By Staff
Coaching Management, 8.6, September 2000, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0806/qalaw.htm
After completing a 14-year professional baseball career—one that included a trip to the 1988 All-Star Game as a member of the Chicago Cubs—Vance Law returned to his native Utah. He served as Head Coach at Provo High School for five years, including a state title season in 1997, before being named Head Coach at his alma mater, Brigham Young University, in August, 1999. Law led the Cougars to a 29-29 record his first year, and is optimistic that the program is beginning to return to its former level.
The son of Vernon Law, the former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who won the 1960 Cy Young Award, Coach Law talks about shifting from a playing to a coaching role, the challenges he faces at BYU, and his ultimate goals for the program.
CM: When did you realize you wanted to be a coach?
Law: I don’t think I ever really aspired to be a coach, it kind of just happened. When I was with the White Sox [1982-84], I always enjoyed the strategic part of the game and I think I had a mind for that. Working with [manager] Tony LaRussa was a real blessing for me. We had a good relationship where I could ask him questions pretty much any time I wanted during the game on why he made certain moves. I was eager to learn why he was thinking what he was thinking. But I didn’t know if it would ever pan out where I’d be coaching at some point.
When I finished playing baseball, I came back here to Utah, and my son’s high school team was really struggling at the time. I volunteered my time, and felt that I could do at least as good a job, if not better, than the person who was there—who didn’t even really want to do it anymore. So the job was open, and they gave me the assignment. I did that for five years and we turned the program around.
Were there any surprises for you as a high school coach?
I found that I didn’t appreciate all the work a lot of high school coaches put into the job. A lot of it is fund-raising and administrative stuff that takes a great deal of time. I frankly don’t know how some of them can teach classes with any effectiveness and also maintain a good ball club, because it takes so much time.
Was it difficult to relate to high school players after being around pro players for such a long time?
You have to develop a great deal of patience, because the routine play is no longer routine. I’ve never been a real hothead, so my demeanor is relatively unchanged no matter what, and I recognize that the game is not as easy as pro players make it look. Buck Martinez, the ESPN announcer who’s a former pro catcher, once told me about the “Dirt Theory”: the further you get away from the dirt, the easier the game is. Announcers are the worst: they think the game ought to be easier, then the fans, then the coaches and players. It’s a difficult game, and you have to realize there are going to be lots of mistakes. With high school players, many who have only played 50 games their whole life, we really can’t expect them to be proficient in all the areas we’d like them to be.
How did you move up to BYU?
A lot of people had asked me about applying for positions that opened up around the country, but I didn’t want to move. I probably would’ve stayed at the high school level had this job not opened up. When it did, people wanted me to apply—they felt I might be able to get the program back where it had been before struggling the past few years. I decided to give it a go. Lo and behold, I was hired, and now I’ve got a whole lot of work to do.
It’s been fun and rewarding, though. We get absolutely wonderful young men at BYU who have good morals and values and have established the way that they’re going to live. So I don’t have a lot of the off-the-field problems that some of the other coaches do.
Does coaching at BYU pose any unique challenges?
Sure, especially the juggling of our missionaries. We’ll have guys who will play one year, then go off on a two-year mission to serve our church. I have to keep a mission flow chart to know when they’re coming back in order to keep track of scholarship information. It takes a lot of time.
Do you recruit non-church members? If so, how do you sell them on the school?
Yes, we do. We try to sell them on the school as a whole, because I really believe there are a lot of young men who want direction. It’s a wholesome atmosphere, and a lot of parents want their sons and daughters to be in an atmosphere like that. We try to promote that and sell it as a good point.
We also sell that BYU is a good school in a wonderful location. We’re building a new stadium as well, and we have a lot to offer. Last year, we had six non-members on our team, including one who was a freshman all-American, and they were all fine young men.
You mentioned the program being down—do you think the new stadium will help to improve the situation?
I really do. I feel badly for [former] Coach [Gary] Pullins, who had a great program here for years and did it under difficult circumstances, playing on what would basically be considered an upgraded high school field. We had chain link fence, and it wasn’t an attractive place. When you try to recruit players who also see facilities at schools in Texas, Arizona, and California, it’s tough to compete with that. A lot of them even played in high school facilities that were better than what we’ve had here. The new stadium is going to be a major selling point, and we’re very excited about it.
Were there any other challenges in moving from the high school level to an NCAA Division I program?
The main thing is the recruiting. The amount of time you spend going out to talk to young people. I’ve also found that there are a thousand kids who want to play baseball at BYU who are all pretty good high school or junior college players. That’s a real tough thing to deal with when you’ve only got 25 spots and 18 are filled by returning players, with recruits targeted for the other slots. So chances of making it as a walk-on are slim, but we welcome people to try out, and we give them a fair shot. One walk-on actually made the team last year, so it can be done.
I’ve heard your father occasionally stops by to help out.
He’ll come down and offer some advice to the pitchers. At first they were like, “Who’s this old guy?” But when they realized that he was a former Cy Young Award winner, they figured that they ought to listen to someone who knows something about pitching. He’s a fun guy and the players love to ask him questions, but he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time here since he’s retired and does other things.
It seems that you’re turning into a baseball “lifer”—is that something you always wanted to become?
Not necessarily. I don’t see myself here as a 25-year guy; I still have a young family and I want to do things with them. But five to 10 years seems realistic to me. My one goal is to turn the program around so we can get to the College World Series. I watched the games this spring and thought, “We’re not that far away, we can do this.”