'I'm glad I'm getting my degree': Why this is a big weekend for Oklahoma State student assistant Robin Ventura
Jacob Unruh
Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Robin Ventura has no five-year plan. His focus is on the present.
Like the final paper due this week. And baseball.
Just like old times.
“I’m just trying to get through it, really,” Ventura said. “I think you get a little more appreciation for what the kids go through.
“I remember it, but now it’s a little bit more."
This is a big week for Oklahoma State’s 54-year-old student assistant baseball coach.
It’s graduation weekend, a moment more than three decades in the making for one of college baseball’s all-time greatest hitters.
It’s likely that at some point Saturday, Ventura will don a cap and gown before he crosses a stage as his name is called. Then he'll hurry to O’Brate Stadium to help coach the fourth-ranked Cowboys when they host Southeast Missouri State in the second of three games.
Ventura — a former MLB All-Star and manager — completed his bachelor’s degree this week. He spent the past two years commuting from Edmond, taking undergraduate courses primarily online while coaching baseball for the program that retired his number.
He heard the jokes from his players and peers. His four adult children let him have it at times, too.
But 34 years after he was a first-round draft pick, Ventura has accomplished something meaningful.
“I’m glad I’m getting my degree,” Ventura said. “I think it’s something that always sits there and you wish you could have finished it. This is an opportunity to do that. I know it’s very unconventional to come back at 52 or whatever it was when I started.
“It’s been fun.”
Ventura admits times have changed.
When he was the best hitter in college baseball, there were no computers. There were no cell phones.
But technology allowed him in his second go-round to accomplish more.
He listened to lectures on his hour-long commute to and from Edmond. He took a mix of classes from world traditional music to organizational business management to a course on brewing beer.
Even that class proved difficult before the semester was impacted by the pandemic.
“It doesn’t sound hard but it was more science than anything,” Ventura said. “I think people when they take it think they’re just going to drink beer and tell them how it tastes. But it really goes in depth on the brewing process and the history of how it’s made.
“It’s interesting. I have more respect for the brewers than I did before.”
And the respect from OSU’s baseball coaching staff and players is obvious.
Often when Ventura runs to first base as a coach — a new position he loves — Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday tells his players to notice the man with no ego doing that just to give back.
“He didn’t need to come back here and graduate,” Holliday said. “And he didn’t need a college degree to stamp him in any way. He’s already done things in life that many people dream of doing.
“He came back to do it really, I think, for the love of his school and the love of his program.”
Ventura has fallen for the college game again, like several former MLB stars. Matt Holliday is on the Cowboys’ staff as a volunteer assistant.
They both love the college level.
“There’s a lot more teaching that goes on at this level than it does at the big league level," Ventura said. "That part’s been really enjoyable.”
Ventura has no desire to leave either.
While his future with the program after this season is unclear, he hopes to return. As of now, that would require him going to graduate school to remain a student assistant. That's not his plan, though.
“If this is busy, I can only imagine that’s worse,” Ventura said.
Ventura and Josh Holliday have yet to really talk about the future. They’re focused on the current season.
But there is hope that Ventura can remain.
The NCAA’s Transformation Committee is considering eliminating the limitation on the number of coaches per team in all sports. For baseball, that would mean more than two paid full-time assistants and one volunteer.
If that happens, the odds of Ventura returning look very strong.
Perhaps then, baseball again fit into his post-college plans.
“I didn’t even know this was going to happen,” Ventura said. “I’ve kinda done those things where if I don’t make plans something fun usually comes up and I do it.
“But I do enjoy coaching at Oklahoma State. I don’t really have plans to leave. I’m not pursuing something somewhere else. I would like to stay and do stuff here.”
Jacob Unruh
Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Robin Ventura has no five-year plan. His focus is on the present.
Like the final paper due this week. And baseball.
Just like old times.
“I’m just trying to get through it, really,” Ventura said. “I think you get a little more appreciation for what the kids go through.
“I remember it, but now it’s a little bit more."
This is a big week for Oklahoma State’s 54-year-old student assistant baseball coach.
It’s graduation weekend, a moment more than three decades in the making for one of college baseball’s all-time greatest hitters.
It’s likely that at some point Saturday, Ventura will don a cap and gown before he crosses a stage as his name is called. Then he'll hurry to O’Brate Stadium to help coach the fourth-ranked Cowboys when they host Southeast Missouri State in the second of three games.
Ventura — a former MLB All-Star and manager — completed his bachelor’s degree this week. He spent the past two years commuting from Edmond, taking undergraduate courses primarily online while coaching baseball for the program that retired his number.
He heard the jokes from his players and peers. His four adult children let him have it at times, too.
But 34 years after he was a first-round draft pick, Ventura has accomplished something meaningful.
“I’m glad I’m getting my degree,” Ventura said. “I think it’s something that always sits there and you wish you could have finished it. This is an opportunity to do that. I know it’s very unconventional to come back at 52 or whatever it was when I started.
“It’s been fun.”
Ventura admits times have changed.
When he was the best hitter in college baseball, there were no computers. There were no cell phones.
But technology allowed him in his second go-round to accomplish more.
He listened to lectures on his hour-long commute to and from Edmond. He took a mix of classes from world traditional music to organizational business management to a course on brewing beer.
Even that class proved difficult before the semester was impacted by the pandemic.
“It doesn’t sound hard but it was more science than anything,” Ventura said. “I think people when they take it think they’re just going to drink beer and tell them how it tastes. But it really goes in depth on the brewing process and the history of how it’s made.
“It’s interesting. I have more respect for the brewers than I did before.”
And the respect from OSU’s baseball coaching staff and players is obvious.
Often when Ventura runs to first base as a coach — a new position he loves — Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday tells his players to notice the man with no ego doing that just to give back.
“He didn’t need to come back here and graduate,” Holliday said. “And he didn’t need a college degree to stamp him in any way. He’s already done things in life that many people dream of doing.
“He came back to do it really, I think, for the love of his school and the love of his program.”
Ventura has fallen for the college game again, like several former MLB stars. Matt Holliday is on the Cowboys’ staff as a volunteer assistant.
They both love the college level.
“There’s a lot more teaching that goes on at this level than it does at the big league level," Ventura said. "That part’s been really enjoyable.”
Ventura has no desire to leave either.
While his future with the program after this season is unclear, he hopes to return. As of now, that would require him going to graduate school to remain a student assistant. That's not his plan, though.
“If this is busy, I can only imagine that’s worse,” Ventura said.
Ventura and Josh Holliday have yet to really talk about the future. They’re focused on the current season.
But there is hope that Ventura can remain.
The NCAA’s Transformation Committee is considering eliminating the limitation on the number of coaches per team in all sports. For baseball, that would mean more than two paid full-time assistants and one volunteer.
If that happens, the odds of Ventura returning look very strong.
Perhaps then, baseball again fit into his post-college plans.
“I didn’t even know this was going to happen,” Ventura said. “I’ve kinda done those things where if I don’t make plans something fun usually comes up and I do it.
“But I do enjoy coaching at Oklahoma State. I don’t really have plans to leave. I’m not pursuing something somewhere else. I would like to stay and do stuff here.”
