Podcast: UMass coach Matt Reynolds on program’s resurgence

Coaches like UMass skipper Matt Reynolds will be able to add another paid assistant to their respective staffs. (Thom Kendall/UMass)

The latest guest on The Base Path Podcast is UMass head coach Matt Reynolds, who led the Minutemen to their first 20-win season since 2012 in the spring.

Reynolds took over a rebuilding effort in 2017 and has navigated the program through a global pandemic. He finally feels as if he has his ideal roster makeup with a mix of veterans and developmental players.

“Last year was the most wins that we’ve had in a decade and was still a little bit bittersweet because we felt like we left a little bit on the table,” Reynolds said. “It could have been even a little bit better. But it was great to see that progress. Five years in, I finally felt like we were at a place that we expected to be probably by Year 3, if not for, of course, the global pandemic.”

Reynolds remained patient with his rebuild by sticking with the players who were recruited by the previous coaching staff. With so many of upperclassmen extending their respective careers with redshirt seasons across all of college baseball, Reynolds felt like his team spent multiple seasons with a relatively young squad.

“Coming into it, I knew that this was going to have to be kind of a grassroots rebuild,” Reynolds said. “We were not set up from an institutional standpoint or from a scholarship standpoint to come in and kind of hit the reset button, bring in 15 junior college guys or something. That’s just not who we are. And it wasn’t going to happen that way. I was fine with that, and I would rather build it from the ground up. It’s finally starting to shake out, I knew a couple of things about the way we needed to recruit here. One of them is that we’re going to have to rely on Massachusetts. We’re about 50 percent Massachusetts guys.”

Reynolds has also avoided attempting to recruit through the transfer portal in an effort to provide a quick fix.

“I look at the portal for us as a supplemental recruiting tool,” Reynolds said. “It’s not something where we’re sitting in the office and saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to bring in 10 transfers a year.’ I don’t want to do that. I don’t think that that’s good for continuity and development. But at the same time, you can plug some leaks and supplement your recruiting where you need it.”

Listen to the entire podcast with Matt Reynolds.

The New England Baseball Journal podcast is brought to you by the University of Nebraska High School.

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