“I asked her that very question,” he responded. “The way she put it to me was that the demographic
I could just see Frank struggling mightily to hold in the laughter. Hmmm.
“Okay, but I’m not going to put myself out for it. If they want to do it that bad, the woman can interview me at the house.”
“I’ll let her know. We’ll see what happens,” he replied.
◊◊◊
When I finally got home, I found Coach Bail, the head coach of Ohio State’s baseball team, sitting in the living room. He was talking to my parents, Uncle John, and Grandma Dawson. Peggy had taken all the little ones, including Duke, to Pam’s condo. I hadn’t realized that my uncle and grandma would want to meet the coaches.
I recognized Coach Bail as one of the recruiters who’d been behind home plate for the State game.
“David, it’s good to finally meet you,” he said as he got up and shook my hand.
Coach Bail had been coaching baseball for 22 years. He had been the head coach at Western Illinois for eight years before he got the Ohio State job six years ago. He was one game under .500 his first year but had shown improvement since then. Each year after that, they’d consistently been over .500, but not by a lot. Coach Bail’s overall record was 402–325. At Ohio State, he was 159–125, or a little more than 5 games over .500 each year.
What I got out of the discussion was that he was a good hands-on coach. It would be a fine place to play, but I didn’t see any National or Big Ten Championships in their future. Last year, Ohio State advanced to the Big Ten Tournament for the fifth consecutive year, the only school in the conference to accomplish that feat. They’d posted a 35–20 overall record and 13–11 mark in Big Ten play.
Coach Bail won my mom over when he talked about families, including his personal family, his athletics department family, and the families of the young men he coached. It was apparent this man cared about his job as well as the players, coaches, and everyone else in his life. I liked him personally.
He then talked about how he saw me fitting in. Coach Bail had done his homework on me and knew of my Under-18 invitation and the work I’d done with the Cubs hitting instructor. He was honest and said that there were older players who would probably be ahead of me. But there was a chance I could walk in and start because there would be open tryouts. I liked that he would give me a chance to prove myself.
“David, I’ve talked to Coach Casey, and he wanted me to convey that he wouldn’t have a problem with you playing both football and baseball. I know that there’ll be some overlap between spring football and baseball season. Of course, I’d prefer you just play baseball. But I want you to know that you have the full support of Coach Casey and myself in making it as easy as possible for you to play both sports.
“Coach Casey told me he and his staff hadn’t had their in-home visit yet. But he would be ecstatic if you decided to play both baseball and football at The Ohio State University,” he said to finish his sales pitch.
After our talk, we had dinner, and Coach Bail got to know us all better.
◊◊◊ Tuesday April 19
My phone woke me up. I looked at the caller ID and sighed. Word must already be out about my first in-home recruiting visit.
“I didn’t set it up, my parents did,” I said as soon as I picked it up.
“Someone has a guilty conscience. Our guy can be there for dinner tonight,” Bo Harrington, my former mentor and now quarterback coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide, said.
“I call bullshit. Alabama is not going to let me play both football and baseball. Coach Wilson couldn’t conceive of anyone not being 100% focused on football.”
I heard Bo laugh. Everyone knew that Coach Wilson ran his program almost like a pro team. If they would just wise up and make it so football players didn’t have to waste time in class, he would probably be happy. I would be shocked if he would let baseball interfere with football preparations.
“What if I told you he said that for you, he would make an exception?” Bo asked.
“I’d call you a liar to your face,” I shot back.
“Okay, you got me,” Bo said with a snort. “What if I told you, you could play baseball
Coach Gat was Alabama’s baseball coach.
“Look at you, working your magic to make me happy,” I teased him.
“I’m results-oriented,” Bo retorted.
That sounded like something his boss would say. I decided to test his resolve.
“I’ll believe Alabama is on board with me playing both baseball and football if you can get Coach Gat to dinner at the Dawsons’ tonight.”
“Will you commit to Alabama if I make it happen?” Bo asked.
