Rounding the Bases with Elon Assistant Coach Taylor Waldrop

The Southeast portion of the United States is Taylor Waldrop’s happy place, that much is clear. A native of Georgia, Waldrop spent her playing career at Tennessee Tech. In four years in Cookeville, she appeared in nearly three-dozen games during her first few seasons before leading the team in appearances and collecting 10 wins during her senior year.

After her playing career, Waldrop began her coaching career at Division III Piedmont, where she tutored the Lady Lions’ pitchers and catchers. Last season, members of the staff under her tutelage won the USA South Conference’s Pitcher of the Year and Rookie Pitcher of the Year awards.

In September, Waldrop was announced as the new pitching coach at Elon. After joining the Phoenix coaching staff, she talked about her coaching career; returning to Division 1; and her philosophies and methodology between the white lines.

Extra Inning Softball: When did you know that you wanted to pursue a coaching career?
Taylor Waldrop: I initially decided to pursue coaching at the end of my own playing career. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to end up, but I knew I wanted to continue to be a part of this game. It’s been something that I’ve been a part of for most of my life, so I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

EIS: Tell me what intrigued you about the Elon position and ultimately made you decide to “pull the trigger” and take the job?
Waldrop: Funny enough, I actually hadn’t been looking to make a move. Coach [Kathy] Bocock reached out one day and it all started from there. It ended up being an opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down. Being back at this level was always something that was in the back of my mind, but I really didn’t see it happening this fast. 

EIS: Did you anticipate much of a “learning curve” in moving from Division III to Division I? Have you had to make any adjustments in that vein since you got to Elon?
Waldrop: There’s always new things to learn as a coach, but I don’t think there was too much to adjust to in the move. From competing at the same level in my career, I had a pretty good idea of what I was signing up for. D1 is a lot of work, but that’s why it’s the highest level. 

EIS: Describe your coaching style to me. What do you feel are your biggest attributes and strengths as a coach?
Waldrop: I take a lot of pride in forming strong relationships with my pitchers and taking a big focus on their mentalities in the circle. I like to say that 90% of pitching is mental, the other 10% is throwing your arm in a circle. At this level (most of the time) athletes can easily make the small mechanical adjustments, but a lot of them struggle with the mental adjustments. A lot of our focus goes towards attacking the mental game and forming great mental toughness.

EIS: How much of your experiences during your playing career influence you now as a coach? Do you intentionally pull from your own experiences to be able to relate more in-depth with your pitchers?
Waldrop: I think I’ve taken quite a bit of my own experiences as an influence as a coach. If the moment fits, I will sometimes pull from my own career to be more relatable to their current situations. I think a lot of us as former athletes who have been in their shoes can make a difference to the current generation by letting them know that they aren’t alone in these experiences that we’ve  also shared. 

EIS: What was it like navigating the last eighteen months, mid-pandemic, as a young coach still in the early years of your career?
Waldrop: Honestly, as a D3 coach in Georgia at the time, not much changed for us. We didn’t have a lot of the shut-downs and restrictions that other divisions had so we were still able to stay out on the recruiting trail as normal. The only really weird thing was having the team sent home mid-season. For as long as I can remember I’ve never had a spring off, but thankfully I was pretty close to family and friends to stay busy.

EIS: If we’re having this conversation one year from now, after you have a full season at Elon under your belt, what needs to have happened for you to be able to reflect and say ‘this has been a successful year’?
Waldrop: If I can get my pitching staff to trust the process and stay comfortable and true to themselves come game-time, I’d call it a success. These kids put a lot of pressure on themselves and some can have a tendency to make the moments “too big”. Mental game is huge with pitchers, so my goal right now is to get them in a good place mentally as a whole staff.