New pitching coach Mcnickle savors return to college ranks

Russ McNickle said he was in South Carolina scouting for the San Diego Padres earlier this summer when he received a phone call from University of Memphis baseball coach Daron Schoenrock.

McNickle, an assistant at Mississippi State with Schoenrock in the early 2000s, said the initial call was to gauge his interest in returning to college baseball. A follow-up call was to offer him a job as pitching coach.

McNickle didn’t hesitate with a response.

“My heart has always been just being on the field,” McNickle said. “As a scout, you don’t get that interaction with players.

“That made the opportunity enticing along with getting the chance to work with (Schoenrock) again. We had a good time at Mississippi State those couple of years we were together.”

McNickle takes over for Fred Corral, the former University of Tennessee assistant who returned to the Southeastern Conference in late June by becoming pitching coach at the University of Georgia. McNickle spent one season with the Padres after four years as head coach at Saint Leo University, a Division 2 program.

McNickle has spent 25 years coaching college baseball, including seven as a head coach. He began his career as a graduate assistant on former Mississippi State coach Ron Polk’s staff in 1989 and 1990. He returned to State as pitching coach from 2005 to ’08.

“I was blessed to be around the best of the best at Mississippi State,” McNickle said.

McNickle said he enjoyed experiencing the professional side of the game. He learned the importance of grading talent and the requirements needed to work for a major league baseball organization.

And being part of June’s annual major league draft was educational. All of it, however, only made him yearn to return to the college level.

“I had scouts who were friends of mine who said it would take two to three years to get (college baseball) out of your system, if it ever gets out of your system,” McNickle said. “I didn’t like it being out of my system.”

McNickle will work with a staff that lost its top two weekend starters — left-handers Sam Moll and Erik Schoenrock — to the major league draft. Moll was taken in the third round by the Colorado Rockies and Schoenrock in the 11th round by, coincidentally, the Padres. Also, the team lost its career saves leader, Jonathan Van Eaton, who signed a freeagent deal last month with the Los Angeles Angels.

McNickle will welcome the challenge as much as the environment. Coach Schoenrock said McNickle will make for a smooth transition.

“From a pro standpoint, it’s a business,” McNickle said. “Here it’s about building relationships. Every year is a different toy for (a major league organization). In college athletics, you hope you get a chance to spend three or four years with a player to get them ready for pro ball.”