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Episode Transcript

Nate
What's going on, guys. Welcome to the coach to coach podcast, where we believe every kid deserves a coach Sallee the Northern Kentucky Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Hey, we've done a little bit of a hiatus, but we are back. We had a website update. We've transferred all of the previous episodes onto the new version of our website nkyfca.org, and if you want to go the podcast page for previous episodes Go to nkyfca.org/podcast, you could also subscribe, and whatever app you're using to listen in, well, hey, we're coming back with a banger! Coach Keith Madison, former UK baseball coach. He played baseball and was drafted out of high school, played with the Montreal Expos and the Cincinnati Reds organization up to the Triple-A level, then got into coaching. He has over 25 years of collegiate coaching experience at the University of Kentucky. He started. He was one of the youngest coaches to ever get a head position at the division one level in the SEC and has just been a great man of faith and advocate for the game of baseball and advocate for his faith and men, He has been just such a blessing to literally thousands of people, not just players, and coaches as he's had direct working relationships with. That plus mission trips. He's on the board for the American Coaches Baseball Association, and he just been a personal friend of mine and someone who's meant a lot to me in the process in my own journey. So I can't wait for you to to dive in and get the wisdom from Coach Madison here in just a minute. But just to remind you of the vision behind this, we know that we all get better together and coaching can be a little bit lonely, has his own challenges, as it has incredible rewards. But this podcast is designed to capture some of the collective wisdom that we have in northern Kentucky, greater Cincinnati and beyond, and to be able to encourage each other to continue to learn to be able to win ballgames, absolutely, but to also be able to transform lives in the process. So hey, I don't want to leave you hanging in any longer. I want to hop right into our interview with Coach Keith Madison. All right, guys, we're here with Coach Keith Madison. Keith, how you doing today?  
Coach Madison
I'm great Nate Thanks for having me Thank you.  
Nate
We are in, Um, just an interesting set up right now. The time we're recording this is writing kind of thick of, ah, of the corona virus. Something by the time you hear in this, you know, some of the dust has been settled, but just so thankful to kind of redeem the time through this and to just let you know a little bit about Coach Madison, his story and some of the impact he's made at different levels along the way. So I have Ah, I've given. I'll have given the, uh, the listeners kind of a little bit of, ah, of a quick bio or resume from your coach. But before we hop into everything, I just want to take a second and let you know just personally how you've you've impacted me. It's, um, different points. You've kind of giving me a start on a couple different times. One was all the way back when I was about 12 years old and it was able to go to UK is baseball camps and you had kind of helped make that happen. Uh, they're in the middle school years, and it just gave me a lot of confidence. I was just a little Jessamine County kid doing the little league thing. We didn't really do big select a au teams, anything like that. I just got a lot of confidence in that. Remembered your character talks always at the end of the day and just super grateful for that. And then back in 2015 just a few years ago, you really helped me start to start ministry up here in northern Kentucky, where you were our very first banquet speaker. We were able to give you a little bit of something, but we were just getting the fundraising train rolling, and you said, Hey, I'm not worried about that. I just want to get you started. So if you have something awesome if not, don't worry about it. So just kind of two at 12 years old And about it was that 27 you kind of met me at some really cool times. So I don't want to miss that opportunity just to say thank you so much for meeting me where I was at a couple of different times.
Coach Madison
Well, you're welcome. And I and I had sort of forgotten about the camp experience until you just reminded me. But I do remember that now, and I remember speaking at the FCA dinner, and I met some really neat people there. And Nate, I was really impressed the way you had a good core of people at the very beginning, sort of surrounding your ministry there and helping it get off to a good start. So I felt very confident that you were gonna make an impact. There in Northern Kentucky.
Nate
Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. Well, hey, um, I kind of gave that maybe some of the quick hits on the biography, but love just here. Just kind of snippets from your backstory, your faith journey. Kind of both on the field, baseball-wise and then all the way through the triple-A level. And then ultimately, coach in the UK
Coach Madison
Yeah. I mean, you can well imagine that my faith journey in my baseball journey or sort of intertwined, because when you when you're really passionate about something on and I grew up just being crazy about baseball and basketball, and I tried to play those sports as much as I could, I just couldn't seem to get enough of it. And I remember, I was the youngest in my family, and I had back in the back in the sixties and rule Kentucky about the first opportunity that I had to play organized basketball. I was at the seventh-grade level, and  I had just earned a starting spot on the seventh-grade basketball team. I was fired up. I was already thinking I was going to be playing basketball at the University of Kentucky. I mean, I was. I was one of his kids always listen to the games. I had the posters of the players up in my room. Yeah, that was so Pop and my family, my mom, Ed, were the kind of parents they every time the church doors are open, we were there. And, um, I remember my dad telling me that we were gonna have a revival meeting at our church. And I remember thinking that revival is going to start the same night that our first basketball game is supposed to be. And I just knew that my dad was gonna make me miss the basketball game, and I was just all torn up about Dad and I waited, waited and finally I think it was the day. The day before the game, Uh, I brought it up then I said, Dad, I know. I know. This revival starts tomorrow night. It's also the 1st basketball game and ah, he stopped me right there. And he said, Son, uh, you know, you're at the age now where you need to start making decisions on your own, and I'm gonna let you decide where you play basketball. It's more, and I do. Where do you come to church with us and I'm gonna let you make that decision. I was shocked. I just couldn't believe that he wasn't going to force me to go to church. But I spent some time alone. I thought about that, and I don't know where there was fear of letting my dad down or what? But I decided to go to church. Yeah, well, that night at that church service where I was supposed to be, uh, at the basketball game, let me back up a little bit. I had this conversation with my basketball coach on the day of the game.  I said, Coach MEREDITH, um, you know, I don't have to tell you this. I know you told me you were gonna let me start tonight, But, um, you know, our church is having a revival meeting, and I and I feel like I need to be there, and, uh, this was my introduction into a coach being supportive of me in my life. And he said He said, Keith, you go to church. He said, You know, we got another game later this week and you can come to that game or if the revival is still going on, You come next week. He said, Don't worry about that. You do. You do what you think is right. And so I had a father who was given me some personal responsibility in my faith journey. I had a coach he was understanding. Oh, it was, uh it was a perfect scenario. Uh, I went to church that night, and that was the night I surrender my life to Christ mind. I had, you know, I had been to church but wan't really interested. My family, they were following Christ and I was just one of those kids. I was so involved in sports. It's all thought about until that night. And God really worked on my heart that night. So Ah, that's that's kind of How about faith journey started actually started pretty much the same. Time is a sports journey. So, um, throughout my high school basketball and baseball careers, I, uh, yeah, I tried my best. I knew how to walk with Christ up like everybody else, made mistakes. But then, um, hi at an opportunity after my senior high school to sign a professional contract with the Montreal Expos. And once I signed with them, That's when things really started changing for me and not all. Not always in a positive way date. It was Sometimes, you know, sometimes, ah, playing pro pro sports can have a negative impact on people's lives spiritually. So, um, you know, I was this country boy from Kentucky and all of a sudden I'm thrown into a situation where I'm I'm playing ball with guys from Southern California, New York for a Rico, Texas, and I don't want to be known. Is this Ah, you know this hillbilly kid from Kentucky? So I basically followed those guys around. I was usually the youngest guy because most of these guys were college had played college baseball. I signed right out of high school, So I really followed those guys into some into some, ah, places I shouldn't have gone and and maybe in lifestyle, I should have been living in. So, um, I started drifting away from my relationship with Christ, and I remember going to bed at night and putting my head on the pillow and just asking God to forgive me for making them stakes I've made that day. I did that so often. This is where I really made a big mistake. I finally thought, you know, God's card hearing about this, so I'm just gonna pray. So then I just just shut him out completely and started going my own way, and that's when things started spiraling in the wrong direction for me and I and I. I didn't have a lot of peace in my life.  I had a lot of guilt, and, uh, so even though I was sort of living this dream that a lot of young baseball players wanna live, I wasn't having the joy and the peace of the happiness that I could have had because I was falling people instead of following Christ, though it wasn't until several years later that  I got married and start having a family.  Then I started really focusing on this relationship with Christ, and that's when my life started really getting better not as a baseball player but as a coach and and a husband and a father that really wanted my sons to have the same opportunity to have a relation, different price that I had when I was young. Um, and I'll say this even though, as he has ah, middle school, our player in a high school player and all that. I mentioned that I went to church. I was walking with Christ, but what I wasn't doing as I was not getting in the word I did not have that foundation of being in the word. So when I got away from my family and I got away from my home church, I really started drifting in the wrong direction. And it wasn't until I was an adult that I started realizing, Hey, the more I stay in the world in, the more I have spend quiet time with God, the stronger I'm gonna be in my faith and the more peace I'm gonna act. So that's that's ah sort of reader Reader's Digest version of my testimony and my and my faith journey up until adulthood.
Nate
Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing and, uh, some key pieces there. I definitely resonate with sort of that foundation you had growing up is a family with father in different sides of my family and having that almost that season of kind of drifting away, too. I did something similar in college where I wanted to be that that light, um, in the locker room, You know, they're Morehead State and, uh, you know, made some pretty poor decisions and you go in. My biggest mistake is I went in alone trying to make a difference and be a light and slowly just kind of went into the fold, the kind like a river, saying with some of the seniors and different influences, nobody ever, um, did anything totally inappropriate. It was just I kind of got that. The social pressure was really and ended up doing, you know, doing some stuff I'm not proud of. And ah, but really had a formative experience to kind of get back on track. And, um, getting the word was a big part of that for me as well. So it's really good stuff. Well, yeah, let's transition a little bit. Just kind of the on the on the field piece. A little bit. You had, um they said he had was drafted right out of high school. And then, um I believe he said at some point, you kind of hit some plateaus, I guess. Athletically, what was How did you How did you transition from kind of the end of your playing career into coaching, You know, what was that happen and what was going through your mind and heart during that time? That
Coach Madison
was That's a great question and, uh, transition, Not about my choice. It was the choice of the Cincinnati Reds that decided to make that transition for me. Uh, I was really blessed with a good arm. That's the reason I was able to sign right out of high school. And actually, at age 19 I was already a Triple A in the Expos organization, which is, and incredibly rapid progression.  I felt like I was just knocking on that major league baseball door, and then I started having some injuries like a lot of people do. I had never had injuries before, and I and I probably didn't deal with that quite as well. I tried to push through some injuries and play through some injuries that I probably shouldn't have and created more problems. So I ended up getting released by the Expos as a 20-year-old. I was desperately missing baseball, and I remember calling a scout up that head that I'd built a relationship with, and he happened to be a scout with the Cincinnati Reds. Got the name of Larry Dodie, who eventually became the scouting director for the Reds and after that, became the journal manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But he was a great baseball guy and I called him up and I said, You know, I got released and you may know about that. Um, I still feel like I could do this, you know? I feel like my arms rested now. Feel healthy And he said, I'll tell you what, I'm in Bowling green I lived about 30 miles from Bowling Green. He said, uh, won't you meet me at Bowling Green High School of one o'clock tomorrow and let's see if there's anything left in that order. So I did, and I drove down there, and this is like, uh, this is like, out of a movie or something. But I remember pulling in next to his car. He pops his trunk open, holes out of catchers met and a bucket of baseballs, and this cap edges may for about 20 minutes. And so I'm warming up this guy out, and and, uh and I'm thinking, for I'm First of all, I'm thinking, Hey, if I start throwing really good, is he gonna be able to handle it. Fastball, He's He's a little bit on the pudgy side. He's wearing glasses. I'm thinking man i'm going to hurt this guy. But he was He was fine with that. So, uh, I threw after right after I warmed up really and through about 20 pitches, he throws his catcher's mitt down. He said, Hey, I think you're ready to play again. He said. The Reds have a spot for you. So signed with the Reds. Played three years on the Reds organization, made it back to Triple A and then tore my A C L in my left knee and I'm a right-handed pitcher. And that was my That was my blame, would ya? And back in those days, this was 1974. When you had that surgery, they would put gonna tip to toe cast for six weeks and stove, my leg just rolled up. And I just never really, really came back from the injury, though after trying to come back to an injury for about a year, the Reds finally I made that decision for me. Hey, uh, you know, I think you probably need to find another career S o You know, I thought, What am I gonna do? You know, I was one of the things that I did right was that I, uh, got major case. You're in all seasons through those minor. Here's so that that following year I graduated from Western Kentucky University and I had my degree, though I decided, Hey, I know more about baseball than anything else because I played all these years of minor league baseball played understand risk coaches and makers, I think I'm gonna give coaching. So I took a high school coach guard in Lake Wales. Florida was I had a cousin that, uh, that had a teaching job. Open some doors for Sharon and I. I was married  time So. We got teaching job there and and started starting to coach at the high school level. Eventaully I met at Ron Polk, a legendary coach from Mississippi State at a baseball convention. And so we got to know each other. You'll be a graduate assistant shift and getting one of our Johnson and his distant coach didn't want to work. So they let either pitching coach or a nationally ranked college team, which was a big responsibility. And it was, uh it was fun. And so, uh, I was there for one year date. And remember, we're on a bus. They're in Starkville, Mississippi, and we're heading down to all the mute. First you play Auburn, a Syrian, a sec, Siri's and I'm getting on the boss and coach, folks that Hey, did you hear The Kentucky baseball job is open? I said, Yeah, I think I heard something about it and he said, Why don't you? Why don't you apply for that job? He said, Send your resume And I said, Coach, I'm 25 years old, you know, they're not gonna hire a 25 year old guy. And, uh, actually, I said, I'm 26. I was 26 a time and and so he said, Hey, go ahead and send your resume in. Uh, I'll make a phone call for you. So I did. I sent the resume and didn't think a lot about it. Meanwhile, the season was ending at Mississippi State. I had an interview at a junior college in Illinois and I got offered the junior college job, and that was about three hours from where my mom and dad live in Kentucky, in western Kentucky. So Sharon and I were up there visiting them. I go with the interview on the way back from the interview. They had offered me the job. Um, I told Sharon I can't tell you how excited I am to be. I'm gonna be a head coach at a junior college. This is so cool. And she said, You mean you liked it here? I said, Yeah, and she's just said you didn't like and she said, No, there's nothing here but corn. I knew that that probably wasn't gonna work. She had, uh we got married the last year of my moderate baseball experience, and then she kind of followed me to Florida to teach and coach down there. Then she followed me to start with Mississippi, and she had never, ever said anything like that. She's always just been totally supported, totally in. And this time she was. So I get back to my mom and dad's house after that, shocking on conversation with her that she wasn't going to really be in the middle of a cornfield in little boy. And so I told my dad when I got the trusted. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna call Cliff Hagan. Cliffhanger was that, like director of university? Lucky this time he was a famous N b a basketball player, All American, a Kentucky, somebody I had never met. But I'd always admired and looked up Thio. I heard my dad talking about him a lot and he said that you're gonna call Cliff Hagan. I said, Yeah, I'm gonna call Cliff Hagan. So I cold information got the number of the university Kentucky got put through to the athletic department. Somehow or another, the secretary put me through the cliff Hagan and I said, Mister, hey, my name's Keith Madison, pitching coach at Mississippi State University. I sent a resume to you a few weeks ago, and I just wanted to check in and see if the head coaching position at Kentucky is still open. He said, Yeah, yeah, we'll open piece. I've talked to some people about it, and so I said, Could I come up and talk to you about the position? He said, Can you be here at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning? And I said, Yes, sirs, The next morning I got up really early. Grove. The Lexington knows about 2.5 hour drive. Had a great meet with Mr Hagen, and then Sharon and I I was just excited. Get to meet Cliff Hagan. I didn't think I had a shot to make a long story just a little bit longer. Drive back, Thio dark for Mrs. And I had not been in in our apartment minutes. And the phone. This is before cell phones so that the phone rings I pick up the phone. He said, Keith, this is Cliff Hagan. And, uh, I want to bring you up for a more formal interview. So they fly me up to Lexington. I'm all excited. Spend the day with Mr Hagen and some other people in the athletic department. Come back to start full. Very similar. I hadn't been back very long. All he calls and says, Hey, the job's yours if you want it, man, I was Oh, Bob. I'm 26 years old. Gonna be a head coach at my home state, the largest university in my home state. All that. So I'm going to intel sharing about sharing. You're not gonna believe this. I just got offered the job to you over Kentucky, and she started crying. And she's not a crier at all. I said, What are you crying about? This is this one of the best thing that ever happened to me And she said, I'm pregnant was found out that while I go to the head coach of viewers Kentucky and that I'm gonna be a dad. Well, the same moment and it was overwhelming. So that's that. That's where the journey started for me as a hit baseball coach at the verse. Kentucky in 1978 Summer 78. And that winner and January. We had her first son, Austin. And, uh, and, as they say, the rest is history. I spent 25 years coaching, uh, at a school that I used to listen to the basketball team, play on the radio, just one of those fans. So it was. It was a blast. I loved it.
Nate
That's excellent. One. That's a perfect segue, way to one of our other questions. We actually got a hold some of our local high school coaches to see if they have a question for you, and this one was from Walton, Verona's head baseball coach and one of our core volunteers, Clint Coleman. And he was just curious. When you stepped in. You're the head coach at SEC school. And you, yeah, you know, recently married and then very recently just started being a dad, especially that spring season. How did you find that balance of, you know, having a high performing team and have success on the field, but also kind of winning at home over some lessons learned along the way through that?
Coach Madison
Yeah. You know, I think of of three words, and they all start with the letter P, uh, one is perseverance. You have to practice what you preach as a coach. You know, you ask your players two person fear, persevere and thio fight through adversity. And coaches have to do the same thing because just like the coaches that are listening right now during your season, that demands on your time are incredible. It takes a lot of time to coach, you know, the travel, the time on the practice field. They're one on one time with your players and all that. It's very demanding. And then you you know, most of us have families at home that need us as well. Uh, so that leads me to the next word that starts with a P. That's prioritize. You have to You have to get your priorities straight. Really? Uh, and I basically and I know a lot of people don't want to hear this that really love these things. I really loved fish. I mean, that's my hobby. I love the love. You catch a big bass, and I just you really get fired up to be able to do that. But I learned that, you know, do I really have time to To coach, to be ad, To be a husband and to spend a lot of time fishing. And the answer is no. So dressed. I I had I had to leave off the fishing part, Uh, for other people, it might be golf, you know, nothing else. But I just think you have to You have to to set good priorities. And I had had a wise man tell me one time I was It was during the spring, and I was really struggling with this whole thing of who has been on Amen. Sharon spending all this time with my sons and and I'm just not doing a great job with this. I feel like I'm not being at being a good husband. And he said he asked me a question. He said. He said, Well, I want you make a list of what your priorities should be I said Okay, so I wrote the number one, God number two, uh, family and then number three career. And then I made a list of a few other things I was involved in, and I showed it to look at it. He said, You got this all wrong...you put God first.
Nate
It's pretty good, right? Yeah.
Coach Madison
And he said, Yeah, you got this wrong And he started writing down things He said, Here's what I think your priority should be. So number one, he could. Family number two. He put career, and then he listed a bunch of other things. I said, Wait a minute, Carol, Worst God in all this, he said. That's where you're missing, he said. You need to put God number one and each one of these things. Put God number one in your family. Put him number one in your career put him number one and all these other things that you've got listed. And then God will help you prioritize things. And that really stuck with me. And it helped me a lot because you know what? Uh, during the season, coach, it really spend more time with their players. They'd grown family. If you think about waking hours, spend more time with with our players, so but weeks, the time we spend with our family, if we put God first in our family life and that's gonna be very rich, it's going to be very rewarding. And it's not gonna be perfect, but it's gonna It's gonna be good animus. Oh, uh, you know, Harold Morris just helped me so much with that. You know, he he, uh he told me how to get my priority straight, and that made all the difference. So and then I'm gonna I'm gonna use one more word that's got the pee in it. And that's prayer. I really believe that prayer is a huge thing. I I think if we during that season during that busy time of our lives, if if we leave God out of hole over all the things were involved in. We're gonna work on a struggle. Yeah, but we start each day off asking God to help us be the best coach we can be. Be the best, dad we could be. Be the best husband, weaken B and ask him to guide our steps. Is gonna make all the for what?
Nate
Yeah, that's right. That's so good. Yeah. So, um, I love that I've heard that put in a similar way, but it's almost like God doesn't want to just be on the list of of those priorities. He he's he's with you all the time. So I've heard, you know, God's presence is a matter of awareness. So while you're in your career while you're at home, he's always with us. Tow only. Give him this little kind of david out slot in our lives versus just embracing, um, him being with us the entire time. I think I think it is a big shift. Um, and honestly, good prior releases from some guilt and shame, you know, of of not feeling, you know, having that different approach. I just think it's fantastic.
Coach Madison
Yeah. You know, another way to put it is you know, you know, Beware your feet are and wherever our feet are at that time, God can use us. That's right. If we're asking God to use us in the in the moment, whether it's oh, no baseball field or on a basketball court, on the football field or on a tennis court wherever we may be coaching. If if we ask God to use us at that time, then he's gonna help us get more accomplished in a short amount of time, in which, and then do the same thing with our family. So, uh, yeah, God's always equipments. We just need to allow him to use us in that moment.
Nate
Yeah, just raises that quality. Well, in that last one, you mentioned what was prayer, and that's something that we've been hearing a lot about A CZ. Well, not necessarily prayer, but the, uh, the parent coach relationships. And you talked about parent players. How do you see prayer impacting? Or, you know, however, you challenged people in prayer not just personally in the morning, maybe to kick start things. But what are some other ways that that prayer can have an impact coaching, pitching sport?
Coach Madison
Yeah, if it's okay I'm gonna go. I'm gonna tell a quick story tonight. Help me illustrate how I think we get utilized prayer to be to be better coaches. Um, back in the early Chinese, there was a teacher up in Minnesota and his name was guy down and he was a young teacher and he was really struggling in the classroom. A za matter of fact, it only been teaching two or three years and decided at the end of the year, I'm getting out of teaching. I'm not affected. No, I'm miserable. So I'm gonna do something else. And he just became very negative and, uh, frustrated, frustrated in the classroom and frustrated and in his life. And you wanted to make a change. So it just so happened that once he made that decision, you went to a football and he noticed while he was at the football game, he was just sitting there, observing the game and obviously pulling for his team. He noticed that when the coach called time out, the football players would run over to the sideline and they would listen to the coast and he could see the coach giving him instructions and then answer the time out, they would run back on the field and try to try their very best execute exactly what the coach wanted to do, and he's sitting up there in the stands. They could walk in. What can I get that type of response in my classroom? You know, I see the coach doing it and and poise. Players are really paying attention. But in the classroom, I'm just not getting that, though. It became even more discouraged. And after the weekend, he goes into the classroom. Uh, obviously before the students get there before first period and he sewed, urged and so negative that instead of going up to his death, he just sort of slides in to a student's desk right by the door. And he's it just kind of feeling sorry for himself and thinking about I can't wait up. The fear's over. I'm getting out of here and and on and on. And then he realized that, Hey, the bell's gonna ring a few minutes and the girl's gonna need this seat, so I need to get up. And for the first you really started thinking about the girl. That's sad every morning for a period, and he started thinking, I really don't know her And then he started thinking, I've never really seen her smile. I've never talked to her And he was a Christian. He started praying this girl. So the next morning comes into the classroom. He sits in another desk, and he praised for that's too. He goes to it to a different debt every morning for the rest of the school year. Now listen to the end of the story. This is beautiful. Three years later, he was named Teacher of the Year Mom, and it all started because he started praying Chris students and he started and he did it by actually spitting desk and making it riel. Yeah, so I tell that story to talk to talk about, You know, if we want to be successful as coaches, a great start is praying for our athletes, and I'm going to take it a little bit further that we need to pray for athletes every day. We need to pray from a of our athletes every day. Every every play. Goat has a different situation at home. Some of them have a great situation at home. They're well provided for their loved. But maybe there was. Communicating with their with their Ah son or daughter is to be critical of the coach. So we need. We need to pray for those parents. And also there are parents that go home and they don't get a decent meal at home. Maybe they go home to to single parent that's worked all day, and they have peanut butter for dinner every night. And you know why we need to pray for those parents as well. And if I work? If I were speaking for the parents of the players, I would say you could get sprayed for the coaches. Now if you could get that dynamic make of coaches prank. Yeah, players. The coach is praying for the parents and the parents, praying for the coaches and their sons and daughters and their teammates. You're gonna have a experience with that team during that, so I think prayers.
Nate
That's awesome. What? You can see it where it can be, especially that the parent coach relationship can really be a partnership where you're both trying to do, do right, you know, do the best you came for the kids or it can be kind of ah, at the serial type deal. But I just think that the act of praying for one another, um even if even if maybe a parent feels like the coaches of the enemy like the Bible talks about praying for your enemies and I just like it humanizes the other person. I mean, when that teacher is sat, uh, in that seat that he was literally putting himself in their shoes and probably had a tangible way of thinking like what is their lifelong right now and give him a give him a deeper, deeper perspective and humanized every exit. And you know
Coach Madison
not the name right when I pray for you. Um, it helps me just a few more. I can't. You exactly like God sees you, but it helps me to see you more that way If I never break you, I'm gonna be very quick Your faults that if I pray for you on a regular basis that I'm going to see a different way I'm gonna be allowed you through God's eyes I'm gonna be a war. I'm gonna be a veteran. You, uh oh, and better coaches. If we pray for our players.
Nate
Yeah, that's so good. Well, hey, is there anything that you want to just shift a little bit too? Maybe just talking about legacy. You know, you've had your playing career. You're coaching career, you've retired, but you certainly aren't down and down and back. Went back down to Florida is playing golf every day And you do a ton of speaking events. Uh, mission trips with American baseball. Coach says shoot so many things going on. Um, what would you say your most grateful for when it comes to your legacy as a coach. And I think you have a great just picture of you're able to see people you've built into already. But, you know, maybe who are what you're grateful for when it comes to light.
Coach Madison
Yeah. You know, I I don't know. I don't know if I didn't Oh, what? Not legacy? Oh, I don't know if I know what it will be. Ah, I know what I don't think I'd be, But I know as a coach, just because of Valdez and all that you or influence on what player? As a first other. I know that some of the fires I coached at the University of Kentucky. Some of the ones, you know, I'll just go to school. They were hard to deal with. You know, I go to bed at night, strain through then because otherwise I didn't no clue what they're going to be doing. Yeah, it's interesting that many of those guys, her guys that are really good friends to me, right? And some of the guys I was really good when I was coaching. I'm really not in as much as we can just as coaches. If we can Hank and hand with athletes, I give up on him. Every one of us needs somebody to believe in. And if that if that player that you as the coach believe and then they're gone, you're gonna get a mosque or accomplished and you're gonna lasting and what worked up or or relationship with you many, many of my former, and is on a mission to go. Some of those guys are among the best friends now, even though you know, I made a media to track six o'clock in the morning and and run for disciplinary reasons, all those things, uh, you know, as a coach in time. Do you think that guy's gonna hate me rest of his life? And that's really not the way it is. I think we have an opportunity. Is coaches, too? Instill discipline and athletes, but at the same time, disciplined, in a strange way, is a part of that loving your athletes because discipline them. That means you really don't care enough about him to hang in there with, and it's easier just to get right up. Yeah, but if we can hang in there was and beer with them through their trials through the times when they might be a knuckle it, then we're gonna build a lifelong relationship. And I love that about coaching. As a matter of fact, my little league coach passed away last year. We stayed in touch up until the very day he passed away. He called me the day that he died, and, um, I mean, that's that's a great memory I have. And it's. It's also a testimony to the legacy that he had on my life. My high school baseball coach, the same thing. He's still a lot and and I love seeing him love talking to him. Ah, So I think if we persevere with athletes and if we hang in there with him and go through the tough times with him, it builds upon That is early.
Coach Madison
out. Yeah, that'd be great. I You know, I, uh, I really actually retired from coaching. I started so young. I think that retired young as well. I was 51 years old, one when I step away from coaching at the University Kentucky and a lot of people thought I was crazy for leaving at such a young age. But I really felt like God was calling me out of coaching, and I and I couldn't understand why. And then I did some work with gay. And then I went on my first mission trip, Um, through an organization called Score International. I had never been on a mission trip before, so I go down the Dominican Republic, where baseball is just absolutely huge. Oh, yeah, we put on free baseball clinics for probably 500 kids that week, and I fell in love with it. And so Score International invited me back the next year, and the next year we put on cleaning for about 2000 kids. And these past few years we've been averaging, put on putting on these clinics for about 6000 kids in a week. I've been doing that every year since 2004 and that's become a big part of my life because we can, don't worry, teach his baseball. We get to share our faith with them, and we've seen a lot of kids come to Christ through those baseball trips and and all that and and then I've really gotten involved with the American Baseball Coaches Association. Um, I'm chairman of the board of that association. Now it's a 12,000 member board of Remember group, and, uh, so, uh, that's if you're a baseball coach out there and and you're not remember the ABC? I strongly encourage it because you get a lot of neat benefits and Dick goes and magazines and things that help you become a better coach. It's very education oriented. Um, I'm involved in those things, and, uh, you know my work with scorn. Their national is really, really special. And I worked with the ABC, a publisher of a magazine called Inside Pitch That's Ah magazine, designed to help coaches and in baseball. And now it's become maybe because I'm with the ABC as well. It's the official magazine, the ABC A. So 12,000 coaches get that magazine quarterly. So that's been a fun thing in my life. And I get to ah e get talked about my faith in that magazine. Oh, way had a lot of people that contribute to the magazine. The great baseball people like Nick Man, Jonah Kentucky Dan McDonald. Well, uh uh, those have been fun things to me, so Now I understand Black God called me out of coaching at such an early age because it's really opened up a lot of doors and give me an opportunity to, uh, to do a lot of things that I'm really passionate.
Nate
out. Yeah, that'd be great. I You know, I, uh, I really actually retired from coaching. I started so young. I think that retired young as well. I was 51 years old, one when I step away from coaching at the University Kentucky and a lot of people thought I was crazy for leaving at such a young age. But I really felt like God was calling me out of coaching, and I and I couldn't understand why. And then I did some work with gay. And then I went on my first mission trip, Um, through an organization called Score International. I had never been on a mission trip before, so I go down the Dominican Republic, where baseball is just absolutely huge. Oh, yeah, we put on free baseball clinics for probably 500 kids that week, and I fell in love with it. And so Score International invited me back the next year, and the next year we put on cleaning for about 2000 kids. And these past few years we've been averaging, put on putting on these clinics for about 6000 kids in a week. I've been doing that every year since 2004 and that's become a big part of my life because we can, don't worry, teach his baseball. We get to share our faith with them, and we've seen a lot of kids come to Christ through those baseball trips and and all that and and then I've really gotten involved with the American Baseball Coaches Association. Um, I'm chairman of the board of that association. Now it's a 12,000 member board of Remember group, and, uh, so, uh, that's if you're a baseball coach out there and and you're not remember the ABC? I strongly encourage it because you get a lot of neat benefits and Dick goes and magazines and things that help you become a better coach. It's very education oriented. Um, I'm involved in those things, and, uh, you know my work with scorn. Their national is really, really special. And I worked with the ABC, a publisher of a magazine called Inside Pitch That's Ah magazine, designed to help coaches and in baseball. And now it's become maybe because I'm with the ABC as well. It's the official magazine, the ABC A. So 12,000 coaches get that magazine quarterly. So that's been a fun thing in my life. And I get to ah e get talked about my faith in that magazine. Oh, way had a lot of people that contribute to the magazine. The great baseball people like Nick Man, Jonah Kentucky Dan McDonald. Well, uh uh, those have been fun things to me, so Now I understand Black God called me out of coaching at such an early age because it's really opened up a lot of doors and give me an opportunity to, uh, to do a lot of things that I'm really passionate.
Nate
hat's that's awesome. Yeah, well said, Well said, uh, I want to also give you some room just to kind of sharing a little bit about what you're up to these days. I mean, you're not on F. C A staff, but dog on it your so aligned and kind of our vision of ministering to and through coaches. And I know you've done so much coaching coaches after your coaching career. So, yeah, I just want to give you some room to talk about ABC a score and some of the other ways that at the country's listening to maybe connect with you or or get on that list of content that you're pushingout. Yeah, that'd be great. I You know, I, uh, I really actually retired from coaching. I started so young. I think that retired young as well. I was 51 years old, one when I step away from coaching at the University Kentucky and a lot of people thought I was crazy for leaving at such a young age. But I really felt like God was calling me out of coaching, and I and I couldn't understand why. And then I did some work with gay. And then I went on my first mission trip, Um, through an organization called Score International. I had never been on a mission trip before, so I go down the Dominican Republic, where baseball is just absolutely huge. Oh, yeah, we put on free baseball clinics for probably 500 kids that week, and I fell in love with it. And so Score International invited me back the next year, and the next year we put on cleaning for about 2000 kids. And these past few years we've been averaging, put on putting on these clinics for about 6000 kids in a week. I've been doing that every year since 2004 and that's become a big part of my life because we can, don't worry, teach his baseball. We get to share our faith with them, and we've seen a lot of kids come to Christ through those baseball trips and and all that and and then I've really gotten involved with the American Baseball Coaches Association. Um, I'm chairman of the board of that association. Now it's a 12,000 member board of Remember group, and, uh, so, uh, that's if you're a baseball coach out there and and you're not remember the ABC? I strongly encourage it because you get a lot of neat benefits and Dick goes and magazines and things that help you become a better coach. It's very education oriented. Um, I'm involved in those things, and, uh, you know my work with scorn. Their national is really, really special. And I worked with the ABC, a publisher of a magazine called Inside Pitch That's Ah magazine, designed to help coaches and in baseball. And now it's become maybe because I'm with the ABC as well. It's the official magazine, the ABC A. So 12,000 coaches get that magazine quarterly. So that's been a fun thing in my life. And I get to ah e get talked about my faith in that magazine. Oh, way had a lot of people that contribute to the magazine. The great baseball people like Nick Man, Jonah Kentucky Dan McDonald. Well, uh uh, those have been fun things to me, so Now I understand Black God called me out of coaching at such an early age because it's really opened up a lot of doors and give me an opportunity to, uh, to do a lot of things that I'm really passionate.
Nate
Yeah, that's excellent way if if coaches wanted to know more about well, but, hey, handful of college coaches probably listen probably not too many. But if you haven't taken a team down to the Dominican with Coach Mass, and I highly encourage you to that, I think it's just, uh, score baseball that order. Is that right?
Coach Madison
Yes, it's Ah, my. Let me give you my email address. It's Ah, it's Ah Keith at score baseball dot org. And if you're interested in ever going on a trip with me as a coach toe put on these clinics with the kids, you don't have to be a baseball coach. You condone, just go down and help us. A lot of people do that, or if you want to take your entire team down to the Dominican Republic on spring break or during the summer, I'd love to help you set that up. But, uh, again, my my email address teeth at score baseball dot org's. And then also another thing that I'm doing it absolutely love. Um, usually about five or six mornings. Ah, weak. I'll send out a brief ex message to the list is up to about 400 coaches now. It's just a Bible verse, a quote, a word of encouragement. If you're interested in getting on that list, just send me an email. I can get you on that list to get those text devotionals each morning.
Nate
Excellent. Thank you so much. Way, coach again. You're done a great job. Just really just staying in the game and make it an impact wherever you're at. So you're just an inspiration to me. I'm just grateful for you in your time. Thank you for all you do, uh, early for baseball, the game that we both love. But for all the coaches and the athletes, you come across and I just know you, you continue to touch thousands of lives, and I know it's gonna have just generational impact and just grateful for you. Ah, and Sharon. And just how you're continuing to run your race.
Coach Madison
Well, thank you a lot Nate. I appreciate that, and let me encourage you to keep on keeping on up their northern Kentucky with the coaches and athletes that you impact and that will work together on all of this.
Nate
All right, we'll do well. Hey, blessings. And I have a great rescue day. Thank you, Dave. Well, there you have it, guys. Our conversation with Coach Keith Madison, their central well of wisdom there. Thanks so much for staying with us to the end. Hey, what about that approach of parents, players and coaches all praying for the other two parties? Gosh, what would it look like if we had more team from or organizations operating that way? I feel like everybody would have a much better experience the relationship to be better and shoot the performance level would have to increase if that were true. And just some of the Nuggets that he uses far as perseverance priorities in prayer. Man is such a great guy who's he's done it well on the field and also lived a great life off the field and inspired a lot of people, so glad we were able to have some time with him. Hey, moving forward. If you have any more questions? We would love to take your questions as faras topics or potential guests you would love to have on the show. Just send me an email at in K Y F C A dot or GYU be able to find our our contact information through that. And also, if you would check out our coaches Page and K Y F C A data work slash coaches and you can see resource is like three-dimensional coaching and different things that we would love to help you along. So until next time, keep growing. Keep learning, keep changing lives on your team and in your home.
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