June 6, 2024 • 42 mins
Darren Headrick and Darren Williams talk to Hall of Famer Keith Madison about this Kentucky Baseball team. Then Coach Madison shares about the first time he met Nick Mingione and tells what it would mean for Kentucky to make a College World Series.
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(00:00):
Welcome into a special edition of BehindKentucky Baseball. As always, we're brought
to you by Assured Partners, proudto offer Frankenmuth insurance. Start a Frank
conversation today at www Dot Assured Partnersdot com. We are closing in on
the Super Regionals at Kentucky Proud Park. The Wildcats will host Oregon State and
(00:21):
a best two of three, andso we thought we would bring you a
second podcast episode this weekend, aspecial one. This Darren Williams. I
bring in my co host here,dub. This is a Hall of Fame
edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball because weare joined by the one and only Keith
Madison. Come on, baby,good to have you here. Thanks for
having me. We had to gettwo episodes in this week. We got
(00:44):
to get two wins this weekend,so there you go. Prepare us.
I'm all about that. Uh huh, need it bad now. We've had
some great guests on the show,a lot of players, a few coaches,
So no pressure, no pressure,Yeah, don't I don't feel any
pressure. I'm with you guys allthe time, so I don't feel Have
you ever been on a podcast coach? Oh? Yeah, Okay, I
(01:04):
have my own podcast where you go, Hey, I'm a high tech redneck.
Yeah, y'are Yeah, y'all,Yeah, y'all. Coach, let's
get into it. You were behindthe microphone with me on Sunday night last
week as we record when the Wildcatsclinched a regional championship for the second straight
year, defeating Indiana State five tonothing. How would you describe the excitement
(01:29):
of where this program is right nowunder Nick Minjeon off the charts? I
mean, I just feel like Nickhas done such a great job of putting
it all together, you know,from and and he he is that kind
of guy. He's very thoughtful,I think, really thinks things through.
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And the way that he recruited toget to this point and the way he's
handled a transfer portal has been spectacular. Yeah. And I say that because
they brought in very good players,guys like Grant Smith and Ryan wals Schmidt,
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you know, all those guys.But they're great Williams. But they
bring in you know, they're they'rebringing in great people and and that's a
that's a phenomenal thing to be ableto do. So, uh, they
obviously vet these guys very well,they do a great job of not just
finding out who's in the transfer portal, who can fit a slot, who
(02:31):
has bat speed, but also who'sgoing to fit into this program. I
mean, you you nailed the headon the nail right there, because there's
so many guys in the portal everysingle year that are really talented, off
the charts numbers, but they justmight not be the right people. That's
right, and Coach Minche and CoachRozelle, I know for a fact they
they're chasing the right people because ittakes a culture to win games at this
(02:54):
level and we've been doing a lotof winning in the past couple of years,
and it's because of the right peoplein the locker room. Not I
mean, everybody can play in thatlocker room, but they're all so great
people. I mean, you've hadconversations with on the time. You know,
you understand it. They see youwalking in the halls and they're like,
what's up, Coach, They'll havea conversation with I know it.
And it's just the way they makeyou feel like a part of the program
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and that that you know. JohnMaxwell, the Leadership Group, says everything
rises and falls with leadership so Nickcreates that. He creates that culture and
so uh, the players pick upon that and they're they're very comfortable with
that. And so they're a fungroup of guys to be around. They
really are. And I want totake you in. I want to get
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into your coaching head a little bitand and go back to when you were
building this thing from the ground up. And now you're here and you see
this magnificent ballpark as we look outon it, as we record this facility
that's just a crown jewel in thesec and what this program is accomplishing.
How how much joy do you getout of how far this program has grown
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since you first took over and itwas basically a field of grass. Yeah,
it's I mean it's almost surreal,you know, to see how how
far we've come. And when Italk about that, I always have to
go back to Mitch Barnhardt because MitchBarnhart, and I don't mean any disrespect
(04:24):
to any former athletic director, becauseif C. M. Newton were alive
today, I'd give him a bigug. Sure, Cliff Hagen gave me
an opportunity, So I respect andadmire those men a lot. But Mitch
had a he had a vision forbaseball as an athletic director, and that's
(04:46):
special, and so I knew Ionly got to work for him one year
and and then I just felt reallyled to get out of coaching at that
time. But it's it's really it'sreally fun for me to see an athletic
director that comes to the games.He loves it when we win. He's
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behind the coaches and the players andjust provides an opportunity like this to build
a stadium and make it happen.So I start with him, and then
again going back to what I saidand ago, it's the culture piece that
I appreciate so much, because youknow, that's something I really tried to
do. And when I coached inthis program and we had great kids,
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great players. So many guys thatI coached are coming back this weekend,
flying in from California, flying infrom Texas, flying in from Florida.
They are pumped and it excites meto see them that way. So yeah,
it's I'm blown away by all ofthis and can't get enough of it.
(05:55):
I love it. I'm glad youbrought up Mitch Barnhart because one of
the best videos coming out of thisweekend was somebody captured his celebration of a
million Petrie seventh inning home run thatreally put the game away for all intents
and purposes, but just the sheerjoy and excitement when he celebrated that home
run. A lot of folks don'tget to see that side of Mitch Barnhardt
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a lot of times, and itwas fun to put that out there and
let them see how much he's rootingfor his team. Yeah, you showed
me that, and it kind ofpumped me up a little bit to see
how excited he was. But onething you know that Mitch knows and we
all know, is that when meand Petrie hits a home run, I
mean, obviously we're happy because thathelps us win the game, but we're
(06:36):
happy for that kid, yes,And so you know, we are,
all three of us are so behindthose players because they are such good people
and they're easy to pull for,and we just wanted so badly for the
player. Sure, I mean it'seasy to pull for him because there's I've
said it so many times, it'ssuch a fun brand of baseball to watch.
(06:58):
It is, and I watch alot of baseball, you know,
coach high school, watch the Redsall the time, watch college baseball religiously,
and this team coach offensively. Youcan hit a home run anytime,
you can put a bunt down anytime. They're stealing bases at a clip higher
than most teams in college. Thedefense is off the charts. The pitchers
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attack the zone. Man, howfun is it? Obviously you've watched games
throughout years of Kentucky baseball. Howfun is it to watch this team play
the game? Yeah? I meanthey're so solid in so many different areas.
And uh, and you know,all my life and we've all heard
this, I've heard all my life, is that you know you've got to
(07:42):
be strong up the middle. Yeah. Well, we have a great leader
behind the dish best. He's he'sjust a he. I love the way
he handles pitchers, and I lovethe way that he gives his all every
game. I mean, when yousee that kid after game, there's not
a dry thread on his now uniform. And then birthday did burs by the
way, there you go, solove Devin Burks. And then you know,
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then you you have the Trey Poosiersand and the Mason Moores on the
mound and then you got Smith andPetrie in the middle. You got Nolan
McCarthy, who is a fun guyto watch play amazing defensively. Yeah he
is. He's very good. Uh. And that's not all. We're strong
up the middle. But then wegot Mitch Day at third base. Right
(08:24):
can pick it with the best ofthem. He can pick it. Got
a good arm. H We gotwal Spent in left field and he can
go get them. We got McCoyand right field. He's got a cannon
out there and he's made some greatplays this year. So boy, pitching
and defense, this team has it. And then, like you said,
you know this team can score.You know they They've scored a lot of
(08:46):
runs this year. They do itin a lot of different ways. They
everybody in the lineup can hit hitthe long ball, and I'm not surprised
if any one of them does it. But also, you know, they
they know how to get on base. They know how to compete with two
strikes. They have a great twostrike approach, and they can run the
bases like crazy. I love watchto watch our team run the bases.
(09:07):
Yeah, I mean they're going,yeah, we're gonna get thrown out at
third sometimes we just go for it. But that kind of aggression puts a
lot of pressure on the other team. So I love it. I'm like
you, I love watching his teamplay, and part of it is because
of the way they play. Theother part is because of the people who
(09:28):
play. I think you spoke toit a little bit there, like the
aggressiveness and a lot of people getfrustrated, like, oh, they get
thrown out all the time running thebases and stuff. But if a team
dials that back, it's like,Okay, we're not gonna steal. I
think that just kills the mojo ofthe entire team, right, Like the
gas pedal is always pushed down,Go go go, and whatever happens happens.
You see that. Oh yeah,you got to get in the psyche
(09:50):
of a team. I definitely seethat. And you know, I think
I've mentioned this Darren before, butI've been to the Demanda Public over thirty
times and I've watched a lot ofbaseball down there, and the kids growing
up down there. They have afreedom on the field that most American players
don't have. The way they runthe bases, they're very aggressive, you
(10:13):
know, they come out of theirshoes when they swing right. But most
American baseball players are stiff on thebases. You know, when they get
on base, the're afraid they're gonnaget picked off, or they're too concerned
about their lead or all that.Our guys are very relaxed out there on
the bases, and it shows abouthow many times they take the extra base,
(10:35):
they take advantage of a ball inthe dirt and all those little things
that make good base running. Yeah. I mean, we saw that first
standing Sunday against Indiana State. Petriesat first, just an innocent pickoff to
make sure that he can't go anywhere, and it sails down the right field
line and he's standing on third.Yeah, I mean, it was just
amazing. And there's some teams thatwe've competed against the spring in the SAC,
(11:00):
which is by far the best conferencein college baseball. You know,
we've seen teams that you don't evenhave to pick at first. You know
they're not going to run. Youknow, they're just gonna they're just gonna
play station to station baseball, andso that's not gonna happen with those teams.
But with our team, I mean, they know where we're gonna run,
so they pick a lot, it'sgonna force them into more mistakes.
(11:20):
It really is a game that lendsitself to no right or wrong answers,
and that's what I love about it. You talk about the teams that play
station to station, they just wantto get two guys on and hit a
three run homer. Kentucky wants toscore three runs using a myriad of ways
to do so by putting pressure onthe defense. There's no right or wrong
answer, But I tell you what, there's one that's a lot more fun
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to watch than the other. That'sright and the one where you're just standing
there waiting on the three run homer. It's not a lot of fun.
That's right. It works, butit's not a lot of fun, and
it makes us so able to wingames this year. Yeah, a year
you can adapt to any style,any any type of style, because there's
gonna be a time in the nexttwo to three weeks or we're gonna hit
home run. Yeah, it's gonnahave like we are gonna have to hit
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a big home run and we gotthe guys to do it. But there's
also going to be another game wherewe got to lay down a bunch or
we got to get a stolen baseor we got to hit behind a runner,
and we can get that done too. And coach, you've seen td
Ameer trade in person in Omaha.If Kentucky gets there, their style lends
itself to more success than just waitingon a long ball, because if the
wind's blowing in there, forget aboutit. Right. Oh yeah, yeah,
(12:24):
yeah. I was speaking to orspeaking with our man, Josh Walker,
old athletic trainer here in twenty twentytwo this past weekend is in town.
He's obviously obviously been there a bunch, and he said it's the biggest
ballpark in America. And the windblows straight in. Yeah, like you
hit a pop flight of the wall, it's staying in the yard. So
yeah, it plays big. Yeah. I mean I've seen it where the
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ball carries well there, but notvery often. But the environment is off
the charts. I mean, Ineed it so bad, boys, I
need too so bad. We gotwe got to get there. Coach,
I want to ask you, yep, you know this is I feel like
we're gonna have a ton of coaches, you know, around the country listening
to this episode because of you here. What's the biggest game you ever won.
(13:09):
Wow, that's a great question.I think I go back. We
played Clemson in a regional and theywere ranked either one or two, I
can't remember. They had won ourover fifty games. They were the number
one seed at that time. Itwas a sixteen tournament. Oh really yeah?
(13:30):
Okay, so it was man.Were they coached by Legan at this
point? No, it was BillWillhelm, the legendary Bill Willhelm, But
you know it was it was awar getting getting through a sixteen tournament.
But Clemson was the number one seed. We were the number two seed.
Stanford was the number three seed.But we played Clemson and we faced their
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number one and we beat them ina close ball game, and I felt
like that put us in the driver'sseat in the regional and it did.
We ended up in a winners bracketand ended up unfortunately losing two to Stanford.
One one of the pitchers was MikeMessina. It was pitching for stands
tough. Well, it's kind oflike facing skins last year, another family
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coach, So you know, thatwas that was a big one. And
then you know, we we sweptLSU when they were ranked number one at
the at the Cliff. Uh wewe did a two games sweep l s
U when they were ranked number two. Uh we got rained at one game.
But yeah, I mean those arethose are ones that come to my
mind. But and all of themare good, you know, are good.
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So the reason I asked that questionis, and obviously those are huge
wins. We're playing in the sweetsixteen at our home ballpark. So from
a coach's perspective, how do youwin the big games and not just the
games in the regular season whatever,the big one against Oregon State this weekend.
You know, this is going tosound like a and uh answer that
(15:00):
I don't know, it's going tosound like a weird answer, But it's
player driven. It's player driven.I mean, the coach is going to
get the team prepared, the scoutingreport and all that stuff, but the
players themselves have to decide how they'regoing to win the game. And this
team that's that's one reason I likethis team so much. They're so mature.
Yeah, you have veteran players thatare very mature and they're going to
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take the bull by the horns.They don't have to necessarily be motivated.
They're ready to go. So allyou know, all coach Manage and coach
Roselle and and and Ammo and allthose guys. They just have to do
a great job with the scouting report, and they will. They're watching tons
of Oregon State film, yeah,or state film. They're going to be
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prepared. They're going to know everytendency and all that. So they're going
to be prepared in that way.The situation itself motivates, So I think
the maturity the players will make thedifference. That's the way I feel.
And that's that's why I'm gonna goout on a lamb and feel comfortable.
Oh yeah, Kentucky winning and not. This is not I mean, Oregon
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State is a tremendous opponent. Yeah, they're good. I mean, give
me a break. Tennessee played wholast year in the super regionals? Who
did they play last year? Couldn'ttell you it was anyway they it was
nothing anything like playing LSU at LSU. So and and this year they're playing
Evansville, no disrespect to Evansville,Southern Miss and Hattiesburg. Last year,
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yes, Southern Miss. So theygot to go to Southern Miss. We
had to go to LSU and facea big league pitcher. Yep, same
thing this year. But you knowwhat, the players had played down at
LSU last year and face Skiens,they're going to be more prepared for this
situation. They're playing at home now, they're playing a really good team in
Oregon State. But I feel goodabout it. Yeah. And last year
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it was Paul Skins the number oneoverall draft pick. This year it's going
to be Travis Bizana, who's goingto be number one or number two overall
in this year's draft. But he'snot a pitcher coach. He's a position
player. So when you face adude that's batting four or fifteen's got almost
thirty home runs, he's got aton of stolen bases, how do you
not let a guy like that beatyou? Because you can't just pitch around
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him and walk him because now he'sgoing to steal bases, he's that good.
How do you try to contain aguy like that and limit the damage
he can do? Yeah? Imean, first of all, Number one,
you have to compete one hundred percent. You can't be scared of You
can't be scared. Number two,you have to execute pitches. And if
you do those two things, youhave a chance. If you miss out
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over the plate, he's going tohurt you. Yeah, but you have
to you know, there's going tobe a plan how to pitch this guy,
and Dan Roselle is going to comeup with a very good plan on
how to do that. And thenit just gets down. You know,
players play and coaches coach, andit's up to you know, Frey Pooser
or Mason Moore whoever's pitching, toexecute pitches and and if they do that,
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he's not going to hurt us.And other face the guy that's going
to have four at bats a gameor possibly five, as opposed to facing
Paul schime Skiings who's on. Rememberlast year facing l s U Tommy White
was obviously one of the Hey,I thought he got it better. Last
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year he was insane. I gaveup a home run to him off the
batter's eye because I love to pitchout of the middle in the regular season.
But I just remember against him,my strategy was just get in on
his hands, like those sinkers onhis hands, and see what happens if
you hit them. You hit them, that's right, But I'm with you,
don't let thing, don't let itout over the plate. He's been
(18:38):
thrown first pitch, breaking ball allyear long. So do something different,
you know, go right in thekitchen with a good fastball and let whatever
happens happens. Yeah, that wasthat was always my thought process as a
pitcher against the best hitters. Yes, get in on me too. You
know, I didn't throw a hundred, but we faced we faced Frank Thomas
and and we did just a Hallof Famer. We didn't have all the
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all the video and stuff back then. Yeah, you know, games weren't
televised very often. So his freshmanyear, he comes in and I'm thinking,
hey, this is a big kid, he's a freshman. He probably
can't hit a breaking ball. Hecould hit a breaking ball. So after
that season, we just went inon his hands. I mean we had
to, and we didn't always gethim, but we had We had a
lot more successespecially with kids nowadays whoare so strong, right the grip,
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strength of forearm, specific workouts ourhitters do. I promise you that these
kids are strong. If you leavea pitch out over the plate oppo field,
they can drive the ball from underfeet right field. If he could
do that. So you can't justlet the ball like pitch out there all
the time. You got to backthem up off the plate, move they
make them uncomfortable. Got to beaggressive. Yes, Illinois came in here
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this weekend with a lineup full ofhome run hitters, and Trey Pooser was
so effective coach on that change up, throwing it inside and landing it on
that inside corner. He had himtwisted up and bind it up the whole
game. Yeah, And you know, it takes a lot of confidence and
a lot of courage really to throwit inside change up. Yeah. I
mean, I I never wanted todo that, But how do you hit
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that pitch? I mean, ifyou hit it, you're gonna pull it
foul. And nobody wants to getjammed on a change up inside, right,
so they're gonna pull it. Yeah. So you know, the first
guy I ever saw do that,I think was Greg Maddox and he had
a lot of success with that.He would throw high change upst people to
pop up. The guy was phenomenal. But Trey Pooser is a veteran guy
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who has good stuff that knows howto execute pitches like I talked about earlier.
So that's a good thing I got. I gotta, you know,
give a shout out to Dad.I guarantee he listens to this. Greg
Maddox one of his favorite pitchers ofall time. Just one minute of your
time on Greg Maddicks. Was itlike watching that guy? I mean unreal?
(20:57):
He was an artist? Yeah,he really was an artist. I
mean when he was like most pictures. When he first came up, he
threw hard, but he figured itout. He was so much smarter than
most pitchers that he figured out,hey, I can throw a high change
up and this guy that's trying tohit the ball four hundred and eighty feet
just gonna pop it up. He'sjust gonna pop it up. And he
(21:18):
could paint the corners like nobody,and he and his teammate Tom Clavin both
could do that. But Greg Maddoxwas, oh another thing. Tremendous defensive
pitcher, could make the place.You don't butt on him because he didn't
look athletic, but he was tremendouslyathletic. Dad, I love that.
I think the best video ever ofMaddocks pitching. I think he was at
(21:41):
Wrigley Field or something. Through thetwo seam that started in the left handed
hunder's batter's box and just came rightback in that insane movement. I don't
know how that pitch was unbelievable.I have a great story when I was
working in the minor leagues with theIndians, a ball team. Our pitching
coach one year was Steve Carse,who was a big time closed for the
or a late innings pitcher for theYankees for a little while, and then
(22:03):
got traded to the Braves. Andhe was telling me when he was traded,
he arrived in the clubhouse there atTurner Field, and the clubhouse manager
walked him to an open locker roomand he sit down and he's putting his
stuff in his locker and everything,and the two lockers on either side of
him. Nobody was there, buthe could see that they were occupied.
(22:23):
Well, all of a sudden,he's doing some stuff in his bag,
and he says, he sees somebodywalk over and sit down beside him in
the locker, and he looks andit's Tom Glavin. And then somebody sits
down on the other side and heturns and looks and it's Maddocks and he's
right between the two of wow,and they were like welcome to Atlanta.
Yeah right, between greatness. That'sright, that's right. Let's hit a
(22:44):
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Here on behind Kentucky Baseball, it'sour Hall of Fame Special edition as we're
joined by Keith Madison and uh theall time winning coach of Kentucky Baseball Hall
(23:29):
of Fame status. I got toask you when when you first found out
you were going into the UK AthleticsHall of Fame, what was the reaction.
It was sort of like this,you couldn't find anybody else. I'm
just kidding. Well, I gotto go into that inaugural class and it
was unbelievable you're talking Babe Perilli.Yeah, how about that Cliffhagen, Uh,
(23:52):
my goodness, Cayle Macy. Imean, all these people. It's
like I was blown away. Butuh yeah, I mean just getting to
meet some of those guys was prettycool. Getting to meet baby Parilli.
I've heard of him all my lifeand knew that he was one of the
greatest quarterbacks and if not the bestbesides Tim Couch maybe and uh UK history
(24:17):
and uh and I met Johnny Cox, you know, the great player from
Hazard. Uh. Just met alot of cool guys that night. But
I'm so honored by that. Andyou know, I grew up one of
those kids just loving Kentucky basketball andfootball and anything anything Kentucky played. I
(24:37):
was just a Walkhead fan listening tok Would on the radio, uh,
listening to him say things like,well, the volunteers are worming up to
the left of your radio dial,and the Kentucky Walkheads are warming up on
the right side of your radio.Dollar. Man, he could just make
you feel like you were there.But so yeah, I mean, being
a growing up and get Tucky andall that, and then getting placed in
(25:03):
the UK Athletic Hall of Fame wasquite an honor. Indeed, I wanted
to take a little journey through timming. What was the first year? What
year did you get hired? Thesummer of seventy eight. My first season
was seventy nine, So seventy nine, nineteen seventy nine. What did Kentucky
baseball look like? What was thatfirst season as the head coach? Like,
yeah, I mean to put itin perspective, the year before,
(25:25):
they broke the school record for lossesand we were picked to finish last in
the in the East Division, andwe broke the school record for wins and
finished second in the East and hada great year. But that team will
always be really dear to my heart, and some of those guys will be
(25:48):
back this weekend to watch because theywere a veteran team, a sort of
a mature team like this team,and they just wanted so badly to win
because they didn't want to leave thisprogram like it was left the year before.
So they gave their all and theywere just very attentant, very coachable,
(26:11):
fun to be with. But ourfacilities were I'm sure much worse than
what you had at Mason County.That's tough. I mean, it was
a chain link fences all around,concrete, tiny core of this. It
was the same place as the Cliff. It became the Cliff. So they
(26:33):
just renovated. Yeah, it wascalled Shively Field and then over the years
we renovated and made it nicer.And I thought it was really a cool,
quaint ballpark, you know when weleft. But you know, the
parking was horrible and the right fieldfence was quite a challenge for pictures and
all that. But it had ithad its quirkiness, and it had its
(26:56):
quaintness and its charm. But thisplace is phenomen on. Yeah, we
gotta we got to build up tothat. When's when's the first time you
met coach Mine? And what didyou think of old coach when you Yeah,
I met coach Mine when he wasa volunteer assistant here under John Cowins.
Yeah, and I thought he wasprobably the most energetic Hollywood, right.
(27:18):
I've heard that heard, I've heardsome stories about that. I mean,
he was coaching first base and itwas like, man, it's almost
like you couldn't keep your eyes offof him because he was always in motion,
always encouraging players, always motivating players. And uh, when I met
him, I immediately liked him.I mean, how could you not.
His personality is phenomenal. Uh,such a positive dude. And then we
(27:42):
kind of stayed in touch off andon a little bit as he went,
you know, progressed through his career. And then his first week back,
uh, when he was hired ashead coach, he was up here without
Kristin and Reeves, and so Ijust called him up, said, hey,
come down the house for dinner.And I know you're probably tired of
(28:03):
eating, you know, restaurant food. So he comes down and we have
dinner, and we spend three hours. She's talking about the program and and
god, I wish I would havebeen a fly on the wall. Yeah,
good talk. I remember talking alot about Coach Cohen because you know,
he worked a long time for CoachCohen and and just kind of picking
Nick's brain about his coaching philosophy,Coach Cohen's coaching philosophy. And yeah,
(28:29):
I mean just we hit it off. And then you know, we've been
meeting every Wednesday morning, not inevery Wednesday morning, depends on the semester
and all that, but every weekwe've been every week, uh with those
guys, and it's a blast Ilove it. He you know, he
is Italian through and through because hehe wants this to be family and it
is. And he makes me feellike a part of his family. And
(28:53):
that's quite a gift for a personto have, no doubt. So you
fast forward, Coach gets hired heretwenty sixteen, and then twenty seventeen eighteen
ish they come up with designs forthis place. When was the first time
that you like talked with Coach ormister Barnhardt about designs for Kentucky Crown part
(29:14):
because, like you said, thisfacility, yeah, insane, and we're
about to show it off to thecountry this weekend. We had we had
drawn up designs to vastly improve thecliff and my original dream was to move
the stadium down on the corner ofAlumni and Line. Okay, I mean
that where they eventually built like alittle senior citizen center or something there.
(29:37):
And you know, those people don'tneed parking or they don't they don't need
that space, but for some reasonthere's a huge parking lines much greater than
me put that there and didn't letus have that. But then we were
just going to make parking and doit better at at the Cliff, and
we spent money on on you know, architects and consultants and all that we
(29:59):
had at rolling. We were goingto put a clubhouse, locker room and
make it part of sort of likea Fenway wall, and right field with
the clubhouse and look overlooking the fieldcould have used that. The old Cats
had a couple of home runs onthe colonels back in the day right down
that, So we were gonna dothat, make it a little harder hit
the ball out there. Uh.And so we had all these these plans,
(30:22):
and when coach Cohen came here,uh, he took those plans and
he had his ideas, of course, and and I remember meeting with him
several times talking about it, evenafter I was out of coaching, and
uh, we knew that Mitch wasgoing to do something. We knew he
was going to do something. Butthen, you know, when John left,
it sort of put everything on theback burner. And then and then
(30:45):
uh, you know, when Nickcomes in, this is man, this
this is so much better in termsof visibility and size and detail and all
those things. And then we wereeither coach Corner myself was ever dreaming of
so it's it's such a great facility. And when it's full, like it
(31:07):
was against Tennessee, like it wasin the regionals, and like it's going
to be this weekend, this placeis rocking. Yeah, sold out already.
Yeah. My favorite thing too,is the fans have come here and
sold it out and created an atmosphere. Now we're starting to see the character
of this ballpark emerge. A lotof times when you move into a new
facility, it takes a little whilefor the character to show itself it's true,
(31:30):
and fans to kind of figure out, you know, what we want
to do to make this our own. This past weekend in the regional we
started seeing that they were channing,they were doing different things, they were
bought in, and now we're kindof seeing, Okay, this is what
Kentucky Proud Park is. And youknow, one of the things I noticed,
Darren, it kind of it mademe excited and it made me laugh
(31:52):
and made me proud all at thesame time. The people on the terrace,
how they they camped out. Theywouldn't give up their seats. You
know, they're they're not going toleave. They got here to the rain
de lay, they got to they'renot leaving. I thought, man,
that that is cool right there.And we don't move. Yeah, we
don't move. So that was somuch. They keep winning and selling it
(32:15):
out. I mean, plans aregonna have to come to make some more
room. Boys. You know,it's tougher in the season because of the
weather, but I think this placewas built for June. Yeah, no
doubt. And that that leads toa quick point I want to make.
If we could get college baseball,like I've been advocating for years, just
you know, like Pro Bowl samestart in April. May you have the
(32:39):
have the College World Series around Julyfourth? I think it would be spectacular.
Start pushing it all back a littlebit. Yeah, I mean you
you could. I know them youplayed in a lot of February baseball game
Oh it's and you practiced a lotof days in January. Yeah, there's
there were a couple of games,a couple of games I thought I was
going to die. Yeah. Sowhat you're advocating for is an SEC tournament
(33:04):
in Hoover in late June. Well, maybe maybe you're gonna burn some people
up. Yeah. I mean hotis hot hot, I mean it's hot
in Hoover in May. That's true. I can deal with the hot the
cold. I always said during themcold games, I was like, dude,
I'd much rather be hot, Andthen when it got hot, I
would be like, Man, I'mglad it's hot. I'll take this over
(33:28):
the cold, no doubt about it. Yeah. Pictures recover a lot easier
when it's warm. Man. Yeah, you can actually feel your fingers.
Yeah, and and and your fingersare really important when you pitch. Yeah,
literally everything everything, everything fingernails orfingers. Yeah, either one.
Chatting with Keith Madison here on behindKentucky Baseball as the Cats get ready for
(33:52):
the Super Regional. So we thoughtwe'd bring you another episode of the podcast
this week and coach, let's talka little bit about this Kentucky team.
We touched on the championship defense earlier, but just the characters on this team,
and that's what these guys are.There are a bunch of characters.
How much fun do you have beingaround the guys down on the field before
(34:12):
and after games just talking to them? Oh, it's it's fun. I
mean last year, coach Binge gaveme an opportunity to talk to the team
in the dugout at the beginning ofthe season. It was a great talk.
Oh thank you, that's good andus up. I mean, I
told, I told you guys,I said, you know, I feel
at home here. And I hadfigured out how many how many hours I'd
(34:37):
spent in a dugout and it wasI don't I can't remember the latter,
but it was a lot. SoI just I felt so at home there,
and these guys were such active listenersand and all that. But it's
one of the things I love aboutthis team is they know how to have
fun, and they have a lotof fun. They know when to compete
(34:59):
and how to compete, they knowwhen they're supposed to listen, and and
again it's leadership, you know.Uh. So, uh, it's a
great group I love. I've gotto talk to him maybe three times this
year, and uh every time Ido, I talk to guys afterwards,
and I feel like I'm kind ofbuilding those relationships. I will say,
(35:20):
Pete, he's been tough because he'sin my mind, he's a little bit
shy. I don't know if hejust doesn't if he feels awkward around old
men or what it is. Butfinally, finally, I've got to know
him a little bit and and uhand I get a big smile from him
all the time, and uh,what a what a great young man he
is, and and so much funto watch play. Grant Smith is like,
(35:44):
I mean, that guy's gonna Ihope he plays baseball for a long
time. But whatever he decides todo, he's going to be a leader,
he's going to be a champion orwhatever he does. So there's just
so many players on his team.I love, you know, the great
young man and fun guy to watchplay. Nolan McCarthy, he's the guy.
(36:06):
He's the guy, dub I betyou agree with this. You love
it when he's on your team.You don't want him to be on the
other team because you're going to beso mad at him if he's on the
other team. I just remember inthe best Nolan Weekend was LSU last year.
So we went down to LSU onThursday, Friday, Saturday, and
Nolan was playing right field in LSU. Obviously they're number one in the country
(36:30):
and their student section is in rightfield, yes, and he's in right
field. And Nolan McCarthy was gettingchirped at back oh Man at the box.
The sun sets behind third base,so right fielder is looking right at
it, and it was like thefirst inning, pop pop fly to the
warning track and right Nolan drops itlike three run score and that student section
(36:53):
god after it. I mean,it was bad Nolan. It was a
tough night for Nolan. But thenwe bounced at the next day and we
beat them, and Nolan's just talkingwith him the whole game. I can
see that, and he's making plays. I think he got a huge triple
or something in the game, andhe was just barking on the whole game.
And like you can tell, theLSU students hated playing against Nolan McCarthy,
(37:17):
but that's just the kind of guyhis. And we spoke on the
broadcast when we did it Friday,and I said, you know, if
I think, and hopefully they don'tlisten to this, I think the success
of this postseason run may come downto Nolan McCarthy in the seven hole,
James McCoy in the eight hole.And we talked about it at length at
that how important is it to haveproduction. Obviously, the stud the stars
(37:40):
of the team, Walt Schmidt,Petrie Burkes, Lopez, like the top
four Nicholson MVP. How important isit to have a high level of production
from seven to eight to nine?And Nolan, James and Grant talk about
a lift, you know, itgives it gives a team an incredible lift
and and uh boy, McCoy steppedup big in the in the regional.
(38:00):
They did a big home run onFriday, and and I, you know,
even if he does do that,he's so good in right field.
I'm okay, yeah, but man, he can. He's got some pop
in that bad, unbelievable athlete.Yeah, he's great and close the game
for you if you need it.So he you know, every time he
gets up, it wouldn't surprise himif he didn't hit one over the hook,
(38:21):
you know. Uh so yeah,he's uh, I agree with you.
We get production from those guys.It's going to be very difficult on
Oregon State. But uh I.I was on a radio program this morning
and and they were sort of askingme what they thought. Is it going
to be one of those series wherethe scores are like fourteen to ten,
And I said, and I don'tthink so. I think it's going to
(38:44):
be more like a five to three, four to three, six to three,
type post scores. Yeah, becauseguys are going to be playing so
hard and they're going to be thepitchers are going to be competing like a
son of a gun out there onthe mound. Uh. It's and and
runs are going to be a littlemore scarce maybe and a little more precious.
So that's one of the reasons Ilike Kentucky because, as we've talked
(39:07):
about earlier, they can score inso many ways. Yeah, no doubt
about it. Well, we're gettingdown to it. So yeah, I
got to ask one question for you. How much would it mean to get
two wins this weekend and go toOmaha for the first time. It would
mean so much to the program andthe recruiting and all the stuff that that
(39:34):
coach man just trying to do.For me personally, it would be a
dream come true. Yeah, somethingI dreamed of ben chasing this, Yeah
since nineteen seventy nine. Yeah,something I worked hard for we never did
get it, which was always likea bur in my saddle. And so
(39:57):
if Men's and his staff and thisteam, if they do it, I'm
going to be, besides Ninch andthe players, maybe the happiest guy.
I'll be pretty pumped. Up.Yeah. I mean, I'm so proud
of all of them, obviously,the guys on the team that were played
with me last year. Like Ican just remember twenty twenty two when I
(40:19):
got hurt and that spring Devin Burkstaking off and going absolutely berserking Hoover,
and the conversation me and Dev hadthe night we lost in Hoover and we
literally stood on the field, waslike it's about to change. Like that's
how That's when I told Minch.I was like, this is gonna change.
And I just remember that talk withDev, like it next year,
(40:42):
it's on, and it was on. Next year. I would be so
proud of Ryan Hagen now, DevinBurks, Nolan McCarthy, Evan Byer's like
every single player in that locker room. I know it will mean the world
to this fan base, and I'msure a lot of people will be making
their trip out to Omaha for thefirst time. DAB, but all the
former players, every single coach,every single administrator, every single radio broadcaster
(41:06):
is rooting on this team this weekend. Everybody's behind them. I'm I'm ecstatic
about this crowd and how this fanbase is going to react. I am
too it. I am too.I think the weather is going to be
great. I think the fans aregoing to pour in here. I think
the atmosphere is going going to geta little rowdy. Yeah, it's gonna
be one of the best atmospheres isin college baseball this weekend. Let's show
it off, man, Let's showit off. Yeah, we're almost there
(41:30):
and it's going to be a funweekend. Coach, thanks so much for
joining us. Coach, I loveworking with you on the games man,
it's fun. And and Dub you'rethe best man. I'm try man.
Thank you for coming on. Wehad a lot of fun. Yeah.
I'm always trying to get I'm alwaystrying to get him in uniform. Just
sneak you down in the bullpen.You could use him absolutely. You know,
I don't know if the old rustyelbow can still getting out or two,
(41:52):
but I'd go out there and try. Thanks a lot for having me,
guys. It was great. Thankyou absolutely. This has been a
special edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball.Thanks for being with us, and remember
we're presented by Assured Partners who areproud to offer Frankenmuth Insurance. Frankly speaking,
when you need them, they'll bethere. Call them at eight five,
nine, five, four three oneseven one six. Today this has
(42:14):
been behind Kentucky Baseball on the UKSports Network
Welcome into a special edition of BehindKentucky Baseball. As always, we're brought
to you by Assured Partners, proudto offer Frankenmuth insurance. Start a Frank
conversation today at www Dot Assured Partnersdot com. We are closing in on
the Super Regionals at Kentucky Proud Park. The Wildcats will host Oregon State and
(00:21):
a best two of three, andso we thought we would bring you a
second podcast episode this weekend, aspecial one. This Darren Williams. I
bring in my co host here,dub. This is a Hall of Fame
edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball because weare joined by the one and only Keith
Madison. Come on, baby,good to have you here. Thanks for
having me. We had to gettwo episodes in this week. We got
(00:44):
to get two wins this weekend,so there you go. Prepare us.
I'm all about that. Uh huh, need it bad now. We've had
some great guests on the show,a lot of players, a few coaches,
So no pressure, no pressure,Yeah, don't I don't feel any
pressure. I'm with you guys allthe time, so I don't feel Have
you ever been on a podcast coach? Oh? Yeah, Okay, I
(01:04):
have my own podcast where you go, Hey, I'm a high tech redneck.
Yeah, y'are Yeah, y'all,Yeah, y'all. Coach, let's
get into it. You were behindthe microphone with me on Sunday night last
week as we record when the Wildcatsclinched a regional championship for the second straight
year, defeating Indiana State five tonothing. How would you describe the excitement
(01:29):
of where this program is right nowunder Nick Minjeon off the charts? I
mean, I just feel like Nickhas done such a great job of putting
it all together, you know,from and and he he is that kind
of guy. He's very thoughtful,I think, really thinks things through.
(01:49):
And the way that he recruited toget to this point and the way he's
handled a transfer portal has been spectacular. Yeah. And I say that because
they brought in very good players,guys like Grant Smith and Ryan wals Schmidt,
(02:10):
you know, all those guys.But they're great Williams. But they
bring in you know, they're they'rebringing in great people and and that's a
that's a phenomenal thing to be ableto do. So, uh, they
obviously vet these guys very well,they do a great job of not just
finding out who's in the transfer portal, who can fit a slot, who
(02:31):
has bat speed, but also who'sgoing to fit into this program. I
mean, you you nailed the headon the nail right there, because there's
so many guys in the portal everysingle year that are really talented, off
the charts numbers, but they justmight not be the right people. That's
right, and Coach Minche and CoachRozelle, I know for a fact they
they're chasing the right people because ittakes a culture to win games at this
(02:54):
level and we've been doing a lotof winning in the past couple of years,
and it's because of the right peoplein the locker room. Not I
mean, everybody can play in thatlocker room, but they're all so great
people. I mean, you've hadconversations with on the time. You know,
you understand it. They see youwalking in the halls and they're like,
what's up, Coach, They'll havea conversation with I know it.
And it's just the way they makeyou feel like a part of the program
(03:20):
and that that you know. JohnMaxwell, the Leadership Group, says everything
rises and falls with leadership so Nickcreates that. He creates that culture and
so uh, the players pick upon that and they're they're very comfortable with
that. And so they're a fungroup of guys to be around. They
really are. And I want totake you in. I want to get
(03:40):
into your coaching head a little bitand and go back to when you were
building this thing from the ground up. And now you're here and you see
this magnificent ballpark as we look outon it, as we record this facility
that's just a crown jewel in thesec and what this program is accomplishing.
How how much joy do you getout of how far this program has grown
(04:03):
since you first took over and itwas basically a field of grass. Yeah,
it's I mean it's almost surreal,you know, to see how how
far we've come. And when Italk about that, I always have to
go back to Mitch Barnhardt because MitchBarnhart, and I don't mean any disrespect
(04:24):
to any former athletic director, becauseif C. M. Newton were alive
today, I'd give him a bigug. Sure, Cliff Hagen gave me
an opportunity, So I respect andadmire those men a lot. But Mitch
had a he had a vision forbaseball as an athletic director, and that's
(04:46):
special, and so I knew Ionly got to work for him one year
and and then I just felt reallyled to get out of coaching at that
time. But it's it's really it'sreally fun for me to see an athletic
director that comes to the games.He loves it when we win. He's
(05:09):
behind the coaches and the players andjust provides an opportunity like this to build
a stadium and make it happen.So I start with him, and then
again going back to what I saidand ago, it's the culture piece that
I appreciate so much, because youknow, that's something I really tried to
do. And when I coached inthis program and we had great kids,
(05:30):
great players. So many guys thatI coached are coming back this weekend,
flying in from California, flying infrom Texas, flying in from Florida.
They are pumped and it excites meto see them that way. So yeah,
it's I'm blown away by all ofthis and can't get enough of it.
(05:55):
I love it. I'm glad youbrought up Mitch Barnhart because one of
the best videos coming out of thisweekend was somebody captured his celebration of a
million Petrie seventh inning home run thatreally put the game away for all intents
and purposes, but just the sheerjoy and excitement when he celebrated that home
run. A lot of folks don'tget to see that side of Mitch Barnhardt
(06:16):
a lot of times, and itwas fun to put that out there and
let them see how much he's rootingfor his team. Yeah, you showed
me that, and it kind ofpumped me up a little bit to see
how excited he was. But onething you know that Mitch knows and we
all know, is that when meand Petrie hits a home run, I
mean, obviously we're happy because thathelps us win the game, but we're
(06:36):
happy for that kid, yes,And so you know, we are,
all three of us are so behindthose players because they are such good people
and they're easy to pull for,and we just wanted so badly for the
player. Sure, I mean it'seasy to pull for him because there's I've
said it so many times, it'ssuch a fun brand of baseball to watch.
(06:58):
It is, and I watch alot of baseball, you know,
coach high school, watch the Redsall the time, watch college baseball religiously,
and this team coach offensively. Youcan hit a home run anytime,
you can put a bunt down anytime. They're stealing bases at a clip higher
than most teams in college. Thedefense is off the charts. The pitchers
(07:19):
attack the zone. Man, howfun is it? Obviously you've watched games
throughout years of Kentucky baseball. Howfun is it to watch this team play
the game? Yeah? I meanthey're so solid in so many different areas.
And uh, and you know,all my life and we've all heard
this, I've heard all my life, is that you know you've got to
(07:42):
be strong up the middle. Yeah. Well, we have a great leader
behind the dish best. He's he'sjust a he. I love the way
he handles pitchers, and I lovethe way that he gives his all every
game. I mean, when yousee that kid after game, there's not
a dry thread on his now uniform. And then birthday did burs by the
way, there you go, solove Devin Burks. And then you know,
(08:03):
then you you have the Trey Poosiersand and the Mason Moores on the
mound and then you got Smith andPetrie in the middle. You got Nolan
McCarthy, who is a fun guyto watch play amazing defensively. Yeah he
is. He's very good. Uh. And that's not all. We're strong
up the middle. But then wegot Mitch Day at third base. Right
(08:24):
can pick it with the best ofthem. He can pick it. Got
a good arm. H We gotwal Spent in left field and he can
go get them. We got McCoyand right field. He's got a cannon
out there and he's made some greatplays this year. So boy, pitching
and defense, this team has it. And then, like you said,
you know this team can score.You know they They've scored a lot of
(08:46):
runs this year. They do itin a lot of different ways. They
everybody in the lineup can hit hitthe long ball, and I'm not surprised
if any one of them does it. But also, you know, they
they know how to get on base. They know how to compete with two
strikes. They have a great twostrike approach, and they can run the
bases like crazy. I love watchto watch our team run the bases.
(09:07):
Yeah, I mean they're going,yeah, we're gonna get thrown out at
third sometimes we just go for it. But that kind of aggression puts a
lot of pressure on the other team. So I love it. I'm like
you, I love watching his teamplay, and part of it is because
of the way they play. Theother part is because of the people who
(09:28):
play. I think you spoke toit a little bit there, like the
aggressiveness and a lot of people getfrustrated, like, oh, they get
thrown out all the time running thebases and stuff. But if a team
dials that back, it's like,Okay, we're not gonna steal. I
think that just kills the mojo ofthe entire team, right, Like the
gas pedal is always pushed down,Go go go, and whatever happens happens.
You see that. Oh yeah,you got to get in the psyche
(09:50):
of a team. I definitely seethat. And you know, I think
I've mentioned this Darren before, butI've been to the Demanda Public over thirty
times and I've watched a lot ofbaseball down there, and the kids growing
up down there. They have afreedom on the field that most American players
don't have. The way they runthe bases, they're very aggressive, you
(10:13):
know, they come out of theirshoes when they swing right. But most
American baseball players are stiff on thebases. You know, when they get
on base, the're afraid they're gonnaget picked off, or they're too concerned
about their lead or all that.Our guys are very relaxed out there on
the bases, and it shows abouthow many times they take the extra base,
(10:35):
they take advantage of a ball inthe dirt and all those little things
that make good base running. Yeah. I mean, we saw that first
standing Sunday against Indiana State. Petriesat first, just an innocent pickoff to
make sure that he can't go anywhere, and it sails down the right field
line and he's standing on third.Yeah, I mean, it was just
amazing. And there's some teams thatwe've competed against the spring in the SAC,
(11:00):
which is by far the best conferencein college baseball. You know,
we've seen teams that you don't evenhave to pick at first. You know
they're not going to run. Youknow, they're just gonna they're just gonna
play station to station baseball, andso that's not gonna happen with those teams.
But with our team, I mean, they know where we're gonna run,
so they pick a lot, it'sgonna force them into more mistakes.
(11:20):
It really is a game that lendsitself to no right or wrong answers,
and that's what I love about it. You talk about the teams that play
station to station, they just wantto get two guys on and hit a
three run homer. Kentucky wants toscore three runs using a myriad of ways
to do so by putting pressure onthe defense. There's no right or wrong
answer, But I tell you what, there's one that's a lot more fun
(11:41):
to watch than the other. That'sright and the one where you're just standing
there waiting on the three run homer. It's not a lot of fun.
That's right. It works, butit's not a lot of fun, and
it makes us so able to wingames this year. Yeah, a year
you can adapt to any style,any any type of style, because there's
gonna be a time in the nexttwo to three weeks or we're gonna hit
home run. Yeah, it's gonnahave like we are gonna have to hit
(12:03):
a big home run and we gotthe guys to do it. But there's
also going to be another game wherewe got to lay down a bunch or
we got to get a stolen baseor we got to hit behind a runner,
and we can get that done too. And coach, you've seen td
Ameer trade in person in Omaha.If Kentucky gets there, their style lends
itself to more success than just waitingon a long ball, because if the
wind's blowing in there, forget aboutit. Right. Oh yeah, yeah,
(12:24):
yeah. I was speaking to orspeaking with our man, Josh Walker,
old athletic trainer here in twenty twentytwo this past weekend is in town.
He's obviously obviously been there a bunch, and he said it's the biggest
ballpark in America. And the windblows straight in. Yeah, like you
hit a pop flight of the wall, it's staying in the yard. So
yeah, it plays big. Yeah. I mean I've seen it where the
(12:48):
ball carries well there, but notvery often. But the environment is off
the charts. I mean, Ineed it so bad, boys, I
need too so bad. We gotwe got to get there. Coach,
I want to ask you, yep, you know this is I feel like
we're gonna have a ton of coaches, you know, around the country listening
to this episode because of you here. What's the biggest game you ever won.
(13:09):
Wow, that's a great question.I think I go back. We
played Clemson in a regional and theywere ranked either one or two, I
can't remember. They had won ourover fifty games. They were the number
one seed at that time. Itwas a sixteen tournament. Oh really yeah?
(13:30):
Okay, so it was man.Were they coached by Legan at this
point? No, it was BillWillhelm, the legendary Bill Willhelm, But
you know it was it was awar getting getting through a sixteen tournament.
But Clemson was the number one seed. We were the number two seed.
Stanford was the number three seed.But we played Clemson and we faced their
(13:50):
number one and we beat them ina close ball game, and I felt
like that put us in the driver'sseat in the regional and it did.
We ended up in a winners bracketand ended up unfortunately losing two to Stanford.
One one of the pitchers was MikeMessina. It was pitching for stands
tough. Well, it's kind oflike facing skins last year, another family
(14:11):
coach, So you know, thatwas that was a big one. And
then you know, we we sweptLSU when they were ranked number one at
the at the Cliff. Uh wewe did a two games sweep l s
U when they were ranked number two. Uh we got rained at one game.
But yeah, I mean those arethose are ones that come to my
mind. But and all of themare good, you know, are good.
(14:33):
So the reason I asked that questionis, and obviously those are huge
wins. We're playing in the sweetsixteen at our home ballpark. So from
a coach's perspective, how do youwin the big games and not just the
games in the regular season whatever,the big one against Oregon State this weekend.
You know, this is going tosound like a and uh answer that
(15:00):
I don't know, it's going tosound like a weird answer, But it's
player driven. It's player driven.I mean, the coach is going to
get the team prepared, the scoutingreport and all that stuff, but the
players themselves have to decide how they'regoing to win the game. And this
team that's that's one reason I likethis team so much. They're so mature.
Yeah, you have veteran players thatare very mature and they're going to
(15:24):
take the bull by the horns.They don't have to necessarily be motivated.
They're ready to go. So allyou know, all coach Manage and coach
Roselle and and and Ammo and allthose guys. They just have to do
a great job with the scouting report, and they will. They're watching tons
of Oregon State film, yeah,or state film. They're going to be
(15:46):
prepared. They're going to know everytendency and all that. So they're going
to be prepared in that way.The situation itself motivates, So I think
the maturity the players will make thedifference. That's the way I feel.
And that's that's why I'm gonna goout on a lamb and feel comfortable.
Oh yeah, Kentucky winning and not. This is not I mean, Oregon
(16:07):
State is a tremendous opponent. Yeah, they're good. I mean, give
me a break. Tennessee played wholast year in the super regionals? Who
did they play last year? Couldn'ttell you it was anyway they it was
nothing anything like playing LSU at LSU. So and and this year they're playing
Evansville, no disrespect to Evansville,Southern Miss and Hattiesburg. Last year,
(16:27):
yes, Southern Miss. So theygot to go to Southern Miss. We
had to go to LSU and facea big league pitcher. Yep, same
thing this year. But you knowwhat, the players had played down at
LSU last year and face Skiens,they're going to be more prepared for this
situation. They're playing at home now, they're playing a really good team in
Oregon State. But I feel goodabout it. Yeah. And last year
(16:51):
it was Paul Skins the number oneoverall draft pick. This year it's going
to be Travis Bizana, who's goingto be number one or number two overall
in this year's draft. But he'snot a pitcher coach. He's a position
player. So when you face adude that's batting four or fifteen's got almost
thirty home runs, he's got aton of stolen bases, how do you
not let a guy like that beatyou? Because you can't just pitch around
(17:12):
him and walk him because now he'sgoing to steal bases, he's that good.
How do you try to contain aguy like that and limit the damage
he can do? Yeah? Imean, first of all, Number one,
you have to compete one hundred percent. You can't be scared of You
can't be scared. Number two,you have to execute pitches. And if
you do those two things, youhave a chance. If you miss out
(17:33):
over the plate, he's going tohurt you. Yeah, but you have
to you know, there's going tobe a plan how to pitch this guy,
and Dan Roselle is going to comeup with a very good plan on
how to do that. And thenit just gets down. You know,
players play and coaches coach, andit's up to you know, Frey Pooser
or Mason Moore whoever's pitching, toexecute pitches and and if they do that,
(17:56):
he's not going to hurt us.And other face the guy that's going
to have four at bats a gameor possibly five, as opposed to facing
Paul schime Skiings who's on. Rememberlast year facing l s U Tommy White
was obviously one of the Hey,I thought he got it better. Last
(18:17):
year he was insane. I gaveup a home run to him off the
batter's eye because I love to pitchout of the middle in the regular season.
But I just remember against him,my strategy was just get in on
his hands, like those sinkers onhis hands, and see what happens if
you hit them. You hit them, that's right, But I'm with you,
don't let thing, don't let itout over the plate. He's been
(18:38):
thrown first pitch, breaking ball allyear long. So do something different,
you know, go right in thekitchen with a good fastball and let whatever
happens happens. Yeah, that wasthat was always my thought process as a
pitcher against the best hitters. Yes, get in on me too. You
know, I didn't throw a hundred, but we faced we faced Frank Thomas
and and we did just a Hallof Famer. We didn't have all the
(19:03):
all the video and stuff back then. Yeah, you know, games weren't
televised very often. So his freshmanyear, he comes in and I'm thinking,
hey, this is a big kid, he's a freshman. He probably
can't hit a breaking ball. Hecould hit a breaking ball. So after
that season, we just went inon his hands. I mean we had
to, and we didn't always gethim, but we had We had a
lot more successespecially with kids nowadays whoare so strong, right the grip,
(19:27):
strength of forearm, specific workouts ourhitters do. I promise you that these
kids are strong. If you leavea pitch out over the plate oppo field,
they can drive the ball from underfeet right field. If he could
do that. So you can't justlet the ball like pitch out there all
the time. You got to backthem up off the plate, move they
make them uncomfortable. Got to beaggressive. Yes, Illinois came in here
(19:48):
this weekend with a lineup full ofhome run hitters, and Trey Pooser was
so effective coach on that change up, throwing it inside and landing it on
that inside corner. He had himtwisted up and bind it up the whole
game. Yeah, And you know, it takes a lot of confidence and
a lot of courage really to throwit inside change up. Yeah. I
mean, I I never wanted todo that, But how do you hit
(20:12):
that pitch? I mean, ifyou hit it, you're gonna pull it
foul. And nobody wants to getjammed on a change up inside, right,
so they're gonna pull it. Yeah. So you know, the first
guy I ever saw do that,I think was Greg Maddox and he had
a lot of success with that.He would throw high change upst people to
pop up. The guy was phenomenal. But Trey Pooser is a veteran guy
(20:37):
who has good stuff that knows howto execute pitches like I talked about earlier.
So that's a good thing I got. I gotta, you know,
give a shout out to Dad.I guarantee he listens to this. Greg
Maddox one of his favorite pitchers ofall time. Just one minute of your
time on Greg Maddicks. Was itlike watching that guy? I mean unreal?
(20:57):
He was an artist? Yeah,he really was an artist. I
mean when he was like most pictures. When he first came up, he
threw hard, but he figured itout. He was so much smarter than
most pitchers that he figured out,hey, I can throw a high change
up and this guy that's trying tohit the ball four hundred and eighty feet
just gonna pop it up. He'sjust gonna pop it up. And he
(21:18):
could paint the corners like nobody,and he and his teammate Tom Clavin both
could do that. But Greg Maddoxwas, oh another thing. Tremendous defensive
pitcher, could make the place.You don't butt on him because he didn't
look athletic, but he was tremendouslyathletic. Dad, I love that.
I think the best video ever ofMaddocks pitching. I think he was at
(21:41):
Wrigley Field or something. Through thetwo seam that started in the left handed
hunder's batter's box and just came rightback in that insane movement. I don't
know how that pitch was unbelievable.I have a great story when I was
working in the minor leagues with theIndians, a ball team. Our pitching
coach one year was Steve Carse,who was a big time closed for the
or a late innings pitcher for theYankees for a little while, and then
(22:03):
got traded to the Braves. Andhe was telling me when he was traded,
he arrived in the clubhouse there atTurner Field, and the clubhouse manager
walked him to an open locker roomand he sit down and he's putting his
stuff in his locker and everything,and the two lockers on either side of
him. Nobody was there, buthe could see that they were occupied.
(22:23):
Well, all of a sudden,he's doing some stuff in his bag,
and he says, he sees somebodywalk over and sit down beside him in
the locker, and he looks andit's Tom Glavin. And then somebody sits
down on the other side and heturns and looks and it's Maddocks and he's
right between the two of wow,and they were like welcome to Atlanta.
Yeah right, between greatness. That'sright, that's right. Let's hit a
(22:44):
quick reset and remind folks about ourproud sponsor. They bring you this show
every week. It is Assured Partners. When the unexpected happens in business,
your insurance coverage is the real MVP. Assured Partners and their partner Freaking Booth
Insurance are true team players, uniquecoverage to face risks head on so you
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Partners today at eight five nine,five four three one seven one six or
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Here on behind Kentucky Baseball, it'sour Hall of Fame Special edition as we're
joined by Keith Madison and uh theall time winning coach of Kentucky Baseball Hall
(23:29):
of Fame status. I got toask you when when you first found out
you were going into the UK AthleticsHall of Fame, what was the reaction.
It was sort of like this,you couldn't find anybody else. I'm
just kidding. Well, I gotto go into that inaugural class and it
was unbelievable you're talking Babe Perilli.Yeah, how about that Cliffhagen, Uh,
(23:52):
my goodness, Cayle Macy. Imean, all these people. It's
like I was blown away. Butuh yeah, I mean just getting to
meet some of those guys was prettycool. Getting to meet baby Parilli.
I've heard of him all my lifeand knew that he was one of the
greatest quarterbacks and if not the bestbesides Tim Couch maybe and uh UK history
(24:17):
and uh and I met Johnny Cox, you know, the great player from
Hazard. Uh. Just met alot of cool guys that night. But
I'm so honored by that. Andyou know, I grew up one of
those kids just loving Kentucky basketball andfootball and anything anything Kentucky played. I
(24:37):
was just a Walkhead fan listening tok Would on the radio, uh,
listening to him say things like,well, the volunteers are worming up to
the left of your radio dial,and the Kentucky Walkheads are warming up on
the right side of your radio.Dollar. Man, he could just make
you feel like you were there.But so yeah, I mean, being
a growing up and get Tucky andall that, and then getting placed in
(25:03):
the UK Athletic Hall of Fame wasquite an honor. Indeed, I wanted
to take a little journey through timming. What was the first year? What
year did you get hired? Thesummer of seventy eight. My first season
was seventy nine, So seventy nine, nineteen seventy nine. What did Kentucky
baseball look like? What was thatfirst season as the head coach? Like,
yeah, I mean to put itin perspective, the year before,
(25:25):
they broke the school record for lossesand we were picked to finish last in
the in the East Division, andwe broke the school record for wins and
finished second in the East and hada great year. But that team will
always be really dear to my heart, and some of those guys will be
(25:48):
back this weekend to watch because theywere a veteran team, a sort of
a mature team like this team,and they just wanted so badly to win
because they didn't want to leave thisprogram like it was left the year before.
So they gave their all and theywere just very attentant, very coachable,
(26:11):
fun to be with. But ourfacilities were I'm sure much worse than
what you had at Mason County.That's tough. I mean, it was
a chain link fences all around,concrete, tiny core of this. It
was the same place as the Cliff. It became the Cliff. So they
(26:33):
just renovated. Yeah, it wascalled Shively Field and then over the years
we renovated and made it nicer.And I thought it was really a cool,
quaint ballpark, you know when weleft. But you know, the
parking was horrible and the right fieldfence was quite a challenge for pictures and
all that. But it had ithad its quirkiness, and it had its
(26:56):
quaintness and its charm. But thisplace is phenomen on. Yeah, we
gotta we got to build up tothat. When's when's the first time you
met coach Mine? And what didyou think of old coach when you Yeah,
I met coach Mine when he wasa volunteer assistant here under John Cowins.
Yeah, and I thought he wasprobably the most energetic Hollywood, right.
(27:18):
I've heard that heard, I've heardsome stories about that. I mean,
he was coaching first base and itwas like, man, it's almost
like you couldn't keep your eyes offof him because he was always in motion,
always encouraging players, always motivating players. And uh, when I met
him, I immediately liked him.I mean, how could you not.
His personality is phenomenal. Uh,such a positive dude. And then we
(27:42):
kind of stayed in touch off andon a little bit as he went,
you know, progressed through his career. And then his first week back,
uh, when he was hired ashead coach, he was up here without
Kristin and Reeves, and so Ijust called him up, said, hey,
come down the house for dinner.And I know you're probably tired of
(28:03):
eating, you know, restaurant food. So he comes down and we have
dinner, and we spend three hours. She's talking about the program and and
god, I wish I would havebeen a fly on the wall. Yeah,
good talk. I remember talking alot about Coach Cohen because you know,
he worked a long time for CoachCohen and and just kind of picking
Nick's brain about his coaching philosophy,Coach Cohen's coaching philosophy. And yeah,
(28:29):
I mean just we hit it off. And then you know, we've been
meeting every Wednesday morning, not inevery Wednesday morning, depends on the semester
and all that, but every weekwe've been every week, uh with those
guys, and it's a blast Ilove it. He you know, he
is Italian through and through because hehe wants this to be family and it
is. And he makes me feellike a part of his family. And
(28:53):
that's quite a gift for a personto have, no doubt. So you
fast forward, Coach gets hired heretwenty sixteen, and then twenty seventeen eighteen
ish they come up with designs forthis place. When was the first time
that you like talked with Coach ormister Barnhardt about designs for Kentucky Crown part
(29:14):
because, like you said, thisfacility, yeah, insane, and we're
about to show it off to thecountry this weekend. We had we had
drawn up designs to vastly improve thecliff and my original dream was to move
the stadium down on the corner ofAlumni and Line. Okay, I mean
that where they eventually built like alittle senior citizen center or something there.
(29:37):
And you know, those people don'tneed parking or they don't they don't need
that space, but for some reasonthere's a huge parking lines much greater than
me put that there and didn't letus have that. But then we were
just going to make parking and doit better at at the Cliff, and
we spent money on on you know, architects and consultants and all that we
(29:59):
had at rolling. We were goingto put a clubhouse, locker room and
make it part of sort of likea Fenway wall, and right field with
the clubhouse and look overlooking the fieldcould have used that. The old Cats
had a couple of home runs onthe colonels back in the day right down
that, So we were gonna dothat, make it a little harder hit
the ball out there. Uh.And so we had all these these plans,
(30:22):
and when coach Cohen came here,uh, he took those plans and
he had his ideas, of course, and and I remember meeting with him
several times talking about it, evenafter I was out of coaching, and
uh, we knew that Mitch wasgoing to do something. We knew he
was going to do something. Butthen, you know, when John left,
it sort of put everything on theback burner. And then and then
(30:45):
uh, you know, when Nickcomes in, this is man, this
this is so much better in termsof visibility and size and detail and all
those things. And then we wereeither coach Corner myself was ever dreaming of
so it's it's such a great facility. And when it's full, like it
(31:07):
was against Tennessee, like it wasin the regionals, and like it's going
to be this weekend, this placeis rocking. Yeah, sold out already.
Yeah. My favorite thing too,is the fans have come here and
sold it out and created an atmosphere. Now we're starting to see the character
of this ballpark emerge. A lotof times when you move into a new
facility, it takes a little whilefor the character to show itself it's true,
(31:30):
and fans to kind of figure out, you know, what we want
to do to make this our own. This past weekend in the regional we
started seeing that they were channing,they were doing different things, they were
bought in, and now we're kindof seeing, Okay, this is what
Kentucky Proud Park is. And youknow, one of the things I noticed,
Darren, it kind of it mademe excited and it made me laugh
(31:52):
and made me proud all at thesame time. The people on the terrace,
how they they camped out. Theywouldn't give up their seats. You
know, they're they're not going toleave. They got here to the rain
de lay, they got to they'renot leaving. I thought, man,
that that is cool right there.And we don't move. Yeah, we
don't move. So that was somuch. They keep winning and selling it
(32:15):
out. I mean, plans aregonna have to come to make some more
room. Boys. You know,it's tougher in the season because of the
weather, but I think this placewas built for June. Yeah, no
doubt. And that that leads toa quick point I want to make.
If we could get college baseball,like I've been advocating for years, just
you know, like Pro Bowl samestart in April. May you have the
(32:39):
have the College World Series around Julyfourth? I think it would be spectacular.
Start pushing it all back a littlebit. Yeah, I mean you
you could. I know them youplayed in a lot of February baseball game
Oh it's and you practiced a lotof days in January. Yeah, there's
there were a couple of games,a couple of games I thought I was
going to die. Yeah. Sowhat you're advocating for is an SEC tournament
(33:04):
in Hoover in late June. Well, maybe maybe you're gonna burn some people
up. Yeah. I mean hotis hot hot, I mean it's hot
in Hoover in May. That's true. I can deal with the hot the
cold. I always said during themcold games, I was like, dude,
I'd much rather be hot, Andthen when it got hot, I
would be like, Man, I'mglad it's hot. I'll take this over
(33:28):
the cold, no doubt about it. Yeah. Pictures recover a lot easier
when it's warm. Man. Yeah, you can actually feel your fingers.
Yeah, and and and your fingersare really important when you pitch. Yeah,
literally everything everything, everything fingernails orfingers. Yeah, either one.
Chatting with Keith Madison here on behindKentucky Baseball as the Cats get ready for
(33:52):
the Super Regional. So we thoughtwe'd bring you another episode of the podcast
this week and coach, let's talka little bit about this Kentucky team.
We touched on the championship defense earlier, but just the characters on this team,
and that's what these guys are.There are a bunch of characters.
How much fun do you have beingaround the guys down on the field before
(34:12):
and after games just talking to them? Oh, it's it's fun. I
mean last year, coach Binge gaveme an opportunity to talk to the team
in the dugout at the beginning ofthe season. It was a great talk.
Oh thank you, that's good andus up. I mean, I
told, I told you guys,I said, you know, I feel
at home here. And I hadfigured out how many how many hours I'd
(34:37):
spent in a dugout and it wasI don't I can't remember the latter,
but it was a lot. SoI just I felt so at home there,
and these guys were such active listenersand and all that. But it's
one of the things I love aboutthis team is they know how to have
fun, and they have a lotof fun. They know when to compete
(34:59):
and how to compete, they knowwhen they're supposed to listen, and and
again it's leadership, you know.Uh. So, uh, it's a
great group I love. I've gotto talk to him maybe three times this
year, and uh every time Ido, I talk to guys afterwards,
and I feel like I'm kind ofbuilding those relationships. I will say,
(35:20):
Pete, he's been tough because he'sin my mind, he's a little bit
shy. I don't know if hejust doesn't if he feels awkward around old
men or what it is. Butfinally, finally, I've got to know
him a little bit and and uhand I get a big smile from him
all the time, and uh,what a what a great young man he
is, and and so much funto watch play. Grant Smith is like,
(35:44):
I mean, that guy's gonna Ihope he plays baseball for a long
time. But whatever he decides todo, he's going to be a leader,
he's going to be a champion orwhatever he does. So there's just
so many players on his team.I love, you know, the great
young man and fun guy to watchplay. Nolan McCarthy, he's the guy.
(36:06):
He's the guy, dub I betyou agree with this. You love
it when he's on your team.You don't want him to be on the
other team because you're going to beso mad at him if he's on the
other team. I just remember inthe best Nolan Weekend was LSU last year.
So we went down to LSU onThursday, Friday, Saturday, and
Nolan was playing right field in LSU. Obviously they're number one in the country
(36:30):
and their student section is in rightfield, yes, and he's in right
field. And Nolan McCarthy was gettingchirped at back oh Man at the box.
The sun sets behind third base,so right fielder is looking right at
it, and it was like thefirst inning, pop pop fly to the
warning track and right Nolan drops itlike three run score and that student section
(36:53):
god after it. I mean,it was bad Nolan. It was a
tough night for Nolan. But thenwe bounced at the next day and we
beat them, and Nolan's just talkingwith him the whole game. I can
see that, and he's making plays. I think he got a huge triple
or something in the game, andhe was just barking on the whole game.
And like you can tell, theLSU students hated playing against Nolan McCarthy,
(37:17):
but that's just the kind of guyhis. And we spoke on the
broadcast when we did it Friday,and I said, you know, if
I think, and hopefully they don'tlisten to this, I think the success
of this postseason run may come downto Nolan McCarthy in the seven hole,
James McCoy in the eight hole.And we talked about it at length at
that how important is it to haveproduction. Obviously, the stud the stars
(37:40):
of the team, Walt Schmidt,Petrie Burkes, Lopez, like the top
four Nicholson MVP. How important isit to have a high level of production
from seven to eight to nine?And Nolan, James and Grant talk about
a lift, you know, itgives it gives a team an incredible lift
and and uh boy, McCoy steppedup big in the in the regional.
(38:00):
They did a big home run onFriday, and and I, you know,
even if he does do that,he's so good in right field.
I'm okay, yeah, but man, he can. He's got some pop
in that bad, unbelievable athlete.Yeah, he's great and close the game
for you if you need it.So he you know, every time he
gets up, it wouldn't surprise himif he didn't hit one over the hook,
(38:21):
you know. Uh so yeah,he's uh, I agree with you.
We get production from those guys.It's going to be very difficult on
Oregon State. But uh I.I was on a radio program this morning
and and they were sort of askingme what they thought. Is it going
to be one of those series wherethe scores are like fourteen to ten,
And I said, and I don'tthink so. I think it's going to
(38:44):
be more like a five to three, four to three, six to three,
type post scores. Yeah, becauseguys are going to be playing so
hard and they're going to be thepitchers are going to be competing like a
son of a gun out there onthe mound. Uh. It's and and
runs are going to be a littlemore scarce maybe and a little more precious.
So that's one of the reasons Ilike Kentucky because, as we've talked
(39:07):
about earlier, they can score inso many ways. Yeah, no doubt
about it. Well, we're gettingdown to it. So yeah, I
got to ask one question for you. How much would it mean to get
two wins this weekend and go toOmaha for the first time. It would
mean so much to the program andthe recruiting and all the stuff that that
(39:34):
coach man just trying to do.For me personally, it would be a
dream come true. Yeah, somethingI dreamed of ben chasing this, Yeah
since nineteen seventy nine. Yeah,something I worked hard for we never did
get it, which was always likea bur in my saddle. And so
(39:57):
if Men's and his staff and thisteam, if they do it, I'm
going to be, besides Ninch andthe players, maybe the happiest guy.
I'll be pretty pumped. Up.Yeah. I mean, I'm so proud
of all of them, obviously,the guys on the team that were played
with me last year. Like Ican just remember twenty twenty two when I
(40:19):
got hurt and that spring Devin Burkstaking off and going absolutely berserking Hoover,
and the conversation me and Dev hadthe night we lost in Hoover and we
literally stood on the field, waslike it's about to change. Like that's
how That's when I told Minch.I was like, this is gonna change.
And I just remember that talk withDev, like it next year,
(40:42):
it's on, and it was on. Next year. I would be so
proud of Ryan Hagen now, DevinBurks, Nolan McCarthy, Evan Byer's like
every single player in that locker room. I know it will mean the world
to this fan base, and I'msure a lot of people will be making
their trip out to Omaha for thefirst time. DAB, but all the
former players, every single coach,every single administrator, every single radio broadcaster
(41:06):
is rooting on this team this weekend. Everybody's behind them. I'm I'm ecstatic
about this crowd and how this fanbase is going to react. I am
too it. I am too.I think the weather is going to be
great. I think the fans aregoing to pour in here. I think
the atmosphere is going going to geta little rowdy. Yeah, it's gonna
be one of the best atmospheres isin college baseball this weekend. Let's show
it off, man, Let's showit off. Yeah, we're almost there
(41:30):
and it's going to be a funweekend. Coach, thanks so much for
joining us. Coach, I loveworking with you on the games man,
it's fun. And and Dub you'rethe best man. I'm try man.
Thank you for coming on. Wehad a lot of fun. Yeah.
I'm always trying to get I'm alwaystrying to get him in uniform. Just
sneak you down in the bullpen.You could use him absolutely. You know,
I don't know if the old rustyelbow can still getting out or two,
(41:52):
but I'd go out there and try. Thanks a lot for having me,
guys. It was great. Thankyou absolutely. This has been a
special edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball.Thanks for being with us, and remember
we're presented by Assured Partners who areproud to offer Frankenmuth Insurance. Frankly speaking,
when you need them, they'll bethere. Call them at eight five,
nine, five, four three oneseven one six. Today this has
(42:14):
been behind Kentucky Baseball on the UKSports Network
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