Interview with Legendary Head Coach Jim Danley

November 8, 2014

By John Cackowski
State Director

There is a small farming town 70 miles northeast of Denver called Eaton. Eaton has a population of just over 4,500 people and is part of Weld County. Most people in Colorado who are up to date on Prep Baseball in the state know about Eaton, and the success they have had on the baseball field the last 30 years. What most people outside of Colorado don't realize is Eaton houses one of the most successful and dominating baseball programs in the country. Led by head coach Jim Danley for 43 years, along with his assistant Bob Irvin for 34 years, the two together have been to 20 state championships and have won 10 times.

Currently Jim Danley holds the best winning percentage in the country at 82.8% with a 781-162-2 record. With a town of only 4,500 people, what is unique about Eaton is they might be the only place in the country that systematically teaches one pitch, the knuckle curveball. Danley started to incorporate the knuckle curveball in 1987, and kids as young as 5 are groomed to be ready to pitch it by the time they get to high school. From 1972 to 1987 the program went 199-78 (72% winning percentage) with zero state championships. Since the incorporation of the knuckle curveball the program has gone 536-80 (87% winning percentage) and has won 10 state championships. Recently we sat down with Coach Danley to talk about his time at Eaton High School.

1. Out of the 43 years you have coached at Eaton, what are you the most proud of during your tenure.

Seeing so many young men return years after graduation and seeing how successful they are in their careers and in life—after having had the opportunity to play a role in their development of attaining mental toughness—honestly it doesn’t get any better than that.

2. If you had to describe to someone what the phrase "Eaton-Baseball" means to you, what would you say?

Sure, let me start with the first half of that phrase, which is to speak about Eaton as a community. I can’t say enough how lucky I am to be surrounded by a group of hard-working folks with high expectations that instill that same toughness and discipline in their kids; this whole thing wouldn’t be even remotely possible without that. They appreciate hard work, toughness, and yes they like to win. As far as our program, I’d say we certainly are fearless, we don’t fear failure—we fail, but we’re not afraid to fail—we’re kids from a one-stoplight town trying to compete with players from the big cities, and we expect that if we play our hardest, we’ll come out ahead, even though that doesn’t happen 100% of the time. We focus on effort much more so than results, as you can’t always control results—sometimes grounders take a bad hop or bloopers land out of reach—but we focus hard on the effort and determination aspects of the game. We think this is a major determinant of success after these kids’ playing days have ended and they have to go beat out kids from the big cities for jobs and promotions. You can’t just try to be successful; you have to will yourself to success.

3. Who in your mind have been the standout players in Colorado high school baseball this year?

We sure saw a bunch of them in the mega-scrimmage with Rocky Mountain, Regis Jesuit, ThunderRidge, Grandview, Cherokee Trail, Chaparral, Highlands Ranch, etc., but to select just a handful of players out of even this great group of talent would be incredibly difficult. Our graduates play in the summer and fall seasons with Rocky Mountain’s, so frankly we’re partial to the great players, and great young men, that Bullock turns out every year.

4. You have created an unbelievable baseball culture in your community. What are some of the things you do to create a positive baseball atmosphere in your community?

The first thing we do is ensure that our current players and recent grads are actively involved in bringing up the next generation of our players. This is one of the perks of a small town, that the young guys are welcome in the dugout, get announced to the crowd at the Legion A games of their older heroes, and are coached by our current and former players. The high schoolers are great with them and treat them as equals, even going to watch them play in their youth tournaments. This allows for consistency from year-to-year, and a consistent message being delivered throughout games and post-game talks. One of those messages, which I learned from my dad—a pilot in the early days of flight—is that there are only four things one has to do to achieve success: 1) figure out what has to be done, 2) make yourself do what has to be done, 3) make yourself do what has to be done when it has to be done, and 4) make yourself do what has to be done when it has to be done, whether you like it or not. It’s that simple, it’s about willing yourself to success, but getting everyone to that 4^th stage takes time and multiple opportunities at success and failure, to then ultimately see them pursue success with every fiber within them. Not every kid gets there, but boy it’s fun when you see the ones that exceed even our lofty expectations.

5. Your program has had the opportunity to have won 10 3A state championships since 1994. I know that every coach can look back at a season and have one awesome memory. Can you share an awesome memory or two over this successful run?

Certainly the 15-inning State Championship Game against La Junta in 2001 stands out, as we faced a pitcher that was drafted in the 5^th round the following year and we had to outlast him for 11 innings before ultimately defeating his reliever. We were the visitors, and had to tie the game in the top of the 7^th with two outs and two strikes on our batter, had to make multiple game-saving plays and prevent a suicide squeeze, and had to strike out a number of batters with the game-winning run on 3^rd base, trusting our catcher to block every knuckle curve in the dirt to do so; it was frankly 15 straight innings of pure battle, every kid on both sides played great, their pitcher and our pitcher both threw the game of their lives, the relief pitchers were exceptional, it was heart-stopping, but fun to be a part of, and fortunately we came out on top 3-2. If every game were like that one, my heart would have given out on me decades ago.

6. You have had an opportunity to coach at Eaton for 43 years. Quite an unbelievable accomplishment, and you currently hold the highest winning percentage in the nation for active coaches at 82.8%. What a lot of people also don't realize is you have had a pretty special assistant Bob Ervin that has been with you for 35 years. Together you two have complied a 601-141-1 record. In a game that teaches you how to deal with failure, can you share any secrets to how you have overcome failure with so much success?

Trust me, Coach Ervin and I know failure, we took over a team in 1972 that had finished toward the bottom of the league for quite a few years, and we first had to convince the kids that they could stay in games with the average teams, and then hope for heroics late. We didn’t get many of those heroics back then, but you only need them to appear every once in a while to convince kids that it’s always possible. We took the advantage that we had—of being a tough bunch of farm kids—and focused on how mental toughness could overcome an otherwise superior opponent. This over time works itself up to making the kids believe that they can beat the best teams. After a while, the pendulum swings the other way, and you have to then convince the kids that they can be beaten by any other team as well. That’s tougher to do and more of a struggle, but a good problem to have.

It took us 23 years to win our first State Championship, luckily folks were more patient back then than they are now when a coach is expected to win within the first 2-3 years—heck, throughout the entire 1970’s we only won two league titles. It seems obvious to me that any young coaches that are passionate about what they’re trying to do should be given some room and time to accomplish their goals; how different it all would have been if Marc Johnson and I would have been held to today’s focus on immediate results back when we were young and flirting with .500 records.

I don’t think it’s any secret, but Coach Ervin and I have done our best to instill two concepts in our players: mental toughness, and unflappability. The greatest leaders in our nation’s history have been unflappable, having to overcome defeat before reaching the success we remember them for, and were able to—as Rudyard Kipling states in his famous poem “If”—treat both triumph and disaster just the same. We’re very proud of our results, but we care a lot more about the effort put into the battle, than about whether the ball bounces our way or not.

7. Please look at the following phrases and give me a one or two word reaction to each:

Eaton Community—die-hard

Knuckle Curveball—wipe-out

Underrated 2014 Eaton Player—Colton Lind

Assistant Coaches—the best

Hardest Loss—’83 state final

Family—unbelievable sons

Colorado Baseball—underrated

Interview with Legendary Head Coach Jim Danley

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