UTSA BASEBALL
Media Availability Quotes
June 17, 2019 – San Antonio
Roadrunner Field
Head Coach Pat Hallmark
Opening statement …
"I'm super excited. A lot of work to do but eager and excited and looking forward to it."
On a talent-laden area of the nation …
"There are good players around here. I'm from Houston so I knew that. That is what drew me back home to Texas from Missouri originally. There are good players here. That was verified in my two years at UIW. We were able to win a lot of games over there. It all starts with recruiting. We'll be looking forward to building the winning tradition and growing the program here."
On the prospect talent in the area …
"It's fantastic. If you are talking about the United States, from Houston to Central Texas, the recruiting is second to none. You could argue Southern California or South Florida but I grew up around here too so they high school baseball player in this area is really second to none, which is what is fun about coaching here. That is all where it starts. We think we can do really great things at UTSA."
On moving across town from UIW …
"I'm excited. There is no doubt about it. Being from the state and actually, I live across the street basically. I'm closer to campus then I was I am was already close (to UIW). I'm on the other side (of the highway) so I could jog to work, probably will sometimes. It's super exciting and like I said, I'm just ready for the summer to end and get the guys on campus and start practicing."
On what he sees as something to work on at UTSA …
"Specifically, we'll need to pitch better. I don't know if you want to get into the baseball side of it but it starts on the mound. We need to improve a little bit there and develop some guys. The key to coach Graham's success started with player development. He made that his calling card. There are good players, good high school players in this area, it is going to boil down to player development. From a recruiting standpoint initially, we're not going to out recruit the Longhorns or the Aggies, no one does, but that's okay because there's enough good players that if you develop them you can win big here."
On if stadium upgrades was a factor in decision making …
"It'd be nice to have the amenities and the nicer stadium but that wasn't a must. Dr. Campos was very up front about where we are at in that regard. This suits me fine. When I got to UIW, we made a few upgrades, but it wasn't as nice as this. I am perfectly happy with what we have. At the end of the day, it's player development. You get to work at developing players and winning games. Down the road, maybe there will be more pressure to do something (facility) wise because we have 40 wins and are in a regional."
On if his 2020 goal is to make the NCAA Tournament …
"Absolutely. That is the goal. I'm not going to hide it from the players, so I might as well start now. The goal is NCAA postseason. I don't want to just get there, I want to win there. That is the goal."
On the relationships and the time spent at UIW head coach from 2018-19 …
"It was great. The only negative to the last three days is honestly leaving the players that I had over there. I built a lot of relationships. That is always tough but I spoke to those guys, I've spoken to my new players and at the end of the day it's about what is in store at UTSA. Super exciting and I couldn't be happier about it."
On what he will do with a coaching staff …
"I have some ideas, I don't know exactly. That is probably the first order of business after talking to all the current players, which I've done. But it's putting that staff together. I have some guys in mind, some guys I've worked with, some great coaches, so well need to solidify some things but certainly I do have some guys in mind."
On a plan for recruiting through camps …
"The timing is good, so we'll do all the summer camps, we'll do some high school evaluations/showcase camps. We'll look forward to those and seeing a lot of those guys. We'll do some of the youth camps too but what we'll probably target more is the high school evaluation camps. Once the staff gets in place and we get our feet on the ground, we'll get that information out and get some guys over here and start hunting the high school players that can help us get to that postseason and win."
- UTSA -
