BY STEVE KRAH
At 24, Daylan Nanny just might be the youngest recruiting coordinator in college baseball.
Nanny, a 2017 graduate of Plainfield (Ind.) High School who hit .313 (197-of-629) in 161 games as lefty-swinging outfielder with National Junior College Athletic Association member Arizona Western College (2018) and NCAA Division I Western Carolina University (2019-21), was put in charge of talent procurement when he became a full-time assistant on the staff of Brad Neffendorf at LSU Shreveport in July.
“My paid title is recruiting coordinator,” says Nanny of his position at the institution on northwest Louisiana. “It’s one of the 392 hats I wear.
“I’m blessed. I really am. They took a chance on a young guy for a big role. The bloodline of your program is recruiting. I’ve been able to take it and run with it and be aggressive.”
Right-handed pitcher and Lawrence North High School graduate Calvin Shepherd (who pitched at the University of Illinois in 2022 and Black Hawk College in Moline, Ill., in 2023) is part of the NAIA’s No. 1 junior college recruiting class according to college baseball influencer Noah Sharp.
LSUS is 167-38 in Brad Neffendorf’s four seasons in Shreveport and went to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, in 2021 and 2022 and earned Red River Athletic Conference regular-season titles in 2022 and 2023. The RRAC has schools from Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico.
The 2023 Pilots finished 47-10 overall and 27-3 in RRAC and were ranked No. 2 in the final poll after finishing one win short of Lewiston as an Opening Round host under the brother of new Indiana University Southeast head coach Brett Neffendorf.
LSUS is ranked No. 5 in the 2024 NAIA preseason poll. One of the toughest schedules in the country awaits the Pilots with 17 of 26 opponents ranked or receiving votes.
Six of the team’s first 10 games are against Top 25 foes including an Opening Day doubleheader with No. 12 Webber International on Jan. 26.
In early February, the Pilots play preseason No. 23 Rheinhardt (Ga.) and No. 18 Mobile (Ala.).
LSUS will get what they hope is an early look at Harris Field in Lewiston with a four-game series at No. 3 Lewis-Clark State April 12-14.
Pilot Field features a turf infield and an indoor training facility.
“We’ve got a chance to do something special,” says Nanny. “Neff does a good job of making sure we’re all organized.”
The Pilots staff, which also includes two other newcomers in Robert Pickett and Zach Sanders, was to convene today (Dec. 28) after a holiday break and welcome players back Jan. 2.
Former IU Southeast head coach Ben Reel was among those who has given advice to the young coach.
“I was lucky to have so many people in my corner,” says Nanny.
The American Baseball Coaches Association Convention — which will be Nanny’s second as a member — is Jan. 3-7 in Dallas, about 190 miles west of Shreveport.
“I’m excited to get down there and build relationships,” says Nanny, who has already built wide network in the baseball community. “I turn 25 in February. This is my window. I’m going to dive into this and try to make it a lifelong profession.”
Two Indiana schools and members of the Crossroads League — Taylor University and Indiana Wesleyan University — are preseason No. 9 and No. 14, respectively.
Two players from central Indiana — 2018 Ben Davis High School graduate Zyon Avery (2022 and 2023) and 2017 Indianapolis North Central High School alum Allbry Major (2022) — played at LSUS.
Nanny played against Avery at Ben Davis Little League and against Major during travel ball and then in the Cape Cod League (2019).
Prior to joining the LSUS Pilots, Nanny was a volunteer assistant specializing in recruiting and offensive player development for head coach Marc Rardin in his first season at NCAA D-I Western Kentucky University (2023).
During Nanny’s season in Bowling Green, the Hilltoppers won 33 games — a 15-win improvement from he previous season. WKU also got better in 18 different offensive categories.
Before Western Kentucky, Nanny was recruiting coordinator/hitting coach for Rob Fournier at perennial juco powerhouse Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Ill.
Nanny followed Fournier to WKU when the veteran coach became a Hilltoppers assistant. Rardin and Fournier are both the the NJCAA Hall of Fame.
“I’m lucky to now have recruited at three levels,” says Nanny.
For a short time before becoming a college coach, Nanny joined buddies Kalib Clark (a 2016 Plainfield grad who played at Indiana University Kokomo and MidAmerica Nazarene University) and Cooper Trinkle (a 2017 Columbus North High School alum who played the University of Evansville, John A. Logan College, Indiana University and Saint Leo University) to form and briefly run HitClub Player Development Services.
Trinkle is now lead scout for Prep Baseball Report Indiana.
One of Nanny’s other duties at LSUS is guiding hitters.
“Our mentality is to change the score and win pitches,” says Nanny. “We want to play the game pitch-to-pitch.
“Playing the scoreboard and the opponent is almost like a lost art.”
Nanny expects batters to produce no matter than ball-strike count.
“Our goal is to have hitters that are so comfortable within what they’re doing they don’t panic when they get to two strikes,” says Nanny. “You’ve got to take what the other team and the game is giving you.”
To do this, hitters will see many situations in practice so they are at ease in games.
It’s not always a home run or bust.
“Sometimes you hit it the other way and take your single,” says Nanny. “You don’t have to be a hero.”
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