Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast

Since grade school, the only thing Nick Rickles had ever cared about was baseball. Now in his 30s, his priorities have changed, but he will live out one final baseball dream this week in Tokyo as a member of the national team from Israel at the Olympic games. In the newest episode of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Rickles reflected on his years at Stetson, his teammates who are life-long friends, and the journey he has taken since being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 14th round of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft.  

Stetson Athletics' medical support team - Dr. Mark Hollmann, Dr. Ben Thomasson and Dr. John Hill - work with Stetson as team physicians to help serve the student-athletes' physical needs so they can compete at the highest levels. AdventHealth provides innumerable medical services, from Certified Athletic Trainers to physical therapy and rehab services while Stetson's own Sports Medicine staff works diligently every day with coaches and students to make sure everyone remains healthy. Doctors Hollmann, Thomasson and Hill joined Erik Nason, AdventHealth's Sports Medicine Partnership Manager, and Stetson Athletics' Head Athletic Trainer Tim Miesmer for a round-table discussion on the status of athletics health care, Stetson's partnership with AdventHealth and the work that has gone into allowing college athletes to return to competition in this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

Mark Michaud's journey into athletics started early – really early. Cut from his high school basketball team as a sophomore, Michaud became as assistant coach for the freshman team. An opportunity to coach the team in a game, for just a half, was all it took for him to catch the coaching bug. From there, he tried his hand at almost anything. He coached a Little League Baseball team even though, at the time, he didn't know anything about coaching. From there helped coach a high school baseball team, not at his school, but at a rival high school. He took time for a visit on this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union in December.  

Brandon Brewer always knew he wanted to create a life for himself in the game of baseball. The Hatters' volunteer assistant coach, who guests on this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, has been in and around the game his entire life. In fact, even before he was born, he had a connection to Stetson because his father played for former Hatters head coach Pete Dunn at Apopka High School. Brewer was never the biggest or strongest player on any team he was a part of, but he always played with the most determination and grit. From a trip to Williamsport, Pa., to play in the Little League World Series, where he played for his father Bobby, to the University of West Florida, where he was an All-American, to being drafted by the Los Angeles Angels, Brewer always had to prove himself.  

Whenever Stetson Baseball is mentioned nationally, the first thought is normally about a pair of two-time Cy Young Award winners – Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber. Pitching has been a hallmark for Hatters baseball for many years, and Associate Head Coach Dave Therneau has been in charge of Stetson's hurlers for the last six seasons. During that time, the accomplishments have been plentiful as the Hatters have sent 10 pitchers and three catchers into professional baseball. The Stetson baseball record book has also been re-written. The top four strikeout seasons in program history came in consecutive years from 2016-19 with a combined ERA during those four seasons of 3.77, which is better than any single-season ERA from the previous 20 years. Back in November, after the Hatters ended fall practice but before the players left at Thanksgiving for winter break, Therneau sat in for an episode of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, to talk about the 2021 Stetson pitching staff.  

Stetson coach Steve Trimper is the guest on this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union. During this episode he talks about the challenge of managing fall practice in an environment that has been drastically changed by the pandemic. He also talked about the challenge of managing a team with almost 50 players on the roster. Trimper also talked about the on-going challenge of putting a schedule together for the coming season, and how coaches across the Sunshine State are working together to make sure their teams have ample opportunities to compete once the season begins on February 19. The conversation with Trimper is the second of five episodes of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast focused on the Stetson baseball program. Episode 24 featured Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Joe Mercadante talking about the fall signing class of new players who will join the program next year as well as an in-depth look at the catchers for the Hatters.  

Now entering his fourth year as a member of the Stetson Baseball coaching staff, Joe Mercadante works with the Hatters catchers and hitters in addition to serving as recruiting coordinator. It is in that role that he, along with Head Coach Steve Trimper and Associate Head Coach Dave Therneau, along with the rest of the baseball staff, was able to bring in a crop of 12 new players during the November signing period this year.  In this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Mercadante provides a scouting report on each of the 12 newest Stetson players, players who will enroll in the fall of 2021 and be a part of the 2022 Stetson team. Mercadante also talks about fall practice, his catching unit as well as his path to Stetson, which was anything but direct from his hometown of Gainesville. This is the first of a five-part holiday look ahead to the spring and the return of Stetson baseball, with upcoming episodes to feature Trimper, Therneau, volunteer assistant coach Brandon Brewer and Director of Baseball Operations Mark Michaud.

Mike McKercher is in his fifth year as Associate AD for External Operations for Stetson Athletics and it seems as if his job has grown with each passing year. In addition to overseeing marketing and promotions operations, he also is the primary fundraiser for the Hatters, leading both major gifts and annual fund operations. He also oversees corporate sponsorships and fulfillment and, recently, added sport administrator duties for four Hatters teams. In this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, McKercher fills us in on the recently completed Fall Fundraising Campaign, on the future for Stetson facilities projects, on his relationship with Dr. Glenn Wilkes and about raising four collegiate lacrosse players.

On every NCAA campus around the nation student-athletes have a tool at their disposal with which they can express their concerns on issues, organize community service projects, and have an impact on school, conference and NCAA rules and legislation. This tool is called the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Each SAAC includes student-athletes from every varsity team on campus. At Stetson University, the SAAC is led this year by seniors Arye Beck (Cross Country), Samuel Craig (Cross Country) and Kiera McCarthy (Lacrosse). In this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, all three weight in on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted their lives, and the lives of all student-athletes, how the pandemic has made their work supporting the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia even more challenging, how having seasons postponed and canceled has impacted students, physically and mentally, and many other topics that are at the forefront of conversations leading up to the 2020 general election. Spend some time getting to know these student-athletes who are also the future leaders of our nation in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

From her childhood, Katie DiGirolamo has always been very active. From sports to music to dance classes, she was always on the go – always busy. In this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, you'll hear from the former Stetson volleyball and beach volleyball player that little has changed since she left college with a degree in Business Administration in the spring of 2014. While at Stetson, in addition to being an honor roll student, winner of the Wendall N. Jarrard, Sr., Award Winner and a multiple ASUN academic honoree while playing indoor volleyball before crossing over to the new beach volleyball program, DiGirolamo was also heavily involved in the Student-Athlete Advisory Counsel. She now serves as the Project Manager, overseeing the renovation of the Toronto Blue Jays spring training stadium as well as the construction of an entirely new training facility for the organization.  

Little kids growing up with Major League dreams all have the same vision – the one about stepping onto a big league field for the first time with 50,000 people watching from the stands. For Logan Gilbert, the reality of his first time on a Major League Field was a little different. The former Stetson standout talks about that first time on the mound at Safeco Field in Seattle, under a completely different set of circumstances, during this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.  

Like all golf fans around the world, for Stetson standout Sam Ryder will be watching the PGA Championship this weekend from his home in the Jacksonville area. It is certainly not where he had hoped to be this weekend but, like a lot of the players working to make a living on the PGA Tour, Ryder is focused on the things he can handle, and not the things that are out of his control. On this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Ryder talks about the journey he has been on in his three years as a member of the PGA Tour as well as the work it took for him to transition from ASUN Champion in 2012, through Q-School for the Mackenzie Tour in 2014, to qualifying for what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, to a second place finish on that tour in 2017, earning his PGA card for the 2018 season.  

Smithers, West Virginia, is barely a dot on a map along the Kanawha River southeast of Charleston, but for Stetson women's basketball coach Lynn Bria, that is the place where it all began. In this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Bria talks about how her world has always revolved around family and competition. As one of nine children, competition was all she ever knew, and there was always a game, event, or backyard challenge growing up in a large Italian family in rural West Virginia.  

The path from Lawrenceville, GA, to Stetson University has been filled with adversity for Jeremiah Nails. A captain for the Hatters' football team, and a second year graduate student who will leave Stetson with an MBA next spring, Nails has dealt with grief and loss and has kept his focus on the three things that matter most to him - family, football and academic achievement. Nails talks about growing up in a home filled with boys, and his relationship with teammate Nick Blakely that was like having an extra brother. As a graduate assistant in the Athletics Academic Services office, he is able to help teammates and other student-athletes focus on their own academic goals as a way of giving back. He also looks forward to his final football season, one he hopes will happen as scheduled this fall, and getting back together with the football family that means so much to him.

In her final semester of college, Sarah Trupp had a class group project planned around sharing what life as a student at Stetson University is all about. Then, on March 12, Trupp, a member of the Hatters' women's lacrosse team, got the heart-breaking news that her senior season was over. No final chance to share the field with her teammates and friends, no Senior Day recognition, no chance to move the needle for her program. It was all just over.   In this edition of Hatter Chatter … The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Trupp talks about how she and the other members of Journalism Studio class, under the direction of Andy Dehnert, pivoted their planned project and created “Corona College”, a podcast series giving voice to Stetson University students who had their semester disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Stetson Athletics has been blessed over the years by plenty of colorful people, and few can spin a yarn about the way things were back in the day like ASUN Commissioner Ted Gumbart. Gumbart shares stories from his time in DeLand as if they happened last week, with the memories and names from the past flowing as if he had dinner with the cast of characters recently. Since leaving DeLand, Gumbart worked his way up from Assistant Commissioner, to Associate Commissioner and then to Commissioner of what is now the ASUN Conference in 2007.  A passionate visionary, Gumbart has guided the league through almost constant evolution, and he freely shares his vision for the future of the league.

Over his more than 30 years in college basketball, Stetson head coach Donnie Jones has faced the challenge of rebuilding a program many times. Jones talks about the path that led him to DeLand as the 22nd head men's basketball coach in school history. The various stops in his career have included being a part of complete rebuild projects at a number of schools. In his first season at Stetson this past year he led the Hatters to a 16-17 overall record, with the 16 wins being the most for a Hatters men's team since the 2007-08 season. The 16 victories were also nine more than the previous season, giving Stetson the biggest single season improvement for any program in the nation with a new coaching staff. After being picked to finish last in the preseason ASUN poll, the Hatters finished third and hosted a first round ASUN tournament game for the first time since 1996.  

Davion Belk faced more challenges than most people can imagine before graduating from high school. A native of Chicago, Belk lost two siblings – a brother and a sister – to gun violence within a six-month period. His mother lived in constant fear for his safety, and the safety of his three other brothers. Despite the struggles, Belk was a standout student in addition to being a star on both the football field and tennis court at Whitney Young High School. He had never heard of Stetson University when Hatters coach Roger Hughes and former Director of Operations Nolan Behrns started recruiting him. As one of the first football players in more than 50 years, Belk arrived in DeLand in August of 2012, and his life has not been the same since.

When Emmett Rutkowski first arrived on the Stetson campus in 2018, he certainly didn't anticipate the turn of events that would come his way in the first few months of 2020. A native of northern Virginia, Rutkowski arrived in DeLand after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Mercer. A goal keeper in college, he had already proven himself to be more than just a keeper coach, and had a reputation as an outstanding recruiter as well. After helping the Hatters to within a whisker of an ASUN Tournament title in 2018, Stetson struggled to score in 2019. Work was ongoing to address that issue when, in early February, everything changed.

Evan Weston took a leap of faith in 2015. Fresh out of college at Syracuse University, the New Jersey native and aspiring broadcaster only knew he didn't want to spend his life in the cold and snow of the northeast. The road for Weston led him to central Florida and Stetson University, where he has been the voice of the Hatters on ESPN+ and Hatter Vision for the last five years. Learn about the person behind the voice of Hatters Athletics in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

We head out to the waters of Lake Beresford for this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union. Ethan Shoemaker has been with Stetson as assistant rowing coach for three years. His primary focus is on the men's team and has seen marked improvement in the program over the last three years. Finding his way to the water growing up in southeast Ohio wasn't necessarily the normal way, but after being introduced to the sport in high school, he took to it like, well, you know. Ethan has incredible knowledge about the sport now, and his passion for it came through clearly during our conversation.

Pittsburgh to the core, Jordan Sabo found his way to Stetson by chance. In this episode of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, learn how Sabo made his way to DeLand from western PA, walked-on to the football team, and worked his way onto the field by his senior season. He was a 4-time All-PFL honor roll student in molecular biology who, in his free time, also played on, and eventually ran, the club baseball team at Stetson. He has taken his experiences overcoming adversity and challenges into a new role, working for a genomics firm in an immunology lab near his hometown. His work will help in the battle against Covid 19 by testing for resistance to the disease. A fascinating conversation that includes how Stetson prepared him for his career and plenty of Pittsburgh sports talk.

A senior member of the men's golf program, Chris Williard has gone from being a wide-eyed freshman from the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, to a captain and leader on the men's golf team. He was already preparing for life after college, having attended Q school for the Korn Ferry Tour, when his senior season was cut short. Now he plans to return to Stetson for grad school and one more season as a Hatter. Get to know one of the Hatters' super seniors in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

From Crawford, Nebraska, to the hallowed halls of the Ivy League, to launching a fledgling football program at Stetson University, Roger Hughes has gone down a lot of paths in his career. In this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, Coach Hughes talks about growing up on his grandfather's cattle ranch in the northwest corner of Nebraska, his dreams of being a high school basketball coach that ended when he found college football. How he eventually wore down legendary coach Tom Osborne to get his start as a graduate assistant with the Cornhuskers, and how his ties to him alma mater, Doane University, have come up every step of the way in his career. He also talks about Stetson football and how he sees the future of college football after the current pandemic. Buckle up for an interesting ride with Hatters football coach Roger Hughes.

Senior Andrew MacNeil was named as one of the ASUN Spring Winners for Life, and that is certainly an apt way to describe the senior outfielder - as a winner. On this episode of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, you will hear how MacNeil has been driven to success, has never made less than an A in school, and wants to serve the community in any way he can. With an extra season of baseball, MacNeil plans to pursue an MBA before heading off to medical school in 2021, with the goal of being an orthopedic surgeon.

A natural born story-teller, Hatters men's golf coach Larry Watson talks about growing up in Memphis, Tenn., his life as a prep baseball and football standout and about how he accidentally found the sport of golf after returning from six weeks in the military when he thought his next stop might be Vietnam. His path eventually led him to Stetson University, but there are plenty of stories along the way in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast presented by Insight Credit Union.

A native of McAllen, Texas, Hernandez was a basketball player in her younger days before the volleyball coach at her school started looking for players. She quickly realized volleyball was her passion and switched to the sport full-time. The rest, they say, is history. Learn more about Hernandez and the Stetson beach volleyball program in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

A native of Toulon, a naval town on the southeastern coast of France, Noblet is a product of a military family that moved often during his early years while his father served in the French navy. After completing his undergraduate degree at the Universite Du Sud, Christophe Noblet came to the United States for grad school and, as luck would have it, play college tennis. Find out how his path led him to Stetson University in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast presented by Insight Credit Union.

Stetson women's golf coach Danielle Shelburne discusses her road from high school basketball star, to All-ASUN honors as a player, to taking over as head coach. She also talks about the challenges of raising two sons, her teams' accomplishments in 2019-20 and what she is looking forward to in the future in this edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

In the debut episode of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, we visit with Stetson University Director of Athletics Jeff Altier about the challenges of managing the department in such uncertain times, his vision for the future and also some stories from his road to the AD chair at Stetson, all in the first edition of Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union.

Find out what Hatter Chatter ... The Podcast, presented by Insight Credit Union, is all about, directly from the host, Ricky Hazel.