Upon graduating from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2013, Crothersville’s Jared Richey wanted to make a major step in his baseball coaching career: Serve as the coach of the Tigers.
When the position opened, Richey, a 2009 Crothersville graduate, made sure his name got thrown into the candidate pool.
This season, Richey begins his first year as the Tigers’ coach.
Richey played baseball all four years at Crothersville.
During his baseball tenure, Richey played under three coaches — Bobby Adams, Ryan Canada and Dan Hodge.
“A lot of my coaching philosophies are taken from past coaches I’ve had,” Richey said. “All of them have good points that I’m going to bring to the team. Hopefully, I bring to them a lot of determination. We need a lot of determination and heart in our games.”
Richey, who works as an electrical engineer at Cummins in Columbus, said he has learned a lot about the program, players and position in the preseason.
“Its been very good here so far,” Richey said. “It’s a rebuilding year, we’re a young team. We have six freshmen. The program has been very welcoming.”
While Richey didn’t play baseball in college due to a knee injury, he is very involved in training the Tigers.
“We’ve been going very hard at practice. I’ve been hitting and throwing harder (to the team),” Richey said. “I told them if you can catch what’s coming at you during practice at 110 percent you can catch anything during games.”
Prior to his high school position, Richey said he coached youth baseball for a number of years.
Richey, 24, said he feels that it’s been an easy transition connecting with the high school athletes on multiple levels.
“I wouldn’t say we’re on the same level, but I know where they’re coming from with a lot of stuff,” Richey said. “As far as how I should coach and approach them.”
As far as his coaching on the field, Richey won’t be the one hollering at his players if things go sour.
“I’m not going to yell. I’m going to be the disappointed parent,” Richey laughed.
The Tigers host Henryville at 5 p.m Friday.