May 2, 2025 • 39 mins
🎧 “Building Men, Not Just Champions”
In this episode of the Significant Coaching Podcast, host Matt Rogers sits down with Brent Porche, the head baseball coach at the University of Texas at Tyler — and one of the most impactful leaders in college baseball today.
Coach Porche reflects on his journey from winning a Division III National Championship to leading UT Tyler through a remarkable transition into a Top 5-ranked NCAA Division II powerhouse with a 41-9 record.
🔸 How UT Tyler built a national contender in just a few years at the D2 level
🔸 Why championship culture starts with humility, trust, and daily standards
🔸 The behind-the-scenes of winning it all — and what truly matters beyond the dogpile
🔸 A heartbreaking story early in his career that reveals his heart for his players and their families
If you’re a coach, parent, or athlete who believes the best leaders coach for life — not just for wins — this episode will stay with you long after it ends.
🎓 Learn more, read the blog, and get Significant Recruiting at coachmattrogers.com
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Welcome back to SignificantCoaching with Matt Rogers, the
podcast where we highlight thecoaches who are doing far more
than winning games.
They're building lives,mentoring leaders, and leaving a
lasting legacy.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, make sure that you
visit coach matt rogers.com toexplore free recruiting
resources.
Blog, articles and tools to helpstudent athletes, families and
(00:35):
coaches navigate the collegejourney with significance.
And don't forget, you can findevery episode of this podcast on
iTunes, Spotify, and all theother major platforms where you
get your podcasts.
Now today's guest is someonewhose coaching journey is a
blueprint for buildingexcellence at every level of
college baseball.
(00:56):
Coach Brent Porsche has spentthe past eight seasons turning
the University of Texas at Tylerinto one of the most respected
programs in the country.
First at the Division threelevel, and now remarkably as a
powerhouse in Division twobaseball.
Under his leadership UT Tylercaptured a D three National
Championship in 2018, completeda full transition into division
(01:19):
two postseason eligibility.
and just last season reached theNCAA D two Regional Championship
game, making the most successfulseason in the program's division
two era.
And this season, the Patriotsare ranked in the top five in
the country with a 41 and ninerecord as we record this
episode, and they're playingtheir best baseball of the year
(01:41):
heading into the postseason.
Coach Porsche recently becamethe winningest coach in UT Tyler
history and what he's built inTyler, Texas.
Is more than a winning program.
It's a culture grounded inpassion, perseverance, and deep
care of his people.
We'll talk about that.
Championship run, the grind ofelevating a program from one
(02:02):
level to another, and mostpowerfully a moment of tragedy
that shaped him as a coach and aman.
I encourage every listener tostay with us through the end of
this episode because the storycoach PO shares later on is one
of the most powerful momentswe've had on this show.
It speaks to the kind of leaderhe is and why his players and
(02:23):
families would follow him.
Anywhere.
And let me say this, I'mincredibly grateful that Coach
Porsche took the time to sitdown with me during the heart of
his season.
His willingness to share soopenly in the middle of such a
critical stretch says everythingabout the kind of coach and
human being he is.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation withCoach Brent Porsche.
(02:47):
Coach Porsche, so great to haveyou on and I appreciate you
coming on right at the start ofplayoffs, after you guys have
had an unbelievable regularseason.
I wanna talk about thistransition you've made with UT
Tyler from division three todivision two.
'cause I took MaryvilleUniversity through that
transition.
Gosh, it's been 15, 16 yearsago, so I know how hard that was
(03:11):
to recruit during that stretchbecause how do you get a kid to
come play for you when you can'tplay in the national tournament,
or you can't give scholarshipyet?
All that stuff the NCAA throwsat you.
You were coming off a nationalchampionship, you had record
setting seasons to make thatjump.
Has your leadership styleevolved to meet some of those
(03:34):
challenges?
Do you feel like you've become adifferent coach through some of
that?
I hope I've become a differentcoach, each and every year in a
lot of ways.
Every year we try to evaluatewhat we're doing and how we're
doing it, and.
make sure that we're doing theright things, the right way, for
our kids and for the program andfor the alumni and all the
people that are invested.
we're lucky here to have, a biggroup that's invested in this
(03:57):
program, in so many ways.
We're a young program.
2004, is when the first baseballteam played here at UT Tyler.
And we have such strong supportfrom our alumni.
that starts with, coach JamesVal, who was the first coach to
start the program here.
Did some athletic director work.
ended up getting into theprivate sector, back into
coaching and bounce back andforth.
(04:17):
But, I'm still in contact withhim, to this day.
As well as Coach Bertrand, whowas the coach before me and
being connected with thosecoaches and with the people that
played under them, has been abig part of us continuing our
support and success.
Those people are invested inthis place and they wanna see us
succeed.
But yeah, to get back to yourquestion a little bit, I think
(04:38):
during the transition process,like you said, recruiting can be
difficult.
I think there's a perfect stormof things that helped us and
aided us.
To have a pretty smoothtransition, at least from the
outside looking in That's right.
And winning a nationalchampionship in our last
post-season, eligible season indivision three obviously helps
recruiting.
Yep.
(04:59):
and then, a big piece was we hada lot of juniors on that
national championship team, thatchose to stay and finish their
careers here knowing thatpostseason wasn't gonna be, in
the cards for us in that nextyear.
And so that was probably themost difficult year, was 2019
post national championship.
but we're able to have a lot ofsuccess in that season, even
(05:21):
though, there was plenty ofchallenges as well.
and that's a credit to thoseguys that hung around, during
that transition that chose tostay.
another big piece of that, is.
my assistant at the time, coachGrafton, who was such a big part
of that Division three nationalChampionship, was fortunate
enough to get a head coachingjob.
Off of that 2018 season.
and so we had to go out and findsomebody that was gonna do a
(05:43):
great job in recruiting, goinginto division two.
and we were just really blessedto have that person right across
the street at TJC, Coach White,Taylor White, who's been with me
now.
Through the entire transition.
He came in 2019 when we startedthat transition process he's
done a, he does a tremendousjob, is a incredible connector
of people.
He's incredible with the studentathletes.
(06:05):
the talent evaluation piece.
we had a strategy going in andidentified, what we were gonna
go after to try to help usthrough this transition.
and but it was difficult and ithad, its challenges.
I can remember the first time wegot to recruit a player and
finished their recruiting visitand didn't have to say.
But we won't be able to play inthe postseason.
(06:25):
that was a pretty excitingmoment for Coach White and I as
coaches, whenever we were ableto do that.
But yeah, just so many peoplethat went into making that a
pretty smooth transition.
at this point we're rocking androlling and, trying to get to
the top of division two.
You've done a bang up job coach.
I'm so impressed.
I went through it and I know Ididn't handle it as well as you
(06:45):
did, and as well as you're doingit.
We transitioned like you, wedidn't win a national
championship, but we had anumber of national tournament
appearances going into thattransition That year we
transitioned the first year of Dtwo.
I think we won three games.
I took a bunch of great divisionthree kids into at that point,
which the toughest division twoconference in the country.
(07:06):
And we were going into agunfight with a bunch of knives.
Yeah.
But it was so rewarding for meas a coach.
'cause those kids never stoppedbattling.
And by that end of the year, wewere beating the D two kid,
yeah.
A couple of our big wins wereagainst really good D two teams.
What did that transition andthat tho those obstacles that
(07:27):
you had to face with those kids,what did that do for your
confidence moving into thishigher division?
I think that if you look fromour institution, from the
outside looking in, it lookslike a division two institution
in a lot of ways.
Yeah, it does.
And so when I came here, thiswas my first experience with
non-scholarship collegeathletics division three.
(07:49):
I'd been at NAIA level, I'vebeen at Divid, division one
level.
and so division three was newfor me.
The things I knew was this was aspecial place.
We had, exceptional facilities,the school and the town were
growing.
and so those are the things thatI knew coming in.
That I thought we could leverageand use to our vantage in
(08:10):
building, continuing to buildthe program.
And I was hopeful that one daymaybe division two would be in
the cards.
didn't know it would come assoon as it did and, I'm just,
I'm thankful to, like I said,coach Bertran, left me a great
team, in 2017 in my first year.
And a lot of those guys werestill on our club in 18 when we
won a national championship, Ididn't walk into a situation
(08:32):
where we had to rebuild.
I walked into a situation thatwas set up for success.
those guys buying into the waythat we wanted to do things
quickly was a big piece.
And then, we chose to go adifferent route.
we had a lot of kids, at anylevel, coach, you gotta have
kids that are talented.
Above maybe what people wouldsay is the level that you're
(08:52):
playing at.
for sure in order to besuccessful and at the top.
and so we had a lot of kids onour roster when we were division
three that, were talented enoughto compete at the division two
level.
And then that's what we wentinto it with in 2019 with that
first team.
because there was noscholarships on that team.
That was the first year of thetransition and we were truly a
(09:13):
division three team competing atthe division two level.
And those kids though, they hadsomething to prove and had a
chip on their shoulder.
We're stepping up and w.
I had a lot of confidence goinginto that year as well.
'cause we just came off anational championship.
and so I, we were talentedenough to win a lot of games
that year even though it wasn'tour best season.
and then I think really the keytransition piece came with our
(09:34):
first recruiting class.
and Coach White, as I saidbefore, does a tremendous job in
that area.
And our strategy going in was tofind a level of talent that will
be able to compete.
Right away and not necessarilygo into it with a bunch of
freshmen.
So we recruited a lot of juniorcollege kids in that first
(09:56):
class.
the challenge there is obviouslyyou're trying to convince those
kids to come with no postseason.
And so I think what we try to dofrom a coaching perspective is
identify kids who had somefinancial need where we could
make a competitive scholarshipoffer that they weren't maybe
gonna get somewhere else.
but we had to roll the dice onsome kids.
(10:18):
that, we're gonna be the rightfit for us.
And, not necessarily spread thatscholarship money super thin,
but really invest heavily inwhat we felt was a small number
of the right guys.
And I think that paid big timedividends for us because we were
able to compete right away withsome guys that we really poured
(10:40):
some confidence into.
And who bought into our visionfor what this program was gonna
be taking it into, division two.
they bought into us as people,into what we were trying to do
here and what we were gonna beable to do to develop them, not
just as baseball players, but ashumans.
I think that was the biggestpiece.
(11:00):
That allowed us to have successin our first couple years, in
division two.
And obviously if you can havesuccess, it makes recruiting
easier.
so it's a lot easier to recruitkids to this is what we're gonna
do, but look at what we're doingthan it is to recruit kids to,
this is where we're at now, butthis is where we're going to go.
Yeah.
and so being able to have somesuccess and also have vision.
(11:24):
I think, helped us get throughthat transition successfully and
set us up for success.
In our first few years of fullmembership.
Did you guys roll into that 11.7that first year, or was it a
graduate?
So nine.
We're at nine in division two.
Okay.
And no, we didn't, oh, that'sright.
Nine division two, 11.7 isDivision one.
Division one, yeah.
Were you automatic?
(11:44):
You weren't there automatically?
No.
We phased it in.
And so we started, I believe.
Year two we went to, to eight,and then in year three we went
to full, fully funded at nine.
so that was a big piece of thepuzzle as well.
Yeah, we had the resources to goand get the kids, because at the
end of the day, you know how itis in the recruiting piece.
it's all about.
(12:05):
People in the right fit, but yougotta be able to be competitive
with what other places areoffering to get, better players.
luckily for us, our institutionwanted success in this
transition.
successful athletics has been apart of UT Tyler as long as it's
been around.
it was important to them that wecontinue to have success and
they gave us the resources thatwe needed to do that.
(12:27):
That's amazing that's such acompliment to your
administration.
my administration 15 years ago,they were brand new and they,
they really didn't understandwhat that division two level was
like, and they thought a fouryear transition, starting with
one or two scholarships wasgonna be okay, and we were gonna
be right.
Bring kids in.
It was just such a challenge,and they really had to backtrack
(12:49):
their thought process and learnfrom it.
Year two, three to say, allright we gotta change this.
We, or we're never gonna bringin the kids to grow the program.
So that's a great compliment toyour administration and taking
that approach.
When you start with six, it'snot nine.
But that's a good place to startfrom.
That's 12, 15, sometimes 18players you can bring in on with
some scholarship dollars at thebaseball level.
(13:10):
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
you've had such a great run of,developing all Americans.
Coach, I'm really interested tohear kinda what your approach
is.
Bringing in really greatplayers, but developing them and
how you take that kid that justhas that special skillset, they
really have that eye for theball.
(13:31):
they have that eye for thestrike zone.
they've got a big arm, but man,they understand how to pitch.
What is your approach todeveloping that top end of your
roster?
I think the biggest thing isthat we've gotta be able to
teach these kids.
How to know who they are asplayers and, hold them
(13:53):
accountable to a level ofdiscipline that's gonna allow
them to, reach their fullpotential.
And, but they have to be able tobe their own best coach.
These kids, they come in,especially now man, they have so
much knowledge, that we didn'thave coming in, and, it's a lot
of times it's just a matter ofasking the right questions to
(14:16):
pull the right answers out ofthem, and then just putting the
guardrails on so that they keepmoving forward.
It's kinda like you, you gottakeep pushing from behind.
With the level of disciplinethat it takes to be successful
in anything in life.
And then you gotta give'em theright questions, which are the
guardrails to keep'em moving inthe right direction, to develop
(14:37):
as players and as men.
And so I think that's probablythe biggest piece to our
approach Obviously it gets muchmore detailed and complicated
than that, but that's probablythe 30,000 foot view of our
approach is we want them to beable to play the game free and
without constraint.
And we want them to be their ownbest coach.
(14:58):
and we spend a lot of time, andhave spent a lot of resources,
spend a lot of money onresources in our program to help
our players develop at thatlevel.
And a credit to all the coachesthat I've had, that I've been
able to work with, our strengthand conditioning staff since
I've been here and since we'vetransitioned.
has evolved and there is topnotch as it gets.
(15:19):
we actually just lost our headstrength coach that kind of
helped us through thattransition to another job, and
so we're going out to hiresomebody this summer.
But he was such a crucial pieceof that puzzle and development.
That's where typically thelowest hanging fruit for
development is nutrition.
Recovery, what you can do toyour body in the weight room and
(15:41):
how you can transform it.
And just the discipline to putin the work that it takes daily
to be successful.
And so that's the pieces, Iwould say the cornerstones of
us, in developing our guystrying to create an environment
where they want to be here.
They want to be here, they wannawork, they wanna show up to the
ballpark every day and get afterit.
that's gonna hopefully keep themexcited about, developing and
(16:03):
wanting to get better.
I guess, like I said, the 30,000foot view of what we try to do
in development.
The phrase is it takes a villageto raise a child and it really,
it takes a village to win achampionship And grow a program.
So I really appreciate yourhumility and how you use your
staff and how you use thesupport team around you and how
important those are, howimportant that family is to
(16:25):
really grow and.
your kids and helping them reachtheir potential.
I wanna stick with the idea ofthat special kid.
'cause that was probably myhardest thing it probably took
me eight or nine years as a headcoach before I got somewhat
decent at coaching the greatplayer.
I'm a huge Cubs fan, don't holdthat against me.
We brought in Kyle Tucker thisyear and you watch that guy at
(16:47):
the plate.
we've got some nice players.
We've got Ian Hap, we've gotSuzuki, we've got some really
nice players.
But you see that young man atthe plate and it's different.
there's a confidence.
Yeah.
you can see everything slowsdown.
when you're evaluating kids, andI know we're gonna talk a lot
about recruiting here at the endtoday, but I want to get into
(17:08):
how you look at your roster.
Do you coach everybody the same?
Are you an equal guy?
I just don't think you can winthat way.
I see you shaking your head inagreement with me.
How do you approach that reallyspecial kid compared to those
kids that are grinders and,showing up every day doing the
work, but there's that kid thatjust has that talent.
(17:29):
Yeah.
How do you approach that?
I think the best thing that youcan do for those kids, no, I
don't think you coach every kidthe same.
And that's not favoritism.
That's, you gotta know yourpeople.
And I think that's the biggestpiece of the puzzle is you have
to know your people.
And we spend a lot of timegetting to know our guys.
(17:50):
And sometimes that can bedifficult as a coach because you
have so many.
Hats to wear and you can bepulled in so many directions.
Administratively, budgetary,just all the things that we have
to do at this level to make theprogram run on a day-to-day
basis.
Sometimes it'd be easier to justwalk in my office and shut the
door and work, but I don't thinkthat we get the best results.
(18:15):
as a program if we do it thatway.
And so sometimes that means, ifI want to get work done quietly,
then I better be here earlybefore anybody's here or stay
late.
when everybody's gone, becausepeople are in and out all day,
but that piece of our kids beingin and out all day long, and
just the one-on-oneconversations to get to know
them and who they are and whatmakes'em tick.
(18:37):
Watch'em work outside ofpractice and see, the things
that they're doing and the waythat they're handling things.
I think that's how you figureout how to coach each of these
kids.
'cause they're all different.
to get more specific back toyour question about that uber
talented kid.
I think the best thing you cando for those kids in my
experience is.
To hold them accountable, fortheir discipline.
(18:58):
Yeah.
sometimes it's easy for coachesto kinda let those kids, do
their own thing because of theirlevel of talent.
And I think the more that youcan get that kid to buy into the
team culture and the teamconcept and what we're trying to
do.
I think you give that kid value,when that kid, doesn't run hard
(19:20):
outta the box in an inner squadin the fall, it's something that
you pull that kid aside and youhave a conversation about,
You've gotta understand theposition that you're in and
whether you want to be a leaderor not, your talent level makes
you someone that everyone'slooking at.
And if you are here for thereasons that we recruited you,
and that's, we want to developyou as a player and hopefully
(19:40):
professional baseball's in yourfuture.
But if it's not in the meantime,man, you came here to win.
'cause that's what we do is wetry to be successful as a team
and as a program.
And a big piece of that is thathard 90 outta the box.
on a Tuesday inter squad in,August when it's 110.
Yeah.
And so getting those kids to buyinto that, I think there's some,
(20:03):
there's a level of ownershipthat, a kid can take that's in
that position.
You put him in a position thatyou know, Hey you're a leader
for us, whether you wanna be ornot.
It doesn't matter what you say,but what you do.
and we've had some of thoseconversations, I think.
Being able to be close enough asa team and spend enough time
outside of just baseball andpractice and training that when
(20:27):
that happens, you can call thatkid out in front of the team.
And I think that speaks volumesto the rest of the guys in the
roster Man, it doesn't matterwho you are, there's an
expectation and a standard ofthe way that things are gonna be
done.
And whether I'm the red shirt atthe bottom of the roster or
whether I'm the most talentedplayer on the field, I'm gonna
(20:48):
be held to that standard.
And I think those guys that youtalked about, those grinders
that show up every day and do itbecause that's how they were
raised and that's just, yougotta have those guys as well.
Those guys are more bought intowhat you're trying to do.
When you hold everyone elseaccountable,'cause they know
they're gonna do it.
You don't have to hold thoseguys accountable in that way.
(21:09):
They're gonna show up and do itevery day because that's who
they are.
But man, their appreciation, I.
And I've made that mistake as acoach plenty.
I've been doing this since I was26.
I was a head coach at 26 yearsold.
I had no clue I was doing Metoo.
26.
Yeah.
And I made so many, I've made alot of mistakes, and I think
through those mistakes, I'velearned a lot of things.
this is probably a biggest pieceof the puzzle.
(21:31):
I feel like in the developmentof me as a coach.
And developing a group that'sreally close knit and, is gonna
overachieve their talent level,is being able to be, love a guy,
be honest with a guy, and I'mhonest with you because I love
you.
Yeah.
this is how things need to be.
And but yeah, just notsugarcoating being, matter of
(21:52):
fact, holding everybody to astandard, it brings everybody
together.
And if there are pieces thataren't gonna get on board with
that.
it shows those pretty quicklytoo, which I think, is a piece
of it as well, is figuring outwho needs to be on the bus.
And so yeah, there's a lot ofelements to that, but I think
the biggest thing is just,holding them, holding'em all
accountable so we don't coach'emall the same, but we hold'em all
(22:14):
to the same standard.
I appreciate that so much, and Ithink you've explained it in a
way that I think is so clear andis so articulate and I'm gonna
use that word too because Ithink when you're, you tell me
if I'm wrong, that great player,it's almost like you want them
to be able to learn how toarticulate why they're special.
I can sit there and watch TonyGwen talk, hitting Ted Williams
(22:38):
talk, hitting Greg Maddox, NolanRyan talk, pitching all day
long, and they've been outta thegame for years.
if we can get that great kid tounderstand, if you can
articulate it, can you teach it?
Can you help rise up those kidsthat maybe aren't able to slow
the game down like you are ordon't have that bat speed or
don't have that, that justautomatic.
(22:59):
Ability to do what you do, ifyou can help rise them up, think
about what we can do, thinkabout what our roster looks like
for sure.
When we get everybody to yourlevel, right?
Yeah.
And you're the leader of that,of how we work and what that
work ethic looks like.
So I love that coach.
that's a really special way tolook at it.
All right.
So you talk about your staff.
I want to, talk about mentoringand what that influence does.
(23:22):
When the kids are gone for thesummer, you've won the D two
national championship, you'relooking for next year.
What are you doing with yourstaff in the off season in
developing them and helping thembecome, because you've had staff
that have gone on to be greathead coaches.
What are you doing to help yourmentors become better mentors?
(23:43):
I don't know that we haveanything, that I would say is
like a programming for that.
But I would say, I think that'sa daily communication piece.
one of the big things about meand just who I am, the way I was
raised is I.
Man, if I'm gonna be around youevery day, all day, like we're
gonna be family whether you likeit or not.
and I know that can be adifferent approach, than some
(24:05):
where work is work and family isfamily.
but to me, if you can't blendwork and family in this
profession.
It doesn't work.
I've got a wife who's aprincipal and I've got two young
kids and they're not just, it'snot that it that I have my
baseball and my program, andthen I have my family.
They're interchangeable.
(24:26):
They all have to be, a part ofthe family.
And so I think that's a bigpiece for us is, our assistant
coaches, our players, thenthey're in our home eating
dinner.
They know my kids think thatthey own this ballpark.
They run around this place likeit's their home.
and so I think that is a bigpiece to, sometimes the best
(24:46):
thing that you can do.
For your players in theirmentorship, is just have them
watch you, how you operate as anadult, as a father, as a
husband.
and then from the assistantcoaching side of things, just
like I said, we do everythingtogether.
Coach White and I are bestfriends, that's super.
We're close enough that when weneed to have a disagreement, we
(25:07):
can have it, and then we moveon, like families do, and so I
think that's a big piece andjust, trying to put.
My assistants and positions tolead and have some autonomy in
pieces and parts of the programwhere I see their talent level
can help us.
There's things that Coach Whitedoes much better than I do, and
(25:29):
what I've tried to do is put himin position.
To lead our program in thoseareas where he's better than me.
and I think that, if you can dothat and not micromanage and
give them some autonomy at thesame time, it's kinda like the
development of the player thatwe talked about, pushing them to
standard.
(25:51):
Asking the right questions andgiving them the guardrails and
allowing them to just keepmoving forward and encouraging
them when they do things well,and I think that's probably the
biggest piece of staffdevelopment is just, man, just
same thing.
It's, the old adage of, peopledon't care what you know unless
they know that you care about'em.
I think that comes first.
And then I think beyond that.
(26:12):
It's just about trying torecognize talent and put people
in positions to be successfulbased on, the gifts that the
Lord has given them.
That's great.
That's great.
I love that too.
Coach.
I want to get into in-gamedecision making,'cause you don't
win 41 games, you don't win anational championship without
having to make some hard callsat the end of games and make
tough decisions.
(26:33):
When you think about.
End games.
How much are you preparing as acoach, as a staff?
Okay.
It's four.
Four.
Bottom of the seventh.
We already know who we want touse in the situation.
Righty, lefty, whatever that maybe.
How are you balancing dataintuition?
(26:54):
Assistant coach, input, playerinput.
Yeah.
How do you guys make decisionsand how do you go about that
late in games?
Yeah, I think it's a, That'ssomething that has been
developed over time.
One the game and the resourcesthat we have as far as scouting.
and, analytics have changed justin the last five years
(27:15):
tremendously, right?
And so I would say that.
it's so nice to have thatinformation but I spent a long
time as a coach without any ofthat information.
And it was 100% based on thethings that I saw every day in
these guys and my gut intuition.
but I made a lot of wrongdecisions in that gut intuition.
(27:36):
And it's nice to have theanalytics piece to I think if
anything, it helps you to knowgoing into situations where
you're gonna lean.
And you gotta trust your peopleas well.
when we're making decisions, Irarely do, I just make a call
and go.
I've got, coach Pope, one of myassistants, coach White.
even our graduate assistant,whoever I think can add value to
(27:58):
the decision making process,they're gonna have something,
I'm gonna ask'em a question thatI want an answer to, and then
we're gonna have to make adecision and go.
But I think having input, fromall those people is helpful for
me in making a decision.
and so the analytics piece, thetrusting your people, just for
an example, this weekend we werein a situation and I've got a
(28:21):
senior catcher that's been withus for a few years, who, him and
I have a tremendousrelationship.
He's got a tremendousrelationship with all of our
pitching staff.
Knows those guys as well as Ido, if not better.
I'll ask him, we're going tomake a decision.
Am I taking a starter out?
Am I going to the closer?
What do you see?
tell me what you're seeing backthere.
Where's he at, mentality wise?
(28:42):
Where's his stuff?
And then he's.
He knows that he's, if I ask himthat question, he's entitled to
that opinion and he's gonnagimme a real answer.
And I think that's the otherpiece too, is you gotta give
those people that you're askingthose questions to you, they
need to know that their answeris, I.
Plays a part.
And I'm not just asking to ask.
And I think that goes to justthe relationship piece.
(29:03):
You've gotta, they've gotta knowyour heart and Right.
Know that, when you're askingthat question, you value their
opinion.
May not mean you make theirdecision, the one they wanted
every time, but that theiropinions valued.
and and then for me that their.
They're gonna see things thatI'm not, and I'm always a, it's
the best idea, is the best idea.
(29:24):
It doesn't matter if it's mine,if it's a player's, if it's our
trainers, if it's an assistantcoach, if it's the best idea, I.
It sounds like the best idea tome, that's what we're gonna do,
right?
I think that's how you get downto making those tough decisions
in games and then sometimesthere is no right one, you gotta
know that as a coach.
Sometimes there's no rightdecision.
(29:45):
you just work with theinformation that you have.
And what you truly believe basedon the knowledge that you have
of each one of these guys andtheir skillset, their mental
ability, the situationsobviously they've been in
previously in their success andor failure.
Watching'em in practice everyday and how they're progressing.
there's so many factors and Ithink it's like a puzzle.
(30:05):
You're trying to put all thosepieces together in your head.
and then, you go with your,ultimately, sometimes you gotta
go with that intuition.
Yeah.
'cause there's no rightdecision.
And I guess that's a long-windedanswer to say.
I think you factor in everythingand never make any rash
decision, and you plan a lot sothat you're prepared when those
decision points come up ingames, right?
(30:26):
I was a college basketballcoach, so some of my best
memories, I remember the winswere games tied.
There's three seconds to go my15th player comes up to me in a
timeout behind me and goes,coach.
We should run play number six.
Yeah.
and I stop and go, that'sexactly what we should run right
now, and that kid, he became myassistant coach and he's become
(30:48):
a really good high school coach.
And he just had the brain and wewon that game because he made
that decision that I wasstruggling with.
He made it easy'cause he wasseeing the game differently than
I was at that point.
So I love your answer because.
you never know where thatmotivation, where that
intuition, where that gut isgonna come from.
And, you've been doing this longenough that, if you're not
(31:10):
listed to your gut, something'swrong because your intuition is
gonna be probably right.
80, 90% of the time after allthe years you've been through.
coach I.
I just love talking to you.
I can talk to you all day andI'm so excited.
can I do a little rapid firewith you?
And it doesn't have to be the a,a real quick answer, but I have
some things I like to do withcoaches.
Yeah.
Just get your thoughts on somethings.
Let's do it.
(31:30):
favorite memory from yournational championship?
Gosh, there's so many.
probably, walking off, in theregional, final to get to the
World Series.
man, we had an improbable run.
We were, if you go back and lookat it, And I was new to division
three, so there's a lot ofthings I didn't understand about
the postseason process.
(31:52):
I figured'em out in 2018 and weactually sent the team home.
the whole team, we had exitmeetings we lost in the first
round of our conferencetournament.
we knew we had a good season,but I didn't know enough about
the process.
To know that we had a reallygood chance to get in, I
thought, there's no way we'regetting in.
And so we sent'em all home.
and I had four of'em in New YorkCity.
(32:14):
The night that we found out thatwe were in we're the last team
to make it in.
Oh, that's crazy.
And so we bring them, we bring'em back, practice for a day,
bus to Dallas and go to theairport.
and then we go on this crazyride.
and we're down to the last game.
We had come back outta thelosers bracket, five games in
three days.
We had a double dip RhodesCollege to get to the World
(32:35):
Series.
We beat'em in the first game.
We're down four to one goinginto the ninth in game two.
And I'm, I can't remembervividly standing on the steps of
the dugout thinking.
Man, what a run this was, ifthis is it, just what a run it
was.
And then next thing you know,it's, single hit by pitch walk.
(32:57):
Double here.
We got bases loaded and a chanceto win a game and we hit a hard
ground ball through the, in thesixth hole it goes tough.
Backhand play off of theshortstop.
Our third base coach Grafton,sending the guy at second play
at the plate.
We slide in and we win.
And it was just nuts.
I've got chills just tellingthat story.
(33:18):
When you write your memoir, youneed to start it with that
story.
That is fantastic.
and yeah, I would say thatmoment specifically just
probably stands out more thanany other, in that run in 18.
When you think about helpingyoung coaches, is there a book,
something on leadership or apodcast, is there something that
you're into or has really helpedyou that you would share with a
(33:41):
young coach?
I don't know that it's anythingspecific.
One book, one podcast.
I think that there's somethingto be pulled from everyone
that's, putting your path onthis earth.
and I try to put those things inmy life where they're in front
of me, Coaches podcast, everycoaches or winning mentality or
(34:02):
Twitter account or Instagram.
If I'm gonna be on those things,I want'em to have value, right?
and I love to watch little shortvideos, that are out there of
great coaches and what theybelieve and the things that, and
watching them talking to theirteam.
I love to watch.
Postgame interviews with coachesI love it.
you find somebody that youreally believe in and it's I
wanna watch that.
(34:23):
how is he looking at his team?
what is he saying, about thegame.
and I think, following thosecoaches that you start to just
have a feel for, man, that'swhat I wanna be like.
And that's.
The kind of coach that I seemyself as in following those
things and watching thosethings.
I think having a growth mindset,wanting to get better, and
soaking up everything you canpossibly soak up, so that when
(34:45):
it comes time for you to makedecisions on how you're gonna do
things, you've got all thisinformation and then now you've
just gotta discern it and pieceit together how it's gonna work
for you.
Perfect.
You already answered my nextquestion about advice you'd give
to a young coach, and I thinkthat's such a big deal, is you
soak everything up, listen toall the great coaches, listen to
everything, and decide who am I?
(35:06):
You don't have to copy anybodyto go to, but listening and
understanding what your tone andwhat your balance and how you
want your emotions to comethrough.
So I, I love that.
If I said you had to defineyourself with one word, what one
word defines Coach BrentPorsche.
One word.
(35:26):
it'd be hard for me to say anyother word than love.
I think that everything elsestarts with that.
And just a quick story, but.
When I was in my first year ofcoaching when I was 26, I was at
LSU Alexandria, N-A-N-A-I-Aschool.
And we had a sophomore on ourteam, named Brandon Goen.
And we were, it was January18th, first day of practice.
(35:50):
they're doing outfield drills.
I'm with the infielders and hepasses out on the field.
We call 9 1 1, we ambulancecomes out there.
We, I did CPR.
long story short, Brandon passedaway that day.
That kid touched so manypeople's lives and that
experience and having to try tofigure out how to lead his best
(36:14):
friends through that experiencewhere I had no idea what I was
doing as a 26-year-old hasshaped so much of who I am
today, not just as a coach, butas a father.
I can't imagine the hurt and thepain that his parents, even to
this day still go through.
I'm still in contact with them.
They're unbelievable people.
(36:34):
but that experience, probablyshaped who I am and me using
that word love.
And meaning it, more thananything.
A lot of programs I've beeninvolved with talk about the
program being a family.
you talk about figuring outfamily, whenever you get into a
situation like that.
And I've tried to bring theimportance of that, the
(36:56):
importance of relationships and,I don't know that I would've.
Had that situation not happened,I don't know that as a
26-year-old, I wear Brandon'snumber to this day.
He was number 31.
I wear number 31.
and that's just a reminder forme, that this game is so much
bigger and what we're doing isso much bigger than just the
(37:17):
baseball.
and I think that probablydefines who I am as a coach in a
lot of ways.
Who I am as a person.
Coach, thank you so much foryour soul and your spirit and
your faith and for sharingstories like that.
Brandon, I know it's hard tohear this, but Brandon was lucky
to have you at that point inyour life and to be there in the
(37:38):
end and to love him and care forhim and those kids around.
and the family around that hadto go through that to have you
there, and be the backbone thatthey all needed at that point.
So as much as my heart is heavyfor you, even after all these
years, and, I'm just realthankful that you're in this
world of coaching that we, youand I both love.
So thanks for your time today.
(37:59):
It means a lot to me.
Matt.
Thank you man.
I appreciate it.
Love what you're doing.
Thank you for giving us aplatform to talk about what we
do, and thank you for giving usa platform to talk about these
great kids that we're fortunateenough to coach every day.
It's my pleasure, coach.
It's a real joy.
good luck the rest of theseason.
We're gonna be cheering for youall the way through.
Thank you.
(38:20):
That was Coach Brent Porsche,and if you listened all the way
through, you know exactly whythis man has built one of the
most admired programs in collegebaseball.
From winning the Division threeNational Championship to turning
UT Tyler into a true divisiontwo powerhouse, to leading with
compassion through moments ofdeep loss.
Coach Poor shows us whatsignificant coaching really
(38:41):
looks like.
Right now.
His team is ranked in the topfive nationally with a 41 to
nine record, and they're playingtheir best baseball this season
heading into the postseason andstill in the middle of all that.
He took the time to join us andshare his story that says it
all.
All right.
If you want more conversationslike this one, head over to
coach matt rogers.com where youcan find past podcast episodes.
(39:05):
Read my blog, download freerecruiting resources, and learn
about my new book, significantRecruiting, the Playbook for
Perspective College Athletes.
And remember, winning is good,impact is better, but
significance, that's the goal.
Thanks for listening.
I'll see you next time onSignificant Coaching with Matt
Rogers.
Welcome back to SignificantCoaching with Matt Rogers, the
podcast where we highlight thecoaches who are doing far more
than winning games.
They're building lives,mentoring leaders, and leaving a
lasting legacy.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, make sure that you
visit coach matt rogers.com toexplore free recruiting
resources.
Blog, articles and tools to helpstudent athletes, families and
(00:35):
coaches navigate the collegejourney with significance.
And don't forget, you can findevery episode of this podcast on
iTunes, Spotify, and all theother major platforms where you
get your podcasts.
Now today's guest is someonewhose coaching journey is a
blueprint for buildingexcellence at every level of
college baseball.
(00:56):
Coach Brent Porsche has spentthe past eight seasons turning
the University of Texas at Tylerinto one of the most respected
programs in the country.
First at the Division threelevel, and now remarkably as a
powerhouse in Division twobaseball.
Under his leadership UT Tylercaptured a D three National
Championship in 2018, completeda full transition into division
(01:19):
two postseason eligibility.
and just last season reached theNCAA D two Regional Championship
game, making the most successfulseason in the program's division
two era.
And this season, the Patriotsare ranked in the top five in
the country with a 41 and ninerecord as we record this
episode, and they're playingtheir best baseball of the year
(01:41):
heading into the postseason.
Coach Porsche recently becamethe winningest coach in UT Tyler
history and what he's built inTyler, Texas.
Is more than a winning program.
It's a culture grounded inpassion, perseverance, and deep
care of his people.
We'll talk about that.
Championship run, the grind ofelevating a program from one
(02:02):
level to another, and mostpowerfully a moment of tragedy
that shaped him as a coach and aman.
I encourage every listener tostay with us through the end of
this episode because the storycoach PO shares later on is one
of the most powerful momentswe've had on this show.
It speaks to the kind of leaderhe is and why his players and
(02:23):
families would follow him.
Anywhere.
And let me say this, I'mincredibly grateful that Coach
Porsche took the time to sitdown with me during the heart of
his season.
His willingness to share soopenly in the middle of such a
critical stretch says everythingabout the kind of coach and
human being he is.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation withCoach Brent Porsche.
(02:47):
Coach Porsche, so great to haveyou on and I appreciate you
coming on right at the start ofplayoffs, after you guys have
had an unbelievable regularseason.
I wanna talk about thistransition you've made with UT
Tyler from division three todivision two.
'cause I took MaryvilleUniversity through that
transition.
Gosh, it's been 15, 16 yearsago, so I know how hard that was
(03:11):
to recruit during that stretchbecause how do you get a kid to
come play for you when you can'tplay in the national tournament,
or you can't give scholarshipyet?
All that stuff the NCAA throwsat you.
You were coming off a nationalchampionship, you had record
setting seasons to make thatjump.
Has your leadership styleevolved to meet some of those
(03:34):
challenges?
Do you feel like you've become adifferent coach through some of
that?
I hope I've become a differentcoach, each and every year in a
lot of ways.
Every year we try to evaluatewhat we're doing and how we're
doing it, and.
make sure that we're doing theright things, the right way, for
our kids and for the program andfor the alumni and all the
people that are invested.
we're lucky here to have, a biggroup that's invested in this
(03:57):
program, in so many ways.
We're a young program.
2004, is when the first baseballteam played here at UT Tyler.
And we have such strong supportfrom our alumni.
that starts with, coach JamesVal, who was the first coach to
start the program here.
Did some athletic director work.
ended up getting into theprivate sector, back into
coaching and bounce back andforth.
(04:17):
But, I'm still in contact withhim, to this day.
As well as Coach Bertrand, whowas the coach before me and
being connected with thosecoaches and with the people that
played under them, has been abig part of us continuing our
support and success.
Those people are invested inthis place and they wanna see us
succeed.
But yeah, to get back to yourquestion a little bit, I think
(04:38):
during the transition process,like you said, recruiting can be
difficult.
I think there's a perfect stormof things that helped us and
aided us.
To have a pretty smoothtransition, at least from the
outside looking in That's right.
And winning a nationalchampionship in our last
post-season, eligible season indivision three obviously helps
recruiting.
Yep.
(04:59):
and then, a big piece was we hada lot of juniors on that
national championship team, thatchose to stay and finish their
careers here knowing thatpostseason wasn't gonna be, in
the cards for us in that nextyear.
And so that was probably themost difficult year, was 2019
post national championship.
but we're able to have a lot ofsuccess in that season, even
(05:21):
though, there was plenty ofchallenges as well.
and that's a credit to thoseguys that hung around, during
that transition that chose tostay.
another big piece of that, is.
my assistant at the time, coachGrafton, who was such a big part
of that Division three nationalChampionship, was fortunate
enough to get a head coachingjob.
Off of that 2018 season.
and so we had to go out and findsomebody that was gonna do a
(05:43):
great job in recruiting, goinginto division two.
and we were just really blessedto have that person right across
the street at TJC, Coach White,Taylor White, who's been with me
now.
Through the entire transition.
He came in 2019 when we startedthat transition process he's
done a, he does a tremendousjob, is a incredible connector
of people.
He's incredible with the studentathletes.
(06:05):
the talent evaluation piece.
we had a strategy going in andidentified, what we were gonna
go after to try to help usthrough this transition.
and but it was difficult and ithad, its challenges.
I can remember the first time wegot to recruit a player and
finished their recruiting visitand didn't have to say.
But we won't be able to play inthe postseason.
(06:25):
that was a pretty excitingmoment for Coach White and I as
coaches, whenever we were ableto do that.
But yeah, just so many peoplethat went into making that a
pretty smooth transition.
at this point we're rocking androlling and, trying to get to
the top of division two.
You've done a bang up job coach.
I'm so impressed.
I went through it and I know Ididn't handle it as well as you
(06:45):
did, and as well as you're doingit.
We transitioned like you, wedidn't win a national
championship, but we had anumber of national tournament
appearances going into thattransition That year we
transitioned the first year of Dtwo.
I think we won three games.
I took a bunch of great divisionthree kids into at that point,
which the toughest division twoconference in the country.
(07:06):
And we were going into agunfight with a bunch of knives.
Yeah.
But it was so rewarding for meas a coach.
'cause those kids never stoppedbattling.
And by that end of the year, wewere beating the D two kid,
yeah.
A couple of our big wins wereagainst really good D two teams.
What did that transition andthat tho those obstacles that
(07:27):
you had to face with those kids,what did that do for your
confidence moving into thishigher division?
I think that if you look fromour institution, from the
outside looking in, it lookslike a division two institution
in a lot of ways.
Yeah, it does.
And so when I came here, thiswas my first experience with
non-scholarship collegeathletics division three.
(07:49):
I'd been at NAIA level, I'vebeen at Divid, division one
level.
and so division three was newfor me.
The things I knew was this was aspecial place.
We had, exceptional facilities,the school and the town were
growing.
and so those are the things thatI knew coming in.
That I thought we could leverageand use to our vantage in
(08:10):
building, continuing to buildthe program.
And I was hopeful that one daymaybe division two would be in
the cards.
didn't know it would come assoon as it did and, I'm just,
I'm thankful to, like I said,coach Bertran, left me a great
team, in 2017 in my first year.
And a lot of those guys werestill on our club in 18 when we
won a national championship, Ididn't walk into a situation
(08:32):
where we had to rebuild.
I walked into a situation thatwas set up for success.
those guys buying into the waythat we wanted to do things
quickly was a big piece.
And then, we chose to go adifferent route.
we had a lot of kids, at anylevel, coach, you gotta have
kids that are talented.
Above maybe what people wouldsay is the level that you're
(08:52):
playing at.
for sure in order to besuccessful and at the top.
and so we had a lot of kids onour roster when we were division
three that, were talented enoughto compete at the division two
level.
And then that's what we wentinto it with in 2019 with that
first team.
because there was noscholarships on that team.
That was the first year of thetransition and we were truly a
(09:13):
division three team competing atthe division two level.
And those kids though, they hadsomething to prove and had a
chip on their shoulder.
We're stepping up and w.
I had a lot of confidence goinginto that year as well.
'cause we just came off anational championship.
and so I, we were talentedenough to win a lot of games
that year even though it wasn'tour best season.
and then I think really the keytransition piece came with our
(09:34):
first recruiting class.
and Coach White, as I saidbefore, does a tremendous job in
that area.
And our strategy going in was tofind a level of talent that will
be able to compete.
Right away and not necessarilygo into it with a bunch of
freshmen.
So we recruited a lot of juniorcollege kids in that first
(09:56):
class.
the challenge there is obviouslyyou're trying to convince those
kids to come with no postseason.
And so I think what we try to dofrom a coaching perspective is
identify kids who had somefinancial need where we could
make a competitive scholarshipoffer that they weren't maybe
gonna get somewhere else.
but we had to roll the dice onsome kids.
(10:18):
that, we're gonna be the rightfit for us.
And, not necessarily spread thatscholarship money super thin,
but really invest heavily inwhat we felt was a small number
of the right guys.
And I think that paid big timedividends for us because we were
able to compete right away withsome guys that we really poured
(10:40):
some confidence into.
And who bought into our visionfor what this program was gonna
be taking it into, division two.
they bought into us as people,into what we were trying to do
here and what we were gonna beable to do to develop them, not
just as baseball players, but ashumans.
I think that was the biggestpiece.
(11:00):
That allowed us to have successin our first couple years, in
division two.
And obviously if you can havesuccess, it makes recruiting
easier.
so it's a lot easier to recruitkids to this is what we're gonna
do, but look at what we're doingthan it is to recruit kids to,
this is where we're at now, butthis is where we're going to go.
Yeah.
and so being able to have somesuccess and also have vision.
(11:24):
I think, helped us get throughthat transition successfully and
set us up for success.
In our first few years of fullmembership.
Did you guys roll into that 11.7that first year, or was it a
graduate?
So nine.
We're at nine in division two.
Okay.
And no, we didn't, oh, that'sright.
Nine division two, 11.7 isDivision one.
Division one, yeah.
Were you automatic?
(11:44):
You weren't there automatically?
No.
We phased it in.
And so we started, I believe.
Year two we went to, to eight,and then in year three we went
to full, fully funded at nine.
so that was a big piece of thepuzzle as well.
Yeah, we had the resources to goand get the kids, because at the
end of the day, you know how itis in the recruiting piece.
it's all about.
(12:05):
People in the right fit, but yougotta be able to be competitive
with what other places areoffering to get, better players.
luckily for us, our institutionwanted success in this
transition.
successful athletics has been apart of UT Tyler as long as it's
been around.
it was important to them that wecontinue to have success and
they gave us the resources thatwe needed to do that.
(12:27):
That's amazing that's such acompliment to your
administration.
my administration 15 years ago,they were brand new and they,
they really didn't understandwhat that division two level was
like, and they thought a fouryear transition, starting with
one or two scholarships wasgonna be okay, and we were gonna
be right.
Bring kids in.
It was just such a challenge,and they really had to backtrack
(12:49):
their thought process and learnfrom it.
Year two, three to say, allright we gotta change this.
We, or we're never gonna bringin the kids to grow the program.
So that's a great compliment toyour administration and taking
that approach.
When you start with six, it'snot nine.
But that's a good place to startfrom.
That's 12, 15, sometimes 18players you can bring in on with
some scholarship dollars at thebaseball level.
(13:10):
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
you've had such a great run of,developing all Americans.
Coach, I'm really interested tohear kinda what your approach
is.
Bringing in really greatplayers, but developing them and
how you take that kid that justhas that special skillset, they
really have that eye for theball.
(13:31):
they have that eye for thestrike zone.
they've got a big arm, but man,they understand how to pitch.
What is your approach todeveloping that top end of your
roster?
I think the biggest thing isthat we've gotta be able to
teach these kids.
How to know who they are asplayers and, hold them
(13:53):
accountable to a level ofdiscipline that's gonna allow
them to, reach their fullpotential.
And, but they have to be able tobe their own best coach.
These kids, they come in,especially now man, they have so
much knowledge, that we didn'thave coming in, and, it's a lot
of times it's just a matter ofasking the right questions to
(14:16):
pull the right answers out ofthem, and then just putting the
guardrails on so that they keepmoving forward.
It's kinda like you, you gottakeep pushing from behind.
With the level of disciplinethat it takes to be successful
in anything in life.
And then you gotta give'em theright questions, which are the
guardrails to keep'em moving inthe right direction, to develop
(14:37):
as players and as men.
And so I think that's probablythe biggest piece to our
approach Obviously it gets muchmore detailed and complicated
than that, but that's probablythe 30,000 foot view of our
approach is we want them to beable to play the game free and
without constraint.
And we want them to be their ownbest coach.
(14:58):
and we spend a lot of time, andhave spent a lot of resources,
spend a lot of money onresources in our program to help
our players develop at thatlevel.
And a credit to all the coachesthat I've had, that I've been
able to work with, our strengthand conditioning staff since
I've been here and since we'vetransitioned.
has evolved and there is topnotch as it gets.
(15:19):
we actually just lost our headstrength coach that kind of
helped us through thattransition to another job, and
so we're going out to hiresomebody this summer.
But he was such a crucial pieceof that puzzle and development.
That's where typically thelowest hanging fruit for
development is nutrition.
Recovery, what you can do toyour body in the weight room and
(15:41):
how you can transform it.
And just the discipline to putin the work that it takes daily
to be successful.
And so that's the pieces, Iwould say the cornerstones of
us, in developing our guystrying to create an environment
where they want to be here.
They want to be here, they wannawork, they wanna show up to the
ballpark every day and get afterit.
that's gonna hopefully keep themexcited about, developing and
(16:03):
wanting to get better.
I guess, like I said, the 30,000foot view of what we try to do
in development.
The phrase is it takes a villageto raise a child and it really,
it takes a village to win achampionship And grow a program.
So I really appreciate yourhumility and how you use your
staff and how you use thesupport team around you and how
important those are, howimportant that family is to
(16:25):
really grow and.
your kids and helping them reachtheir potential.
I wanna stick with the idea ofthat special kid.
'cause that was probably myhardest thing it probably took
me eight or nine years as a headcoach before I got somewhat
decent at coaching the greatplayer.
I'm a huge Cubs fan, don't holdthat against me.
We brought in Kyle Tucker thisyear and you watch that guy at
(16:47):
the plate.
we've got some nice players.
We've got Ian Hap, we've gotSuzuki, we've got some really
nice players.
But you see that young man atthe plate and it's different.
there's a confidence.
Yeah.
you can see everything slowsdown.
when you're evaluating kids, andI know we're gonna talk a lot
about recruiting here at the endtoday, but I want to get into
(17:08):
how you look at your roster.
Do you coach everybody the same?
Are you an equal guy?
I just don't think you can winthat way.
I see you shaking your head inagreement with me.
How do you approach that reallyspecial kid compared to those
kids that are grinders and,showing up every day doing the
work, but there's that kid thatjust has that talent.
(17:29):
Yeah.
How do you approach that?
I think the best thing that youcan do for those kids, no, I
don't think you coach every kidthe same.
And that's not favoritism.
That's, you gotta know yourpeople.
And I think that's the biggestpiece of the puzzle is you have
to know your people.
And we spend a lot of timegetting to know our guys.
(17:50):
And sometimes that can bedifficult as a coach because you
have so many.
Hats to wear and you can bepulled in so many directions.
Administratively, budgetary,just all the things that we have
to do at this level to make theprogram run on a day-to-day
basis.
Sometimes it'd be easier to justwalk in my office and shut the
door and work, but I don't thinkthat we get the best results.
(18:15):
as a program if we do it thatway.
And so sometimes that means, ifI want to get work done quietly,
then I better be here earlybefore anybody's here or stay
late.
when everybody's gone, becausepeople are in and out all day,
but that piece of our kids beingin and out all day long, and
just the one-on-oneconversations to get to know
them and who they are and whatmakes'em tick.
(18:37):
Watch'em work outside ofpractice and see, the things
that they're doing and the waythat they're handling things.
I think that's how you figureout how to coach each of these
kids.
'cause they're all different.
to get more specific back toyour question about that uber
talented kid.
I think the best thing you cando for those kids in my
experience is.
To hold them accountable, fortheir discipline.
(18:58):
Yeah.
sometimes it's easy for coachesto kinda let those kids, do
their own thing because of theirlevel of talent.
And I think the more that youcan get that kid to buy into the
team culture and the teamconcept and what we're trying to
do.
I think you give that kid value,when that kid, doesn't run hard
(19:20):
outta the box in an inner squadin the fall, it's something that
you pull that kid aside and youhave a conversation about,
You've gotta understand theposition that you're in and
whether you want to be a leaderor not, your talent level makes
you someone that everyone'slooking at.
And if you are here for thereasons that we recruited you,
and that's, we want to developyou as a player and hopefully
(19:40):
professional baseball's in yourfuture.
But if it's not in the meantime,man, you came here to win.
'cause that's what we do is wetry to be successful as a team
and as a program.
And a big piece of that is thathard 90 outta the box.
on a Tuesday inter squad in,August when it's 110.
Yeah.
And so getting those kids to buyinto that, I think there's some,
(20:03):
there's a level of ownershipthat, a kid can take that's in
that position.
You put him in a position thatyou know, Hey you're a leader
for us, whether you wanna be ornot.
It doesn't matter what you say,but what you do.
and we've had some of thoseconversations, I think.
Being able to be close enough asa team and spend enough time
outside of just baseball andpractice and training that when
(20:27):
that happens, you can call thatkid out in front of the team.
And I think that speaks volumesto the rest of the guys in the
roster Man, it doesn't matterwho you are, there's an
expectation and a standard ofthe way that things are gonna be
done.
And whether I'm the red shirt atthe bottom of the roster or
whether I'm the most talentedplayer on the field, I'm gonna
(20:48):
be held to that standard.
And I think those guys that youtalked about, those grinders
that show up every day and do itbecause that's how they were
raised and that's just, yougotta have those guys as well.
Those guys are more bought intowhat you're trying to do.
When you hold everyone elseaccountable,'cause they know
they're gonna do it.
You don't have to hold thoseguys accountable in that way.
(21:09):
They're gonna show up and do itevery day because that's who
they are.
But man, their appreciation, I.
And I've made that mistake as acoach plenty.
I've been doing this since I was26.
I was a head coach at 26 yearsold.
I had no clue I was doing Metoo.
26.
Yeah.
And I made so many, I've made alot of mistakes, and I think
through those mistakes, I'velearned a lot of things.
this is probably a biggest pieceof the puzzle.
(21:31):
I feel like in the developmentof me as a coach.
And developing a group that'sreally close knit and, is gonna
overachieve their talent level,is being able to be, love a guy,
be honest with a guy, and I'mhonest with you because I love
you.
Yeah.
this is how things need to be.
And but yeah, just notsugarcoating being, matter of
(21:52):
fact, holding everybody to astandard, it brings everybody
together.
And if there are pieces thataren't gonna get on board with
that.
it shows those pretty quicklytoo, which I think, is a piece
of it as well, is figuring outwho needs to be on the bus.
And so yeah, there's a lot ofelements to that, but I think
the biggest thing is just,holding them, holding'em all
accountable so we don't coach'emall the same, but we hold'em all
(22:14):
to the same standard.
I appreciate that so much, and Ithink you've explained it in a
way that I think is so clear andis so articulate and I'm gonna
use that word too because Ithink when you're, you tell me
if I'm wrong, that great player,it's almost like you want them
to be able to learn how toarticulate why they're special.
I can sit there and watch TonyGwen talk, hitting Ted Williams
(22:38):
talk, hitting Greg Maddox, NolanRyan talk, pitching all day
long, and they've been outta thegame for years.
if we can get that great kid tounderstand, if you can
articulate it, can you teach it?
Can you help rise up those kidsthat maybe aren't able to slow
the game down like you are ordon't have that bat speed or
don't have that, that justautomatic.
(22:59):
Ability to do what you do, ifyou can help rise them up, think
about what we can do, thinkabout what our roster looks like
for sure.
When we get everybody to yourlevel, right?
Yeah.
And you're the leader of that,of how we work and what that
work ethic looks like.
So I love that coach.
that's a really special way tolook at it.
All right.
So you talk about your staff.
I want to, talk about mentoringand what that influence does.
(23:22):
When the kids are gone for thesummer, you've won the D two
national championship, you'relooking for next year.
What are you doing with yourstaff in the off season in
developing them and helping thembecome, because you've had staff
that have gone on to be greathead coaches.
What are you doing to help yourmentors become better mentors?
(23:43):
I don't know that we haveanything, that I would say is
like a programming for that.
But I would say, I think that'sa daily communication piece.
one of the big things about meand just who I am, the way I was
raised is I.
Man, if I'm gonna be around youevery day, all day, like we're
gonna be family whether you likeit or not.
and I know that can be adifferent approach, than some
(24:05):
where work is work and family isfamily.
but to me, if you can't blendwork and family in this
profession.
It doesn't work.
I've got a wife who's aprincipal and I've got two young
kids and they're not just, it'snot that it that I have my
baseball and my program, andthen I have my family.
They're interchangeable.
(24:26):
They all have to be, a part ofthe family.
And so I think that's a bigpiece for us is, our assistant
coaches, our players, thenthey're in our home eating
dinner.
They know my kids think thatthey own this ballpark.
They run around this place likeit's their home.
and so I think that is a bigpiece to, sometimes the best
(24:46):
thing that you can do.
For your players in theirmentorship, is just have them
watch you, how you operate as anadult, as a father, as a
husband.
and then from the assistantcoaching side of things, just
like I said, we do everythingtogether.
Coach White and I are bestfriends, that's super.
We're close enough that when weneed to have a disagreement, we
(25:07):
can have it, and then we moveon, like families do, and so I
think that's a big piece andjust, trying to put.
My assistants and positions tolead and have some autonomy in
pieces and parts of the programwhere I see their talent level
can help us.
There's things that Coach Whitedoes much better than I do, and
(25:29):
what I've tried to do is put himin position.
To lead our program in thoseareas where he's better than me.
and I think that, if you can dothat and not micromanage and
give them some autonomy at thesame time, it's kinda like the
development of the player thatwe talked about, pushing them to
standard.
(25:51):
Asking the right questions andgiving them the guardrails and
allowing them to just keepmoving forward and encouraging
them when they do things well,and I think that's probably the
biggest piece of staffdevelopment is just, man, just
same thing.
It's, the old adage of, peopledon't care what you know unless
they know that you care about'em.
I think that comes first.
And then I think beyond that.
(26:12):
It's just about trying torecognize talent and put people
in positions to be successfulbased on, the gifts that the
Lord has given them.
That's great.
That's great.
I love that too.
Coach.
I want to get into in-gamedecision making,'cause you don't
win 41 games, you don't win anational championship without
having to make some hard callsat the end of games and make
tough decisions.
(26:33):
When you think about.
End games.
How much are you preparing as acoach, as a staff?
Okay.
It's four.
Four.
Bottom of the seventh.
We already know who we want touse in the situation.
Righty, lefty, whatever that maybe.
How are you balancing dataintuition?
(26:54):
Assistant coach, input, playerinput.
Yeah.
How do you guys make decisionsand how do you go about that
late in games?
Yeah, I think it's a, That'ssomething that has been
developed over time.
One the game and the resourcesthat we have as far as scouting.
and, analytics have changed justin the last five years
(27:15):
tremendously, right?
And so I would say that.
it's so nice to have thatinformation but I spent a long
time as a coach without any ofthat information.
And it was 100% based on thethings that I saw every day in
these guys and my gut intuition.
but I made a lot of wrongdecisions in that gut intuition.
(27:36):
And it's nice to have theanalytics piece to I think if
anything, it helps you to knowgoing into situations where
you're gonna lean.
And you gotta trust your peopleas well.
when we're making decisions, Irarely do, I just make a call
and go.
I've got, coach Pope, one of myassistants, coach White.
even our graduate assistant,whoever I think can add value to
(27:58):
the decision making process,they're gonna have something,
I'm gonna ask'em a question thatI want an answer to, and then
we're gonna have to make adecision and go.
But I think having input, fromall those people is helpful for
me in making a decision.
and so the analytics piece, thetrusting your people, just for
an example, this weekend we werein a situation and I've got a
(28:21):
senior catcher that's been withus for a few years, who, him and
I have a tremendousrelationship.
He's got a tremendousrelationship with all of our
pitching staff.
Knows those guys as well as Ido, if not better.
I'll ask him, we're going tomake a decision.
Am I taking a starter out?
Am I going to the closer?
What do you see?
tell me what you're seeing backthere.
Where's he at, mentality wise?
(28:42):
Where's his stuff?
And then he's.
He knows that he's, if I ask himthat question, he's entitled to
that opinion and he's gonnagimme a real answer.
And I think that's the otherpiece too, is you gotta give
those people that you're askingthose questions to you, they
need to know that their answeris, I.
Plays a part.
And I'm not just asking to ask.
And I think that goes to justthe relationship piece.
(29:03):
You've gotta, they've gotta knowyour heart and Right.
Know that, when you're askingthat question, you value their
opinion.
May not mean you make theirdecision, the one they wanted
every time, but that theiropinions valued.
and and then for me that their.
They're gonna see things thatI'm not, and I'm always a, it's
the best idea, is the best idea.
(29:24):
It doesn't matter if it's mine,if it's a player's, if it's our
trainers, if it's an assistantcoach, if it's the best idea, I.
It sounds like the best idea tome, that's what we're gonna do,
right?
I think that's how you get downto making those tough decisions
in games and then sometimesthere is no right one, you gotta
know that as a coach.
Sometimes there's no rightdecision.
(29:45):
you just work with theinformation that you have.
And what you truly believe basedon the knowledge that you have
of each one of these guys andtheir skillset, their mental
ability, the situationsobviously they've been in
previously in their success andor failure.
Watching'em in practice everyday and how they're progressing.
there's so many factors and Ithink it's like a puzzle.
(30:05):
You're trying to put all thosepieces together in your head.
and then, you go with your,ultimately, sometimes you gotta
go with that intuition.
Yeah.
'cause there's no rightdecision.
And I guess that's a long-windedanswer to say.
I think you factor in everythingand never make any rash
decision, and you plan a lot sothat you're prepared when those
decision points come up ingames, right?
(30:26):
I was a college basketballcoach, so some of my best
memories, I remember the winswere games tied.
There's three seconds to go my15th player comes up to me in a
timeout behind me and goes,coach.
We should run play number six.
Yeah.
and I stop and go, that'sexactly what we should run right
now, and that kid, he became myassistant coach and he's become
(30:48):
a really good high school coach.
And he just had the brain and wewon that game because he made
that decision that I wasstruggling with.
He made it easy'cause he wasseeing the game differently than
I was at that point.
So I love your answer because.
you never know where thatmotivation, where that
intuition, where that gut isgonna come from.
And, you've been doing this longenough that, if you're not
(31:10):
listed to your gut, something'swrong because your intuition is
gonna be probably right.
80, 90% of the time after allthe years you've been through.
coach I.
I just love talking to you.
I can talk to you all day andI'm so excited.
can I do a little rapid firewith you?
And it doesn't have to be the a,a real quick answer, but I have
some things I like to do withcoaches.
Yeah.
Just get your thoughts on somethings.
Let's do it.
(31:30):
favorite memory from yournational championship?
Gosh, there's so many.
probably, walking off, in theregional, final to get to the
World Series.
man, we had an improbable run.
We were, if you go back and lookat it, And I was new to division
three, so there's a lot ofthings I didn't understand about
the postseason process.
(31:52):
I figured'em out in 2018 and weactually sent the team home.
the whole team, we had exitmeetings we lost in the first
round of our conferencetournament.
we knew we had a good season,but I didn't know enough about
the process.
To know that we had a reallygood chance to get in, I
thought, there's no way we'regetting in.
And so we sent'em all home.
and I had four of'em in New YorkCity.
(32:14):
The night that we found out thatwe were in we're the last team
to make it in.
Oh, that's crazy.
And so we bring them, we bring'em back, practice for a day,
bus to Dallas and go to theairport.
and then we go on this crazyride.
and we're down to the last game.
We had come back outta thelosers bracket, five games in
three days.
We had a double dip RhodesCollege to get to the World
(32:35):
Series.
We beat'em in the first game.
We're down four to one goinginto the ninth in game two.
And I'm, I can't remembervividly standing on the steps of
the dugout thinking.
Man, what a run this was, ifthis is it, just what a run it
was.
And then next thing you know,it's, single hit by pitch walk.
(32:57):
Double here.
We got bases loaded and a chanceto win a game and we hit a hard
ground ball through the, in thesixth hole it goes tough.
Backhand play off of theshortstop.
Our third base coach Grafton,sending the guy at second play
at the plate.
We slide in and we win.
And it was just nuts.
I've got chills just tellingthat story.
(33:18):
When you write your memoir, youneed to start it with that
story.
That is fantastic.
and yeah, I would say thatmoment specifically just
probably stands out more thanany other, in that run in 18.
When you think about helpingyoung coaches, is there a book,
something on leadership or apodcast, is there something that
you're into or has really helpedyou that you would share with a
(33:41):
young coach?
I don't know that it's anythingspecific.
One book, one podcast.
I think that there's somethingto be pulled from everyone
that's, putting your path onthis earth.
and I try to put those things inmy life where they're in front
of me, Coaches podcast, everycoaches or winning mentality or
(34:02):
Twitter account or Instagram.
If I'm gonna be on those things,I want'em to have value, right?
and I love to watch little shortvideos, that are out there of
great coaches and what theybelieve and the things that, and
watching them talking to theirteam.
I love to watch.
Postgame interviews with coachesI love it.
you find somebody that youreally believe in and it's I
wanna watch that.
(34:23):
how is he looking at his team?
what is he saying, about thegame.
and I think, following thosecoaches that you start to just
have a feel for, man, that'swhat I wanna be like.
And that's.
The kind of coach that I seemyself as in following those
things and watching thosethings.
I think having a growth mindset,wanting to get better, and
soaking up everything you canpossibly soak up, so that when
(34:45):
it comes time for you to makedecisions on how you're gonna do
things, you've got all thisinformation and then now you've
just gotta discern it and pieceit together how it's gonna work
for you.
Perfect.
You already answered my nextquestion about advice you'd give
to a young coach, and I thinkthat's such a big deal, is you
soak everything up, listen toall the great coaches, listen to
everything, and decide who am I?
(35:06):
You don't have to copy anybodyto go to, but listening and
understanding what your tone andwhat your balance and how you
want your emotions to comethrough.
So I, I love that.
If I said you had to defineyourself with one word, what one
word defines Coach BrentPorsche.
One word.
(35:26):
it'd be hard for me to say anyother word than love.
I think that everything elsestarts with that.
And just a quick story, but.
When I was in my first year ofcoaching when I was 26, I was at
LSU Alexandria, N-A-N-A-I-Aschool.
And we had a sophomore on ourteam, named Brandon Goen.
And we were, it was January18th, first day of practice.
(35:50):
they're doing outfield drills.
I'm with the infielders and hepasses out on the field.
We call 9 1 1, we ambulancecomes out there.
We, I did CPR.
long story short, Brandon passedaway that day.
That kid touched so manypeople's lives and that
experience and having to try tofigure out how to lead his best
(36:14):
friends through that experiencewhere I had no idea what I was
doing as a 26-year-old hasshaped so much of who I am
today, not just as a coach, butas a father.
I can't imagine the hurt and thepain that his parents, even to
this day still go through.
I'm still in contact with them.
They're unbelievable people.
(36:34):
but that experience, probablyshaped who I am and me using
that word love.
And meaning it, more thananything.
A lot of programs I've beeninvolved with talk about the
program being a family.
you talk about figuring outfamily, whenever you get into a
situation like that.
And I've tried to bring theimportance of that, the
(36:56):
importance of relationships and,I don't know that I would've.
Had that situation not happened,I don't know that as a
26-year-old, I wear Brandon'snumber to this day.
He was number 31.
I wear number 31.
and that's just a reminder forme, that this game is so much
bigger and what we're doing isso much bigger than just the
(37:17):
baseball.
and I think that probablydefines who I am as a coach in a
lot of ways.
Who I am as a person.
Coach, thank you so much foryour soul and your spirit and
your faith and for sharingstories like that.
Brandon, I know it's hard tohear this, but Brandon was lucky
to have you at that point inyour life and to be there in the
(37:38):
end and to love him and care forhim and those kids around.
and the family around that hadto go through that to have you
there, and be the backbone thatthey all needed at that point.
So as much as my heart is heavyfor you, even after all these
years, and, I'm just realthankful that you're in this
world of coaching that we, youand I both love.
So thanks for your time today.
(37:59):
It means a lot to me.
Matt.
Thank you man.
I appreciate it.
Love what you're doing.
Thank you for giving us aplatform to talk about what we
do, and thank you for giving usa platform to talk about these
great kids that we're fortunateenough to coach every day.
It's my pleasure, coach.
It's a real joy.
good luck the rest of theseason.
We're gonna be cheering for youall the way through.
Thank you.
(38:20):
That was Coach Brent Porsche,and if you listened all the way
through, you know exactly whythis man has built one of the
most admired programs in collegebaseball.
From winning the Division threeNational Championship to turning
UT Tyler into a true divisiontwo powerhouse, to leading with
compassion through moments ofdeep loss.
Coach Poor shows us whatsignificant coaching really
(38:41):
looks like.
Right now.
His team is ranked in the topfive nationally with a 41 to
nine record, and they're playingtheir best baseball this season
heading into the postseason andstill in the middle of all that.
He took the time to join us andshare his story that says it
all.
All right.
If you want more conversationslike this one, head over to
coach matt rogers.com where youcan find past podcast episodes.
(39:05):
Read my blog, download freerecruiting resources, and learn
about my new book, significantRecruiting, the Playbook for
Perspective College Athletes.
And remember, winning is good,impact is better, but
significance, that's the goal.
Thanks for listening.
I'll see you next time onSignificant Coaching with Matt
Rogers.
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