TC262: Nick Mingione, Kentucky

Miss your coffee today? Never fear. We’re about to give you all the boost you’re going to need for the day. Nick Mingione has enough energy for himself and his entire University of Kentucky baseball team and, thankfully, enough to spare for you and me. It became readily apparent just minutes into this interview that we would need more than one episode to get everything that this great young coach has to offer (hint: look for an episode 2 down the road).

In this episode, Coach Mingione talks about his Italian heritage (great stories right out of the box), how he was called “coach” by his Little League coach, how growing up in poverty helped to shape who he is, the story about landing the job at Kentucky, the fact that he had never been a head coach of anything, the myriad contributions of a supportive spouse, work/life balance, the importance of a date night ritual, Kentucky’s first regional championship, the “Gateway to the SEC”, the new stadium, the national reach of UK baseball, “inside-out” recruiting, and our old friend Keith Madison.

Notable quotes:

  • “The single most important thing I did was hire great men.”
  • “People want to be led.”
  • “Show up every day with a teachable spirit.”
  • “Our guys are evaluated in three areas: as a student, as a person, and as a player.”
  • “We’re going to love on ’em and we’re going to hold them accountable.”
  • “Don’t worry about a thin in Mississippi.”
  • “The foundation of everything we do is learning.”

Follow Kentucky Baseball on Twitter.

photo credit: University of Kentucky Athletics
Intro Music: Matt’s Blues, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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