5 Offseason Standards That Keep Teams Hungry
Description
Winning can be the start of the slide. After a deep run or a title, the real threat isn’t on your schedule—it’s in your clubhouse. We unpack how complacency takes root during the quiet months and map out a hard-nosed offseason plan that keeps players hungry, focused, and honest about their work.
We start with lessons from Nick Saban’s process: celebrate briefly, then eliminate the “rat poison” of praise by anchoring everything to execution—one drill, one rep, one play at a time. Then we look at Ryan Day’s transparency model and apply it to baseball with visible practice stats, effort grades, and execution metrics that remove hiding spots and turn accountability into culture. From there, we translate elite habits into concrete baseball standards: measurable throwing programs, exit velocity benchmarks, 60-yard improvements, body composition targets, and skill assessments scheduled and posted so progress is public and real.
You’ll hear how to reset the narrative on day one, rebuild roles from scratch, and design player-owned development plans that name three weaknesses and attack each with a partner, a timeline, and testing days. We frame roster turnover as a proving ground for new leaders and show how to “schedule humility” with film, guest speakers, and manufactured adversity through constraint scrimmages and competitive training blocks. The message is simple and sharp: excellence is a pursuit, not a destination, and last year’s success can’t become this year’s excuse.
If you’re ready to turn comfort into fuel, lock in your standards, measure everything, and keep the goalposts moving. Subscribe, share this episode with a fellow coach, and leave a quick review telling us the one metric you’ll track this offseason. Your trophy won’t lift weights for you—what will you measure next?
Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.
- Follow: Twitter | Instagram @Athlete1Podcast
- Website - https://www.athlete1.net
- Sponsor: The Netting Professionals
- https://www.nettingpros.com



