New Memphis baseball coach Daron Schoenrock is excited tofinally have some help running the team.
"I ran a Division I program by myself for 27 days," Schoenrocksaid. "It was a full-time job just keeping up with voice mail."
But what excites him most are the two men he is bringing in tolend the extra hands.
Schoenrock added two coaches, Mike Federico and Jerry Zulli, tohis staff last week, cementing his mark on Memphis baseball. Hechose the coaches from a pool of about 75 applicants.
"These are the two names I came up with," Schoenrock said. "Ikept coming back to them just to try to fit a staff together towhere the strengths and weaknesses really matched up."
Judging from their previous experience, there are plenty ofstrengths.
Zulli, 26, spent three years as an assistant coach at MiddleGeorgia College. During that time, he worked with hitters andoutfielders. During his three-year coaching career, the Warriorscompiled a 130-51 record and made two World Series appearances.
This summer, he's been working as a coach in Hyannas, Mass. inthe Cape Cod League. That position is reserved for top collegecoaches, Schoenrock said.
"It's a prestigious position," Schoenrock said.
Federico, 29, possesses similar accolades. He is a two-timeJunior College Coach of the Year.
Since 2000, Federico has coached at Meridian (Miss.) CommunityCollege. In five years there, including three as a head coach, theEagles advanced to three Junior College World Series, including afifth place finish in 2003.
Federico, is also familiar with Conference USA. He spent hisfirst two coaching seasons, in 1998-99, at SouthernMississippi.
Federico will serve primarily as the pitching coach and help ondefense.
"Mike is a great coach of the total defensive game," Schoenrocksaid. "He also has a great personality for recruiting and hasknowledge of Conference USA, having played and coached at SouthernMiss."
Even with only 10 years coaching experience between them,Schoenrock said his two picks have had nothing but success ascoaches.
"They've both been at winning programs," Schoenrock said. "Theyboth landed outstanding classes at the two junior colleges theycame from. Both of these colleges were in Grand Junction last year(for the Junior College World Series)."
Zulli's duties will include third base coach and working withoutfielders, but his biggest responsibility will be as hittingcoach -- something he is confident he can teach.
"I'll be honest with you, hitting is something I know," Zullisaid. "It might be the only thing I know. I couldn't tell you howto fix a car, I couldn't tell you how to do anything else but whenit comes down to the (hitting) stroke, I'm confident in myability."
Both new assistants will have their work cut out. Federicoinherits a pitching staff that ranked sixth in ERA and has lostthree top performers to the Major League draft.
Zulli will attempt to turn around an offense that ranked last inC-USA in runs scored and tenth in batting average.
They will join Schoenrock in his quest to turn around astruggling program, and he knows his staff is as excited about thechance as he is.
"One of the most attractive things was how positive they wereabout the potential this program has," Schoenrock said. "That was acommon thread that kind of binds us together. Some people come inand say, 'We need to fix this, we need to change this, and this isnot in good shape.' But these guys see this as a golden opportunityfor somebody that's ready to work hard."
Schoenrock will round out his staff with a volunteer coach, whowill be named later.
