Bobby Wilson

Head Baseball Coach

Lily Goodfellow: How long have you been coaching at COD?

Bobby Wilson: This will be my 11th year. I’ve been here for a while. I was here for five years as an assistant coach, and this is my fifth year as the head coach. So this will be year 11 coming up.

LG: How did you become a head baseball coach?

BW: I always wanted to get into coaching. After college, I made a phone call to the head coach here and asked if I could be a part of the team and help out as an assistant coach. Then once he left, the job was offered to me, and I took it. So I guess you could say that luck was a big part of it. I’m lucky to be part of a great program.

LG: What sports did you play when you were in school?

BW: I played baseball all through high school and college. I was a one-sport athlete from eighth grade through college. I really love the game of baseball and just wanted to focus on playing baseball.

LG: What do you love most about your job as a head coach?

BW: I would say being with the kids every day. It’s a lot of fun to get out there and get to coach kids like David Marshall and Kyle Fenner and AJ Taylor. Those kids are awesome. I like being a part of those relationships and being with them every day is the best part of being a head coach. I get to see them move on with their lives and see what they can do. At the end of the day, I personally think wins and losses don’t matter, it’s about what kind of men the boys turn into. 

LG : What was a highlight from the last baseball season?

BW: There were a lot of highlights.Obviously there were a lot of downs too. But I would probably say our team won 34 games this year. We played good baseball for the most part all year, so winning 34 games and seeing all the kids contribute more so than years past.

LG: What are you most excited for next season?

BW: That’s a tough question. We’re going to be extremely young next year. So I’m excited to see the youth of our team, but I’m also excited to see the finished product. Obviously we are going to have a lot of freshmen, which is going to be new. But I think I’m excited to see how well we are going to compete as freshmen.

LG: Do you have a favorite memory from your time as a baseball player or coach?

BW: As a player, playing in the NCAA tournament was probably the highlight of my playing career. I got to play three years in a row at an NCAA school and play in the national tournament for three years. So that’s the highlight of my playing career. The coaching career highlight is probably the first win. 

LG: Do you have any fun summer plans?

BW: I’m a busy guy. I’m always working. Baseball is obviously in the summer as well. I’m going to spend most of my time recruiting this summer, as well as golfing. I will also take my wife on vacation because she wants to go do something, so I think we’re going to end up going to North Carolina for a little bit and then Florida for a bit. Those are my plans for the summer. This will be my last summer of being free to do anything. My wife and I are having a baby in November.

LG: Congratulations! That’s exciting. 

BW: Yes, I can’t wait to see Ryan Kaiser babysit the baby. Ryan Kaiser and Rich Dawkin will be in charge of babysitting during the games. 

LG: How do you go about recruiting new players?

BW: We’ll go out to a lot of baseball games in the summertime. We’ll see tournament games, high school games, as much baseball as we can see. We go after recruiting needs, in-fielders, out-fielders, pitchers. It really just depends on what we need, so that dictates where I go on the weekend. So if I’m looking for some top-quality arms, I might go to a better tournament in the midwest. If I’m looking for more local kids, I’ll stay in the local area. It changes week by week. Last summer was a little more intense because we had to fill positions for this year. We lost eight starters from last year’s line up, so we spent last summer trying to fill all eight positions. This summer we will be looking more for arms and athletic kids. 

LG: Are the players who are moving on all going on to play baseball? 

BW: Yes, most of them. We have a good chunk of our kids moving on with scholarship money for baseball and academics, so I can’t be sad about that. I think we went 14 of 16, which is pretty good. I recruited that whole class out of a press box during COVID, because we weren’t allowed in the school yet. Those players never got to see the inside of the campus until their first day of school here. So it’s truly amazing to see what that class was able to become. 

LG: What is your favorite movie?

BW: There’s a lot. Probably any movie by Mark Wahlberg would be my first one. A close second would be The Guardian with Kevin Costner.

LG: What one word best describes you?

BW: I would say moody. There are certain days when I am in a great mood, and there’s certain days when I’m in a bad mood. I think my wife would agree with this, and my players as well. If I am in a good mood, I’m energetic and happy. If I am in a bad mood, I guess you could say I’m angry. If it’s a Friday, I’m usually in a good mood!  

LG: Thank you very much, Coach Wilson.

BW: This was great. Thank you!