In Focus: Strong Foundation Builds Toward Long-Term Success
November 02, 2016 | General, Baseball
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
When Lindsay Meggs was hired to coach Washington's baseball team in 2009, he brought four goals to the program.
• Set a high academic standard: "It's one of the greatest public institutions in the world," he said.
• Develop players: "If you come here and help us win, you should play professional baseball," he said. "You're going to be talented enough to do that."
• Create a winning culture: "Because of the stadium we can look kids in the eye and say, 'If you come here, you're going to have a chance to be in the postseason,'" he said.
• Build relationships: "We want guys to look back and say this was the best four years of their life and the guys they played with are the guys in their wedding, the guys they vacation with, lifelong relationships that started here and are never going to end," he said.
By focusing on those four goals, the four pillars required to build a sustainable winner in the Pac-12, the Huskies can fix their focus on one thing, finishing the season with a trip to Omaha, Neb.
"Our vision for our guys is if you come here, you're going to have a chance to go to the College World Series," he said.
To realize that vision takes time. For Washington, that building process started with Meggs. It continued with the completion of Husky Ballpark and the program's baseball facilities and it is pushed over the top by ensuring the right recruits are joining the program.
So far, everything is on track.
Meggs has the program pointed in the right direction – a 202-187-1 record over eight seasons – and, for his work so far, was awarded a three-year contract extension that will keep in at Washington through 2023.
"Since we opened up the ballpark, we have the second best winning percentage in the Pac-12," he said. "We were able to solidify our staff and those guys were able to help me sell our vision, this facility and the Northwest to kids all over the country."
Washington's vision for success, and the ability of the coaching staff to articulate that message helped secure one of the nation's top recruiting classes. This is a group of players that took four years to lock down.
"This was the first class these guys really had the opportunity to sink their teeth into long term," Meggs said. "They're excited. We're excited. The kids are excited. Our baseball community is going to be excited."
These relationships were years in the making, but that is what it takes to recruit elite level talent. In fact, Meggs said he was recently joking with freshman Christian Jones that they've known each other so long they feel like old friends.
"I feel like I've known him for 10 years," Meggs said with a smile.
But, it is one thing to recruit an elite crop of prospects. The class is ranked in the top-10 nationally by three publications: D1Baseball.com (8), Baseball America (9) and Perfect Game (9). It is something entirely different to develop those athletes into productive Division I athletes. That's the next step in the process.
"To actually get them here and watch them do their thing has been great," associate head coach Jason Kelly said. "It is a little bit of relief when it's all said and done and they actually get here. You feel good about it, but now you've got to teach them to play the way we want to play, bring them together and do all of those things. It's never really over, but it's just another phase of their development."
It helps to have a veteran core of players who are excited about the potential of these young players.
"They don't feel threatened," Meggs said.
Kelly added, "For having a bunch of new guys, we also have a pretty good core, especially of position players, who were a regional team, a Pac-12 title contender. To be able to integrate some of the new, talented players in with that experience is going to be huge for us."
This is a group that has embraced the four goals Meggs has laid out for the Huskies. It is a group that enjoys their time spent at Husky Ballpark, a collection of players with bright futures.
"There's total ownership," Meggs said. "Wherever we go, when guys come back, they always feel better about where they are because of the resources we have. They love this place."
It would be easy to say the sky is the limit for this group of Huskies. They have talent. They have experience. They have the ballpark and the coaching staff. The foundation is set. And now, as a group, their focus is fixed on Omaha.
"Everybody is trying to do that same thing, get to the College World Series," Meggs said.
