University of Massachusets Athletics
Feature: Stone Upholds High Standards At UMass
February 23, 2012 | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2012
There are lots of ways to manage a Division 1 baseball team. Some managers coddle and protect their players, hoping to create a feel-good environment that results in wins. Others take the hard-line, my-way-or-the-highway approach.
Mike Stone follows neither of those routes. Instead, he chooses to lead from the front, holding himself to the highest standards and expecting his players to follow suit.
For the record, that approach has served him well. This spring will mark Stone's 25th season at the helm of the UMass program. During his tenure, Stone's UMass teams have compiled a record of 597-525-3, making him the all-time leader in wins in program history. He also has led the Minutemen to eight Atlantic-10 regular-season titles, two Atlantic-10 tournament crowns and a pair of NCAA tournament appearances.
When he first took the job in 1988, it was a homecoming of sorts. Stone, a Watertown, Conn., native, had been drafted out of the Taft School by the St. Louis Cardinals and spent three years as a catcher in their organization. He then played two more minor-league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers before hanging up his spikes.
"It didn't look like I was going to make the major leagues and I wanted to finish college," Stone said. "At the same time, I wanted a chance to play football. The UMass coach Bob Pickett had recruited me out of high school and gave me an opportunity to do that."
After earning his degree at UMass, Stone spent five years running the baseball program at the University of Vermont. Even though he was happy there, the thought of returning to UMass was never far from his mind.
"My wife and I are both from Connecticut, so we'd drive down there a lot from Vermont," Stone said. "Whenever we'd pass by the exit for UMass, we'd always say, `I wish we were there, we'd be home now.'"
In light of his accomplishments there, Stone acknowledges that UMass doesn't have the same level of financial support or training facilities that other Div. 1 programs in the region are able to offer. As a result, he considers it a necessity to find the right kind of athlete to fit his system in order to succeed.
"We're in a situation here where we don't have a lot of scholarship money so we need kids who are committed to being the best they possibly can be with what we have to work with," he said. "Being well-prepared and tough mentally is key for us. We have an underdog-type mentality where we have to fight for everything we get."
Matt LaBranche, now the coach of the Western New England College program at the Div. 3 level, gained his first college coaching experience while serving as an assistant for Stone in the late 1990s. During that time, he developed an immense appreciation for Stone's approach.
"I think one of the ways that Mike has been able to level the playing field is with the depth of his preparation and how strong of a practice coach he is," LaBranche said. "Also, he's got the most self-discipline of anyone I've ever met. That's a quality he's been able to impart to his teams over the years. His approach absolutely squeezes the most out of his players' abilities."
While a number of Stone's UMass players have reached the major leagues over the years, including Ron Villone, Chad Paronto and Nick Gornealt, it's fair to say that no UMass player benefited more from Stone's hands-on tutelage than Doug Clark.
Clark arrived at UMass as a scholarship football player but approached Stone with an unlikely request. Even though he hadn't played baseball even in high school, Clark asked Stone if he could try out for the team as a walk-on.
"I just kept making it through the cuts," Clark recalled. "The last cut came and I remember sitting in coach Stone's office and him telling me I'd be the DH while we went down to Rice University to open up the season."
From that point forward, Clark flourished under Stone. After his sophomore season, he had attracted enough attention to be selected in the 20th round of the 1997 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers but chose to return to UMass. The next year, he was drafted again, this time in the seventh round by the San Francisco Giants and elected to sign.
Clark made it to the bigs with the Giants in 2005 and returned again with the Oakland A's in 2006. From there, he continued to play for the Atlanta Braves organization and then several years abroad in the Korean Professional League. Presently, he is playing winter ball in the Mexican League.
He attributes his long career and deep love of the game primarily to Stone.
"I'm 35 years old and still playing baseball," Clark said. "If it wasn't for Coach Stone believing in me that I could play at that Division 1 level, none of this would have ever happened. I owe everything to his eye for talent, his giving me the opportunity to play at UMass and his ability to teach me the proper way to play the game."
Clark also credits Stone's approach for teaching his players lessons beyond the game of baseball.
"I think he prepares his athletes for an opportunity in baseball but also to succeed in life as well through the work ethic that he tries to instill in all of his athletes," Clark said. "He makes sure his players have an understanding of the important things that it takes to not only be an athlete but a quality individual after school."
Andy Baylock, the coach of the UConn baseball program from 1979 to 2003, developed a great deal of respect for Stone during their many meetings across the diamond. So much so in fact that when Baylock chose to retire from the Div. 1 coaches committee that names the annual All-Americans, he named Stone as his preferred replacement.
Regarding Stone's long-term success, Baylock points to his old friend's belief in a timeless coaching philosophy.
"Kids may be different today than when Mike started coaching, but the right values to teach them never change," Baylock said. "It's about being dependable, responsible, respectful and hard working. That's the definition of old school but in a good way, and it's a philosophy that never wears out. That's what Mike Stone has always been true to."
This article originally appeared in the January-February 2012 issue of New England Baseball Journal.