Former Western Michigan baseball coach Fred Decker and Ohio skipper Joe Carbone have shared many stories during their years as friends. This one, however, stood out to Decker the most:
In the midst of deer hunting in the woods of New York last year, Carbone heard a loud noise that seemed to draw closer and closer.
He first thought it was a herd of deer approaching. Instead, two bears in the middle of a hunt of their own emerged from the thicket and ran straight toward him.
Carbone immediately went through his options. He had a muzzleloader, which requires the user to pour gunpowder down the barrel and ram a pellet in after it. But this only allowed for one shot.
Even if he hit his mark on the first try, he would be left with another bear to deal with and only a knife with which to defend himself.
“I was thinking, ‘Well, I’m going to have get my knife and play Davy Crockett here,’” Carbone said. “But before that all happened, they made a right-hand turn and took off running in the other direction.
“Lucky for the bears, right?”
Carbone, 63, owns the second-most all-time wins with 661 and will retire next year after his 24th season. He trails only Decker, 69, whose 791 wins are the most in Mid-American Conference history. He retired from his position with the Broncos in 2004.
The coaches first met when Decker was an assistant for Western Michigan and Carbone was playing on Ohio’s 1970 College World Series team. Decker now counts Carbone as one of his favorite people.
The friends still share stories, often about deer hunting, a hobby that Carbone got Decker into when he gave a pair of locally-made Rocky hunting boots as Decker’s retirement gift.
Other times, they discuss NCAA rules or whatever is going on in college baseball.
Carbone and Decker carry on their tradition of going out to dinner whenever Ohio played away games in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The respect Decker developed for Carbone was the reason Decker recommended Carbone replace him as chairman of the NCAA Mideast Region All-American Committee in 2004.
Carbone has enjoyed the responsibility of choosing the recipients of the most prestigious awards in college baseball ever since.
“It’s about being fair,” Decker said. “Joe cared about the kids.”
Decker and Carbone’s relationship also is not without its share of laughs.
Besides the hunting boots, Carbone also gave Decker an Ohio Bobcats hat as a retirement gift.
Decker said the hat hangs on a coat hook in his Kalamazoo home and has gone untouched since he received it.
“It’s going to stay there,” Decker said with a laugh.
As close as the two coaches were off the field, those feelings were set aside when they faced each other during the season.
Decker recalled the story of former Bobcat Damon Wilcox. Wilcox went to high school near Western Michigan, where his older brother played college ball. Decker assumed Wilcox also would become a Bronco.
But Carbone snuck Wilcox out from under Decker’s nose and recruited him to play for the Bobcats, Decker said. From then on, every time Ohio played Western Michigan, Wilcox had a great game.
“I told him, ‘You were the biggest recruiting mistake I ever made,’” Decker said with another laugh.
Despite all the joking around, Decker and Carbone’s friendship is based on the mutual respect built through their years of coaching in the MAC.
“We would talk in confidence about different issues and everything going on with universities,” Carbone said. “He worked hard, he had great players. It was a first-class operation, and I know he felt the same way about Ohio University.
“We’ve become great friends through the mutual respect of how hard we both work and try to promote college baseball.”
nm256306@ohiou.edu
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