Sunday Morning Chat: Coral Gables Manager Phil Wisser

Today, HSBN Senior Writer Rick Duteau sits down with Coral Gables Manager Phil Wisser, who shares his thoughts on the dreams for a state championship, great memories of the game and who he would want to be stuck in a foxhole with during a gun fight.

Rick: Coach, you are one of the younger managers in Miami. Tell our readers a little bit of background into your career…

Wisser: It’s kind of a small world, and it really was never my ideal dream of coaching high school baseball. My dream was actually working in professional baseball in the management side. I got an internship, and when I came home one of my high school coaches, Alex Tamargo, who is actually the Athletic Director at the new SLAM Academy Charter, he was the head coach at Miami Springs then, and he asked me to come help him out for the year. I was 22 years old, and he wanted me to help him out with his pitchers a little bit. I went out, and long story short, he stepped down at the end of the year and I got the head coaching job the following year. It was interesting.

I was 22 years old and when the season started I was 23, which to be a 23-year old head coach in Miami with a talented team at that time, it was a whirlwind. It was definitely a lot of learning lessons. I was given a very talented group of sophomores that year and I learned. I was learning as I was going, calling high school friends and my high school coach, Coach Biz, just calling different people and trying to get idea and suggestions. I was trying to keep me going, and even Alex Tamargo, he kept guiding me in the right direction. It was the right place at the right time and I wouldn’t change it.

I’m extremely happy. I was at Miami Springs for three years and the opportunity came to be at Coral Gables. It opened up in 2007, but that year I was really strong at Miami Springs and I had 11 seniors, including Yasmani Grandal, who is now in the big leagues, and Adrian Morales, who won two national championships at South Carolina, and many more. I knew I could not do it yet, because I could not leave this group behind, number one because they were talented and number two, because they never left me. Teams were after those kids, and they all stuck through it and I couldn’t leave them. So I said if the job is available next year I’m coming back, because I’m a Gables grad. A lot of people talk to me and ask would I want to be anywhere else, and I honestly can’t. There is no other public high school in Miami that I would want to be at.

Rick: This past week, you got to play at Marlins Stadium against four-time defending champion Archbishop McCarthy. Tell me a little bit about that experience for your program.

Wisser: This is why we do it. It’s for the kids. At the end of the day, I’m a player’s coach and I love my kids. They know that. We work very hard in the offseason, fund raising and going out there. A lot of people tell me they think the baseball players are spoiled at Coral Gables, but why do we do it? Because they work very hard. My coach taught me about life lessons and learning, and it’s about going out there and working hard and you get what you earn. That is kind of what I have brought to Coral Gables, and even at Miami Springs, the same way.

The opportunity opened up a few years ago for us to play at Marlins Park, and it’s the third year that we’ve done it. I was fortunate enough as a player myself to play back at Pro Player in 1998 and 1999, and it is an experience that I will live with forever. So when the opportunity came, we thought about it and said ‘guys, this is an unbelievable experience, one you will never forget’. On top of it, to play an Archbishop McCarthy, we’re honored. It’s a great experience and we had a great time with it. Obviously we were trying to come out with the ‘W’. But it was definitely the experience of a lifetime, and that’s what it’s for. These kids will remember this for the rest of their lifetime. I hear from all my guys who have graduated and come back, and there is nothing like high school baseball. It is fun, the kids enjoy it and that’s what we do it for. For them.

Rick: The past few years, you have been building this team from scratch. This season, it appears like you have all the pieces in place to make a serious run at states. Tell me about the building process.

Wisser: It’s definitely been a process. I think the number one special thing with this team is the team camaraderie. We have a freshman team that consists primarily of seventh and eighth-graders, and this is a group of our 14 juniors in which nine of them were on that team. So you look at the group, they played travel ball when they were ten, eleven, twelve, and now they come to a high school team together. So it’s really their fourth year already, and by far one of the closest knit groups I have ever had.

Talking about states, it’s obviously everybody’s dream, but it’s a long ways away. We know we have ability and we know we have a lot of different aspects of this game, and we’re excited about it. But we’re going one game at a time. We know there are a lot of great teams in Dade County, and every year it is represented by a quality program. We’re hoping that we can jump over that barrier. I guess the biggest stepping stone we took last year, we went through our ups and downs and it was only about a .500 season. But we felt like, you know what, we had seven sophomores start for us, so let’s battle through it.

Rick: There were some quality wins in there with that .500 record.

Wisser: There were. We went and had a great year, and we’ve been to the regionals for the last four years. We’ve gotten past the first round a few times, but unfortunately we can’t get over that hump, and we are hoping this is a team that can take us over that hump. We’ve been taking it one game at a time, and that is the mentality of this team is to go back to games like the opportunity to play McCarthy at Marlins Park. We didn’t talk about that game until after we played Hialeah Gardens. We are on the mentality of one pitch, one inning, one game, and we’re not looking past that. That’s been the process of this program. What’s scary too is, we have 17 returners next year, so this is a talented team that will only lose four seniors. So to bring a talented team back on top of this team should be a good, nice two years.

Rick: There are a lot of great coaches out there in Miami. Give me the one that you are the closest to, and why?

Wisser: It has to be Coach Biz, who resigned from Coral Reef last year. Dave Bisceglia, he was my high school coach at Coral Gables, and my last year in 1999 was his last year at Gables. He was at Coral Reef until this year when he stepped down, and now I am ecstatic to say he is a part of my staff. It was questionable at first, and people were like ‘he was your old coach, how is that going to be?’, but the kids absolutely love him. What more could I ask for than to have a guy with 30 years of high school head coaching experience on my bench as a bench coach? He’s energetic and he’s just been there for me, and he’s taught me the life of this game. Yes, we all want to win and we all want to do well, but we’re trying to teach the kids how to be better people. And baseball gives them that chance. Eventually it’s going to end and it’s going to be able to overcome those situations and those circumstances in life like what comes on a baseball field. We try to pertain a lot of it to life situations. That’s what he taught me and that’s what I bring to the table. And by far, without a doubt I say 100% it is him.

Rick: Tell me, in detail, one thing that frustrates you about the current state of high school baseball here in Miami-Dade County.

Wisser: Oh, that’s a good one. The frustrating part is that it is a lot of work and there is a lot more to it than people perceive. As a Head Coach, nothing against the assistant coaches because I couldn’t do it without them and no coach can, but the paperwork and fund-raising. The frustrating part is having to deal with the little issues, be it on the outside at school, parents, players, teachers, emails and whatever it may be on all the severity of everything we deal with for what we make. I don’t do it for the money, and if any coach tells you they do they are lying. You do it for the love of the game. But having all those other little things to deal with on top of it, it weighs on you. After a while it just wears on you, after a while, all those little things on the side.

Rick: Give our readers a little insight into the Phil Wisser away from the field.

Wisser: I don’t know if there is a Phil Wisser away from the field. I’m a laid back person and I enjoy having a good time. But I love this game and I’ve been a part of this game since I was six years old. People tell me I’m crazy, and they come up to me and tell me I’m nuts because I don’t leave the field. I’m there on Saturday with JV, I’m there with freshmen on Sundays sometimes. Fortunately right now I am able to do it. It’s a matter where I obviously know when I have a family and have kids I will have to slow down myself, but at this time I can’t really say that there is too much time away from the field. I go out and watch some games. I like to lay down and relax because I think I am at the field so much that I just kind of like to chill at home and relax and watch television.

Rick: If you could change one thing about your coaching career, what would it be?

Wisser: I wish I had more experience when I first started; maybe that when I first started I was an assistant for a couple more years. Again I can’t thank enough for the opportunity that I had as a 22-year old. But to be given a team with five Division 1 players and three Major League draft picks and only have two years of experience; I wish I knew then what I know now. Not that it would have made all the difference in the world, but I wish I had given it more time. The opportunity arose, and I don’t regret it, but I wish I would have learned a little bit more before.

Rick: Give me a moment when you were trying to discipline your players for something they had done, where you just couldn’t keep a straight face because something funny had occurred.

Wisser: Oh my goodness. I tell ya, last year there were quite a few instances where my first baseman Kelvin Nunez had to be the number one guy at imitating me. It was a matter where I would come out there upset after a game, and in the distance I see him and as I start walking over there upset with these guys they are all cracking up because he just said everything that I was going to say. It was to a T. He did the voice and he would put my helmet and my glasses on, and it was unbelievable. So when I would get upset, he would never really let me get to that point. He would ease it a little bit for them.

Rick: What is the greatest memory you have of a particular play on a baseball field?

Wisser: We played Hialeah back in 2006 when I was at Miami Springs. Hialeah had first and second with no outs, their third batter was up, and it was a big district game and we had a huge rivalry.So their three-hole guy is up and he’s a great hitter, but they were down a run in the seventh inning and I thought for sure they had to bunt. So I ran a wheel play where we come across running to third base, and my shortstop Adrian Morales, starts running to third and the kid hits a rope. He kind of leaned backwards and lands on the ball, picks it up and runs to third. It was unbelievable. You’ve seen a lot; as a coach, you see a lot. But that’s one that will go down as one of the tops of all time.

Rick: How about in the Major Leagues, your single greatest moment? The one thing that made you say, this is why this is the greatest sport in the world.

Wisser: Watching Yasmani Grandal catch for the first time in the big leagues.

Rick: Have you imagined what it would feel like to be standing on that field in Fort Myers after winning a state title? And if so, describe what you think that feeling will be…

Wisser: I try not to. I’m a very emotional person and I’m sure it will be very, very amazing. It will be very hard. But I don’t know if there is a difference. A state title, a district title, a GMAC title, obviously the state title is the state title, but any one of those things is such a great feeling. Just to be able to see the kids and what you build over the course of the year, the sweat, the tears, the work, the hours, the fights, the love, I mean everything, to be able to see it all come together in one magical moment at the plate, to see the pile up of kids that have done everything you’ve asked, it is just unexplainable.

Rick: OK, let’s end by having some fun with your fellow coaches in Miami… I’ll give you a statement or phrase, and you give me the name of what manager in the county it applies to… The coach I would want in a Foxhole with me is…

Wisser: The number one guy I would have to say is Jonathan Hernandez at Hialeah. He coached with me when I was at Miami Springs, he came with me to Gables and we’ve created a relationship that is stronger than a brotherhood. We talk daily and I love him to death. I am so happy that he does well and he does a great job at Hialeah. I am just upset that he’s not with me anymore.

Rick: I remember that too, from when I covered the Game of the Week between you two last year.

Wisser: We’re doing that again this year too. We’re going to their place.

Rick: The coach I would least like to meet in a dark alley…

Wisser: I haven’t really had too many enemies and having a problem with anybody. I’m really a laid back person and I try to keep peace with all. So I’ve never really seen myself have confrontation in any situation in the game. I’ve never really had that major debate, and if I have had it was in the spur of the moment in the game and there is nobody that I can say.

Rick: So really you’re pretty confident you can walk a back alleyway and feel pretty safe.

Wisser: I hope so. I would definitely hope so.

Rick: The coach I’d like to sit in the dugout and observe for one game…

Wisser: Fred Burnside, South Dade High School. I learn from him every day when I’m down there playing him in their tournament. The kids hate that we go down there because it is so far for us, but they don’t realize that every game we play them I am trying to pick his brain and watch him and see what he does throughout the game. He’s been around and he’s one of the greatest, and he will go down as one of the greatest of all time. There is nothing but respect and I definitely enjoy watching him coach a game. There is nothing but respect for what he has with his kids and his program.

Rick: The coach most likely to win a stand-up comedy competition…

Wisser: Hernan Adames, at TERRA. The comments that he says. He is a class clown, he is a great coach, and a great guy. He has done a phenomenal job at TERRA in putting them on the map. But I can’t talk to him for fifteen minutes without dying laughing all the time. He’s a great guy.

Rick: The coach that would win a wings eating contest…

Wisser: I don’t know, I haven’t eaten wings with too many of these guys. My assistant coach Danny Alonso, he can definitely pound those wings pretty well.

Rick: OK, last one… the coach I wouldn’t want to face in a big game…

Wisser: I would have to say Coach Burnside again. But let me switch counties here for you and say Coach Ray Evans at Flanagan. He’s been there; he’s got the experience and he’s got the rings. He’s been in that situation, and as an 8A school our kids could see them in a regional somewhere, if we are fortunate enough to make it. I mean, you have that experience. You can get there and get there and get there, but if you’re not in that game-type situation it’s a different experience. So I would have to say him because he has that experience from having been there.

Rick: Well Coach, thanks; that was fun. Everyone at HSBN wishes you a successful season this year.

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