The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? new coaches, has been incredible," Kunkel said. "Every day, I'm work- ing with pitchers Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez, and then I see how hitters like Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez have a process to be the best player they can be. You watch the coaches interact and make adjustments, and whatever I can absorb, I just am trying to learn as much as I can in preparing myself to take the next step in my career." Kunkel is locked in to spend the 2014 season with the Tigers, but coaching could become a reality soon. In fact, Kunkel has a standing invita- tion from his former coach at Michi- gan, Rich Maloney. "I tried to recruit him to coach for me when I was at Michigan and now that I'm back with Ball State, but it wasn't the right time for him," said Maloney, who went 341-244 in 10 sea- sons with U-M from 2003-12. "Hope- fully something can work out for him within the Tigers organization, but re- gardless of where and when he starts, he's going to be a terrific coach. "Maybe he'll end up going back to Michigan and taking over the pro- gram someday. That would be a tre- mendous story." Kunkel arrived at Michigan in 2002 a raw prospect from Oak Forrest, Ill. He redshirted and then served as the backup catcher to Jake Fox in 2003 before taking over the starting job in 2004. U-M was improving little by little, from 30-27 in 2003 to 34-26 in 2004. The Wolverines eagerly anticipated the 2005 campaign, featuring Malo- ney's most talented and experienced roster in three seasons, and they did not disappoint. U-M posted a 42-19 record while earning the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 1999. Kunkel hit .384 with 45 RBI, posted a .984 fielding percentage and threw out 46 percent of base runners trying to steal. For his efforts, he was named team MVP and All-Big Ten second- team. "That was the year we began with a series at East Carolina and we lost a one-run game to them — but came back to beat two top-10 teams, [No. 8] Georgia and [No. 10] North Car- olina," Kunkel said. "We were the favorite to win the Big Ten, but we had this horrible series at Minnesota — got swept — and we just couldn't catch up. But we battled, and the mo- mentum of the program really started rolling." The Maize and Blue began confer- ence play 1-8, but went 16-4 over their final 20 games to earn the NCAA bid. Kunkel was drafted that summer. With seven key teammates leaving the program (either through gradu- ation or to chase their MLB dreams), Kunkel, knowing his senior season would be a rebuilding year, had good reason to leave too. "Jeff could have left with all those guys, but instead he made the deci- sion to return, which tells you a lot about Jeff, his love for Michigan and the champion that he is," Maloney said. "He told me 'Coach, I'm com- ing back. I'm not leaving without a championship ring.' I told him we