Rowan University Head Baseball Coach, Mike Dickson
hello this is Sil Sundraj with on New Jersey Sports uh this morning I am happy to be speaking with Rowan University baseball head baseball coach Mike Dixon uh coach Dixon uh again thank you for the opportunity great to be speaking with you after uh I said three years uh congrats uh to you and the rest of the team uh advancing to the NCA Division 3 uh baseball tournament super regionals playing number five Lynchber uh tomorrow Friday May 23rd at noon time at uh the Bank of James Stadium in Lynchburg Virginia um can you just talk about uh just you know what it means to be uh you know again at this stage you know in the NCA tournament uh first thank for thanks for having me on it’s a great opportunity love to be able to promote our team and uh pro promote the kids that we have on you know in the program um it’s been it’s been uh you know a good run for us i think this is our eighth straight um NCAA appearance uh we’ve been a consistent you know top 15 team in the country uh you know that’s that’s attributed to you know the great assistant coaches that we have the the fantastic players uh that we’ve been able to bring bring in and um really really that doesn’t happen without a great school to be able to recruit to that’s true um hey let’s talk about uh last weekend May 16th through the 18th uh in the regionals defeated Gro City 9-1 then Catholic twice i mean dominated in those last two games coach uh you know 26-9 and 20 to4 i mean the offense just erupting there uh you know before we came on the air we talked about Phil Sadel i mean 12 RBI’s in two games uh Joey Borgart you know drove in five runs in the 26-9 win over Catholic uh just talk about just offensively just I mean how great that was to see you know the offense just come alive in those uh three games yeah it’s uh really about our our players buying into our plan offensively and and what we wanted to do uh not only not only last weekend but throughout the year and they’ve re they’ve really done a great job offensively um and uh we were able to to come up with a really good game plan for the weekend i know Friday we were facing a potential draft pick at Growth City um and we did a really good job against him and then we’re able to carry it on uh throughout the rest of the weekend and um Phil Phil was tremendous uh but Phil can’t be tremendous if the players aren’t on on base in front of him and Tai Cannon in the bottom lineup u you know Phil was able to come through but really it was a total team effort uh last weekend yeah i mean I I know that’s essential you know one through nine you’re looking from contributions from everybody i’m sure that’s very satisfying for you coach again to see that and I remember uh three years ago speaking to you you know one of your goals is always to get them in on second base you know in terms of getting doubles and I I’m sure that’s something you still you know preach to this day coach yeah I I think uh you know each team is a little bit different you always want to be able to try and get runners on second base uh I thought really three big contributors to our our season was uh the ability uh so we look at plus and minus between strikeouts to walks and hit by pitches so uh if you can be even is a good year if you’re plus in your walks and hit by pitches is a you know a really good year this year this year we’re plus 98 in walks and hit by pitches to strikeouts yeah uh so that’s a lot more runners on base without being able to without you know without hits um so you know Marco Manino we inserted him into the three-hole in the middle of the year and I think he’s like 33 to five walks and hit by pitches to strikeouts um Damon Serani is a freshman got put into the five hole uh I think he’s like 28-2 um uh so you know and then then our bottom lineup is is strong we got you know a division one transfer and Eric Sabato hitting in the seven hole currently he was our three hole early in the year before he got hurt uh and then Bogard and and Carson and Carson Hardcore at the bottom of the lineup those guys get on and allows Tai and Phil to constantly be hit with runners in scoring position yeah it’s wonderful to uh to hear up hey on the foot side let’s talk about the the pitching you know especially the starters um you know Mike Shannon Steven May’s Zack Kio I mean those guys have contributed i mean you know between the three of them what 13 21 wins uh and they definitely again um were just solid you know again uh on the bump you know said last weekend uh coach yeah I mean Shannon this is his uh he pitched a regional championship game in 21 he pitched I want to say he pitched one of the games in 22 he pitched a regional championship game in 23 um he won his regional uh start last year so he’s a season veteran he’s been here uh in these championship runs uh both out of out of you know as a starting role and as a out of the bullpen um you know Steve Mayor’s pitched in a World Series with Gloucester County College or Rowan College uh two years ago and you know Kuchio’s been been dominant all year so those three guys have really been tremendous for us uh on the mound throughout the year yeah that’s terrific to hear and you know it it’s just impressive to see um you know the breakdown you talked about the experience factor coach about this roster and I I said that you know you keep on retooling every year which again is just so impressive um you know I think five graduate students 10 seniors 10 juniors six sophomores six freshmen and the fact that you know come you know I mean you’re focused on this year but I mean the future just looks so bright for you i mean just to have that consistency year in and out uh I’m sure that you really you know again uh pride yourself on that and again it comes down to of course uh the coaching staff i mean just you know the structure you know from you know top to bottom uh within the baseball program there at your Rowan University yeah it’s all it’s all about I mean the players have to do it on the field they’re going to buy in uh to what we talk about daily uh in practice and and they’re the ones that are going to have to perform on the field and I think we attract players through the recruiting process whether it be transfers or four-year players um that want to have an opportunity to play in a winning program and I think there’s something to be said about that whatever level you go to division one division two division three I think you’re going to have a better college experience if you’re in a winning program i think the bus ride you know the bus rides are better on the way home uh there there’s uh seems to be more camaraderie there’s there’s more of an enjoyment because uh a winning atmosphere pro you know um produces all those things and I think kids want to be a part of uh that winning atmosphere and um you know we have a wonderful university to be able to recruit to and a lot of different programs and it’s a uh really a mid- major research institution that that I think attracts a lot of uh fantastic student athletes yeah no definitely um hey I was I mean just again it’s magnificent just to see the again on the offensive side i mean 10 players I think hitting over 300 here coach and then you said uh you have uh uh the P pitching staff again that has contributed immensely uh I’m sure that you’re going to need all that against Lynchburg this upcoming weekend i mean you know those two games we’re talking about a team that’s what 41-7 i think they’re undefeated at home 23 and 0 um could you talk about this matchup and just what the keys are going to be in terms of being able to come out with you know the victories here yeah I think you know first of all you know Lynchber is a fantastic team and and we’ve run into this before we ran into it in 22 when we talked about with Eastern Connecticut uh who’s the eventual national champion u you know we’re we’re gonna we’re not going to back down from anybody i know Lynchberg is a fantastic team and um you know their record speaks for itself and they won a national championship two years ago um so they’re gonna be prepared for this moment as well um just knowing me and knowing oursel and knowing where we come from knowing our team um you know we’re we’re up for the challenge uh these guys have been here before and it’s going to come down to who can you know who who is going to perform in in these three games and uh if our best players are the best players on the field we’re going to win if their best players are the best players on the field they’re going to win this you know uh but we’re not going to we’re not going to go into it uh you know with with uh or I should say we are going to go into it with an understanding that we’re going to compete like we’re here to win uh they’re here to here they’re here to win um let’s go let’s get out there and let’s go play tomorrow yeah that you know it the results will be on the field and that that’s what it is you can really throw out all the records because you know it really comes down to you know two games best two out of three and that that’s really uh the way you surmise it um I know every year’s team every year the team is different but what what is it about the makeup of this year’s team what makes it so special to coach this you know as a collective group uh here Coach Dixon these these guys get along great um it’s going to be sad to see this group of seniors leave uh they’ve had so much success on the field they’re great students in the classroom uh they they you know some of them have come back to go to graduate school uh because they’ve had such a great experience in our program um so it’s it’s really just the type of kid that we have in our program and they embrace everything uh that we look for um and it’s just just the camaraderie that they have and and the love that they have for each other is is unmatched yeah hey and I’m glad you brought that point up coach because it’s it’s just not about being the athlete it’s being the student athlete and you know balancing out you know said all those rigors of uh you know in the classroom and that’s not easy to do i mean between of course the the practices the lifts I mean you know watching film and then you have the games and it’s a lot to tackle and you know for these guys they’ve definitely been able to meet those expectations and live up to the billing yeah they’re they’re are tremendous students off the field and this is going to be really a precursor for them in their lives um you know baseball is just a game but it’s going to teach them so much more about who they are as people and who they are moving forward when when they’re not playing college sports anymore mhm uh the adversity that they’ve gone through the challenges you know the early mornings u the late the late night getting home and having to go to to class the next day this is really going to be help prepare them so much more for the next step uh when they you know when they leave college uh for life uh you know when when life knocks them down a little bit they’re going to go back and remember that that four-game losing streak streak that we had this year and you know that they’ll be able to overcome some things um so you know I’m I’m really proud of the people they are i’m really proud of uh the students that they are off the field and the players they are on the field hey I I wanted to ask you is that uh you talk about having to face adversity at the end of the season you know that occurred you know in the NJCA in the New Jersey Athletic uh conference tournament but you know they were able to put that past them or behind them and just you know move ahead and move forward and obvious you know you see the results now you guys are in the super regionals uh I I I I’m sure that’s something you know you’ll look back and say wow you know I mean again this but experienced group as I said and alluded to that was able to you know again rise above uh you know those challenges yeah it’s it’s one of the things that we talk about uh within our program there’s going to be es and flows of the season there’s going to be some good times there’s going to be some bad times um but they’re all learning moments for us and they’re all for me as a as a teacher and as a former you know grown up as a as a teacher and graduating with teaching degree these are teaching moments for me um for when we fail how do we respond after we fail um very easily to put your head down feel sorry for yourself you know and then go into a regional maybe go 0 and two in a regional because you’re still you know you’re feeling bad about not performing as well as you could have in the conference tournament or you can say so what now what this happened what can I do from it it’s over with there’s nothing I can do about it let’s learn from why we why we maybe weren’t successful let’s use it as teaching moments and let’s grow from it and I think that’s what we want to do as people as well right we’re all going to have failures we’re all gonna make mistakes but how can we grow from those mistakes to be better uh individuals yeah yeah very that’s true very well said and look uh you talk about division three baseball the New Jersey Athletic Conference is I think one of the premier co uh conferences in the across the country you look right now I mean you know even three years ago you had multiple teams in the NCA tournament this year is no different uh you know Keen University TCJ Keen I think also in the super regional so uh c can you talk about that i mean facing you know the best competition out there obviously earlier in the season you you know as you do every year traveling down to Florida uh you know Coach Dixon it prepares you you know again uh when you you know play in the in the NCA tournament yeah I know people have brought up to us earlier in the year uh you know you’re going you’re playing at Kane in a double header and then you’re going at Harrisburg um and then you’re going at York you got three games in a row all you know couple hours away two of them have been uh you know year in and year out regional teams uh why are you scheduling like that and I said I got to prepare us for later in the year like I want to treat it as a super regional or regional you’re going to have you go have to go on the road it’s going to be long days you’re going to have to travel um and you know doing that I think prepares you for moments like this it go you know prepares you for driving eight hours to Ohio going out and winning a regional couple days later you got to drive five and a half hours down to Lynchburg and go play them so that’s why we do that is for it’s for moments like this to help prepare us for moments like this yeah no definitely um hey 11th season at uh Rowan University as the the head baseball coach uh you know you’re nearing nearing I think uh total almost 700 wins over 300 at Rowan um you know coached nine seasons you know junior college Rowan College at Glchester County um as the years go by but especially here at Rowan now I’m just from where you started uh coach and now to here in your 11th season you know what comes to your mind just you know knowing how much success that you’ve been able to attain here at Rowan University no I go back and look and I I tell my assistant coaches some of the time and I I’ve coached all of my assistant coaches uh and I’ve got to see them grow from players to to you know to now adults uh you know I was 27 years old when I was a first became a head coach having never been a head coach before you know you had to learn so much on the job training and at the junior college level I was uh I was the fundraiser i’m the head coach um teaching at the college as well um you know I’m running practices I’m running lifts so I had to learn everything on the fly and I became a better head coach because of that uh as I’ve gotten older and I have kids of my own uh I think I’ve I understand people a little bit more and the development of people and you know I’m still learning uh as we speak today um but it’s re it’s really about the kids in the program and it’s about them and their experience and you know my role is just helping mentor them and help get them to the next uh phase maybe of their lives and 18 to 23 year old kids are uh I may be the last person that has a major influence on them before they go out into the real world yeah uh so helping prepare them and helping um uh train them mentor them uh just be a part of their lives and be a part of um you know that next step is so it’s so important to me um that I have that opportunity uh to coach you know college baseball and I’m around you know 18 to 22 year olds they’re full of energy they’re full of life uh uh they’re you know they’re wide open they’re looking you know they’re they’re looking for their role uh not only in college but when they graduate from here and uh I’m just blessed to be a part of be a part of it and be be a part of their lives i’ve met so many great people um as a head coach uh throughout my I think this is like my 21st 21st year uh or 20th year in college coaching i’ve had so many great kids and you know a lot of them I get to see them come back on alumni days and they’re they have their kids now and you know they talk about their experiences here uh that’s that’s really great to see and and obviously having the opportunity to work alongside three of my former players uh pitching coach was on the first team that I ever coached when I was 27 years old you know he’s 19 i’m only uh you know seven or eight years older than him um you know to see him uh now have a family and u you know these guys all grown up is is just so important to me to be part of their lives yeah it’s it’s fabulous to hear um hey you know what does she just the expectations you know again last year and then coming into this season did you have you know an inclination that this team you know could you know make a deep run and you know be a special one here coach yeah I mean I knew the players that we had um and the careers that they had going into it i knew um on paper we were good obviously you never know until the games are played yeah uh but the bond that they had and and the work that they put in on the field and off the field um says so much about them and you know did I know did I know we were going to be here today i didn’t know that you know still gota still got to play the games but um they’ve bought into everything I I’ve talked about and and done everything I’ve did or they’ve done everything that I’ve asked um so am I surprised no I’m not surprised but yeah um just glad that they they’ve put in all the work that it takes to get here yeah no that’s true um hey you mentioned like you know just in terms of Rowan University i mean hey you’re also the assistant athletic director so you’re you talk about multitasking and juggling you know you’re you’re definitely doing that on a daily basis coach but you know obviously like you know from the administration athletic department you know facilities are topnotch at Rowan University i’m sure that really you know again in terms of with the recruiting that really is a selling point you know said uh you know for the baseball program yeah no no question about it i think our our team is a microcosm of the university and you know we have changed from you know the small teachers college um into this massive uh fastest growing college in the state of New Jersey and I think we’re third or fourth fastest growing in in the country um you know engineering and and sciences and um business have really exploded on our team um you know the engineering program alone um provides you know such a large so for for Rowan to to to be an engineering major is pretty costefficient at Rowan compared to a lot of the schools that we recruit against it’s also really hard at the division one level to be an engineer and play college baseball just because of the class times and the amount of work that it takes u in that major where at Rowan you can do it um so you know to be able to have a program like that uh where so many kids want to go into we may be able to attract some better players that are engineers um that maybe wouldn’t have that opportunity at the division one level um so to be able to recruit those type of players um and to recruit to a big university in a in a great college town uh you know it allows me to have the players that want to come to Rowan if I didn’t if I didn’t have the university to recruit to you know then it’s just you know then it’s just a baseball program in me so that becomes harder uh you need that collaboration and you need a university that you can recruit to uh to get the right type of people you want in your program yeah yeah excellent points you made and uh hey just in terms of administration you know president Dr ellie Hushman and then now new director of athletics and Sean Tucker um uh can you talk about just to have that uh support from the administration you know that that’s again that’s so critical just in terms of uh having that success and having the resources available uh you know for the baseball program coach Dixon we can’t win without the administration uh a as I can’t win without some of the players on my team i can’t win with them either we’re all one we all work together uh and if if I don’t have this great institution if I don’t have the funding uh you know uh to be able to to run this program then um we’re not going to be as good as we are and it takes us all in um uh to be good and and I think that’s what Rowan is all about and I’m excited to work with uh Sean Tucker as he comes in as a new athletic director uh and he’s going to bring a ton of energy ton of ton of excitement a lot of division one experience u to take us to the next level uh in division 3 athletics yeah and I agree 100% with that got to see the work that Sean did at New Jersey City University NJCU and then of course at Ruckers as well uh I this may sound like a long-winded question uh Coach Dixon but just in ter you know again played the game of baseball coached it for so long you said over 20 years what just what are some of the intangibles just on and off off the field that just make it again so enjoyable especially now to be coaching it you know the game for so long yeah I I I mean the game is it’s a very difficult game because you fail so much in our sport compared to other sports uh especially on the hitting side uh because you’re playing a game that you know you’re not supposed to be good at you’re playing one-on-one you’re throwing you know you’re facing kids that are 88 to 92 miles an hour and the ball’s moving 17 to 21 inches and you’re trying to hit a round ball with a round ball bat so it’s very difficult um to be successful at so the mental challenges of playing our game and just seeing our players work through uh those those challenges of failure and and handling the failure um and coming out on the other side to where they’re productive uh is so exciting to me as a coach i love wa like to me watching them pile on and watching them hug after we won i was like a proud dad like I’m I’m sitting there i’m just smiling watching them because they have all gone through some failures this year and they have all come out on the other side and as I said earlier this is going to teach them so much more in life about when things are not going well for them that there is light at the end of the tunnel that there is light on the other side um and there’s going to be moments where they’re going to be smiling again so that to me is from a coaching standpoint as I said I I was just sitting back and smiling i was like a proud dad watching watching these guys hug each other and and you know realizing how resilient they’ve become and uh you know facing the adversity and and coming out on the other side is is really inspiring and exciting for me yeah no I mean you put so much time and effort into this i mean you know this is 247 365 i mean it’s not for the faint of heart but you really have to be fully invested into this because you you can’t take any days off i mean if you want to be at that elite you know elite status yeah we talked about the beginning of the year what what um you know you need you need 10 guys on the field playing together to get to the final eight teams right so 10 plus nine equals eight and really you need everybody on your roster to be able to to be involved and and be all in as well so I think we had 37 really 37 plus nine equals eight 37 players working together for nine innings equals the last eight teams in the College World Series um so you really need to be all in and and we talk about you know outside of baseball I use the analogy of regardless of who you are on the team whether you’re playing not playing if you call me at 2 o’clock in the morning and you’re broken down on the side of the road I’m coming to get you uh I’m going to come help you with your tire to help you fix it or I’m going to get somebody there to help you out uh a and I just want them to have that understanding that they could call anybody on our team and they’d be willing to come and help them out if they got a flat tire on the side of the road two o’clock in the morning so it becomes about all of us working together and knowing that we can trust one another in maybe our our toughest moments yeah just building having that team chemistry as you said forming those bonds again um are so crucial hey just for for the state of New Jersey uh putting that props uh you know uniform on i mean how I mean how proud is it I mean to to be you know again uh in Lynchberg Virginia playing Lynchberg i mean that’s got to like you know that’s got to mean you know so much i grew up in in New Jersey i have lived here my entire life the coaching path that I took doesn’t happen for everybody uh you know I I left the college to go to another college that’s in the same county um usually as a coach you’re moving all over the place and um you know important for me to raise my kids here in the state and um you know very good schools in the state um so to be able to expand the brand and the name of Ran University and represent not only the state and and the university outside to to other places is is really important to me yeah and we talk about family you know I said of course your your wife Danielle is a is a Rowan graduate we talked about that three years ago your your two daughters Mia and Paige uh it’s got to be like you know I mean it’s got to be just awesome moments just being able to share this journey with them uh coach yeah thanks thanks uh so much to my wife i’ve been on the road the last three weeks I’ve been out and my kids are now at the age where they’re running all over all over the place and in their own sports lives um so you know it truly takes a village everywhere you’re you know it takes a village at Rowan it takes a village at home um I couldn’t do it without her i couldn’t do it without uh friends on my daughter’s soccer teams and field hockey teams that we had car pools with yeah um because they’ve really helped out so much um getting my kids to to the events that they need need to get to when I’m on the road um so I do miss you know one of the things as a coach obviously you miss some of your own family moments and you miss some of those times um on the field whenever I get a chance to go see them play I try and go see them play like if I get a moment off and and they’re playing or practicing I want to be able there i want to go over and um you know get to see as much as I can uh because those those moments when they’re young they’re only young once that’s true and and um you know as a coach like I said I you miss so much i think I missed when Paige was first learned how to ride a bike i miss that the first day that she I was playing i couldn’t be there and uh so you miss some of those moments but um they uh they understand they understand my you know my role with the team and uh obviously they love when I’m I have the opportunity to come see them play as well yeah that’s wonderful to hear um hey before you get the the the final wording message welld deserved Coach Dixon um message I’m sure you have a lot of fans out there you know the prop space you know both local and nationally just your message to them you know said as you guys embark here now you know playing Lynchburg here in the super regionals so excited to represent our university as a former you know as an alumni former student athlete here uh excited to take our uh take our team down to Virginia here and and uh hopefully we get an opportunity to play in the College World Series that’s the goal yeah hey final word of message Coach Dixon i I I’m sure there are a lot of people you want to thank family friends you know uh you know of course the the baseball team the players and coaches at Rowan University just wanted to give you the floor here you know I said you know again you you have accomplished so much here at Rowan University yeah first and foremost want to thank my uh wife Danielle and the family and the kids back home uh good luck to them this weekend uh they got a kind of a weekend free of sports but uh you know I hope they have a great weekend and uh know that I’m thinking about them every time I’m on the road and thank you to the coaching staff they’ve done you know an outstanding job not only this year but every year putting our team together and and working with me um and putting in the time and effort on their side um and and to to everyone back home you know we’re looking forward i got a call from an alumni this morning he’s going to be watching uh all the games so represent us if you’re not down here represent us watch the games back home uh get some you know alumni groups back together and watch it together uh you know so so keep us uh keep us in mind back home follow us hope to see everybody uh when we get home and have an opportunity playing in College World Series outstanding once again coach 6 and a true honor and privilege being able to speak with you again about the Rowan University uh baseball program and again congrats on your success and uh wishing you and the rest of the team all the best uh again against Lynchburg in the Super Regionals thanks a lot for having me thank you
Mike Dickson, head coach of Rowan baseball, sat down with ONNJ Sports reporter Sunil Sunder Raj to discuss the 2025 season.
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