by Parker Griffith, NFCA Director of Media Relations

The following article was featured in the October 2011 issue of Fastpitch Delivery, the official monthly publication of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Reprinted with permission. 

Starting from scratch is never easy, whether you are talking about cookies or softball teams. For Mike Reed, starting the softball program from the ground up at The University of Texas at Tyler has not always been easy, but it is an experience he would not trade for anything. So the fact that he has taken the Patriots to four consecutive Division III regional appearances and two national championship berths since becoming post-season eligible in 2007 is proof of his passion and dedication to a sport that has become a major part of who he is. Reed grew up playing baseball in the small East Texas town of Clarksville. After high school, he took his love of baseball a little over 100 miles south to East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, where he played for four years while majoring in business.

Following graduation, Reed entered the business field.  While many people had told him that he would eventually end up a coach, he was adamant that his future was in the business world. After working for about two years, Reed’s coach at ETBU called and offered him a job as an assistant for the baseball team. Despite the modest pay, it did not take much convincing for Reed to return to his alma mater and begin his coaching career.

After a few months at ETBU, the softball coach approached him and asked if he would be interested in serving as the assistant for his team as well for double the pay, an offer that Reed says while welcomed, was not as lucrative as it sounds. Since the baseball team practiced during the day and the softball team practiced at night, it was a no-brainer for Reed, who took the job.

After a few months of getting settled, Reed was once again approached by the softball coach, who was leaving that role to become the fulltime athletics director, with an intriguing offer. He was offered the head coaching position on an interim basis, at the request of the team, and was told if he was successful in the spring and during the summer recruiting process, he would become the next head coach.

Following a successful spring and summer, Reed received the necessary endorsement from his athletic director and was named as the new head coach. During his four years at the helm of the Tigers, ETBU won four consecutive America Southwest Conference championships. Because of ETBU’s transition from Division II to Division III, Reed’s teams were unable to compete at the NCAA level, but that did not stop him from being successful. At the end of his second year, the Tigers made it all the way to the NCCAA national championship game before falling to Union (TN). In the two years that followed, Reed’s teams made back-to-back regional appearances, including a trip to the regional final in 2002.

 After the 2003 season, the University of Texas at Tyler began its search for a softball coach to start its program. The new coach would be charged with building the program from the ground up. As UT Tyler was just starting all of its athletics programs, there was no framework to go by and no previous coaches to help; it would be starting from scratch in the truest sense of the phrase.

So Reed decided to pursue the opportunity, and in the fall of 2004 he became the first softball head coach in the history of the school. However, it was not a decision he made lightly. After all, ETBU was his alma mater, the place where he met his wife and the people that gave him the start to his career, not to mention that UT Tyler would be competing in the same conference. In the end though, Reed new that this was a rare chance and one that was too good to pass up. “It was a very unique opportunity, in this day and age, to start a college program from scratch. To me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me as a coach to put my fingerprints on virtually every element of the program, because when I arrived here all I had was a phone and a desk and that was about it.” Because UT Tyler was a brand new program, the athletic department was only one year into its four-year probationary period, which prevented any school team from participating in the postseason, meaning that any freshman who was part of the inaugural recruiting class would not have the opportunity to play for anything until her senior year.

So although the task seemed arduous, Reed set out on the recruiting trail armed with only a vision and a picture of what his facilities were going to look like – no uniform, no history and no team.

“We really focused all of our energy on recruiting and selling our vision, and we were very fortunate in doing that. We got some very good players to believe in us early when we had to go through our provisional stage. We just had people that loved what they saw both athletically and academically, and they came in and helped us get off to a great start. AS the winning the success started to happen, that just attracted other players going forward.”

While there may have been no physical trappings to attract players, they came anyway and the success was not far behind. Since beginning the program, the Patriots have made four straight trips to an NCAA regional, two trips to the national championship, including a third place finish this year; they have been ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation by the NFCA in three of the past four years and have produced 35 All-conference selections, 22 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region honorees, four Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District winners, and four Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Americans.

Despite having achieved so much success, Reed has not taken things for granted and has not forgotten the thing that has gotten him and his program to where they are today – hard work, structure and discipline. He views his job as a coach as to not only be successful on the field but to help his players transition from being a kid when she walks through his doors to being a young adult ready to make a difference in her community when she leaves.

“The lessons, accountability and structure inside of our softball program is not just to help us be a better team, but it is to help them be successful in life.  Whether it is being on time or respect for others, all of the standards we set for our players, when they go out and get their first job, these are going to be the same standards that their community has.”

Reed says this really hit him a couple of months ago when a former player called him after an interview for a nursing job in Colorado.

“She texted me after her interview and said they spend the whole time talking about softball. She said that they asked her what kind of rules and standards her team had and she told them everything we expect of our players. She told me they wanted to meet me because everything we ask of our players are things they look for in potential employees.”

So after 10-plus years as a coach, Reid has found the easiest road is seldom the one worth taking. From starting his coaching career as an assistant for two sports to starting a brand new softball program, some of the best decisions he has made in his career have been ones where little was known of the future. Despite all of the uncertainty, Reed has never wavered in his goals nor his passion for the sport. So the fact that each player leaves Reed’s program with the values of hard work, structure and discipline forever engrained in their lives should come as no surprise.

In the Press Box with Mike Reed

How has the game changed?
The first thing that comes to mind is recruiting.  Schools are working harder and more efficient now than they did when I first started recruiting.  Also, the time table of recruiting has gotten much faster than when I first started.  More and more athletes want to make their decisions sooner than in years past. This has forced us coaches to make decisions on who will be a great college player and a good fit in your program when they are much younger.

What are some problems new coaches face today that are different from when you started?
One of the biggest challenges facing a new coach is understanding all the other duties of a head coach other than just coaching softball.  All of our favorite part of coaching is getting to work with and teach the game to our players, but at smaller schools most of us have to wear many hats. Recruiting, travel arrangements, academic monitoring, community relations, budgeting, and discipline issues are just a few of areas that a head coach will spend much of their time devoted too.  Many times our assistants do not get exposed all those sides until they become a head coach.

If you knew then what you know now, how would your coaching have been different?
I think we all look back at our early years and think we could have relaxed and enjoyed it more.  I also think I would have reached out more to other coaches to learn from them.   I have tried recently to take my staff and I to learn from other coaches by watching them practice or just talking with them and asking questions.  I wish I would have had the contacts to start that much earlier in my career.

Is there secret to success?
I am not sure there are necessarily secrets, but I have two major pillars of success that I believe in.  The first is work ethic.  Growing up my father owned his own business and I watched him work from open to close every day.  He knew every aspect of his business and did not stop until everything that needed to be done was complete.  From long days at the field, to recruiting many weekends, I believe that work ethic is a coach’s controllable that can make a big difference.  The second pillar is to surround myself with great people.  This was advice given to me in college that has held up to the test of time.  From my coaching staff to my coaching mentors, I have always tried to have great people around me and that has been a vital piece of anything I have been able to accomplish.  My father’s examples along with the successful coaches that I have had the chance to be around have shaped my drive. 

What would your ideal season look like?
Two things come to mind when thinking of an ideal season. First, it would be a season where I felt the team played to and slightly above their potential.  Second, it would be a feeling that we were successful in helping get our student-athletes ready for the demands of life after graduation.  My staff and I believe part of our responsibility as coaches  is to assist in the transition from incoming high school young adult to graduating young professional.  Our program is built on connecting the lessons and responsibilities of playing softball to the real world applications of those lessons.