Entry #3 - 9/17/03

Since my last entry it has been very busy on campus and in our program. The days of September seem to be flying by and it feels like our coaching staff can never have enough minutes in the day. Mother Nature has blessed us with outstanding weather and it has made for some wonderful afternoons at the ball park. Speaking of Mother Nature, please keep all the families and loved ones who may reside in the path of Hurricane Isabel in your prayers. During my junior year in college I witnessed firsthand the power of Mother Nature and the strength of a hurricane when "Hugo" blasted through Charleston and the east coast. Never in my entire life could I believe wind and rain could cause the destruction I saw. Everything in it's path was destroyed. It is a testament to the fine people in the city of Charleston to recover as fast as it did.

I want to thank all of our parents and fans who have been attending our intersquad games. You have been able to see some pretty good baseball and I hope you have enjoyed watching these boys compete against each other. I am anticipating this weekend's series to be even more intense and more competitive. In two weeks we will wrap up our fall season with the Blue and Gold World Series and that should be an exciting weekend. The "Players of the Game" for the last series were Trevor Smith, Ryan Spriggs, Greg Roberts and Josiah Glafenhein.

As our season progresses our athletes are beginning to understand the how important it is to take care of your body and to stay healthy. We are very spoiled here at ETSU to have one of the finest athletic training departments in the entire country. In the state of Tennessee only the facility for the Titans may rival our Buc Sports Medicine Center. Buc Sports was the creation of our long time trainer Mr. Jerry Robertson. "Doc" recently retired this past summer (and I'm sure he is enjoying retirement and driving his wife crazy), but all of us here now are benefiting from his legacy and dream which he made come true. All of our coaches and athletes should be very grateful of what "Doc" has contributed to ETSU and especially for all the lives he has touched. I know I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to work with him. When "Doc" retired he turned the reigns over to his protégé, Mr. Brian Johnston who has done a tremendous job in his first few months. "Doc" has trained Brian well as he is very conscientious about his job, a tireless worker and always has in mind the best interest of the athletes and ETSU. I guess where I am going with this is that all of us in the athletic department should be very grateful to the entire staff at Buc Sports for what they do for our athletes and our programs. Our training staff works very long hours in order to make sure our athletes are as healthy and comfortable as possible. I know sometimes as coaches we take our training staff for granted, but where would we be without them? I personally want to thank everyone at Buc Sports for everything they do for baseball at ETSU.

As any coach will tell you it always brightens your day when your former players call or come by the office to see how you are doing or to check on the program. Just recently Andy Baxter and Reid Casey have returned to Johnson City from their season in the Cleveland Indians organization. Andy missed the entire year after having shoulder surgery and has struggled to get it 100% again. His injury has really held him back. I've watched him take batting practice with our guys the last couple of days and even though his shoulder is nowhere close to where he needs it to be, he can still flat out hit. I have no doubt if he could have remained healthy since he started pro ball, he would be very close to the big leagues. Not many humans can swing a baseball bat like he does. Reid had an outstanding year with the Indians and continues to get better every year. He was promoted to the South Atlantic League midway through the season and continued to have success. Reid has "electric" stuff and it will be interesting and fun to see what the future has in store for him. It is really nice to have these guys around our players and around our program during their off-season. Another former player, Travis Blevins was on campus this past week. Travis actually graduated before my first year at ETSU but stopped by anyway to see how things were going. Travis is doing very well and just received a promotion with the Pharmaceutical Company he has been working for. Travis is still living in the Chattanooga area.

Before I sign off I would be remiss if I did not wish my father (Tom Skole) a happy birthday. My father turned 71 on September 13th and I hate it that I could not be in Atlanta to spend the day with him. My father is a tremendous person and has always been my Hero. My older brothers (Mike and Scott) and I always thought we were pretty good athletes in our day, but if you add all of our athleticism together we still come up short compared to our father. I have always looked to my father as being bigger than life and he never ceases to amaze me. This past summer while visiting my parents home in Atlanta I sat next to my Dad as he whipped off the answer to about 25 consecutive answers as we watched Jeopardy. I just left the room shaking my head. My father has always been able to do many things well, but the things he has done the best is being a husband, a father and a friend. He has taught me so much and I hope one day my relationship with my own children is as loving and nurturing as ours has been. Happy Birthday Pops! I look forward to seeing you soon. Until next time...

Coach Skole