Starting this spring, the fourth coach in the last four school years sits at the helm of the Hickman baseball program. Seniors who have been a part of the program for the duration of their time at Hickman have never had a coach for more than a single season.

In need of stability, Hickman made a hire from within the previous few year’s coaching staffs and from inside of the building. Andrew Guise, an English Language Learning specialist at Hickman has been an assistant baseball coach at Hickman for three years, making him a familiar face.

“This program [has] gone through a lot of turnover, I truly believe that [the team] deserve[s] a consistent guy, I don’t care if Mizzou calls me up, this is where I want to be. If you can come in and bring stability, the wins will come,” Guise said.

Even though he took a nontraditional path to this job at Hickman, Guise used baseball as a motivation for wanting to get into teaching and, ultimately, coaching.

“I grew up around the game. I started as an umpire, eventually I became [the] umpire-in-chief, and then I coordinated all of the levels of youth baseball. [Umpiring] inspired me to [get] my undergrad in elementary education,” Guise said, “[After graduating] I got my first job as a fourth grade teacher, and [later] I had an opportunity [to teach at] Jeff and Hickman. There was also an assistant baseball coach position and [after a few years] this job opened up, and I felt led to go apply for it.”

Guise approaches coaching just like in the classroom, emphasizing teaching and applying lessons learned in class to the baseball field.

“I look at myself as a teacher first, I think that I really do see myself as a teacher and the same lessons that I [learned] as an elementary school teacher [I use in coaching], if you can teach [in] a fourth grade classroom, you can pretty much teach anywhere,” Guise said, “I try to, every single day greet my [students] with a fist bump and [I] do the same with my baseball guys, everything’s based on relationships and I think that with baseball, it’s the exact same way.”

In his years of coaching and teaching, Guise has grown in his skillset. Lessons learned in the classroom or on the baseball field help him become a better teacher and coach, benefiting those he coaches and teaches.

“Patience is the number one thing [I’ve learned], and then staying calm in chaotic moments. A lot of times, the pressure of the job can get to a lot of people,” Guise said, “If somebody doesn’t live up to your expectations for them as a player or as a student, and you have to go in every single day with the mindset of, I’m gonna give this kid a new opportunity.”

Many times, coaches come into jobs with mantras, quotes and pillars that look to help build a team culture. Oftentimes these are centered on the athletes, but for Guise, he has focused on quotes to help himself improve as a coach.

“If they can’t trust your mood. They can’t trust your message, that’s something I can keep consistent, just showing up every day, trying to be the same, [another] big thing is communication, I want them to know what they’re going to get in a given day…everything being positive…everything being team-first,” Guise said.

As a teacher and a coach, correcting mistakes is a common occurrence. Guise separates himself from yelling and aggression, and focuses on collaborating with his athletes to boost player accountability.

“Once [a] player [comes] off the field, I just say, ‘tell me what happened,’ I’m not scolding them, [I want them] to tell me what happened from [their] perspective,” Guise said, “I don’t think that [screaming] does any good in terms of actual play. We’re gonna have a conversation…and try to have a teaching moment about it.”

Having been on the staff for the past few years, Guise has the advantage of knowing his players better, allowing them to grow that much better through constructive criticism that is actually productive. How Guise treats criticism on the field, is how he learned how to treat it in the classroom while studying to become a teacher.

“For every one criticism you give a child, you gotta give three compliments, I think with baseball it’s the same way, when I do have to correct something, we’re doing it on a stronger foundation,” Guise said, “hopefully it will be a strength. But I also have to hold myself accountable, making sure that I give every kid a new opportunity to change.”

With the season underway, Hickman got off to a strong start winning their first three games by a combined 25-6. 

But, the Kewpies cooled off and now sit at 4-3 after a two game series against Central Missouri Athletic Conference (CMAC) opponent, Capital City. They split the series, both teams winning once. The Hickman win came in a 15-inning thriller that ended with a 3-run walkoff double by senior Landen Durnil .

Moving forward, with 20, non-tournament scheduled games, Guise won’t push for a certain record or statistics from his team, but he will encourage efficiency. Guise hopes that his team looks beyond the game, and sees how they can apply what they learn on the field in the real world.

“We have to be efficient in the work that we get in. If they’re efficient in [ practice], then [they] can hopefully translate that to life,” Guise said. “Being time efficient and being efficient in your efforts and attitudes can really help improve you as a person and as a team, The guys have really bought into that, because it’s it’s hopefully good for them, healthier for them, and allows them to be better student athletes, and get more out of their academic performance, too.”