Baseball Coach Joe Jordano Talks About the Upcoming Season
11/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Coach Joe Jordano Talks About the Upcoming Season
11/4/2004
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Head Coach Joe Jordano guided the Panthers to the Big East Championships in 2004. |
Q&A with Baseball Coach Joe Jordano
On your goals for the 2005 season:
?Every year our primary goal is to win the Big East Championship and continue in post-season play. Regardless of the players we have returning or lost, that is always going to be our goal.?
On losing an outstanding senior class and how he expects to make up for it:
?When you look at what we lost, an All-Big East third baseman, an All-Big East shortstop, an All-Big East first basemen, the Big East Player of the Year, the Big East Co-Pitcher of the Year, a professional draft pick in T.J. Gornati and a phenomenal catcher; and when put all that together, that is a big hit for any program to take. But we feel very confident with the guys we have returning and the guys we have recruited to try and fill those holes. There?s no question that we will be a different type of team. The challenge for us is to try and exceed the expectations we have on a day-to-day basis.?
On the newcomers:
?I think that everyone that we have in our program is important to what we are doing. We feel very good about the pitchers that we brought in, and we feel very good about the position players that we brought in. But to single anyone out at this stage of the game, because we haven?t played anyone yet, would be premature. I will tell you, unequivocally, I?m very pleased with the effort and the progress we made. We?re going to be a different type of team, and only time will tell how that plays out on the field. It?s a team that I like.?
On the potential of the newcomers in the line-up:
?You can?t manufacture experience, and potentially, we could have two, three, four freshmen in the line-up at any given time, so that?s a challenge. Freshmen make freshmen mistakes. The ones that will learn quickly, the better off we?re going to be as a team. But they have to contribute and they have to mature quickly for us to be successful as a team.?
On how his young team will mature:
?It?s game experience. We can match the team against each other, like we?ve been doing, that?s good from a competitive standpoint, but conversely it doesn?t mirror the experience we need to gain when we?re playing outside competition. There?s only one way to do that, and that?s to play.?
On second baseman Jim Negrych:
?We expect from Jim what we expect from every player, and that is to mentally and physically prepare for every game, and to execute as well as he is capable of executing everyday, whether in practice or in a game. Obviously, the good Lord gives each of us a talent, and some have more talent than others. He is a very talented individual, we need him to lead. He?s in different capacity this year, because teams are going to be gunning for him, we have to be able to protect him in front and behind the line-up, so he can do some things offensively. We have very high expectations for Jim, as we do for all our players.?
On strengths/weaknesses after fall season:
?I like this team. It?s exciting because we have to coach them up a little more because they are young and we have a lot of new players. Coach (Joel) Dombkowski has been doing a great job with the hitters, and Coach (Dan) Nimemire has been doing a great job with the catchers and infielders. We?ve seen improvement in both of those areas. I, along with by other assistant coach Coach (Tom) Hoffman, have been putting a game plan together for our pitchers in the off season. It?s coming together. There?s a lot to learn in the fall about how to play as a team and what we expect as a team; then to identify our weakness, and solidify our strengths. I think that process has pretty much has run its course, and we have a pretty good idea of what we have to do in the off season.?