Q & A with Wolverines Pitching Coach Matt White
12/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 3, 2010
Michigan pitching coach Matt White traded the old gold and white of Georgia Tech for the maize and blue of the Wolverines this season. The former first-round pick in the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft had finished up his third season at a member of the Yellow Jackets' coaching staff when he was offered the job in Ann Arbor. White brought experience not only as a professional baseball player, but as a coach at Tech and with Team USA. With fall practice under his belt and a 2011 season on the horizon, MGoBlue.com sat down with White for a Q & A.
Q: You had a fall to work with your new pitching staff. How did the adjustment go for both parties?
A: "I think it went really well. The main thing was identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the guys right away and being able to determine what their strong points are and what we need to work on. The main thing for me was getting the guys into a good routine. I found in my playing career and coming back from surgeries the best thing is getting into a good routine and having a good, solid throwing program and bullpen session to where they are working on something at all times. They have a focus. It is really key to working on certain aspects of their game. That was one of the first things that I wanted to get across to the guys is, 'We're going to get you into a good routine, we're going to personalize it in some aspects, but for the most part, I want you guys working on particular things every day.'"
Q: How has the transition from Georgia to Ann Arbor worked out for you and your family?
A: "It has gone well. It was quick. Just like anything in baseball, it happens really quickly. I was at Georgia Tech and we were playing in the regional on a Monday and we lose to Alabama, I get a phone call from Coach Maloney on a Tuesday and I'm up here for an interview on a Thursday. Then I was fortunate enough to get the job that next week. So everything happened quickly. But, it's a good thing. It's a beautiful city and a great college town. The fact that you are fairly close to Detroit, a major airport, and having Ann Arbor set apart as its own little college town. There are great aspects, a beautiful campus. Campus life is great, a great atmosphere downtown, where you have the shopping and the restaurants. There are a lot of great qualities of the area and it has made the transition really nice. The other thing I have found here with my young family is that there are great parks around here. Having great parks and things to do for the kids, like recreational areas, has been really nice for the transition."
Q: Before you found everything there is to like about Ann Arbor, what initially attracted you to the job?
A: "With my background of playing pro baseball out of high school and going back and getting my college degree after I was done with my playing career, I felt like going somewhere that had a big emphasis on academics was a high priority. Georgia Tech was a fine academic institution that strived to hit on all levels of the athletic side as well. I felt like Michigan set a really high bar for both academics and athletics. That was really a great attracting point for me. The history, the fact that they have been playing baseball very well here at Michigan for a long time and there is a great tradition with Branch Rickey, Barry Larkin and all those guys and the great runs through the '80s. Having that tradition, having the backing of the athletic department to where we have great facilities. I was really impressed with the facilities when I first got here. I like the fact that weather does not really come into play. When you have these kinds of outdoor and indoor facilities, that is a great advantage to have. We have this beautiful video room and we can go in there and break down video, break down the pitching sequence. We have Oosterbaan (Fieldhouse), where we have a 100-yard football field where we can go and get our long toss in. We have indoor batting cages and mounds. There is no real disadvantage in my book of being in the North. The kind of student-athlete that Michigan is able to go out and recruit, they are just great kids. They are mindful of their academic side; they want to strive to be the best in everything they do. That's the kind of place I wanted to align myself with."
Q: You come from Georgia Tech, which has a rich history of baseball as well. What were the key things that you learned from coach Danny Hall and the program that will help you as a coach?
A: "Coach Hall does a great job of really caring about the players in all aspects. That is kind of how I wanted to model my career. Being involved and really caring about what's going on in their lives as far as getting their work done on the academic side, developing a routine, helping them establish goals and trying to be a mentor for these young athletes as they are in a great developmental stage of their life. Those teen years of 18, 19, even 20, 21 you really start coming into your own, and Coach Hall did a great job of showing me how to get guys into a good routine of really taking care of their business. He has been a great mentor in that fact, just treating people the right way. Coach Maloney also does a great job of that. That was another factor that really drew me to Michigan. Coach Maloney has a high priority for taking guys and really connecting with them on a one-on-one basis. To have that kind of personal relationship to where you are helping mentor guys and helping them figure out their way, that is what coaching is all about, and Coach Maloney does a great job of doing that."
Q: You have been a part of Team USA both as a player and a coach. How has that experience helped you?
A: "It has been a great experience. Any time you can represent your country, put USA on your chest. As a player I was able to do it on four different teams. I have great pride in the fact that I was able to represent my country. I played on two under-18 national teams. I tried out for the Olympic team in 1996 and in 2000 was able to play on the team for a while until I was injured. Now that my career is over with the playing side, going back and being able to coach the 18-and-under national team, those kinds of experiences you take with you for forever. A lot of my teammates I played with in pro ball that played with USA Baseball will say that is their number one accomplishment. Winning a gold medal, and doing it to represent your country. That means a lot to me and a lot of Team USA baseball aspects I try to take into my coaching career. You are representing something larger than just yourself. Being able to go out there and do things right when people are not looking. Holding yourself to a high standard, to where people are not watching and you are still doing the right things and you have that good character. Those are the main aspects that I brought from USA Baseball. They look for character guys. When you're going to go to another country to play, those places are great, but some of them are third world countries and there are some tough living conditions. You need certain types of players to go into those conditions and that is what USA Baseball does, they look for those great character guys. That is something that Michigan does, we do not just look for talent. We try to hit on all aspects: academics, great character, and great excellence on the field."
Q: You mentioned your professional career. What were the lessons from pro ball that you learned that helped you in terms of coaching 18-22 year olds?
A: "Really attention to detail. I made up my mind after signing in '96 and probably in '99 things started to click. I was 20, 21 years old and my attention to detail really went way up. I made my mind up that I was going to have more of an aggressive mentality, attention to detail, and really focus on every aspect of my game. From nutrition to throwing, just taking care of my body, lifting. Those kinds of aspects I want to share with these guys. I want them to understand what it really takes to perform at a high level. I saw a lot of my friends that had that really good focus and attention to detail take off and get to the big leagues. I think I was on that path before I got injured. I feel like I had a taste of the proper things that you need to do to get to your highest level. I think that is what I really want to bring to the guys and share with them the kind of focus that you need to really excel. That translates into everyday life. Baseball is kind of a microcosm of life, and that developing some of these great habits as an athlete and as a baseball player will really translate into being a good person and succeeding in life."
Q: You recently graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia. How important was that for you to earn that degree?
A: "It was very important. It took a lot of sacrifice, it took a lot of time to go back and do it. It was very meaningful with education being a high priority for me. It was a great accomplishment for me. It was nice, during the ceremony when we received our degrees, they had us stand up and talk about what it meant to us. I said right there in front of everyone, 'This is probably one of my biggest accomplishments.' Athletics are one thing and it was great to have success on the playing field, but to do something outside of your comfort zone and to go get a degree -- my degree was in natural resources, which I had no background in -- it was great to go out and really learn something from scratch. That was a really good accomplishment from me."
Q: We're still a couple of months away from Opening Day but how excited are you to get it going?
A: "I'm very excited. I look at the guys on the team, and the guys have really improved during the fall and during this winter period. Talking about Kolby Wood, Ben Ballantine, Kyle Clark, who has been out for a little bit, but he has shown great signs in the fall. Bobby Brosnahan, Brandon Sinnery, all of those guys really stood out during that fall period and into the winter time. Alex Lakatos is a freshman, is really coming on strong and coming in as a highly recruited guy that has great arm strength and a great slider. Travis Smith was a little dinged up with his hamstring, but he showed great signs. I'm really happy with how guys are progressing. I think they are taking to the throwing program, taking to the routine that I've developed and the main thing for me is building their confidence. I feel like the guys are building confidence and we are just trying to get repetitions to where these guys have done it so many times that when the games hit, it just comes natural. They are just out there competing, and I'm really excited to see that. I want to see how they respond to the pressure of getting out there. I feel like they have worked really hard to put themselves in a good position and now they need to get the job done. That is the fun part."
