Pray Play

Records from the University of Washington providedinsight into the NCAA compliance problems surroundingchaplain contact with recruits. After athletic staff raised aninquiry with the Pac-12 conference over recruit contact withreligious leaders, a compliance officer with the conferencewrote, “Unless you consider these individuals to be UWstaff members, they cannot have contact with visitingrecruits.” 100 He also wrote, “We’ve had a violation beforewhen a team chaplain who was not an institutional employeemet with a PSA [prospective student-athlete]’s parentsduring a[n] official visit weekend.” The school created anagreement with the chaplain for a “staff volunteer” position,formalizing the chaplain’s position on the team. 101The “Fellowship of Christian Athletes Business Proposal” atWashington highlighted the involvement of the chaplain inrecruiting. The proposal discussed marketing the program:The third and final stage would be targeting prospectivestudent-athletes and making them aware of the programthat the university is offering. This makes the schoolintriguing for future prospects. This will also appealto the donors because they want to make sure theirinvestment is being put to use. It would also be anadded incentive to know potential student-athleteswould be interested in such a program as recruiting isan important element to growth of athletic programs.The FCA chaplain program was being presented to Washingtonathletic personnel with the explicit benefit of aiding recruiting.Neither the Pac-12 nor the NCAA compliance office respondedto FFRF inquiries related to chaplain contacts with recruits.While unmonitored chaplain contact with recruits raisesserious NCAA compliance issues, it is unclear how someschools are handling that problem. It is even more disturbingthat a number of schools have sought to comply with NCAArules by paying and contracting for a religious positionat a public university. Apparently, public universities caremore about violating NCAA rules they do about violatingour country’s founding document: the Constitution.How did we get here? Bobby Bowden,Tommy Tuberville, and the FCA: anunholy alliance.The problem of university-sponsored chaplains preyingon student athletes is relatively new. The origin ofthis practice comes from Bobby Bowden, TommyTuberville, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.Bobby Bowden’s tenure at Florida State spawned manyof the modern, college football chaplaincies includingUGA, Clemson, South Carolina, and Mississippi State.Tuberville is responsible for Ole Miss., Auburn, andtraining many other school’s chaplains while at Auburn.Bowden’s predatory religious practicesBobby Bowden abused his publicly funded position of powerand authority over vulnerable young men—both players andcoaches—to impose his personal religion on them. On August27, 2014, Bobby Bowden appeared on Fox News to promote hisbook, The Wisdom of Faith. 102 Bowden admitted to deliberatelyproselytizing his players with no regard for their belief or thelaw. Fox News personality Elizabeth Hasselbeck gushed thatBowden “will feel himself a failure if he doesn’t share thatmessage of Christ with others.” Referring to a public high schoolteam that removed a team chaplain after FFRF complained,Hasselbeck said, “But now teams are not going to be allowed—Orange County [Fla.] right now saying no place for faith infootball. So that message that you’re giving Coach, is not goingto perhaps be allowed on the football field anymore.” She askedBowden, “what do you think about that?” Bowden responded:Well, I do it anyway. I did it anyway at FloridaState. I don’t care about political correctness,I want to be spiritually correct.He did not care about the religious choices of his playersor about the strictures of the First Amendment—hecared about promoting his personal religion.Bowden regularly appears on the Christian BroadcastingNetwork. His CBN biography notes that he “told his playersthey would … be encouraged to attend church on Sunday.” 103According to his pastor, Doug Dortch, “God has given hima tremendous window of opportunity and Coach Bowdenuses it faithfully and obediently. Virtually every message heshares contains the plan of salvation, and his heart is trulyto see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.” 104Bowden would tell players, “I don’t want to offend yourfamily or your parents, but I have a relationship [with Jesus],and if I don’t tell you about it then I’d be doing wrong.” 105“What do you think of athletes who invoke Godwhen they’re interviewed after a sporting event?”Bobby Knight: “Let’s let the Lord work on cancer,on providing homes for the homeless. The firsttime I ever coached at college, not knowingwhat the hell I was doing, we were playing atPrinceton, and before I sent the team out wesaid the Lord’s Prayer. Our trainer put his armaround my shoulders and said, ‘For whateverit’s worth, I just don’t think you and praying mix.’And we never said another pregame prayer.” 106Bowden abused his public position to influence the religion ofhis subordinates. Georgia head coach Mark Richt, Bowden’s12 Pray to Play Freedom From Religion Foundation