Frame takes over Huntington U. program from Hall of Famer father

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The record shows that Thad Frame has been a baseball coach since 2009.
But the way the new Huntington (Ind.) University head coach sees it, his experience goes back much farther.
“I grew up in it,” says the 36-year-old Thad, who follows father and 38-season veteran Mike Frame. “I feel like I’ve been coaching my whole life.”
The oldest of Mike and Diane’s three children (there’s also Heath and Cora), Thad was a young boy when he began spending countless hours at the diamond or office with his father the Huntington Foresters head coach.
Frame got his first real taste of coaching in Clemson, S.C. He played for the Southern Collegiate League’s Carolina Chaos and on the urging of former Huntington and Chaos player Andrew Drummond (who holds several school records including career batting average at .408 and is tied in career runs batted in with 155) took an opportunity to coach with the team a few summers later.
“I was trying to find a new identity. It had always been just baseball,” says Frame, who took a gap year after his playing eligibility to complete Sports Management degree and seek his path. “I caught the coaching bug. Ever since it’s been my life.
“It feels like I never worked a day in my life.”
Before landing back at Huntington, Frame also spent a year at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) where Dan Simonds was head coach with Ben Bachmann (now athletic director at new Prairie High School) and Jeremy Ison as assistants and Brad Gschwind as graduate assistant.
Thad Frame was Huntington U.’s starting shortstop for four seasons (2005-08) after doing the same at Huntington North High School (2001-04). His head coaches were Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Don Sherman as a freshman and Chad Daugherty his last three prep seasons.
“When you’ve grown up in the coach world you see the impact a coach can have on young men (spiritually and athletically),” says Frame. “You’re absorbing that information.
“I’ve been beyond blessed to have been around some of the best in Indiana.”
Mike Frame (Huntington Class of 1983) is the member of four athletic halls of fame (Huntington U. in 2003, IHSBCA in 2009, Nettles Creek Schools/Hagerstown in 2017 and Northeast Indiana Baseball Association in 2019).
While going 920-754, his Forester teams won 17 conference regular-season or conference tournament titles and made four NAIA national tournament appearances. There were 13 NAIA All-American honors with 85 all-conference athletes and seven professional players. He has also served the school as associated director of athletics.
Mike Frame lost his right leg to COVID-19 but came back to coach.
Thad Frame counts his father, Dennis Kas and Donnie Scott as the men who have molded him most as a coach.
“My father has an old-school feel for baseball,” says Thad. “You’re going to have fun but it’s going to be intense.”
IHSBCA Hall of Famer Kas coached Frame on the Indiana Bulls travel team and as am HU assistant and Scott was the manager with Thad as an assistant on the summer collegiate Northwoods League’s Battle Creek (Mich.) Bombers (2011) and Madison (Wis.) Mallards (2012).
With Brian Colopy (who is now owner of the Northern League’s Battle Creek Battle Jacks and Kalamazoo Growlers) as general manager, Frame spent two summers in Battle Creek. The 2010 team went 20-50 and finished in last place. The 2011 Scott-managed club went 43-26 and won the league championship while Frame was able to take a bigger role with recruiting.
“That was the most-important summer in my coaching experience,” says Frame. “We formed a team that was very athletic.”
In the summer of 2012, Frame followed former fielder coordinator for the Cincinnati Reds and manager for Midwest League’s Dayton (Ohio) Dragons Scott to Madison. He was there a short time before coming back to join his father’s staff full-time and hit the recruiting trail.
“The recruiting period in June and July is very heavy,” says Frame. “We are aggressive with our recruiting. There’s not a huge gap between NAIA and small NCAA. We go after guys on the fringe. We try to recruit some of the best guys in Indiana.
“Our style is known in (the Crossroads League). We recruit athletes. We play the game fearlessly. We try to play the game fast. We want four- and five-toolers who can bunt, run and hit the ball over the fence.”
Huntington led all NAIA program in stolen bases in 2022 with a single-season school record 134 (121 in 2021 had been the mark). The Foresters (27-23) also posted a .290 batting average, .397 on-base percentage, .491 slugging average, 65 home runs, 13 triples, 97 doubles, 175 extra-base hits, 777 total bases, 388 runs scored and 349 RBIs.
Single-season school marks were also set in home runs, triples, doubles, total bases, runs, RBIs and runs per game (7.76).
Huntington gets quite a few kick-backs from NCAA D-I. The current roster features middle infielder Langston Ginder (Ball State) and first baseman/pitcher Matt Wolff (Kentucky).
Will Coursen-Carr, Indiana Mr. Baseball in 2012 at Fort Wayne South Side High School, finished his college career at Huntington after playing at Indiana University. He is now head baseball coach at South Side.
Much of 2022’s squad is expected back in 2023.
“We’ll be able to swing it this year at an elite level,” says Frame.
There have been player-led workouts but the first official day of fall practice is slated for Tuesday, Sept. 6.
It has not yet been determined, but Frame says the team may go longer than usual now that there is infield turf at Forest Glen Park.
With Huntington University Board of Trustees member Tom Clounie (owner of Clounie Landscaping of Roanoke, Ind.) overseeing a $700,000 project, the field was also leveled and received a state-of-the-art irrigation system.
“The outfield plays very true,” says Frame, who notes there had been a steep grade one one side for the history of the field. The Foresters played on the new surface in 2022.
A major upgrade to The PLEX Fieldhouse is expected to be completed by November, according to the coach.
The 2023 season opens Feb. 10 vs. Indiana University-Purdue University in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 2022, Huntington went to its branch campus in Peoria, Ariz., for two weeks, built relationships and played four games Jan. 20-22.
Thad Frame’s staff includes volunteer Mike Frame, pitching coach Brian Abbott (who is also the IHSBCA executive director) hitting coach Shea Beauchamp (who set school marks with 31 career home runs and is tied with Drummond with 62 single-season RBIs), fundraising coordinator Nate Perry and social media manager Andy Vaught.
Donovan Clark has accepted a position at PRP Baseball in Noblesville, Ind., but is expected to come up to help the Foresters with speed training.
Thad Frame is married to Dr. Krystle Frame.

Thad Frame. (Huntington University Image)

Mike Frame. (Huntington University Image)

Thad Frame (right). (Huntington University Photo)

Thad Frame. (Huntington University Photo)

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Huntington U.’s Frame embraces the relationships

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Mike Frame has experienced plenty on the baseball field.

In his 33rd season as head coach at Huntington University, he has seen plenty of hits, runs, errors, walks and strikeouts.

When he started with the Foresters, Frame was not much older than the players he was leading.

“I was so young,” says Frame. “I was concerned I wasn’t going to be respected.

“I was a taskmaster. I felt like I had to control everything.”

As time passed, Frame’s coaching approach transformed.

“Things have changed a lot since I first started,” says Frame. “The biggest change is probably just me. I try to understand coaching better.”

Along the way, he found his own style and what he came to appreciate more than anything are the relationships.

“You coach baseball differently than you coach other sports,” says Frame. “There’s a different rhythm to it. Maybe that’s just me? Part of being successful in coaching is you have to based on your style. Don’t try to be somebody you’re not.”

Frame, a member of the Huntington University Athletic Hall of Fame and Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Halls of Fame, does not scream and yell or play mind games. He speaks in truth and love (Ephesians 4:15).

“You have to establish trust and trust is more than what they do on the baseball field,” says Frame. “It’s about their development as a young man. If you develop trust, there’s no reason to be screaming and yelling or playing mind games.

“Coach and player are in it for the same thing, their development — on the field and off.”

Frame also trusts his coaching staff of Thad Frame (Mikes’s son), Mark Flueckiger,  Brian Abbott, Nate Perry, Scott Craft (strength and conditioning) and Dan Wilcher (student assistant). It’s a group that includes four men who played with or for him.

“They’re not just assistant coaches, they’re friends and family,” says Frame. “I don’t try to micro-manage their time or what they teach. Sometimes I’m leading, but most of the time (in practice) they are in charge.”

What about the future?

“You want to leave the program better than you found it,” says Frame. “I’m 56 and have coached for 33 years. I know I’m not going coach 33 more years. I had major heart surgery in November, I’m very healthy and doing fine. Who do you turn this over to?”

Frame entered the 2017 season with a 770-653 record with 13 conference or conference tournament titles. The Foresters have won three of the last nine Crossroads League tournament championships.

“I’m the winningest coach in Huntington University history,” says Frame, a five-time conference coach of the year and former NAIA district and area and National Christian College Athletic Association district coach of the year. “I’m the losingest coach in Huntington University history.”

Frame describes himself as very competitive, but he tries to keep things in perspective.

“I hate to lose,” says Frame. “I want to be able to challenge (players) in the baseball program, But, 15 years from now when they are a husband or father, I want to help them if I can.”

Not a year goes by when Frame doesn’t get correspondence from a former player telling how the lessons he was trying to impart did not hit home until they were out experiencing life after college.

“‘Now I understand some of the things you were trying to do and the spiritual influence,’” says Frame in relating a recent note he received.

Frame also takes satisfaction in the reputation that’s been built over the years.

“We’re known as a program that does things the right way,” says Frame. “There’s a respect level from the people we play.”

The ’17 HU roster includes 21 players from Indiana high schools. But the Foresters are also looking elsewhere for talent.

“We are expanding our recruiting a little bit into junior colleges,” says Frame. “Our starting third baseman (Andrew Nativdad) played at a JuCo in California. We certainly want to be able to recruit in our backyard, but we have signed a kid from Texas and gotten verbals from California and Iowa.

“(In recruiting), we have to find someone who is comfortable to be at a Christian university and be successful at a very good academic school.

“That weeds some kids out.”

Since the late 1950’s, the Foresters have played home games in a wooded ravine. Forest Glen Park, located on the northeast side of campus, is lighted with a capacity of 900, a press box and double bullpens.

“It’s quality place to play,” says Frame. “It’s kind of my garden. I enjoy just developing that facility.”

This season, the Crossroads League has opted to play a balanced conference schedule. There will be many three-game series (usually a single 9-inning game and doubleheader with 9- and 7-inning games).

“I’m looking forward to that,” says Frame. “The game is different 9 innings vs. 7 and we will have to adjust with our pitching. We are the only NAIA sport that plays more in the postseason (all 9-inning games) than regular season.

“In a perfect world, we’d play five 9-inning games a week.”

Mike Frame is in his 33rd season as head baseball coach at Huntington University.