There is a new face on the coaching staff of the Wichita State baseball team in the form of volunteer assistant Jon Coyne.

“I throw batting practice every day,” Coyne, 24, said. “When (assistant coach Jim Thomas) is here, I’ll do Pitchers Field Practice (PEP), and hit come backers to the team. And then I’ll hit to first base, and throw at batting practice. When (Thomas) isn’t here, I’ll hit to the outfields.”

In addition, Coyne organizes summer baseball camps of 10 to 12 teams and is in charge of scouting reports. 

Coyne comes to WSU from Texas Pan-American. He grew up in Fort Worth. Coincidentally, his old team played against the Shockers this past weekend.

“It was weird because I worked with all those guys in the fall, and now I’m working on a team against them,” he said.

Coyne travels with the WSU team and coaching staff with games in California and Hawaii in the coming weeks.

Coyne said he aspires to become a college coach, but is taking his time getting there.

“I’m wanting to learn as much as I can, in every aspect on the coaching side, but also on the behind-the-scenes side that a lot of people don’t know about. I just want to learn as much as I can from the coaches,” he said.

Coyne said he does not want to take anybody’s coachng job.

“Down the road, if there was something that possibly happened (where I could be a coach), absolutely,” Coyne said. “Hopefully that doesn’t happen too soon, because I want these guys to stay here as long as they want.”

Coyne admires WSU head coach Gene Stephenson’s coaching technique.

“Gene is never too high, never too low, he’s always steady as a person,” he said. “I feel very blessed to be around that to pick up from three great coaches, and being around them, and seeing how they build people up.”

Coyne said he is drawn to baseball because the game draws all types of players.

“In baseball, they don’t care about how much money your parents made, or how much money you’ve made,” Coyne said. “They don’t care about what you did in the past, how big you are, or how hard you throw. Baseball is in the now, and it always has been. What you did yesterday is great, and it’s good to keep statistics to see how good you do, but regardless, the sport lives in the now, and it doesn’t care who you are.”

Coyne also cites other sports’ limitations as another reason for his love of baseball. 

“I’m not trying to downgrade other sports,” Coyne said. “But there are some guys who just can’t play basketball at a high level because of height, and some guys can’t play quarterback in football because they don’t have a strong enough arm. In all the other sports, your body can be a limitation, and you’re gonna hit a ceiling.

“And in baseball, you have to do so many things well. You’ve gotta be able to hit, you’ve gotta be able to field, you gotta be able to throw and you don’t have to be great at all of them, but you just have to do well in each one of them.”

Coyne said he enjoys the camerdarie between the people at WSU.

“I feel that everyone takes care of each other out here,” Coyne said. “Everyone has open arms. Coming to Wichita State has just been a blessing, and I think I’ve become a better person just by seeing the way everyone treats people. When I call home and talk to my family, I tell them all the people out here are good people, and very nice, and have good morals.”