Episode #72: Kevin Brooks

 "Don't Mess with Happy" — Kevin Brooks on Building a DII Powerhouse at Angelo State

In this episode of the Significant Coaching Podcast, Matt Rogers sits down with one of the true legends of Division II baseball — Kevin Brooks, Head Baseball Coach at Angelo State University.

With over 800 career wins, seven College World Series appearances, and a 2023 national title, Coach Brooks has turned ASU into a perennial powerhouse. But beyond the trophies and records, what makes him truly special is his humility, his passion for the game, and his relentless drive to compete.

Coach Brooks reflects on the lessons learned during two decades at the helm, how he defines success, why he still sees himself as a “competitor,” and the simple but powerful advice that has shaped his coaching: “Don’t mess with happy.”

Whether you're a coach, parent, or athlete, this conversation is packed with wisdom, perspective, and leadership gold.

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode, and check out all the free resources and tools available at CoachMattRogers.com.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Significant Coaching Podcast, where we dive into the stories, the strategies and mindsets of coaches who are building programs and changing lives through sport. I'm your host, Matt Rogers. Today's guest is a name that needs no introduction in the world of Division two baseball, but let me try. Anyway. Kevin Brooks is not just the head baseball coach at Angelo State. He is the. Head coach at a SU in their history. Since founding the program in 2005, coach Brooks has built an absolute powerhouse over 800 career wins, seven trips to the NCAA Division two College World Series A 2023 National Championship, and more importantly, a culture of excellence, humility, and fierce competitiveness that defines what makes the D two level so special. I've said it before, if there's a Mount Rushmore of Division two Baseball, Kevin Brooks is already on it. He's one of the true godfathers of the game at this level, and despite the rings, the banners and the records, he remains grounded. He's generous with his time and passionate about his players and the game itself. When I asked him how he defines himself, he gave me one word competitor and when asked about the Secret to sustaining success over two decades, he shared this piece of advice he received years ago. Don't mess with happy, simple, wise, and true to how he leads. All right, before we jump in. If you haven't already, please take a moment to follow, subscribe, and leave a review wherever you listen. It helps more coaches, parents, and athletes find this podcast. And be sure to visit coach matt rogers.com for free resources, weekly blog posts, recruiting strategy sessions, and to order your copy of my book, significant Recruiting. Alright, let's get into it. Here's my conversation with Coach Kevin Brooks. Coach, thank you so much for being on. It's a pleasure to talk to you, especially the heart of your season. And I know you, luckily you get a little break here going into playoffs. But just thanks for being a part of this. Honored to be here and looking forward to visiting with you. I know we don't know each other very well, but 25 years ago, I interviewed for the head baseball job at Milliken University, and a week later I interviewed for the head basketball job at Maryville University. Oh goodness. Like a week or two. Wow. And I was so young. I was 25, 26 years old and I was runner up for the baseball job and I got the basketball job, so my course could have gone a completely different way'cause I, baseball's been my love. But my question for you do you still get excited putting that uniform on every day and walking out to the field? Oh, absolutely. Real quick, you're talking about the basketball, baseball thing. Yeah. Growing up I was lucky. My, my dad was a professor at a junior college at McLennan Community College in Waco. Yeah. And so I was lucky enough to be around some really great coaches, players, et cetera, growing up, but. I always thought I wanted to be basketball coach. My first coaching job was a five and 6-year-old youth basketball and is small world. That guy ended up being the head of our graduate school in kinesiology here at Angelo State, but he was the director. The Woodway Family Center and they needed coaches. He's man, I think you'd be good at this. And so five and six year olds was my first job. We went undefeated. We did dominate. But anyway, so I always thought I was gonna be basketball coach. Unfortunately, my skills not that they were any good at baseball either, but, definitely pushed me more towards baseball, but as a youngster, I sat on the bench in elementary school, junior high, keeping the rebound chart, yeah. For all that stuff. And was lucky enough to be around some really good deals coaches, and then ultimately ended up being a little better player at baseball. So that's the ride I went. But it's interesting that you interviewed both in college, so that's a crazy deal. It was, it's amazing. I'm still close, really close to the guy that almost hired me at Milliken. He's now the president of the University of Ozarks. And we still talk about it. If I wouldn't have been so wet behind the ears, I think he would've hired me. But they had a couple of guys that had more experience than me. But it's just a crazy path how we get on this journey as coaches and what you've done is so impressive. I want to talk, obviously about what you've built at Angelo State,'cause you've built this from the ground up. When you look back, what are some of those core values that you instilled in day one, that you're still, that you're still using today? Are there things that you're just really proud of that I went into it, I was gonna do it this way and I'm still doing it a little bit that way. Yeah, you asked too, and I didn't answer your question of do I still get excited and yes, I do. I. Most of us that are in this business. It's not a business. It's a calling. And so I really am very passionate about that. And anytime of my players come in and go, coach, I know it's a business I get a little upset with'em.'Cause I'm like the day it is I'm outta here. Luckily have not gotten to that point. I hope I never do. The first team, and that's one thing every, we've done a lot of good things, but all the stuff that's still wrong, there's nobody to blame but me. That part we're still trying to work and improve, but I. The first team was so key, and we talked about that a ton. That first year of the standard's gonna be set by you guys. And we want it to be high and, that first group it was, I go back and think of many of the days,'cause you haven't ever been to Angelo State, but our facilities are just unbelievable now. But back then they were not I remember the very first thing I did when we started the program was we needed new cages. So went and got new cages. New nets turfed it and within the first week, somebody walked through there and took a knife and just cut the whole side. And I'm just like, okay, build fence around the cages. That's probably the first place it needs to go, but, anyway, but yeah, we, we started every practice, the first 10 minutes of practice was picking up rocks and the last 10 minutes of practice every day was picking up rocks. And so to see where we've come, that first group we had one scholarship. And that doesn't go real far. And but that group came in and boy, we had a lot of talented guys still, I think our biggest draft class we've ever had. I think we had seven off that team drafted and but it was a bunch of guys and I always, kid around with them that nobody wanted, including us probably. But we had to take somebody, right? We had to field the team. And those guys just took the opportunity to work and as I said, we didn't have the facilities that we had today, but, they just the work ethic that they instilled in all our future groups, I think is something that is a key. Cog in the machine. And I think a lot of that too comes, I think teams become a reflection of the communities they represent. And, we're out here in West Texas and you wanna talk about salt of the earth, you good as gold people that work their tails off. And so we to keep up with all the regular people in town. We've gotta, do the same thing. And so I think that's something that that first group definitely established and hopefully we continue to do to this day, immediately brings up the idea of winning the right way for me. When you live and work and teach in a town like that, in an area like that where everybody's blue collar everybody knows what it's like to have dirt under their fingernails. What does that mean to you when you hear winning the right way? And how do your young men handle that? I hope and we've been really fortunate to, to win a lot. But I, it's really important because, again, baseball is the best of all the sports, in my opinion, the best teacher of life. The, and having success. And I do, I get really frustrated watching college baseball now on TV and pro baseball with regards to, I like to call it pro baseball, but we gotta celebrate a single and we, and we don't do that. We're one of the few teams that, that doesn't do that anymore. And we want to, I guess we want to celebrate our successes, but we expect to have success. And again, it's it's a fine line and we don't want to take away their individuality and all that stuff, but, I just it it's a slippery slope, I guess you would say. It is. It's, but anyway, but I think our guys have done a fabulous job of we know what the job entails. We want to go win and we want to do it the right way, as you said. And we're gonna lose too. And so we wanna make sure that's done the right way. We're not going undefeated. We know that, but. At the end of the day, we have a scoreboard. It's there for a reason. Yep. If the only reason we can celebrate a season is a national championship at the end of it, then we're probably going about it the wrong way. And it really is. And we're sitting here, we're getting ready to play where, we lose and it's over. And I don't want that to be the case, but. Whether we end up national champions or we don't even make an NCAA tournament. When your players have given you everything they have, how at the end of the year can you say it wasn't successful? I. Yeah, I agree. I told somebody the other day, I go, probably the best coaching season I had is the year we transitioned Maryville from D three to D two. We had zero scholarships, all D three players, and we were playing in the toughest division two basketball league in the country. Everybody had a six 11 division one transfer. We put a six four center on the floor, right? But it was the best coaching I ever did. It was the most. Fun I ever had, even though we only won three games.'cause those kids just, they never quit it. They got better every single day. And by the end of the year, we were beating all these full scholarship schools, yes. So I, I know exactly what you're talking about and I appreciate that so much. We're gonna, we're gonna have a really good conversation after this on recruiting. We're gonna do a second episode. But do you recruit that mindset more than you instill it? Do you find. Are you finding great kids that you have to sometimes instill that attitude? I think it's both. I think it's a numbers deal. And so from the start as if we only go get the kids that don't need help, then we're missing out on some truly miraculous stories. Yes. However. You can't go try to recruit a team full of that because unfortunately they're not where we want'em to be yet as players, people, et cetera. But they maybe need a little more direction on how to get there. And they can do it with some direction, but they gotta be surrounded by people that are showing'em the right direction. Yeah. And our, we've always had a ratio, to be honest with you, from the very start. And roster sizes obviously have really expanded in the last, since covid five to seven years. But, we used to have a roster of about 30 and our ratio was always, five to one. So we wanted five guys that we knew. Gonna go to class, gonna work their tails off, whatever. And then for every five of those, we'd go take a chance on somebody that was extremely gifted on the baseball field, but maybe not where we want'em to be on the other things and. We have failed in some of those instances, but we got a lot more success stories than failures. And so I think that's one of the biggest things you've gotta do. So in that sense, we look for ones that it's instilled in already and then we try to instill in those that it's not. And a lot of that again is not, I mean it's the coaches, but it's, it is their peers. It's the players and training. Players how to coach. That's it. Ideally what we want is 30 something coaches out there because you can't be everywhere all the time. But you get, get guys hopefully saying the exact same things you would say if you were there. I love it. And I love how you put it numerically, the five to one.'cause it's hard to be that one when you're surrounded by these guys. They're going to class every day. They're busting their butt, they're showing up to practice early, they're getting dirty, right? They're doing all the right things. And you're the one guy that's not, and that's 25 to five on a 30 man roster. That five gets in line real fast because it shows when they're not in line. It does. And like I say, we're going on 20, 21 years, I think now, we really don't do a heck of a whole lot as coaches. The players it, it's, and what, ideally that's where you wanna be, right? Yeah. You want it to be a player led team experiences. I tell, I tell'em all the time this isn't my team. It's y'all's. So whatever standard y'all want it to be, that's what it's gonna be. I can yell and scream and do whatever. At the end of the day, it's it's up to y'all. I love that. And I was the same way. I wanted my, I told my guys we'll be a good team if I'm the leader. We're gonna be a great team. If you're the leader, if you're taking ownership, I knew we were gonna win. I knew we were gonna have great years when. When in the middle of practice, one of my seniors would stop practice, go, coach, we need to deal with this. We, and they would take over, they would start teaching. They would help that freshman and kick some butt. They would make it clear, Hey, we don't do things that way. I love it. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Zero. Losing seasons. As a head coach, what does that mean to you? Oh I don't know. Never really thought about it. Because coach, very many of you out there again, blessed with really good assistant coaches and great players. It's good that we've had some years, that are way up there. It just we're consistent, and I think that's good. We try to be consistent again. We all fail, alright, but the point of every day is getting up and trying to be as good as we can. And like I say, we slip and fall and when we do, we get right back up and try again. And that's baseball to a, in a nutshell. And again, that's life and I don't know. It's good. I hope we can continue that. But means we like to say, got a lot of really good players. You didn't have all those great kids when you took the job and you didn't know what your assistants were gonna look like. You didn't know what those kids were gonna look like. Let's, Let's talk practices. Let's get down the dirt'cause this is where I love to be. Okay. It took me probably 3, 4, 5 years to really realize as a head coach, winning came down to about four or five things that we had to be really good at. And we had to rebound, we had to defend, we had to be physical, we had to be, we had to be in great shape. And once I figured that out, that consistency started to happen because I was building that into my practices. I was making sure there was never a day where those things weren't our focus. And, being a teammate, things like that. Are there things that. You just want to make sure you're hitting every practice. I'm just gonna hit, you're gonna throw, you're gonna, you're gonna defend. Are there principles that you want in every practice that your staff understands? Your guys understand? Yeah. Just from a baseball perspective free bases again, I think baseball and many sports. The, you don't have to win, just don't lose. Yeah. And that's our number one thing is we try, but we're gonna try not to lose and that sort of backwards. And I probably could say that better, but I. If you're gonna, you're gonna have to beat us. To beat us. We're not gonna beat ourselves. And yeah. We're not gonna walk guys, we're gonna play great defense. And then on the other hand, we're gonna try to put as much pressure on you where you do make mistakes. We're gonna have great strike zone discipline. We're not gonna chase just all the little things that everybody knows. That's what you need to do, right? In order to win. But it's easier said than done, when we're in the fall and in the fall we enter squad a ton, right? But we play very we play a very different set of rules that you rewarded for doing what we want you to do. And it'd take forever to go through all those things, but basically we're trying to reward, the actions that we want and then dis, we don't want you doing these things. And so there's a little more penalties for that type of stuff. But it starts in the fall and then, yeah, it's every day. And I think that's the one biggest thing, one of my very favorite players, my first player on that first team, and he told me years later, but he was like I was like, he's gonna get tired and he is gonna shut up and he's gonna quit. Making, gring about this or that. And then he goes, and that's when it turned around when I finally figured out he's not gonna stop ever, so I might as well just do what he asked me to do. And then he took off. So I think that's a lot of it. They're like, yeah, I'm getting older, but I still it's important enough to where we do not waiver on, on the standards. I. How many championships have you seen in any sport where the coach wavered on those things? It's not the way you wanna live life. Yeah. It's just so hard. And I'm like I was a hard, I was a hard guy to play for,'cause it's not that I was mean, or I, I was un I didn't have un unrealistic expectations, but I knew what hard work was. And I knew that we only had two hours a day together. We needed to get the most out of that. And if we got the most out of that, by the time we got to the second half of the season, that two hours turned into an hour half.'cause that's all we needed, right? Yes. Yeah. And that's the biggest thing. This team earlier this year I'd say January, when we came back February and we're practicing way we're prac, so we've got the practice schedule made. Yeah. And we're staying on time on that, which that means that's bad. On. And finally, we got it and we're done 30, 40 minutes early every day. And that's what should be happening. Yeah. And and they got that and anyway, so that was really cool to see them grow in that area. And so yes, when you're going shorter than your plan means, everything's rolling along, going good. I love it. I wanna talk a little bit about chasing in the zone, and you see it at the pro level. It used to be if you struck out a hundred times in Major League baseball, you might not have a job next year. Now it's 150 strikeouts a year. It's about average for these guys. Yeah. I'm a huge Cubs fan, so don't hold this against me. And he's no longer a Cub, but he's somebody I still pay attention to. You know when a guy wins you a World Series after a hundred some years you keep track of him. If I gave you Javi Baez for a couple of months. That's funny. He's one I use. In an example of my players, I, he is probably one of my least favorite players in major League baseball. What drives me crazy. Just drives you crazy. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just drives you anyway. How do you get a guy who's been a free swinger coming outta high school, maybe junior college, just a natural athlete picks up the ball and then all of a sudden. Pitchers are throwing 92 curve ball's, 81, throwing a slider, throwing a sinker, and they're chasing how do you get that out of'em? Oh, it's hard. Again, continual reinforcement hopefully is one. And then obviously there's so many tools now the with technology, right? That, that we have. And for example here, we've got the hit tracks and then we've got. Yeah, a pro batter pitching machine, which is the, one of the most awesome things in the world. And so you can get in there and face game-like MLB pitching and you got the strike zone. Yeah. And look, oh, I, oh, I shouldn't have chased for us in BP and stuff you swinging a ball your round's done. So it, that's real easy. That's great. But when we start, it's always awful. So when we get done with our fall, we get into individuals and we get into hitting. And so any changes we wanna make with our swing, we'll probably spend the first two to three weeks. Now we're getting close to getting ready to head home for the semester. And now we actually start talking about hitting, which is way different than your swing. It's pit selection. Yeah. It's all that stuff. And it's really easy, but it's way more complicated.'cause most people really haven't thought it's sea ball hit ball. That's right. And again, I don't want to think I want to do it enough. It's not thinking That's right. But when we start talking about pitch selection, the next week and a half is gonna be the worst everybody's ever done. It'll be awful. Yeah, it's gonna be awful. And we know it's gonna be awful, but we get through that and then all of a sudden now we start, making some improvements and then understanding the why. Again, you wanna look at Batten averages. The guys with the highest Batten average are the guys that swing the least. Yeah. You listen to Derek Jeter. What pitch were you looking for? I looked for one pitch, my whole career fastball down the middle. And, and again just we've gotten, I'm not very smart, so that means I really gotta be really simple on everything. And but I think just the beauty be, the beauty of simplicity is. Is something, it's a very complicated game, yet it's not. And just when we can get, just get back to little bitty basic things that you did made in the backyard with your mom or dad or brother or sister and just focus on those things. I think you can really explode and really improve a lot. I don't think I understood hitting until I was about 26, 27 years old. Albert Olsen and a lot of the Cardinals would come into my gym in St. Louis.'cause we were on the west side where a lot of'em lived. And they'd be in my gym every morning from January till they left for spring training. And watching Albert hit in a cage was the most fascinating thing I'd ever seen because there was so little movement. Yep. And even his front step maybe 5% of his weight went with that first step. Everything stayed home. Yeah. Where is that begin and end with for you? In terms of being able to really understand that strike zone. Is it the eyes, is it the head? Is it the weight? Is it the hands? Is there something that every kid that you can give, every swing is different. And I definitely want to get into talking about Lance a little bit. He's, to me, he's another great example of that. But where does that start for you when you're trying to get a kid to be that? Scholarship level hitter and be that kid that can be a great player, a great hitter for you. For me I think your bat path is like the key. I think if you have a good bat path, you're gonna be able to hit whether you get out on that front foot, whether you sit back, whether whether you're perfect. To me, if you're bypassed good you got a chance.'cause one, you're, we're gonna be able to stay in the zone. Longer. Longer so I can be wrong and still be successful. And that's everything we try to teach our guys is look, we're gonna be, we, how often do you think you're perfect? Like of a swing? 20%? Maybe if you're really good. Yeah. What we gotta do, we gotta learn how to be successful when we're wrong and and so if that bat path can stay in the zone two feet instead of 16 inches, it should hopefully increase my chances of success. Makes a lot of sense. It really does.'cause if you're bat pass, right? It doesn't matter if it's a curve ball, a sinker, or a fast ball, right? If it's in the zone. You're gonna make a good swing. Yeah. In theory. In theory. Yeah. That's, we spend a lot of time on that and then as you said, there's so many different ways, that's one thing when we come in the fall, we don't really coach a whole lot because I've learned enough, I've seen enough dudes that I'm like, I don't know how he's doing it. But he's hitting every ball on the barrel. And so if I can see him for about a month, then I can figure it out. So that way if he gets off in the spring, I can go, okay, hey, the, your hands have dropped a little bit. Yeah. Or, you're loading a little later or what, whatever it may be. But if I can see it for a month and see how they're successful and see, because they wouldn't be here unless they'd had some success Now. If they get eaten up in the fall and they hit one 20 which is generally the norm. Yeah. Now they're open to listening and you've got that teachable moment and so you can't always wait for that. But I think it's a lot more beneficial if you can. I love it. All right. We talked about Lance a little bit. You, you coached Lance Berkman during his amateur days. What did you see in him then that translated? To being a major leaguer are there things that you could already see at that age? Yeah. And so that was the summer he became Lance Burman, MOB Guy Prospect, yeah. So he was a, I'd seen him play in high school. He played at New Braunfels Canyon and signed with Rice obviously. And then that summer, played with us, with the Hayes Larks in Hayes, Kansas. And he's a bigger guy, right? And then the body type, he fooled you on what a good athlete, he could run really well, had a great arm, and then he could just absolutely hit and he was a switch hitter. Always, even back then, I'm like, dude, if you just hit left-handed, you'd, because his right-handed swing, he had more power, but he was not as good from the right side. I still think if he would've just turned around and gone left, I still tell him this to this day. I think he would've had better numbers, but anyway but he played the game with such joy. And it lance a little bit of a free spirit and but he worked really hard and he played really hard. But it was really cool that summer because, that was the year before Olympic the Olympics and there was not an international baseball tournament that year. So Team USA actually played in the NBC World Series, which used to be really big deal. And we played against them in the championship and, anyway, it was that, those were some crazy days. We ended up dad gum, we had'em going into the eighth and Matt LaCroix hit a bases loaded, triple off that center field wall and they ended up beating us. But he really went off during that World Series and there were a lot of scouts there and he really. Vaulted his way up and what he ultimately became, which was a truly great major league baseball player coach. I, I remember the first team I took to the national tournament. And I remember after that season going, all right, I think I figured some things out. I fi, I think I know what I'm doing. And then that next year, my starting center blew out his knee and the first scrimmage of the year and all of a sudden our All American is no longer on the floor and all of a sudden going, I don't know anything about what I'm doing That a change. I wanna take you back to 2007, that first World Series trip, that third year of the program, and you make the World Series. What do you remember about that year with that same mindset about what you learned about yourself, what you learned about coaching? I remember a lot of things. That's still obviously a really special team'cause they were the first to get there. But what I remember the most is, so 2007 during the fall, our number one, number two, number three, number four, pitchers gone for the year. For one reason or another. And so we had pitching tryouts with everyday guys and just, and found a couple that had pitched, that had never, a couple, had never pitched before. Okay, we're gonna make y'all into pitchers as well. And and then I remember. That team. So the year before, we'd won the conference in 2006 and and then we went to the conference, tournament, got, we didn't play great and we drew some tough matchups arm wise, and we went won. And two, and we still, we'd won 40 games in the regular season. All the things. And, when Selection Sunday came our name was not called and still probably the most, the worst moment I've had in coaching was having to tell that team, Hey, you don't get to go on. You imagine 40 wins is not getting the call. Yeah, so it's really tough in division two baseball. Yeah. There are a lot of great teams that don't even get the chance. And so 2007, obviously, we just wanted to go. We just wanted to go that was it. We want to go the tournament and so going down the stretch run, we've got this midweek game. We know we've gotta win this game and we'd lose heartbreaking every one of'em. We lost every game we had to win. Everyone, but we lost them in the right way, if that makes sense. Yeah. And it, it did. It just kept making us stronger. Then we've gotta go to our conference tournament. We know we have to win it. If we don't win it, we're out. We get a we win the first game, second game, we get two outs with a runner on third tie game. A balk called walk Off Balk that we still will disagree to this day over. But and so now we gotta comeback through the losers bracket. We gotta win four games. Obviously our pitch in depth is not real great with losing all those guys. And we come back. The next one, we win an extra inning game. Then we win the next one then anyway. And so all those losses I think contributed. To all those wins. And and then, we go to the regional, we're the last seed. We play the number one seed who's got four losses, or 54 and four or something. And we go in, we, my, the one of my pit, he goes in, throws a shutout, we win. Play the next day. We played an 18 inning game. Finally. Oh my gosh. Win that one with your pitching staff. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Two guys. So two guys pitched the whole 18 went nine and nine. Yeah. Oh my god. And and we win that, but we're playing at a field with no lights, so we screw up the bracket, but we get extra rest because you know that we, it got pushed back a day, which always helps. So we're able to bring guys back and. We get down the lose bracket in that one, we just come back and win. And so that team was just so gritty and resilient and again, hopefully what we still are today. That is amazing. Yeah. What a great story. That is really fantastic. What, when you look at a team, you've had some teams that have had over, locked in for over 50 games, how do you keep your guys fresh? How do you keep'em focused? How do you are there things you're doing to give'em a spell and to give'em a breather and give'em a break or is it just the consistency of that routine? I think it depends, I think every team and every player is different. So for example, we talked about this week we're, we've got a buy. Yeah, so it's a 10 day layoff. So we had that in our regular season as well. We have a buy, we have a uneven number of teams in our conference, so there's a buy week built in there. And we did something we've never handled to buy that way, but I thought we were a little tired and a little banged up and we gave'em off four days in a row, which is not something we've ever done. We came back practice, man, everybody's bat speeds a little better. Pitchers velo and command up about two or three. And matter of fact, I was worried offensively, yeah. That's probably where you worry the most to just timing and stuff being off. And I think we scored 11 in the first inning and just hitting lasers all over the field and I was like, huh, that worked pretty good. And we're doing the same thing. Hopefully that's great. It can work twice, but. I think, the biggest thing for us is, and as a coach you gotta know when to, you can't push your team all year. They're gonna run outta gas. And, but the standard's still the same. But there days maybe you turn and look that way. Because you know they need it. Yeah. They need to be able to get away with that. Yeah. Or whatever. But then there are other parts where that is not gonna work. And so I think it's just using your judgment, but I think whether the plan works or not, we've been pretty successful in postseason for pretty long time, and I think. We are from when we start in August there's a plan in place to hopefully be playing our best in May and June. And it's worked out pretty good here recently. And so I think it's more the reading your team, reading, just their physical performance and then their mental stuff and all that. But I think our practices are generally pretty intense every day. I. But there are times during the year you're like, okay, we're playing this team that's ING 46. We're gonna win. I know we're gonna win. I can go a little lighter this week. And I think you gotta use those throughout the year. Yeah. We can all say every day we're doing this, but yeah. That's probably not really true. Were you, would you have done some of those things 20 years ago? No. No, I think I've gotten better, a lot better, a little bit smarter. I'm the same way. I, I'll still coach some high school seasons here every once in a while and, and I gotta remind myself, I. Today's the day we break out the kickball boxes you basis. This is the day we bring out the wiffle ball and Right, because you need that sometimes. Yeah, absolutely. This is the day we get on a get'em on a bus and go to the movies instead of practicing. I just, early on, man, my first 10 years of coaching, no way. Yeah. The kids just need it. They need that break. They need to know that there's a humanity in what you're doing. Amen. And they're, yeah. We're very exuberant when we're young. I look at some of the stuff I did when I was young, and Lord forgive me. Yeah. You and me both today. We somebody to have cuffs on us 20 years ago we've been talking a lot about baseball. We're talking about 50 50 game seasons. We're talking about all these great things that you're doing on the baseball field. I don't want any of our listeners to forget that you're coaching student athletes, you're coaching kids that are in class every day and busting their tail and studying. What is, what are your philosophies? What are some of the things you're doing to create that balance for your guys? So they're walking outta Angelo State with that degree in hand and that, whether they're going to the major leagues or they're getting drafted, or they're gonna go to med school or go to business school or go get a job. What are those things that you guys do on a week-to-week basis to make sure that balance is there? I think you know, the biggest thing is you are who you are all the time, and so you can't be an extremely hard worker just in baseball and stink at your relationships with your girlfriend and your family, and then stink in the classroom. And so I. It becomes a thing of that's just who I am, right? Yeah. And everything I do, I hopefully am given great effort. The one thing I think that we try to do we're, we do things way different, I think than, a lot of people, but we try to teach them. So like in the fall, first thing we do is, hey, we do a goal sheet, and it's academics, athletics, and then after. College, what do you want to do and how can we help you? And on the academic end it's, or especially the guys that this, their first year here. Yeah. Okay. You got algebra at nine, you got whatever, bring in your class schedule. Okay. When are you gonna study? And they're like, I'm gonna study every night from seven to 10, Monday through Saturday. Then I'll be like, okay, you're gonna do that? And they're like, yes. And I'm like, okay where are you gonna study? I'm in my room. Okay, your roommate there, they list playing video games, whatever. Okay then that's probably not a good place. Then let's find a place. And then you cut let's say they're a big Yankees fan. Okay'cause it's always, you're in playoffs, right? It's about when school starts. So I was like, so Yankees got game seven of the World Series on a Tuesday night, you're studying, you told me you're studying from seven to 10, you watching the Yankees or are you doing that? And I'm fine with the answers to the Yankees. But I was like, okay, so we just and baseball people were so routine oriented, right? Every one of us. And so we just try to get'em in the routine. But the key is with the routine, we gotta stay with the routine. And you gotta understand, they may, your friends may call and say, Hey, we're all going to a movie, or we're all going that if this is the time you set aside for study, or to go hit extra, or to get in the weight room extra, or whatever it is. We just gotta be disciplined enough to say that, and then we hold them accountable without overseeing. We will ask, but I'm not gonna go in there and stand and see if they're doing what they're supposed to do. Because at the end of the day, we can push the degree. We can want the degree Mom and dad can want the degree. Everybody can want the degree. You gotta want it at the end. Now we can trick you into getting it. By just trying to stay eligible, then all of a sudden you walk up your wake up your senior year and you're like, Hey, you know what? You getting a piece of paper said you finished. And so we've done that too. But I just think, again it's teaching these young people to grow up and be great men. And there are a lot of things that go into that, but a lot of that is accountability to yourself. Did they change their tune when you talk about that? When they say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna study these hours. Yes. It's always when you talk about the reality, do you hear a change in I do. And they're like, oh, I hadn't thought about that. And I was like, no, you hadn't. And I'm like, but generally you're telling me you're, dude, you're studying 40 hours a week. I don't think you need to do that much. Yeah. And that's one thing that's changed, we used to do study hall back in the day. And and then I quit doing it and I was like, I just wanna see our GPA was like half a point higher when we didn't. And I think it's because most of us, you make us do it right. First of all, we're not gonna do it probably with our hearts and but you let'em go do it on their own, they're gonna do more and they're gonna do a higher quality job. And so that's our philosophy with everything. We're limited obviously with the NCAA hours and so we give'em just a taste and then you know, you wanna really go get better. You've got access to the facilities. Hopefully we're doing a good job coaching. You now go be as good as you can be. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the way the world is going in a good program. We're disciplined. You walk off the floor, you walk off that field you're still got that Angelo State on your chest. Amen. Doesn't change. You're in a classroom. Doesn't change. So I love that mentality and I think it's so important for young men and young women to hear that. Being an adult it's hard, but being an adult means there's rewards that come with it. I if you're willing to commit to it. So yes, for sure. I love it. Coach, can I can we do a little rapid fire with you? Yeah, go ahead. Is there a, is there something that you've read? Is there a book, is there a podcast? Is there somebody that you know, somebody, a mentor that's giving you some advice? Is there something you recommend to young coaches? Anything Grant Taf is ever written. Winning, I believe. He's got some great things for teachers classroom teachers as well. I grew up in, in Waco, I went to Baylor. That guy was my idol growing up. Strangely enough he came to Baylor from Angelo State. And so I've gotten him to speak to our team several times. That's awesome as he gets honored here. But nobody better motivator than that guy. What's the best advice you've received as a coach? Oh, man. Don't mess with happy. And that's Mark Johnson. That's the title of your podcast episode. Don't Mess With Happy. I love it. Yeah. Mark Johnson, who, a former, hall of fame coach former head coach at Texas a and m that I got to work for a little bit. And first of all, e everything we do at our program is patterned off of what we did there. But in this business I. A lot of people you can get into a right race. And he was like, Kevin don't ever mess with happy. And it, it's, boy, it's really good advice. Perfect. I wish somebody would've dropped that on me when I was a 26-year-old head coach.'cause it would've, I think it would've saved me a lot of pain in my players. Yes. Yes. So that's great. Whenever I see my guys over the last 30 years, we get together for an alumni thing or reunion thing. There's always, I always get teased about things that I would say over and over again. Is there is there a Coach Brooks phrase that your guys always tease you about?'cause you always say it. It's, oh, there's a lot. There's a whole YouTube channel if you wanna go watch'em all. I wish I would've known that, but I'm gonna go check it out. Anyway, they hadn't done the imitations as much in the past few years, but yeah, there's a ton. Let's see. I, I think there's some years they just start in the fall and I'll say something, they go write it down on the refrigerator and they have, a book at the end of the year what are we doing, or why? But I do say why a lot. But there, there's a lot, one of my favorite ones and it makes no sense. Okay. That's it. This doesn't make any sense, but it makes sense, right? I talk out of both sides of my mouth quite a bit. You gotta trust your teammates, but you can't trust them. That's one. And when I explain'em in my mind, they make perfect sense. But yes, they make fun of me all the time. Oh, God. So anyway, I love it. I love it. You sound like an old Yankees catcher for some reason. Yogi Berra. Oh gosh. Yeah. So anyway, but. It's, as that's, it's one of the best parts of this is when they, when your players are comfortable enough with you to. To get on you when you Yeah. That's a good place to be. It's a great place to be. Yes. It really is. We're, when we're so hard on him, and we're constantly pushing'em to their potential. It's so nice when it just clicks and coach ain't going nowhere. He ain't giving up on me. He ain't quitting on me even when he is hollering at me. Me. So the fact that you have that and you've always had that is, is such a big deal. So that's cool. Is there one word. That describes Kevin Brooks as a coach. Oh, gosh. Man, one word I, that's tough. Competitor is really about the biggest one I can think of. I love competing. Yeah. It shows. Coach, thank thanks so much for doing this first segment with me. It's such an honor to talk to you and such pleasure to listen to how you've built this program and how you've sustained it. And, but the real joy for me is to see how much fun you're still having and how much you still love the game and being a part of these young men's lives. So thank you for doing this today. Awesome. It was an honor, and thank you for having me on. For you. Good luck the rest of the way. Thank you. What a conversation full of wisdom, humility, and an unshakeable competitive spirit. Coach Kevin Brooks has done it all at Angelo State, started a program from scratch, built it into a national power, and kept it there with consistency, care and character. But what stood out most to me today wasn't the accolades or the titles. It was his commitment to staying grounded and his passion for doing things the right way. He's not chasing the next shiny thing. He's leading with intention. He's building young men through baseball, and as he reminded us, he's not about to mess with happy. I love that. Coach Brooks, thank you for being a competitor, a builder, and a true example of what significance in coaching looks like. Now if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave a review Wherever you're listening. Share it with a coach, a parent, or an athlete who needs to hear this message. And make sure you check out my website, coach matt rogers.com. That's where you'll find free resources, weekly blog posts, one-on-one recruiting strategy sessions if you're starting this recruiting journey. And you can get your copy of significant recruiting, the playbook for prospective college athletes and be on the alert.'cause you want to make sure you're subscribing to my newsletter. I've got new books coming out, I've got new journals coming out for college athletes. So make sure you're paying attention to that. Now before you leave, don't forget, come back this Monday for a special bonus episode of significant Recruiting where Coach Brooks and I we're gonna dive deeper into the recruiting side of college baseball. You won't want to miss it. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on The Significant Coaching Podcast.