Ryan Brownlee: Who impacted you the most as far as getting to the states to play?
Jose’ Vazquez: Well you know, we just played University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the head coach at the time, Danny Acosta, was just getting into the business and he was helping some coaches in the US and he recommended me to go to an NAIA school in Iowa.
RB: What were some things you tweaked going from an assistant to a head coach?
JV: What I tweaked a little bit was probably on the recruiting side. I went a little more based on left-handed pitching, and a little more of the power guys who can hit doubles and home runs.
RB: Did you have to change your management style at all going to head coach now that you are writing the line up?
JV: Things like that you know, I think we get a little bit more analytical right now. I want to make it so there is not a perception of a hole in the line up.
RB: When are you relaying opponent stats and going over opponents with them? Is it right before the game or days before the game?
JV: A little bit of both. Sometime before the game, sometimes when we have the opportunity to prepare way ahead of time obviously we do.
RB: Do you like the double round robin format of your league? Do you like playing everybody twice?
JV: There is a big group that wants to be able to play everybody so it really comes to logistics. I think it’s a regional thing as far as trying to make it work, but I think there is a big group of coaches that are in favor of playing everybody, if we could, throughout the year rather than just playing everybody six times.
RB: How do you find work-life balance or is there such a thing as a division one coach?
JV: I think for me it is having a good wife that understands what you do and understands how competitive we are. I also have two daughters who support and are at as many games as they can be, but there has to be a balance.