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Luna softball coach Randall Krutch says team is toughening up
The following is a one-on-one interview with Luna softball coach Randall Krutch.
What is your official title? My official title is Head Softball Coach/ Athletic Director.
How many years have you been the head coach at Luna? This is my third year.
How is the job of athletic director going? I think it is going very well. We are compliant with the NJCAA, which is the highest status of compliance a school can achieve. We are working with the City in a couple different ways. In October alone, the athletic department volunteered over 150 hours to the City in community support and we have plans for more hours in the spring. We hired a great new head baseball coach this year and I feel the program is moving in the right direction. We have solid leadership and experience in that position and we are very excited about the new atmosphere in the athletic department. Communication has gotten better, players work together, coaches work together and I feel that our department is working well with other departments to make the college experience better for all of our student-athletes.
Last year you surprised Region 9 with a fourth place finish in the post-season tournament. How much of that momentum can you take into the 2024 season? We had a great run last year, and we have some solid freshmen this year that I feel will make impactful contributions to the team. Our sophomores have developed their leadership skills and I think we have a talented team. We have a smaller roster this year, so our key to the season will be keeping athletes healthy. We improved in talent, but health will be the key to our success, We have a pretty tough pre-season so that will help us figure out where we need to put players on defense and in the lineup card to complement each other’s strengths and hide some weaknesses. Junior college is all about learning the game as well as learning how to be a college athlete, so there will be a learning curve, but I believe we have a solid team. Our recruiting class is going well for 2024 and we are excited about that as well.
What did you learn from your team during the fall season? We learned a lot about them as people, students and athletes. We have a variety of personalities on the team and it is great to have a program where athletes are comfortable being themselves. We had a majority university schedule this fall, so we had the opportunity to play at a higher level and learn the game in a different gear. Players learned a lot about the game as well as learning their specific role in the program. Every player gets the opportunity to contribute in our program and learning how they contribute is vital in the success of a program.
What’s the best way to describe your team? In a word, scrappy. We have a different feeling on the team than we did last year. We are tougher mentally and physically stronger than last year, and getting them to trust that is fun. Letting them fail and learn to be competitive, helps contribute to the keep fighting mentality.
Where will the Luna softball team be playing their home games this season? Do you feel there will be a home field advantage? Right now, we are planning to play at Rodriguez Park here in Las Vegas. These are the new turf fields in town. I think there will be a slight advantage to being the only team in our conference with a turf field and knowing how to play with the background and our wind is a nice advantage.
What do you look for when you are recruiting a student-athlete to your team? First, we try to recruit New Mexico players. Then we look for good students in the classroom then we look at if they are athletes and have the personalities to fit into our system. We are a heavy teaching program, so coming in with an attitude is not a strong trait. We look for the athletic, coachable, smart players that are team oriented.
I’ve often heard that a student-athlete means student first. How has your team done in the classroom in the fall? Our sophomores have done better than the freshmen, but that is very normal. Adjusting out of high school, away from family is often stressful for the student athletes, so we try to help them adjust with time management. Once they learn these skills, they improve in the classroom. There are always players that just refuse to go to class and get their work in, so in those cases, we just have to part ways. This happens at every college across the country and we are not immune to it. Overall, we are continually getting better in the classroom and adjusting our processes to make it better every year.
What is a typical day for you as a coach and for your players? Spring and fall look completely different so I will give you a rundown on each so your readers can understand the pressures that these student athletes deal with. In the fall, players start at 7 a.m. in the wellness center. Three days a week they are doing speed and agility as well as conditioning and two days a week they are lifting weights. At 8 a.m., the pitchers and catchers go to training in our beautiful athletic center and work in the bullpens until 9:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Every day we have practice until 1 p.m. Then they go to lunch and classes. They are required to perform five hours of study hall during the week and on the weekends we play anywhere from two to four games. This also includes travel time to the schools we are playing since universities will not normally go to JUCO’s to play. In the spring, we start at 7 a.m. 4-5 days a week, bullpens three days a week and practice three hours a day, then travel the day before games and play 4-6 games every weekend then travel back if we are away. They are still required to go to study hall five hours a week.
What would you consider a successful season this year? Graduating our sophomores and getting them moved on to universities whether they play or not we want to see them continue their degrees. Increasing our wins over the previous year as well as making the regional tournament at the end of the season. Only the top four teams make the tournament and the top two seeds host a series.
What are the team’s short term and long-term goals? We set our team goals for the year as a team and the short-term base goals are to be accountable, understand the game, be attentive to details and never quit.
Any final comments you would like to share? We are grateful for the faculty and staff here at Luna. Facilities has done an amazing job at fixing the exterior of our athletics center; it looks amazing. Our instructors are very proactive in all of our students’ success and our administration has done a great job at supporting our efforts. In a small school, so many people have to contribute their talents and gifts to the students and the school, and this school excels at this. So many people are invested in the future of athletics that we want to represent them well and build pride in what we do and more importantly how we do it.