Trip Couch thriving in his unique role with the Gamecocks

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

Trip Couch has spent his life working in baseball and has done a little bit of everything in the business, but always thought he could help build a program in a new and different way.

So when Mark Kingston offered him the chance to do that as the Gamecocks’ Director of Baseball Player Development, the 30-year baseball veteran jumped at the opportunity to branch out and try something new.

Over the last two years now working with Kingston, he’s slipped nicely into the role and put his own unique twist on the position.

“When (Kingston) called me and said he had a different idea and different role and he wanted to change the model of what people were doing in this position and have someone that did have experience that could be another set of eyes, I said, ‘Yeah, it’s time to do something different,’” Couch told GamecockCentral. “The way he runs this program is a way that I always thought it could be done.”

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Usually, people in these types of roles are younger coaches trying to get their foot in the door of the coaching world, but that’s not the case with Couch.

There really wasn’t a need for a younger coach when Kingston could bring in Couch; with his years of experience around the game, he’s become a sounding board and another set of eyes for Kingston and the rest of the Gamecocks’ staff.

“When I got this job, I was trying to get the best people we could on the staff,” Mark Kingston said. “We talked and he said he might have some interest in joining us - we explored every way to make that happen. A lot of young guys are in this position, but when you can get a guy like Trip Couch, that makes your staff so much better.”

Couch, who was born in Florida, spent the majority of his career as an on-field coach, most recently for seven seasons in his second stint as Houston’s recruiting coordinator.

He also served as a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks and as part of Team USA’s staff for a stretch before returning closer to home to be on the Gamecocks’ staff.

Now he’s in a different, but just as integral, role behind the scenes. Since he’s not an on-field coach, Couch can’t coach players and isn’t allowed to do any off-campus recruiting—he is allowed to visit with prospects when they are on campus.

Instead of coaching players like he was so used to before coming to Columbia, he works with getting scouting reports and cutting up video for team film sessions. He’s also the liaison between the team and the business school, which helps the Gamecocks sift through all of the analytical data they record over the season.

It’s a little bit different than what he’s used to since he’s not able to coach during practice and games, but it’s a role he’s enjoying.

He smiles and points out he “hadn’t picked up a baseball or Fungo bat since I got here” and enjoys being able to offer his opinion in Kingston’s highly-collaborative coaching process.

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“I guess the adjustment was, for so long I had the final say. I made all the (recruiting) decisions. Here, I’m just part of the collaboration of the decision,” Couch said. “If I sat in these meetings every day and thought these two guys didn’t know what they were doing, it’d be frustrating for me. But it’s the total opposite of that. I’m very confident in they know what they’re doing and they work really hard."

Given his background working with the Diamondbacks, part of Couch’s job is to coordinate with scouts wanting to watch practice or games.

He’s also able to give advice to players about the scouting and draft process, taking the stigma off talking to scouts and thinking about a professional career while players are still in school.

“I think a lot of mistakes programs may make is they make all that stuff taboo and talking about scouts, talking about the draft, talking about pro ball. Number one, they’re going to think about those things. So how do you keep that to where they understand you’re not being selfish, you’re not being a non-team guy because your dream is playing in the big leagues? I think a lot of what I try to do with them is make them understand that’s ok,” Couch said. “Then all of a sudden it’s not this distraction where they’re sneaking around to talk to a scout. Then it becomes, ‘this is what I would tell them if I was you. Here’s how to handle these things.’”

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He spends the rest of his time doing a little bit of everything, while assisting Kingston, recruiting coordinator Mike Current, and pitching coach Skylar Meade with whatever he can.

Even Couch will admit he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning and just hopes he can be an asset whenever he can. He’s humble, not wanting to lump himself in the same category as Kingston, Current and Meade, who he calls “so much smarter than me.”

He compared Meade to Rams head coach Sean McVay with his memory recall and says Current “can do stuff on a computer I’ve never even thought about doing.” Kingston has a “gift to lead,” and Stuart Lake has taught him about the “passion in this state about Gamecock baseball and its rich tradition.”

What he’s hoping is his expertise can help those coaches get them to wherever they want to be over their careers and get Couch to check off a pretty important box on his career bucket list.

“If these guys want to be head coaches one day, I hope I can help them do that. If they want to be at South Carolina for the next 20 years, can I help them be the best version of them? That’s enough for me at this point in my career,” Couch said. “I guess the one missing thing for me is I’ve never taken a team to Omaha. I’ve been close a few times, and that’s something I really want to be a part of. I think this is a place we should be able to do that, and I have all the confidence in the world we will. Time will tell; the proof’s in the pudding.”

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For Couch, these two years have been a way for him to branch out and offer a new way for the program to use the player development role.

But he’ll be the first person to put all of the praise on the other members of the staff, despite being an integral part of not only the Gamecocks’ program, but the on-field success that South Carolina had last season and is hoping to have this year.

So when asked if he’s the behind-the-scenes brains of the Gamecocks’ operation, all he can do is laugh and provide a little humility behind a self-deprecating joke.

“Am I the brains? You’ve got to be kidding me, man,” he said, smiling. “I’m just glad they keep me around and say maybe he throws us a nugget of wisdom. By no means am I the smartest guy. I might be older and have more wisdom, but these guys are smart…I just try to be a calming influence and be honest."