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Q&A with baseball coach Ray Tanner
Tanner: 'It doesn't get any better'
USC head baseball coach Ray Tanner believes Carolina Stadium will offer the best college baseball watching experience in the country.
Jeff Blake/jblake@thestate.com
Posted on 02.18.09
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Tanners' five favorite ballparks
1. Carolina Stadium, USC | Tanner says this one moves to the top spot when it opens Saturday. It doesn’t hurt that he had a hand in designing it.
2. Camden Yards, Baltimore | One of the first of MLB’s wave of new ballparks in the 1990s, Tanner loves the design so much that he tried to give Carolina Stadium the same feel in right field.
3. Yankee Stadium, New York | As a young boy in North Carolina, he grew up a fan of Mickey Mantle’s Yankees. He likes how the stadium’s outfield monuments celebrate MLB’s greatest franchise.
4. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia | This new ballpark is cozy and a hitter’s paradise. And everybody knows how much Tanner loves home runs.
5. Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha | This one is obvious — simply for the destination. It’s where Tanner would like to end every season.
Coming Friday, Feb. 20 inside The State newspaper: Find everything you need to know about the new Carolina Stadium in a special section.
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One week before the opening of Carolina Stadium, USC baseball coach Ray Tanner sat with The State’s Neil White for a discussion about the long-awaited debut of the $35.6 million ballpark.
QUESTION: Can you describe how you feel about the culmination of this long process, as you sit in your office overlooking this field?
ANSWER: It’s a real feeling of celebration and gratitude for the tradition of players and coaches and our great fans that have made the history of Carolina baseball. Maybe to some people this is just a new ballpark. To me this is magnificent. It doesn’t get any better. As I look at it, the things that pop up to me are the history and tradition. Coach (Bobby) Richardson, coach (June) Raines, Earl Bass, Hank Small, Kip Bouknight, Ryan Bordenick, Brett Jodie, Mike Curry, Adam Everett. It’s about all of these players and the electric atmosphere (such as) when we scored five in the ninth against Miami (in the 2002 Super Regional). That’s what it means to me. It’s just a true celebration of the tradition.
Q: What is this ballpark going to mean to your program?
A: Bigger crowds, better players, greater passion, an event and an atmosphere second to none at this level. Keep in mind, I feel like we have the greatest fans already. We were sixth in country in attendance last year. We have built a program here, and when I say we, I mean coach Richardson started it, and coach Raines picked it up for 20 years. The hard work was done when I got here. The foundation was here. I just need to try to keep it moving in the right direction.
Q: What does this ballpark do for you in terms of recruiting?
A: You can hardly ask for any more as a young prospect and potential student-athlete. It’s hard for me to imagine that it could be any better than what we have right here.
Q: Could you have envisioned a ballpark like this as a young coach in the early 1980s?
A: No. I always felt that college baseball was a great sport. But we were a non-revenue sport. A lot of administrators in the past referred to you as Olympic sports or varsity sports. There was football and basketball and the rest. I always felt we had a great product, and gradually it became a sport that athletic directors and presidents paid attention to as the years went by. Of course, Omaha brought out a lot for college baseball. Ron Polk, Skip Bertman, Augie Garrido, some of the legends in college baseball. Now facilities have popped up all over the country. You can pay your bills in baseball. You can operate in the black. Now, it has to be clarified that this stadium has to be paid for first, but we can make our operating expenses.
Q: More and more games are being televised. Omaha is building a new ballpark for the College World Series. What it’s like to be in the forefront and have people looking at you as the new model?
A: I was on the phone with (Arkansas) coach (Dave) Van Horn this morning. They set the standard and now have added to it. I hope as new facilities pop up, where our people once went to look at other facilities across the country, people will now come here. In my opinion, we got it right. We satisfied the fan-friendly part, and we satisfied the player amenities (part). It’s fabulous. Some credit has to be given to Eric Hyman. When this project got off the ground, Dr. (Mike) McGee was the AD and had the vision. There was Dr. (John) Palms, Dr. (Andrew) Sorensen and now Dr. (Harris) Pastides. The project changed with some personalities, but Eric Hyman understands what it means to compete in the Southeastern Conference. If you’re aren’t going to get it right, you’re going to be playing catch-up. That’s what this league is all about.
Q: You have a great on-field rivalry with LSU, and now you have a stadium rivalry with LSU. I’m sure there will be discussion about who’s got the better ballpark.
A: (Laughs.) Coach Mainieri and I have talked a little bit already. He got a few more seats in his stadium, but he didn’t get all the other amenities. Initially, he couldn’t see the field from his office, but they did get that corrected. So, yes, it’s a great situation for us. But we’ve got to continue to put teams between the lines that are very good. We have taken a giant step with this magnificent facility.
Q: What are your favorite features that make this ballpark special?
A: There are so many different areas. For me, personally, when I go through the tunnel every day to the field, that gets me a little bit. When you know you’re in a tunnel headed to the dugout, you’re not just in another ballpark. You’re in a special facility. We moved our bullpens to get our fans back to the field instead of moving them away. We made sure that even though their seats are down the line a little bit, we put them back on the field. You can see how close those seats are. The video board is state of the art. There are so many things in this ballpark that excite you. There’s the wide-open concourse. You can walk the entire ballpark and never lose sight of the game unless you’re behind the batter’s eye. But then you’re in the beautiful plaza out in center field. It’s just so neat. I’m still anticipating the sound system. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sound system anywhere that sounds like ours does in this ballpark. I can’t wait until we’re in the midst of a rally and this place is packed. I think I’m going to like my chances.
Q: Are you going to miss Sarge Frye Field at all?
A: I have great memories of Sarge Frye. It’s still standing. We did take the seats out, but it’s still standing. It was a special venue, and we were pretty successful at Sarge Frye Field, as coach Richardson and coach Raines were. I can still see Sarge standing at the top at practice. He’d take his route every day, and he’d stop by practice and lean over the first-base perch up there. He’d stay for a few minutes, and quite often I’d run up there and talk to him. We’ll never forget Sarge or The Sarge. But I know very well that if Sarge were here today, he’d say, ‘Bubba, it’s time to build a new one.’
Q: How important is it to have a successful season your first year in the new stadium?
A: It goes without saying that I want that to happen. We’ve got a lot of new faces and a lot of guys with not a lot of experience. I’ve said many times that expectations aren’t going to change. I’m hoping with this new venue we’ve got that we’ll have an opportunity for greater energy and greater passion than maybe a normal opening day. I hope we can translate that into better play.
Q: Is this the best place to watch college baseball in the country?
A: Not to be critical to what LSU is doing or what North Carolina has done in remodeling their stadium, but I can’t imagine you could make it any better than what we’ve done here. We’ve paid extreme attention to quality seats throughout and good sightlines. The concourse, the concessions, the restrooms, we’ve done everything we felt like we could at this point. We may discover that we missed something, but we haven’t discovered it yet. We wanted to make this one of the nicest baseball facilities in the country.
Q: Are you willing to predict a win on Opening Day?
A: (Laughs.) I won’t be so bold, but I hope that my players feel that way. I know it’s going to be an exciting day. There are no questions about it. Our current players feel very fortunate to be a part of what they’re going through right now. I watched them as it all came together. It’s even more than they anticipated. They’re excited and very grateful to be making history in a new baseball stadium.
Reach White at (803) 771-8643.
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