Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!

#147 - Handling Failure, Pressure, and Identity in College Baseball with Tyler Rubasky

Jan 12, 2026

Tyler Rubasky, Anderson University head baseball coach who rose from player to leader, talks mental toughness and culture. He covers handling failure between pitches, using mental skills to recover from mistakes, keeping mental training through leadership change, recruiting with a development edge, and preparing players for life after baseball.

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ANECDOTE

Playing Through Pain Shaped His Mindset

Tyler missed most of his freshman year due to a mysterious injury and had to manage chronic pain to keep playing.
That experience forced him to re-evaluate identity and taught him resilience under uncertainty.

ADVICE

Invest In Mental Training Now

Do invest in mental training because it helps players move on between pitches and handle failure.
Use frameworks like roadmap, preparation, and performance to apply mental skills beyond baseball.

INSIGHT

Baseball's Failure Rhythm Demands Reset Skills

Baseball is uniquely mentally demanding because players repeatedly face failure and long gaps between meaningful actions.
Success depends on how quickly athletes reset and refuse to fester on mistakes.

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Baseball is a game of failure — and how athletes respond to that failure often determines who lasts and who fades.

In this episode of The Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes sits down with Tyler Rubasky, Head Baseball Coach at Anderson University, to talk about what it really takes to build mentally tough athletes in today’s college game.

Tyler shares his journey from player to assistant coach to head coach, how injuries shaped his mindset, and why he chose to fully invest in mental training — even during a major coaching transition. He explains how mental skills impact performance between pitches, after errors, and during slumps, and why mental preparation matters just as much as physical development.

You’ll also hear how mental training:

Shapes recruiting and culture
Helps athletes move on from failure faster
Prepares players for life after baseball
Changes how coaches show up in big moments

Whether you’re a coach, athlete, or leader working under pressure, this conversation is packed with insight on identity, resilience, and long-term development.

Episode Chapters / Timestamps (Highly Recommended)

00:00 – Intro & Tyler’s coaching journey
02:00 – Why mental training matters in baseball
03:15 – Playing through injury & mental resilience
05:20 – Initial skepticism about mental training
06:40 – Why Anderson invested in Mental Training Plan
08:00 – Why baseball is uniquely mentally demanding
10:45 – NIL, transfers, and new mental challenges
12:40 – Building culture players want to stay in
14:15 – Mental training’s role in recruiting
17:15 – How players actually use mental skills in games
18:45 – How mental training changed Tyler’s coaching style
20:05 – Preparing athletes for life after baseball
22:10 – Advice to coaches on the fence about mental training
24:45 – Advice Tyler would give his younger self
26:20 – Advice for first-year coaches

Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes

Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/teams