Getting deeper inside the mind of Seth Thibodeaux

SportsNet: Well, the season is complete and it’s now the offseason. What needs to be better for Nicholls to take the next step?

Thibodeaux: There’s some things that I want to make sure are changed. That’s being more consistent and winning. I don’t want to be .500. I’m not a .500 coach. That’s not something that I wake up in the morning wanting to do. I want to have a great record. I want to have that record that when people wake up in the morning and read about Nicholls in the newspaper, they can look at it and say ‘Wow.’ That’s something that I need to fix up.

SN: You talk about people with high records. Your ace, Seth Webster, had one on the mound. How did Webster inspire your team after injury in 2009 and 2010?

ST: “I remember Seth being really frustrated last year. Going through a labrum injury, if you don’t have just the best doctor in the world, you know it’s never going to be the same. That’s the one injury you don’t want your pitcher to have. He’s very fortunate his parents chose to go to Dr. James Andrews, who is the best. The recovery is so grueling. It’s tough. It takes a long grind to get through it. I remember just seeing how frustrated he was that he had to sit out. It was long and grueling. I just kept telling him, ‘Seth, there’s nothing you can do right now, but study this game in and out. Study the teams that we play and see what it takes to be successful. Picture yourself in the guy who’s pitching’s shoes and study.’ I told him, ‘If this thing matters at all to you, then you’re going to take what I’m telling you right now and really try and master it.’ And he did.”

SN: Were you surprised with that turnaround for the pitcher?

ST: “I’m not surprised. If you’d see this guy work, you’d know why. He’s a workhorse. You don’t beat him in a sprint, you don’t beat him in the weight room. Everyone says that hard work pays off. He’s a prime example.”

SN: With the MLB Draft passed, why was he not drafted?

ST: “The injury just scares too many teams away. In the big leagues, it’s an investment and teams just won’t invest in a guy with labrum problems. But I can tell you, we’re going to love having him back and I really hope someday that I can convince a team to give him a shot. But for now, let me tell you something, I’d like for my team to dog pile on him on the mound one day. Because I know he would like that, too. I think that would mean more to him than anything in the world.”

SN: We talk about Webster, but your pitching staff was very depleted this year. Can you speak on those losses?

ST: “We did definitely lose three of our top guys and that did hurt us pretty bad. The good thing about the pitching going down is that then we were able to rely on younger guys. Dalton Torres was a freshman. Dylan Delaune was a freshman, so they had to be thrown into the fire and they had to help us. And they did. We put them into some tough spots and they succeeded in some spots and they struggled in others. But they’re freshmen and that’s what they do. You take the good with the bad. Just to be able to develop those guys as freshman, I think was huge.”

SN: You tasted success this year, now what’s next? How do you get over the hump of average and great?

ST: “I don’t allow my players to say ‘Oh, it’s just Nicholls.’ I don’t allow my players to talk about budget cuts or anything like that, because those are all negative things that bring down the moral of your program so when you lose, it’s almost like you’re expected to lose. When I get over that mental hump right there, that’s when you’re going to see Nicholls win 40 games every year. We can do that here. We just have to get over that mental hump. But we will and we’re very close. Heck, if we win that last game, we’re winning the whole deal and who knows? We may be in Corvallis, Oregon playing Oregon State this week. How much fun would that be? And that’s going to happen at this school very soon.”

SN: So no regrets from 2011?

ST: No regrets. Win or lose, our guys left their hearts on the field on championship Saturday. That’s where we always want to be. That’s where I coach, man. We want to play for a championship and when we do, our hearts will be left on the field and that’s what we did. Our season ended the way you want it to end. Obviously, you’d like to win it, but our guys are very motivated.