These are the grades you need to get into Brown

Frank Holbrook is the 18th head coach in Brown baseball history, and he's stood on every rung of the college baseball ladder. He's been a D3 pitcher, a D3 recruiter, a D3 head coach, a summer league manager, a D1 hitting coach, and now an Ivy League head coach. In year one, he took a Brown program picked dead last in the preseason poll all the way to the Ivy League Championship game. He still holds the all-time ERA record at Wheaton College. He won more games than any coach in Rhode Island College history and coached 20 future MLB draft picks in two summers with the Newport Gulls. He was hitting coach on a 49-win Northeastern team, and in 2026 he earned Ivy Coaching Staff of the Year and ECAC Coach of the Year honors. In this episode we cover: -What a college recruiting board actually looks like, and how much leverage the fourth name on it really has -Ivy League recruiting's "double gate": the July 1 admissions pre-read and the August 1 contact date -How Brown recruits with no athletic scholarships, and how families should compare need-based aid to a full ride -The real physical differences between D3 and D1 players, and when one level down is the better fit -What wood bat summer leagues are actually for, and the most wasted money in youth baseball -What a D1 hitting coach changes first on a freshman's swing, and what he refuses to touch -How Brown went from picked last to the Ivy Championship game in five months -Roster caps, the transfer portal, and what an Ivy roster looks like in five years If you're a player trying to figure out where you fit, a parent working through the recruiting and financial aid process, or a coach building a program from the ground up, this one's for you. 🎙️ Host: Mike Vilardo 📍 Recorded at Brown University 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes of On The Subject every week:    / @mikefromsubject   Listen to On The Subject on Spotify: http://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sho... #OnTheSubject #CollegeBaseball #BrownBaseball #IvyLeague #BaseballRecruiting #D1Baseball #D3Baseball #RecruitingTips #SummerBaseball #NECBL #StudentAthlete #BaseballPodcast Video Chapters: 0:00 Program introduction 1:14 Taking over at Brown 3:21 Culture and identity 5:10 Recruiting strategy 6:49 Transfer portal insights 8:56 Recruiting board management 11:27 Tournaments and August 1st 13:29 Academic and career pitch 15:11 Academic and player standards 17:19 Outreach and connection 19:17 Roster and league dynamics 21:38 Budgeting the program 23:40 Fall and summer development 26:42 Transitioning to college 28:54 Practice and BP philosophy 30:40 Stadium and play style 31:56 Building team trust 33:45 Player success stories 36:38 Pre-Ivy preparation 38:23 Fall ball expectations 41:36 Fifth-year eligibility 44:16 Developing pro prospects 46:37 Scouting and traits 49:44 Rapid fire Q&A 58:27 Final pitch and closing