Coming off its second NCAA Division II National Championship in the past five seasons, the USI baseball team is looking to do it again in 2015.
Along with top-notch athletes, the Eagles are led by an extremely knowledgeable head coach, Tracy Archuleta. Archuleta is now in his ninth year as the Eagles’s coach and will attempt to bring another NCAA Championship trophy to USI’s show room this year.
Archuleta comes from Iliff, Colorado and played his collegiate career at Metropolitan State College in Denver, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. During his playing career at CMSC, Archuleta and the Mules received a bid in the NCAA tournament and placed 16th in the country after a 43-10 season.
After he was done performing on the field as a player, Archuleta decided he was not done using his baseball talents and took an assistant coaching job at Wayne State University. He spent five years there before accepting his first head coaching position at GLVC rival Wisconsin-Parkside.
After another five years with the Rangers and coaching two NCAA Division II Championships, he took on the role of head coach at USI, where his success has clearly been displayed throughout his time with program.
Archuleta, who led both the 2010 and 2014 National Championship teams, spoke about the coaching methods and philosophy techniques that have resulted in the teams success.
Starting with his recruiting process, he explained the importance of selecting the right personnel for his squad. He said there are three types of players he targets for his team.
“There’s transfers from JUCO schools, transfers from Division I schools, and then there’s high school players. With each one, there are pros and cons,” Archuleta said.
Each player has a reason for coming to USI and it is his job to evaluate their skill and character before welcoming them on board. JUCO players are generally coming into a new scene of competition and go through a period of getting used to a faster level of play, he said.
Division I transfers usually have a reason for dropping down a division. Whether it be an issue of playing time, conduct, or something else, he said these players are sometimes a gamble. Archuleta said if it was a behavioral issue at the previous college, he “believes in second chances.”
He said his judgment of a player’s character is enough to evaluate if the player has learned their lesson and can contribute to the team.
High school players usually take a year or two to mature and become responsible young adults. This relates to his philosophy on Division I recruits that may have made mistakes learning the ins and outs of life during their first couple years on the team.
After the selection process is complete and his players have handled business in the classroom, he can move forward without worrying about holding their hands and playing the role of “mom.”
As preparation for the season beings, he says, “I always have a system and I always stay within my system. Don’t be bigger than the system.”
Though the system changes based on the different players who are on the team, working within his system is the key to the players success. Archuleta said everyone has a role and when his players accept their roles they play well.
“During the championship game of 2010, in my mind, I was focused on completing what we set out to do, taking my team to the light at the end of the tunnel,” Archuleta said, when asked about the feeling of winning a national championship. “During the 2014 championship game, as I stepped off the bus, I looked at my assistant, Jeremy Kuester, and said, ‘Can you believe we get to do this again?”
The second time around he enjoyed the experience more because he could go out and absorb every aspect of the team’s success.
Archuleta is a defining factor in the success that the USI baseball team has had and will go down in school history as one of, if not the greatest, coach of all time.
He seems to understand what it takes to be a national champion at this level and I am certain USI fans will see more of this success in years to come.
Archuleta has put USI baseball on the map and continues to impress spectators with his outstanding coaching ability and knowledge of the game.
I encourage everyone to go out and show support to the baseball team as it begins another journey toward the “light at the end of the tunnel.”
