One-On-One With Rick Jones
Sep 4, 2003 | Baseball
Sept. 4, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. - In his 10 seasons as head coach of the Tulane baseball team, Rick Jones has accumulated more than 400 wins, eight NCAA Regional appearances, four Conference USA regular-season Championships, four C-USA Tournament titles and one trip to the College World Series.
A native of Bennett, N.C. and graduate of UNC-Wilmington, Jones has achieved success at every coaching stop. He led then-Ferrum Junior College to the postseason all three years he was there, and helped Elon advance to the NAIA World Series three times. Prior to joining the Green Wave as head coach in 1994, Jones was the assistant head coach at Georgia Tech from 1990-93 where he helped the Yellow Jackets reach the Regionals all four seasons.
Richie Weaver of the Tulane Atheltic Media Relations Office had a chance to sit down with Coach Jones to discuss his time with the Green Wave. Here are his responses:
What's the most gratifying part of being a coach? Being a part of teams that advance to national tournaments - whether it was the NAIA when I was at Elon, or here two years ago when we went to Omaha - and seeing the thrill the kids get. Being in the dugout when the players realized that they were going to make the College World Series is the thing. Knowing we worked so hard, and now we're going to realize the fruits of that, everybody's got the same excitement right in their faces is thrilling and gratifying.
Also, it's nice to see guys go on, whether it's professional ball, or law school, med school, become coaches, and know that you were around them during a formidable time of their lives. That's something special and it can't be taken lightly.
Why did you get into coaching? It's all I ever thought about doing. Growing up in a small, rural area, I had a lot of real good male role models and they all taught and coached. I love athletics, I wanted to be around baseball above all else, and I never really wanted to do anything else.
What has been your best baseball moment?I was trying to get Jake Gautreau's attention with two out in the bottom of the ninth in game three of the 2001 Super Regional against LSU. I was trying to set the defense and get his attention, and I couldn't which was a first. He and Andy Cannizaro had their gloves over their faces smiling at each other because they knew they were going to Omaha.
What is your take on academics as a baseball coach? In my sport, there are only 750 Major League Players and 27 percent of those don't come from the United States. So the odds of playing in the big leagues are against everybody. Eventually, the vast majority of college baseball players are going to have to find another way to make a living.
Being at a school that is one of the Top 40 or 50 institutions in the county not only gives the student-athletes an opportunity to make a living, but to be among an elite group. That can never be lost on a kid here, and we never talk about one or the other. It's both. That's why Tulane is such a special place.
How strong has the support of the administration been during your time at Tulane? It's been tremendous, especially since Rick Dickson's arrival. And not just in baseball, but across the board. He put us in a position where we didn't have to be out there basically on our own pandering on the street to keep our budgets alive and do the things we need to do to be successful. It's taken all of us coaches from having to spend a lot of time fundraising.
Now I'm out on the field with the players. I don't think there's any question, the more time you spend out there with the guys, the more you can ask of them and the more you can get out of them. I'm sort of reconnecting with those guys as we speak because I've been able to get out of the position of having to worry so much about raising enough money to keep us in a position where we can be successful.
The support the administration gives us here - not just financially, but across the board in the support they show our student-athletes - is top of the line. I say this all the time, and I mean it. There is no Utopia but this is as close as it gets in college athletics, and that's because of the support of the administration give us.
What do you think of the City of New Orleans? I'm a huge fan, and it gets in your blood. When I first moved here, I thought it was really different. Now, I can't imagine living anywhere else. The thing I like to tell people now is when I get on a plane and get a cup of coffee, I think they may be serving me hot water it tastes so bland. That's how the rest of the country looks to me now compared to New Orleans - bland.
The thing about New Orleans is that it's the biggest small town or the smallest big town in America. People are born and raised here. It's not a "New South City." I like that it's very provincial, and people have roots in this city. It's very similar to where I grew up. I just grew up in a small, rural area where people have been there all their lives, and I like that.
I think that has a lot to do with the support we receive in baseball. New Orleans is a great baseball town, and people have been Tulane fans and baseball fans for generations. I also love the weather. It makes it easier to coach when the weather is nice and it certainly makes it easier to recruit. So for me, there's no negatives.
In addition, other than working out, my one hobby is restaurants, and I'm never at a loss for that here.
What is your recruiting philosophy? My philosophy is to fill our needs each and every year with the best fit for Tulane. Pitching has got to be your first and foremost priority. From that, you've got to be very strong up the middle - catcher, shortstop, centerfield, second base. You've got to have guys with some pop on the corners, and you may have to interchange one of those things once in a while. You may have a second baseman who hits for power and a strong defensive third baseman. You've obviously got to pitch and play defense to win. That gives you a chance to win every day.
As far as Tulane is concerned, we're looking for a right fit. We want guys who want to be here to get a great education and put the team concept first. And that can't be faked.
If you look back on our club that went to the World Series, only three or four of those guys are still here. The starting lineup that year featured a first-rounder in left field in Michael Aubrey, a 12th-rounder in center in Jonny Kaplan, a 28th-rounder in right in Matt Groff, a sixth-rounder at first in James Jurries, a third-rounder at second in Tony Giarratano, a seventh-rounder at short in Andy Cannizaro, a first-rounder at third in Jake Gautreau. And our first three starters during the College World Series were Michael Aubrey, first-rounder, Nick Bourgeois, a fourth-rounder, and Beau Richardson, a 34th-rounder. The point being is that only one of those guys was drafted out of high school, so they all developed as players. But I will tell you right down the list that those guys cared more about the team than their individual careers. That's why we had such a great club and that's why we were so successful.
What is your philosophy on scheduling? Sixty percent of our games are conference games. I want to play the best schedule we can play, because that's how you build RPI points. We're going to play West Coast teams home and away every year because they're going to give us a good RPI. We're up to three games with LSU. And our conference has become one of the top five leagues in the country. We're going to challenge ourselves now within the league, and I don't know if you can play a bad schedule in South Louisiana in the middle of the week.
If you start dodging people and just try to build gaudy records, I don't care if you're Division I or Junior College, you can win games. But if you're going to advance deep into the postseason and get to Omaha, you better play as good a schedule as you can play for a lot of reasons. You're not getting better if you're not playing good people. If you don't challenge yourself on a daily basis, you're not going to be ready for those challenges. Sometimes, coaches can get caught up in thinking, 'I want to win as many games as I can.' Well, that's great, but if it doesn't help you get better as a team or help your players develop, than it's not going to be very beneficial. That's why we try to play the best schedule we can play.
You've got a pretty impressive lineage of collegiate head coaches. Four of your former assistants now run their own programs: Jim Schlossnagle is now at TCU, Buddy Gouldsmith is at UNLV, Brian Cleary is at Cincinnati and Jeremy Farber at St. Edwards University. To what can you attribute this pipeline to head coaching jobs? I think it's just because I've hired good people. My philosophy here, and we've been successful with it, is to get assistants from the ages of 28-35 who are bright, energetic, polished, have great work ethic, represent themselves and Tulane well, and couldn't imagine themselves doing anything other than being a Division I head coach. I say this all the time, this is not a day job or a night job. It's both. This is a lifestyle job. It's not an occupation.
You've got to understand that this is a unique profession and you and your family are going to have to sacrifice for a long time if you're going to be a Division I head coach. There are only two paid assistants in Division I baseball, so there's not a like there's 10 guys on a staff who can keep moving up and be coordinators and all that stuff. There's not that many openings, so you want to make sure that you hire guys who are on their way up, who are aggressive, represent what Tulane represents, and have the burning desire to get a Division I head coaching job when the time is right. I think the guys on my staff right now are the next to get great DI jobs. And who benefits from that? We all do.
Okay, enough of the hard questions. It's time to shoot from the hip. What's your favorite movie? My favorite movie overall is the Godfather...well, Godfather I and II. I could watch them over and over. After that, probably Lonesome Dove.
What's the best baseball movie? 61
What about the worst baseball movie? Slugger's Wife. It was horrible. There's probably a lot more bad baseball movies than great ones.
What is your favorite TV show? It's a tie between Seinfeld and The Andy Griffith Show. Well, Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter during baseball season are up there, but other than that, it's Seinfield and Andy Griffith.
Who is your favorite musician? Bruce Springsteen. No one close. I just saw him two weeks ago in Chicago and there's nobody close to him. I've seen him a lot - it never gets old.
What is the best advice you were ever given? Follow your passion. A college professor told me not to go into a profession for the money but go into something that you're passionate about. The key to being successful in your professional career is not liking what you do, but doing what you love. And I do what I love. I'm passionate about it.
What is your favorite food? That's such a tough question because I've got so many favorite foods. I've got to go with any New Orleans cuisine. There's so many signature dishes in this town, but you can't beat fresh, well prepared Louisiana seafood. That, and my mom's biscuits and gravy.
What's your dream vacation destination? Italy. I've never been, but I like like city skapes on water. I like Seattle, San Diego, Chicago. I like any city on water, which is New Orleans, obviously. You can just enjoy the water, but you also have the city to explore. I also like Major League vacations in Major League cities, enjoy the cities, dine out and go to a ballgame. Usually, if I'm at a ballgame, I'm working - either coaching in it or recruiting it. I enjoy watching Major League games without baring down on it.
If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would they be? Oh, this is good. If I had a dinner party, this is who I would invite: Billy Graham, Pat Riley, Tony LaRussa, Bruce Springsteen, Madeleine Stowe, Robert Duvall and George Brett. LaRussa and Riley are sort of mentors for me. I've watched them, how they've coached, and you pick up things they do. I just think Billy Graham is a great man. Springsteen speaks to you with his music. Robert Duvall is the greatest American actor and Madeleine Stowe has always been my favorite actresses. I know George Brett and I are about the same age, but I have a lot of respect for him because of the way he played the game and he was always my favorite player.
