Bentonville Baseball: Year One Under Will McGinnis

Bentonville Tigers head baseball coach Will McGinnis is building his own groundwork for success his first season leading the program. But he's no stranger to the 6A-West. He played in it as a high schooler at Springdale, and coached as an assistant at Har-Ber. 

McGinnis joins Alyssa Orange to discuss the 2026 season so far, growing up playing baseball in Northwest Arkansas for his dad, and what this senior class has meant to him in just a short amount of time. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 1:01

Hello and welcome in once again to another Varsity Vibe. I am your host, Alyssa Orange. And as always, so great to be with you and for you to join us for another great conversation that we get to share with you today. And it's a fun one. We're going to hang out with Bentonville head baseball coach Will McGuinness, who was a player in this league at Springdale way back in the early 2000s. He has played in college as well as an assistant coach at Harbor and a head coach at Greenland. But now he's in his first year at Bentonville. And with everything he soaked up from the coaches that he played for and uh coached with, now able to help mold his own program there with the Tigers. It was a fun sit-down to talk a little bit more about his journey and this Bentonville Tigers baseball team this season. So enjoy this conversation with the Tigers head coach Will McGuinness. As the season continues to unfold and we get closer to the postseason in May, how do you feel like your team has continued to get better?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Uh yeah, we talk about that on a daily basis, just um kind of how the the better teams at the end of the year just continue to get better throughout the season. Um, you know, we had a big win early uh game two against Rodgers, uh, but we just basically just try to stay stay even killed no matter if we have a big win or a or a tough loss. Um we're just we're trying to get better every single day. Um and you know, from start till now, I mean it goes by fast. Um, you know, I was just talking to our seniors the other day about like, you know, just me being new and being around them and just how quick it goes. And you know, got a little emotional talking to them. Just because you get you get close to these guys, you're around them every single day. Uh, you're going through battle with them, and uh, you know, you just realize how fast it goes, but to also just, you know, whether they're a little tired or a little fatigued this time of the year, just understand like um just how important it is to get better every single day.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

So how much is that on off-the-field relationship important to how you guys play on the field and and the confidence you have that when things get tough, you know, you can be hard on them, but they know they know that you love them.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

It is it is huge. Um, you you can't you can't do that until they understand that uh that you do care about them. Um you know, being hard on them and pushing them to their limits, um, they're they're not gonna respond until you know that you have you have built that relationship with them. Um and you know, I just see it. We talk about it amongst themselves as well. Um, you know, I see it every single year, like talent's only gonna take you so far. Um, you've got to really care about the guy next to you. Uh you know, you see it every year in the state tournament. There's there's times that um things go bad in a game, and you're either gonna come together or you're gonna all start running different directions. And um the the teams that finish strong at the end of the year, they care about each other. They're tight, um, they're talented, but they're they're a they're a team and they they really care about the person next to them.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Baseball's such a unique sport in that it's so mental and arguably compared to the other sports like basketball and and football, baseball just there are days where sometimes the ball seriously does not bounce your way, and you've got to turn around and pick it right back up and do it again the next day. How much of a mental preparation have you poured into your guys because of the way just the sport plays out?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

You cannot dwell too much when things do not go your way. Um which happens a lot, you know, you you get beat and you don't feel like you should get beat. And uh, you know, literally the the term of the baseball world is that's just baseball. Um, you you cannot let this one game define you. Um we had a game uh this weekend where kind of same deal, like we're playing good baseball. And I said, guys, like we didn't play well today. We we had some mental mistakes and and you know the ball didn't bounce our way. That's baseball. Um, but do not let this one game define like who we are and define our season and did a really good job. That was a that was a Saturday game against Little Rock Christian, and we came out and went three and oh the the following week. And so um you you cannot you cannot dwell upon if you don't play great, um, because mentally you've just got to keep moving forward and keep getting better every single day.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

You brought up that win over Rogers. That was back, you know, late February, right? Or early March. Um, but that feels like forever ago in baseball. How has this team evolved since that win?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Well, uh, you know, this this group's got talent. Um, and it was evident that first weekend, um, you know, we hung with Rogers, arguably one of the best teams, if not the best team in the state, uh, day one, um, and then came out day two and beat them. Um, and so that was a that was a huge win for us. I think that it kind of um, you know, just opened some people's eyes that like we've got there's talent here and we've got a good group. And um, but like I said, that that talent's only gonna take you, take you so far. Uh, we've just talked about like the course of the season and how long the season is and just just showing up and bringing it every single day, uh, whether it's practice or game or or or whatever, uh, because that was a big win to start this to start the weekend off uh that first weekend. Uh, but like I said, just just continuing to move forward is is really what we talk about every single day.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

And I'm sure that has a lot to do with the leadership on this team. And you mentioned that senior class. What have they meant to you in this program as you've stepped in and and tried to mold what you want to do there as the head coach?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, we're we're very old. Um, in a to me, a younger league this year. Um, we have an older group. We have 17 seniors. Um I couldn't have been blessed with a better group to start to start at Bentonville uh year one. Um, you know, when you've had leadership for three years and you're on year four and a new guy comes in, and you know, they've they've had every right to kind of kind of say, hey, you know, this is, you know, they've they've really responded and bought in. I couldn't be more thankful for the group that that I've been given year one because they have anytime I've asked them to do something like, hey, I need you to do this better, I need you to practice harder, or I need the weight room to be better, like anything I have asked, I have not had to fight them on it. They have just responded, they've done it, they've all been bought in. And um, you know, I think that's a lot of a lot of our success. If they just they just they just buy in.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

You're so familiar with this league in the six-a-west as a as a player and now as a coach, as an assistant, taking me back to when you played uh at Springdale, right? Just what was this league like as a player compared to what it is right now?

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Well, the league is a lot different uh now than what it was as a player. You know, back in 2006 when I graduated my senior year. I mean, you might have had I know Russellville had a guy throwing mid-90s. I mean, you had you had a handful of guys. I mean, the pitching and the talent in this league since I've been in it has gotten so much better. Um, you know, I I've grown up even watching this league as a kid, um, you know, just idolizing high school baseball. And you know, a lot of the coaches that are still coaching now were either assistant coaches or head coaches during the time that I played. So this league is very special to me. It's very important. Um, but the league has changed a bunch. Um, you know, I kind of went away a little bit, played college baseball, and then actually started my coaching career in another state. Um, and so, but I always kind of knew what was going on in this area and in this league. But yeah, it has definitely changed a bunch. The talent um in this league is very, very good, and it is year in, year out.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

And that speaks volumes to the coaching, obviously, in the league. You're a son of a coach, though. You grew up with it. What was that like having your dad as a coach?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Oh, it was awesome. Um, yeah, you know, um just what he has meant to me um just growing up in my life, and you know, as I've kind of pursued the same career path as he has, um, you know, we talk every single night after games. I mean, he is my eyes. Um, he still is around our kids um like he is a coach. I mean, he's not on our staff, but our kids know him as a coach. Um, he's got coaching in his blood. Um, and you know, he just you can tell when he's out here, even at our games. Um, and it's just very special to me that, you know, he's here every game, doesn't miss a game. Um, he's here early. He even goes sometimes and watches other teams play. He's kind of our kind of our scout sometimes. He can get eyes on other teams. And yeah, just just very special um growing up and playing for him. And then, like I said, just coaching myself and um just always having him around the ballpark and just always, it doesn't matter what time, 10:30, 11 o'clock, midnight, after games, um, just just talking about what happened, who did this, who did that, and just kind of always being there for me. Um, it's it's very special.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

All right, so I gotta ask you because I'm also the daughter of a softball coach who played, and dinner table talk was all right, Alyssa, runners on first and second, two outs, here's your scenario. That was our conversations at dinner. What was the dinner table like at your house?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Uh a lot of the same.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Um I'm glad I'm not alone on that then.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

My mom hears us talk a lot of baseball. Um, yeah, you know, and I sometimes I feel sorry for her because me and my dad are just talking for hours, and you know, she's trying to get into conversation every now and then, but we're we're just talking baseball for hours. You know, one thing though that I really appreciate that my dad did as a as a player is when we got home, he was my dad. Um, he was coach at the field, but and you know, we would still talk about things when we got home, but like if we had a bad day on the field and he was upset with me as a player, he did not bring that home. He was then he turned around and he was my dad. And that was um, I still think back to that and how good he was at that of just leaving the coach sometimes at the field. And and when I came home, he was my dad. So that was that was very good, very special.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

What do you think you took away from him watching him as a coach that you have now implemented in your own style or your own philosophy?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I'd say the biggest thing that I saw growing up was just the commitment and the time. And uh when you leave the ballpark, it's not it's not over. Um, I still remember him being on the phone and talking to other coaches in our league and assistant coaches and just the the commitment uh that you have to have. Um, you know, it's gotta be a passion. It it can't be a job to you. It's it's gotta be it's gotta be what you do, what you what you breathe. Uh, you've got to really love it. Now, at the same time, you know, you've got to have boundaries and you've got to get away and spend time with your family and be there for your wife and be there for your kids. And I think there's a there's a there's a dynamic that you have to have there, but I would just say the the commitment, the late nights, the early mornings, I knew when I got into this, I'd already seen it. I'd already seen what he did. And it's just like, hey, this is what you do. Like, so I kind of understand understood it a little bit more before before I got into it.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Yeah, speaking of passion, and you mentioned it starting your career in Mississippi, correct? Yes. Um, come in the Greenland and just always wanting to be a part of the 6A West. And so an assistant coach, um, getting your feet wet at Springdale Harbor, what do you think that experience taught you the most?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Uh taught me a bunch. Um, you know, you look at a place like Harbor, you want to know like what's working uh because they were they were rattling off state finals, state championships. Um, you know, I'd got to the point at Greenland, I'd been there six years, and I just not that I felt stuck, but I just felt like I knew I needed to learn more about the coaching part of it, and uh, you know, going over somewhere that had had success and just seeing seeing the the big picture of going from the small school to the big school and you know, rolling in there and you've got 65 to 70, 70 players. I mean at Greenland, I had 18 to 20, and just seeing kind of how the big picture works in this league, and then you know, learning a ton from Dustin Helmk was like everything. I mean, there's still a lot of things we do here. I mean, we have our own stamp and our own brand here, but like there's a lot of what you see here that that was done over there because it because it worked. Um, so that was huge being a part of that.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

So with that being said, when the Bentonville job opens, what was it that you thought, hey, I'm ready for this?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Um just you know, being over there for four years and just um, you know, kind of knowing knowing what to expect. Um, if I wouldn't have had that time over there, I would have not been ready for a type of job like this. Um you know, there's just a lot more that I needed to see and needed to learn. And um, you know, this is a this is a place where a lot of people want to be. I mean, this is a good program, rich history, um, and it's a type of job that a lot of people want. And I think just being over there and seeing how things work at successful programs, I would not, I would not have been ready for this if I would have not been over there and seen what I saw over there at Harbor.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah. And I gotta ask you, you know, the pressure walking into a school like Bentonville, you walk in and you see at the state championships for football and track and field. And I mean, you just look across the way and all the ones that Kent early as one at softball. What's the pressure of being a coach at Bentonville?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I try not to think of it like that. Um my deal is I'm gonna pour everything I have into our kids and into our program and give it everything I have. And you know, if that's not good enough, I'm I'm not gonna look at it as pressure. I mean, my my thing is if I feel like I have pressure on me, the kids are gonna feel that and sense that, and they're gonna feel like there's pressure on them, and you cannot play this game with pressure. Um, you've got to play it loose and free. And um, you know, even in tight ball games, um tight games, down one, bottom of the seventh, you you cannot let those things get to you because if you show that as a coach, your kids are gonna feel it, they're gonna play with pressure and doesn't translate.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

What do you think the biggest thing you've learned about yourself this season has been?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Biggest thing I've learned about myself. Um that's a tough one. Um, I will tell you this. Um I've had a lot of life changes this year. Um I got married last summer.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Thank you. And I think life just really, really changed really quick. Um, you know, new school, new job, um new, new colors, new everything. Um and I think just just uh being calm and not letting things overwhelm you. Um you know, there are times and days that I feel like just everything put together and just stepping back, taking a breath, and not making things too big, um, understanding that we're coaching and playing a game, um, and just not letting, you know, all the change and all the new be too overwhelming. Just understand that it's an opportunity, it's a blessing to be in a place like Bentonville and um just to enjoy it, um, not let it get to you, kind of going back to your pressure comment, just enjoying the opportunity um to be a leader in a program like this.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Yeah, and step back, take a look around, just appreciate where you are and where this journey has taken you.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yep, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

When you look at this this team, what do you what do you hope? There's a lot of baseball left as we're talking right now, right? Um, but what do you hope this this first team um leaves in your mind? You know what I mean? Like everyone's gonna remember that. You're gonna remember this first team that you had at Bentonville. Like, what do you want that to be when you look back on it?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

You know, I tell our kids this all the time. Um, you know, sometimes like as a coach, you have to use examples of you've got to give them evidence of things that have happened uh in the past, like, hey, this is what we've done here, and this is what happened. And you know, what's been hard for me is a lot of my evidence and examples as a coach are from other programs, and so I I not that we don't talk about that some, but I tell our kids all the time, like, you're gonna be an example of how it's supposed to look or not supposed to look. Of like when you do buy in and you commit to the process, good things are gonna happen, or hey, you know, you're not quite bought in, or you're not quite so sure this is what we need to be doing. And you know, we talk about all the time like you're gonna set a foundation, an example of what we will talk about here two, three, four, five years down the road. Like, this guy bought in, he was committed, his work ethic was through the roof. This is what he this is what he did. This group was committed, they were bought in, their work ethic was through the roof, they knew how to practice, they knew how to get after in the weight room, this is what they did. And so I think just kind of kind of setting that example of, and this group has done positive things. They are the group that we will talk about next year. Hey, this is this this is what they did, this is why they've had success. Uh, and we're continuing to do that as the year goes on. And so I think just that first year of being at a new program, like them leaving a legacy, yeah. And um like I said already, this senior class is very special to me. I've not even been around them yet for 365 days, but they are some great kids and some great people uh that are leading us right now. So it's it's really an honor to coach them.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Yeah, and to put a bow on this conversation, coach, what do you love the most about the game of baseball?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Just what it teaches you. Um, you know, it's a metaphor for life. There are days in life that things are not great, and you have to have good body language, um, be positive, wake up the next day and get after it again. And baseball's the same way. Um, you can look at it as a team or you can look at it individually. Um, you're gonna have success, you're gonna have failures, and really how you handle those failures are gonna dictate your success in the future, and just really what it teaches you about life. But then when you just look back at especially myself being around this game my entire life, um my dad being around this game, and my grandpa, and just like this game has been a part of our family, my family for as long as I can I can remember, and just thinking about. Just how much it means to me, and how much it means to our family. And like I said, my wife and my kids, they know how much baseball means to us. I mean, we still um I've got uh two girls, two daughters, and so I'm surrounded by a bunch of girls at home, but they know that uh baseball is on the TV a lot, and uh they they love they love it too, and so it's it's just a family thing. I think that's what probably means more to me than anything, it's just baseball is a family thing to me.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Thank you so much for joining us once again on Varsity Vibe. Always appreciate you every single time you join us for these conversations that I love to share with you because it's so fun to get to know these coaches and athletes on and off the field. Remember, you want more action, I've got it for you. Just head on over to our social media platforms that is Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook. Got so much great content there uh for you to share and like, and of course, subscribe as well to our podcast and our YouTube channel and for the newsletter. Look, it's gonna come to your inbox twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it keeps you in the know with everything happening in high school athletics around the state. So just go to varsityvibearkansall.com and you can sign up for that newsletter there. Again, thank you so much for joining us. I'm your host, Alyssa Orange, and I will see you next time.