[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Welcome to the Roundhouse podcast with Paul Solentrop of Wichita State University strategic communications. Today's guest is Sydney McKinney. Sydney, the former shocker shortstop. She is now an assistant softball coach at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Virginia, of course, she was at Wichita State from 2019 to 2023, where she earned numerous all american honors, twice led the nation in hitting and hits. So Sydney will talk about a lot of stuff. I was going to save this for last, but let's just get right to the really important stuff. What's the coffee scene like in Huntington, West Virginia?
[00:00:48] Speaker C: The coffee.
Know, I am missing dutch bros. And I'm missing scooters and I'm missing the local places like Leslie's there, but there's a few really good local places here. One's called the human being. I think it's a chain. And then there's one called butter it up.
Some people here actually put butter in their coffee, so that's a little different. But wait a minute.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Wait a minute.
Go back to butter in your coffee. You're going to have to explain that.
[00:01:20] Speaker C: I haven't had it. I'm too afraid to try it. They have really good lates, so that's what I get. But apparently people, instead of creamer will put, like a little square of butter in their coffee.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Okay, interesting.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: I can give you a Wichita update. Leslie is out of business. I don't know if you knew that or.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Oh, I didn't.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: It's being replaced by something. I can't remember exactly what it is, but no more Leslie. And then seven brew is here, and people really seem to like seven brew.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: I've heard of that. I haven't tried it yet, though.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: So there's your coffee update. All right. So last spring you were talking about law school. You're going to be a lawyer. Title nine. Now you're coaching softball. Tell us about the change. Why did you decide to get into coaching?
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that I'm still really passionate about criminal justice. I think that's what I'm going to get. My master's in shadow. Nine is still really important to me, but the job really kind of fell in my hands. I met Coach Zirkel over the summer. We hit it off really well. She was my first team captain and just a really great person to look up to. She's a really great role model. So when she offered me the job, it was kind of a no brainer. It's far away, but the people here are great. I've learned a lot of things it's a little different. I feel myself already missing getting ready for season, so I know that'll hit me a little different once we have our first game. But coaching is really fun so far.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: That was going to be my next question. So, Megan, you both were in athletes unlimited as well as Harrell, right?
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: She's also on the coaching staff at Marshall. So that's how this relationship started then?
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: What's been the biggest change going from player to coach?
[00:03:11] Speaker C: I think the biggest change is planning practice instead of just showing up to practice.
I think you kind of take for granted when you're a student athlete just showing up and sometimes you're like, these are things that I have to do. I have to go to practice, I have to run every day, I have to lift every day. But it's such a privilege.
And now we're planning practices and we do all the behind the scenes work and it's not just showing up anymore.
There's so much that goes into coaching that you don't see until you're on the other side.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Are you working with the hitters? What all job description do you have?
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Yeah, I help coach circle with hitting a little bit, but I'm mainly focused on infield and middle infield. So me and Ali Harrell, we take on the infield sometimes some outfield, just wherever I'm needed, but mostly infield.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Will you throw candy to players after home runs?
[00:04:12] Speaker C: That's.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: All. All right. Right.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: So you're getting into recruiting then? I'm assuming everybody does that super important part of the job. Describe your style as a recruiter?
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Not sure if I quite have a style yet.
I think I've just watched so much softball and I played so much softball growing up that you can see talent.
A lot of times it's really raw talent, especially at the mid major level. You have to shape the kids and see their potential really early.
So that's been a little different. I think recruiting is really hard. It's hard to see that talent when they're so young. I mean, you get to wait a little longer now than when I was getting recruited. But it's a really interesting thing that I don't think I've quite found my style of yet.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be a big adjustment. Big part of the job.
Have you found yourself talking to the Marshall players and thinking, boy, I sound just like coach B or I sound just like coach E?
[00:05:20] Speaker C: Oh my gosh, yes. All the time I joke around with the staff.
It's so funny. You hear it every day. And then when it comes out of your mouth, it's so like it's just a weird moment. But everything they told me it was right. And so I know I'm sharing the correct information, but it's just weird coming out of my mouth instead of hearing.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: What do you have a favorite coaching tip or drill or saying that you've hit them with from the WSU staff?
[00:05:50] Speaker C: I feel like the biggest thing that coach E. Said to me that I found myself saying to hitters is that it's all about timing.
She says that a lot, and that's truly it. You can get away with a lot if you're on time, and it's a hard thing to master. I don't think anybody quite masters it.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: But it's a hard thing, definitely.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: All right.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: I always think this is an interesting question. You were driven. You were focused as an athlete. Not everybody is going to approach softball the way you do, and a lot of great athletes, I think, have this adjustment. So how do you approach working with athletes who maybe aren't as serious or don't approach it in the same focus driven way that you did?
[00:06:39] Speaker C: I think I can relate to those athletes that maybe aren't on the same level as I was my last two or three years. I feel like I came into college kind of like that. So I can relate to maybe being a little hard headed, maybe having to be pushed a little bit more because I've been there. And I think it just takes somebody caring about you a lot to get some people there. And so I'm willing to do that and to help in any way that I can to get them to the next level that they need to be at.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: So you would say you went through a development through a metamorphosis in your time at Wichita State. What got you maybe more focused? What helped you along that path?
[00:07:23] Speaker C: I think just watching softball and watching some of the softball greats in professional and the Olympics growing up, I knew that I had the ability to do it, and I just knew that I had to get out of my own way. And it took me a little bit to do that, but just got to care about your teammates more than you care about yourself, care about my coaches more than I care about myself, and took me really doing some self reflecting over the first two years to kind of get it figured out.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: So you were in Wichita just a few weeks ago to announce that athletes unlimited, which you played with last summer, will play its softball, pro softball, at Wilkins Stadium in June. For the people who aren't familiar with athletes unlimited. Describe the format. There will be 18 games over two weeks in June. Give us a description.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: Aux is really high intensity.
It's 42 of the best athletes that you're going to see play in athletes unlimited championship season. It's 60 players, so it's a little bit shortened season.
If it's the same format as last year, we'll do a single, double single depending on what team you're on. So we draft teams every week. You're a different color maybe every week. Maybe you're the same color every week. Depends on the draft. But really, really intense games. Probably the most intense that I've ever played in my whole life. But really fun games to watch. So I'm excited that Wichita gets to see such high intensity games and just get to celebrate such great athletes in our town. I think it's going to be great.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah, this format, the softball, some of these games are on ESPN. They seem to attract really high level talent. Why has it been successful? Why is this turning into a good product?
[00:09:20] Speaker C: We're just fun to to athletes unlimited really does a great job of letting our personality shine through. We do a lot of segments where we get to tell about ourselves. It's very inclusive of everyone. We're very fan oriented. So I think all that together really makes it a great league and makes it fun to watch.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Who was the toughest pitcher you faced last summer?
[00:09:46] Speaker C: Toughest pitcher I face? I faced Rachel Garcia a lot and I think that she's probably the toughest so far.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: What made her such a hard one to face?
[00:09:56] Speaker C: She mixes speeds very well. Her spins are all great and she throws really hard.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: So for female athletes coming out of college, what does it mean to have this kind of a professional option to keep playing your sport?
[00:10:12] Speaker C: I think it's huge. I think that coming into college, I didn't really consider playing professional softball out of college because the opportunity wasn't really there.
And now I feel like there's something to look forward to after college. Definitely for college athletes. I remember draft day, I was so excited and I was with my team and there's just no other feeling like it. So the fact that so many other athletes get to come through and play professional ball is huge.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: So I think athletes unlimited fits under the big picture of growing the game, exposing the game.
And I was at many shocker softball games. And you and your teammates, you'd sign every autograph, pose for pictures. You did a lot of camps and clinics. Why is it important for you and for other college softball players to do those kind of things.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: It's important because we were in those shoes when we were little. We were always looking up to the older girls, always wanting to be in their shoes. So just the fact that softball has given me so much, it's just the smallest thing that I can do to give back is just to give hugs, sign autographs, take. Like, that's just the smallest way that I can give back to a game that has given me so much.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Take us back to young Sidney McKinney in Norborn, Missouri. Who are your role models?
[00:11:36] Speaker C: One of my biggest role models growing up is Bianca Bell, which is kind of funny because I was actually out recruiting with her in November, so it was a weird switch up, but definitely Bianca Bell, LSU shortstop. She has played with a lot of passion. She was going to go out there, she was going to smile. She's going to show you exactly how she was feeling. But she's just such a powerhouse, and now she's the head coach at Bryant. So going out and recruiting with one of your role models is really cool.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Did you tell her she was your role model?
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I did.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Nice little moment there. I'll bet she appreciated that. So you came to Wichita State in 2019.
Take us through how you saw that softball program grow in popularity during your time at Wichita State.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: I feel like when I came in, the 2018 team was the regional team and I had heard such great things about the team.
I feel like the program was definitely on the come up and I knew that coming in, I knew that nothing was going to be given to me because this is just the scrappiest team I've ever watched in my life. So it was really cool to be a part of that.
Going through the program, I feel like I grew with it a lot. Like I said, coming in, I wasn't like the model athlete and I wasn't achieving the things that I did at the end of my career. And I feel like that's kind of how the program was. We kind of slowly grew together, and I thought that was really cool to see that growth with myself in the program. But the sky's the limit for Wichita State softball. The new facilities that they're getting is, they're so deserved, but they're so insane. And the fact that I had a part in making that happen is really cool.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: Right? I was going to get to that because certainly an outgrowth of all the success, the last whatever you want to put on it, 4567 years, is facility plans or raising a bunch of money. You're out there recruiting now, how important are facilities? What role does that play in attracting really good softball players?
[00:13:47] Speaker C: I think facilities are huge nowadays. I wasn't really one to look at facilities when I was getting recruited, but times have changed, and you want to go somewhere that's nice, the girls do, and you can't blame them. Everybody wants to be somewhere that's nice, that feels like home. So they're extremely important.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: So you've been on both sides of it now, recruiting, coaching, and as a player, obviously, what's your advice for a high school softball player who's kind of getting started on this? What should they be looking for in a college? Academically and athletically?
[00:14:23] Speaker C: Yeah, I think when I went on my visit to Wichita State, you just kind of get that feeling. I can't really explain it, but when, you know, you know, type of feeling, find people and find a college that you want to spend every single day with. I know that's hard on visits when you get very little time with your coaches that you're on the visit with. But if the school feels right when you get on campus, so they have the academics that you want. If it feels like home, then go. That's my advice.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: If it feels like home, then go.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: All right.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Huntington city of about 46,000 people, according to my Internet research, second biggest in West Virginia. It's in the western part of the state, pretty close to Ohio and Kentucky. Describe Huntington for us. What's it like?
[00:15:15] Speaker C: Huntington is a lot different than Wichita.
I called Wichita a town, which doesn't make sense.
I shouldn't have said town earlier, but as you know, I grew up in a really small town, Norburn, Missouri. I think population is around 700. So going to Wichita was a big jump to, like, what, 400,000 around there.
So that took a little bit to get used to. But obviously, I love Wichita. And then coming to Huntington, it kind of felt like I was going back to my hometown because it's pretty small town. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody knew my stats before I got here, knew who I was.
The community is so involved in sports here because it is such a small community that it's a really cool atmosphere to have.
Sorry. My dogs have a going softball program. It's really cool because they're really invested.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Does Randy Moss ever drop by? Have you met him, seen him at a football game or anything?
[00:16:20] Speaker C: I haven't met Randy Moss yet, but he was in town a couple weeks ago when I was out of town because he just opened a new chicken restaurant by Pullman Square downtown.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Randy Moss has a chicken restaurant.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: All right.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Interesting. So we've hit coffee. We've hit chicken.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: All right. Yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: I already asked about the coffee. We'll wrap up. How are the dogs? Give us the dog update.
[00:16:43] Speaker C: The dogs are good. We just got done with, like, a cross country tour to see our families over break, and they do not care if I'm doing an interview or anything. They're just going to keep being loud. So if you've been hearing them, that's why they're going in and out of the house right now. But they're doing great. We have a big backyard here at my new house, so they love that.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: How many dogs in their names?
[00:17:09] Speaker C: I have two dogs. Judd. He's a husky, and Max is a pit bull.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Beautiful. Now, we love the dog in the background. It makes it very authentic, very edgy.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Great. All right.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Sydney McQuinney. She is a former Wichita State softball shortstop, all american. She's now the assistant softball coach at Marshall University. Sydney, thanks very much for your time.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you so much.
[00:17:47] Speaker D: Great insight, as always. Thanks for listening to the Roundhouse podcast, courtesy of Wichita State University strategic communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can always find more roundhouse
[email protected].
[00:18:03] Speaker E: And they let him pass it up court, and then he gets picked off a long three by pangos. No good. 1 second. It's over. It is over. And Wichita State has beaten the number one team in the nation to go to the Sweet 16. Go crazy, Wichita. I.
