By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
Adam Rosen has just arrived as the new head baseball coach at at Rose-Hulman Instittute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., and he knows how he will spend his fall.
The Fightin’ Engineers will start workouts Sept. 14, meeting Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays for four weeks at Art Nehf Field.
There will be 16 practice days in the fall for Rosen to evaluate his roster, introduce his way of doing things and setting expectations.
There will be a focus on player development.
Rosen, who spent the past six seasons as an assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, takes over for Jeff Jenkins who retired at the end of the 2021 campaign (23-14 overall and 23-12 in the Heartland Collegiate Conference) after 32 seasons in charge and served his last day as RHIT athletic director Aug. 31 after 19 years on the job.
Like Washington University, Rose-Hulman is an NCAA Division III school. Rosen has spent his entire college baseball career as a player and coach at D-III institutions.
“That’s all I’ve ever known,” says Rosen. “Every Division III school is different. But players are always their because of their love of the game because there is no (athletic) no scholarship attached to them.”
Rosen sees it as a best-of-both-worlds situation on the academic and athletic sides.
“They get a wold class education that sets these guys up for life,” says Rosen. “But there’s no compromising on the baseball experience. They can play for championships.”
Sean Bendel, who completed his 23rd season on the Fightin’ Engineers coaching staff in 2021, will be with Rosen until the end of December.
“He’s been a great resource for me,” says Rosen of Bendel. “He’s a great man and I have a lot of respect for him.”
Rosen says he will hire another full-time coach for the spring. That person will be his pitching coach. He also looks to hire part-time assistants.
“We’re looking for guys who want to get into the business and work really hard,” says Rosen.
Pat Bloom began his tenure as WashU head coach at the same time Rosen arrived in the Bears program.
“He’s very professional and a very intelligent and organized person,” says Rosen of Bloom, who took the team to the 2021 D-III World Series. “He ran the team like a business. He was very demanding.
“I learned a lot from him — things I’m taking with me as a head coach.”
In Rosen and Bloom’s first season at WUSL, their team met Rose-Hulman in regional play. Rosen’s first time at RHIT came during his previous coaching stop. He was an assistant for three season at Marietta (Ohio) College on the staff of Brian Brewer, who led the Pioneers to D-III national championships in 2006, 2011 and 2012
“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with two of the best guys in Division III the last nine years,” says Rosen, referring to Brewer and Bloom.
Before that, Rosen assisted Mike Pritchard for one season at Centre College (Danville, Ky.) following two seasons under Ryan Grice at Capital University (Columbus, Ohio) and two years as a graduate assistant for Jim Peeples at Piedmont University (Demorest, Ga.).
Rosen saw in Pritchard a hard worker and a very-organized coach. He and Pritchard were the only baseball coaches at Centre at the time.
“It was a good opportunity for me,” says Rosen. “He turned me loose on some things. He gave me responsibility that helped my growth as a coach.”
At Capital, Rosen and Grice came in together.
“He was a young coach really hungry to have his own program,” says Rosen of Grice. “We were both trying to prove ourselves.”
Rosen gained a mentor in Peeples (now athletic director) at Piedmont.
“I couldn’t have walked into a better situation,” says Rosen, who also served with Lions assistants Justin Scali (now PU head coach) and Richard Dombrowsky (who went on to coach high school baseball in Georgia). “Those were three great men to learn from. It established my foundation as a coach.”
Rosen was born in West Palm Beach, Fla., and grew up in the Nashville, Tenn., area. He graduated from Hendersonville’s Beech High School in 2003. Mike Hayes was the Buccaneers head coach.
“He taught us discipline,” says Rosen of Hayes. “He had high standards for the program.
He taught us how to to work hard, set high goals for ourselves and compete in practice.”
Rosen played four seasons (2004-07) at Maryville (Tenn.) College — the first three for Eric Etchison and senior year for Daniel Washburn.
“Coach Etchison was a great man,” says Rosen, who was a second-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-America selection in 2007. “He had great values and he cared about the student-athletic experience. He ran a program that stood for the right things.
“Coach Washburn was very disciplined and organized. I enjoyed playing for both guys though they were very different.”
Rosen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Maryville in 2007 and received a Masters in Business Administration from Piedmont in 2009.
He has been a member of the ABCA for more than a decade and enjoys going to the national conventions as well as state association clinics.
“There’s the networking and seeing old friends, but I always go there to learn,” says Rosen. “It challenges you to understand why you coach the way you do.”
Rosen has been an instructor at camps hosted by Clemson, Notre Dame, Navy, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Virginia.
Adam and Stacia Rosen have been married just over two years. They met at Marietta, where the former Stacia Shrider was then the head women’s basketball coach.
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