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All he wanted to do was drive.
Matt Swope was in Florida with the Montreal Expos organization in spring 2004, trying to hang on to his dwindling professional baseball career. He was struggling to rekindle the success he saw in college after two labrum and rotator cuff surgeries.
The Expos cut him before the season started. He left immediately, driving through the night in his Nissan SUV to where he’s always felt most comfortable: home in Maryland. At points along the 1,000-mile trek, tears clouded his vision as he stared at the dark road and into the finality of his playing days.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever dealt with failure. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to go through sheer devastation,” Swope said. “All I’ve done since I was 5 years old was work to get to that point.”
For nearly a decade, he labored through desk jobs, longing for any way back into the sport. Maryland gave it to him. Swope will make his head coaching debut with the Terps on Friday.
The New Carrollton native wanted to play for them since he was a 13-year-old sneaking into basketball games. Over the last decade as a Maryland assistant, multiple major league teams asked him to be their hitting coach. He rejected them all. Maryland athletic director Damon Evans rewarded that loyalty when the Terps’ head coach position opened last summer.
Swope is home. He’s never left. He doesn’t plan to.
“When I came back here and worked, I think I made $20,000 my first year,” he said. “I lived in D.C. for six years. I grew up in PG County. I live in Annapolis now. The lifestyle and being happy is more important to me than a financial gain.”
Read more here: https://dbknews.com/2024/02/16/matt-swope-maryland-baseball-coach-dematha/
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