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published: Friday, February 05, 2010
True student-athletes
FRANK JOLLEY
Staff Writer
Rich Billings looks for more than baseball players when he is on the recruiting trail.
The Lake-Sumter Community College baseball coach wants not only the best high-school players he can find, but he searches for student-athletes who can be leaders in the classroom, as well.
LSCC has long had a tradition of stressing academics before athletics, even if that meant losing potential student-athletes who could offer a faster track to success on the baseball field.
The tradeoff, Billings believes, benefits LSCC in the long run because true student-athletes are better prepared and mature enough to play at the next level. It also makes LSCC student-athletes more marketable to four-year colleges once their eligibility at the junior-college level has been exhausted.
Billings will begin finding out if the school's academics-first approach will pay dividends when the Lakers host South Florida Community College in both teams' season opener at 3 p.m. today at the LSCC baseball complex.
"We want student-athletes with character and I believe that by stressing academics along with athletics, we can find those players," Billings said. "I want our players to be ready for life after baseball. Most of these kids won't play the game after college and I want our players to graduate with resources to succeed off the field. Even if they are lucky enough to play professionally, no one plays forever.
"It might be easier to win more games if we weren't so strict on academics, but I think it's more rewarding for everyone to go the way we go."
Billings said LSCC's academics requirements for student-athletes are to maintain a 2.0 grade-point average -- identical to the National Junior College Athletic Association's requirements. In addition, he requires all baseball players to attend four hours of study hall each week.
Those who do not meet Billings' study hall mandate are suspended for one game.
As a result of LSCC's emphasis on academics, the Lakers compiled a 3.18 GPA in 2009, which ranked third in the state and 15 in the nation. Five players were selected to the Florida Community College Athletic Association All Academic team in 2009 and three were national Academic All Americans.
Despite the rigid requirements, Billings said he lost only one player in each of his three seasons as head coach due to academics. He added that a "handful" of potential student-athletes have not been offered scholarships after learning that they may have struggled to keep up in the classroom.
Billings said he couldn't think of one instance when a potential recruit told him that LSCC's standards were too high and inflexible.
"I truly believe that even if a player struggled in high school, they understand that college is a fresh start and they want to take advantage of that," Billings said. "I've never had a kid tell me that we place too much of emphasis on academics. That says a lot about the kind of kids we look at.
"They want to succeed."
LSCC players admit the school's requirements do put additional pressure on them, but they realize it is part of the maturation process.
"On days that we have games, it's not so bad because I have only one class," sophomore pitcher Nick Wilson said. "When we don't have games, I'm usually on campus from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. Between classes, practice, working out in the weight room and study hall it's a long day, but it's actually a lot of fun.
"It's tough sometimes to balance everything and find time to get things done that I have to get done, but it's not more than I expected before I came to LSCC. This is college and it's supposed to be tougher."
Wilson's work in the classroom and on the field have already paid off. He has signed a national letter of intent with the University of Tennessee-Martin for his junior and senior years.
Former Eustis High School standout Zach Oliver, entering his freshman campaign, said he has found college to be far more demanding than high school. Oliver said the having a mandatory study hall allows him time to get classwork and projects done in a timely manner.
Still, Oliver said he has accepted the challenges of playing at LSCC and has never regretted signing with the school.
"I love it," Oliver said. "The classwork is tougher and so is playing here, but it's going to make me a better person when I graduate. I'm able to play baseball, which I love to do, while I work towards earning a college degree. It might've been easier to stay eligible and play baseball at another school, but I'm going to leave LSCC in two years ready for the next step in my life.
"That's what going to college is all about."
Billings said he has never been tempted to loosen his academic requirements in order to win games. Part of his job as a coach is to be a mentor to his players and trading victories for lower grades would be doing a disservice to his players.
"We want to win and I think we've got a chance to reach the state tournament this year for the first time in school history, but I want to do it the right way," Billings said. "Our standards are high and we're going to keep them high. We're winning in the classroom and, hopefully, we'll win on the field this season."
