Question and Answer with Blue Eagle Head Coach Ryan Thomas
By Cameron Aiken (edited for content and communication)
Web Posted June 16, 2010

Blue Eagle head coach Ryan Thomas has an impressive baseball background as he has been around a variety of successful baseball minds in a number of organizations. We caught up with the former Anderson college catcher and spoke to him about a number of topics including how he fell in love with the game of baseball, details of his first coaching job, and his philosophy as the pitching coach for the Blue Eagles.

C.A: Talk about your baseball background. How did you become involved in the sport?

R.T: “Well, I actually started out playing tennis with my dad, but I’d always find it funny to hit the ball over the fence when he would hit it across the net to me. After that, he took me out to a wreck field and that’s actually how I started playing. Loved it ever since”

C.A: What was your first ever coaching job?

R.T: “The Greenville post 3 American Legion team was my first ever coaching job. I was a junior in College and I started out as an assistant there. Now I am the head coach at Wade Hampton High school.”

C.A: How did you get the job at Wade Hampton?

R.T: “I graduated from Wade Hampton high school. During my student teaching in college, I came back and helped out with the team as an assistant coach under my former head coach Randy Phillips. He ended up taking the hitting coach position for the Greenville Drive and they hired me to succeed him. I’ve been there six years.

C.A: Rumor is that you were the Bullpen catcher for the Greenville Drive. Describe that entire experience. Anybody in particular that you caught that was famous or had played in the Big Leagues.

R.T: “I did it three years ago and it was actually only for a summer. Once again it was through Randy (Phillips) that I got that job. I caught for Randy in high school and he gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in doing it. I actually caught Josh Papelbon (Red Sox’s closer Jonathon Papelbon’s little brother) my first day. I caught Jon Lestor on his rehab stint and he actually ended up throwing a no hitter like a couple of months later. The one pitcher they wouldn’t let me catch was Daniel Bard. Bard threw so hard (99MPH) and his stuff moved so much, they were afraid I might get hurt. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. On a side note, I met Dan Marino and Roger Clemens. Clemens was there watching his younger son play for the opposing team and Marino was in town playing a golf tournament one day and they were able to get him to throw out the first pitch”.

C.A: Now you are the head coach of the Blue Eagles. How did all of that unfold?

R.T: “A couple of years ago, one of my best friends Chris Edwards got the head coaching job here and asked me if I wanted to help him out. Without even thinking about it I said yes, and I loved coaching that summer. He ended up getting a job as an assistant at Presbyterian and I interviewed for the Blue Eagle job after him. The Blue Eagle organization felt comfortable with me and now I’m here. I really like being around the college players because their work ethic. They want to be here because they want to get better as a player.”

C.A: I know you are in charge of pitching and defense and coach Dillenger takes care of the offensive responsibilities. Can you talk about your philosophy and how you want your guys to attack hitters?

R.T: “It all starts with pitching and what I preach to our guys is to go out there and throw first pitch strikes. We want to get ahead of the count and pitch towards contact in this wooden bat league. This puts out defense in a lot better situations. Our pitchers have been great as far as the pregame procedures go. We do some flat ground sessions and they really stay on top of their conditioning, I’ve been pleased with their work ethic.

C.A: What are your expectations for the Blue Eagles this summer and up to this point what pitcher has stood out to you?

R.T: “My expectations for this team are that first and foremost everyone improves. As far as team expectations, I think if everyone improves like they are capable of doing, we have a good chance of winning this thing. The pitcher that impresses so far is Dylan Cole. (Furman) He only threw a few innings in his college season, but he’s been able to come out and be very consistent in throwing strikes. He’s a hard worker, and it has really shown. We are going to take the season game by game, but this team has what it takes to win that ring at the end of the year.”

Coming soon is an interview with the man that pushes all the buttons at the plate and on the base paths, Assistant Coach Anthony Dillenger. Dillenger is currently an assistant under Tim Wallace at junior college power Spartanburg Methodist.