By PJ Potter -- ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Bouncing from high school baseball to the MLB and back, pitching coach John Habyan has finally been given a chance at the college level.
“It was the right place at the right time,” said Habyan, who was hired as the new assistant coach in July 2015 to manage the Hofstra pitching staff.
Habyan was drafted in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Baltimore Orioles in 1982 out of St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip.
After a few years in the minor leagues, Habyan was called up in 1985 as a relief pitcher. He spent the next 11 seasons at the major league level, finishing with a career 26-24 record and 3.85 ERA in 348 appearances with the Orioles, Yankees, Royals, Cardinals, Angels and Rockies.
“There’s not many college coaching staffs around the country where your guy has so many years of big league experience on the mound,” Hofstra head coach John Russo said.
After his professional career ended, Habyan returned home as the head coach for St. John the Baptist for 17 years.
“His teams at St. John the Baptist were arguably known as always the best team and best coached teams on the Island,” Coach Russo said.
Since coming to Hofstra, Coach Habyan understands his pitchers are already highly skilled and that his job entails guiding the players more so than teaching them.
“For my end, this is easier than coaching high school baseball, dealing with Division I type athletic talent,” Coach Habyan said. “It’s a little bit closer to what I was used to at a professional level, so it’s a little easier to relate with these [college] kids than the younger kids. I’m just trying to get [the pitchers] where they want to go, whatever level that may be. I try to build off their strengths.”
Habyan also keeps in mind that he is no longer at a professional level or a head coach. There has been no problem with allowing Coach Russo to run his team the way he has been since 2012.
“I don’t try to come in with some type of major league mentality and [say] ‘this is the way we have to do things,’” Habyan said.
At the end of the day, Coach Habyan is just as excited to get on the field as his players after spending the last month practicing in gymnasiums and the bubble, relishing the opportunity to go out and work with college students.
“He loves every day that he’s here on the job,” Coach Russo said.
With opening weekend just in the team’s rearview mirror, Coach Habyan and the Hofstra pitchers have a long journey ahead of them to build up endurance and see how they fare against other teams, considering they have only faced their teammates this year in the fall league.
“My game plan for the next five weekends is to get my pitching staff up to speed for conference play. I’m ready to get started. I’m excited … but it’s a progression,” Habyan said.