We continue our countdown to the 2018 season with interviews with coaches throughout the country. Today we have Jayson King who is in his first year with the Dayton Flyers after a year as an assistant coach at Army West Point and successful stints with Division 2 national power Franklin Pierce and Division 3 member UMass-Boston.
- Entering your first season in charge of the Dayton Flyers program after very successful stints at Division 2 power Franklin Pierce and Division 3 UMass-Boston. What has been the biggest difference making the jump to Division 1 with the Flyers?
Biggest difference has been working within the framework of the University and baseball program to manage the number of players in the program currently. Have not been somewhere that the numbers of players was as much a focus in my past stops, especially when it comes to recruiting and the number of guys we could bring in.
- Dayton is coming off a 20-35 campaign while going 9-15 in Atlantic 10 play. What are your expectations for this year’s squad?
The expectation is to have high expectations on and off the field and work towards excellence in the classroom, on the field and in the community. We had a great first semester in all facets for sure. For this spring our goal is to win the Atlantic 10 and compete every single pitch.
- The Flyers lost one of their top three starting pitchers from last season. How do you see the weekend rotation setting up?
We are still working through things on the pitching side but we feel good about our options on the weekend and midweek both in the starting roles and in the bullpen. There will be several guys in different roles then they have been in the past. We like the versatility of the staff with matchup guys and our bullpen.
- Dayton last season struggled at the plate with a team batting average of only .244. How do you see the offense changing this season?
We will be aggressive offensively by getting guys in motion on the bases and looking to be very aggressive with the bat. Some new additions to the roster and returning players that have made some great adjustments this fall should allow us to be more dynamic.
5.Lets say we put you in charge of all of college baseball right now, What is the one thing you would change and why?
The three things that come to mind are limiting early recruiting, more scholarship money in our sport and increasing the roster limit. If forced to choose one I would go with more scholarship money for baseball. I would do this because we are losing many good athletes to other sports because of money. I would want to even out the money so that would not happen as frequently it does now and get talented student-athletes what they deserve.
