Woody Hunt is getting ready for is 30th season as Head Coach of the NAIA Defending Champion Cumberland Bulldogs.
Bob Broughton, courtesyrunner.com: First, congratulations on being named NAIA Coach of the Year. The Bulldogs were also named Amateur Team of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Is Cumberland starting to get a higher profile in Middle Tennessee?
Woody Hunt: Well, this year has done a lot for that. We’ve been successful in the past, but this year has really been over the top. We’ve had a lot of publicity and a lot of awards and this year has really given us more of a profile in the Middle Tennessee area, which is difficult with two professional sports teams as well as all of the colleges and universities in the area.
BB: Most of the people who will read this have never been to Lebanon. What do you tell potential recruits about Lebanon and the Cumberland campus? And about Cumberland's academic offerings?
WH: I tell prospective student-athletes that we are a Liberal Arts university and you have some choices with regards to your major. We sell the Nashville area as much as we do Lebanon because we are so close. Nashville is a great city and Middle Tennessee is a great area. You get the laid-back atmosphere of a small town with Lebanon but also the big city with Nashville. With regards to our campus, it’s a small college campus with a lot of attention. I tell them that it’s not for everybody. If you like a small university with personal attention and a good baseball program, then this is the place for you.
I also sell our facilities, which are very good. That goes a long way in our recruiting process. The internet has done a lot for that because prospective student-athletes can go online and look at the pictures of our facilities – the field and grandstand and press box as well as the locker room and indoor hitting facility that we have. That’s been a huge asset for us in recruiting.
BB: Can you compare last year's team with the 2004 national championship team? And have you kept in touch with Donnie Burkhalter?
WH: Last year’s team we were probably a better hitting team and stat-wise it says that. We also had a very good hitting team in 2004. We had two dominating pitchers last year, which I believe was really the difference. They were just really good from opening day until the very end. That was a big difference. The ’04 team was a better defensive team, but this team could really pile up numbers very quickly. Both were very good teams. I don’t really know how to compare them. I really think the biggest difference were the two dominating pitchers.
In 2004 we had a lot of injuries, more adversity and stronger personalities and it took me a while to get them locked in, but once we got locked in we were very, very good. We won 19 straight to end the season and it was just an unbelievable stretch for us. We got hot at the right time. We were on the verge of not even making the conference tournament, but we got there and got really, really hot, got on a roll and got a lot of confidence, and we were able to use a little pitcher named Josh Underhill, who got a lot of saves for us, and we were able to use him almost every game in that stretch.
I saw Donnie over Christmas. He’s a professional softball player now. He works in the Orlando area. He married a local girl, so he comes up to Lebanon quite often. Donnie is still Donnie – big – and a very, very good ballplayer.
BB: You got 14 wins and 11 complete games from Aaron Wilkerson last year, and he's coming back. What has he been working on during the Summer and Fall?
WH: This summer he just rested and really didn’t do anything. I’m kind of glad he did because I wanted a fresh arm in the spring. This fall his innings were limited. He doesn’t have to work on anything. He’s just getting himself ready to pitch. He’s a very good pitcher who knows what he can do. He’s got very good command of his pitches and he can use the strike zone as good as anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s just a quality pitcher. He’s been resting really, not burning his arm out in the summer leagues.
His change-up is a very nasty pitch. People don’t realize that he’s a 90-plus guy when he’s on. I think he topped out at 93 at the World Series. He’s a guy who can throw hard stuff up in the strike zone and then he can come back and paint that outside corner low and away. He’s really a master at using the strike zone.
BB: You also have 1B Greg Appleton and C David Fanshawe returning. What can you tell us about them?
WH: Both are really good players. Appleton is really a sleeper for our team and was all of last year. He doesn’t get the publicity of some of the other players but he is really a top player for us. We’re trying to use him in different positions this year – first base, third base, maybe the outfield – but he’s a really good hitter who knows how to play the game. He hit 17 home runs last year. When we made the move to put him in the leadoff spot last year, it really made a big difference for our team. Even though we have a better-type leadoff guy for this year, I’m still thinking about leaving him in that spot because he was so effective.
Fanshawe is just a really good catcher who is very knowledgeable about how to handle pitchers and he can really pick up things during a game. That’s what makes him so special behind the plate. Plus he’s a pretty good bat for us. He’s a very clutch hitter. In the NAIA World Series he got the four RBIs in the championship game, a two-run homer and a two-run single. The home run was really key because both teams were not scoring and it was a pitcher’s duel and then David popped one and that really gave us confidence. We had Wilkerson on the mound and we thought that would be enough. And then [Fanshawe] got the two-run single to add on to that.
BB: Shawn Schaefer has used up his eligibility. Who are you looking to to replace his 14 wins?
WH: To win that many games, you really don’t expect someone to do that. We hope a lefthander named Will Locante can fill his spot. Will has a great arm, a pro arm. Shawn was just a pure pitcher. He knew how to pitch. He had a great change-up. When he was on, he was very tough to beat. Pressure didn’t bother him. I don’t think we can match what [Schaefer] did. I hope we can have a couple of guys who work effectively on the staff to give us a good pitching staff.
BB: Who are some other new guys that you expect to play important roles this season?
WH: We have a new player who just enrolled in January who I think will be a really, really key player, Tommy Winegardner. He’s a shortstop/relief pitcher with maybe the best arm on the team. He really throws hard. He’s a Division I transfer [from Coastal Carolina]. He really knows how to play. He plays hard, a speed guy with some power. He’s going to be a good player for us.
Then we have Cory Farris, a transfer from the University of Kentucky, who I think will put up big numbers for us. He’s an outfielder for us and our backup catcher. Then we have Mike Mandarino, a really good hitter with power. I’m hoping he can give us some power numbers plus he also could be a potential starting pitcher. So those guys I think will be our top guys.
BB: Who do you expect to be your toughest opponents in the TranSouth Conference this year?
WH: Union University – definitely. Coach [Brent] Fronaberger and his staff do a great job. Trevecca Nazarene will also be good, but I think Union will be a really, really good ballclub. They’ve been to the NAIA Regionals the last two years and have some good pitchers and several good positions players back.
BB: You have a new TranSouth opponent, Blue Mountain College. Can you tell us anything about their program?
WH: I don’t know much about them. We play them down there, so anything can happen. Mississippi is a good baseball state, so I think in time they’ll be a good program. I don’t think they’ll be very strong this year, but in time, get the right coach in there who can recruit, they can be a good program. They have all of those junior colleges around there and Mississippi is a good athletic state, so you never know what’s going to happen down there.
BB: Your non-conference schedule looks very strong, with Embry-Riddle at home, and Belhaven, LSU-Shreveport, and Lee on the road. Why has Cumberland been successful with getting good schedules?
WH: I think number one, people want to play us because they want to beat us. Scheduling is very hard. We call around until we find the right mix. I like to challenge the team. This year we go to Dallas and then we play someone who I think will be one of the top teams in the country in LSU-Shreveport. They’re going to be very, very good. I usually don’t try to worry about the record. However it’s more important now than ever before because of the rankings. We like to challenge the team early in the year through travel and through good opponents.
Thanks to Cumberland SID Jo Jo Freeman for assisting with this interview.