Back in the game: K-State baseball student-athlete Jacob Biller ’19 finds success overseas
For Jacob Biller ’19, it took walking away from playing baseball for several years
to find the path that eventually led to him both playing and coaching overseas, building
a career out of the sport he loves.
“I felt a real sense of loss after finishing my collegiate playing career,” said Biller,
a former K-State baseball player and Academic All-Big 12 First Team member. “I had
tied most of my identity into being a baseball player instead of allowing it to be
one piece of who I was. Distancing from baseball was uncomfortable in many ways, but
it was necessary for growth and identifying the things that were most important to
me.”
After graduating from K-State, Biller spent the next two years coaching at the junior
college level, experiencing the game from what he describes as “the other side of
the white lines.” As he coached the young student-athletes — having recently been
a student-athlete himself — he was able to gain experience as a mentor and help the
students learn to balance baseball and life.
After that season of personal growth and reflection, Biller returned to the question:
“What do I really want to do?” And the answer was still, “play baseball again.”
That’s when he discovered the Baseball Jobs Overseas network and found out it was
possible to pair playing and coaching baseball with international travel, and it felt
like the best of both worlds.
Biller played professionally in France last year for the Rouen Huskies, who won the
French national championship. He also was an assistant coach for the French national
team that played in the European championship. He is playing this year in Belgium
for the Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix.
“I have found that being able to travel to Europe to play and contribute to coaching
in their system has been rejuvenating,” Biller said. “It has been a return to the
simplicity of it being a game to enjoy, as part of a group, held together by team
loyalty and pride in community.”
A new perspective
When you mention baseball in the United States, people often think of the classic
song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with its references to peanuts, the brand Cracker
Jack and “one, two, three strikes, you're out.”
However, according to Biller, baseball culture in Europe is different from the U.S.
Although baseball is not as well-known as a sport amongst the general population,
Biller said it has been fun to watch it growing in popularity.
Most of the European players work full-time jobs in addition to playing baseball,
and it’s their deep love of the game that motivates them to devote their free time
on nights and weekends to training and competition.
U.S. and European teams do get a chance to compete on the same stage every four years
as part of the World Baseball Classic, a competition of the best national teams determined
via a playoff system. Countries from all over the world participate.
Biller has enjoyed living in a new country, including time staying in the homes of
host families. He is learning to speak French, as the language commonly used on the
baseball field is a mix of English and French. He also has high praise for French
cuisine, calling even simple food like a fresh baguette with ham and butter “a transformational
eating experience.”
He also has been fascinated by the architecture in cities in France and Belgium, which
include both ancient cathedrals and hyper-modern office buildings.
“The World War II sites in Normandy and the Ardennes region in both countries is humbling
and awe-inspiring and really brings home the link between our shared history,” he
said. “So, in every way my experiences living and working overseas have been life-changing.
The friendships I have made are deep and will stay with me forever.”
A team effort
While there may be differences between playing baseball in the U.S. versus overseas,
Biller is grateful he’s been able to experience the same sense of family and belonging
he had while at K-State.
As an import player for the Rouen Huskies, he found his teammates to be welcoming,
inclusive and generous.
“To be a new addition and to come in and be made to feel as if I had been part of
the family all along, speaks volumes to the strength in the team environment individually
and collectively,” he said.
Winning the French national championship with the Huskies in 2021 felt like the perfect
ending to the team’s season. Although Rouen had won numerous French national championships
over the years, they had a slow start to the season, and another championship win
seemed unlikely. Several of the most experienced players had decided to retire before
the season started, and younger players were tasked with stepping into larger roles.
“Through all the changes we still found a way to finish on top and hoist a French
championship trophy in the 10th inning of the fifth game in a five-game series,” Biller
said. “It was a thrill to have a storybook ending to my first experience getting to
play internationally.”
While coaching baseball is a very different experience from playing the game, Biller
has found it to be just as worthwhile, enabling him to grow as a teacher, a competitor
and as a person.
“As a player, I always found of utmost importance that [I should be] focusing on the
betterment of the team, whether by listening to a teammate that might be struggling
with what they were experiencing in life or trying to be a positive force for the
team as a whole by keeping tabs on my own actions or words,” he said. “As a coach,
while it is no less important to have a sense of yourself and take care of yourself,
it can and should sometimes take a backseat to the responsibility you have to the
young people you have the opportunity to influence.”
Grounded in purple pride
As for what the future holds for Biller, he is still exploring his options. He said
he could see himself one day going back to school, studying exercise physiology and
nutrition. There are graduate assistant coaching opportunities that would allow him
to study and be part of a coaching staff at the university level.
“My goal is to continue to impact lives in the most positive way that I can,” he said.
“This could be in sports, or in another environment. My greatest hopes center around
finding the right people to surround myself with and being that right person for those
around me in every moment and in every way I can be.”
Biller said the thing he cherishes most from his K-State experience is the people
that he crossed paths with, both academically and athletically. The university taught
him lessons about baseball — and life — that he still carries with him.
He learned that even when the journey is hard, all that hard work is worth it in the
end. It’s tempting to get lost in your own goals and struggles, but it’s important
to support those around you too. Finally, live in the moment, and don’t get so caught
up on the destination that you miss the joys along the way.
“It isn’t the material gains or the results at the end that are remembered so much
as it is the shared moments, good and bad, that stay with you much longer, and eventually
supersede the grades, or wins and losses,” Biller said. “Baseball as much as anything
is a sport with an important foundation in data and results, but it really requires
that you focus on the moment. But it is not just focus that brings reward, it is being
able to revel in the moment. That is the moment that things will begin to align naturally
as a player and hopefully in life as well.”
He’s grateful for the support of two specific, very special K-Staters: his parents,
Dr. David Biller, a professor and section head, radiology, in K-State’s College of
Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Diane Mason ’99, clinical professor/anesthesiology, also
in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
“Getting to compete at a high level of sport in front of the community I grew up in
was a dream come true,” he said of his K-State experience. “The level of support from
within K-State Athletics, also within the Department of Kinesiology, as well as even
deeper in the Manhattan, Kansas, community, influences me every day of my life.”
More about Jacob Biller ’19 and his time at K-State
- CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic 1st Team All District Baseball Team – Division I (2018)
- Recognized for on-field and in-classroom performance in nine-state district (1 of 4 infielders)
- Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award Recipient – Big 12 Conference (2018)
- Recognized for Big 12 Conference’s highest academic honor (1 of 4 in Big 12 Baseball)
- More K-State stats