For many professional sports teams, when a new coach enters the picture, the first thing they do is clean house. Bringing in new assistant coaches, new players, new administration — the whole nine yards.
Collegiate athletics don’t necessarily follow those rules. With recruiting and transferring procedures, the process tends to be much more drawn out. It takes years, not months, for college coaches to make a team their own.
This is the task Biola baseball coach Jay Sullenger has been challenged with.
Sullenger is in his first year as head coach for the Eagles, coming from Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, FL where he served as the Minister of Recreation Outreach. He also has an extensive baseball coaching past. From 2001 to 2011, Sullenger was part of the James Madison University coaching staff and in 2008 he became the associate head coach for the Dukes.
The former Liberty University player and alum entered a baseball program full with history and expectations.
The Eagles had a dynastic run under previous head coach John Verhoeven, taking the Eagles to the NAIA College World Series in three different seasons. Verhoeven, Sullenger’s predecessor, was a Major League player in the late ‘70s and coached the Eagles for a 16-year period.
Under the long term coach’s reign, the Eagles won five Golden State Athletic Conference titles and finished in the GSAC top-3 in 11 of the 14 seasons.
Over the past few years, however, the program has struggled to produce similar results. In Verhoeven’s final season last year, the Eagles finished last in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 25-26 overall record, failing to make the playoffs.
A NEW ERA
With the entrance of Sullenger, it looked as though this could be the dawn of a new era, just as when Verhoeven entered in the ‘90s and turned the program.
Yet the start of Sullenger’s tenure may not be what he, the team and his coaching staff had in mind. At 8-15 and just passing the halfway point of the season, the Eagles are sixth out of seven in the GSAC standings.
There have been some bright moments over the course of the first 23 games for Biola.
Arguably one of Sullenger’s greatest strengths is what he perfected in his time at James Madison: recruitment.
Being hired on in Spring 2013, Sullenger has not had the greatest time window to fully flex his recruitment muscles. He can bring in great players, but its not going to happen overnight.
This team has seven seniors, most of whom start on a regular basis. As much as Sullenger and the team would love to win a whole bunch of games this season and put themselves in a great position for playoffs, odds are that won’t be the case.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
The real story of this team lies in the future. Some might call it a rebuilding year, but ultimately, there isn’t enough of the mesh between young, underclassmen talent and upperclassmen experience that you need to put together a successful team.
This is Sullenger’s team, but its not all of it. His team will lie in the talent he brings in and their integration with young guys like sophomore catcher Sam Thorne and sophomore pitcher Sean Rothfuss.
And hey, who knows, this team could put together some spectacular run and wow us all.
Be on the lookout, though. Jay Sullenger is up to something with the Biola baseball team.
Whether it’s this season or five seasons down the road, this team is heading places. The hope for most Eagles fans is that one day, Sullenger might get the team back to the NAIA World Series and give Biola the one thing they have never achieved: a national title.
