The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, July 28, 1982-Page 11
Former Wolverine coaches
now have Canadian ties
Benedict
manages
Expos'
f arm club
By RON POLLACK
Moby Benedict has returned to the
dugout.
Benedict, who served as Michigan's
baseball manager from 1962-79 during
which time his teams compiled a 345-
238 record, is now in his first summer as
manager of the Montreal Expos' Class
A farm club in Jamestown, N.Y.
UNDER THE guidance of Benedict,
who has been out of baseball since he
gave up the Wolverine coaching reins in
1979, the Jamestown Expos are in third
place of the New York-Pennsylvania
League with a 17-19 record.
At this level of minor league play,
Benedict has found that the basics of
the game must be stressed. "You have
to work on fundamentals and keep
working on it, because just telling them
what to do doesn't guarantee that
they'll do it," said Benedict. "We'll drill
and work on techniques each day and
work on two or three fundamentals
every day."
During his short stint as a minor
league manager this season, Benedict
has already noticed a number of dif-
ferences from his days as Michigan's,
manager.
"YOU SEE more good pitching day in
and day out in the pros," said Benedict.
"Most of the kids here have been
playing a few years in college and now
they come here and struggle. I also
have some kids who've been in pro ball
a few years.
"The most glaring difference, is that
in professional baseball you play every
day (Benedict's team plays 76 games in
77 days in this summer league), while
in college you play a doubleheader and
then have a day off to think about it.
One of the toughest things for a kid is to
play every day. You ride the buses
when you're on road trips and you get
home and you have to do it all over
again. That's tough to do."
Perhaps the biggest change in
Benedict's job as a minor league coach,
as compared to that of a college men-
tor, is in motivating players. "It's
tougher to motivate them here than in
college," said Benedict. "You can't
give them the college rah-rah stuff
here, because they're not playing for
the College World Series here. Here, the
road trips are bad, the lights are bad
and the food is bad. The players just
want to get out of here and move up to
the next level. In college, it's a short
season, the conditions are good, and the
player's parents and sweetheart are
there. Now, all that's gone."
ALTHOUGH the schedule can
become tiring after a while, Benedict
says that daily games give him an en-
joyable opportunity that he did not have
as a college coach.
"It's fun to coach every day, because
you can work your pitchers right and
get them in good rotation when you go
every day," said Benedict. "In college,
you can't get the rhythm since you have
those doubleheaders and then days
off."
Benedict also says that a manager in
pro ball doesn't have some of the
responsibilities that he eventually grew
tired of at Michigan.
"I NEVER was sick of baseball," he
said. "I just didn't enjoy it at Michigan
when I left. I got tired of recruiting and
trying to survive with the program
every day. So it wasn't that I didn't en-
joy teaching anymore when I stopped
coaching at Michigan, I just didn't en-
joy it at Michigan."
He has enjoyed teaching the Expos'
Class A farm club this summer,
however. "The Montreal organization
is very fine," said Benedict. "They're
good to work with, and they're suppor-
Ex-'M'
JY eoaeh
leads eagers
of Windsor
By RON POLLACK
So you think you know a lot about
Michigan athletics.
OK, then name the former Michigan
basketball coach (not necessarily a
Wolverine head coach) whose teams
have won conference title in six of the 12
seasons that he has coached.
THE ANSWER is Dr. Paul Thomas,
who coached the Wolverine's JV squad
during the 1951-52 season. He currently
coaches the Windsor basketball team
and has led the Lancers to six Ontario
University Athletic Association cham-
pionships in his 12 years as head coach.
In addition to coaching the Michigan
JV squad in 1951-52, Thomas also was
the player-coach of the Pillsonburg
team of the Canadian Amateur Basket-
ball Association. Pillsonburg won the
National Championship that year and
was chosen to represent Canada in the
Olympics. Thomas was not allowed to
play since he had played some pro
baseball, making him ineligible for
Olympic play. But the 24-year-old did
coach the team in the Olympics, and
according to Thomas, "I was sup-
posedly the youngest person ever to
coach in the Olympics at that time."
Thomas also got international
coaching experience in 1972 and 1974
when he coached Canada's national
teams in the World University Games
in Red China and Moscow.
AND AT Windsor, Thomas has con-
tinued to travel. Every year, his teams
play a number of Division I schools in
the United States. Among the schools
that Windsor has played over the years
are: Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Central Michigan, Detroit,
Texas, Rice, Texas A&M, Arizona
State, Arizona, Utah, Notre Dame,
Toledo, North ' Carolina State,
Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State,
Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oral Roberts,
Creighton, Pan American and Bowling
Green.
Thomas' teams have never beaten
any of these opponents, but have come
close on quite a few occasions. "I'm
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always one or two players short from
giving these guys a go."
Windsor has been more than a player
or two away against Michigan the last
few years. The scores of the last four
Michigan-Windsor contesta have been
128-77, 135-75, 103-48, and 106-69.
In spite of the fact that his team
always gets beaten by its United States
opponents, Thomas feels that his team
is better for the experience. "There are
a lot of benefits-besides the money we
get," he said. "One is that you've been
a stressful situation. Once we went to
Texas the year after they won the NIT
and they had 15,000 maniacs there, and
I'm thinking 'don't make them any
tougher than they are.' So nothing in
our conference compares to that. Also,
when you've tried to handle a Magic
Johnson, it seems easier to handle the
people in our conference. It makes our
guys grow up in a hurry"
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,Benedcte
.. 345-238 as 'M' coach
tive. When your bosses are supportive,
it makes for a fine situation."
The past few years, Benedict has
been working in the Michigan
recreational sports department. He
took a job there when he stopped
coaching the Wolverines. During the
school year, he will continue to work in
this department. He adds that if a full-
time manager's job were to be offered
him, he would seriously consider it. But
even if such an offer never comes his
way, the Expos have allowed him to
spend at least part of every year in a
familiar spot-the dugout
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761-8845
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