The ABCA convention landed in Columbus, Ohio in 2026 and the setting and layout was outstanding. The adjacent hotels, easy access to the trade show and lecture hall, and smaller clinics and meeting rooms all in one place made it easy to experience everything. A unique feature was actually seeing daylight! The row of restaurants right outside the door made it easy to get food and have a break before diving back in.

The opening of the convention with 8,000 coaches continues to be an inspiring moment. ABCA President Bob Whalen, who just retired after a long and distinguished career at Dartmouth, welcomed everyone before honoring on stage the national coaches of the year (national champions in their respective divisions), and assistant coaches of the year. Larry Redwine from the Continental Amateur Baseball Association and Jerry Ford from Perfect Game and the Rise 2 Greatness Foundation were honored with the Travel Service Award. Tom O’Connell introduced the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Awards to Tom Griffin from Carson-Newman University and Kermit Smith from Appalachian State University who made strong speeches.

The tradition of the coach of the past year’s NCAA Division I Championship team speaking first is always a highlight. Jay Johnson from LSU kicked off the coaches clinics (for the second time in the past three years) talking about qualities of elite coaches. He led with discussing the impact of his assistant coaches and staff members on LSU’s success, before giving advice and examples for coaches who want to move up: “The most important thing you can do is do a great job where you’re at.”

He then moved to coaching advice to best help players: “You can’t overwhelm the player with information. The longer I do this, the more I believe simplicity is really sophisticated. If I am too complex, I am completely destroying the execution that I’m looking for. The best development systems are simple, they’re logical in how they progress, and they are inspiring. If we do this, then we have a great chance of this working out the way that we want to.”

One of the great innovations over the years has been the expansion of the Hot Stove Panels. Not just five years ago, there was one hitting and one pitching Hot Stove. This year, there were 11 panels and 58 speakers covering everything from hitting to leadership to baserunning and strength and conditioning. The casual Q&A interplay in a smaller-group setting has turned into one of the best learning opportunities at the convention.