Brent Haring talks Nicholls State Baseball, Building a D1Roster, Evaluating Players and more. | Ep. 103

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Ross Hawley sits down with Brent Haring, head coach of the Nicholls State University Colonels, fresh off a season in which the Colonels finished above .500 in the always-competitive Southland Conference after opening the year against Tennessee and LSU.

Coach Haring is refreshingly candid about the state of the sport — the arms race in velocity and physicality, the loss of roster continuity in the transfer-portal era, and what actually separates a "baseball player" from an athlete who happens to play baseball. This is a conversation packed with recruiting philosophy, player-evaluation criteria, and hard-won advice for players, parents, and young coaches alike.

The highlights:

• Why the Colonels intentionally built a more physical roster to compete with the sport's velocity arms race
• What Coach Haring misses most about "old school" college baseball, and why loyalty is harder to find
• His blended recruiting philosophy: an "old school approach to a new school game" across the portal, JUCO ranks, and high school signees
• Why relationships — not transactions — should drive a recruit's decision
• What "Twitch" really means, and the David Eckstein and Hunter Pence comparisons he uses to evaluate players
• The one habit that separates prospects: hustle doubles
• His mentor Jerry Buchek's advice about playing hard because you never know who's watching
• Advice for parents to "turn off the scoreboard," and for young coaches to stay present where they are

Reflecting on a Physical, Grueling 2026 Season

Nicholls opened the season against Tennessee and LSU — as tough a non-conference slate as anyone in the country — before grinding through the Southland Conference, a league Coach Haring says never lets up.

"The Southland Conference is great. Every single weekend's a dog fight, and it makes it fun. You want to go compete against great coaches, incredible humans, really good players."

That competitiveness is why the Colonels made physicality a program priority — because the velocity bar keeps rising across all levels of college baseball, not just the Power Four.

"In this day and age, everybody's 88 to 92, and a handful of guys are 92 to 96, and then another handful of guys are 96 to 100. My goal is to put a team on the field that competes with anybody in the SEC athletically and physically."

Is College Baseball in a Golden Age?

Coach Haring believes the sport has never been more fun to watch — but he's candid about what's been lost along the way.

"Should be the best four years of your life. Guys get into pro ball and find out really quick that pro ball's very different than college baseball."

"I think the thing that I miss is the continuity — you come in and you play with the same guys for three or four years. I think that's going away, unfortunately. It's starting to turn more into a professional baseball world where guys are starting to look out for themselves versus the team."

Recruiting the New-School Game the Old-School Way

With rosters now built across the transfer portal, junior college ranks, and high school signing classes, Coach Haring described Nicholls' approach to constructing a competitive roster every year.

"I'm trying to take a little bit of an old school approach to a new school game. I think where we can make a niche is in the junior college ranks. We'll get a couple guys out of the portal, we'll get some guys out of junior college, and then we've got some really nice high school kids coming in."

Relationships Over Transactions

Asked what he wants high school players to understand about choosing a program, Coach Haring pointed to his own life — and to what he tells recruits when they're on campus.

"If there's 10 people in my inner circle, five of those guys are guys that I played college baseball with. We've shared — they keep up with my family, I keep up with theirs. Maybe I'm old school, but that's really what sports are about."

"We tell recruits all the time when they're on campus: hey, talk to the players in the clubhouse, because they're going to tell you the truth. Find a place where you feel like you're going to fit into the culture, and where you feel like you can go compete."

What Is "Twitch," and Why Every Coach Wants It

Coach Haring unpacked one of the buzziest words in player evaluation — and made clear that it matters more to him than a picture-perfect swing or arm action.

"Twitch to me is just how athletic you are and how quick you can move. I don't know that you can necessarily teach it, but the twitchier the better for me. The guys that can really react — we're all in on that."

He pointed to two big-league examples to make the point concrete: a scrappy, undersized shortstop and a hitter with an unconventional swing.

"He didn't throw a hundred across the diamond, but he played shortstop in the big leagues, and he knew exactly how hard he had to throw it. That's a baseball player."

"If a hitter walked into our office and we watched him take a round of BP, you'd go, 'that doesn't look the way I want it to look.' And then you watch him hit in a game and go, 'oh, this is different — the dude always finds the barrel.'"

Be a Baseball Player, Not Just an Athlete

Coach Haring's favorite compliment for a recruit has nothing to do with tools.

"You're student athletes, but there's 300 student athletes on this campus. We need 35 baseball players."

"I think of a shortstop who knows he has no chance at that throw across the diamond on a slow roller, but he's got a guy coming around third on a back-door play, and he can spin — he doesn't need to be taught. He just feels the game."

The Number One Predictor of Success

Asked what separates players at the highest level — talent aside — Coach Haring shared advice passed down from a mentor who played on the 1964 World Series champion Cardinals.

"I learned in the minor leagues to let it rip every day during infield, because I didn't know who was watching. If somebody was coming in to make a decision on whether or not I got to the big leagues, I wanted them to see that I go hard all the time."

That translates directly into what he looks for on the field today.

"Hustle doubles — that's to me like you can't teach that. Turn a single into a double, make it bang-bang, and whether you get thrown out or you're safe, I'm putting a star by that name."

And it all comes back to a phrase posted in the Nicholls clubhouse:

"How you do anything is how you do everything."

Advice for Parents and Young Coaches

For parents: Enjoy the experience instead of policing the scoreboard.

"There's probably a thousand kids running around these little facilities, and there's probably not one big leaguer out there. The game at this point isn't that important whether they win or lose. Let them enjoy the experience — you should be enjoying the experience, too."

"If you're so wrapped up in winning the game that you're willing to yell at a kid, an umpire, a player, or another coach — you're too involved. Step back and try to enjoy it, because it's just a game."

For young coaches: Stay present where you are, and find mentors.

"Turn off the scoreboard. Try to always be teaching — really, coaches are teachers."

He pointed to John Wooden — who didn't win a national championship in his first ten years at UCLA — and to his own mentor, Skip Bertman at LSU, as proof that patience and belief build lasting programs. He also shared the one regret a mentor passed down to him:

"I left a place that I loved, and I didn't need to go — because the voices were telling me I needed to go, and I didn't want to go in my heart. And I messed that up."

Episode Timestamps

Tap any timestamp to jump the player straight to that moment.

• 0:44 — Introducing Nicholls State head coach Brent Haring
• 1:55 — Reflecting on a grueling non-conference slate and a Southland dog fight
• 4:42 — The velocity arms race, and building a more physical roster
• 6:40 — Is college baseball in a golden age?
• 7:33 — What's missing: continuity, loyalty, and roster turnover
• 11:13 — An old school approach to a new school recruiting game
• 13:10 — Why five of his ten closest friends are college teammates
• 16:05 — Why recruits should talk to players in the clubhouse
• 18:47 — What "Twitch" actually means
• 21:30 — The scrappy-shortstop and unconventional-swing comparisons
• 23:51 — "We need 35 baseball players," not 300 athletes
• 26:04 — Jerry Buchek's advice: let it rip because you don't know who's watching
• 28:07 — Hustle doubles: the one trait you can't fake
• 32:55 — Advice for parents: turn off the scoreboard and enjoy it
• 35:33 — Advice for young coaches: stay present, and the John Wooden/Skip Bertman lesson
• 42:18 — Country music, karaoke George Strait, and his sons' walk-up songs

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Brent Haring is the head baseball coach at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Subscribe to the Baseball Forward Podcast for more conversations with the players, coaches, and leaders elevating the next generation of the game.