Tom Holliday

Collegiate Baseball
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005
Page 13
Pitching Coach Of The Year
Longhorns’ Tom Holliday Wins Prestigious Award After Amazing Year
By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball
A U S T I N , Te x . . — To m
Holliday, pitching coach with the
University of Texas, has been
named Collegiate Baseball’s
National College Pitching Coach
of The Year, sponsored by More
Than ERA.
Holliday did a fabulous job
in directing an extremely young
pitching staff to perform way
beyond their years as the Longhorns
won their sixth national title last
season.
The Texas pitching staff recorded
a microscopic team ERA of 1.40 at
the College World Series (seven
runs allowed in five games) which
ranked as the fourth best ERA of
a championship team since ERA
records were calculated starting
in 1953.
It may have been the first time
in ’Series history that a group of
freshmen and sophomores pitchers
from one team played pivotal roles
in a team winning the national
title.
Amazingly, 34.6 innings out
of 45 innings were thrown by
freshmen or sophomore pitchers
for Texas with All-American junior
closer J. Brent Cox throwing 10 1/3
innings over five games. Outside
of Cox, only one upperclassman
pitched at all for Texas. That was
senior Buck Cody who faced one
batter in the seventh inning against
Baylor.
Here is what these talented
young men did in leading Texas to
the national title:
 Redshirt freshman RHP
Adrian Alaniz won the first game
of the championship series over
Florida in a 4-2 win. In seven
innings, he did not allow a batter to
go past second base as he struck out
five and held the Gators scoreless.
He held Florida to two hits through
seven innings. In the eighth, he was
taken out after the first two batters
reached base.
 Earlier in the tournament,
Alaniz threw seven innings against
Baylor in a 5-1 Longhorn victory
as he gave up only one run. Earlier
this year Alaniz threw a no-hitter
against Oklahoma.
 Sophomore RHP Kyle
McCulloch started the second
championship series game and
was absolutely brilliant. He held
Florida hitless until the fifth inning.
McCulloch struck out a season
high eight batters and took a 2-hit
shutout into the seventh inning
before tiring. Then sophomore RHP
Randy Boone threw to five batters
over 2/3rds of an inning.
 Earlier in the tournament,
McCulloch threw seven innings with
no runs scored and seven strikeouts
against Tulane in an eventual 5-0
shutout by the Longhorns.
 RHP Kenn Kasparek, a 6foot-10, 235-pound freshman,
turned in a superb performance
against Baylor in a 4-3 win. He
pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed
only two earned runs with six
TOM HOLLIDAY
strikeouts.
Holliday said the Longhorns
had no choice but to develop
their young pitchers when preseason All-American RHP Sam
LeCure was declared academically
ineligible prior to the start of the
season.
“He was one of our key
pitchers returning who could give
you leadership at the top,” said
Holliday.
“We were expecting him to be
our Friday starter in 3-game series
during the season.”
During the 2004 season, LeCure
posted a 9-3 record, 2.34 ERA and
fanned 113 batters with 34 walks.
“We just had to accept it and
move on. At that point, we had
lefthander Buck Cody as a starter.
Unfortunately, we had no lefties
available at the time outside of him.
LHP Jordan Street, a freshman, was
in a knee brace until mid-season.
“So we had to slowly break in
our young freshmen by throwing
them five innings and gradually
allow them to throw six innings
and then seven. Some even threw
complete games as the season
unfolded.
“After our freshmen became
comfortable within our program,
we moved Buck back to the bullpen
because we didn’t have a lefthander
coming out of the pen. When we
did that, we hit a little lull. We
were 22 games into the season
with a 21-1 record at the time
when we decided to go with RHP
Kyle McCulloch (sophomore),
RHP Randy Boone (sophomore),
RHP Adrian Alaniz (freshman) and
RHP Kenn Kasparek (freshman) at
mid-week.
“Kasparek had three starts in
a row where he didn’t give up
anything. Then he had a real rough
outing. So we didn’t pitch him
for 30 days while he developed a
third pitch and got confidence in it.
When he came back, he was superb.
We now had four quality starting
pitchers.”
Holliday said the Tuesday games
Kasparek pitched in were against
tough opponents for the most part.
“People forget we were playing
teams like Rice and other quality
teams on Tuesday games. But this
really helped our young pitchers
develop. All of them are puppies.
Every time we ran one of them
out there, you had someone in the
bullpen covering them in case they
got off to a rough start.
“At the time, we weren’t scoring
too many runs. So we had to keep
opponent scoring down to compete.
These kids just kicked in and took
the responsibility of pitching in our
program. They are talented, but
they had to get over the age hump
and playing in front of 5,000 or
6,000 in Austin, Tex. every time.
They also had to adjust to road
games.”
Holliday said it was a huge shock
to the young pitchers when Baylor
knocked off Texas three straight to
start Big 12 Conference play.
“Against Baylor, we ran into a
team that could pitch just as well as
us at that time. It was a tremendous
learning experience for our pitchers
because it made them realize that
pitching can win or lose 3-game
series. It made them learn right
there that they must work toward a
higher level of pitching to help the
team succeed, and they did that.
“From that point on, our young
kids pitched very well. We gave up
a home run here and there. But it
was extremely rare.”
Texas only gave up 24 home
runs all season to opponents in 72
games.
“The kids just grew up. If you
don’t show confidence in them,
they will never develop fully. If you
treat them like they are freshmen
and talk to them like they are
freshmen so they act like freshmen,
they will stay freshmen.”
Holliday said that after the 2004
College World Series was over
when Texas finished second to Cal.
St. Fullerton, the realization that
several big name pitchers would be
gone hit him like a ton of bricks.
“On the way home from Omaha
after the 2004 ’Series, I started
thinking that J.P. Howell was gone
(15-2, 2.13 ERA), along with
Huston Street (12 SV, 6-1, 1.58
ERA), and Justin Simmons (10-3,
4.18 ERA).
“So the key pitchers back were
supposed to be Sam LeCure, J.
Brent Cox and Buck Cody. We
thought Buck was going to sign,
but he came back. We knew Sam
had to go to summer school. His
foot was hit by a line drive and had
to go home instead of attending
summer school. So then he was put
on academic probation.
“When that happens at the
University of Texas, you’re in
trouble. You must make your
grades. When we lost him, we had
to rebuild the pitching staff. It was
a difficult time. But it turned out
that our pitching staff was good
all season long. They rose to the
challenge.
“Then we get to the College
World Series, and they were lights
out there as well. They were
extremely determined to get it done.
As far as the 2006 season, every one
of our key pitchers but J. Brent Cox
will be back with our staff, and that
is extremely exciting.”
Holliday said that when hot
weather came to Austin, Tex. late
last season, all of his pitchers were
put on a maximum pitch count of
110.
“Very seldom did those kids go
over 110 pitches,” said Holliday.
“We took care of them. When
we got to Omaha two seasons ago,
our pitchers were worn down. J.P.
Howell’s velocity was way down.
So we made a concerted effort in
this regard. The goal was not to
come to Omaha and see our pitchers
run out of gas. We also needed to
come up with a fourth starter. We
got that in Kenn Kasparek. Randy
Boone, our third starter, only
pitched 2/3rds of an inning at the
College World Series (5 batters).
We put Boone in the bullpen to have
another extra long relief pitcher.”
The 52-year-old Holliday, with
29 years of coaching experience
under his belt, was asked if he
has ever seen such young pitchers
take charge and produce such eyepopping numbers at the College
World Series as these young men
did.
“No I haven’t. It will be one of
the better learning experiences of
their lives.
“Two seasons ago, McCulloch
and Boone sat and watched. Alaniz,
a redshirt freshman, sat out because
he had a stretched tendon in his
elbow. Some doctors felt surgery
was needed while others said
rehabilitation would do the trick
as long as he didn’t pitch. We were
deep enough with our pitching staff
in 2004 that we didn’t need him to
pitch. So redshirting was the logical
course to take. Kasparek was still in
high school. It also was a beautiful
thing to see Cox come out of the
shadow of Huston Street as far as
a closer.
“The shadow got bigger when
Huston got called to the Big Leagues
this season. When this happened,
all of a sudden Cox’s expectations
grew larger. If Huston can do it,
he felt like he could do it. We’ve
had to fight that off since Huston
was called up to the Big Leagues
(Oakland A’s). He didn’t need to be
compared to Huston because he is
a different guy. But the media kept
bringing this up.
“Cox rarely got a big lead last
season. If you gave him a one run
lead, he came through and closed
out games.”
Holliday, considered one of
the best pitching coaches in the
business, has been part of 13
teams which have qualified for the
College World Series since 1978
(10 times as the pitching coach for
Oklahoma St., once as the head
coach for OSU and two times as the
pitching coach at Texas).
But none of them finished as
the national champion until this
year. His Oklahoma St. ball clubs
finished second in the nation in
1981, 1987 and 1990 while the
Longhorns finished second two
seasons ago in his first year as
pitching coach with Texas.
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Collegiate Baseball
Page 16
Commitment To Success
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005
Russell County Players Pay Big Price When It Comes To Victories
Continued From Page 15
“Our long toss program is
strenuous and involves throwing
for seven days a week all year long.
Our players rarely have sore arms
because of this system.”
Rasmus said the procedure is
fairly simple.
“We line our players up on one
end of the football field on the zero
yard line. After they are thoroughly
warmed up, throwing partners
move back gradually to the 30 yard
line where we start getting serious
as each player performs eight firm
throws. Then throwing partners go
to the 40 yard line. Eight throws are
performed once again. Then they
move back to the 50 yard line and
continue going back 10 yards at a
time until they are at the zero yard
line on the other side of the field
if they can throw that far keeping
in mind they throw eight times at
each distance.
“In the beginning, the maximum
distance kids can throw is about
70 yards (210 feet). I am not too
concerned with the trajectory of
throws. Some tend to rainbow the
ball more than others. I realize
different coaches will argue that
all balls should be thrown on a
line to work on the proper release
point. But over time, these kids get
stronger and stronger. My son Cory
can stand under the goal posts and
throw balls through the goal posts
on the other side of the field.
“I really enjoy watching kids
increase their velocity with this
program. But possibly even more
important, the throwing arms of
my kids have stayed healthy by
utilizing long toss on a routine
basis. I have seen this program
work wonders and allow kids to hit
velocities they never would have
reached. One of our pitchers could
not get past 78 mph. He had been
at that velocity for three years. He
went on our long toss program,
and within a year he was throwing
84 mph.
Rasmus was asked what the
typical velocity gains are in his
program.
“Every kid is different, and there
are a lot of variables that go into an
increase in velocity. Each person is
limited by his genetics, how hard he
has worked in the past leading up
to the point where he actually starts
the program. The age he starts also
will determine how much of an
increase you will see because kids
will gain velocity naturally as they
DREAM SEASON — Russell County High School (Seale, Ala.)
rolled to a 38-1 record in capturing the Easton Sports national
championship. Five years ago, the Warriors only had 15 players
in their entire baseball program.
TONY RASMUS
grow. Most of our kids will gain
4-5 mph.
“We actually had a transfer
gain 8 mph over a 6-month span.
But this was a kid who had never
worked out in the weight room or
in a throwing program.”
Rasmus said when kids have
gone back as far as they can with
eight throws at that distance,
they move closer with 50 yards
separating each other and fire the
ball on a line to each other eight
times. Then the throwing partner
moves in 25 yards (75 feet) from
the other and each throws his hat
down in front of their feet which
serves as home plates when they
throw.
“Then kids throw to their
partner’s left hip with one pitch. The
next is to their left knee followed
by throws to their partner’s right
hip and right knee. The catching
partner does not squat down. He is
simply standing and catches the ball
at these spots.
“At this distance, it is a perfect
opportunity to work on the spin of
curve balls. We want 12/6 rotation
and have our pitchers throw eight
balls at this distance looking for the
proper spin. They are not snapping
the ball off like a hard biter. We are
only concerned with proper spin.”
Teaching Changeup
Through Long Toss
Rasmus said long toss is an ideal
vehicle for pitchers to work on their
changeups as well.
“That pitch is one of the keys to
our success,” said Rasmus.
“For each of the eight throws
that pitchers hurl from the different
distances, we want two of them
to be changeups. By having them
throw long toss with a changeup
grip, they are trained to have
fastball arm speed when throwing
the changeup which is essential to
pitchers fooling batters. We start
our pitchers off by having them
grip the ball with a circle change
until they can control it and then
let them play with the fingers to
discovered that we (my sons and
I) had a computerized video system
with us. The next morning, on their
off day, we were on the field at
Creighton, shooting and reviewing
the instant images in the Texas
bullpen.
“During that workout, I received
an unintended lesson on managing
pitchers that I will never forget. The
Texas staff (then as well as now)
was very deep. Tom’s workout
plan was intended to keep a sharp
edge on several freshmen who most
likely would not see action but
who actually had the talent to start
for many other teams in Omaha
that year.
“ To m ’s m e t h o d s w e r e
compassionate as well as
motivational.
“Even during a practice one day
before the final championship series,
he was devoted to each pitcher’s
personal needs and the detail of
fundamental skill development.
The atmosphere in Omaha is as
intense as it is joyous, as packed
with pressure as it is potent with
memories.
“I can only imagine that the big
hand of Tom Holiday patting me on
the back with a secure and confident
hand that is the Texas tradition will
last a lifetime for many a lucky
pitcher.”
Larry May, President of More
than ERA commented on the
recognition of Coach Holliday:
“Everyone at More than ERA
is delighted and proud to join
with Collegiate Baseball and
John Pinkman in honoring Coach
Holliday as the Collegiate Pitching
Coach of the year. Coach Holliday’s
many fine years of working with
young pitchers and producing
young men that understand the art
and discipline of pitching reflects
the values and objectives of this
award and we congratulate Coach
Holliday.”
Holliday Wins Pitching Coach Of Year
Continued From Page 13
up with the concept of a National
Pitching Coach of The Year
award and one of the judges who
determined the winner, had plenty
to say about Holliday.
“I had the good fortune to meet
Tom at the 2003 College World
Series while I was interviewing
pitching coaches,” said Pinkman.
“The article was directed at
information to help younger
pitching coaches. While other
coaches blew off the interview, Tom
took the time.
“When some get to the top of a
profession they lose sight of how
much help they needed early in
their career. Not Tom Holliday. His
comments during that interview
clearly show that Tom is concerned
about the future of the game and
how we are preparing coaches for
the collegiate challenge.
“After our interview Tom
refine the pitch.
“Lefthander Kasey Kiker (12-1,
0.52 ERA with 173 strikeouts in
94 innings last season) is expected
to be a first round draft pick next
season for us. He has an amazing
changeup. He has refined it so
much that the ring finger of his left
hand is on top of the ball while the
thumb, index finger and middle
finger are on one side of the ball
and the pinky finger on the other.
He throws the pitch with fastball
arm speed, and this pitch totally
fools many hitters.
“I have found that long toss is the
key to a great changeup. So many
pitchers today throw a changeup by
slowing the arm down. By slowing
the arm down, hitters know a
changeup is coming and usually hit
the pitch very hard. With our long
toss system in place, pitchers throw
changeups with fastball arm speed.
And that is the key.”
Rasmus said weight training has
been highly beneficial to his players
as well.
“We utilize a number of exercises.
But my favorite is the pullover.
Here is how it is performed. A
player lays down with his back on
a weight bench. His head hangs
over the back of the bench. He
then reaches (palms up) for a curl
bar on the ground with weight
on it just behind his head. At this
point, the elbows are near the ears
as the weight is pulled toward the
chest. It is important to keep the
arms bent.
“When I was in the Minor
Leagues, I did a lot of pullovers.
It really helped build me up. Kids
can start out with 25 pounds on this
exercise and build themselves up. It
is essential to perform this exercise
properly or else the shoulder could
be hurt.”
Rasmus said his son Colby
can perform pullovers with 275
pounds.
“But the weight is not as
important as performing the
exercise with proper form so that
the athlete doesn’t get hurt.”
Rasmus has come a long way
since his days in pro baseball when
weight training was considered
taboo.
“I never believed in it at that
time. But I have become a believer
over the years that weight training
is absolutely essential for baseball
players.
“And this is especially true of
high school baseball players. I tell
my kids that I was a lazy player,
and I regret that to this day. I never
really worked hard with anybody
until I got to college, and it was
almost too late then.”
More Work Better
Rasmus said that he has tried to
be a student of the game and learn
quite a bit from other coaches in
the game.
“ Yo u n e v e r h a v e e n o u g h
knowledge with this game. But a
few years ago, I was listening to a
coach talk about giving his players
a rest from August to November so
they didn’t throw at all. I decided
to try this for my team. The entire
season which followed resulted
in numerous arm problems with
elbow tendonitis.
“During the past year, my kids
threw year round and not one kid
had an arm problem. Maybe I
was just lucky. But you see some
coaches in Major League baseball
like Leo Mazzone of the Atlanta
Braves who has his pitchers throw
and throw and throw. Some guys
will break no matter what you do.
But Coach Mazzone has had great
success with keeping pitchers
healthy over the years. I feel out
system works well also.”
The success that Russell County
H.S. had last year with a 381 record and Easton national
championship has caused another
unique situation.
Numerous top players are trying
to enroll at Russell County to be a
part of this program.
“We had a kid from Memphis,
Tenn. drive down and ask us a lot
of questions. Another from Georgia
was interested. A lot of local kids
have tried to transfer into our
program.”
Top Tournament
Seeks Ball Clubs
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. —
Two tournaments to be held in
Florida are seeking participants for
this year’s events.
The Baseball Fever Classic at
Westminster in Ft. Lauderdale will
be held over two weeks — March
20-24 and April 10-13.
Lodging at the tournament
sponsor hotels is mandatory for
tournament participation. The even
will have a 12 team limit with a
four-game guarantee. Cost is $400
per team.
The 8 th Annual Westminster
National Baseball Classic also in
Ft. Lauderdale will be held March
28-31. This even will have 16-team
field with a four-game guarantee.
Cost is $400 per team.
For more information contact
Rich Hofman at Hofball11@aol.
com or call 954-258-4380. There
also is information on www.hofball.
net.