DRC Article - Tim Tadlock

[jbchis]

Here's a guy who has a couple of JC World Series championships and needs a D-1 job. He's got local roots as well. Perfect match. Mentions UNT at the bottom of the article.

Baseball: Grayson County’s Tadlock hopes his time will come

09:34 AM CDT on Sunday, June 27, 2004

By Mike McClendon / Staff Writer

One of the most successful college baseball coaches in the country is only half-kidding when he says he’s thinking of becoming an insurance salesman.

Denton native Tim Tadlock has led Grayson County College in Denison to two national championships and five appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series. In Tadlock’s eight seasons as the Vikings’ skipper, Grayson has won almost 80 percent of its games. The team finished fifth in the nation this season despite losing its top pitcher to illness late in the season.

Courtesy photo

Grayson County College head baseball coach Tim Tadlock, right, speaks to an umpire during the recent NJCAA College World Series. Tadlock, a Denton High graduate, has led the school to two national titles during his tenure.

That kind of success makes the 35-year-old Tadlock believe he’s ready to take over an NCAA Division I-A baseball program. He just doesn’t know if he’s going to get the opportunity. Tadlock said he has applied for about 20 Division I-A head coaching jobs, but has yet to get an interview.

"One of the hardest jumps to make in coaching is from junior college to Division I-A," Tadlock said. "It’s a big barrier. You don’t see Division I-A college football teams hiring head coaches from junior colleges. It’s the same way in baseball."

Tadlock believes his career path is reaching a crossroads.

"Something has to happen," Tadlock said. "I have to take care of my family. Either I move up to Division I-A, get a raise here or do something else. It’s not like junior college coaches get big bonuses for winning. For me, it’s not all about baseball anymore."

While the talent level at Grayson is similar to a Division I-A program, the atmosphere is very different. Grayson’s Dub Hayes Field is a small baseball complex with no lights, no concession stands and no restrooms. During some games, Tadlock said, major league baseball scouts outnumber the fans.

But Tadlock is no stranger to humble beginnings. Raised in a single-parent household, he grew up on the local Denton sandlots playing youth baseball for 7-Up, a team coached by the late W.H. Rainey. A 1987 graduate of Denton High School, Tadlock led the Broncos to the playoffs three years in a row. He went on to play two years at Hill Junior College before becoming a two-year-starter at Texas Tech.

"Tim was a little bitty guy who played with a lot of fire," said Navarro Junior College head coach Skip Johnson, who grew up with Tadlock. "He played every game like it was the seventh game of the World Series. That’s the way he coaches, too."

Tadlock didn’t decide to become a coach until after his playing days were over.

"I don’t enjoy coaching as much as I enjoyed playing," Tadlock said. "If someone gave me a bus ticket [to the minor leagues] I’d leave right now."

He would likely run into to several of his former players. More than 25 of Tadlock’s pupils have moved on to professional baseball. Scores more went on to play in Division I-A.

Tadlock’s former players have made an impact across the baseball landscape. Grayson-ex John Lackey won the seventh game of the World Series for the Anaheim Angels in 2002. Duncanville’s Brandon Fahey, who played for Tadlock’s second national championship squad, was on the University of Texas team that won the College World Series in 2002 and is currently playing for the Baltimore Orioles’ Double A affiliate. Another Grayson product, David Maroul, is playing for the Longhorns in the College World Series today.

Recruiting players like Lackey, Fahey and Maroul is one of the most important aspects of Tadlock’s job. Tadlock spent the first three summers of his coaching career driving around the state hunting for players in a 1982 Toyota pickup truck with a crooked bumper and no air conditioning.

"I’ve put my fair share of miles in," he said. "If I put in the same hours as a salesman, I’d be a millionaire by now."

Grayson’s national titles in 1999 and 2000 are testaments to Tadlock’s skills as a recruiter.

"Coach Tadlock gets guys from all across the country," Fahey said. "I don’t know how he gets some of them, but I guess it helps to have a couple of World Series titles under his belt."

Tadlock has the ability to find players no one else knows about, but he can also land the blue chipper. Signing shortstop Andy LaRoche was one of Tadlock’s biggest feats. In need of a shortstop, Tadlock convinced LaRoche to skip his senior season at Fort Scott (Kan.) High School to attend Grayson. After a successful junior college career, LaRoche received a $1 million signing bonus from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While several future millionaires have played for Tadlock, the coach just wants the opportunity to make an honest living as a Division I-A college baseball coach.

Tadlock has heard the recent rumors about the University of North Texas’ efforts to add a baseball program. If that becomes a reality, he hopes the Mean Green would give the hometown guy a chance.

"UNT would be a great job," Tadlock said. "I’d take it today. I’m happy where I’m at, but it’s no secret that I want to move up to the next level. I believe I can win anywhere. I just want a chance."

MIKE McCLENDON can be reached at 940-566-6873.

[emmitt01]

Hire him...I'd love to employ the "little guy" who's looking for a chance.

[UNTLifer]

Another Thread, Same Subject

[Mad Hatter]

Absolutely! I'd love for NT to get this guy. He aleady has an axe to grind with the larger schools who haven't given him a shot. He'd be looking to prove something as soon as he started. Too bad the program is at least a year or two away.

[jbchis]

Another Thread, Same Subject

Sorry. I just saw a lengthy thread about baseball in the football section, so I posted the article. I don't have every thread put to memory.

[UNTLifer]

Sorry. I just saw a lengthy thread about baseball in the football section, so I posted the article. I don't have every thread put to memory.

Not a problem, just thought I would attach it and consolidate the two posts together. I considered posting in the football area because it would receive more views.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

I think according to the Eagle point plans the stadium is to be finished in 2007. That means UNT would need to begin building the program this next year by hiring a coach, trying to get extra funding for the program, begin scouting and recruiting so when 2007 rolls around they have a team to field.

[NTEagle08]

I think according to the Eagle point plans the stadium is to be finished in 2007.  That means UNT would need to begin building the program this next year by hiring a coach, trying to get extra funding for the program, begin scouting and recruiting so when 2007 rolls around they have a team to field.

actually I think the plan is for the team to start play in the fall of 2006.