1. Kolin McMillen
October 8, 2015
One man, few teams, and many life lessons
Jack “Dusty” Rhodeshasbeenrewardedthrough hisjobinmanyways.He givescredittohis father,his
mentors,andhisplayersforhissuccessinbaseball andinlife.BorninTalladega,Alabamain1946,
Rhodesdidnotalwaysplanon becomingabaseball coach but rather,a cowboy.What the twodifferent
careershad incommon,was winning.
Whenaskedto describe hismotherandfather,Rhodes saidleaningbackonthe couch lookingtowards
the back wall reminiscing,“Mymomworked,she wasa secretaryand mydad workedfora yacht
company.He builtinteriorsonyachts.My dad wasin WorldWar IIhe wason Okinawawiththe Marines.
He wasa prettytoughguy.”
Rhodesgrewupon farms,workingandplayingwithanimals.He enjoyedrunningaroundthe freedom
that came withit. He expandedonwhata typical dayconsistedof forhimas a child,“OhGee,well we
kindof livedouta way,my grandfatherownedafarmand he wasa firemanintown.So mymom
workedandso she wouldtake me overto my grandmother’shouse soIjustwason a farm.So I mean,I
had animalsandstuff andI was justout there playingaroundall dayandgettingdirtyandthat’s about
all I did.”
Rhodeswasintroducedtosportsby hisfatherand he fell inlove withthe game of baseball.However,
growingupon a farm causedRhodesto findhisheroesincowboys. Rhodesdescribedhisheroeswitha
smirk, “Most of ‘emcowboys.All of ‘emcowboysreally.Iwasaroundhorsesand mulesandthat’swhyI
likedcowboys.”Rhodesstill enjoysoldwesternfilmsstarringcowboys.
Althoughhe viewedcowboysashisheroesgrowingup, Rhodesalwayslookeduptohisfather.He has
taught himto alwaysworkhardfor the thingsinlife thathe wanted.There isno planB because
anythingispossible.“The thingaboutitisthat he [Rhode’sfather] wasnotsomuchstrict but there
were rightwaysand wrongswasand you justdidn’tdothemthe wrongways [ashe sat backon the
couch and laughed].Butitreallymade adifference because that’show Igrew up.So that’sthe way I run
it.”
ErnestDonini playedforRhodesatthe Universityof Floridain1985 whenRhodeswasan assistantfor
the Gators. Whenaskingabouthow Rhodeshaschangedsince hisdaysat Florida,Donini merely
exclaimedwithagrin,“He hasn’t!”Whenaskedto expandonhisanswer,Donini described
enthusiastically,“We hadto doeverythingright,if we didn’t,we ran.We were taughthow to be
disciplinedonandoff the field.We learnedasa teamthat there’ll be hardtimesbutwe were taughtto
fightbe bulldogsoutthere.”Donini isnow the presidentof SuperiorSeafood,asuccessful shrimpselling
company.
Rhodestookhislife lessonshe learnedfromhisfatherandappliedthemtohislife,impactingothers
withhisboldnessandsternness.ThisledRhodesdownthe careerpathof coaching.AfteraskingRhodes
if he had alwaysplannedongrowingupto be a coach, Rhodestooka deepbreathalmostanalyzinghis
life.“IthinkwhenImovedtoFloridain1959 and we wonthe Little League State ChampionshipwhenI
was a part of a team,the ideaof winningwasreallyawesome.The ideaof coachesandwhattheydid

2. was reallyawesomethattheytaughteverybodyhow toplayasa team and be a teamand you couldsee
howwell we playedbecause of those coaches.WhenIwentawaytoplayin college,Iplayedforaguy
namedHal Smeltzly andhe wasa Hall of Fame guyin the College Baseball Hall of Fame.AndIknewthen
that’swhat I wantedtodo. He gave me the firstjobI had in coaching.”
As a player,RhodesplayedatPalmBeachJuniorCollegepriortofinishinghiscollegiatecareeratFlorida
Southern.
“I coachedthe JuniorVarsityteamatFloridaSouthernandhe [Hal Smeltzly] gave me thatchance. When
youplayyou justworryabout whatyou do andwhenyoucoach you’ve gotto worry abouteverybody
and I kindof likedthatandI knewthenthat’swhenI wasgoingto coach.”
Rhodesadmitsthatthe true successincoachingcome fromthe menhe workswithandhisplayers.
Beingextremelysincere whenacknowledgingthe mostrewardingpartof coaching. “The guysthat
playedonthe teamsI coached.Because theyseemlike they’veall beensuccessful.Imeanninety-nine
percentof themhave beenreallysuccessful people.Andthey’ve beensolidcitizensandyouknowI
thinkseeingthemandtheirfamiliesandhow they’ve turnedouthave reallymade me proudof these
guys.”
Expandingonhisjoband leaninginweighingthe prosandconsof coaching.“The easiestpart’scoming
out everydayandbeingon the fieldwiththe players,andthe hardestiscomingouteverydayand being
on the fieldwiththe players[laughing].The worstpartof it isseeingguysthatyoureallythinktheycan
be betterthan theyare but theyjustwon’tadd thatpart or getbetterontheirownso it’skindof
tough.”
Rhodeslookstogetthe mostout hisplayers.He seespotentialinanyone andeveryone,hopingthathe
can draw theirpotential outof themtoallow the playersandthe teamto be successful. “Youknow,
theydon’trealize howgoodtheycouldbe andthey’re notwillingtopushthemselvestothe pointthat
theycan see howgoodtheyare… theycause themselvesnottobe good. If theywouldjustpush
themselveshardertheycouldrealize thattheycouldbe betteranditmakesthembetter.”
Rhodesfeelsthatthe biggestobstacle forhimself inhiscareeristhe same for all coaches.He explains
usinghandgesturesashispassioncomesout, “The NCAA [National CollegiateAthleticAssociation] and
the administratorsthatdon’treallyunderstandhow importantitiswhenyougetguyson athleticteams,
because theycome in, andtheyusuallydon’tdropout.Theyusuallyhave ahighergrade pointaverage
and theyusuallygraduate ata betterlevel.Justbecauseof athleticsanditmakesthemmore disciplined
and a lotof timesyouknow,administratorsonlylookatwhathappenswhenbadguysgo and theydon’t
evercheckthe reallygoodonesoutso I’ve alwaysbeenaroundprettygoodathletesthatwere really
goodstudents.AndsometimesIdon’tthinkthattheyget enoughcreditforwhat theydo.”
His philosophyoncoachingstemsfromhisfather’ssternness.Rhodesis,andalwaysviewedwinningas
the onlyoption.He believesthathardworkwill payoff if youwork hard enough.ThisplaysintoRhode’s
biggestdisappointmentthusfarinhiscoachingcareer.Whenaskedwhat hisbiggestdisappointmentor
failure hasbeeninhiscareer,he bitterlyanswered, “NotwinningaNational Championship.Beingthere
five timesandhavinganopportunityandyouknow,if Isaid itreallydidn’tmatter,itdoesmatter.Andit
mattersbecause of me but itmatter because of the teamsI had,those guysworkedand theydeserved
to winit.Andwe just didn’tdoit.”

3. On January8, 2016, Rhodeswill be awardedthe 2016 AmericanBaseball CoachesAssociationLefty
GomezAwardat the annual inductionbanquet.He wasinductedintothe ABCA Hall of Fame in2009,
however,the prestigiousLeftyGomezAwardisawardedtoonlyone coach whohas hadsignificantly
contributedtothe game of baseball locally,nationallyandinternationally. Rhodeshumblyexpandedon
howhe wonthe most prestigioushonorincoachingcollegiatebaseball. “Ibecame a memberof the
AmericanBaseball Coaches Associationover40 yearsago and beingaHall of Fame member,there’sfive
or six thousand members,it’sjustanhonorto dothat. To be recognizedwiththe guysthathave been
there now,youknowthat’stalkingaboutRon PolkandFrazierand SkipBerkmanandjustto be
mentionedinthatgroupisprettygood.”
Rhodeslearnedfromthe bestcoachesinbaseball throughthe organization.Theyhave taughthim
systemsandphilosophiesthathasallowedRhodesopportunitiesveryfew have beenable toexperience.
Rhodescoachedthe AustralianOlympicteamin1996 andeventuallycoachedthe GreekOlympic teams
in2000 and 2004.
Rhodeshumorouslydescribedhisyearsspentpriortocoachingat the collegiate level before expanding
on hisaccomplishmentswiththe Universityof NorthFloridabaseball program.“Ispentsevenyearsasa
juniorhighguy.Well, beingajuniorhighcoachyou have to tell themhow toput theirshoesonandhow
to put there haton and so you’re learning.IstartedatNorthFloridaandwe were NAIA.FromNAIA we
wentto Division2to Division1.Andto have the opportunitytostartyour ownprogram and doit the
wayyou wantand be successful that’sgreat,butthe ABCA,if it wasn’tforthemI wouldhave never
done that.”
Whenaskedwhathe wouldlike tobe rememberedfor,Rhodesgave asmirkbefore hisveryserious
response,“ThatI wasa winner.”
Rhodes is now a proud assistantto the Flagler Saints Baseball team
Rhodesenjoysgettingawayandtravellingaroundthe country.He hasalwaysbeenpassionate about
huntingandfishing. “I’ve alwaysbeenahunter.Ihuntedandfishedwithmydadsince I wasa little kid.
AndnowI still doit. I got a place inMontana and I go up there andflyfishinthe summertime nowandI

4. go huntinginthe winterandwhenIgot marrieda couple yearsback,my wife lovestofishandlovesto
huntso we have a greattime doingitand that’swhat I do.”
Rhodesentertainingly describeshismarriage toJennyJohnson, “ImarriedJenny,well Igotmarriedin
2009 or 2010, somewhere aroundthere andyouknow,I’mnotrememberingalotof things[laughing
and leaninghisheadback].The thingaboutitis the years,there were alot of yearsin there where
nobodywasin myway andI didn’thave any responsibilitiessosomebodycame tome andsaid ‘look,do
youwant to coach withthe US teambecause we’re goingtobe gone all summer’andI said‘yeah’and
I’djust go.Andso I coulddo all that stuff.”
Rhodeshasno regretsinhislife.He startedfromthe bottomof the coachingtotempole andwas able to
buildhiscoachingdynastybasedoff of hardwork and commitment.Whenaskedif he wouldeverhad
wantedtobe anyone else ordoanythingelse,Rhodescleverlyrepliedinasoftspokenandsincere tone,
“I don’tknowthat I wouldwantto be anythingelse ordoanythingelse,I’djustlike tostartto start over
and do itagain.”

5. KolinMcMillen
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