Spartan Baseball Press Conference Transcript
7/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 13, 2005
MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason:
"Thank you all. It's a great day for Spartan sports. Before I introduce the new coach, I'd like to thank all the people who were involved in the selection. It was a lot of work and a lot of time, especially Shelley Appelbaum, my senior associate, who did most of the legwork on the phone, and in the car, and whatever it took.
"I was really pleased with the field. There were a number of really qualified applicants, and what it did was confirm to me that they thought Michigan State has not only a great tradition, but a great opportunity to be successful. I thought that all along, and I think that with the support we're going to see from Kirk Gibson and Mark Mulder and the group that was originally put together to raise the money for our new stadium and Old College Field project - we're going to be moving in the direction I'd like to see for baseball.
"The coach that we're going to introduce is young in nature according to my age, but he's very enthusiastic and comes with a great deal of respect from a number of people who really know the sport and have been around it a long time. I was impressed with the fact that with a northern program has shown great success at the national level and as well has recruited top quality student-athletes. That's the kind of program that we're looking for and he's somebody that understands what it takes to be at the national level, the Big Ten level, but more importantly, recruit the type of student-athletes that are going to make us all proud.
"Without further adieu, I will bring to the podium, our new baseball coach, David Grewe."
MSU head baseball coach David Grewe:
"I'd first like to thank Michigan State Athletics Director Ron Mason, Senior Associate Shelley Appelbaum and all those who have been involved in the hiring process. I'm very humbled and excited to be here at Michigan State and in East Lansing and be the next baseball coach at Michigan State.
"Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge a couple of people that have been instrumental in my development and my career to this point. The first person who is not able to be here today is Brian Baldea. Brian was the head baseball coach at the University of Chicago and Brian gave me my start in coaching. He's a tremendous man, he's a tremendous baseball coach and he is a friend for life.
"The second person is my recent boss, and that's Paul Mainieri. Paul is in my opinion the greatest college head coach in the nation, and he is a tremendous leader. Through his leadership and though his development, I have been able to learn, and I have been able to grow both as a person and coach. I will always be indebted to Paul. He is without doubt a very important person in my life.
"A couple of individuals are here present today that I would like to recognize. The first person is Dave Keilitz. Dave is the executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Association. Dave is a very close friend of mine, and he is also a mentor for me. Dave has been instrumental in my career. I've had opportunities to work for him, and I had the opportunity to learn from him. Dave is a leader in our industry and he is a tremendous person to know, because his guidance and leadership is without a doubt very instrumental in anybody's development. Dave is a very special person to me and will be a friend for many years.
"The other individuals that I would like to recognize: very important people are obviously my parents. My parents have been able to be there every step of the way with me, and they have guided me along my career to this point and they've been tremendous supporters. The final person is a very special person to me, and that's Annie Brammer. Annie is no doubt my very best friend, and she is my strongest link. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to develop, especially over the last two years at Notre Dame.
"The past several years for me at Notre Dame have been very special. I have been able to work for and work with very tremendous people. They have been instrumental in my development. Notre Dame is a class institution. It's hard to leave those types of places. However, I believe Michigan State is just the same, and that's why I'm so excited to be here.
"Michigan State to me has been a model program in the Midwest in terms of its athletics. I'm very excited and I've been lured by the athletics at Michigan State. I also believe the Big Ten Conference is one of the nation's elite conferences and has been a pioneer for excellence.
"I have a dream and vision for the Michigan State baseball program. Really there are four main reasons I chose to come here to Michigan State. I want to develop lives. That's very important to me. I want to be able to develop young men and shape their lives. I want to create memories for these guys, and I also want to win.
"I have a vision and I have a plan and I have some dreams for the program at Michigan State, and in order for those to come true, and I want to see them come true and I will see them come true, a very important and integral part of that is to be able to establish great alumni relationships. I want to unite the state of Michigan with Michigan State baseball alums and all those alums that are so deeply enrooted in the university. I believe that with a unified group, great things can happen, and great things can be accomplished. I will seek to cultivate the alumni relationship. On day one of my job today, I'm going to sit down in the office later tonight and write my first alumni letter. That's very important to me.
"Over the last two days, I have put many great thoughts into who I will hire. I think it's very important that I make a promise to the current players in the program and the future players in the program that I am going to bring in assistant coaches that are dedicated, that are loyal, and that have the ability to truly develop players to the best of their ability. That's going to be a very important focus of mine, and my assistant coaches are going to be without doubt, great, great young men, and great leaders of this program.
"Player development is very important, and it's going to be an integral part of the development of our program here. One of the key components of player development is to have the facilities in place and to have the plans for facilities to be able to work year-round within the guidelines of the NCAA rules to reach maximum potential of your players. I'm very confident and strongly believe that we're going to have the necessary tools to develop our players and consistently win on a year-to-year basis. I also believe we're going to be able to attract the blue-chip recruit because our facilities at Michigan State are going to compare to those of the best in the Midwest.
"I also am a firm believer that recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, and I can promise all of those who have a vested interest that I am going to put forth the efforts necessary to bring in top players in the Midwest that will have the same desire and passion for winning that I do. Those players are going to work hard, they're going to be disciplined and they're going to show up each and every day wanting to achieve greatness.
"If I was a high school player right now or I was a junior college player right now, I would be jumping at the opportunity to come play at Michigan State, because we're going to win, we're going to win big, and we're going to enjoy doing it, and it's going to be fun. Just like the Red Wings have done, just like the Tigers in '84 did, just like the '86 national championship hockey team here at Michigan State, just like the 2000 men's basketball championship did, and like the women's basketball program this past year and their run to play in the national championship game. Those programs were built on character, discipline, hard work, effort, energy, the desire to win and passion for doing things the right way. I firmly believe that the Michigan State baseball program is going to follow in the same direction. I'm going to put my greatest efforts forward from this day on to accomplish all the goals that our players want and that I want.
"Just as the Michigan State Fight Song states: On the banks of the Red Cedar, there's a school that's known to all. Its specialty is winning, and those Spartans play good ball. That's what I want to accomplish here at Michigan State."