball club? You never know. The leadership of this team has just been outstanding.

Wayne Moore (Cary): Coach, please comment on your recruiting philosophy. What do you look for in a potential recruit and when do you start looking at the recruit? What has Billy Jones added to the program? It appears like he has been a great asset to the team.

Coach Avent: I think the number one thing you look for in a recruit is someone who is competitive. You look at some of the guys we have this year -- Vern Sterry and Joey Devine -- they are extremely competitive. Obviously, talent is also important. As for Billy Jones, he's responsible for a lot of these guys being here. He's also a great coach and a teacher.

Brent (Wilmington): Do you feel that there are any untapped resources, such as players, at NC State that you could be a better team if walk-on's were valued as they are in many other programs throughout the nation?

Coach Avent: Nobody understands the value of walk-ons more than me. At New Mexico State, I only had three scholarships and a limited budget. I used to have a lot of walk-ons practicing with our team and getting them ready to play with New Mexico State. We had Jason Smith here who was a walk-on and he was a starter for four years. But with the limitations of roster size, that hurts the walk-ons throughout the country.

Elizabeth Shearin -Aventon: How does being ranked number six in the nation make you feel? I'm proud of you.

Coach Avent: It's very gratifying for your players. They understand that if they work hard and have a day-to-day focus for what they want, they know they can achieve their goals. They're happiness depends on winning. And when they're happy and winning, that's the personal satisfaction that I get.

Cary: What is the status on Daniel Caldwell's recovery?

Coach Avent: I don't think you'll know how successful a surgery is until you see him throw again. Derek McKee threw off the mound for the first time in Charlottesville and looked good. Daniel isn't that far along yet, but hopefully he'll make a full recovery and he'll be with us next season.

Jason (Washington, D.C.): Coach, What are the factors that go into out-of-conference scheduling? I see that only a couple of teams that we play have been ranked at some point this year. Will the renovations to Doak attract better programs to schedule series here?

Coach Avent: I tell you what, there are a lot of different philosophies on scheduling. We've basically followed the same philosphy that's always been used here at NC State. I think we've improved the non-conference schedule. UCLA is coming here in 2005; San Diego State is coming here in 2005. With the ACC schedule and other teams around here like Old Dominion, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro and East Carolina, we've got a pretty competitive schedule. We did play at UCLA earlier this season.

Fitz (Green Bay): Coach, Congrats on a great season. 2 questions: Are you concerned about your pitching depth when it comes to playoff baseball and where can I get a hat like you and the players wear? Thanks.

Coach Avent: Pitching depth is certainly a concern with the injuries we've had. Hopefully they can keep their strength up for the rest of the season. As for the hat, write to NC State baseball at P.O. Box 8501, Raleigh, N.C. 27695.

Brian (Omaha, NE): Coach, Congrats on the great run so far. What are our chances of hosting a regional with the way Doak is coming along? See you at the CWS!!

Coach Avent: We hope to see you at the College World Series. I think our chances of hosting a regional are good if we finish strong, but probably not at Doak. Right now we're looking at possibly hosting in Wilson if it comes to that.

Eric (Raleigh): What is the biggest difference from last year? What caused a 25-25 team to become a top 10 program one season later?

Coach Avent: It's a fine line between winning and losing in college sports these days. If you look at every sport, there's so much parity out there. Parity started in baseball about five or six years ago with so many teams putting a lot more money into their programs. Teams don't have as much depth as they used to. Injuries played a big part in our seasons the last two years.

Wade Jackson (Avon Park, FL): What does Marc Maynor bring to your team in CF and at leadoff and with continued success do you think you can land an NCAA reg. bid?

Coach Avent: If we keep playing the way we have, we're in good shape for a regional. Marc Maynor has been consistent throughout the season. If you go back to last year, he and Mike Rogers were hurt on the same day, which took a lot away from our team. Before that, Marc was on fire.

Bob (Raleigh): Did Joey Devine need the work last night..in other words three innings seemed like a lot with the series coming up this weekend? Also, were you glad you took the bunt off for Hargrave in the ninth?

Coach Avent: Basically with Joey, he's a freshman and a special player. His whole life he's been a position player. When Joey first came here, we were thinking about making him a position player, but then we made him our closer after we lost Brad Blackwell. We've kept a tight leash on Joey so that we don't wear him out. He thinks he should be pitching more and felt like he didn't have his best stuff in Charlottesville because he hadn't been pitching enough. Since he was only used once at Virginia, we felt like we needed to get him a little more work going into Carolina -- especially since last night was a Tuesday game. On the situation on the ninth inning last night, we can beat you in a lot of ways. The third baseman was playing deep, so we had Adam trying to bunt. If he gets it down, we probably have first and second and one out. But the count got to 2-1, we took the bunt off and called for the hit and run. Those things always seem to work out more when you're having a great season.

Moderator: Thanks coach. I know you've got practice right now. We appreciate your time and good luck against UNC this weekend.

Related Videos