New Ohio State baseball coach Bill Mosiello wants players that are self-motivated.
He wants athletes that want to work hard. He wants people that will take tough instruction. He wants players he can trust so that he can turn them loose on the diamond and let them be themselves.
“We’re going to demand a lot. We expect a lot. If you don’t want to be challenged every day then don’t come here, this isn’t the right spot,” Mosiello said. “This is a place where you’re going to get to grow, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to be reprimanded. But there’s never a life sentence. You’re going to keep going.”
That’s the culture he’s looking to establish at Ohio State, and in many ways feels he already has. Now as the Buckeyes move forward under his regime, both in the current locker room and on the recruiting trail Mosiello will work to supplement a winning mentality.
“You’ve got to continue to get better,” Mosiello said. “When you’ve been in programs that win regionals and super regionals, you have to continue to get better to progress to play your best baseball when it counts the most. And that’s the goal of this program. I wanted us to be the best team from day one, but I knew it would take some time. We’ve just got to continue to get better.”
Mosiello credits his current roster with meeting his culture head-on.
From his first days arriving on campus, he said, the team has bought in. It’s something he’s reiterated throughout the first few weeks of the season. That includes the team’s freshmen, who are looking to start the next wave of competitive Buckeye baseball.
“It’s their culture,” Mosiello said. “They didn’t have a preconceived notion about us. We (the coaching staff) came in, whatever our culture was is their culture. We’re just super lucky that they’re what our culture is about, and they’re helping our culture. They have as much stock in this program as any senior.”
Other coaches talk in Mosiello’s circles about issues within their locker rooms or issues with talent. Mosiello doesn’t share those sentiments. Both on and off the field, he’s been pleased with what he’s seen.
“I haven’t said that one time to one person, that I wish I had different players,” Mosiello said. “I;m just so lucky that I have these players. I was so excited from day one when I met them, and they make me proud each day of the kind of kids they are.”
Now it’s about drawing in more of those types of players and people. Practically no one — except Mosiello himself, as he’s stated — expected the former TCU associate head coach to come in and have OSU competing for national titles right away, so there’s always an eye on the future.
“High character, high baseball IQ. That’s where it starts for me,” Mosiello said. “And a passion to play. I want guys that love to play, and usually if you love to play you have a high baseball IQ. You have to have some aptitude. This program, I’d like to think it’s simplistic but there’s a lot of moving parts and it takes a special guy. They’re given so much freedom to do so many things that you have some feel and understanding of what it takes.”
Ohio State’s play style has helped attract some of those high-quality players, Mosiello added. He stated there’s been a lot of positive feedback on the recruiting trail from players who enjoy the detail-oriented approach of the staff and the autonomy and freedom of play OSU has had through the first several weeks.
“(You’re not going to be) babysat all the time,” Mosiello said. “We’re not going to say, ‘Hey, you can’t swing at this pitch, you can’t do this.’ Trust what you do. Have a gameplan going in and then run with it. And hopefully they know that our guys play hard.”
Mosiello is trying to build something to last. But to accomplish that, he’s staying focused on the present.
“This may sound corny, but I’m a pretty corny guy,” Mosiello said. “I actually try to live through all the corny stuff. But the most important thing is whatever I’m doing at the time. This interview is actually the most important thing I’ve got going right now. As a team we’re going to practice today, then that will be the most important thing. Obviously I have to see outside the program and what’s going on, what we’re up against. But the focus is what we’re doing.”
