Ohio State Baseball head coach Greg Beals talks with the umpires before the Ohio State-Maryland game on March 28. Ohio State won 5-4. Credit: Christian Harsa | Asst. Photo Editor
Ohio State baseball head coach Greg Beals said he was reminiscing about his hiring process Saturday night with friends and family. Despite the almost 11 years since being called to head the Buckeyes, Beals said he remembered the story like it was yesterday.
Just one day later, Ohio State defeated Maryland 5-4 and Beals won his 311th game as head coach, passing Dick Finn for third on the Buckeyes’ all-time wins list.
“I didn’t even know that,” Beals said Sunday. “I’m a day-to-day guy. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and making sure our guys are prepared for tomorrow.”
Baseball is a sport where the collective production of players outweighs the influence of a coach’s decisions in determining how successful the team is. However, Beals’ coaching style — cultivated through his principled core values of trust, emphasis on individual’s freedom and player encouragement — contributes to getting the most out of his players.
“It was sort of a situation where I could come in and be challenged, but it was a comfortable situation. I’m really comfortable with being uncomfortable,” junior right-handed pitcher Garrett Burhenn said Friday. “With Beals, I was able to have that right away, the comfortable feeling and fit right in.”
Beals grew up in Springfield, Ohio, playing baseball at Kenton Ridge High School under coach Tom Randall, who is a member of the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame. Randall, who Beals considers “near and dear” to him, attends every Ohio State home game.
After high school, Beals played for Kent State, earning three All-Mid-American Conference honorable mention awards in his career. From there, he was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1990 MLB draft by the New York Mets, spending three seasons in their farm system.
Following his minor league pursuits, Beals moved on to coaching and became an assistant coach at his alma mater Kent State for nine seasons before getting his first head coaching job at Ball State — compiling a 243-202 career record in his eight years in Muncie, Indiana.
In June 2010, Beals was hired at Ohio State, an opportunity that he said he was grateful for due to his Ohio upbringing.
“I’m an Ohio guy and spent a lot of time here, I grew up just an hour from here,” Beals said. “This is home, and to represent the Ohio State University when you’re an Ohio boy is a special opportunity.”
In Beals’ time at Ohio State, he has hammered home the team’s three core values: elite preparation, competitive toughness and brotherhood.
He also allows his team to be made up of 43 individual players as opposed to one big micromanaged way of thinking, approaching and attacking the game.
Before each of the four games in Ohio State’s first homestand this season, some players played a game of pickup football in left field about 20 minutes before first pitch, an idea Beals said he is not necessarily a fan of, but will continue to allow because he thinks it helps his players’ preparation.
“I’m not sure I’m crazy about them running around throwing footballs around,” Beals said. “But if it keeps them loose and keeps them in the right frame of mind to compete.”
Freshman outfielder Kade Kern said Beals does a good job of keeping his players engaged, cheering them on from the dugout when they are hitting.
“I like being in the box and you can hear him during your at-bats just encouraging you,” Kern said Friday. “It makes you feel pretty comfortable in the box.”
The combination of these coaching attributes have earned Beals the title of a “player’s coach” — a term used to describe a coach who allows their players a degree of freedom, but reining them in when need be.
“Definitely a player’s coach,” junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo said Sunday. “He’s got the ability to relate to a lot of us, and he knows when to turn it up a notch and when to be a little bit loose. He’s got that feel for it.”
Beals looks ahead to Marty Karow at 479 wins and Bob Todd with 901, so time will tell if he reaches the two coaches who have their jerseys retired on the wall in the right field corner of Bill Davis Stadium. For the time being though, Beals said he appreciates the time he has spent as head of Ohio State’s ballclub.
“I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to coach here at this great institution and survive the years, and that’s what gets you up to 311,” Beals said. “I’ll never take a single day for granted.”
