Baltimore, Maryland -
6/30/2017 -Camden Yards:
Rays Steven Souza (left) before a game.
(Photo Courtesy: Keith Allison/CC License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode)
“This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)
Most Major League Baseball players are chiseled athletes. They’ve learned how to take better care of their bodies so they can perform at the highest level well into their late 30s. They’ve developed workout routines, they eat a proper nutritional diet, and they make sure to get rest. A fat baseball player is an exception, not the rule.
Carrying extra weight on your physical body is a hinderance, but carrying extra spiritual weight leads to freedom. That’s why it’s ok to be F.A.T. in Jesus. F.A.T. is an acrostic that stands for being Faithful, Available and Teachable.
When writing to the Corinthians, Paul described how he wanted to be remembered: as a faithful servant of Christ who handles Christ’s message well. A servant doesn’t own anything, but he manages well what has been entrusted to him by his master. A faithful servant is available to do whatever the master asks him to accomplish. He expresses his humility by being teachable.
Steven Souza, of the Tampa Bay Rays, and his teammates displayed their servant hearts throughout this past season. They were F.A.T. in Jesus. They faithfully made themselves available to their teammates and friends. They followed Jesus’ command to make disciples of all the nations. They were teachable, allowing the Holy Spirit to use His Word to transform their lives while they lived in community with one another.
Coaches and Spouses, being F.A.T. in Jesus needs to be the rule, not the exception, for every follower of Jesus.
– Mickey Weston serves as the Executive Director of Unlimited Potential Inc. He played five seasons in the MLB for the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.
(L-R) Former ESPN analyst Sage Steele, Monty Williams and Athletes in Action President Mark Householder at the 2025 Keys To Life Breakfast, April 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy Guardian PR)
Amid all of the festivities at the 2025 Final Four in San Antonio last weekend, faith and basketball came together on Saturday morning with the presentation of the 28th annual Coach Wooden Keys to Life Award. It is “presented annually to a player or coach who best exemplifies character, leadership, and integrity in the home, on the court, and throughout the community,” according to the award’s website.
✨ A Morning to Remember in San Antonio! ✨ The Keys to Life Breakfast
On Saturday morning in San Antonio, leaders from the world of sports and beyond gathered for the Keys to Life Breakfast, a special Final Four weekend tradition focused on character, leadership, and integrity. pic.twitter.com/49LY6OZQ7j
The award is presented each year at a Keys to Life breakfast hosted by the sports ministry Athletes in Action, and honors legendary UCLA coach John Wooden.
Jared Miller, the director of basketball at AIA, said in a press release that “Athletes in Action is honored to name Monty Williams as the recipient of the 2025 Coach John Wooden ‘Keys to Life’ Award. Monty exemplifies the character and leadership that was so important to Coach Wooden, and he continues to lead by example, making a difference in the lives of athletes off the court, as well as on.”
Williams is one of the most respected voices in basketball circles. A star at Notre Dame from 1989-1994, Williams was drafted No. 24 overall by the New York Knicks in 1994. His NBA playing career came to a close with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003, and he jumped into the coaching world. His first opportunity as a head coach came with the then-New Orleans Hornets in 2010. Yet he is perhaps best known for his four-year stint with the Phoenix Suns from 2019-2023, which included an appearance in the 2021 NBA Finals and being named the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year.
Since last October, Williams has served as head coach at college preparatory school TMI Episcopal in San Antonio, where he is able to coach his son, Elijah. Next year, his other son, Micah, plans to join the team.
Williams has been vocal about his faith in Christ during his time in the public eye. He was featured in the Winter 2021 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine, and he’s been a guest on the Sports Spectrum Podcast multiple times. His most recent appearance came last November, shortly after he accepted his new position at TMI Episcopal. He discussed his new job, finding contentment in Christ, and trusting in God’s timing in the midst of grief.
“My coaching model is servant leadership,” Williams said on the podcast. “I tell the players all the time, ‘I’m here to serve you and love you. … It’s my job to call you up to your potential, and I hope to do that with a level of service, love, humanity and dignity that allows for you to see Christ in me.'”
“If not for the Holy Spirit, man, we’re just a bunch of skin and bones,” Williams added. “… I can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. Like absolutely nothing.”
He said that, at the age of 10, Christ brought him to Himself through an invitation to church from a football coach. Despite a rough upbringing in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the temptations of NBA fame and money, and the tragic loss of his wife in a car accident in 2016, nothing could separate him from God’s love.
As Williams has been renewed by God’s sustaining grace throughout the years, he’s become a spiritual mentor to numerous NBA players. He often prays with his teams and shares the Gospel with others, offering to them the only true hope in this world, the hope found in Christ.
“The Bible says [God] chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; I am that foolish thing,” he said on the podcast. “I shouldn’t be here. On my own merit, I should be in jail or doing something else that’s really unproductive. And by His grace and mercy — it hasn’t been easy, there has been some really, really hard stuff in my life — but He’s been so gracious to bring me and my family through it all. Only God could do that.”
Clint Hurdle in July 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE & JASON ROMANO, FEATURING CLINT HURDLE
Clint Hurdle is a former MLB player and manager. He was selected in the first round of the 1975 MLB Draft out of high school by Kansas City. He made his MLB debut in 1977 and played with the Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals until his retirement after the 1987 season. He was a member of the 1980 AL-champion Royals team that lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Clint is one of the few in baseball who have both played and managed in the World Series. He was the Colorado Rockies manager from 2002-09 and the Pittsburgh Pirates manager from 2011-19. He led Colorado to the 2007 World Series and led Pittsburgh to three straight playoff berths in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Sporting News named him the NL Manager of the Year in 2013. He is currently a special assistant in the Rockies front office.
Clint’s new book, “Hurdle-isms: Wit and Wisdom from a Lifetime in Baseball,” came out in February.
Today on the podcast, Clint Hurdle shares his transformative journey from a troubled past to a life of faith and leadership. He discusses the importance of surrender, the challenges of leadership in baseball, and how adversity has shaped his character. Hurdle emphasizes the value of lifelong learning and ultimately highlighting the grace of God in his life.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
It didn’t take long for Grant McCasland to see his vision come to fruition at Texas Tech. In just his second year at the helm, he has the Red Raiders in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022.
For McCasland, it’s his first trip to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend as a head coach. But this year marks his second straight tournament appearance with Texas Tech, and his third total thanks to a 2021 berth as the head coach at North Texas.
“What he’s done in two short years at Texas Tech has been incredible,” Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal last week. “Feel very fortunate and blessed that he’s our head men’s basketball coach. I sleep very well at night knowing that he has the keys to that program.”
After wins over No. 14-seed UNC Wilmington and No. 11-seed Drake, the next test for the No. 3-seeded Red Raiders is an upset-minded Arkansas team (10:09 p.m. ET Thursday), a No. 10 seed that knocked off No. 7-seed Marquette and No. 2-seed St. John’s to reach the Sweet 16. Win or lose, McCasland will coach with his faith in Jesus leading the way.
He was open about his faith while at North Texas, and made it clear in his introductory press conference at Texas Tech that nothing would change for him even if the stage was bigger and the lights were brighter. Looking to the players he inherited on his roster, he thanked them for their patience in the coaching search process and told the crowd how he planned to approach his job: relationships first.
“God’s called us all to something,” he said. “I know that our purpose is to pour our hearts into you guys every single day. We love winning, but the only way you can truly win is if you love people with all your heart, and I believe that.”
“If I can go and love my wife the way I’m supposed to and love my kids, then I feel like that will carry over and God will honor it with how I coach our team and how I prepare them,” McCasland said. “And that there’s space for the priorities that need to be in that order. If I can do that in that order, He’ll continue to honor what we’re doing as basketball coaches and maybe as a basketball program.”
McCasland’s time at North Texas included two regular-season championships and one conference tournament championship, capped off by him being named the 2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year. He went 23-11 in his first year at Texas Tech and has his team at 27-8 heading into Thursday’s game. He was also named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award this season.
He’s won everywhere he’s been, and he’s done it “the right way with character and toughness,” according to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which honored him with the 2024 John Lotz “Barnabas” Coaching Award, named after the former North Carolina assistant and Florida head coach. It’s “given annually to honor a basketball coach who best exhibits a commitment to Christ, integrity and encouragement to others, and lives a balanced life.”
“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored a coach whose influence has made not just a positive, but eternal, impact on his players over his successful career,” FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson said. “We congratulate Grant McCasland for not only his coaching talent but for the way he has invested his time and effort into the lives of his players for God’s Kingdom.”
FCA also praised McCasland for being willing to share his testimony and speak at local FCA events, including an FCA-sponsored on-campus event that brought a couple thousand college students to Texas Tech’s basketball arena.
“The way he treats his players, staff, media and fans around his program is with kindness and respect that honors the Lord,” the FCA press release read. “The core values his program culture is built on are all biblically based and modeled in his own life.”
A son and grandson of Baptist preachers, McCasland said his life revolved around church and sports growing up. But an ACL tear in seventh grade put his playing career in jeopardy, and he said that was when God started to break down the idol that sports had become to him.
“Then I was like, ‘What am I? If I’m not sports, then what am I?’” McCasland recalled on the podcast. “… To say I’d put my faith in Him, I think that was the turning point where I decided that, ‘OK, I get it now. Jesus can’t be a part of what I am, He has to be who I live my life for and give my heart to completely.'”
Now seemingly at the peak of his sporting career, he hasn’t forgotten what grounds him.
“There’s no better journey than to live a life of sacrifice to Christ,” McCasland in the FCA award announcement. “This honor is a huge blessing, but, ultimately, all of our hearts must point to Christ and give Him the glory for what He does in and through us.”
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE & JASON ROMANO, FEATURING SPENCER DANIELSON
Spencer Danielson is the head coach for Boise State’s football program. In 2024, he led the Broncos to a 12-2 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff. His squad earned the No. 3 seed and a first-round bye in the CFP after beating UNLV in the Mountain West Championship Game.
Danielson was named the 2024 MW Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Paul “Bear” Bryant National College Football Coach of the Year, George Munger Coach of the Year, and AFCA National Coach of the Year awards.
Today on the podcast, we talk to Spencer Danielson about his incredible 2024 season, baptizing some of his players before last season, being bold in his faith, and what it means to stand firm in Christ as a coach.
