Scheduled Speakers

We are pleased to have legendary Mississippi State baseball coach and current University of Alabama Birmingham assistant coach Ron Polk speak to the MBCA about one of the most important parts of baseball – fundamentals. Coach Polk is the winningest coach in the history of the Southeastern Conference and came to UAB after 29 seasons at Mississippi State.
In July 2009, Polk was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1995 and is a 3-time National Coach of the Year. In his 35 years as a college baseball coach, Polk produced 35 All-Americans and more than 75 All-SEC performers, while also seeing 21 former players compete in the major leagues. In addition to Polk's work in the collegiate ranks, the Boston, Massachusetts native has completed seven tours as a member of the coaching staff for the USA National Baseball Team, twice serving as head coach. Two of the teams he coached represented the United States in the Olympics. Polk has also impacted the college baseball world through his literary work. He has authored "The Baseball Playbook," the nation's leading college textbook for baseball, and is featured in the book, "6 Psychological Factors for Success: America's Most Successful Coaches Reveal the Path to Competitive Excellence."

Mike Gambino will share his expertise in the areas of hitting and infield play with the MBCA members. Coach Gambino was an assistant coach for the Eagles from 2003-05 and has returned to take over the reigns of a rejuvenated Boston College baseball program. Gambino spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech under former BC head coach, Pete Hughes. He served as the Hokies' recruiting coordinator and worked with the hitters and infielders. Virginia Tech's batting average improved 40 points (from .279 to .319) under his direction since the 2006 season.

Steve Owens is in his first season at Bryant University after spending 11 seasons at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where he led the Dolphins to 11-straight winning seasons. Owens boasts a career record of 587-299-1 (.662), averaging nearly 31 wins per season, while his leadership has led to 27 players signing professional contracts.
In his time at the helm of the Dolphin program, Owens led his team to four MAAC regular-season titles and reached a career landmark in 2007, becoming one of the youngest coaches in the nation to reach the 500-win plateau. Entering the 2010 season, he owned the 13th-highest career winning percentage among all active Division I coaches and leaves Le Moyne with a 342-217 record at the school.
Over a 19-year career at both Le Moyne and Division III Cortland State, Owens has guided 13 teams to 30-win seasons, and his clubs have made 15 postseason appearances, including three NCAA DI tournament berths. Owens also guided Cortland to seven NCAA DIII regional tournaments and four trips to the College World Series.

A 1990 graduate of Princeton University, Matt Noone is currently in his eighth season as head coach of Babson's baseball program. In his first seven years, Noone has led to the Beavers to a stellar record of 158-122 (.564) and four postseason appearances, including a NEWMAC Championship and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2004 and another conference title and NCAA bid in 2009. He was selected as the NEWMAC Coach of the Year following the 2004 season.
Prior to his arrival at Babson, Noone spent 12 seasons as the pitching coach at Northeastern University, where the Huskies twice captured America East titles and appeared in the NCAA Tournament regionals. Under Noone, the Huskies' pitching staff was consistently recognized as one of the finest in New England. Noone's 1999 pitching staff led America East and the ECAC Northeast Division in ERA and fewest walks per nine innings pitched.
Coach Noone has also spent time in the prestigious Cape Cod League as a pitching coach for the Bourne Braves from 1995 to 1996 and the Hyannis Mets in 1999. Most recently, he served as the head coach of the Bourne Braves.

Mark “Pudge” Gjormand is the head coach of James Madison High School in Vienna, VA. He has over 20 years of high school baseball coaching experience and his teams have had great success locally and nationally. In 2007, the MHS Warhawks went 21-3 and won their fifth Liberty District tournament championship in six years. In 2002, the Warhawks went 29-0 and finished ranked third nationally by ESPN and Student Sports Magazine and fourth by USAToday. Following the 2002 season, Gjormand was named the Washington, D.C. Home Plate Club’s high school coach of the year, the National Baseball Coaches Association (BCA) East Coast coach of the year, and a finalist for the BCA’s national coach of the year award. Coach Gjormand earned Coach of Year honors in 2006. Since coming to Madison HS in 2006, he has led teams to either a district regular or tournament championship in eight of his 12 seasons. The MBCA is thrilled that Mark is willing to share his thoughts on how to build a high school program as well as how to develop your offensive game plan.

Jay Weaver is the Senior Instructor of The New England Catching Camp in Hudson NH. Jay has been teaching catchers for over 10 years and has worked with catchers, both baseball and softball from youth catchers all the way to the professional ranks. Jay is responsible for all the instruction at NECC’s summer camp program that this year drew nearly 100 catchers from 25 states. He was also a presenter at the 2008 World Baseball Coaches Convention at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Jay now coaches catchers year round and has traveled extensively around the country doing clinics for the past 4 years. A 2001 All-State Catcher from Alvirne High School in Hudson NH, Jay was a D-2 starting college catcher as a freshman. In 2005 he was signed to play for the Nashua Pride of the Atlantic Independent League by former Boston Red Sox Manager Butch Hobson. Jay suffered a career ending injury during spring training that season.