When Pasco-Hernando State College’s baseball coach Steve Winterling found out that he was named regional coach of the year, he kept it a secret from almost everybody.
“I laid low about it,” Winterling admitted. “I’m not an egomaniac-type person,” he said. Even some of his friends got mad at him because he didn’t tell them about it.
(Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)
Aside from informing his superiors at the college in September, Winterling didn’t really talk about it until he was officially given the award last month.
But winning the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Regional Coach of the Year award caps a great 2014 for the coach, who is now in his 24th season at the school.
Last season, the team reached the NJCAA Division II College World Series for the first time in school history, finishing fourth in the country.
Besides earning the coach some recognition, Winterling said it also put the school on the map for recruits seeking a school with a successful track record.
As a World Series-caliber program, he had an easier time finding interested athletes and can field a stronger team than he could before.
While he’s not wild about talking about himself, Winterling — who also serves as PHSC’s athletic director — said he’s changed a bit over the decades.
He’s slightly mellower now than his earlier days, when he was a bit harder on the players. He said he maintains that competitive fire, but is also focused on building a strong foundation of expectations and then finding players who meet them.
“My philosophy is now basically I teach them what I can, and get the good, quality kids who like my principles: Being clean-cut, follow the rules and regulations, do the job academically and be good student-athletes,” he said.
Those are the types of athletes that got the Conquistadors to the World Series last year, and the type Winterling hopes will help them get back this year.
The team returns two pitchers, three infielders and an outfielder from last year’s roster, and he believes the World Series experience will help the 2015 team.
The recruiting class also helped add more depth than he typically has had at his disposal. Overall, the team is more confident now that they’re building on the school’s best-ever finish.
As a coach, Winterling, of course, doesn’t get to play in the games. But he enjoys the strategy in baseball, and the challenge that different scenarios provide as the games and the season unfold. He credits Florida State University baseball coach Mike Martin, where Winterling served as an assistant for six years, for encouraging him to maximize strategic advantages.
“When I was at Florida State I learned from coach Martin so much. The discipline, and always trying to be a step ahead of the thinking process of your opponent,” he said. “The one thing about baseball that I’ve always enjoyed is there’s a lot of thinking to it. You can’t be distracted. I leaned from him that I can focus on the aspects of what’s going to give us an edge.”
Apparently, since there’s no edge gained by focusing on his award, Winterling chooses not to think about it too much. He’s appreciative of the acknowledgement, but prefers to save the reminiscing for the future. Now, his focus is on getting his team, whose season started in late January, back to the World Series. The team won four of its first five games in the New Year.
“It’s definitely a nice honor, and it’s attributed, obviously, to the players last year and what they accomplished,” Winterling said of the award. “I think once I retire, then I’ll be able to look back and appreciate it more.”
Published February 18, 2015
