Prayer and Football: A Coach's Perspective

September 2006

Americans are deeply passionate about both religion and sports. Nowhere does a combination of these two interests spark more debate than in the public schools. The beginning of fall brings a new school year and a new football season, and with it controversy regarding prayer and football. A recent federal court case from New Jersey, now on appeal, deals with football prayer, the role of coaches and the ability of school districts to protect the religious freedom rights of students.

With such controversies in mind, the BJC interviewed Kelly Reeves, who recently retired from a 35-year career in public education in Texas. He is the father of BJC Staff Attorney Stephen Reeves, who interviewed him below. Reeves has served 20 years as a high school football and basketball coach, including nine seasons as a head football coach. He spent the last 16 years of his career as the athletic director of a large school district in Central Texas. His career began as a football player at Graham High School in Texas and at New Mexico Highlands University. During his career he witnessed a dramatic change in the culture and rules regarding religion in the public schools.

1. Was prayer a part of high school football when you were a player in Graham, Texas?
My pastor from the First Baptist Church acted as an informal team pastor and led the team in prayer before and after a game. We gathered as a team after practice each day and recited the Lord's Prayer together. Graham also had a tradition of prayer over the loudspeaker of the stadium before kickoff.

2. As a coach, how did you handle the issue of prayer with your players?
During most of my coaching career, I led the team in the Lord's Prayer after a game. The court cases that gave us guidelines on the issue of coach-led prayers were just winding their way through the legal system then.

I would have had no problem in stopping the practice if there had been a complaint. I did not think that type of prayer was a significant spiritual experience for a player anyway.

3. So then why did you lead the prayer? What were the positive aspects of prayer?
Every high school team I had ever been associated with had done it, so I did not give it much thought early in my career. I think part of it was to get the athletes to focus on things of a spiritual nature. Being mentally tough is extremely important in football; more so than in most other sports. Because it is a very violent game, it was important for players to not only see the tough side of the coach but also that the coach had a spiritual side. Also, I did not feel at the time the Lord's Prayer was something that offended anyone, and after a Friday night football game, I thought a reminder of what kind of behavior we expected might be reinforced by having the prayer. In addition to prayer, I also talked a lot about being good citizens and being careful about the choices they made over the weekend. I tried to really stress that good values lead to good decisions. I wanted to give students a good moral compass, and I felt like a spiritual side of life was the best way to do it.

4. Do you now think coach-led prayer is a bad practice?
Obviously, at one time I did not think it was a bad idea. The resurgence of the Christian fundamentalists and their political influence has made me much more aware that all Christians are not the same and that many have political agendas. It is the political agendas that first convinced me that a coach leading a prayer could have undesirable consequences. That was something I had never considered.

It is a bad idea, in general, because public institutions should remain neutral on the question of religion. I'm not sure I connected the issue of praying with students to the concept of religious freedom. I don't think I got the part that freedom of religion must also include freedom from religion.

5. How did you handle prayer as a coach once it became clear that you were not to lead the team in prayer?
The last couple of years I coached, we, as coaches, were becoming much more aware of the issue, and we tried to distance ourselves from the kids when they were involved in prayer. It was not a complete break from prayer but a reduced emphasis.

The last year I coached we had a particularly religious group of players. They approached me about incorporating a time specifically set aside for team prayer in the afternoon schedule prior to the game. I told them that we would not have a formal team prayer but if they wanted to pray on their own they could. We would not stop them, but the coaches would not take part.

6. Most coaches are also classroom teachers. How are those roles different?
Many coaches see their involvement with their athletic teams as similar to a classroom teacher, but they also believe they should teach values, team work, hard work, honesty, physical and mental toughness, perseverance, and many other attributes that go far beyond what is usually taught in a classroom setting. Coaches spend many hours with students in what can be very emotional situations. This could be a time when students may need some guidance.

7. If a coach's influence is greater than that of a teacher, doesn't it make religious neutrality more important?
I think it does. For one, I did not want there to be any doubt that a coach's decisions were being based on anything other that what was best for the team's chances of success or the student athlete's ability.

Also, I think parents should expect coaches to be neutral on religious issues while their children are with the coach in a school setting. Coaches sometimes have a hard time understanding they represent a governmental entity.

8. When was it that you first realized prayer by school officials could pose a legal problem?
I remember when the Supreme Court handed down a ruling against prayers being led by school personnel. That was the famous case brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair. I think I was a freshman or sophomore in high school. At the time it was very controversial and many people thought it was a terrible decision. I doubt that decision had much effect on coach-led prayer.

I think when the Duncanville, Texas, School District lost a coach-led prayer case in the early '90s, I realized that the courts were serious about the behavior of schools and school personnel.

9. As an athletic director in charge of training coaches, what was your policy regarding prayer?
The Coaches' Handbook quoted our school district policy on the issue of prayer with students. The language is somewhat universal. It begins by stating that every student has an absolute right to pray and every student has the right not to pray and not to be influenced by school personnel to take part in prayer. It was short, to the point and very clear. I told coaches that they needed to follow the law regardless of their own personal beliefs if they intended to stay with the school district.

10. How did you enforce the policy?
I did not seek out coaches to see if they were violating the policy. If I happened to observe a problem, I would usually just remind the coach of the policy the first time. If I observed a problem again, then I would get more formal in my approach. If parents did not like the coach praying with the players, they would usually let me know, and they would expect me to resolve the problem.

I had to remind some of the coaches that our lawyers would not be sitting with them in the courtroom if they were guilty of violating a student's civil rights. The lawyer would more than likely be sitting with the student. I think they understood that they were on their own if they violated school district policy.

11. Did you ever receive any complaints from parents?
I received a few complaints from parents about coaches violating the prayer policy. In most cases, when parents complained about a violation concerning prayer, there were underlying reasons. Usually, they wanted the coach removed or disciplined for some personal reason but knew they would not receive much attention for that type of complaint, so they literally tried to make a federal case of the issue.

12. You were the athletic director when the superintendent made the decision to stop praying over the public address system before football games. Could you describe the reaction from the community?
I think the Duncanville decision influenced our superintendent to not allow prayer before football games. It was several years before the Santa Fe Supreme Court decision that directly addressed the issue. He felt like the prayers would lead to litigation, and trying to defend the district against a lawsuit would be a lost cause and a waste of the district's resources. He made the decision on his own. I told him that it would be controversial but that I would support him.

It turned out to be a very controversial call and the superintendent paid a high price.

However, I do not think the majority of the community cared one way or the other. It was a vocal minority that caused him problems. They organized a protest and brought the issue up during the public input time at a school board meeting. The decision had already been made and was not on the agenda for that meeting.

The superintendent was the son of a Baptist minister but he was publicly criticized by some conservative Christians. He was treated in a very un-Christian manner by some people in the community at that meeting. Some even questioned publicly where he would spend eternity.

The superintendent received support from some clergy in our area. A few pastors spoke at the school board meeting in support of the superintendent's decision. I think they genuinely did not believe that schools should get involved in religious issues.

I think other pastors felt like football had reached a point of being a religion in Texas, and they did not believe it should be viewed on that level.