Successful Coaches: Ryan Hodges

To be the head coach of a team, one needs to have a good work ethic and a vast knowledge about baseball. From making practice plans to deciding final line-ups, every little decision can determine a team's success. In this article, the head coach of the Centerville Big Reds, Ryan Hodges, discusses his time as a head coach, how he got there, the upcoming season and what it means to be successful.

SUCCESSFUL COACHES SERIES
Presented by Chloe Williams- PBR Iowa Intern (2021-2022)

Ryan Hodges, Head Coach, Centerville Big Reds

Coach Hodges has been the head coach of the Big Reds for 8 years. He started as a volunteer assistant for Indian Hills for a year. He moved onto Graceland University for a semester and went back to Indian Hills for a full time position for 2 years. Then he became an assistant coach for Centerville for 6 years and in 2015 became the head coach. 

When talking about success, Hodges says, “I think it all boils down to relationships and having that trust of your athletes. Treating your best player just like you would the player that may never see a varsity inning, I think is a huge thing in building a culture and building a winning team.”

Hodges has made the team environment very supportive. “We have a family like culture, I'm an open book and there might be things going on in my life. I might be struggling in this area and I need your guys' support a little bit or we're going to work through this together and vice versa. Having that relationship as kind of your core focus is very, very huge in developing a culture. We have our core values of expectations that we're accountable for. We show up and we're gonna treat everybody with respect,” He says.

Looking forward to this season Hodges talks about the potential of his current team, “I'm really looking forward to allowing these guys now to not just ride the shirttails of the former senior class that had a lot of success, but, go write their own kind of script and see where their story ends up. I'm very excited about that. And I know that there's going to be some people in the state overlooking us, but we're up for each and every challenge. Looking forward to showing the state that we're just not a group of seniors that left now.”

Preparing for this season Pitching has been a focal point for the Big Reds. “A lot of throwing. I'm a firm believer in reps. We try to get in at least two times a week where our pitchers are throwing to catchers. Building the arm strength, but also just the stamina to work through innings.”

Similar to most coaches, playing time has been an issue for Hodges. “Having to take some of our better players and maybe set them down for a game or game and a half that's probably been one of the toughest conversations.”

Hodges has had a great amount of success with the Centerville team and this year will be no exception. Him and the Big Reds are looking forward to playing a great season of baseball.

Chloe Williams is currently a senior at Johnston High School and has been working for Prep Baseball Report Iowa as an intern since September 2021. She has been managing the Johnston baseball team since she was a sophomore and has also worked for the Iowa Sticks team as a data collector. In the fall, she plans on going to the University of Iowa to major in data science.

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