New Ohio State baseball coach Justin Haire eager to take advantage of Buckeyes' 'resources'

Earlier this month, Justin Haire was named the Ohio State baseball coach and boy is he ready to take advantage of the school’s resources to build a successful program.

The new Ohio State skipper was widely successful over the past decade with Campbell, but has a new beast to tackle. The Big Ten, along with the SEC, are the premier athletic conferences right now.

So, Haire fully plans to take advantage of what he has in Columbus.

“The most important piece … is really trying to streamline and organize the resources that we have,” Haire said on College Sports Radio on Sirius XM. “I think identity is so important, knowing exactly who you are, exactly who you aren’t and knowing that it’s okay that you’re not just like somebody else, right? Like we’re not trying to be a mini version of an SEC school. 

“We’re not trying to do the mini version of anybody, like they’re trying to be the absolute best version of being the Ohio State Buckeyes on the baseball diamond. And, and because of that, like one, we need to make sure that we’re doing a good job of being as creative as we can with the resources that we have.” 

When you see a successful football and basketball program, naturally, the baseball program could do the same things within the athletic department. That’s what Haire believes in taking this job.

“The resources are pretty darn good here,” Haire said. “You know, I think we’ve got tremendous (things) from a facility standpoint, I think that you know, operating budget and a lot of different pieces, man. We’re going to be able to be really creative with some of the stuff that we do with the resources that we have, and then understand that success, you know, they go hand in hand, right?

“Like everybody wants more resources, so they can be more successful. But a lot of times the inverse is true, right? Like the more successful we are then the more resources that we earn, and the more connection that we can have. 

“And so my first job is to get as creative with the resources and be as streamlined with the resources and maximize them as much as we possibly can, knowing that, you know what, like in our core group of us versus the Big Ten, we’re in a really good spot.”

Haire said teams like Ohio State’s baseball squad might not always be in the best position financially, but they’re still pretty well off. In the grand scheme of things, the Buckeyes have a good chance at competing with the best from a resource perspective, so long as they’re used right.

“Ohio State baseball is funded (and) in a pretty good spot. Can that be better? Of course,” Haire said. “Like, somebody’s always going to have more, right like, I know that you know that we all know that. Like it’s a very basic concept that somebody out there somewhere is always going to have more.

“There’s only one richest person in the entire world. Does that mean the 14th richest person isn’t rich? No, it absolutely does not. It just means that somebody has more, so we got to do the best with the resources that we have. And I think that those are in a really, really good spot.”