Family Affair: Nandin's Crowd Softball Coaching Staff
2/3/2014 7:16:00 AM | Softball
The Syracuse softball coaching staff will have a different look this year - one of a tight-knight family now the that brother-sister combination of Matt and Morgan Nandin have turned in their gloves for a clipboard.
After spending the last three seasons coaching across town from the dugout of his alma mater, Le Moyne College, Matt joins the Syracuse softball family as the assistant and hitting coach. Younger sister Morgan will hang up her cleats for the first time, being added to the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. And if that wasn't enough, Matt recently married Lindsay (Wasek) Nandin, who is Syracuse's director of operations, making that three of SU's five coaches sharing the last name of Nandin. A former player, Lindsay has been a part of the Syracuse softball program since 2005.
"It's pretty funny looking at the coaching roster and you have all of us with the same last name," Matt said. "I've never seen something like this, so maybe we're starting something new here."
The trio's chemistry, especially Matt and Morgan's, is beginning to rub off on the rest of the players.
"I think they have such a neat, close relationship," head coach Leigh Ross said. "It's not your typical brother-sister relationship, because they have such a love for the game, that's their big bond for them."
Their love for the game comes from father Robert, who played nine years in the minor leagues, including parts of three seasons with the Syracuse Chiefs, where the family decided to settle.
Matt went on to become a four-year starter at Le Moyne, graduating in 2009. Since then he has been coaching the Dolphins while playing professionally at the Independent level, most recently with the Rockland Boulders. Morgan was one of Ross' first recruits, sliding into the starting role as a freshman in 2010. She also served as the link between Matt and both Ross and Lindsay.
Once Morgan began her playing career with the Orange, Matt started coming around the program more often. He got to know Ross during that time and started giving lessons to her daughter, Teagan. Upon seeing his interaction with Teagan, Leigh knew Matt could make the transition to softball.
"I would watch Matt coaching my daughter and tell him, 'Matt, you are so good, you'd make a great softball coach,'" Ross said.
Morgan, on the other hand, always knew the next stop after playing would be coaching softball. She is following in the footsteps of her sister-in-law Lindsay, who was also a four-year starter on the Orange softball team and started off as a volunteer assistant after graduating in 2009. Lindsay's first year coaching coincided with Morgan's first year playing, which eventually led to Morgan introducing Lindsay to Matt.
At this time last year, the Syracuse softball coaching staff consisted of no Nandi's and within a matter of months it has ballooned to three.
"I feel like we're all part of the same family," Ross said. "It really feels that way and I know the girls feel that way, too."
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After spending the last three seasons coaching across town from the dugout of his alma mater, Le Moyne College, Matt joins the Syracuse softball family as the assistant and hitting coach. Younger sister Morgan will hang up her cleats for the first time, being added to the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. And if that wasn't enough, Matt recently married Lindsay (Wasek) Nandin, who is Syracuse's director of operations, making that three of SU's five coaches sharing the last name of Nandin. A former player, Lindsay has been a part of the Syracuse softball program since 2005.
"It's pretty funny looking at the coaching roster and you have all of us with the same last name," Matt said. "I've never seen something like this, so maybe we're starting something new here."
The trio's chemistry, especially Matt and Morgan's, is beginning to rub off on the rest of the players.
"I think they have such a neat, close relationship," head coach Leigh Ross said. "It's not your typical brother-sister relationship, because they have such a love for the game, that's their big bond for them."
Their love for the game comes from father Robert, who played nine years in the minor leagues, including parts of three seasons with the Syracuse Chiefs, where the family decided to settle.
Matt went on to become a four-year starter at Le Moyne, graduating in 2009. Since then he has been coaching the Dolphins while playing professionally at the Independent level, most recently with the Rockland Boulders. Morgan was one of Ross' first recruits, sliding into the starting role as a freshman in 2010. She also served as the link between Matt and both Ross and Lindsay.
Once Morgan began her playing career with the Orange, Matt started coming around the program more often. He got to know Ross during that time and started giving lessons to her daughter, Teagan. Upon seeing his interaction with Teagan, Leigh knew Matt could make the transition to softball.
"I would watch Matt coaching my daughter and tell him, 'Matt, you are so good, you'd make a great softball coach,'" Ross said.
Morgan, on the other hand, always knew the next stop after playing would be coaching softball. She is following in the footsteps of her sister-in-law Lindsay, who was also a four-year starter on the Orange softball team and started off as a volunteer assistant after graduating in 2009. Lindsay's first year coaching coincided with Morgan's first year playing, which eventually led to Morgan introducing Lindsay to Matt.
At this time last year, the Syracuse softball coaching staff consisted of no Nandi's and within a matter of months it has ballooned to three.
"I feel like we're all part of the same family," Ross said. "It really feels that way and I know the girls feel that way, too."
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Syracuse Softball
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