White paint on the walls is only visible through the tears in aging posters outlined by baseball memorabilia. In the corner, hefty tubs of salted peanuts and hot tamale candies turn a filing cabinet into a makeshift dining table. A well-loved leather couch sinks into itself amidst the innumerable photos of family and athletes covering every surface in the room. An eccentric collection of Auburn license plates hangs on the wall. The squeak of a worn desk chair vibrates in the air.
Behind the desk, a smile disguises itself under the masked face of an experienced coach wearing his trusty stopwatch. Wise eyes covered by slightly-smudged glasses wink in contemplation before the rugged voice of a learned coach releases words with calculated intentionality.
“The world is not a bad place,” said Auburn head softball coach Clint Myers. “The more people we see talking about good and doing good, the better it will be. So the statement that the girls who play softball at Auburn University are going to make the world a better place is something that I believe in and something that they are now believing in.”
During just three years of coaching Auburn softball, Myers led the team to back-to-back Women’s College World Series appearances, coached multiple all-Americans, broke 21 records and achieved a program season record of 58 wins.
Off the field, however, Myers initiates a constant environment of putting good back into the world. He said he considers himself a teacher rather than a coach and extends that mentality to the softball team’s involvement within the Auburn community.
Last season, Myers and the team hosted a season-long “Strike Out Hunger” campaign to benefit the food bank for Auburn United Methodist Church. Fans attending the softball games could bring a nonperishable food item in exchange for a $1 beverage ticket to be used anytime during the game.
“As a weekly volunteer at my church’s food pantry, I had become increasingly aware of the need for food assistance in our area,” said Caitlin Myers, wife of Clint’s son, Corey, who is the associated head coach of the softball team. “From that initial idea it snowballed, and as a family, we were able to invent a way to benefit the fans and the community.”
Over the season, the campaign collected more than 7,000 pounds of food items to be used in the Auburn area. The initiative even continued to the games in Oklahoma City, where Auburn friends and fans also brought donations.
As a state-sponsored institution, Clint Myers said he believes that the taxes of the people of Alabama essentially pay for the budgets, salaries and scholarships of the team.
“Anything we can do to go back to our community, to our state, is something that is very important to us,” Myers said. “This was just the beginning.”
Along with hosting the food drive, the softball staff served dinner at the Christian Women’s Job Corp at Auburn United Methodist Church. The girls brought out the food, cleaned the tables, served the families and interacted with the people of the community.
Giving back to the Auburn family is something that Clint Myers has emphasized since his first year at the university. That year, the team threw a Christmas party for foster children, bringing books and toys for the state program. They have also worked closely with the kinesiology department, an opportunity that allows science to be included within the athletic world. A video about Auburn’s defensive trademark, “The Hop,” made in collaboration with kinesiology, has been viewed more than 10 million times. The defensive hop is employed by the infield before every pitch and can also be seen in Boston Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRWzHz0Fhjs
“There are so many of our kids who have impacted lives of people they don’t know because of who they are and how they act,” Clint Myers said. “Giving this town a product that it can be proud of is something that we said we were going to do from the beginning.”
Since arriving in Auburn in 2013, the coach has emphasized the importance of family. Before accepting the job, he met with Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs at Amsterdam Cafe and decided that the school and town could be a perfect fit.
“We’re sitting at the cafe and Jay’s telling me about the Auburn family, and I’m telling him about the Myers family, and we’re both saying great things about both families,” Myers said. “We look at each other and we say ‘This sounds like a perfect marriage.”’
Growing up in California, Myers aspired to become a doctor or a professional baseball player, or both. He played at Arizona State for three years before signing professionally with the St. Louis Cardinals. Eventually, he coached softball and baseball at Central Arizona College before making the move to Auburn.
Myers said he believes that knowledge is power, and knowledge creates the power to make greatness a way of life.
“He has taught me what it means to be great. Coach preaches ‘Greatness is a way of life daily,’” senior softball player Victoria Draper said. “Every morning I wake up knowing I’m going to get better, not just at softball but in life.”
He said he hopes that in every individual he coaches, there is a sense of him and of the Myers family left by the beliefs they teach. The team plans to continue serving the Auburn community beginning in October by collaborating with the speech and hearing clinic in Haley Center to bring awareness to disabilities.
“We’re blessed people,” Clint Myers said. “We are the products of our decisions, and every person who has decided to play softball at Auburn is saying that they are committing to continuing to make the community better.”
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