Lander Coach Chris Anderson

I've known Coach Anderson for over 5 years. During this time I have always found him to be open, frank, honest and extremely bright. In my opinion, he is one of the best pitching coaches at the college level--an opinion shared by many. Coach Anderson and Smith have taken their magic from Belmont Abbey to a tremendous professional opportunity at Lander University.

I caught up with Coach Anderson just before he was heading back out on the recruiting trails and asked him to answer a few questions for us. I hope everyone will enjoy this interview.



How is the transition going for you and Coach Smith at Lander?


It's going well. We love the town of Greenwood and the University itself. We've got so many resources here. It's nice to know that we have the support from Lander's administration. They want us to have a legitimate shot to win the national title. We are moving into a 15 million dollar outdoor athletic complex that will have coaches offices, weight room, and locker rooms. The baseball field itself will be around 4.2 million dollars and it will sit right in the middle of Greenwood. The town itself has an affinity for baseball and we expect alot of community support. Hopefully, playing in front of a packed house every night. Lander is a nice size of around 3500 students. We offer a wide variety of majors here as well.

It must have been hard to leave Belmomt Abbey. You and Coach Smith had invested a lot of your life their.

It was a very difficult thing for us to leave the Abbey. It was something that we had built from the ground up. The hardest thing for me to do personally was to leave the kids that we had coached there and the relationships that we had built. As far as the season last year, it was special. It was something that I will never forget. It also made me realize that it was something that I wanted to have the opportunity to attain every year. We had a special group of guys that had worked tirelessly to be at that point in their career.


Are NC recruits players that you are still interested in?

No question.

What have you found to be the difference between D1 level of competition and D2?

This is a hard one for me to answer. I believe that when you play at the better DII schools you are seeing consistent competition with talented players, much like DI. Now the comparison between the two is very difficult to say.

How important is it for a college coach that his recruits come from a winning program?

I like it. However, I don't have to have it. I think that a player is a player. The winning mentality is the key. You can have that even if you don't come from a winning program.

 

When is an unofficial visit appropriate?


When the visit needs to happen quickly. Or the player is close in proximity to the University. Sometimes with a packed fall team schedule it is easier to do some unofficials in the middle of the week. Kids are usually allowed some college days.

How and when do YOU prioritize your short list?

I don't know that we have a short list until after the early signing period. We like to recruit players that can do different things on the field. Allowing young guys to get more opportunities to be in the lineup earlier. We usually evaluate the guys we have signed and then go to specific needs after the fall period. There are times when we go into recruiting season knowing we need to get a specific position, but generally speaking we go after good players.


What is your over-all coaching philosophy?


We try our hardest to recruit talented kids. Kids that posses some type of tools that we feel can develop. We also like kids that believe that they have a pro future and want to turn themselves into a professional baseball player. As far as the way we coach, we push our kids past any point that they have ever been. I know that sounds a little cliche, but it is the truth. At the end of their time, they are mentally tough men that feel that they can take on any challenge. We work hard on skill, strength, athleticism, and academics. Our goal at Lander is to win the National Championship. That takes maximum effort in all facets of life. To do that, we need kids that can take care of their business on and off the field. We have a team first mentality.

We hope to have the trust and respect of our players. We really work hard to develop our relationships with our players. When you can create that environment our players can be open and honest with us about what is taking place in their lives and we can reciprocate that with them about them on the baseball field.

We believe in player development. We don't over recruit. We try to help every player we bring in reach their potential. We believe in the players that we recruit. However, we believe in competition. No one will be handed anything when they come play for us.

How do you judge character?

I think kids are open books. Whether they want to be or not. Honesty is one of the most important traits and tells me a lot about kids. I coach players from 18-22 for a living. I'm pretty good at reading the character of kids in that age range.

How do you rate intangibles? Do they bear much weight?

Intangibles are great if the player can play.

What role does academics play in your evaluations of players?

A huge role. There is so much that colleges can do package wise if each player if their grades are above average. Referring back to an earlier comment I made, it also tells me that a player can take care of his business off the field. He has academics as a priority. That allows me the luxury of spending more time in helping him become a better baseball player.

If you could give advice to a recruited player, what would that be?

Go to a place that wants you.--- One that takes the time to call you and gets to know you as an individual and a player.

 

It's hard for me to look at Coach Smith and Anderson in any other uniform then this, but just as they had to, I'll have to adjust as well. But for old times sake..here they are.

 

I've talked with Coach Anderson a time or two and he has been great. A simple conversation about a prospect turned into Coach Anderson giving me advice and insight to my coaching career. Just from our brief conversations, you can tell how genuine he is. Without a doubt, I believe Coach Smith and Coach Anderson will do great things at Lander. They've got my support for sure.

Thanks for posting Looey.

 

Great read...and transparently Chris Anderson. If you want an objective opinion about Chris and Kermit, ask someone else. My son had the honor of playing 4 years for them, and I have nothing but biased praise.

Character. Straight-forward honesty. Old-fashioned work ethic. Insisting on proper decorum on and off the field. Add in a heavy dose of baseball knowledge and instincts, and you have Chris and Kermit. They're ham and egg, each specializing (Chris pitching...Kermit hitting).

Lander U struck gold nabbing both of them. They better enjoy it while it lasts, because Chris will be a Head Coach someday soon.