LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — It was late, and Dan McDonnell was talking about valleys.
Not baseball valleys. Life valleys.
His Louisville team had just finished dogpiling on the field at Vanderbilt, punching its ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals — a sparkling three-game run on the home field of the nation’s No. 1 overall seed.
But what McDonnell wanted to talk about wasn’t dominant pitching. Or a lineup that finally looks whole. It wasn’t even his 10th NCAA Regional title — a staggering number for any coach, let alone one who built Louisville from the ground up.
No, what he wanted to talk about was what it felt like to hurt. To doubt. To hold a program together when the winds are blowing the other way.
“The last couple years were rough. I mean, they were,” he said, his voice catching. “And I hate to get emotional, but these guys have made it special.”
Louisville baseball hasn’t stopped being good. But the world around it has changed.
College baseball is an arms race now. NIL dollars flow freely in the SEC. Facility investments stretch into the tens of millions. The playing field has tilted — and Louisville hasn’t always been able to tilt with it.
Through it all, McDonnell kept grinding.
He re-centered. He leaned into his faith and his family. He challenged his players — and let them challenge him. He "kept pouring into them," he said. He let his valleys inform their struggles. And somewhere along the way, something clicked. Growth happened.
“I was in the valley,” he said. “And my wife, Julie, she pulled me out. But we did it with Jesus, and we did it with our relationship with God in our hearts. … It started with Julie and my commitment to my faith this fall and winter.”
Then he quoted Andrew Murray:
“Here is the path to the higher life: down, lower down! Just as water always seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds men abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless.”
You don’t usually hear this kind of vulnerability from a college baseball coach. Not in a press room. Not after a win. But that’s who McDonnell is.
And this? This may be some of his finest work.
His team lost its first game in the ACC Tournament and looked wobbly heading into the NCAA bracket. It had lost four of five to end the regular season, including a 10-9 midweek home loss to Bellarmine. But in Nashville, it looked like the best version of itself — confident, complete and dominant.
The pitching? Elite.
The lineup? Clicking.
The coach? Still here.
And right now, two wins from another trip to Omaha, McDonnell has emerged from the valley at the top of his game.
Quick Sip
After each victory in the prior games, McDonnell's message to his team was the same -- spend time with your parents, and "get a good meal." After winning the Nashville Regional, his meal message for the bus ride home late Monday morning was different.
"Tell them where we're going to stop on the way home," he said to Ethan Eberle and Eddie King Jr. sitting on either side of him.
"Buc-ees!" they shot back.
"I'm a big fan," McDonnell said. "And when we passed it on the way down I said, 'Let's put together a good weekend and we'll stop on the way back.'"
Brisket sandwiches and beaver nuggets all around.
The Last Drop
To round out McDonnell's message about hard times, one more quote to think about.
“All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.”
― Robert F. Kennedy (who was assassinated 57 years ago this week)
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
