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Currier
builds on state’s baseball tradition
Head
of the Vermont program since 1988, Currier is the winningest coach in
the 114 years that the game has been played at the university. Typically,
his teams are focused over-achievers in a program that is thin on athletic
scholarships. Look no further than the 2002 season when the team fell
just short of a championship, finishing second in the America East regular
season standings. Currier earned conference Coach of the Year honors this
season to go with his 1992 New England Coach of the Year. Whether
it’s turning a double-play as an individual or winning a double-header
as a team, Currier says that mental skills are fundamental to excellence
in baseball and are a central focus of his coaching. “Baseball
is a game with so much negativism potentially,” Currier says. “Even
the best batter is going to fail a lot more times than he succeeds.”
Key to thriving against those odds, he continues, is keeping an even balance
of intensity and relaxation. Retired Yankee Paul O’Neill may have
done well handling each strikeout like a death in the family, but more
typical is the player who takes whiff or RBI with neither scowl nor smile. Currier
has drawn on a rich Vermont baseball tradition as he builds the UVM program.
Black-and-white evidence of the state’s passion for the game hangs
in the coach’s office — a large historic photo print of Centennial
Field on July 6, 1938 as the Philadelphia Athletics take on the Burlington
Cardinals. The grandstand is filled and makeshift bleachers ring the entire
field. Currier credits local teams, such as Burlington’s erstwhile
Cardinals, for creating a love for baseball in many Vermont communities
that has been handed down across generations. As
examples, he offers up Winooski and recalls when his line-up was anchored
by four graduates of the town’s tiny high school. Or, more recently,
the Rikert brothers, Wade and Kyle, who learned the game in the unlikely
baseball hotbed of South Royalton. Essex Junction, Currier’s hometown, is no different. That’s where Bill and his wife, Vicki, live today with their three sons, Brad, Bryan, and Bryce. As the proud father describes his sons’ youth hockey or the rink he’s built in the backyard that converts to a batting tunnel in summer, it’s plain that the Currier household is one more Vermont home where a love of the summer game — or maybe anything that can be played with ball or puck —is sure to be handed down. Catamount Scoreboard 2001-2002 Baseball
Men’s
Basketball Women’s
Basketball Men’s
Cross Country Women’s
Cross-Country Field
Hockey Men’s
Gymnastics Women’s
Gymnastics Golf
Men’s
Lacrosse Women’s
Lacrosse Men’s
Hockey Women’s
Hockey Skiing
Men’s
Soccer Women’s
Soccer Softball
Men’s
Swimming Women’s
Swimming Men’s
Tennis Women’s
Tennis Men’s
Indoor Track Women’s
Indoor Track Men’s
Outdoor Track Women’s
Outdoor Track Volleyball
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Every
baseball player steps to the plate with hopes of making it back home.
And, among other achievements, that’s what Bill Currier ’84
has accomplished in an athletic career that includes three years of professional
baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies organization and a long, successful
run coaching at his alma mater.