Doing something a little different for Coaches Corner, we have Coach Kevin Griffin, Bellhaven Univ Softball Coach, and Konnor Griffin, LSU Commit.
Jackson Prep junior pitcher-shortstop Konnor Griffin – rated No. 1 player in the country by Baseball America and MLB Prospects Live in the Class of 2024 – verbally committed to LSU
Kevin Griffin is entering his 13th season as the Head Softball Coach at Belhaven University and his 15th year overall with the Blazers’ Athletic Department.
In his twelve seasons at the helm of the Blazers’ softball program, Griffin has coached 553 total games and amassed 369 career wins.
Griffin became the winningest coach in program history during the 2015 season with victories in Gulf Shores, Alabama at the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament. He surpassed former Blazers head coach Rick Fremin’s 186 wins and now has a career record of 369-157 in twelve seasons.
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Hello and welcome to another edition of the coaches corn are going to be a little different tonight and uh we’re going to introduce a college division 3 NCAA division 3 softball coach but we’re also going to introduce a high school student athlete uh 2024 high school graduate from Mississippi and uh I would
Say based on all kinds of projectable mock drafts and so forth probably one of or if not the top high school student athlete in this year’s 2024 MLB draft and current LSU baseball commit Connor Griffin student athlete and Dad Kevin Griffin uh division three head coach at Bell Haven uh softball and gentlemen
Thank you so much for taking the time to join me tonight yes S I appreciate you having me on and I’m excited to you know talk about you know Youth Baseball my high school Journey anything things like that so let’s let’s do it you know so I
I want to start and I want to come at this from you know Kevin I want to start with you if we can you know father and son and you’re a coach you’re you’re around the sport uh you know both from a softball and a baseball perspective at
What age did you uh kind of see oh boy Connor this is going to be he’s a different kind of athlete at a at a young age I would say probably about 12 years old we really hit the travel scene pretty hard nothing uh more than just
Local and instate stuff but you could tell when he was competing against kids his age uh that he was a little bit different and um I guess a lot of people say at that age you advance faster and then you slow down and people catch up
To you but we just haven’t really ever seen that with Connor uh to that point so I would say about 12 years old and moving forward uh we saw some signs that things could be pretty special for him in terms of baseball ability and Connor at what age did you
Kind of know like oh boy this baseball thing uh not only am I pretty good at it but I I really love it I would I would say about eight or nine you know growing up starting t-ball starting young seems like I grew up with a bat in my hand and
Just love being at the field loving uh you know taking the ground balls hitting BP getting uh putting in the work so you know it was uh it was always fun growing up playing and once I started getting into kid pitch is when you know I really
Fell in love with it just playing true baseball and ever since then it’s just kind of taken off and I’ve been able to travel to some really cool places playing against some really great players and it’s really help my um skill set help my uh ability in the game and
You know to this day I’m still trying to work hard and I’m chasing dreams that I had when I was eight years old so it’s been but it’s been a great journey so far and started young for sure you know I I lived in uh greater New
Orleans for about six years and so I know how the the the fans down there filled the Box you know been around the SEC baseball you know is this something where you were an Old Miss Mississippi State Southern Miss and but LSU just captured your attention or at what age
Do you remember kind of oh boy I’d love to go and play college baseball whether it was LSU or whatever School you might have dreamed of yeah so I I would say around 12 13 we were playing baseball tournaments in Oxford Mississippi so I grew up going to Old Miss games and once
I once I made you know once I was able to take my official visits and college started reaching out and I got some offers you know traveling to see LSU other campuses was something that I wanted to do and um you know Old Miss Missy State those are great
Organizations great uh baseball teams and I knew that but I also wanted to see what you know Louisiana had to offer Texas other other States as well and once I did that I actually went to the LSU Alabama football game where LSU beat him and that was just you know the fan
Base there was Unreal and and then I got to see some baseball games as well so you know along with Coach Jay Johnson is a great coaching staff I feel like he he would do a great job helping me develop into the player that I am or the player
That I want to be and that’s really why I decided to go with LSU and you know that fan base is definitely definitely a bonus just because every game they’re going to be packing that place out and I I love to play in front of big crowds
And you know go into LSU there’s not gonna be a game where there’s not one so that definitely definitely played a big factor into you know my decision to go to LSU well I I don’t know if you know Chris gillot gillot yet but he’s the go
Tigers he’s the ring leader there and uh I mean you could go there in February you go for a practice and uh you know they’re 5,000 strong watching baseball practice so they take their baseball pretty seriously at at the box at what age did you kind of understand travel
Baseball maybe Kevin you what age did you introduce Connor to travel baseball was it more of a local type of uh travel or was it you know right out of the gate you were doing some significant traveling yeah I’d say about eight years old we we didn’t really travel out of
State too much we had a really good team and and you know just like a lot of travel baseball organizations or teams um sometimes parents can get in the way of the fun of the kid and we were only practicing once a week and we had a lot
Of people on that team that wanted to practice two and three times a week and I said we’re not doing that at eight years old we’re going to let these uh boys be kids and do other things and so uh that team blew up it was probably the
Best if if you can say the best eight-year-old team I’ve ever seen in this state but um a good thing was messed up because they wanted to start specializing and do things two or three times a week and not let them be kids so uh we started um traveling I would say
Probably at the 11 or 12 year old Mark where we would go to smaller tournaments uh but out of state not doing these weekl long things like uh you have to do today at the older age groups but yeah I mean we we took our time with it
And just eased into it a little bit about 12 13 years old you know and Connor can you kind of tell me some of your interests you know when you were 8 12 13 even today um I don’t even know if you’re all baseball all the time or if there are
Other sports or other interests but kind of share what your childhood was like with regard to you know your other uh sports or Hobbies yeah so growing up I’ve always played multiple Sports so I feel like that’s helped me become the athlete that end the day so just as long
As I’ve been playing baseball I’ve been playing basketball and you know I grew up with a basketball goal outside and I love to get out there and play my brothers and some one-on-one and even get my dad out there sometimes um and then and then I also played football
Through middle school so uh I did it all and you know like I said earlier I really think that helped me become the athlete that I am today uh some and it’s not always baseball I know there’s a lot of hard work to put into the game but
Especially during the offseason you got to put the ball down for a little bit get your mind on some other things and you know I like to I like to go fishing get get in a little boat go out go out and catch some bass that’s uh that’s
What I love to do and um you know I’ll pick up the golf clubs here and there as well but uh but know growing up love to be outdoors love to be exploring doing different things like that so just you know playing wol fo ball just all all
That type of stuff you know growing up as a kid and um but yeah I really think that’s uh sometimes it helps you get away from the game and I think that’s a really good thing especially during offseason you know one of the things you know I I’ve followed your dad on social
Media for a while and so you know over the last few years I’ve kind of seen you know Connor Griffin Connor Griffin and you kind of get this okay this guy’s pretty good and then you see some video and you know but really honest to goodness last summer you put on a show
And so at that point you you go from you know a good high school Elite High School athlete to this wow this guy’s going to be an extremely high Major League draft pitic now I have you know maybe it was 2010 you know a long time ago when I
Went through that summer of your Rising senior fall and you have the All-American games and you have the USA baseball and a lot of those things that are really really super special how significant was your summer over the last couple years with regard to you becoming aware of your stature within
The game uh as a high school athlete yeah I think that you know kind of started as I was 13 I think that was the first they called it the perfect game select Fest I got invited to that and uh just being around some of those top guys
It kind of helped my confidence and helped me helped me believe in myself that hey I am one of the top guys in the country and then ever since then you know just putting in a lot of hard work and sacrificing a lot of things to you
Know play this game and um to get where I’m at but I I would say over the summer I’ve played in a lot of great events played against a lot of great players but you know this summer was really special got to go play at a lot of
Places that you know a lot of a lot of guys wish they would you know could have been at um you know for example the PDP League that’s where I started off that was a great event great USA event and that kind of helped me make the trials
They chose I think it was like 40 guys from that to make the trials and being selected as one of those guys was you know a great opportunity I got to go to Seattle Washington and and play in the MLB High School allamerican game and
Also got to uh sit in at the draft and see how that that process works and also got to see like the MLB Home Run Derby so a lot of great experiences and then you know to cap off the Summer with the Team USA stuff and getting to go travel
To Taiwan you know it just really wrapped it up and had a great time had a great showing in another country and that was you know just super cool experience getting to play against other guys um and you also got like the perfect game All American game that was
You know unbelievable experience they they get they they hook us up with a lot of great great gear and um and stuff like that so that was uh that was really cool and you know just it kind of shows like you put in the hard work it it’ll
Pay off and it definitely definitely did this summer and um just you know I’m looking forward to the future but trying to just enjoy you know that was that was my last summer doing travel ball stuff and it’s sad to think about but you know I’m excited for what’s to come and you
Know senior Seasons here now so I’m ready ready to get after it and just try to enjoy it as much as I can well great segue I was about to go right to Dad and and you know recognizing that that’s kind of the final amateur Frontier with with regard to Summer uh baseball
Because then it becomes a business either way whether we’re talking LSU or a potential Major League organization what was last summer like for you as a family Kevin with regard to obviously Team USA it’s very emotional you hear the star spangle Banner you see your
Your your son and and you see him in the USA across his chest kind of kind of talk a little bit about last summer from the perspective of the little boy uh is about he’s on the cusp of being a man with regard to the sport what was that
Like as parents it was awesome to see and to be able to go through that Journey from the beginning of the summer to kind of start everything um you know as a baseball player you’re going to go through some good times and you’re going to go through some struggles I think
Every athlete is that way and um if you play the game long enough you’re going to go through some struggles so we were able to see him go through a few struggles early on and then as the summer got going uh he really picked up
Steam ended it on a high note and to be able to go to Taiwan I was able to go experience that trip with him and to see him standing down on that field with USA across the chess I mean that’s uh one of the most incredible things that I think
As a parent you could ever see your son do to represent his country and stand out there with uh some great players and the coaching staff with uh coach Bush Chaffin and then you had Michael Kad and lroy Hawkins and and guys like that that were uh Jason Maxwell those guys leading
That team they some of the best dudes that you can be around in baseball so uh as a parent to be able to sit back and watch that it’s just kind of seeing everything come full circle from when he was a little kid like you said to now
Mature making decisions on his own and uh very proud of him for the uh person that he is and not just the baseball player that he is well I I followed from afar and I was very envious of you last summer and uh all of your social media
Content I was following very closely as far as well as watching the games you know Connor I don’t I really want to take this opportunity for you to kind of share some wisdom if you could with regard to the younger student athletes they obviously know your name they
Follow you on social media they’ll follow you through your high school season and obviously through the draft talk a little bit about your work habits you know things that you work on whether it’s strength nutrition or whether it’s skill set development you know take us
Through a typical day uh you know as a training for your not only your high school season but your skill set for the next level yeah uh I would start off saying the most important thing is taking care of your body I’m big on recovery so you know whether after you
Play a game or hit a hard workout anything like that making sure that you know your body feels right and some things I use I use the normate tech leg compression boots and I use a mark Pro a lot so just doing things like that helps
Um you know my body Stay Stay feeling good and um so you know when it comes to like nutrients things like that I’m I’m taking protein shakes every day um I’m on a good protein powder and uh with some with some fruit in it and uh so my
I’m very lucky to also have a mom who you know Cooks homecook meals for me and very thankful for that so she uh always always keeps me fed and feed me the right things so it’s great to have that but no when I’m when I’m in the weight
Room you know I’m just training training to be an athlete that’s that’s my that’s my goal and um you know I’m not trying to lift the as much weight as I can I’m just trying to do things explosive work on agility things like that so I’m
Putting in you know three to four times a week especially in the offseason now since season started it’s probably going to be you know two two good LIF a week and a lot of a lot of stretching just you know to keep my body feeling feeling good throughout the season um but you
Know it it to be to be a great player you gota you got to sacrifice a lot of things and um you know any any high school player could could go through this there’s going to be a lot of distractions in high school and um you
Know you got to have a dream and you got to you know throw those things aside to to you know put work in for that dream and I’ve had I’ve had to go through that a lot and you know it’s definitely hard but you know I’m I’m set on a goal and
You know I’m not the best baseball player in the world right now so that’s that’s that’s my goal and um you know I’m gonna work super hard and you know later in life if I I want to enjoy some some stuff like that I I may but until I
Until I reach my goals I’m I’m laser focused and um especially as The Season’s coming up I’m I’m super excited you know I try to I try to have a lot of fun on the field bring a lot of energy um so anytime you come to a game you’re
Going to see me always hyped up and uh ready to play because that’s just that’s just who I am and you know I’m just trying to make a positive impact on the world and that’s just you know a big goal of mine through the through the
Game of baseball well a lot of people don’t know this or at least probably the vast majority but you know they know about your abilities as an infielder and as a hitter and your Elite foot speed for your size and your position that you
Play but oh by the way uh young Mr uh Connor is 95 97 off the bump so we are starting to see glimpses of a show high a t or a hunter green are you excited about the possibility of you know Scouts come to see you they’re gonna you know
Go from radar gun behind the back stop to you know stopwatches when you’re when you’re at the plate is that something that you have always done your whole career has kind of been a great two-way guy or did this just start to develop when your arm strength came on well when
I was you know 10 getting into kid pitch I was probably probably the worst pitcher on the team um you know they would they would put me in when we were up big just to you know save our our good guys uh for the next game but you
Know as I as I got older started getting taller and you know putting on some some muscle you I really saw a lot of V jumps throughout the years and once I knew I had the V behind me it was all about you know learning how to pitch and having a
Great pitching coach at Jackson prep Jay Powell who pitched in in the big leagues for a lot of a lot of years and you know won a MVP in the World Series so he’s working with me every day he’s been with me for three years so it’s been great to
Have him and U once I once I started learning how to locate and throw some some all speed it really all just came together and I worked really hard at that and you know I’m I’m G get on the mound for my team and try to go get a
Win uh this this High School season and you know that our goal is to win a state championship and so I’m going to do everything I can to help the team out and getting on the mound is one of them and you know in the future if if uh if I
Go to LSU and want to try to be a two-way coach J he’s he’s fully open to for me to do that and it’s going to take a lot of work and extra work for sure but you know I’m I’m all for that and
You know even in the um the pros if I if I want to take on that workload I I feel like I can do it I know it’s super hard but uh you know I feel like I’m the type of player that you know could take that
Workload and try to do some great things out of being able to pitch and hit at the same time I’m sure Coach Jay just wants to get you into Baton Rouge any way he can whether it’s on the bump at the plate out at Short whatever it takes
You’re G to be his guy now I really want to go back a little bit because Kevin I am a big proponent of having life mentors in my son’s life I’m sure you feel the same way because when you get to start taking on some helium everybody
Wants a piece of Conor Griffin you know you get them coming from all over everybody has an opinion you got to make sure you’re making good decisions what is that like as as parents to make sure that those people I mean obviously you’ve had some dudes between cudy and
Coach chaen and Max and J Powell I mean are you selective about those types of people that you put into your children’s lives as a whole absolutely I think it’s very important we talk in our family a lot about keeping a small Circle amen and we want just few people in that
Circle people that we we can trust and that doesn’t mean that we don’t have friends outside of it um just we don’t we don’t have people in that Circle that we wouldn’t ask for advice about what we need to do in this baseball situation uh
With Connor both uh in the game and and in life as he starts to look at things that he’ll have to do outside of the of baseball as he moves out of our house and across the country potentially uh when and if he gets the opportunity to play professional baseball or if he’s
Down in Baton Rouge um so we keep a small circle and I think that’s important and we PE we put people in there just like family members um the the agency that we’re with with EXL Joey Divine uh they have a strength guy Kyle Bergman who was with the Detroit Tigers
For eight or nine years as their big league hitting coach coach so uh he’s worked a lot with Connor and he’s obviously in our Circle because he can help Connor get better and that regard he understands the game of baseball uh and then you know you want to put people
In your circle to help spiritually and Conor’s big in his faith as is our whole family so um you know I just I just think it’s important to put people in there that you can trust and you can lean on and and uh not just about baseball but about life and um
Yeah so that’s kind of the approach that we take here and it’s been one that’s worked out very well for our family uh since this whole recruiting process and Scout process started about two years ago you know Connor a lot of young student athletes are are going to hang
On every word that you that you share not only here uh today but going forward you know whether you’re at the box or the SEC or uh Major League organization and you know it’s it’s a great platform to have with regard to your faith being able to expose younger student athletes
And families uh to to your thoughts your feelings your opinions uh what advice would you give to the younger student athletes in today’s world of the rankings and the travel at 8 years old and everybody chasing the proverbial recruiting rabbit what kind of advice would you give to a
Younger student athlete that’s looking to follow in your footsteps you know first I would say to have a great relationship with God you know I I give all the glory to him through everything um all my accomplishments in everyday life you know I feel like that’s very
Important and when it comes to you know the rankings things like that that’s that’s cool to see your hard work payoff um but you can’t get too caught up in that because you know it changes all the the time and there’s a lot of guys who
You know below you are trying to you know take your spot and if you don’t continue to work hard and uh sacrifice things and you know do all that there’s there’s going to be people that you know pass you and you got to you got to stay
On top and uh that’s that’s got to be your mindset is to you know never never take your foot off the gas and I think that’s very important and then when it comes to you know when you’re trying to find a college I would say take your
Time with it um I make sure to on my five official visits and you know having my dad as a college coach he really was a big influence uh for that for for me to take my time on that but just because you know there’s a lot of no no offense
To anybody who’s committed early but a lot of guys commit early uh in eth grade and you know I just wanted to take a different route um and make sure I can you know meet all the meet all the coaches on in person and step on step on
Campus and see see what it’s like you know and like I like we talked about earlier I was I was growing up as an Old Miss fan and um you know I experienced LSU and it kind of just changed changed how I thought about things and um you
Know I felt like I would be a better fit at LSU with Jay Johnson and you know I feel like I’m great with that that’s where my heart’s set on and you know I’ll always pull for the Tigers no matter even even if I do get drafted
I’ll always be a Tigers fan now just because of you know the relationship we’ve built uh throughout the years and um so yeah I would just say take your time with that and uh you know always never never never take foot off the gas and you know continue to work hard and
Give it all you got just because you never know what will happen many opportunities could come come about when you don’t even know so uh you know I’m just I’m still I’m still going by that mindset every day just because I’m I got the same goals as a lot of people well I
Think it’s I think it’s great and there’s a lot of continuity uh Tyler and myself and you and Dad and Kevin I want want to touch on that a little bit as an NCAA division three I was a baseball coach you’re a softball coach talk about the commitment
That you have to make as a coach with regard to you’re GNA have to miss a few of the games and you know it’s definitely a tug of the heartstrings particularly this year uh you know with regard to the draft year but talk a little bit about your recruiting and how
How this affects uh your your time commitments as a college coach yeah fortunately I work for a place that believes in family first and if I ever have to skip out of practice a little bit early I’ve got a great coaching staff at Bell Haven that is more than
Capable of handling things if I’m not there but I I may have to miss a practice or leave a practice early I’ve never missed a game to go to one of Connor’s events but I have uh had to leave practices a little bit early and that’s just something that b Haven
Allows me to do they know that I love my kids and I don’t want to miss everything that they do uh in their athletic careers or in their lives so uh my players understand and they’re great with it when we’re on the road I’ve got Connor’s live streams pulled up on the
Team bus and if I didn’t they would be begging my players would be begging me to put it on so they’re big fans of his as well and they just uh really support uh what what he’s trying to do and they know that I I miss a lot so so uh and in
Recruiting that’s one question I get asked a lot by recruits how long are you going to be at Bell Haven I know you want to go watch your kid play if he goes to college and you know my my response to that is the only thing guaranteed right now is Conor’s High
School season and and LSU and beyond that we’ll we’ll take it in stride when it happens and that’s just the way we approach it and you know one day coaching is going to be uh not in the cards for me and I’ll have to make that decision but right now I’m perfectly
Happy where I’m at and and it’s been the best of both worlds for sure well I want to say thank you to both and I can definitively tell you uh Connor it has been clear to me since the very first interactions I’ve had with your dad even
How brief they might have been via uh social media you’re an outstanding young man and oh by the way you’re a heck of a student athlete and I wish you both and and I I know you are going to do this but truly enjoy your journey because the
Destination’s going to come and go you know that whole day and draft and whether you do sign or not sign that’s going to happen but enjoy your journey because it’s truly a a a once in a-lifetime uh point in your life and um I’m so happy for the both of you as well
As your entire family but I genuinely want to say thank you I was glad we were able to do this prior to the start of your you know know being deeply involved in your high school season I look forward to following you not only this spring but far beyond and hopefully
Seeing you uh either a at the box or be at a major league ball Club maybe even facing Tyler one day uh in the box that would be that would be a hoot if that ever happened but guys best of luck this year Connor best of luck with with
Everything with regard to the draft and thank you so much thank you yeah I appreciate I appreciate it and I hope hope a lot of people could uh you know use my advice and use it to their Journeys and I just want I just want everybody to know that it’s all about
Having fun and you know that’s what I try to do every day so if they can take anything from it I I would say have fun and give all the glory to God so and I appreciate you for having me on Amen on that and and I will tell you that I’ll
Have you know both coach Kevin as well as Connor’s social media interaction if you want to follow them that great and kind of follow the interaction with regard to the draft and in college and so forth but I can truly tell you if you’re a parent and you’re watching or a
Student athlete and you’re spending some time listening this is the Pinnacle this is the highest of the high for a high school student athlete and so if you look at the way not only does Connor interact and handle this but the relationship with the parents and the
Family as a whole it really truly shows you the very very grounded uh young man uh that has evolved into the man that he’s has become but it’s a part of who he is baseball is simply a part of who he is it’s not his existence and and I
Love being able to share this side of a student athlete with all of those that have had the opportunity to watch we’re going to continue these types of segments throughout the season where we’ll hear from student athletes at the high school and college and professional
Level and so that you can gain a proper perspective want to say thank you for joining us go ahead and follow us make sure you’re subscribing so that you get all the upto-date content thank you and next week we will have Georgetown University head coach Edwin Thompson we
Look forward to dealing and speaking with Coach Thompson thank you very much
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