It didn't take long for the new face at Lincoln University to determine coaching baseball was in his future.
"When I got done playing, I decided to jump into coaching," Mike DeMilia said. "I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but I quickly realized it was going to be a big deal for me."
DeMilia started coaching for the American Legion program his dad had coached for several years and after six years as an understudy, took over the head job.
After a few stops as a high school assistant, he took over the head-coaching reins at Bryant High School in Omaha, Neb.
"That was a little bit like Lincoln," DeMilia said, referring to the Blue Tigers coming off a 2-41 season. "They were 4-24 the year before I got there and within three years we won 22 games and figured stuff out."
When his wife changed careers and took a job as a dental hygienist in Macon, found a spot as an assistant coach at Truman State University in Kirksville.
It was there he first became aware of a school he would eventually end up leading.
"I coached against Lincoln 11 times in three years, so I kind of got to know the program," he said. "I really believe it's a place you can win. Back then, not having any idea that I would ever be sitting here, I jokingly said, "That's my dream job.'
"It's almost like starting a program over, from where we are now. Now it's just a matter of building it up."
It's his time at Truman that could prove most beneficial for DeMilia's new job. Coming into the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, where many schools offer the maximum of nine scholarships for baseball, Lincoln offers just five.
"At Truman, we had no scholarships, so it was really difficult," he said. "... But we fund-raised and had $14,000 to offer for scholarships. It was basically if you gave a guy $500, he was a stud.
"Here, it's not as much money as I would like, but I can still offer much more than we could at Truman. It's definitely prepared me."