Grambling State baseball head coach, James Cooper, reached out to me on twitter to share some thoughts and insight into his coaching philosophy that we wanted to share. I think we are in a similar paradigm when it comes to the future of baseball, or what I sometimes refer to as baseball 2.0.
The fact is that the game of baseball, just like everything else in the world, is constantly changing with the times. Being known as such a traditionalist’s sport, and “America’s pastime,” this fact is sometimes hard for people to grasp. Instead of resisting, I think we should all open up and add our own influence to how we want the game to grow, and be perceived by the non baseball playing public. The more people we can appeal to the better. We can keep our traditionalist baseball roots, but just remember that roots are the foundation of growth.
With that in mind, here’s a snippet from Grambling State Baseball Head Coach, James Cooper.
My favorite genre of music is hip hop/RnB. It’s the culture I grew up in. I embrace it. Every kid I recruit or have recruited has heard a Jay Z or a Beyoncé song. They also have seen Steph Curry drain a three-pointer. 
I use what these kids like to get their attention and relate it to baseball. We do a #DoublesDance every time we hit a double and we do some type of shot when we round 3rd base on HRs. I am not a traditionalist. So don’t expect high fives from us when we hit HRs. LSU baseball gave handoffs as if they were on a football field.
We shoot jumps shots, floaters, finger rolls, and euro into layups. Just because we don’t do what they did in the past does not make us wrong, it just makes us different. Embrace it or tell the pitcher not to let us hit doubles or HRs, because it’s coming on every double and HR. #LockedInOneWay
