New Skipper Ryan Wheeler Answers Questions About 2012 Season

PHILADELPHIA – With the countdown to baseball season now just days away, first-year head coach Ryan Wheeler sat down with Owlsports.com to reveal his thoughts and plans for the upcoming season, which will commence Friday afternoon in Norfolk, Va. when the Owls take on Old Dominion at 3:00 p.m. Insight on the season ahead from the players along with a preview of the weekend series will be available on Thursday.

Owlsports.com [Q]: You arrived to Temple back in July and have been working to get this team ready for the upcoming season. A lot has needed to be done in terms of getting everyone to adjust, including yourself. How has the transition and your experience at Temple been so far?

Ryan Wheeler [R.W]: First of all, it's been great. I've really enjoyed the time at Temple so far, it's been exciting. I think the players have done a great job.

They've embraced myself and the coaching staff with open arms. They've really just come to practice every day, excited to get better and to learn. So, from that standpoint, I couldn't have asked for anything more from them. But the support staff at Temple has been tremendous. The alumni have reached out. So you know from the big picture standpoint, everything has just been tremendous here. So, it's very exciting to be here and I am excited to get started with the season.

Q: For the previous five years while you were at Richmond, you got to see the Temple Owls a few times over the course of those years. What did you see and what did you know about this program before coming here and in what area are you hoping to improve the team most?

R.W.: As an outsider looking at the program, I felt like there was talent here and there were good players. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes nor do I care. I'm more concerned with what I bring to the table, my style of coaching and what I believe in as far as trying to make players better. I just try to bring that to the table and I wasn't too concerned with what was happening here, but I thought there was an opportunity to win because I felt like they had good players and we're going to find out in a week what kind of team we are and where we stand. That's been the hardest part so far; we've practiced, we've drilled, we've talked about a lot of things. It's time to see us put those things in action and to play in games and sort of see where we stand and where we're strong, where we're weak, where we need to get better, that sort of thing. But, that's how I saw things as an outsider and just felt like coming in here with hopefully some energy, being organized and really trying to teach every single day. Those are the things I'm trying to bring to the table to make this program better.

Q: Last season, Temple had one of the most productive offenses in the nation. With a batting average of .319, the Owls were ranked fifth in the nation at season's end. Is this season's team capable of replicating those kind consistent numbers at the plate, despite the loss of several key seniors?

R.W.: I think we have some very talented seniors, but we did lose some key players from that team. I actually have tried to focus more on the pitching and defense aspect because that's where they were last in the league in those two categories. I believe that pitching and defense wins you games, wins you championships. Sure, you have to score runs, but you've got to be able to stop your opponent from scoring runs and so I've really focused a lot on the pitching and defensive side of things to try to improve us there. I think that hitting is going to take care of itself but I don't think we're going to be as offensive as they were last year just with some of the key players that they've lost. I don't know that we have the arm players to fill their spots and that can be true in any program. Whenever you lose a senior and you're trying to replace them with a freshman or maybe a sophomore, you're probably not going to have the same result. That's my thoughts on that.

Q: When you take a look at last season, pitching was the area that needed attention. As you just mentioned, it wins you games. How do you see your starting rotation playing itself out, especially with the addition of freshmen Eric and Patrick Peterson, who put up very impressive numbers in high school?

R.W.: You mentioned the Petersons, they've done a tremendous job coming in here as freshmen both of them have a bright, bright future on the mound and they're going to be assets to us, not only this year but down the road. But you know we got Matt Hockenberry, Dan Moller, Steve Nikorak, along with the Petersons all competing for those starting roles, you can even throw Adam Dian into that mix as well.

But opening up for the first weekend, I'd like to go with a little bit more experience just to let those guys get the game under control. We're going to be playing with a lot of emotions. The pitcher is the only guy that holds, touches the ball every single play. So they're very, very important to the tempo, pace and how the game goes. So, starting with your experienced guys is what we're going to try to do with that opening weekend. But then we're going to give everybody an opportunity to pitch and as the season unfolds, that starting rotation may change based on who's performing well and who's not.

The hardest thing for me coming here, I have no games to go on from the past. I've really not seen this team play in a game. We've intersquaded a lot, drilled a lot, but I need to see how they will play when the light switch goes on and we're playing someone in a different set of uniforms. Those roles will be really established within the first 10-15 games as we get going with the season.

Q: Steve Nikorak returned last season after sitting out the previous year to recover from Tommy John Surgery and had quite an amazing year at the

plate. Over the span of his career at Temple he has stepped in as a spot starter and as a relief pitcher. Now that he has had a full year of recovery under his belt, are you planning to put him on the mound more than he pitched last season?

R.W. We're thinking right now he's one of our starters and he's also going to be our starting third base man. So we just have to be careful with his arm. I certainly don't want to lose him to an injury. So far he seems like his arm bounced back really good and where we start him on the weekend will just depend on how he feels and how we think we match up against the certain team, but right now I see him as being one of the starters and more of the starters on the weekend—So, that's more than what he pitched.

If we can get some more starter,s that would be great. If I feel like someone else steps up into that role, in the starting role, and we can use Steve more out of the bullpen and keep him on third base, then that's what we may do and so his role may adjust but we need him on the mound. He's too good a competitor, too good of a player and I'd like to use him on the mound to help us out.

Q: This winter has been unusually warm, which has allowed your guys to get out on the field. How much better have you been able to prepare this team than if you were secluded to the indoors, as teams in the north usually are?

R.W.: I was very worried about coming back north after being used to being down in the south where essentially you get outside from the word 'go' when you're variable starts in the spring. The weather is cold down there, but you don't have indoor facilities to go to. Up here, it's sort of the reverse. You don't even think about going outside and you need to try to prepare your team indoors. So for us to be able to get out, get on the field, and do some things that you just can't recreate in a gym. That has been tremendous. I think it's put us further ahead with our development than what I anticipated, so I've been very excited that we've been able to get out to the field three or four times. We've been able to interquad outside, we've been able to work from our defense, our offense fly balls and ground balls and a lot of other things. It's just put us a lot farther ahead. Are we where we need to be? Not 100 percent, but we're further ahead than where I thought we would be at this point.

Q: Steve Nikorak, Jabair Khan and Dan Moller have been named your captains for this season. Talk about the leadership qualities they bring and what have you seen in these guys since you've been here?

R.W.: They've been tremendous. When I got the job, the first thing was call every one of the players that weekend and try to introduce myself, get to know them and one of the common things that I saw/heard from guys, was that this was a real close team and that they were a close group that pulled for each other on the field but also pulled for each other off the field as well. When I got here I started to see it in person and it was true. But it all starts with your seniors and with those three guys in particular.

They do a very good job of taking care of the little things. We talk to them all the time about taking care of the little details and the big picture of things, if you take care of the little things the big picture will take care of itself. Those guys take care of stuff in the classroom as well as on the field and they've done a tremendous job of not only looking at themselves but they looked at the team being in the big picture and big sense of things and they help the younger guys out, they provide guidance and leadership there, pulling guys off to the side and talking to them when they may be struggling. They do a lot and they've done a great job.

Q: With five guys on the roster as outfielders, who do you see patrolling those three spots on a game-by-game basis?

R.W.: I think Jabair [Khan] is going to be the guy that holds down center field. He's a senior and has the most experience out there. He's a tremendous athlete that can run and go get the ball. So, I really see him playing a lot in center field.

Dave Hall has played a lot of right field and understands the position. He's a tremendous amount of talent and we're just trying to bring that talent out of him but he can throw, he can hit, he can run and so I think Dave will hold down right field.

Left field is going to be competition between Allen Stiles and Bobby Heitzman. Early on may be a little bit of a platoon situation, but I think those two guys are going to hold down left field.

Really whoever can provide me with the best defense out there is probably going to play. We got a big ballpark there at Ambler and we've got to be able to go get balls and track them down and keep the opponents from taking extra bases and putting runners in scoring positions. I'm looking for the best defense out there to help us eliminate opportunities for the other team.

Q: How is competition shaking out for spots in the infield?

R.W.: Once again it's a little bit up for grabs just because I haven't seen them play in games. I think Nikorak has solidified third base. I think in the middle of the field, I've got three middle infielders Jordan Queja, Elijah Yarborough, Foster Dunigan and once again they've been battling. The guys have shown me good things at times and so it's not real clear cut here as we open the season, but I think it will start to play itself out.

First base, we've had Daniel Dragos suffer an injury that sort of put him out for the year and Tim Carney right now has an injury that might take him out the year. We've moved Nick Lustrino there who as a freshman coming in has just done a phenomenal job. We've bounced him around from short stop, third base, catcher, first base. He's been an all purpose player, but we've thrown him over there at first base.

We've got Matt Elko swinging the bat extremely well and he provides a lot of leadership on the field and then Connor Riley who we have picked up from the football team has also been working out over there.

We're going to try some different combinations and once again it comes down to who can catch the ball and who makes the routine plays and help our pitching staff out on getting outs.

Q: As we already talked about, pitching is where the focus has been placed for this season since it went through lulls in the middle of the season. Which guys in the pen do you think you'll most likely rely on to nail the door down late in games?

R.W.: I like the guys that we've got in the middle of the game there. We've got a lot of variety of guys who do different things. We've got Steve Visnic, who's really a drop-down guy that's a ground ball type pitcher. We've got some of the young kids, Adam Dian and Eric Peterson who I think can get you a lot of innings and bridge that gap between your started and trying to get the ball to your closer at the end of the game. We've got Ryan Davis who's come back from some arm injuries in the fall. He's thrown the ball extremely well , big tall right hander can really run some balls in on right-handers hands.

The one area where we're lacking is some left handed pitching actions out of the bullpen. I wish we had another left hander or two available, but whichever guy is not starting either Moller or Pat Peterson will probably come out of the pen and provide that/ fill that spot.

Ryan Davis is coming back and is on the mound throwing, but he is probably still a few weeks away from being ready to compete. I think the thing I'm most excited about is Brian Sustersic at the end of game. He's got a very good arm, tremendous competitor and I think he can come in and nail some games down for us at the end. We didn't have him in the fall and we've had him here in the spring and he's in tremendous shape and done a great job so far. So, I like him at the end of the ball game there— to be able to close it down.

On the mound, I think both the Petersons and Adam Dian are going to see a lot of innings and be a big asset. Positionally, like I said, Nick Lustrino has really stood out so far because of his versatility and I think we can bounce him around and a number of different positions. I told him he's probably not going to get knocked into any one position this year. So, he just needs to be flexible and go with it.

Q: Among your new the guys coming in, who do you see stepping in and making a strong impact?

R.W.: Jordan Queja is a middle-infielder originally from Hawaii but is a tremendous athlete. I think also has versatility to be able to play in the middle of the field and maybe play third base and he can be a catalyst in the line-up, sitting near the top of the line-up and be a table setter up there for us and Allen Stiles who is another junior college transfer, he comes in with tremendous energy and is a very good base runner and another good table setter to sort of get some guys on base hopefully for the middle of the order to knock them in.

Q: A year ago this team had a very strong start to the year, winning 20 games in non-conference play. We know it was a different story in the Atlantic 10 schedule. How do you prepare your team (mental or physical) for conference games, which obviously are the bread and butter to your season in order to become a postseason caliber team?

R.W.: Right from day one, we tried to change the culture here and try to change it from a standpoint, I sensed the guys were waiting for bad things to happen, waiting for our game to be lost, waiting for the wheels to come off and we tried to change that culture so that instead of waiting for bad things happen, let's try to make good things happen and let's find a way to win a ball game as opposed to waiting around to lose or hoping we don't lose. So every day we talked to the players about, you have a choice: you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to stay the same and I borrowed that from Joe Paterno at Penn state.

We're always stressing about trying to get better and adversity is going to hit in practice and in ballgames and how you handle that adversity will determine maybe the outcome of practice that day or the ball game. You've got to be able to stop that adversity and spin it around and move it into a positive direction. We've been working very hard to change that culture, to be positive in our teaching and try to instill confidence in the players to get them to play aggressively without the fear of making a mistake.

You can talk about all that stuff, you can work on it in practice, you can try to recreate game situations, but nothing is the same as playing real games and that's the true test of what you've been working on and if it's working or not— That's why we need to play; we need to see all the stuff we've been working on, how much has taken hold and what areas are we still lacking, where we need to get better. It's going to be an ongoing process as we move through the season, but we're trying to teach these guys how to compete and how to win on a daily basis at practice and stuff.

Q: You spent some time in the Philadelphia before when you were an assistant at Penn. Since you left, the Philadelphia Big 5 has established a baseball rivalry series. Describe this sense of competition that is in your schedule with all these matchups.

R.W.: It's important. The schools are all very close. The coaches all know each other, we see each other a lot and there is a tremendous sense of pride to be able to say that you've beaten one of the other Big 5 schools. I look at it as a challenge and something that we want to say that we are one of the best schools in the Philadelphia area. If that means we only play these guys like Penn or Villanova in a conference game then we're going to do everything we can to beat them. St. Joe's, La Salle—they're conference opponents so it's even more important that we do well against them but I think the bragging rights, to be able to say that you're the best team in the Big 5 or in the city of Philadelphia that's something that is important to us.

Temple University Athletics

New Skipper Ryan Wheeler Answers Questions About 2012 Season

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