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Barons get their coach

Franciscan University of Steubenville introduces Carver as baseball manager

WELCOMING — Franciscan University of Steubenville introduced Rick Carver as the school’s new baseball coach on Wednesday. (Photo by Andrew Grimm)

STEUBENVILLE — Mike Holmes felt like a kid again, opening a pack of baseball cards and finding his favorite player lodged in the middle.

It’s a rare gem that doesn’t come around often. It is Rick Carver, who was introduced as Franciscan University of Steubenville’s new baseball coach Wednesday inside the Finnegan Fieldhouse.

“You used to open your pack of baseball cards … and you kind of never knew what you were going to get out of that pack,” said Holmes, who is the university’s director of athletics. “You just knew you were hoping you did not get a lot of White Sox and Expos. You certainly hoped that you did not get doubles of White Sox and Expos because that would be a disastrous pack — and that can happen in this process. You had your favorite and, if you got one card of your favorite team, that was a good pack. Two of you favorite teams was a great pack.

“Then, once in a while, you got your favorite player. That was the one you ran down the street and told your buddies about because that was the ultimate — and I think that is what we got with our baseball hire.”

Carver is a native of Wintersville with nearly 30 years of experience. It’s beyond Holmes’ wildest dreams that the university hired a coach like Carver

“This was a big hire for us. Expanding our athletic offering to include baseball and women’s golf was a proposition that we had to sell a little bit,” he said. “And, when you sell something, you make some promises about how things are going to occur. We needed somebody to come in and make sure those promises are fulfilled.”

The task of restarting the baseball program, which last competed in 2011, is one that Carver is ready to tackle.

“I am truly honored to be a part of this great university,” Carver said. “I am called to start looking for several young men to join me in building Baron baseball a legacy that is worthy of this great institution. It is a big responsibility but, at the same time, I am very, very comfortable in the environment. From the word go, they were looking at it as a fit, but I was also looking at, ‘Is this a fit for me personally with where I want to go in my coaching career?’

“They don’t just want a team, they want a quality program.”

Carver was the head baseball coach at Bethany College, which also competes at the NCAA Division III level as Franciscan will, since 1990. With the Bison, he totaled a President’s Athletic Conference record 448 wins, four PAC titles, eight PAC regular season titles and five conference Coach of the Year awards. That experience and pedigree is something that drew Holmes to Carver.

“Experience — there is really no substitute for,” Holmes said. “Nothing compares to 29 years of experience as a head coach. His answers (throughout the interview process) continually demonstrated that he gets it, he understands, he has been there and has handled all the types of situations that would come up with a program. He will run this in the right direction almost from day one.”

When compiling his roster through the process of recruiting in the coming months, Carver has a very clear picture of the type of player he wants and the type of team he wants his Barons to be when it begins competition with a fall ball schedule in 2019, and a full regular season schedule starting in the spring of 2020.

“I have always recruited character first,” he said. “It is very important that any program at the university fits the university’s mission. It is a matter of it being a match. Part of it is trying to identify the kid that would fit perfectly here, then you look at the baseball talent.”

Carver has a lot of knowledge and connections to the pool of local talent, which he hopes — coupled with the university’s commuter rate for local students — will create an opportunity for the program to become a home for local players.

“There are a lot of really good high school programs around here,” Carver said. “(Steubenville coach) Fred Heatherington has over 600 wins. Mike Cottis does a fantastic job at Indian Creek. Mike Collopy at Edison, you’re not going to find a better fundamental teacher of the game. Brian Perkins at Toronto is a great coach. They are all in the same county. Steubenville Catholic Central with coach Don Young, they have some good young men. They do a fantastic job of preparing kids for the next level. Sometimes you only hear about the Division I kid but, at the same time, there are kids who want to keep playing and get a great education. There are a lot of kids in the valley that can do that.

“We’ve just got to get the word out to the Ohio Valley that Franciscan is going to have a legit baseball program. The doors are open, come be a part of something great. The work ethic of Ohio Valley kids just excites me to no end.”

Do not just expect to see local players, though. With Franciscan’s diverse student body, and the local baseball talent in the area, fans can expect to see a mix of the two on the Barons’ roster.

“I think it is very important to get that right blend,” Carver said.

With the addition of a baseball program, Holmes and Carver hope interest in Franciscan athletics rises.

“I would like to get Baron athletics on the map,” Carver said. “That is Mike’s vision as well. Obviously, on Friday night, people are going to go to the Big Red game, but what are you going to do on Monday night? We have great volleyball games here. Hopefully, it creates another environment for people to enjoy.

“When we get the lights up, we can maybe do doubleheaders with a high school game before or after our game. I’d like to do something like maybe have the city game between Big Red and Catholic Central before or after our game to show people what is here. I just think, right now, there is not an awareness for it, and I am hoping we can bring that.”

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com. For local sports updates, follow us on Twitter @HSDTsports.)

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