SE: K-State Baseball Closes Fall Feeling Positive Culture Change
Oct 29, 2018 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State baseball head coach Pete Hughes, experienced in turning programs around, described the first fall in a new program as "critical." On Sunday, there was a unanimously accomplished feeling about K-State's first fall under Hughes and his staff.
There also were a lot of bald heads. The day before, there were a lot of grown men in costumes. Both days there were smiles all over in Tointon Family Stadium, a small, but vital, element to what Hughes wants his program to be about.
"If those guys have smiles on their faces when they come to practice, during practice and when they leave practice, I feel as though they have bought in, and that's been the case since Day 1," said Hughes, who was hired in June. "It's been my goal as a coach that the best three hours of our guys' day needs to be when they come to this baseball field and when they're around our staff. I think we've accomplished that.
"When you get kids to buy in and they're happy to come to the field and happy to be around you, a culture can change and it can change quick."
The staff, including new faces like Buck Taylor, Austin Wates and Ryan Connolly, has garnered this buy-in from K-State's players a few different ways. Two of them took place this weekend as part of K-State's 19 Ways community service initiative.
K-State held its first annual Halloween ALS Awareness Game on Saturday, when players and coaches put on a game in costumes. The costumes ranged from movies like Anchorman, Toy Story, Despicable Me, Happy Gilmore, Dodgeball and Forrest Gump, among many others.
The Wildcats did more than just dress up, too. They embodied their characters on the field.
Brett Lockwood, dressed as Forrest Gump, did laps around the field for multiple innings in a row, garnering a few "run, Forrest, run!" calls from the PA. Luke Bay, impersonating Woody from Toy Story, fell onto the ground multiple times at the call of "Andy's coming!" Hughes, sporting a disco-themed outfit, showed off his dance moves during a few "arguments" with umpires.
"It was awesome," junior Will Brennan said of the Halloween ALS Awareness Game, which he went to dressed as Brian Fantana from Anchorman. "As soon as we all got into character, we got the crowd involved and it was probably one of the most fun events I've ever been part of. It's (building) team camaraderie."
On Sunday, the Wildcats built some more by participating in "Shave for the Brave" in support of childhood cancer. Every Wildcat and staff member shaved their head, some losing more hair than others (looking at you, Eric Torres), but all doing something positive together.
"That's the big thing. It just builds some more camaraderie for us. We're all doing this together," junior pitcher Kasey Ford said. "Just like in the games, everybody's trying to do their one-ninth to win a ballgame, but it also helps to build team chemistry. We're all shaving our heads, we're all doing this together, and that's just what it's about."
Additionally, K-State raised more than $24,000 for Vs. Cancer,a pediatric brain cancer foundation started by former North Carolina baseball player Chase Jones. Out of more than 50 teams across the country participating in the drive, K-State raised the most and topped the team in second by nearly $5,000.
"We raised awareness for a terrible disease (ALS) and we raised a lot of money for pediatric cancer," Brennan said. "Hats off to this coaching staff for bringing this upon us to let us help this community and be great people as well as players."
Hughes said the 19 Ways initiative is "designed to help a lot of people," but its benefits are two-fold.
"It's also designed to help the 35 guys in our dugout grow, understand the big picture and grow as human beings. For us to raise $24,000 in nine days, that tells you the quality of people that I have in our dugout," Hughes said. "When you have good people, you can turn programs around. When you have good people, the product usually gets better on the field. So that's kind of the idea behind the 19 Ways. It helps a lot of people, and selfishly it helps our guys play better, become better teammates and baseball players."
K-State's coaching staff, Brennan and Ford agreed, has made it easy to get on board with any and everything they ask of the players.
"Everyone's obviously having fun coming to the field every day," Brennan said. "This coaching staff's really pushing us to be the best that we can possibly be, so I'm very encouraged for the spring."
"It's the mentality that these coaches bring to practice every day. It's that winning mentality. They come here every day with high energy and they want us to return that," Ford added. "It's been easy to do that because these coaches have the right mentality. The culture is changing, and it's changing pretty quick."
K-State baseball head coach Pete Hughes, experienced in turning programs around, described the first fall in a new program as "critical." On Sunday, there was a unanimously accomplished feeling about K-State's first fall under Hughes and his staff.
There also were a lot of bald heads. The day before, there were a lot of grown men in costumes. Both days there were smiles all over in Tointon Family Stadium, a small, but vital, element to what Hughes wants his program to be about.
"If those guys have smiles on their faces when they come to practice, during practice and when they leave practice, I feel as though they have bought in, and that's been the case since Day 1," said Hughes, who was hired in June. "It's been my goal as a coach that the best three hours of our guys' day needs to be when they come to this baseball field and when they're around our staff. I think we've accomplished that.
"When you get kids to buy in and they're happy to come to the field and happy to be around you, a culture can change and it can change quick."
The staff, including new faces like Buck Taylor, Austin Wates and Ryan Connolly, has garnered this buy-in from K-State's players a few different ways. Two of them took place this weekend as part of K-State's 19 Ways community service initiative.
K-State held its first annual Halloween ALS Awareness Game on Saturday, when players and coaches put on a game in costumes. The costumes ranged from movies like Anchorman, Toy Story, Despicable Me, Happy Gilmore, Dodgeball and Forrest Gump, among many others.
The Wildcats did more than just dress up, too. They embodied their characters on the field.
Raising awareness for ALS, playing baseball in Halloween costumes. All a part of the #19Ways.#KStateBSB pic.twitter.com/FgV9jZ9TWb
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) October 29, 2018
Brett Lockwood, dressed as Forrest Gump, did laps around the field for multiple innings in a row, garnering a few "run, Forrest, run!" calls from the PA. Luke Bay, impersonating Woody from Toy Story, fell onto the ground multiple times at the call of "Andy's coming!" Hughes, sporting a disco-themed outfit, showed off his dance moves during a few "arguments" with umpires.
"It was awesome," junior Will Brennan said of the Halloween ALS Awareness Game, which he went to dressed as Brian Fantana from Anchorman. "As soon as we all got into character, we got the crowd involved and it was probably one of the most fun events I've ever been part of. It's (building) team camaraderie."
On Sunday, the Wildcats built some more by participating in "Shave for the Brave" in support of childhood cancer. Every Wildcat and staff member shaved their head, some losing more hair than others (looking at you, Eric Torres), but all doing something positive together.
"That's the big thing. It just builds some more camaraderie for us. We're all doing this together," junior pitcher Kasey Ford said. "Just like in the games, everybody's trying to do their one-ninth to win a ballgame, but it also helps to build team chemistry. We're all shaving our heads, we're all doing this together, and that's just what it's about."
New look for the 'Cats. #KStateBSB #19Ways #VsCancer pic.twitter.com/1WCcrHXkYk
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) October 28, 2018
Additionally, K-State raised more than $24,000 for Vs. Cancer,a pediatric brain cancer foundation started by former North Carolina baseball player Chase Jones. Out of more than 50 teams across the country participating in the drive, K-State raised the most and topped the team in second by nearly $5,000.
"We raised awareness for a terrible disease (ALS) and we raised a lot of money for pediatric cancer," Brennan said. "Hats off to this coaching staff for bringing this upon us to let us help this community and be great people as well as players."
Hughes said the 19 Ways initiative is "designed to help a lot of people," but its benefits are two-fold.
"It's also designed to help the 35 guys in our dugout grow, understand the big picture and grow as human beings. For us to raise $24,000 in nine days, that tells you the quality of people that I have in our dugout," Hughes said. "When you have good people, you can turn programs around. When you have good people, the product usually gets better on the field. So that's kind of the idea behind the 19 Ways. It helps a lot of people, and selfishly it helps our guys play better, become better teammates and baseball players."
K-State's coaching staff, Brennan and Ford agreed, has made it easy to get on board with any and everything they ask of the players.
"Everyone's obviously having fun coming to the field every day," Brennan said. "This coaching staff's really pushing us to be the best that we can possibly be, so I'm very encouraged for the spring."
"It's the mentality that these coaches bring to practice every day. It's that winning mentality. They come here every day with high energy and they want us to return that," Ford added. "It's been easy to do that because these coaches have the right mentality. The culture is changing, and it's changing pretty quick."
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