Coach Morris McCoskey, or as most know him, Coach Mo has walked alongside athletes for over twenty years with Athletes in Action, shares his perspective on the impact of viewing the athletes he ministers to as not only sportspeople but as beings of infinite worth in God's eyes. Coach Mo, discusses his inspiring faith journey with spiritual revelation, deep-rooted in the wisdom imparted by his father and mother, and his enduring dedication to coaching and his ministry. His testimony are not just lessons in faith but in life that is well lived for the Lord.
The conversation goes into the locker room, recounting a transformative moment with an NBA player that exemplifies the unique spiritual connections that can influence both player and mentor. The story of David and Goliath gets a modern twist, reminding us all of the special armor within us, and the courage needed to heed the call of ministry in any arena.
Coach Mo opens up about the principles that anchor him: the integrity of the sport, the enrichment of its people, and ultimately, the honor of God. As we sign off, Coach Mo leaves us with a powerful message on Samuel’s biblical calling — an invitation to listen intently and act with a servant's heart. This is more than just a talk; it's a call to action, urging listeners to embody the spirit of dedication both on the basketball court and in the game of life.
Coach Morris McCoskey, or as most know him, Coach Mo has walked alongside athletes for over twenty years with Athletes in Action, shares his perspective on the impact of viewing the athletes he ministers to as not only sportspeople but as beings of infinite worth in God's eyes. Coach Mo, discusses his inspiring faith journey with spiritual revelation, deep-rooted in the wisdom imparted by his father and mother, and his enduring dedication to coaching and his ministry. His testimony are not just lessons in faith but in life that is well lived for the Lord.
The conversation goes into the locker room, recounting a transformative moment with an NBA player that exemplifies the unique spiritual connections that can influence both player and mentor. The story of David and Goliath gets a modern twist, reminding us all of the special armor within us, and the courage needed to heed the call of ministry in any arena.
Coach Mo opens up about the principles that anchor him: the integrity of the sport, the enrichment of its people, and ultimately, the honor of God. As we sign off, Coach Mo leaves us with a powerful message on Samuel’s biblical calling — an invitation to listen intently and act with a servant's heart. This is more than just a talk; it's a call to action, urging listeners to embody the spirit of dedication both on the basketball court and in the game of life.
Right before the race I was down there below the grandstands and I just said to him, son, audience of one, audience of one. All that really matters is what does God think?
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Be A Baller podcast where we discuss how to build a lifelong legacy. I'm your host, coach Tim Brown. I'm excited to finally get this young man in the studio with me, coach Morris McCoskey.
Speaker 1:
Okay, not bad there, mr Brown. Mr Brown, how do you pronounce Brown now?
Speaker 2:
How do you pronounce Brown? The hard part of Brown is how to spell it.
Speaker 1:
Does it have an E?
Speaker 2:
Does it not have?
Speaker 1:
an.
Speaker 4:
E, then you got.
Speaker 1:
Christian Brown. Christian Brown, who plays for the Denver Nuggets, but he doesn't spell it like you. He doesn't spell it normal.
Speaker 2:
That's it, but I'm excited to have Coach on the show as we talk about building a lifelong legacy in both coaching and ministry. So today on the show, coach Mo will share his decades of coaching and being in ministry with Athletes in Action, which is another crew, and being faithful to his calling to serve God's people. Coach Mo, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's good to be in Columbus.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, this has been much anticipated for me. I've done a little backdrop and I've got some great stories about you From who?
Speaker 1:
My wife or the.
Speaker 2:
FBI. I don't tell my sources, but there's a story about you having an encounter with Denzel Washington. Oh, yes, yeah, how was that? It was?
Speaker 1:
striking, I was scared to death. I was scared to death twice, tim. Yeah, how was that? It was striking, I was scared to death. I was scared to death twice, tim Twice. The first time I met him, we was at a college basketball game and we sat close to each other. And the next time was two days later, when my phone rang. I picked up the phone. I reached in my pocket, picked up the phone and I hear this line that says Hello, coach Moe, this is Denzel Washington, do you have a few minutes? I'd like to talk? And I was shaking. I was shaking, I had no idea because it didn't come up on caller ID and suddenly, bang, he was there and what we talked about actually was it wasn't small talk, it went deep fast, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, you've been that guy. You've definitely been that guy. The word is that you never met a stranger.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's because the stranger wouldn't let me alone. Right, it was a God moment, you know. Wouldn't let me alone, right, it was a God moment. You know. God has his way of winking at you and let you help you to be free and open with people, all people.
Speaker 5:
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Speaker 2:
Coach, I know you're a strong man of faith. Can you give us a little backdrop of how you came to know the Lord? Wow?
Speaker 1:
Yes, you're hitting home in a. You went deep fast on that one. So the best way to explain it in my spiritual journey was there was a moment early on in my life where I got hit with this line from my mom and I was a kid who was dirty, it was summertime, I'm out playing, and she said, son, get in the tub and get yourself cleaned up. Then I reluctantly said OK, yeah, yeah, so I did. And, um, while I was there, my mom popped her head in and she dropped this line on me, tim. That surprised me like crazy and she said, son, wash all you want, but only Jesus can make you clean. And I don't know why, but in that moment God grabbed my heart and I began to think through that Wash all you want, but only Jesus can make you clean. Wash all you want, but only Jesus can make you clean.
Speaker 1:
And as a boy, I think you know, all of us at some point come to grips with a sense of shame and guilt and we realize that there's something wrong, that we're in more trouble than we think, but then we're more loved than we could possibly imagine. And that was a starting point for me of my spiritual journey. And I found myself naked in a bathtub, just saying, calling out to the Lord and saying please make me clean. I couldn't believe how it touched me. And then you know, there's other points in my life along the way where God continued to grip me and help me understand the Lordship of Christ and and what it meant to really follow him.
Speaker 2:
You know I've come that. How did you get involved in sports? Was basketball always your deal?
Speaker 1:
Basketball was always. It seemed like it was always a big deal, but my grandfather, who lived with us, was a professional baseball player and he was a sports-minded man. I didn't know him as a professional baseball player. He played for the Cardinals, but back in the day there wasn't enough money in professional sports, even baseball, to make it and take care of a family. He had a family of, he had four kids, but he played baseball until there wasn't enough money to take care of the family and then he stopped. But he also played basketball.
Speaker 1:
If you were to go into my home, there's a framed picture of my grandfather playing basketball with a leather basketball that actually had laces on it like a football way back Right up on a tree in the side yard, with dirt, a tree dirt and a backboard.
Speaker 1:
Tim, can I tell you one more thing about that?
Speaker 1:
So my dad was the one who found a piece of plywood and he found a rim and he put it up in the side yard for me for Christmas that year and I had a ball and that's how it started.
Speaker 1:
But what touches me the most about what I'm sharing with you is that my dad, both of my parents, were physically handicapped and my mom lost the ability to walk with function. She lost all the control on her left leg when she was two years old and my father had part of his leg amputated and then kind of sewn back together with what was left. He lost his left knee and about six inches on either side when he was 10 years old. But my dad had a vision to care for me and wanted to do something, and in order to put that basket up there like how did he do that? He had to climb up on a ladder with one leg that was stiff and way shorter than the other and figure out how to get it up on the side of a tree and attach a backboard. It wasn't this thing that just kind of came together.
Speaker 1:
And that's what he did for me. My parents taught me how to work and how to put my best foot forward, and when I think back on that and how I got started in basketball, it was pretty raw and touching and that hoop got worn out like crazy. That's how I started.
Speaker 2:
It looks like you just took off with it of being a great high school basketball player and then you got into coaching. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
How'd you?
Speaker 2:
get into coaching. You coached for decades. How'd you get into coaching?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, the first moment I never really thought about coaching. I always thought about playing. But my junior year in college I had an injury and I herniated three discs in my back and it got me to be thinking well, what can I do to help my team when I can't play? And so, all of a sudden, something else ignited in me and I remember one game where actually at halftime, I asked the coach, my head coach, if I could just share with the team what I think we need to do to win the game in the second half. And I surprised myself like it just came over me, and I just said, coach, let me talk to the team, let me talk to them. This is what I think we need to do. And for some reason, my coach, kindly and wisely, just let me go in that moment, and all of a sudden, something else was birthed in me that I never saw coming and I didn't stop after that, I just that was. That got me to helping others, you know, in a new way.
Speaker 2:
And then you know, your life has taken all kinds of changes or turns, or twists and turns through God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the last 20 years you've been with Athletes in Action Right, and you've been all over the world, a dozen of foreign countries, six continents. You served as a chaplain, life coach for teams at seven Olympics and World Cups yeah, most notably Team USA. You've been involved with franchises, with chaplains for different teams. Boy, god has really used you. You know God's really used you. So what was it? You know your coaching, your successful coaching. What drew you to ministry?
Speaker 1:
To be frank with you, I think what drew me to ministry in or in or beyond coaching it was really an in-coaching first, Like I didn't want to coach without him, and so this idea of doing it in ministry was always a part of who I was. It was just a different opportunity. To be candid with you, I wanted to be holistic from the start. I know that you're probably looking for okay, all of a sudden you leave this to do this, but the fact of the matter was I was doing this way back here.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, because God can flat out coach and I wanted him to coach my teams. I wanted him to coach me, but I wanted me to let him coach my teams. God's undefeated, he's undefeated, and so why wouldn't you pay attention to him and this idea of like? Even early on, I wanted my teams to play like David's in a Goliath world. The world's big. I started in high school first, then I went to college and now it's kind of graduated into that NBA space. But all along, the world is big and at times it's nasty and it's tough and it's unforgiving. But to learn how to be like David's in a Goliath world means that you have to have something special built inside of you in order to equip you or prepare you for that stuff that's going to be before you.
Speaker 2:
You know you have been and I've watched you in action. You've been a great. You are a great relationship builder. You know you never met a stranger had that spirit about you, you, you being that kind of guy.
Speaker 1:
Can you talk to us a little bit about how important those relationships are? Yeah, the first thing that came to mind as you were posing that question to me is a line that really captured me. Like my dad was a first-generation Christian, he's a first. That really captured me. Like my dad was a first-generation Christian, he's a first-generation American citizen. Well, actually, no, my grandfather was. He came over. He came over. But then my dad, he grew up in the US, he was born in the US and then there was me.
Speaker 1:
But he came to saving faith in a real, a lifelong journey with Jesus. But it started with that classic verse in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 that says hey, if any man's in Christ, he's a new creature. The old is gone, the new has come. But the verse right before that is 2 Corinthians 5, 16. And it says well, the Apostle Paul, who was also a great coach, he said so, from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view, although once we regarded Christ in this way. And so to start to answer your question, way. And so to start to answer your question, where did this idea of ministry and never meeting a stranger?
Speaker 1:
Well, I just look at people and say everyone's a soul. Don't look at them at a worldly point of view. That's a black guy, that's a white guy, that's a tall guy, that's a short guy, that guy's a lefty, that guy wears low socks, that guy wears high socks. That guy can't dribble, that guy can. And you know, here's how you have to close out on this particular guy. Well, I get all that stuff. But then there's that other layer, tim, that I could not dismiss.
Speaker 1:
So from now on, you regard no one from a worldly point of view. So it means that you must see them as souls. A worldly point of view is just hey, look, this is your profile. You're six foot, whatever. You're seven foot, whatever You're slow, you're fast. All of that's a worldly point of view. But I'm not going to just look at them that way. And as soon as you don't compartmentalize people, it opens you up, I think, to just want to wander and then wonder into their lives and treat them like their souls that have value, eternal value. So for me, that's, that's really the framework that opens me up. Thank, thank you for asking that question.
Speaker 2:
I've seen you in action. I've seen you get through more places and be able to get in more rooms. I call you the Apostle Paul, I call you the Gospel Globetrotter, every time I see you, and I've seen you in Vegas, I see you in games and all over, but you've been able to get in those rooms and those spaces where God and I love the way you always answer the calling of the Lord you know, wherever God sends you, wherever you send me, lord, I'll go. Yeah, I'll go, I'll go, and you know that God goes. Not only does God go with us, but he goes before us.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, preach, preach, preach, preach.
Speaker 2:
Speaking of that, you had an encounter with an NBA player right before the 2017 NBA final. I think it was Game 4 somewhere and I'm not going to mention that name, but can you tell us how that encounter was and the impact that had on that young man?
Speaker 1:
Wow, how do I reframe this one? How do I disclose um? Yeah, here's, here's how this story went. It was uh, actually it was 2018, although I had encounters with this player 2010. On um, I'm gonna back it up a little further. You said, like you find yourself, you call me a globetrotter, but I think what people need to understand like you and whoever this listening audience, is that I refused to self-promote. I do, and so, as I got into these things, I don't think I did anything all along the way to invite myself into that space. I really don't.
Speaker 1:
I felt in this world, you know you got to. You say you got to promote your brand. You got to. You know you got to self promote because nobody else will. And I understand that, but I don't fully believe it or agree with or subscribe to it, not if there's God in the equation, and so I feel like God. Just he dropped me here and he dropped me there and in each of these places, even this latest episode with the Pacers what did I do? I didn't. I just picked up the phone and I answered it. That's it All right, back to the story.
Speaker 1:
All right, so that 2018 moment was well, no, well, I'm trying to think 2017 and 18, you mentioned 17. So well, I'd been investing with this player all along and they ended up winning the NBA championship, ended and then they crushed the other team. They crushed the other team and then, six days later, six days later, I remember that I was in church. It was a Sunday morning. Well, it was Sunday right at noontime and the phone rang and I picked up the phone and I go, holy cow, and I just answered the phone and I said just hang on a second. I ran out of the service and I tried to get into a small room somewhere away from everybody and said what is going on? And the voice on the other end of the phone said Coach Mo, I thought it would last longer than this. Six days after winning the NBA championship, rolling through just crushing people Best team MVP and that six days later. The problem with sport at times is we love sport but we come to these moments we realize that sport will never love us back like we love it. Why? Because it can't. And in that moment that player realized this is not going to give me all the love that I thought it was going to give me in this particular moment, six days after, at the height, nobody can, nobody can ask for more marbles in the bag than that one, a bigger bag.
Speaker 1:
And so, and then the following year, the following year, we met right before game four. He invited me to come and spend the day with him and he said look after we had lunch together. He said I got to get some acupuncture and I got to get a nap and I'll call you afterwards. I want you to come up and talk. So I did, came up to his hotel room and I said what do you want me to do. And he just said just talk to me, just do what you do.
Speaker 1:
And I paused in that moment because I was a little scared, and sometimes there's wonderful moments where you just whisper to the Lord what would you have me? And we just talked about two things, tim. We talked about the fact that there's four outcomes to a game. And this player looked at me and said wait a second, there's four outcomes. I thought there was only two you win and you lose.
Speaker 1:
And here we are on the cusp and I said no, no, no, no. There's four outcomes you win, you lose. You win with honor and you lose with honor. And I'm just here to tell you, I'm just here to tell you attach honor to everything that you do, because that's what God wants from all of us. He wants us to bring honor to the things that he's set before us. And then the other thing that I told him is I only got one more thing I had to tell you, and it's a story that I told him about my son before he was racing for the national championship as a as a steeplechaser in college at that time. And I just told him can I just tell you a story about my son as he faced that moment at the starting line and I detailed things and said the only thing I said to my son at that moment, right before the race, I was down there and below the grandstands and I just said to him son, um, audience of one audience of one.
Speaker 1:
All that, all that really matters is what? What does God think? And then I said son, audience of one and I love you and I'll see you at the finish line. That's it. And I take a Sharpie and I put the Sharpie with a cross right there. That's all you need to focus on. And that player looked at me and he said put it on me, come on. He said put it on me. So I took the Sharpie out of my pocket and said put it on me. So I took the sharpie out of my pocket and I put it on him. And that's how we played. And they went out and won and he and I ended up walking off the court, literally between off the court with that player, with that player, after they won the championship. That's my story. How did I do?
Speaker 2:
You did well. You did, you did better than anybody could tell you, because it's your story. Because it's your story, it's your story. You know, as we think about this, this podcast is a legacy podcast. It's about building a lifelong legacy. Yes, what would you say is a legacy?
Speaker 1:
First of all, what does that word legacy mean to you, coach? Legacy means whatever's left after everything else is forgotten, whatever's left after everything else is forgotten, what lingers and what seems to matter, because there's a lot of what we chase in life that just doesn't matter. Doesn't matter In the end. Only one life soon will be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. So that's what I think of when you talk about the word legacy.
Speaker 3:
The team at the Financial Solutions Network is proud to partner with Tim Brown and bring you this episode of Be A Baller. Our mission is to share generously of our time, talent and financial resources to help our clients develop financial plans and wealth management strategies that allow them to live the lives they imagine, while connecting them with experiences and people that enhance their quality of life. Fca is one of those organizations, by helping young men and women through the development of their personal faith. The Financial Solutions Network is an independently owned and managed wealth advisory firm based in Worthington, Ohio. We are a multi-generational professional team of advisors with a combined 83 years of experience teaching and managing financial strategies for individuals, families, businesses and institutions. We would be honored to help you plan your financial journey.
Speaker 2:
Contact us at 614-505-3025 or visit our website at tfsnnet. What's left? Wow, that's powerful. You know you've been described. People have described you as a lover of all, a friend to the friendless, being a friendly kid, can you? What words would you describe Coach Moore? How would you describe yourself?
Speaker 1:
Servant Leader, friend, not a selective friend. It doesn't matter your shape or size or your color. Sinner, yeah, I am, and, remarkably, I'm a saint. And sometimes we're afraid. We think saints are only the people who have been verified by a church that lived 600 years ago or 1,000 years ago. And no, I'm a saint because I know who made me righteous. I'm not afraid of that. It only makes actually makes me even more humbled. Can I describe the answer to the question another way here? Just one other way.
Speaker 1:
I've got this little cadence that runs in me that it's like a mantra, a cadence that I say all the time to myself and it's just this, it's what helps me with direction, it helps me keep centered, it helps me with my identity. It just it's. The cadence goes like this For the good of the game game, the growth of its people to the glory of God. So that sets my direction and therefore anything that I am has to fall in line with that For the good of the game, the growth of his people to the glory of God. That's how I roll, that's how you roll, that's how I roll, man, you've been rolling that way for a while.
Speaker 2:
You've been rolling that way for a while, coach, as we turn the corner and begin to wrap up. This has been such a rich interview, and one of the things that we talk about in this podcast is about a wisdom pledge, and that is giving away all our wisdom. The thing I love about you, coach, is that you're not trying to hide anything from anybody. When someone wants to know, hey, you're sharing, but, most importantly, you're sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. You're sharing that encouragement of being a follower of Jesus Christ, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
If somebody sees you.
Speaker 2:
I know you came today with your Bible. You came today with your notepad. You came here to the show ready to preach a sermon and you preached it. And you preached it today. You preached it today. All we can say is amen. So, coach, I want to thank you for being a guest today and, most importantly, I want to thank you for listening to the voice of the Lord and following God's calling, and I want to thank you. I want to thank you.
Speaker 2:
I want to personally thank your parents for their example, for their example. You talked about them being. You know how to treat, because what you saw, what you saw is they didn't let those things hinder them. But you also probably saw people come alongside as well. You know to be there, and so that gives us. How dare we not, how dare we not help others, how dare we look down on anybody else when all of us know that if it had not been for the Lord on our side, where would we be? Where would we be? And because God's on our side, because Jesus died for us, here it is is. This is where we are, because we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all things he added to us. And God's truly added some things to you, and it's just getting better and better. Coach, I know you got one final word for us.
Speaker 1:
Give me that word you like, set up one more bucket. You know what's come to mind. You said something just a minute ago that made me think about this. Recently, at an NBA chapel, we were just going through a little meditation and I was just so touched and so surprised by this guy who's learning, learning for the first time in his life what it means, what it looks like to follow Jesus. And we're looking at a simple little verse in 1 Samuel, chapter 3. And here's a young guy, samuel's. A young guy may have even been a boy learning how to walk with God.
Speaker 1:
And his response when he's awakened by a dream at night and he goes to his mentor, eli, and he said hey, was that you that woke me up? And Eli said no, no, no, no, I didn't do that. Go back to bed. So he goes back to bed and again he hears this voice and he gets up out of bed. So he goes back to bed and again he hears this voice and he gets up out of bed and he goes to Eli and he's Eli what was that? You woke me up, didn't you? What do you want? He said, no, I didn't Go back to bed. And then Eli I mean then, samuel, samuel the voice comes again to Samuel and Samuel learns to say this Samuel, the voice comes again to Samuel and Samuel learns to say this that must be God.
Speaker 1:
And his reply was to that voice. He said speak, lord, for your servant, listens. Speak, lord, for your servant, listens. I want to share that story that touched deeply the life of this NBA, current NBA player and all-star. And he said I just love that, I want that to be me. He said I can't get that out of my mind and my heart. And he said, oh, that we would raise up another generation, one generation to another that would say speak, lord, for your servant, listens, coach me, coach me, lord. That's my departing anecdote for all of us. Speak, lord, for your servant, listens, amen.
Speaker 2:
Well, Coach, I want to thank you for being on the show today.
Speaker 1:
Can we do that again? Can we dap it up here Right there, all right Get the. Dap it up here, right there, all right Get the dap game on.
Speaker 2:
You're the man, you're the man. I want to thank everyone for listening to the show today. I want to thank Coach Mo for being our special guest. I pray that the audience was blessed by this rich and compelling conversation on building a lifelong legacy in both coaching and ministry. So, coach Martin, I want to thank you for being on the show and I pray that those who are listening were impacted as always.
Speaker 4:
thanks for being a baller and listening to Be A Baller Podcast. This is Coach Tim Brown. If you enjoyed our show, please share this podcast with family and friends. Be a Baller podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and produced and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School.
