“I try to see guys in a growth mindset of this is where they are at, get ’em to the next dot. Because you know what? They have limitless dots that they can get to and it’s just about how badly they want to get to it ” – David Turgeon
Born David Andrew Turgeon on May 15, 1965, and the youngest of seven children in the Turgeon family from New London, CT.
He was drafted out of Davidson College in North Carolina in the 1987 MLB June Amateur Draft in the 22nd round by the New York Yankees. Dave went on to play thirteen seasons of professional baseball seven in the minors, and six in independent ball as a shortstop turned corner infielder. After age and injuries caught up with him, Dave knew it was time to turn the page and get started with his coaching career.
His first stop was in the Cleveland Indians organization in 1999. Afer that he spent time in various college coaching roles with Boston College, UConn, Duke and Virginia Tech. His passion for working with professional players steered his career to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010.
Starting out again on the field Managing at the Rookie level and then eventually transitioning into Field Coordinator and his current role since 2015 as the Coaches Coordinator for the entire organization in Pirate City located in Bradenton, Florida.
Dave is also a contributing blogger on USA Baseball’s website, and he spends at least one week a month helping out at the Pirates complex in the Dominican Republic.
You can connect with David here:
David shares with us in this episode:
- Culture is the way you and your team do things on a regular basis.
- The leadership of your organization or team will either lead to or stagnate growth.
- How coaching, a lot like parenting, will expose your true message through your actions.
- His most embarrassing moment as a professional coach.
- And much, much more!
How We Met
I am sitting in this small hotel banquet room of about 40 or 50 people having no idea what to expect in my first International Baseball meeting at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention (ABCA).
There was a short list of speakers and about 20 more people standing in the back of the room all waiting to get to the free drinks and snacks next door. I didn’t think that this was something that I would need to take notes.
When I heard David speak about changing the world through baseball and creating a culture of individuals that show up to work every day and push each other to grow and get better. I had to reach for my notebook and pen.
These events are significant for networking, and I knew after hearing his talk that I had to not only meet him in person, but I had to convince him to be on the podcast. His honesty and experiences throughout his baseball life moved me as a coach but more importantly as a person. I didn’t get a chance to meet him after the talk in the “adult beverage room” and thought I might have missed my opportunity to introduce myself.
Low and behold fate would put us together in the same room again but in a different location the next night at another function. I lasered my focus and waited patiently for the opportunity to sidle up and get to know more about this guy and find out where is coming from.
I would say that I bought him a drink but the drinks were free so I won’t.
But I would have.
He was gracious enough to let me blab about me and my story that eventually got to the point of asking him to be a guest on the show. He was as humble and gracious as his energy led me to expect. We had a good laugh and swapped some baseball stories.
I bought him another free drink, and he agreed to let me interview him when we got back to our homes.
I am happy to have met Dave and hope to learn more from him in the future.
Enjoy!
Love the Game. Live the Dream