Vince D’Adamo: What is the No. 1 thing that keeps you coming back to coaching every season?
Matt Brown: The people I get to be around is the best part. Players, coaches, opponents - relationships that I might not have otherwise. What keeps me coming back is the reflection on the previous season and realizing how much more I could have and should have done for those people and wanting to do better the next year. I’ve learned more about different aspects and roles in this game over the last 5 or 6 years than I did in all of the years that I played. Being a baseball instructor, a baseball parent, community member, fundraiser-it’s all been a huge challenge, but I enjoy it and I learn a ton every year and I get excited to apply it in the next season.
D’Adamo: Beyond wins and losses, what is your vision for American Canyon High baseball?
Brown: This program is ready to take the next step. We’ve kind of been checking things off over the years that we want to accomplish and have accomplished and the excuse that “we’re a new school” has worn off. No matter our record in any given year, I want anyone who sees us on their schedule to know that we are a consistently competitive program regardless of the players that we might have from year to year. Our program has outstanding coaches and we work very well together. We are working very hard to establish a consistently competitive culture and we know it will take continuous work to maintain, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and our players are too.
D’Adamo: Having played for your dad (Mike) at Napa High and later Matt Stewart at NVC, what did you learn from them and how much do you apply that to your coaching style?
Brown: I have been extremely fortunate to be surrounded and supported by very good baseball coaches and people. I am constantly talking to my dad and Matt Stewart about all kinds of things baseball and student related. Both of them are respected by the players that they have coached because of how much they cared about the guys on their teams and still do. I’ve gotten a ton of advice from my dad in regard to the workings of high school athletics as well as relating to high school athletes. Stew has such a passion for the game of baseball and never stops learning and I try and pick his brain as often as I can. I consider both of them mentors. In addition to those two, I would like to point out how much support I’ve received from Toddy Pridy at Napa and Rich Anderson at Vintage, both of whom I’ve played for. I don’t think there’s anything I could ask of either of them that they wouldn’t do for me if they could manage it. I am very aware of how lucky I am to be surrounded by talented coaches who are men of integrity.
D’Adamo: Besides the Xs and Os of coaching, how important is it to be able to relate to kids?
Brown: Relating to the kids is the absolute most important part of this whole thing. I really feel that relating to kids in the classroom is one of my best assets as a teacher. As a coach it’s been a little more difficult for me because my approach to the game as a player was very different than theirs. The kids in 2017 have had a completely different childhood than any adult. In some ways they have experienced way more, but in regard to relationships, I think they have experienced less. So much human interaction is not face to face or even vocal, and that’s how the players we’re getting have grown up. In the past this has been frustrating, but I am looking forward to this season with these players and I realize that I need to change how we do some things in order to reach them and get the most out of them.
D’Adamo: Within your family who have been the most influential people?
Brown: Obviously my dad has had a huge impact on who I am. As much as I swore I would do my own thing and wouldn’t follow in his footsteps, I pretty much have. He has mentioned before that teaching and coaching is a calling and at this point in my life I know he’s right. My mom is as supportive as a parent could be and is the unsung hero who made sure that I was ready for every opportunity that ever came my way-athletics or otherwise. Both of my parents are some of the hardest working people I have ever met and they are extremely selfless. I hope that some of that rubs off on me, because trying to coach without those qualities in particular is a contradiction to the job. In regard to my particular position, I would have to say that my wife Tara was the one who made me believe that I could do what I’m doing. She became the head volleyball coach at ACHS before I was offered the baseball job. Seeing how she went about her business and created a viable program at the high school and expanded it into the community motivated me to try and do the same thing. Watching her former ACHS players and current Napa High players gravitate to her is truly inspiring.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
Brown: This is probably a boring answer to anyone but me, however I would like to have a day with my grandpa, Bob Steen. He was a long-time teacher and coach in Napa and had a million stories, few of which I remember unfortunately. He has a bunch of great-grandkids who love sports, including my little boys and I think he’d get a kick out of them as well as the fact that my wife is a coach too. One more round of golf with my cousins and Grandpa would be a good day.
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