On and off the field Chris and Kate Malveaux

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247sports.com

 

PMARSHONAU On and off the field Chris and Kate Malveaux are all about family

Phillip Marshall

18–23 minutes

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Auburn softball coach Chris Malveaux talks about hitting philosophy, coaching with his wife and more

Chris Malveaux was intrigued the first time he heard Auburn athletics director John Cohen wanted to talk to him about being Auburn's next softball coach. It wasn't long before he was sold on the idea. Malveaux and his wife, Kate, worked together at Tennessee, where he was a high regarded hitting coach. When Cohen agreed that they could be Auburn's co-head coaches, the deal was all but done.

"We are lucky enough to have seen a couple of different environments that operated that way," Chris Malveaux said in an interview with Auburn Undercover. "We have kind of seen a blueprint. Once people get to know Kate and I, we are pretty good complements of each other. She is very high energy, very sharp, very organized. I may get a little more into the analytical side.

"When you talk about philosophies, we are similar. She is very good from an organizational standpoint – getting the academic part taken care of, organizing visits, things like that. … She also does a great job of getting out and knowing how to create solid relationships with donors."

The Malveauxs have a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. They are all about family, at home and at work. It's who they are.

"We are excited," Malveaux said. "We are so fortunate John believes in this. John wants it to be a family environment. After talking to these players, I really feel like that is what they need."

As the season wound down last month, the Team Malveaux was helping push Tennessee to the regular-season SEC championship. That's when word came that Auburn, where Mickey Dean had stepped down after seven seasons, had interest.

"They reached out a few weeks prior," Malveaux said. "I knew they had talked to some people within the last month of the season to gauge interest, personalities and philosophies. That was really it."

Tennessee's season ended with a shocking loss to Alabama in the Knoxville super regional. That's when things got serious at Auburn.

"The more I visited, the more I felt like these people knew what they were doing," Malveaux said. "They want to win. It's an honor to work with them."

That's when the word went out. Auburn would have the fourth head coach (or coaches) in program history. They soon hired Ryker Chason to be the pitching coach. They snatched DJ Sanders away from Ole Miss to fill the last assistant position. And the hard work began.

They inherit starters at six at eight positions, but very little proven production in the circle. Auburn has languished near the bottom of the SEC in most offensive categories. Malveaux knows those things. He will go to work on the first day of fall practice to do something about them.

"It's going to be challenging," Malveaux said. "We are going to hit the ground running. We told the players it's going to be different, and it's going to be hard. The reception has been great. Thery want to grow. They want to win.

"We've watched a lot of video. I think we have some players who have not reached their potential, and the development piece is a lot of what we are about."

(Photo: Auburn University)

Malveaux first attracted widespread attention as Missouri's hitting coach before moving to Tennessee. At Missouri, he was on the staff with his wife for the first time. Then they moved to Tennessee. And now they are running their own show at Auburn.

Malveaux said there will be a learning curve as he teaches his philosophy to Auburn's hitters.

ON HITTING

"Our philosophy is we are looking to square the ball up, whatever that means to the individual batter. We are looking to hit the ball hard or we are going to take a walk. We are going to train some pitch recognition and decision-making. Physically, we want to maximize what each player is able to do.

"Hitting the ball hard and squaring the ball up might not always be home runs. For some hitters, it might be doubles all day long. Really, we'll just try to be efficient. … It's going to take some getting used to in the fall, but that's some of the big stuff we will hit on it right away. "One thing we want to focus on is trying to use our bodies efficiently, working from the ground up. Your lower body is  where your strength usually is.

"As we go on, it becomes more approach, what to look for, what to take away, whatever. OPS (on-base percentage and slugging percentage) is usually the correlator to scoring runs. We really try to focus on our team OPS. If you can have a lineup that is toward the top of the league in both of those, you are going to score a lot of runs. We want to get our slugging percentage up. For people that can't increase their slugging percentage, they need to work on getting on base a lot."

ON PITCHING

There was little question where the Malveaux would turn for a pitching coach. And Chason was ready and willing to join the effort.

"He's as good as any pitching coach out there," Malveaux said. "He has taken a lot of kids that might not have been highly recruited and turned them into something. He does it all. He can recruit. He is very well-respected. He's a worker. He can do it all.

"I know whatever happens he is going to get the best out of everybody on that staff."

The 12 days since the decision was made have been a whirlwind. Chris Malveaux had more than 600 text messages. They had to make staff decisions, learn what they could about players on the roster and hit the recruiting trail.

"It's been crazy, but it's been a lot of fun," Malveaux said.

The reception at Auburn and from recruits, he said, has been "awesome."

"Recruits kind of know you," Malveaux said. "The question you have is if they will be interested when you are at a different school. I have seen nothing but positive. If you look at two or three hours from Auburn, there is a lot of talent there. A lot of people want Auburn to be successful."

[Golden Eagle 466]

Great article - thanks for posting it!  Really excited for the future of Auburn softball.