January 5, 2026 • 13 mins
University of Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell and his wife Julie are celebrating 20 years in Louisville. The McDonnell's were secretly paying Wal-Mart customers' Christmas bills but social media unmasked their heartwarming efforts.
Coach McDonnell has high expectations from his next squad of Louisville Cardinals, expecting them to be ranked right from the jump. The home opener is February 13 at Jim Patterson stadium, then the Cards head to Texas for a round robin series of games against premium opponents.
UofL baseball also offers baseball camps for kids of all ages January 17-18. The leadoff dinner features many former Cardinals who have made their marks in MLB. That dinner is January 23.
Full details at gocardscom
Coach McDonnell has high expectations from his next squad of Louisville Cardinals, expecting them to be ranked right from the jump. The home opener is February 13 at Jim Patterson stadium, then the Cards head to Texas for a round robin series of games against premium opponents.
UofL baseball also offers baseball camps for kids of all ages January 17-18. The leadoff dinner features many former Cardinals who have made their marks in MLB. That dinner is January 23.
Full details at gocardscom
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're a news right await forty w h as Terry
miners here. Coach Dan McDonald University of Louisville Baseball back
on the air with us. Always great to talk.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
With you, Dan, Hey, Terry, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We have some baseball business to get to, but I'm
going to start with the Christmas story first. I know
you get embarrassed by this, but I'm gonna throw some
spotlight on you right away. You're a good soul. You
know that you and Julie are good people.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I call it the Doctor Elko Walmart challenge that
we've been doing for a long time and we get
a lot of joy out of it. But I guess
uh somebody somebody called us out on it. He did,
and a guy named well, I kind of go ahead.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I'm just gonna I'm gonna mention. This guy named Derek
Cruz posted this online at Christmas time. I said, I'm
a last minute Christmas shopper. Was in Walmart and Middletown
right before closing, grabbing a few gifts for my girls.
I was in the toy aisle and had just put
something in my cart when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned around, I was a man and a woman.
The man asked if he could gift me a Christmas present. Honestly,
(01:13):
they caught me off guard. I asked, what do you mean.
He said, just call it a Christmas gift from God.
He looked familiar, so I asked him, are you the
Louisville baseball coach. He smiled and said yes, it's Dan
McDonald and his wife Julie. They were out blessing people
around the city of Louisville. And he goes on and
just thank you. I'm blessed beyond what I deserve, and
(01:34):
and and you asked him to pay it forward. I mean,
that's just such a beautiful story. That's so nice that
you and Julie you take time to touch people's lives
and you do it quietly. But this guy pointed it
out online. That's why I wanted, you know, I just
I want people to hear this so that they think
themselves about doing things for others in society. So God
(01:56):
bless you.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, now thanks for bringing it up in the world. Yeah,
let's it's just an opportunity to challenge people to love
and serve others, whether no, no matter what your faith is.
A believer or not. Yes. For Julian myself, it's something
that as I said, doctor Elko challenged us oh a
(02:18):
long time ago, and he throws that challenge out every
early December. And Julian and myself we were doing it
with our kids when they were young. Now that we're
kind of empty nesters, Julie and I late late, and
I felt bad for Derek because I guess it was
Christmas Eve, so he had to share that he was
(02:41):
definitely doing last minute jopping. Don't want to He's a
man shirt. Yeah, yeah, So I appreciate him, I guess,
throwing himself under the bus. But I'm that tight. I'm
that type too, where like those last forty eight hours,
I'm always scrambling first, one more gift or something for
the stocking. And this is just a way for us,
(03:04):
you know, just to share our blessings. And it's like
I said, we've been doing it for a long time,
you know. I just I go back to my pastor
at Northeast, Christian Tyler Mackenzie, also a long time ago
throughout the challenge, and he said, tomorrow morning, when you
wake up, ask God who has he called you to be?
(03:26):
Jesus to today and when you think about it as
a Christian, yes, that's that's what we are to be.
We are to be Jesus to others. This was just
one way that we like to do it. But you don't.
You don't have to do this, call it doctor Oko
Walmart challenge. You don't have to just do it around Christmas.
(03:50):
Being with Chris Morgan and some FCA studies, Man, we
do these certain type of challenges throughout the year. Man
in the grocery store, pay for somebody's grocery. How about
at a Chick fil a or coffee shop? Pay for
the person behind you? Gas station? Man, I've done it
at a gas station right across the street from the
(04:10):
stadium where I'll i'll fill my tank up, I'll move
up and the next person pulling up, you know, they
might just look like they need some help, you know,
and you offer, you offer to help them, and it's
just yeah, I think for Julie, myself, for the McDonald family,
a long time ago, we were challenged with what are
(04:30):
we going to stand for? Right like, as a family,
what are we going to stand for? What are we
going to be known as? And we just kind of
came up with the word kindness, Like all right, guys,
let's let's let's preach kindness into our two young boys
and then let's see if we can live that out daily,
and so anybody can show kindness. And and I will
(04:53):
say from the Walmart experience, like a lot of times
you don't go there to receive a blessing, but when
you go on a mission trip, when you serve in
the community, when you do something for others, it's amazing
how many times you receive the blessing yourself. And that
(05:14):
is a special night or so where connecting with people
that mean you could just tell when they really need
help and they really break down and they open up
to you and they share their struggles. It's like wow,
like right to help someone else is such a such
a powerful emotional experience.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, thank you for walking your faith. I appreciate that
we're speaking with Dan McDonald, wh's head coach of course
with the University of Louisville baseball team. And that's just
a little something people, just to remind people, just do
something nice for someone in your neighborhood, do something, just
be of service, and make your time every day on
this earth a little bit valuable to someone else.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Hey man, And we have openly expressed our love for
this community. I mean, we would do it anywhere in
the country of the world if we if we have
an opportunity, but especially in this community. I mean, we
just we love Louisville. And we're going on twenty years, Terry.
This is our twentieth year, and so this is I
(06:22):
can't say twentieth season at Louisville because we lost a
year or so, but this is definitely twenty years in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So good to have you here, brother, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I know.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
The first game season openers on February thirteenth at Patterson Stateium.
We got a lot of walk to walk through before that,
I know. Won't you have a camp coming up in
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, January is a big month for baseball. So outside
of some football playoff football, right, we got the college football,
we got basketball season going on. This is the preseason
spring training for baseball. So we've got camped all ages
January seventeenth and or eighteenth, Saturday or Sunday, nine to three,
(07:06):
all ages. Man, we teach, we run through all the
fundamentals of baseball, our coaches, our players are working it.
It's a great day at Jim Patterson Stadium. The following weekend, Friday,
January twenty third, is our leadoff banquet. What a fun
event that is. Dalton Rushing, one of our new big
(07:27):
leaguers with the Dodgers, also won a World Series along
with Will Smith this year, and so we're super proud
at Dalton Rushing. And it's been a little tradition when
you make it to the big leagues, we call you
up on stage at next year. So like Josh Rogers
and Drew Ellis and Dean Keith Effer and all the
(07:49):
local guys like when they make it, man, we call
them up, we congratulate them, and then I say, oh,
and by the way, we'll see you at the leadoff
banquet in late late jam. So not only is Dalton
Rushing going to be on stage, but Adam Duval and
Adam was one of our first then it was back
in two thousand, thirteen fourteen when he, Christa Mingez and
(08:12):
Justin Marx all debuted in the big leagues. We put
all three of them on stage. And since we put
those three guys on stage, we're running about twelve years
straight of putting our own rival Cardinals on stage. So yeah,
Will Smith was on stage a couple of years ago.
I mentioned the local guys, but you always had Brenda
(08:34):
McKay and Nick Berdie and Dak Berdy and Corey Ray
and all these other great players, Jack Green, and so
this year Adam Duval got put into our Hall of Fame.
I'd say retired from the game, but you never know
if Philip Rogers is coming back and playing in the NFL.
(08:55):
You know, you just never know. But we just figured,
let's the first full circle moment. Let's Adam Duval was
one of our well not the first, but one of
our first superstars. And what a career he had, winning
two World Series himself with the Giants and the Braves.
(09:16):
And then we always invite our our big leaguers, and
so you know, I can't say Will Smith will be there.
He always likes to come. He's obviously super busy, you know. Heck,
after the World Series this year, he's on Dancing with
the Stars, he's on late night TV. He was doing
(09:36):
a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So he is coming home. He is coming home at
one point because we're putting up one of those hometown
hero banners of Will Smith.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Oh man, it's I mean, yeah, the mayor wants to
do something for him for the city. Yes, we're putting
out one of those hometown banners. How cool is that.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We're putting all that together.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, oh it's awesome. So, like I said, I can't
promise Will Smith will be at the leadoff bank, but
we try to get as many of our pro guys,
obviously our alumni. It's just a special night. You get
to meet the new team, the returning players, the new guys,
as well as all the alumni. Last year we marched
(10:14):
them up on stage. So that's Friday, January twenty third,
and then a couple weeks after that the season opener.
We're opening up at Jim Patterson Stadium February thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth. We usually go on the road first weekend,
but this year we're opening up at home Valentine's Day
weekend because the following weekend we're going to Globe Life
(10:38):
where the Texas Rangers, and we're playing in one of those.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
High profile turns, that wheel where you played three great
teams over a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right in a big league stadium. So those that went
to Dallas last year. I've I had talked to several fans, coach,
I bought my plane tickets, I got my flight. I mean,
you're no matter what the weather is, you're in adoor
big league stadium. It's beautiful, it's great crowds. It's just
a lot of energy and excitement. Last year was so
(11:08):
much fun. We opened up the season where the next
training walk off went over Texas. A few years earlier,
we beat Texas A and M and TCU down in Houston,
so we're we're kind of the road team down there,
but we have great alumni that travel from all over
that try to meet us there. And then obviously we
have our own from Louisville that are flying down and
(11:29):
spending the weekend Fantam.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
That's Arlington, that's where that game, those games are.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That is, and that's right across the street from where
the Cowboys play. Right you have where the Rangers play.
They've got like these sports bars. It's connected to the stadium.
We have alumni events. It's a it's a fun weekend.
I always say for anybody it's like going to Omaha. Right,
you go to Omaha, and anybody who's gone will go, Man,
you gotta go to Omaha. Well, I promise you anybody
(11:55):
that went last year to this tournament down in Texas
will We'll promote and say, man, you need to go
to that. That is a fun weekend.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Great, all right. Tickets for the camps and the leadoff
dinner are all at gocards dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, just click on go cards dot com check out
the baseball website. January is a big, big month with
a lot going on, and obviously we're enjoying all the
excitement from the fall sports leading into the winter sports.
Our men's and women's basketball programs, a lot of momentum,
lot of energy. We're excited about twenty twenty six, and
(12:33):
we have to keep that momentum going, specifically with baseball.
With the success we had last year making that run
the Omaha. A lot of returners, you know, the Zion
Roses and the Lucasmores and take Davis and it's fun,
it's gonna be Expectations will be high. We'll be ranked
in probably every poll, and so we've just we got
(12:56):
to keep this thing going. We feel like we're back
on track, but you know, you never fully arrived. You
just you gotta keep this that's right thing going in
the right way.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You have the grind going. Damn McDonald. Great talking to
you again, and we'll see you out here soon enough.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You got it. Thanks Terry, happy to here everybody there.
You go.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Damn McDonald, head coach Louisville Cardinals baseball, also part time
Santa Claus around Christmas, go around paying people's bills for him.
Pretty good dude. Back in a minute on news radio
eight forty whas
You're a news right await forty w h as Terry
miners here. Coach Dan McDonald University of Louisville Baseball back
on the air with us. Always great to talk.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
With you, Dan, Hey, Terry, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We have some baseball business to get to, but I'm
going to start with the Christmas story first. I know
you get embarrassed by this, but I'm gonna throw some
spotlight on you right away. You're a good soul. You
know that you and Julie are good people.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I call it the Doctor Elko Walmart challenge that
we've been doing for a long time and we get
a lot of joy out of it. But I guess
uh somebody somebody called us out on it. He did,
and a guy named well, I kind of go ahead.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I'm just gonna I'm gonna mention. This guy named Derek
Cruz posted this online at Christmas time. I said, I'm
a last minute Christmas shopper. Was in Walmart and Middletown
right before closing, grabbing a few gifts for my girls.
I was in the toy aisle and had just put
something in my cart when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned around, I was a man and a woman.
The man asked if he could gift me a Christmas present. Honestly,
(01:13):
they caught me off guard. I asked, what do you mean.
He said, just call it a Christmas gift from God.
He looked familiar, so I asked him, are you the
Louisville baseball coach. He smiled and said yes, it's Dan
McDonald and his wife Julie. They were out blessing people
around the city of Louisville. And he goes on and
just thank you. I'm blessed beyond what I deserve, and
(01:34):
and and you asked him to pay it forward. I mean,
that's just such a beautiful story. That's so nice that
you and Julie you take time to touch people's lives
and you do it quietly. But this guy pointed it
out online. That's why I wanted, you know, I just
I want people to hear this so that they think
themselves about doing things for others in society. So God
(01:56):
bless you.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, now thanks for bringing it up in the world. Yeah,
let's it's just an opportunity to challenge people to love
and serve others, whether no, no matter what your faith is.
A believer or not. Yes. For Julian myself, it's something
that as I said, doctor Elko challenged us oh a
(02:18):
long time ago, and he throws that challenge out every
early December. And Julian and myself we were doing it
with our kids when they were young. Now that we're
kind of empty nesters, Julie and I late late, and
I felt bad for Derek because I guess it was
Christmas Eve, so he had to share that he was
(02:41):
definitely doing last minute jopping. Don't want to He's a
man shirt. Yeah, yeah, So I appreciate him, I guess,
throwing himself under the bus. But I'm that tight. I'm
that type too, where like those last forty eight hours,
I'm always scrambling first, one more gift or something for
the stocking. And this is just a way for us,
(03:04):
you know, just to share our blessings. And it's like
I said, we've been doing it for a long time,
you know. I just I go back to my pastor
at Northeast, Christian Tyler Mackenzie, also a long time ago
throughout the challenge, and he said, tomorrow morning, when you
wake up, ask God who has he called you to be?
(03:26):
Jesus to today and when you think about it as
a Christian, yes, that's that's what we are to be.
We are to be Jesus to others. This was just
one way that we like to do it. But you don't.
You don't have to do this, call it doctor Oko
Walmart challenge. You don't have to just do it around Christmas.
(03:50):
Being with Chris Morgan and some FCA studies, Man, we
do these certain type of challenges throughout the year. Man
in the grocery store, pay for somebody's grocery. How about
at a Chick fil a or coffee shop? Pay for
the person behind you? Gas station? Man, I've done it
at a gas station right across the street from the
(04:10):
stadium where I'll i'll fill my tank up, I'll move
up and the next person pulling up, you know, they
might just look like they need some help, you know,
and you offer, you offer to help them, and it's
just yeah, I think for Julie, myself, for the McDonald family,
a long time ago, we were challenged with what are
(04:30):
we going to stand for? Right like, as a family,
what are we going to stand for? What are we
going to be known as? And we just kind of
came up with the word kindness, Like all right, guys,
let's let's let's preach kindness into our two young boys
and then let's see if we can live that out daily,
and so anybody can show kindness. And and I will
(04:53):
say from the Walmart experience, like a lot of times
you don't go there to receive a blessing, but when
you go on a mission trip, when you serve in
the community, when you do something for others, it's amazing
how many times you receive the blessing yourself. And that
(05:14):
is a special night or so where connecting with people
that mean you could just tell when they really need
help and they really break down and they open up
to you and they share their struggles. It's like wow,
like right to help someone else is such a such
a powerful emotional experience.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, thank you for walking your faith. I appreciate that
we're speaking with Dan McDonald, wh's head coach of course
with the University of Louisville baseball team. And that's just
a little something people, just to remind people, just do
something nice for someone in your neighborhood, do something, just
be of service, and make your time every day on
this earth a little bit valuable to someone else.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Hey man, And we have openly expressed our love for
this community. I mean, we would do it anywhere in
the country of the world if we if we have
an opportunity, but especially in this community. I mean, we
just we love Louisville. And we're going on twenty years, Terry.
This is our twentieth year, and so this is I
(06:22):
can't say twentieth season at Louisville because we lost a
year or so, but this is definitely twenty years in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So good to have you here, brother, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I know.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
The first game season openers on February thirteenth at Patterson Stateium.
We got a lot of walk to walk through before that,
I know. Won't you have a camp coming up in
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, January is a big month for baseball. So outside
of some football playoff football, right, we got the college football,
we got basketball season going on. This is the preseason
spring training for baseball. So we've got camped all ages
January seventeenth and or eighteenth, Saturday or Sunday, nine to three,
(07:06):
all ages. Man, we teach, we run through all the
fundamentals of baseball, our coaches, our players are working it.
It's a great day at Jim Patterson Stadium. The following weekend, Friday,
January twenty third, is our leadoff banquet. What a fun
event that is. Dalton Rushing, one of our new big
(07:27):
leaguers with the Dodgers, also won a World Series along
with Will Smith this year, and so we're super proud
at Dalton Rushing. And it's been a little tradition when
you make it to the big leagues, we call you
up on stage at next year. So like Josh Rogers
and Drew Ellis and Dean Keith Effer and all the
(07:49):
local guys like when they make it, man, we call
them up, we congratulate them, and then I say, oh,
and by the way, we'll see you at the leadoff
banquet in late late jam. So not only is Dalton
Rushing going to be on stage, but Adam Duval and
Adam was one of our first then it was back
in two thousand, thirteen fourteen when he, Christa Mingez and
(08:12):
Justin Marx all debuted in the big leagues. We put
all three of them on stage. And since we put
those three guys on stage, we're running about twelve years
straight of putting our own rival Cardinals on stage. So yeah,
Will Smith was on stage a couple of years ago.
I mentioned the local guys, but you always had Brenda
(08:34):
McKay and Nick Berdie and Dak Berdy and Corey Ray
and all these other great players, Jack Green, and so
this year Adam Duval got put into our Hall of Fame.
I'd say retired from the game, but you never know
if Philip Rogers is coming back and playing in the NFL.
(08:55):
You know, you just never know. But we just figured,
let's the first full circle moment. Let's Adam Duval was
one of our well not the first, but one of
our first superstars. And what a career he had, winning
two World Series himself with the Giants and the Braves.
(09:16):
And then we always invite our our big leaguers, and
so you know, I can't say Will Smith will be there.
He always likes to come. He's obviously super busy, you know. Heck,
after the World Series this year, he's on Dancing with
the Stars, he's on late night TV. He was doing
(09:36):
a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So he is coming home. He is coming home at
one point because we're putting up one of those hometown
hero banners of Will Smith.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Oh man, it's I mean, yeah, the mayor wants to
do something for him for the city. Yes, we're putting
out one of those hometown banners. How cool is that.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We're putting all that together.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, oh it's awesome. So, like I said, I can't
promise Will Smith will be at the leadoff bank, but
we try to get as many of our pro guys,
obviously our alumni. It's just a special night. You get
to meet the new team, the returning players, the new guys,
as well as all the alumni. Last year we marched
(10:14):
them up on stage. So that's Friday, January twenty third,
and then a couple weeks after that the season opener.
We're opening up at Jim Patterson Stadium February thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth. We usually go on the road first weekend,
but this year we're opening up at home Valentine's Day
weekend because the following weekend we're going to Globe Life
(10:38):
where the Texas Rangers, and we're playing in one of those.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
High profile turns, that wheel where you played three great
teams over a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Right in a big league stadium. So those that went
to Dallas last year. I've I had talked to several fans, coach,
I bought my plane tickets, I got my flight. I mean,
you're no matter what the weather is, you're in adoor
big league stadium. It's beautiful, it's great crowds. It's just
a lot of energy and excitement. Last year was so
(11:08):
much fun. We opened up the season where the next
training walk off went over Texas. A few years earlier,
we beat Texas A and M and TCU down in Houston,
so we're we're kind of the road team down there,
but we have great alumni that travel from all over
that try to meet us there. And then obviously we
have our own from Louisville that are flying down and
(11:29):
spending the weekend Fantam.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
That's Arlington, that's where that game, those games are.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That is, and that's right across the street from where
the Cowboys play. Right you have where the Rangers play.
They've got like these sports bars. It's connected to the stadium.
We have alumni events. It's a it's a fun weekend.
I always say for anybody it's like going to Omaha. Right,
you go to Omaha, and anybody who's gone will go, Man,
you gotta go to Omaha. Well, I promise you anybody
(11:55):
that went last year to this tournament down in Texas
will We'll promote and say, man, you need to go
to that. That is a fun weekend.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Great, all right. Tickets for the camps and the leadoff
dinner are all at gocards dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, just click on go cards dot com check out
the baseball website. January is a big, big month with
a lot going on, and obviously we're enjoying all the
excitement from the fall sports leading into the winter sports.
Our men's and women's basketball programs, a lot of momentum,
lot of energy. We're excited about twenty twenty six, and
(12:33):
we have to keep that momentum going, specifically with baseball.
With the success we had last year making that run
the Omaha. A lot of returners, you know, the Zion
Roses and the Lucasmores and take Davis and it's fun,
it's gonna be Expectations will be high. We'll be ranked
in probably every poll, and so we've just we got
(12:56):
to keep this thing going. We feel like we're back
on track, but you know, you never fully arrived. You
just you gotta keep this that's right thing going in
the right way.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You have the grind going. Damn McDonald. Great talking to
you again, and we'll see you out here soon enough.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You got it. Thanks Terry, happy to here everybody there.
You go.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Damn McDonald, head coach Louisville Cardinals baseball, also part time
Santa Claus around Christmas, go around paying people's bills for him.
Pretty good dude. Back in a minute on news radio
eight forty whas
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