University of North Texas Athletics
DeLong Seeks Stability With Career, Family In Denton
7/24/2018 2:37:00 PM | Softball
Family-Driven Coach Discusses Career Move, Culture
DENTON - When Rodney DeLong took the job as North Texas softball's head coach, he had more in mind than a roster losing just three players, or a city in the background of a recruiting hotbed or increased resources from his previous stops.
His biggest priority was his family.
"I need stability in my family first and foremost," DeLong said. "My kids are stretched about as thin as they can be stretched."
DeLong, who's at his third school in 25 months, has long viewed Denton and North Texas as an ideal place to hit pause, take a breath and enjoy more time with his family.
"My wife and I have looked at this as a place we could live for a while and retire in," DeLong said. "This needs to be a long-term stop for me."
His role as hitting coach at Georgia Tech provided him the necessary growth to become a Division I head coach, and his 39-win season at the helm of the Austin Peay Governors last season gave him the opportunity to turn that dream into reality.
"It's never the intention to stay only one year," DeLong said. "I didn't foresee us being that successful that quick, but I learned that what I've done every stop of the way leads to success."
Part of what he learned is that there's more to building a successful program than just recruiting talented athletes. He and his staff pride themselves on establishing a great culture.
"We want a program that kids want to play in and have fun in," DeLong said. "Any kid that you talk to that's played for me in the past will tell you we're fun to play for. When kids relax and aren't walking on eggshells, they perform better."
In addition to playing music in the batting cages or on the diamond, DeLong's culture revolves around punishing players for a lack of energy or effort instead of for committing errors.
"We give them freedom to make mistakes," DeLong said. "Kids grow in our program because they're not afraid to strikeout or make errors."
With the hiring of his Austin Peay assistants Dillon Bryant and Jamie Allred, DeLong finds it enhances the culture when his staff has an average age below 30.
"We're young and not as experienced as some staffs, but we're hungry and plan to be successful," DeLong said. "I felt like we needed three people who are hungry, energetic and able to grind the way we need to grind."
Despite their inexperience as a staff, with just one year of Division I coaching experience under their belts, DeLong has no doubt that they can build one of the top mid-major programs and do it fast.
"One thing I've done at every job is jump in with two feet," DeLong said. "People that do things right and teach the game right are going to be successful, no matter what people say or think. The results will show on the field."
Fortunately for DeLong, he inherits 15 returning letterwinners that accounted for at least 90 percent of UNT's runs, home runs, total bases and steals.
"It definitely makes it easier," DeLong said. "Numbers don't lie. It helps us put things in place and get things moving a little quicker. Having those parts in place makes this more exciting."
But while he dives in headfirst into his newest venture, DeLong plans to carve out more time away from softball to take his son Ryker to the park to play baseball or paint with his daughter, Kaiya. And win or lose on the field, setting up camp in Denton will be a win for DeLong as a family man.
"It's satisfying to me to know they're in a good place."
