I recently had the opportunity to return to the Baseball Forward Podcast for a conversation with host Ross Hawley about baseball, coaching, faith, and my new book, Beyond the Scoreboard: Always About Winning. But Never Only About Winning.
I particularly appreciated how Baseball Forward introduced our conversation. Here is an adaptation of their episode description:
From Baseball Forward — Episode 123
Host Ross Hawley welcomes back Steve Smith—the all-time winningest coach in Baylor Baseball history and author of the recently released book Beyond the Scoreboard.
Smith played at Baylor after transferring from a Division II school, spent four seasons in professional baseball, and coached at Texas A&M and Mississippi State before serving 21 years as Baylor's head coach. Since then, he has coached at Santa Clara, Tennessee Tech, and Auburn, worked as a pitching coordinator with the Detroit Tigers, and coached at McGregor High School near Waco.
This is a conversation about building a program and about what the game does to the person coaching it.
Smith explains how Baylor won with a blue-collar first recruiting class and two trusted assistants, what changed after the program reached Omaha, and why his book is really about faith, identity, and how a coach responds when the results do not go his way.
Conversation Highlights
Why Smith still wants to coach and what he believes experience and age bring to the game.
How Baylor Baseball was built, the importance of relationships, and the people who helped establish the program.
The impact of reaching the College World Series and the challenges that followed.
The lessons learned from winning, losing, and navigating an unexpected end to his Baylor coaching career.
Why Beyond the Scoreboard is about much more than baseball.
I'm grateful to Ross for the opportunity to share these experiences. More than anything, I hope the conversation encourages coaches, players, and others who are discovering that the lessons learned through competition extend far beyond the game itself.
Prefer to listen?
Listen to Episode 123 on Baseball Forward
To learn more about the stories and lessons behind the conversation, visit the Beyond the Scoreboard book page.
Watch the full conversation below.
Listen to Episode 123 of the Baseball Forward Podcast
To learn more about the book, visit the Book page.