Air Force’s baseball team lost to BYU, 18-4, this afternoon to fall to 12-40, including 2-20 in Mountain West Conference play.
Tomorrow’s season finale will be the Falcons’ last game under coach Mike Hutcheon, who announced he would be resigning in mid-April, effective at the end of the season.
Hutcheon had a turbulent career filled with off-field controversies and on-field losses. I had a chance to talk to him after Friday’s 16-6 loss to the Cougars about his tenure and future.
Gazette: This is your farewell series, is that kind of strange?
Mike Hutcheon: Not really, because we’ve kind of known about it for a while. Just trying to go out on a good note and trying to get these guys some momentum into the summer and into the fall. So that’s what we’re trying to finish up with.
G: Will it be difficult for you, the last game?
MH: Haven’t really thought about it too much. I’m going to miss, obviously, the guys and the players that we’ve gotten close to and those kind of things. But it’s time. I think it’s time to move on and to turn the page and to continue to gain some momentum with my career as well, try to get that back, kind of re-establish myself. So it’s kind of bittersweet.
G: What made you decide this was it for you?
MH: It just got too tough. It was just the grind. I think the grind of just the academy, trying to compete at a high level. And I think we felt like we were making some headway, and you take two steps forward and take a step back on either academic hits or honor hits or alcohol hits. Just the whole, I think, seven years of just the grind. And I think you talk to a lot of coaches here, and a lot will tell you the same thing, that after a while it just kind of wears you down to where either you stay and be mediocre or you decide to turn the page and to go somewhere where you can revitalize your career. I came to the conclusion that I felt like I could do everything I could do here. And it just became a situation where we kind of felt like it was a no-win for a lot of different reasons. So it was more a career decision of whether or not I wanted to continue this grind or step back and kind of try to re-energize myself and just kind of get that energy back. And losing does that to you. No matter what sport it is, it just wears on you in every aspect of what you do. And the program needed it too. I think it needed kind of a change, just change the guard, get some new blood in here, some new energy in here and see what they can do. But we felt like we exhausted everything as a staff that we could have done.
G: There were some outside forces that were not happy with you. How much of an influence did that have on your decision?
MH: I think that’s expected. Any time you’re not winning – people expect great things, which is obvious. No matter what program you’re at, different levels you’ve got different expectations. And the expectations here are always high. And things have changed a lot since I started and 10 years before that. So I think people don’t realize the expectations are different now and what’s expected and being in the Mountain West and playing the schedule you have to play. And the rules changed a little bit with pro ball. And as far as the kids go, they haven’t changed. They’ve always been the same type of players we’ve always gotten. I think the circumstances have changed and it’s been hard for people to understand that – that circumstances change but the players don’t change, and you’re still getting the same kind of kid. And it’s tough. You always want to be recognized for doing things well, and when people don’t see it that way, it’s not easy to be criticized. But at the same time I think it’s expected in this profession. If you don’t win, you’re gonna get hammered. It kind of comes with the territory, I guess.
G: Any regrets or anything you’d do differently if you had it over?
MH: I wish we could have won more and taken this program to the level we wanted to, but I don’t think anybody’s ever done that. So it’s really hard to say the program’s been at a state to say where you’d like to maintain it or take it to a new level. So that’s a regret to say we haven’t taken it to a new level from a wins and losses standpoint. But, really, when you look back on it, I don’t think there’s anything else we could have done different, we tried to abide by what the academy’s mission was, we held up the rules and we followed the rules. I thought we recruited really well. I thought our talent level got better. But just the momentum of the program always stalls out when you don’t win on a consistent basis and you lose guys due to different hits. We just never could maintain that momentum you need for a three- or four-year period where you could keep guys together and kind of learn how to win and start winning big games, and we never got to that point in our tenure we were here. It felt like we were on our way, but we just kept going backwards.
G: What’s next for you?
MH: I’ve got a couple years (on contract at the academy), which is nice, to kind of look at it if I need to. Being in coaching for 23 years, I’ve acquired a lot of contacts. So right now just trying to get a hold of everybody out there in the field and let them know that I’m available and would like to try to stay in it. The longer you’re out, the harder it is. But it’s a pretty good fraternity of guys. We’ve all known each other, and you always get second chances to get back in, maybe as an assistant somewhere, and maybe get that energy back a little bit. So it would be nice to step back as an assistant, and that’s what I’d like to do, if possible. But after that two years, you’ve got a family, so you’ve got to make money and do what you’ve got to do, but I’d like to stay in baseball if I could.
Mike . . . dude, you’re delusional! Where do I even start?
“either you stay and be mediocre or you decide to turn the page”
Mediocre??? You never even approached mediocre. You can’t even see mediocre from where you took this program.
“the momentum of the program always stalls out when you don’t win on a consistent basis and you lose guys due to different hits.”
You ran off 90% of the kids you recruited before they ever made it to their Junior year! If you’re consistenty bringing in kids who wind up getting in trouble, or flunking out, or outright quitting, then that’s on you. It means you don’t understand the Academy, and don’t have a clue the type of person it takes to succeed there. Football, basketball, and hockey don’t seem to have that problem.
“So that’s a regret to say we haven’t taken it to a new level …”
Oh, you took it to a new level alright.
“I wish we could have won more and taken this program to the level we wanted to, but I don’t think anybody’s ever done that.”
Take a look at the media guide. 5 different AF coaches have .500 career records or better. Joe Robison coached 14 seasons and was over .500. Paul Maineri was really close, and had 4 separate .500 seasons. Your record is far and away the worst in program history, and it’s not even a horse race!
“circumstances change but the players don’t change, and you’re still getting the same kind of kid.”
Oh you poor thing! What exactly do you mean by “same kind of kid”? You mean a kid willing to put his country ahead of his own personal ambition? A kid smart enough to get into one of the best institutions in the country? A kid committed enough to get through BCT and the toughest freshman year of any college in the country? A kid respected enough to secure a Congressional nomination to attend a service academy? Deberry and Calhoun competed in a tough conference with that “kind of kid” and did just fine. Serratore almost got to the Frozen Four with that “kind of kid”. Joe Scott to a team full of that “kind of kids” to the NCAA tournament and damn near beat North Carolina. So don’t confuse you not being able to win with that “kind of kid” with it not being possible. It’s definitely possible . . . you just couldn’t do it.
Woe to the program that winds up with this guy on their staff in any capacity. Don’t let the door hit you in the #&% on the way out.
AF beats byu today 22-19 at a very windy falcon field. Team battled back and stopped some rallies. Go falcons!
MLK– you are soo on point. I have read this blog from the start and have never posted until I saw his outgoing comments as well. Terrible. He has no clue nor has he for a long time. The “grind”, “these kind of kids”, “we exhausted everything”, “try to re-energize myself and just kind of get that energy back”— WOW– could ever imagine DeBerry or Calhoun saying anthing close to that?! makes me sick these Cadets had to have a terrible leader like this. Here is to Coach Kaz leading program that this horrible leader/coach almost single handedly killed. The Academy and these Cadets deserve way better than this guy. Great interview Jake— really caught the true nature of this “coach”– really hope we don’t even keep him around the Zoo for the next two years– he is a cancer
How can Hutcheon say that the program needed cleaning up? He ‘s the one getting cleaned out. The program was a .500 team before he got there and now it’s at the bottom. He’s the one that made up his church goers baseball stats and sat his best player’s. His record at Belhaven College in Mississippi isn’t 25-12 either because that’s made up too. I lasted 1 year, He new I was pro and still benched me. I left the school and his church going team and transfered to a DIA school that went to the college world series with a bunch of blacks and latin player’s. Where I hit higher than the previous infielders by .370 to .250. He posted a loosing record at Belhaven. And on top of everything else his fake conference leaders made it on the NAIA leader board. His starting SS hit .095 and his starting RF hit .025. The LF that quit the team and I don’t blame him was hitting in the .100′s not .300. There it is and that’s what’s wrong with playing in the NAIA.
I personally sent an e-mail to the Athletic Department years ago back in 2007 to the USAF academy and was very specific with the fraudulent acts prior to the coaches entry in to the program and the Academy didn’t do anything about it a the time and did not take the necessary action at present time. Ohh, that’s right soldiers aren’t sworn peace officers and only police officers carry guns. So it means they are playing dumb to cover up for themselves and that’s where where your tax dollars are going. I’m not paying taxes ever again and the entire athletic department is guilty along with the coaches and the league for failure to acknowledge the situation at the present time. Now in this court room soldier , everyone on Hutcheons teams that was a victim and who played for the programs gets a monetary compensation for loss of time, money and manpower along with fraud. Every player gets their eligibility back for every year being part of the NCAA, USAF, NAIA and Belhaven College baseball program in addition to A’s for all the years the student/athlete was part of the program. A large multi million dollar judgement divided among every athlete and student. Every person responsible banned from the league and school and their college certifications revoked. You shouldn’t of made up the Commandant’s grandsons baseball stats. Your the one that’s going to go to the desert all by yourselves with-out Mexico and Canada.