Under The Gun: Bo Robinson

Date: March 21, 2019
By: Eric Leary

Coach Bo Robinson of UNC-Charlotte joins us today on this edition of Under the Gun.  A former ‘49er himself where he enjoyed a stellar career, Coach Robinson has been a part of the UNC-C staff since 2012 and reaching full-time status in 2014.

Coach Robinson, share with us what it’s like to coach everyday at a place that is surely special to you, as you are a Charlotte native and were such and outstanding player for the 49ers.

It has been a dream come true for me to play as well as coach at UNC Charlotte. Coach Hibbs was an intricate part in recruiting me out of HS as a player and getting me back involved in the program from a coaching standpoint. I am a Charlotte native and I have always had a great sense of pride playing/coaching for my hometown school. I have memories of a lifetime that I will never forget because of the great coaches and teammates that I had a chance to play for and with. The 4 year experience at Charlotte made a huge impact on my life and for that I am forever grateful. Now as a coach, I get a chance to give back to the school/program that did so much for me. I wake up every day excited to go to work because I feel like I am (in a way) still playing for my school but in a different role. Now I am a leader of young men who I am trying to help have the same experience that I had.   

After your collegiate career you played several years of pro ball, reaching the triple-A level.  How have your experiences as a pro player helped you in coaching college athletes who are often looking to get the attention of major league teams?

The pro experience for me was invaluable. As a player, your JOB is to show up and perform at a high level every day. That is the expectation at that level and it’s the same at the college level. Secondly, from a coaching standpoint, you get a chance to learn from a lot of really good coaches. Every day in Pro Ball they hammer home fundamentals, routines, and handling yourself like a pro in everything you do. The minor leagues is not the most glamorous lifestyle but it teaches you how to grind through the ups and downs of a full season. You play anywhere between 140-180 games a year if you count spring training and winter ball with very few days off. Sometimes I laugh at the kids that say they are fatigued after a weekend series and I tell them try playing for 20 more straight days in a row while riding on a bus at all hours of the night from city to city. You can never get to high and you can never get to low but you have to be consistent. This game will get the best of everyone at some point but if you put forth the work and you treat the game the right way it has a funny way of rewarding you back. That is the biggest thing that I try to pass onto the players. At that level, everyone is good but the people that seem to keep moving up the ladder are the ones that show they can be consistent with their daily habits. It’s a mindset there more than anything and you have to love to work at it. We have been very fortunate to have several guys out of our program move on to the next level and we hope we can keep adding more to the list. We also want them to be prepared to succeed when they get there. 

The 49ers are a member of Conference-USA and the 2019 schedule is a tough mix of conference contests as well as several instate opponents. Tell us how you and the staff felt about this season going in and where you see your team at this point in the season.

We play in CUSA which is one of the best baseball conferences in the country that many people in our area don’t know enough about. There are perennial top 25 programs in our league and we have to recruit and develop guys accordingly to keep up with the speed and physicality of the game. We also play one of the toughest non-conference schedules so we can prepare ourselves for league play. We want to play the best so we can speed the development/learning process up for our guys. We like our team and we have shown flashes of being special but we also have several newcomers (15 in all) that will only get better as the year goes along. I think this team has a chance to be very good but we have to be consistent, and that will come as the new guys gain valuable college experience. 

You wear several hats at UNC-Charlotte. From working with infielders, to coaching third base and working with hitters, and since the fall of 2016 you’ve been the recruiting coordinator.  How do you balance family with all of these responsibilities at the D1 level?

That’s a great question. It has been a huge lifestyle adjustment to be a college baseball coach and being involved with the day to day operations of a program. I would venture to say that coaching is probably 30-40% of what we do and I’m sure several other coaches feel the same way. In college athletics you have to wear many hats because it’s also a business. We are paid to Win games but a lot goes into it behind the scenes to run a successful program. The great thing about my situation is I have a very supportive wife who I have been with since HS. She has been with me since day 1 and understands the pro/college lifestyle which can be tough on many relationships and families. She truly gets it and understands that this is a part of who I am and allows me to do what I love. She is the rock in our household and no doubt the MVP in our home. 

Infield play is a craft that takes timeless work to hone skills that can be executed with fluid precision. What is your favorite drill to help infielders gain access to the movements needed to be a top performer on the dirt?

That’s one thing that I take a lot of pride in is how we play team defense. I was always known as a hitter 1st and a below average defender coming out of HS/College. Not until I got to pro ball did I really start taking the defensive side of the ball as serious as I should have. I knew if I wanted to move up the ladder I had to hold down my defensive position and do my job. I really improved at the next level when I had a couple infield coaches show me the footwork and fundamentals needed to develop. I absorbed all that information that I received and I try to pass on to our guys. Even as much as I love hitting, I know that pitching and defense wins ball games. I love our hack attack machine that we use daily to work on our hands and our feet. There is no such thing as a bad hop in my mind, if you know how to be an athlete with your feet. The hack attack machine allows us to simulate different Ground Balls that you can’t necessarily simulate with a fungo. 

The Niners have had their share of offensive production in the last few years.  What has been the hitting philosophy focus to support a number of drafted players, as well as several also being named all-conference selections?

First of all we have been very fortunate to have very good players come through our program. Those guys put in the work and earned everything they got. They all had confidence, work ethic, good routines, good approaches and mature plans at the plate. These were the staples for their hitting development. I would say more than anything that I have a philosophy that is geared toward being fundamental with your swing and approach but I also allow for a lot of freedom. I do not clone guys because everybody is a little different. I do not want to recruit a guy who I feel like we have to completely overhaul. We tend to work WITH guys more so than forcing 1 particular philosophy. I think it is very important from a coaching standpoint to allow a player to have some say in what they are doing especially from a hitting standpoint. I think that builds trust with the player. They are the ones walking to the plate and they know what they are feeling. I try and aide in the process to what I am seeing. At the end of the day, we work for the guys and we have to earn their trust so when they do get into a rut, we can help minimize the damage and get them back on track quickly.

You have definitely had an impact on youth baseball in the Charlotte area, both as an instructor and in being the on-field camp director at UNC-Charlotte.  What message would you like to give youth baseball today in terms of continuing to make the game a popular choice for kids looking to be active in sports?

This is something that has been very personal for me growing up and playing in the Charlotte area. There is a part of me that always wants to give back to the young ball players because I was once them. I was very fortunate to learn the game at a very early age from my dad who played 7 years professionally. I also had a lot of good coaches in HS and College that paved the way for me to develop. I think the big thing is for the kids to 1st and foremost to love playing the game and have fun. The game gets a lot more serious as the kids get older but at the core you are still playing a kids game. I was involved in the opening of On Deck Baseball Academy in 2000 with Mike Shildt and it was created for the youth of South Charlotte to have a place to train. I worked there for 13 years and loved every minute of it. Those adolescence years are crucial in becoming who they eventually will be in life. You get a chance to shape kids lives through the game of baseball and that in itself is very rewarding.

We at Dirtbags Baseball want to sincerely thank Coach Robinson for taking a few minutes to share with us on Under the Gun. We look for him and the Niners to continue be a force out of the Queen City in their conference and the state.

If you would like to check out the Hack Attack machine that Coach Robinson mentioned above, click the link below.

 

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