What does it take to raise successful children without making their success the center of your family?Marshall Graves helped raise three Division I athletes—including 2026 NBA first-round draft pick Allen Graves—but his biggest lessons have very little to do with basketball. They’re about FAITH, FATHERHOOD, DISCIPLINE, FAMILY, and learning when your child needs to be pushed…and when Dad needs to back off.In this episode of the New Dad Order Podcast, Ray and Parfait sit down with Marshall Graves: husband, father of three, grandfather, business owner, longtime school bus driver, community leader, and founder of Love Is the Key Community Outreach.Marshall opens up about raising highly competitive children, the mistakes he made as a young father, and the moment his wife challenged him not to repeat the patterns of the past. That conversation changed the way he approached fatherhood.Instead of simply demanding more from his children, Marshall learned to listen.Instead of making every bad game a lecture, he learned to ask, “How do you feel about that?”

Instead of measuring everything by points, wins, rankings, stars, or scholarships, the focus became EFFORT, ATTITUDE, PREPARATION—and then moving on to the next game.The Graves family’s basketball story is remarkable. Marshall discusses the different personalities of his children, the competitive environment they created at home, the lessons he learned from AAU basketball and recruiting, and Allen Graves’ journey from an overlooked high school prospect to Santa Clara, accepting a role off the bench, becoming Sixth Man of the Year, reaching the NCAA Tournament, and ultimately becoming a first-round NBA Draft pick.Marshall talks about building a personal relationship with God instead of simply “going to church,” surrendering control as a father, balancing business and family, allowing children to respectfully express themselves, teaching kids to know their worth, and creating a home where siblings compete with each other without rooting against each other.We also dive into Marshall’s decades of work through Love Is the Key Community Outreach, where he has mentored young people from different backgrounds and circumstances. And for sports parents, Marshall answers one of the hardest questions we face:When should you push your child—and when should you back off?His answer may completely change the way you handle the ride home after the next practice, game, tournament, bad performance, or tough loss.It's about raising children who know who they are when basketball, football, baseball, scholarships, rankings, trophies, money, and applause are taken away.Welcome to the New Dad Order.To contact Marshall Graves:loveisthekeyoutreach@gmail.comfacebook-Love Is The Key - Community Outreach Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/loveisthekeyoutreach?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&stkn=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==Graceful Grains-graceful-grains.square.site✦ Sponsored ByBurns Estate Planning & Wealth AdvisorsPresident & CEO: Ernie M. Burns, Jr.Master Certified Estate Planner (MCEP®)Author of Total Retirement: A Step-By-Step Educational GuideHost of Total Retirement with Ernie Burns🌐 Website: https://burnsestateplanning.com📧 Email: marketing@burnsestateplanning.com✦ Business Inquiries📧 rbelvin91@gmail.com✦ Podcast HostsJerrard Parfait📧 jmparfait@gmail.com📱 Instagram: @itsparfaitRay Belvin📧 rbelvin91@gmail.com✦ Partners & Discounts💤 Sleep & RecoveryMelatonin-Free Sleep SupportPromo Code: NDOZZZ🔗 https://thirdzy.com/✦ New Dad Order — Official Links📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/newdadorderpodcast1🎧 Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4Zi2b2lmVbAr1m8mhHhjOK🎵 TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@newdadorder🍎 Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-order/id1849310124🎙️ Amazon Musichttps://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ba418c03-7313-46c7-ae75-8dc55122a082/new-dad-order

What happens when the man everyone depends on finally admits that he needs someone to pour into him?In Episode 70 of the New Dad Order Podcast, Ray and Parfait sit down with Coach Ken Richardson—a husband, father of two, military veteran, youth coach, and night supervisor at Restoring Freedom, a 28-day addiction recovery facility in Amite, Louisiana.What begins as a conversation about youth sports and coaching becomes an honest discussion about fatherhood, addiction recovery, military service, discipline, faith, vulnerability, marriage, raising athletes, and the pressure men carry when everyone expects them to be strong.Ken shares how his wife challenged him to stop criticizing youth coaches from the stands and get involved himself. That decision eventually turned into years of coaching and mentoring young people. But one of Ken's most important lessons as a sports dad is simple: he's trying to raise a young man, not just an athlete.The conversation goes much deeper when Ken discusses his military service, including deployments to Kosovo, Kuwait and Iraq, and his own past struggle with alcohol. Today, he works directly with men battling drug and alcohol addiction and has witnessed what happens when pride, denial, pain and isolation prevent men from asking for help.Ken explains why recovery requires more than simply telling someone to "have discipline," why men need purpose, why grace matters, and why sometimes the first step toward helping someone is simply getting them in the car and having a conversation.Ray and Parfait also discuss the complicated line between pushing your child toward his potential and trying to live through him, coaching your own children, knowing when to step back, protecting your peace, and learning to listen when your child tells you something you may not want to hear.Then the conversation takes an unexpected turn.Ken reveals that his own faith is being tested by a serious health uncertainty. After spending years encouraging athletes, fathers and men in recovery to keep fighting, he acknowledges that he is now the one who needs encouragement:"I'm still gonna be encouraging. Now it might be time for y'all to pour into me."That's what this episode ultimately becomes—a conversation about strong men allowing themselves to be supported.If you're a father, husband, coach, veteran, Christian, mentor, or someone dealing with addiction in your family, this conversation is worth hearing.Subscribe to New Dad Order for honest conversations about fatherhood, faith, marriage, youth sports, discipline, leadership, family and becoming the men our families need.

Contact Ken:Facebook-Ken RichardsonRestoring Freedom-Recovery Center-985-289-5264. info@restorefree.com✦ Sponsored ByBurns Estate Planning & Wealth AdvisorsPresident & CEO: Ernie M. Burns, Jr.Master Certified Estate Planner (MCEP®)Forbes Top Financial Security Professional in Louisiana (2022 & 2023)Author of Total Retirement: A Step-By-Step Educational GuideHost of Total Retirement with Ernie Burns🌐 Website: https://burnsestateplanning.com📧 Email: marketing@burnsestateplanning.com✦ Business Inquiries📧 rbelvin91@gmail.com✦ Podcast HostsJerrard Parfait📧 jmparfait@gmail.com📱 Instagram: @itsparfaitRay Belvin📧 rbelvin91@gmail.com✦ Partners & Discounts💤 Sleep & RecoveryMelatonin-Free Sleep SupportPromo Code: NDOZZZ🔗 https://thirdzy.com/⚡ Energy BoostDubby Energy — Discount Applied Automatically🔗 https://www.dubby.gg/discount/NEWDADORDER?ref=fhfcqotb✦ New Dad Order — Official Links📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/newdadorderpodcast1🎧 Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4Zi2b2lmVbAr1m8mhHhjOK🎵 TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@newdadorder🍎 Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-order/id1849310124🎙️ Amazon Musichttps://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ba418c03-7313-46c7-ae75-8dc55122a082/new-dad-order